2009 was another excellent year for Climbingnarc.com with nearly 500 posts and almost 3000 comments going into the archives. As a reminder of what transpired last year, this post is the first in a 4 part series of posts looking back on what was making news in 2009.
January
- Dave MacLeod made news with his repeat, and subsequent downgrade suggestion, of the route Walk Of Life in England. (Link)
- Alpinist Magazine shutdown in October of 2008, but was sold for $71,000 to the publishers of Backcountry (Link). It was then revealed that Alpinist would be coming back in March of 2009 which turned out to be true (Link)
- Kevin Jorgeson did the FA of a stunning (and terrifying) new line, Ambrosia, on the Grandpa Peabody boulder in Bishop that blurred the line between highball bouldering and soloing. (Link)
- Daniel Woods had a successful end to his stay in Arkansas adding a couple of new double-digit boulder problems. (Link)
- Simon Carter had an excellent post on his blog about a tragic accident in Australia due to the failure of some bad bolts. (Link)
- The likes of Phil Schaal, Chris Webb Parsons, Keita Mogaki and Matt Bosley all had a good month of January in Hueco Tanks. (Link)
- Carlo Traversi and Emily Harrington won the 2009 SCS Adult National Championships (Link)
February
- Chris Sharma started the year strong with the FA of Demencia Senil (5.15a) in Margalef, Spain (Link). Along with Dani Andrada, Sharma eyed up some projects like Bumbaye and First Round, First Minute that would make news later in the year (Link).
- Carlo Traversi spurred a lot of debate with his thoughts on the climbing industry (Link)
- Dave Graham came back to the States for a brief trip to Hueco Tanks in which he sent a handful of V13s. Also, Chris Webb Parsons blew up his shoulder, but not before amassing a huge ticklist. (Link)
- Mrs. Narc and I were in Boulder for the 2009 edition of ABS Nationals where Daniel Woods and Alex Johnson came out on top. (Link, Link, Link)
- Jimmy Webb made the first of many successful trips to Arkansas (Link)
- Nalle Hukkataival made his first trip to Hueco Tanks and left two new V13s in his wake. Matt Wilder and Jon Cardwell were also climbing strong. (Link)
- Chris Schulte did his first 2 V14s in Fontainebleau (Link).
- Dave Graham’s unrepeated problem The Book Of Bitter Aspects (v13/14) was repeated by Phil Schaal and then Max Zolotukhin in March. (Link, Link)
- Jacinda Hunter made news for her FFA of Breaking The Law (5.14b) at Black and Tan, UT (Link)
March
- Ty Landman had an amazing season of climbing in Fontainebleau which would later become the subject of the movie Between The Trees (Link)
- Paul Robinson won the 2009 Hueco Rock Rodeo (Link)
- The beginning of March found Chris Sharma on a lecture tour in England (Link)
- Excellent video of Natalija Gros climbing 5.14c (Link)
- Matt Segal freed a scary trad line in Eldorado Canyon called Smart Went Crazy (Link)
- Big Up Productions had a nice update on their filming of Chris Sharma and Adam Ondra for the movie Progression. (Link)
- Paul Robinson did the long-awaited 2nd ascent of Dave Graham’s Psychedelic (5.14d). (Link)
- Bernd Zangerl did the first repeat of Dave Graham’s From Dirt Grows The Flowers (V15) in Chironico, CH. (Link, Video)
- March means spring break for a lot of people, and a slew of strong climbers (Robinson, Woods, Cardwell) flocked to the desert southwest (Link)
Look for parts 2-4 of a look a back at 2009 some time in the next few days…
Hey Narc:
It would be useful if you would add the names of those problems that Dave, Daniel, Nalle etc. sent..
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I was trying to keep things in this post as brief as possible. The links were provided so that if you were wanting more information you could go back and read the original (and more detailed) post.
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Narc it would be helpful if you typed out the entire link for us to click on. Something to think about in the future because I dont know how to use your hidden buttons. Similar to Eggface and beta really. Doesn’t see holds or beta unless it is showed to him 🙂
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Sweaty can you please translate your comment. I cannot be expected to understand simple sentences nor to work out my own beta.
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you’re so high maintenance.
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Thx Narc! waiting to see the other Parts!
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