2009 Year In Review Part 2

Find part 1 (January – March) of the look back at 2009 here.  On to part 2:

April

• Chris Sharma made his visit to China, repeating the hardest lines and leaving behind a few futuristic projects (Link).  He also started blogging at MVM, but not surprisingly that fell off shortly after it started (Link).  Video of his trip eventually made its way on to MVM in May (Link)
• National Geographic had a cool feature on their website that allowed users to explore every inch of the boulder problem Midnight Lightning (Link).
• Rocky Mountain Highball premeired in Boulder, CO…and still hasn’t been released on DVD (Link).
• Joe Kinder added a new 5.14d sport route, The Re-Up, in Southern Utah (Link).
• After his sucessful trip to Font Ty Landman basically disappeared from the world of hard climbing but not before adding a new V13 in Rhode Island (Link).
• Deadpoint Magazine launched their new DPM HDTV video service (Link).
• Daniel Woods repeated Chinese Arithmetic, a previously unrepeated James Litz’s testpiece in Tennessee (Link).  Woods also added a new V14 to Moe’s Valley, UT (Link).
• Speaking of James Litz, around this time Urban Climber posted their story about him online (Link).
• I finally got my hands on a pair of the Project shoes from Five Ten (Link).  8+ months later I still like them, but I’ve found them to be almost too specialized a shoe.
• Alex Honnold and a team of North Face athletes did some amazing climbing in Borneo (Link).

May

• Brian Kim made news for his ground up ascent of Cybernetic Wall (5.13d trad) at the Gunks in New York (Link).
• Sender Films announced that they were producing a new climbing tv show called First Ascent.  2 episodes were shown during the 2009 Reel Rock tour, but the show itself is not airing in the U.S. at this time (Link).
• Video of Nalle Hukkataival’s FA of The Machinist V13 was posted online (Link).  Apparently a hold has broken on this problem?
• May brought the first update from Big Up Productions about Tommy Caldwell’s efforts to free a new line on El Cap (Link).
• I interviewed Shawn Diamond to learn more about some of his latest ticks in the Buttermilks (Link).
• Brian Solano dropped the trailer for his upcoming movie, The Players, and I caught up with him to learn more about the movie  (Link).
• Chris Schulte added 2 V13s to Colorado’s Frontrange, although it’s quite likely at least one is “only” V12 (Link).
• The North Face sponsored a cool concept called the Summit Series Roadtrip that followed James Pearson and Gaz Parry on a whirlwind tour of some of the best climbing areas in Europe (Link).
• The 2009 Canadian Bouldering Championships streamed live on the internet, a concept that finally made its way to U.S. comps later in the summer (Link).
• Nesting falcons caused the closure of a notable crag at the New River Gorge in West Virginia (Link).
• Will Stanhope did the 2nd all gear ascent of the East Face (5.13d) of the Monkey Face at Smith Rocks (Link).
• Adam Ondra had a great 2009 and in May he won the outdoor bouldering competition at Melloblocco (Link).

June

• June began on a very sad note with news of the passing of Micah Dash, Jonny Copp & Wade Johnson in China (Link)
• Chris Sharma got a haircut…and then he did the FA of Pachamma, a likely 5.15 in Oliana, Spain (Link).  Footage of him working the route was released on the Big Up website (Link).  He also made news for his (sort of) flash of a 300 ft. 5.14b during the Petzl Roc Trip in Millau, France (Link).
• Once again a bouldering World Cup was held at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, CO.  Americans did really well with Alex Puccio winning for the women and Daniel Woods coming in 2nd for the men (Results, Wrap-up).
• Movement, the newest indoor climbing facility to hit the Boulder, CO climbing scene, opened its doors (Link).
• Adam Ondra repeated Markus Bock’s Corona (5.15a) in the Frankenjura (Link) and Alex Huber’s Om (5.14d) at Endstal, Germany (Link).
• Alex Honnold and Sean Leary tried climbing 2 routes on El Cap and the NW Face of Half Dome in a single day, but they were forced to “settle” for only the 2 El Cap routes (Link).  Honnold also free soloed a bunch of stuff in the valley (Link).
• Cool video of how climbing ropes are made

• Nalle Hukkataival made quick work of the 4th ascent of Jade (V15) in RMNP, CO  (Link).  He also added the amazing looking Sunseeker (V13) at Mt. Evans (Link).
• Dave Graham did the FA of Big Worm (V14) at Mt. Evans, CO.  The problem was quickly repeated by Paul Robinson, Chris Schulte and Daniel Woods.