Climbing Narcissist » Access

When In Doubt Pack It Out

Narc — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:06:43 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I always try my best to climb close to an actual bathroom. In case you don’t, the Access Fund has a nice refresher on what to do when nature calls.

When In Doubt Pack It Out from Climbing Narcissist

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News & Notes – 5/9/2012

Narc — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:54:16 +0000

There’s so much happening these days in the world of climbing that even I’m having a hard time keeping up…

News…

Sweden’s Matilda Söderlund went on a tear in Spain where she onsighted a handful of hard 5.13′s in a relatively short time span. Rock & Ice caught up with her to learn more. Subsequent to this she also flashed Kale Borrroka (5.14a) in Siurana according to her 8a scorecard.
In addition to her repeat of Era Vella (5.14d), over the past few weeks Sasha DiGiulian has done the 2nd ascent of Atonement (5.14a) at the Virgin River Gorge and flashed Zona Zero (5.13d) in Siurana.
Andy Raether did the FA of Ancient Chinese Secret (5.14b) at Mt. Potosi, NV commenting on his 8a scorecard that it took him 6 months of work.
Austria’s Johanna Ernst climbs her first 5.14c in Santa Linya
James Pearson and Caroline Ciavaldini teamed up to do the first repeat of Aria, a runout 10 pitch 5.13c on the island of Sardinia.
Nice update from Dave MacLeod on his repeat of New Base Line (V14) in Magic Wood, Switzerland.
Rob Pizem has done the FA of The Frank Zappa Appreciation Society which, at 5.13+, is likely the hardest route in Colorado’s Escalante Canyon.
Silvia Vidal spends 32 consecutive days on the wall to establish a new route in Chile.
God’s Own Stone (5.14a) in the Red River Gorge saw two more ascents this spring from the under-18 crowd when it was repeated by both 12-year-old Drew Ruana and 11-year-old Mirko Caballero.

…And Notes…

Chris Sharma will be appearing at an event in Emeryville, CA on May 18th for a special fundraiser benefiting access threatened Castle Rock State Park. More details on the event as well as how to buy tickets here.

Review of the new Wolverine guide to Maple Canyon
Interview with South African Arjan de Kock who recently did the 3rd ascent of The Big Island (V15) in Fontainebleau.
Interesting discussion at B3Bouldering about women and the development of new climbing areas.
Ely, Nevada looks pretty legit
Speaking of looking legit, Jonathan Siegrist provides an update on his time spent in France’s Verdon Gorge.
Great recap of a trip to the Grit by Michele Caminati

News & Notes – 5/9/2012 from Climbing Narcissist

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Nalle Hukkataival Pitching In Over In Fontainebleau

Narc — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:12:13 +0000

Nalle Hukkataival may have added another V14 and V13 to his lifetime ticklist during his visit to Fontainebleau, France, but the more important thing that went down was his participation in a Black Diamond-backed event to both clean up the forest and educate climbers:

We wanted to get three messages across to people visiting the areas:  - Don’t leave ANY trash in the forest, and if you see thrash on the ground pick it up  - Clean your shoes before climbing, because dirty shoes severely polishes the footholds - Brush off tick marks and chalk, so holds won’t get polished  For most climbers these things are, and should be, obvious but it’s good to remind people (for example, not everyone was aware that climbing with dirty shoes is bad for the rock). The purpose of this event was not so much to directly go clean up climbing areas, but more so to educate people to do their own part in keeping the forest clean. However, with the help of a lot of people we managed to remove about 250 kilos of trash from the climbing areas over three days!! Bas Cuvier, especially, was looking cleaner than I’ve ever seen it!

It’s nice to see a big company like Black Diamond and one of their well-known sponsored climbers in Hukkataival pitching in like this. Check out a little video they put together about the event by clicking on the below image.

Nalle Hukkataival Pitching In Over In Fontainebleau from Climbing Narcissist

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Chasin’ The Rubbish With Nalle Hukkataival

Narc — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:01:24 +0000

Chasin’ The Rubbish With Nalle Hukkataival from Climbing Narcissist Get the ClimbingNarc iOS app in the App Store to enjoy all this site's content on your iPhone or iPad Related posts: ClimbingNarc For iOS Another V13 FA In Hueco For Nalle Hukkataival 4th Ascent Of Jade (V15) By Nalle Hukkataival Esperanza (V14) Repeated By Nalle [...]

Chasin’ The Rubbish With Nalle Hukkataival from Climbing Narcissist

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Planet Granite Raises Over $20,000 For Castle Rock

Narc — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:22:01 +0000

It’s unfortunate that this type of action is needed, but it’s heartening to see gyms like Planet Granite step in with both their time and their money. Planet Granite Raises Over $20,000 For Castle Rock from Climbing Narcissist Get the ClimbingNarc iOS app in the App Store to enjoy all this site's content on your [...]

Planet Granite Raises Over $20,000 For Castle Rock from Climbing Narcissist

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Access Fund Announces Awards For 2011

Narc — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:03:23 +0000

The Access Fund has announced the recipients of both their Sharp End Awards and their Adopt a Crag and TeamWorks Awards. The Sharp End Awards seek to recognize “individuals and businesses that go above and beyond to volunteer their time and efforts to protecting America’s climbing” while the Adopt a Crag and TeamWorks awards are for outstanding volunteer event coordinators. Congratulations to all the winners and a big thank you for all your hard work!

Access Fund Announces Awards For 2011 from Climbing Narcissist

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Great News From Red Rock

Narc — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:11:52 +0000

Good Great news out of Red Rock, Nevada:

Thanks to YOUR public involvement and a SUPPORTIVE county commission, the developer has withdrawn his application for BOTH WAIVERS for Red Rock. There WILL NOT be a vote on February 8, 2012. We should thank the county commissioners as well. They always seem to have to hear our complaints, but now we have something to be grateful for.

Even though this decision doesn’t kill the misguided plans of developer Jim Rhodes outright, it does apparently make his path forward considerably more difficult according to these comments from Vegas local John Wilder:

In short, this was a pretty big win for Save Red Rock and other local groups. My personal opinion is that if these waivers had been granted, the war would have effectively been won by Gypsum [Jim Rhodes]. Thankfully, they were not, and now Gypsum still has a fairly long uphill battle. The financial burden from the road build from the east (I actually consider this part of the development cost prohibitive), as well as the long process that Gypsum will now have to endure to get a right of way to their land via the east approach (they will need to get an EA, which we can actually appeal and delay for years if we do it correctly).

To celebrate this good news perhaps we can all head out to the 2012 Red Rock Rendezvous and climb some heinous off-widths? Well, maybe not that second part, but this year’s Rendezvous does sound like a pretty fun time:

The ninth annual Mountain Gear Presents: Red Rock Rendezvous (RRR) rock climbing festival, title sponsored by The North Face, will return to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area near Las Vegas on March 30 through April 1, 2012. Registration begins Monday, Nov. 1, and is limited to the first 1,000 registrants. For the 2012 RRR, Mountain Gear is adding Special Friday Clinics to the three-day event that include a range of outdoor activities and classes.

Great News From Red Rock from Climbing Narcissist

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News & Notes – 9/14/2011

Narc — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:51:51 +0000

News…

Sasha DiGiulian has just about wrapped up her stay in Rodellar, Spain, and her final ticklist is pretty impressive. Some might say world record breaking¹. In addition to the 5.14c redpoint and the 5.14a onsight she redpointed a pair of 5.14a’s and flashed a 5.13c. In total she did 12 routes 5.13b or harder with almost half going down first try.
Another American in Rodellar is Ben Spannuth. Clearly motivated by that one time he and I talked shop over a bottle of Buffalo Trace², he too has redpointed Cosi Fan Tutti according to his 8a scorecard. In addition he’s done 6 other 5.14s since he left the States to climb overseas. He could not, however, do the famous DWS Loskot And Two Smoking Barrels which sounds pretty horrifying.
Dai Koyamada reporst on his blog (in Japanese) and to UKC that he did the FA of Dark Matter, a potential V14 or 15 in the Darkness Cave in Magic Wood, Switzerland. The problem starts on In Search Of Time Lost and exits out From Darkness To Sunshine.
New route on the Incredible Hulk:

600 feet 19 bolts, 10 days, 6 brushes, 4 partners and 1 route later, here is the long-winded tale of my experience new routing on the Incredible Hulk.

According to his 8a scorecard Jon Cardwell has repeated Daniel Woods’ Aslan (V14) in RMNP for the problem’s (at least) 7th ascent.

And Notes…

The 8th Yosemite Facelift starts next Tuesday
Indian Creek Volunteer Work Day(s) this coming weekend
Lincoln Lake cleanup Saturday, September 17th. Bring your supplemental oxygen…
This Saturday is the 1st Annual Gunks Climbers Coalition Membership Party in Rosendale, NY. The party will highlight the GCC’s new joint membership agreement with the Access Fund. For more info check out gunksclimbers.org.

Also this Saturday is the 1st Annual Meyers Climbing Festival & Bouldering Competition in South Lake Tahoe. More info on that here.

Help rebuild the fire lookout at The Needles in California that unfortunately, and I guess ironically, was destroyed in a fire
Jamie Emerson shines the B3Bouldering spotlight on some of the new areas being developed in Wyoming with this takeaway message:

I would also like to say that I have been astounded by the amount of new rock that seems to be cropping up out there in the woods, not only in Wyoming, but Colorado, Idaho and Montana as well. If you want to come up to Lander, by all means, come on up. But don’t think for a minute that there aren’t 20 other areas on the list waiting to be explored. There are thousands of boulders to be climbed out there. I have shared many new areas and problems on this site, with the intention that climbers will enjoy them. But as I often have said in the past, I would encourage boulderers to think outside the box, not follow the trends and get out there and find some adventure for yourself!

You know, if there was such a thing in climbing ↩
Probably not ↩

News & Notes – 9/14/2011 from Climbing Narcissist

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Plan For Development Near Red Rock Gets Initial Approval

Narc — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:03:47 +0000

Last week I laid out the proposed plan to develop upwards of 7,000 homes and other buildings just outside of Las Vegas’ Red Rock Canyon. There was an incredible push throughout the climbing community to make our voices heard leading up to the August 17th hearing before the Board of County commissioners where the plan would be up for initial approval. Unfortunately, as often seems the case these days, we made our voices heard, but it seems as though nobody was really listening in the first place.

The board voted 5-2 to approve a “conceptual” plan to build 4,700 homes and a business park, and with lines like this:

In the end, lawyers, not residents, appeared to sway commissioners.

and this:

Still, to deny Rhodes’ plan now, the county would have to back up that action in court with facts supporting the contention that the project should not be built and not simply point to public sentiment being against the project, said Rob Warhola, deputy district attorney.

The county has no solid data showing the project will hurt Red Rock, he said, adding that people’s feelings carry no legal weight.

in the Las Vegas Review Journal’s story about the meeting it doesn’t really give much cause for optimism.

However, according to some updates posted to MountainProject during the hearing there were conditions put on the approval relating to density and BLM access so perhaps there is still some hope?

Plan For Development Near Red Rock Gets Initial Approval from Climbing Narcissist

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News & Notes – 8/17/2011

Narc — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:31:47 +0000

News…

Jorg Verhoeven had a good week recently redpointing Hades (5.14d) at the “God Wall” in Nassereith, Austria and sending The Never Ending Story (V14, although V13 is getting mentioned a lot these days) in Magic Wood, Switzerland.
Adam Pustelnik and Nico Favresse teamed up to make the first repeat of the much-hyped multi-pitch Orbayu on the Naranjo de Bulnes formation in Picos de Europa, Spain. The climb was first done in 2009 by the Pou brother Eneko and Iker with difficulties suggested up to 5.14c/d. In this report on Black Diamond’s website Favresse and Pustelnik confirm the quality of the line but humbly suggest that most of the pitches felt easier with difficulties “only” up to 5.14a or b. Best wishes to Pustelnik as he was badly injured in a ground-fall attempting a new route after the Orbayu ascent.
According to her 8a scorecard Audrey Sniezek redpointed her first 5.13d in Porn Star at Washington’s Little Si.
I had to double-check my calendar to make sure it wasn’t April Fool’s Day after Jonathan Siegrist posted some pictures of a huge swoop of blue limestone south of Salt Lake City called The Hoop. That rock can’t be in American can it? Apparently it is, and Siegrist had made the trip there to do some work on a video project for Arc’teryx. Like a true professional he managed to throw down a repeat of Chris Sharma’s “savage, delicate and powerful” Moose Licks (5.14b) after four tries.
Sasha DiGiulian blogs about her win at the European Youth Cup in Imst, Austria.
Since breaking his back in a fall in Rifle last summer Josh Wharton won the 2011 Ouray Mixed Climbing comp, enchained three summits in Patagonia and now he’s done the FFA of the Dunn-Westbay route on the iconic Diamond of Longs Peak:

On the day of the free ascent I stumble and fall, and generally epic before sending the crux pitch on my third try of the day. Above, I fall again, cramping and fighting wet rock on numerous sections of tricky 5.12. The rope gets pulled and I manage to put it all together for the first free ascent. I’m tired for a week.

…and Notes

The Access Fund is looking for your feedback on a series of grant proposals
The 2011 Bouldering World Cup wraps up this weekend in Munich, Germany. Scheduled to compete for Team America will be Daniel Woods, Alex Puccio, Courtney Sanders, Sasha DiGiulian and Audrey Sniezek. Watch the comp live starting Friday at IFSC.tv.
Speaking of amazing looking rock
The Outdoor Retailer Trade show has come and gone. I don’t know if I’ve just been conditioned by my overlord Steve Jobs to want to run out and buy new products the second I see them or what, but I find the product cycles of the outdoor industry to be a bit frustrating. Some interesting products are being unveiled but it seems like you are lucky if they are actually released within 12 months of being unveiled. That said, for an overview of some products you might see at some point in the future check out the OR recap from Splitter Choss as well as part 1 and part 2 of DPM’s coverage.
Today is the last day to enter for a chance to win a free download of Better Than Chocoloate
On Saturday, August 27th the Rifle Climbers’ Coalition will be putting on the 2011 Rifle Rendez-S.P.E.W in conjuction with the annual clean-up day. More on how you can compete in the elaborately thought out game of S.P.E.W. here.

In southern California? Head out to Carlsbad to meet Steph Davis and Chris Sharma tonight at the SoCal premier of Chuck Fryberger’s latest movie, The Scene.

Comping up September 2-5 is the Skaha Climbing Festival in Penticton, BC, Canada. The event will have the usual array of clinics, competitions, gear demos and appearances by Will Stanhope and Beth Rodden.

News & Notes – 8/17/2011 from Climbing Narcissist

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