ClimbingNarc.com » Sport Climbing

Climbing Video: Jacinda Hunter On Fantasy Island (5.14b)

Narc — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:00:54 +0000

Check out this nice piece put together by Mike Call that highlights Jacinda Hunter on a route she recently did the FA of in American Fork Canyon, UT, called Fantasy Island (5.14b):

Jacinda Hunter: Driving Force from Prana Living on Vimeo.

I’m personally very impressed anytime someone with a job and a family is able to push their limits like Hunter does (regardless of whether or not it happens to be 5.14) but her accomplishments seem especially impressive. Nice work!

Climbing Video: Jacinda Hunter On Fantasy Island (5.14b) from ClimbingNarc.com

Ten Sleep

Narc — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:11:10 +0000

As a sport climbing area Ten Sleep, WY was lurking somewhat under the radar nationally until James Litz blew through town last year establishing a slew of 5.14s over the course of a single season. This summer, the ever-psyched Joe Kinder setup shop in Ten Sleep, and he’s been reporting back on 5.14 getting sent by both himself and local Alli Rainey as well as chronicling his never-ending search for the next ill gnar cave to bolt.

Then there is the Ten Sleep guidebook written by Aaron Huey. Oh my, what a guidebook. If you’ve seen the book you know what I’m referring to. While it does a very decent job of directing you toward climbs at all the different areas of Ten Sleep that’s not what one takes away from reading the book. From the symbols of patriotism used to denote 5 star routes to the communist/military themed cover to the almost stream of consciousness musings of Huey the book is an interesting read from cover to cover. The book may not be “safe for kids”, but it’s definitely the most unique guidebook I’ve ever seen.

With the news about Ten Sleep fresh in my mind and a copy of the guidebook in hand, Mrs. Narc and I made a brief stop in Ten Sleep over the 4th of July to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out we weren’t the only ones with this idea as evidenced by the parking lot for the Mondo Beyondo on the 4th of July.

Colorado North

So, yeah it was a bit more crowded than perhaps I expected but then again it was the 4th of July. Either way, Ten Sleep is a pretty large area so we didn’t have too many problems finding good routes to get on although many of the “classics” from the guidebook did have lines.

A small portion of the "Mondo Beyondo"

The one thing that jumped out at me on all the routes we climbed was how closely bolted everything was. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, but just be prepared to stop and clip pretty often.

Slavery Wall

Overall, the few routes we did try were quite fun and my only regret was that I wasn’t strong enough we didn’t have more time to try some of the harder routes the canyon had to offer. If I had to pick a favorite of the routes I did do I’d say that Save The Best For Last (5.11) at Wall of Denial was my favorite with School’s Out (5.10d) at Slavery Wall a close second.

There's rock everywhere in Ten Sleep Canyon

An added bonus to visiting Ten Sleep over the 4th of July is the celebration the town of Ten Sleep has throughout the weekend. The rodeo alone made the entire trip to Ten Sleep worth it. Don’t miss it if you have the chance. There’s also a very low key climber gathering that coincides with the 4th of July weekend every year that we did not get a chance to check out, but I suspect it was very enjoyable for those who did attend.

From Ten Sleep we made our way further west, stopping in the Tetons and Yellowstone before heading north to Glacier National Park. Here are some photos from the rest of our journey:

Ten Sleep from ClimbingNarc.com

Climbing Video: Bret Johnston Sending Dr. Evil (5.14a)

Narc — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:14:40 +0000

Bret Johnston Sending Dr. Evil (5.14a) Climbing Video: Bret Johnston Sending Dr. Evil (5.14a) from ClimbingNarc.com Related posts:Dave Graham Climbing Necessary Evil (5.14c) Climbing Video: Jonathan Siegrist Sending Lucifer (5.14c) Climbing Video: Joel Zerr Sending The Ashtray Climbing Video: Jesse Bonin Sending Party Animal (V13) Climbing Video: Mike Personick Sending Down In Flames (V12) In [...]

Climbing Video: Bret Johnston Sending Dr. Evil (5.14a) from ClimbingNarc.com

Things That Happened While I Was Away

Narc — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:43:10 +0000

It would be nearly impossible for me to recap all that took place in the climbing world during my 2+ week absence, but here are a few topics that caught my eye…

Bouldering World Cup Season Winds Down

The 2010 Bouldering World Cup held its penultimate event in Sheffield, England with American Alex Johnson finishing a close 2nd to Belgium’s Chloé Graftiaux. Some kid named Adam Ondra won for the men. The season wraps up next weekend with a comp in Munich, Germany.

World Cup Bouldering at Cliffhanger 2010 from UKClimbing.com TV on Vimeo.

3 In A Day For Honnold & Leary

Alex Honnold capped off a pretty impressive season in Yosemite when he teamed up with Sean “Stanley” Leary to climb 3 routes (The Nose, Salathe Wall & Lurking Fear) on El Cap in under 24 hours. You’ll remember that last year the pair attempted to climb 2 routes on El Cap and the NW Face of Half Dome in 24 hours but were stymied by heat after finishing the 2 routes on El Cap.

The Youth Is Starting To Change

Some of America’s best young climbers competed in the 2010 Youth Sport Climbing National Championships at the awe-inspiring new gym Stone Summit in Atlanta for a place on the U.S. Youth National Team. Team members will travel to Edinburgh, Scotland for the Youth World Championships in September.

Futher Reading:

Wolverineland

Lincoln Lake Wolverineland at Mt. Evans, CO is the place to be and be seen this summer if you are a boulderer living in Colorado. Among the notable new lines are 2 V14s established by Daniel Woods, Evil Backwards and Death Trout, both of which were repeated by Dave Graham and Jon Cardwell. For further reading and some pretty excellent pictures check out these blogs:

Via the DBC’s website is this nice video of John Gass sending the area classic Unshackled (V9/10), a line that was recently flashed by Angie Payne:

Lincoln HD from John Gass on Vimeo.

In semi-related high country bouldering news, Jon Glassberg put together a nice archive of RMNP bouldering videos that you can check out here.

Things That Happened While I Was Away from ClimbingNarc.com

5.14b FA By Jacinda Hunter In Utah

Narc — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:48:29 +0000

According to her 8a scorecard, Jacinda Hunter has done the first ascent of a long-standing project in Utah’s American Fork Canyon suggesting a grade of 5.14b for the route she is calling Fantasy Island. In and interview with Hunter done by DPM earlier this year she had this to say about the then project:

The “project” is something I had been working for months. Just before all the snow, I actually fell off the very last move on the route. It was heartbreaking to be so close and then have to take a break from it. But I figure it’s not going anywhere so I hope to get back there in a few weeks. That route is very different climbing because it is steep. It has small holds for the angle and once you pull on, there is no rest. I have to just power through right till the end. It’s a total power endurance fest climbing out the cave

This is Hunter’s 2nd 5.14b, the other coming last year when she did the FFA of Breaking The Law at southern Utah’s Black and Tan.

Photo courtesy of Prana

5.14b FA By Jacinda Hunter In Utah from ClimbingNarc.com

Brief News & Notes – 6/28/2010

Narc — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:43:53 +0000

Here are a few stories that caught my attention over the past few days:

Via the Twitter feed of Max Zolotukhin comes word that Mike Foley repeated China Glide (5.14d), a link-up of China Beach (5.14b) and Livin’ Astro (5.14c), in Rumney, NH.
Out in Colorado, Jamie Emerson reports that Alex Puccio flashed Fireball (V10) in RMNP. Not to be outdone, Chris Webb Parsons flashed both Fireball and Stranger In A Strange Land (V12).
Jamie has also been spending time out at Mt. Evans where many new problems have been established of late, most notably a new V13 called The Great War for Civilisation that was found by Dave Graham and first climbed by Daniel Woods. Check out a few pictures of Graham trying the line here.
UrbanClimber caught up with Angie Payne after her recent repeat of Clear Blue Skies (V11/12) at Mt. Evans for a nice interview.
Dmitry Sharafutdinov and Anna Stohr won the most recent Bouldering World Cup in Eindhoven. Other notable finishes were Canadian Sean McColl who finished a close 2nd and American Alex Johnson who finished 9th. Results can be found here and a few pictures can be found here.
For whatever reason there have been a fair number of accidents lately in Colorado’s Eldorado Canyon including 1 fatality last week. Just this past weekend 2 climbers were attempting to climb 100 pitches in a day when the leader took a bad fall. It appears he is going to live, but this report by the other member of the party is a thorough and pretty fascinating read. (Thanks to Peter Beal’s facebook page for that link)
Mrs. Narc and I are hitting the road in a few days for a much anticipated road trip out west through Wyoming and Montana. This means two weeks of fun for us, but it also means that updates to this blog will be fleeting at best. You’ve been warned…

Brief News & Notes – 6/28/2010 from ClimbingNarc.com

News & Notes – 6/22/2010

Narc — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:55:09 +0000

News…

Joe Kinder did the FA of 5.14bs Less Than Zero and Sodom and Gamorrah at an undisclosed location in UT. He also flashed Cross Town (5.13d).
Kairn. com reports that 12-year old Shawn Raboutou, son of well-known climbers Robyn Erbesfield and Didier Raboutou, did his first 5.14a Attention on vous regarde in St. Antonin, France.
Nearing the end of his latest road trip, Jonathan Siegrist ticked off Problem Child (5.14c) at Deep Creek, WA.
Anna Stohr and Adam Ondra won the most recent Bouldering World Cup held in Moscow. American Alex Johnson finished 13th and she is 4th in the overall standings after 4 events.
Jimmy Webb‘s nice summer continued over the past few weeks according to his 8a scorecard which shows repeats in RMNP of the super long Aslan (V14, 5th ascent?) and the classic testpiece The Automator (V13). Here’s some “old” video of Ty Landman on the 2nd ascent of Aslan:

On the heels of his victory at the Vail World Cup, Daniel Woods made a quick trip to Brazil where he banked $2,500 for winning a comp and repeated a couple of the area v13s. (UKClimbing)
Dave Wetmore realized a long time goal last week when he finally clipped the chains on Parallel Universe (5.14a) in Rumney, NH:

Parallel Universe (5.14a): Dave Wetmore (LT11) from David Wetmore on Vimeo.

…And Notes

Even the idea of a climbing gym is technologically incredibly easy. If I had, as a teenager, a little wall like the one in my own house that I have now, I could well have been climbing 5.14 in 1980, not 5.11. But “real” climbing meant outside on real rock so that climbers were constrained by rock-type, weather, dark of night, and available free time.

Check out 27crags.com, a new sort of hyrbid site that hopes to combine the aspects of popular sites like Mountainproject, Rockclimbing.com and blogs into one destination. Their online topo editor definitely looks cool.

I’ve been a bit busy lately and rather out of the loop. What else is going on? Any other cool stories out there?

News & Notes – 6/22/2010 from ClimbingNarc.com

Accident At New River Gorge Offers Learning Experience

Narc — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:15:26 +0000

Over the weekend there was a tragic accident at West Virginia’s New River Gorge where a woman fell to her death from the anchors of a route she was preparing to clean. While the exact details are not clear, the informed speculation is that the potentially incorrect usage of Petzl STRINGs on both of the woman’s anchor slings could have caused the accident.

The scenario is a bit hard to explain in words, but this video does a pretty good job of depicting what can go wrong when you use rubber bands or something like the Petzl STRING on open webbing slings. There is also this explicit warning on the Petzl website that shows what can go wrong as well.

I don’t think I’ve ever used this kind of setup personally, but I’ll admit that I never realized the possible consequences of it either. Hopefully this sad story can at least have the positive effect of helping people avoid this potentially dangerous scenario.

Obviously none of this speculation will help ease the pain of those who knew this woman. My thoughts are definitely with them in this tough time.

Accident At New River Gorge Offers Learning Experience from ClimbingNarc.com

Climbing Video: Mike Foley Sending Livin’ Astroglide (5.14c) In Rumney

Narc — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:53:29 +0000

I mentioned the other week that Mike Foley had repeated Livin’ Astroglide (hard 5.14c) at Rumney’s Waimea wall. The route links together two tough Dave Graham routes by climbing the majority of Livin’ Astro (easy 5.14c) and then traversing left into the crux of China Beach (5.14b).

Courtesty of Dave Wetmore, here is video of Foley climbing the rig:

Livin’ AstroGlide (5.14c/d) from David Wetmore on Vimeo.

Climbing Video: Mike Foley Sending Livin’ Astroglide (5.14c) In Rumney from ClimbingNarc.com

5.14a FFA For Paige Claasen In Washington

Narc — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:48:29 +0000

In his latest blog entry Jonathan Siegrist reports that Paige Claasen has done the FFA of Motley Crux (5.14a) at Deep Creek near Spokane, WA. 5.14a FFA For Paige Claasen In Washington from ClimbingNarc.com Related posts:Jonathan Siegrist, American Gangster In Yangshuo Jonathan Siegrist Is Motivated, Sends Lucifer (5.14c) With Quickness New V14 From Daniel Woods [...]

5.14a FFA For Paige Claasen In Washington from ClimbingNarc.com

Climbing Video: Enzo Oddo Climbing GoGo (5.14b)

Narc — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:57:38 +0000

Enzo Oddo Climbing GoGo (5.14b) Climbing Video: Enzo Oddo Climbing GoGo (5.14b) from ClimbingNarc.com Related posts:Climbing Video: 14 year old Enzo Oddo Climbing Chocholocco (5.14d) Popular Posts & Video For June 2010 One Less Excuse Climbing Video: Toni Lamprecht Sport Climbing In The Gorge du Verdon Climbing Video: Liuyong Bang Sport Climbing In Yangshuo, China [...]

Climbing Video: Enzo Oddo Climbing GoGo (5.14b) from ClimbingNarc.com

News & Notes – 05/26/2010

Narc — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:25:38 +0000

After an endless stream of frustrating injuries I’ve somehow managed to climb on real rock 4 of the last 5 weekends with another trip to the Red River Gorge in the plans for the coming 3 day weekend. The main ingredient in this mostly pain-free stretch has been my avoidance of bouldering of any kind which is bad because I really like bouldering, but it’s also good because climbing anything is a good feeling at this point. Remember kids: climbing anything is better than climbing nothing at all. Trust me on that one.

Now that we have that pearl of wisdom out of the way here are some News & Notes:

Tune in this Friday at either 11:00 AM or 1:30 PM EST (depends on the weather apparently) to catch live coverage of the women’s qualifying round for the Bouldering World Cup in Vienna, Austria where Alex Johnson is scheduled to compete. Vienna World Cup Live Stream
Jonathan Siegrist and Paige Claasen just wrapped up a pretty decent 2 week trip to Oregon’s Smith Rocks. In addition to a handful of 5.12 and 5.13 onsights Siegrist managed to put down 5.14a’s Bad Man, Scarface, Mr. Yuck, Chemical Ali and To Bolt Or Not To Be in short order. Claasen had an excellent trip as well with sends of White Wedding (5.13d) and Churning In The Wake (5.13a) and flashes of Darkness at Noon (5.13a) and Kings of Rap (5.12d). Check out Siegrist’s latest blog entries for the full story.

Jonathan Siegrist on To Bolt Or Not To Be (5.14a) at Smith Rocks State Park

Photo: Andy Mann

Mike Foley repeated Livin’ Astroglide (5.14c), a variation of Dave Graham’s Livin’ Astro first done by Joe Kinder, at Rumney’s Waimea Wall
For every new fan of Spadout.com on Facebook by May 31st Spadout will donate $1 to the Access Fund
DPM has a couple of videos up from the Hueco season that are worth watching: Jackie Hueftle on Butterpumper and Alex Puccio on Tequila Sunrise
Mike McClure did what he believes to be a first ascent in the Taco Cave at Idaho’s Castle Rock. The Consolation Prize (V13) follows roughly the same line as James Litz’s unrepeated Warpath, diverging near the end to make a slightly easier but longer problem.

Why doesn’t Boulder, CO have any climbing festivals??
Daniel Woods blogs about (among other things) his new tattoo and his thoughts on where the sport is going.
Transcript of a recent interview with John Long where he gives his opinion on a wide range of topics including why he tried steroids
Other than the fact that the route Cell Block Six (5.12c) at the Red River Gorge is amazing and I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t try it soon there is something that really struck me while watching this video. Can you spot it??

Cell Block Six from Sean Stewart on Vimeo.

There’s something oddly amusing about seeing huge boulders in RMNP almost completely buried in snow
Alex Honnold is teaming up with Ueli Steck, who is best known for his fast solos of big alpine routes in Europe, to make a run at the speed record for climbing The Nose on El Capitan held by Hans Florine and Yuji Hirayama. Here’s a short clip of Honnold and Steck working out the King Swing roughly half way up the wall. What do people think about these speed climbing records. Do you care??

Alex and Uli speed climbing The Nose on 5.20.10 from Chris Falkenstein on Vimeo.

The 2010 Reel Rock Tour filmmaking contest is still going on with entries dues by July 20th:

The 2010 REEL ROCK Filmmaking Competition is on. We want your best 2 minute climbing-related film. This year there are no categories. The best entries will be posted online this summer, and we’ll award two prizes – an Audience Award as determined by online voting, and the Judges’ Choice Award, determined by the filmmakers of the REEL ROCK Tour

The winners will be announced at the Boulder premiere Sept.16th, 2010, and will be featured on the tour. Winning filmmakers will win mega prize packages from our title sponsors, Windstopper and The North Face, including outerwear, tents, sleeping bags, and the works, and supporting sponsors Petzl and Evolv are throwing down climbing gear and shoes. We also have two new sponsors this year who are helping to sweeten the pot. Sterling Rope makes the lightest, best-handling climbing ropes in the world, and they’re throwing two of em into the mix. And Goal0 is an exciting new company making rugged, renewable power solutions for adventurers around the world. They’re offering a Sherpa Adventure Kit, which is the perfect way for all you filmmakers out there to keep your cameras and laptops charged while out on a shooting expedition. And if all that gear is not enough enticement, we’re also giving $500 cash to each winner. So get out there and make some magic!

Submission deadline for the competition is July 20. Check out the http://www.reelrocktour.com/ site for full rules and to watch last year’s winning films.

News & Notes – 05/26/2010 from ClimbingNarc.com

5.14d FA By Chris Sharma

Narc — Wed, 19 May 2010 11:41:06 +0000

Daila Ojeda reports that Chris Sharma did the FA of Era Bella (5.14d) in Margalef, Spain. Check her blog for a couple of pictures.

5.14d FA By Chris Sharma from ClimbingNarc.com

The Insiders: A New Short From Big Up Productions

Narc — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:07:42 +0000

Big Up Productions just released a short film they shot back in March at Massachusetts’ Central Rock Gym with athletes Ashima Shiraishi, Paul Robinson, Sasha DiGiulian and Vasya Vorotnikov. The goal of the short was to “capture the energy and physical thrill of gym climbing and training”. Did they succeed? Decide for yourself:

Stick around after the credits if you dare…

Via Facebook & Matador Sports

The Insiders: A New Short From Big Up Productions from ClimbingNarc.com

Potential New 5.14b At The New River Gorge

Narc — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:20:17 +0000

On the heels of completing the new New River Gorge guidebook and in the midst of a serious house on wheels construction project, Mike Williams has opened a potential 5.14b in West Virginia’s New River Gorge. Dubbed Trebuchet, Williams’ line tacks a hard boulder problem and a pumpy redpoint crux on top of an existing 5.13b to create a 100 foot pitch of “simply unbelievable” climbing. Williams is admittedly unsure of the grade but has proposed 5.14b:

I think this route is 14b. It is the hardest route I’ve done and one of the hardest I’ve tried which makes it hard to grade. the only route I’ve spent time on that’s harder is also a project so I have no idea how hard this route actually is. It may be 14a. I tried to compare it to many different routes in many areas to tack down a number. It is for sure a big step harder than Proper Soul (5.14a). It is harder than Mango Tango (5.14a).

With the likes of Chris Sharma, Joe Kinder, Chris Lindner, Matt Wilder and Nick Duttle scheduled to appear at the New River Gorge for this weekend’s New River Rendezvous it will be interesting to see if anyone will get on Trebuchet and give Williams a second opinion. If not this weekend then Williams isn’t so optimistic:

Again, regardless of the grade, this is certainly one of the finest pieces of rock I’ve ever touched. I’d say it’s destined to be a classic but due to it’s location at the New River Gorge it will probably never get climbed on. Maybe someday people will wake up to how good the hard climbing is here. We’ll see.

Check out Williams’ blog for the full rundown (including pictures) of Trebuchet.

And since we’re talking about the New River Gorge now seems like as good a time as any to repost this classic footage of Joel Brady repeating Mango Tango at the New. I can still remember seeing this for the first time on ClimbXMedia back in the day. Such a fun looking line!

Update: In the comments Mike Williams also points out that Pat Goodman established a new 5.13+ trad route called Acharya the same day he did Trebuchet.

Potential New 5.14b At The New River Gorge from ClimbingNarc.com

Trip To The Red & CO Bouldering News

Narc — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:09:49 +0000

This weekend Mrs. Narc and I made a quick trip to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky, leaving after 7 pm Friday and returning before 7pm on Sunday. Over 1,000 miles of driving, 16+ hours spent in the car, 1 sleep-inducing midnight traffic jam in Indianapolis and 1 night spent in a thin walled motel room next to a couple that just got married. All for a quick 1.5 days of climbing. Was it worth it??? OF COURSE!

We started Saturday at the Chocolate Factory, a crag that is home to probably the most fun 5.10 sport route at the Red you should never visit because there are no fun routes . In the afternoon we ventured over to the Motherlode where I managed to finally send a route after 9 years of very sporadic failures attempts on a variety of lines there. I almost did a 2nd before coming to my senses and falling right before the last bolt. Sunday was spent at Phantasia where I managed to monkey my way up the insanely steep jug haul known as Twinkie (5.12a, how did I never try this route before???) before hitting the road.

After spending 95% of my climbing days at the Red over the years sweating and battling the humidity it was a real treat to climb in the amazing 60 degree, sunny and windy conditions that persisted throughout the weekend. Don’t look now, but I may be turning into a sport climber…

In actual climbing news that can be augmented with video, Jimmy Webb and Brion Voges both made quick repeats of Dave Graham’s Poudre Canyon classic Circadian Rhythm (V13) over the weekend. Check out some video of their sends below. The video also includes Webb making a fast 2nd try ascent of Both Sides Of The Spectrum (V12) in RMNP’s Moraine Park.

Colorado 1 from Jimmy Webb on Vimeo.

First vid of the season!

Including:

Both sides of the spectrum v12
Canopener V11
Whats left of the bottom of my Heart V12
Tilt Sit V8
Circadian Rhythm V13

Rumblings on the interwebs seem to indicate a confluence of very strong climbers in Colorado this summer. Should be interesting to see how the alpine season shapes up!

Trip To The Red & CO Bouldering News from ClimbingNarc.com

Alan Cassidy Climbing Rollito Sharma Extension (5.14b) in Santa Linya

Narc — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:15:01 +0000

Alan Cassidy Climbing Rollito Sharma Extension (5.14b) in Santa Linya Alan Cassidy Climbing Rollito Sharma Extension (5.14b) in Santa Linya from ClimbingNarc.com Related posts:Popular Posts & Videos For May 2010 Climbing Video: Chris Sharma On First Round First Minute, Neanderthal FA Chris Sharma, Neanderthal Among Boys Sharma & Usobiaga Repeat Andrada 5.15a Excellent Alan Watts [...]

Alan Cassidy Climbing Rollito Sharma Extension (5.14b) in Santa Linya from ClimbingNarc.com

News & Notes – 05/05/2010

Narc — Wed, 05 May 2010 13:45:21 +0000

Before we get to the news spraydown there are several lingering access related issues I’ve been meaning to post about:

Last year Draper’s Bluff in southern Illinois was closed to climbing due to changes in liability laws for private landownders in the state. Legislation is currently under consideration that would restore protections to landowners, and the Illinois Climbers Association has information posted on their site about how you can write letters of support whether you’re a resident of Illinois or not.
The Bureau of Land Management has banned climbing on 400 acres near Castle Rocks State Park in Idaho (Access Fund)
Muir Valley, an extremely popular sub-sector of the Red River Gorge, could use your help (especially in light of the recent flooding that took place over the weekend).
Red Rocks outside Las Vegas, NV is facing the possibility of some urban sprawl (Access Fund). If anyone has a more recent update on this please let me know in the comments.
A portion of the Southeast Face of El Capitan has been closed until at least August 1st (Touchstone Climbing)
Petzl and the Access Fund are teaming up to release the Petzl All Access DVD. For $10 you get a DVD loaded with 10 short climbing clips with all proceeds going to the Access Fund. You can get a copy at either the Access Fund Store or on Mountain Gear (although I don’t see it listed on either right now). Here is the list of segments being featured:
- Catching Reality – Emil Sergel
- Hey Presto – Paul Diffley, Hot Aches Productions
- Infinity Lane – TLC Productions
- Medeoz – Guillaume Broust
- PURE: Sonoma County with Kevin Jorgeson – Chuck Fryberger
- Steph Davis – Sender Films
- Steve McClure, Hubble – Ben Pritchard
- Weeks Before Winter, featuring Chris Sharma – Mike Call
- Plus a bonus film, Blind and Naked, by Cedar Wright, and an Access Fund message from Big Up Productions’ Josh Lowell.

News…

Adam Ondra recently made a trip to England to sample some of the well known limestone sport routes found at Kilnsey and Malham Cove, and he experienced a level of success that is almost not surprising at this point. In the matter of just a few days he managed to onsight a handful of 5.13d’s and redpoint 2 Steve McClure 5.14d’s Northern Lights and Northstar. He was stymied by McClure’s unrepeated Overshadow (5.15a) for which he has vowed to return. You can check out some photos from his trip at the blog of Keith Sharples. Via Planetmountain is this video which shows Steve McClure climbing at Malham Cove:

B3Bouldering reports that Jimmy Webb has made a quick 1 day ascent of Suspension Of Disbelief (V13) in Eldorado Canyon, CO for the problem’s 3rd ascent. First done by Dave Graham in 2005, Suspension only saw a second ascent after several days of work by Daniel Woods.
Following up on last week’s post on Dai Koyamada’s trip to Switzerland is news that Koyamada repeated Remembrance of Things Past (V14). Remembrance was first done by Daniel Woods who then went back and added a lower start that became In Search Of Time Lost (V15).
52 year-old Stevie Haston redpointed Hugh (5.14d) at Les Eaux Claire, France. UKClimbing has a nice timeline that follows the progression of Haston’s long climbing career.

… And Notes

Jon Cardwell checks in with the Petzl Blog to detail his recent experiences living in Europe
Joe Kinder has had a really interesting and funny series of posts lately covering the odd jobs he’s had over the years as a vagabond climber. Check out his posts titled Some Of My Random Jobs, Cell Phone Radiation Assembly Line, Dishwasher and Game Meat Sales.
Dave MacLeod reposted an excellent, long and very detailed essay he wrote on pulley injuries. A must read even if it is a bit technical for the average reader.
Via the Lloyd’s blog is this excellent article about the climbing around Lander, WY, a place I’m very excited to be visiting again this summer for a very brief 1 day stop during our trip out west.
I got a chance to try out the new Red River Gorge iPhone app last weekend and overall it worked extremely well. I have to say it was really nice to simply pull my phone out of my pocket to walk around the crag and look for routes. There are some issues though, most of which have been highlighted in this post at RedRiverClimbing. Fortunately the digital platform makes correcting problems relatively easy. Here’s a short video put together by the publisher that highlights some features of the app:

News & Notes – 05/05/2010 from ClimbingNarc.com

Climbing Video: Yuji Hirayama Climbing 5.14 In Turkey

Narc — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:14:33 +0000

Yuji Hirayama Climbing 5.14 In Turkey Climbing Video: Yuji Hirayama Climbing 5.14 In Turkey from ClimbingNarc.com Related posts:Yuji Hirayama: Older, Wiser…And Still Pretty Strong Climbing Video: Daniel Woods Climbing 5.14 In Turkey The North Face’s Free Range Turkey Masters Of Stone VI Preview: Hans & Yuji Nose Speed Record Footage Huber Brothers El Capitan Speed [...]

Climbing Video: Yuji Hirayama Climbing 5.14 In Turkey from ClimbingNarc.com

Climbing Video: Daniel Woods Climbing 5.14 In Turkey

Narc — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:28:53 +0000

Daniel Woods Climbing 5.14 In Turkey Climbing Video: Daniel Woods Climbing 5.14 In Turkey from ClimbingNarc.com Related posts:Climbing Video: Battle In The Bubble Part 2 With Daniel Woods Climbing Video: Yuji Hirayama Climbing 5.14 In Turkey Climbing Videos: Daniel Woods Climbing MYD (5.14c) in Rodellar Climbing Video: Daniel Woods “The Game” (V16) Teaser First 5.14d [...]

Climbing Video: Daniel Woods Climbing 5.14 In Turkey from ClimbingNarc.com

Origins Episode 1: Joshua Tree

Narc — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:12:10 +0000

Continuing yesterday’s theme of companies sponsoring cool media concepts is the new “Origins” film series brought to us by evolv and Mountain Gear. In collaboration with Sender Films & Big Up they are creating a series of shorts that are “about the new school paying homage to their heroes of the past, exploring climbing’s history, and revisiting some iconic (and iconoclastic) accomplishments of previous generations.”

The first installment follows Chris Lindner and Kurt Smith as Lindner tries to do the first repeat of Smith’s forgotten testpiece Dunce Cap (5.13a) in Joshua Tree, CA. Check it:

Installment #2 will apparently feature Lisa Rands and Peter Croft so that’s something to look forward to.

Origins Episode 1: Joshua Tree from ClimbingNarc.com

The North Face’s Free Range Turkey

Narc — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:23:50 +0000

Building on their growing reputation as a company that supports innovative climbing/multimedia trips The North Face recently sent several of their athletes to Antalaya, Turkey to explore the sport climbing scene there. Dubbed Free Range Turkey, the trip includes the likes of Daniel Woods, Emily Harrington, Yuji Hirayama, Eneko Pou, Sam Elias and James Pearson with Renan Ozturk, Jimmy Chin and Boone Speed on board to help capture media for our viewing pleasure. Here is one of their first dispatches that gives you an idea what the scene is like in Antalaya:

You can follow the Free Range Turkey trip at multiple sources right now:

Emily Harrington is posting blog entries at TNF’s Never Stop Exploring blog. In a recent post she details a nasty spill she took before reaching the first bolt on a route. Ouch!
Sam Elias has been posting entires on his blog BookOfSamuel.com
Renan Ozturk is sending back video dispatches to Camp4Collective, his new media collaboration with Tim Kemple and Jimmy Chin
Daniel Woods has been posting tons of updates on his blog never updates his blog. Dude!

The North Face’s Free Range Turkey from ClimbingNarc.com

News & Notes – 4/14/2010

Narc — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:23:06 +0000

15 Question with Daniel Woods
Sasha DiGiulian had a good trip to the Red River Gorge late last month sending multiple 5.13s. Also at the Red, young Alex D Johnson (not to be confused with Alexandra Johnson) had a nice spring break trip himself sending a slew of 5.13s. I had the personal pleasure of watching his impressive flash of Kaleidoscsope (5.13c). Look for more from Alex in the next couple of years.
Alex Honnold did his first 5.14c last week when he sent The Green Mile at California’s Jailhouse.
Pump Factory Road did a superb interview with Core filmmaker Chuck Fryberger recently that touches a wide range of topics from filmmaking to red tags to the difficulties of releasing a movie on Blu Ray to the relationships between athletes and film companies. Definitely check this one out.
Speaking of Core, there are several showings coming up including one at Ohio State University on April 16th. Also at OSU is an evening with Sonnie Trotter on April 23rd

What can you say about Adam Ondra? The kid is just an amazing climber. He recently did another 5.15 FA when he cleaned up an old project in Cornalba, Italy that he dubbed Goldrake. Here’s some video of Ondra working the route:

Sam Davis adds The Stewardess (V13) to Arizona’s Priest Draw
Cool gallery of images featuring Rob D’Anastasio and Stephen Meinhold on Still Life (5.14b) at Summersville Lake, West Virginia
Excellent discussion at DreamInVertical about how to address safety concerns at the crag
Advice from Black Diamond about how to re-sling Cams
The new New River Gorge guidebook is now available
Want someone to pay you to be a climbing bum this summer??
TheLowDown interviews Paul Robinson about his Lucid Dreaming FA
Climbers in Atlanta are about to get a lot better at route climbing
The Teva Mountain Games announced their 2010 climbing schedule:

CLIMBING EVENT SCHEDULE

·IFSC BOULDERING WORLD CUP Presented by Pyramide
A crowd favorite, this event features some of the best internationally-ranked climbers all climbing at the base of Vail mountain in the heart of Vail.
DATE: Friday, June 4, 2010 (Qualifiers); Saturday, June 5, 2010 (Semi-Finals & Finals)
TIME: Friday, June 4 @ 9am (Qualifiers); Saturday, June 5 @ 10am (Semi-Finals); Saturday, June 5 @ 3:45pm (Finals)
LOCATION: Mountain Plaza, Vista Bahn Lawn, Vail

·CITIZEN BOULDERING COMPETITION Presented by Pyramide
The object is to complete climbing problems which require a serious blend of gymnastic ability, superb concentration and grip strength. With 32 graded problems to choose from, competitors are scored by their best 4 ascents.
DATE: Sunday, June 6, 2010
TIME: 11am – 1:30pm (Wave 1); 2pm – 4:30pm (Wave 2)
LOCATION: Mountain Plaza, Vista Bahn Lawn, Vail

·YOUTH BOULDERING COMPETITION Presented by Pyramide
This competition showcases up and coming climbers who are developing the future of this sport. Amateur youth competitions will show their talents in a fun and exciting bouldering format. The object is to complete problems, which require a serious blend of gymnastic ability, superb concentration and grip strength. With 32 graded problems to choose from, competitors are scored by their best 4 ascents. (Open to competitors born in 1991 or before.)
DATE: Sunday, June 6, 2010
TIME: 8 – 10:30am
LOCATION: Mountain Plaza, Vista Bahn Lawn, Vail

News & Notes – 4/14/2010 from ClimbingNarc.com

Big Up’s Take On First Round First Minute

Narc — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:36:27 +0000

At this point the “controversy” surrounding Chris Sharma’s First Round First Minute project has been well documented and more or less run its course. However, since I was unable to post about this at the time I wanted to be sure and share the take of Josh Lowell from Big Up Productions as his opinion seems especially pertinent:

This internet controversy about First Round First Minute has gotten out of hand. I respect everyone’s right to debate the pluses and minuses of a nebulous concept like red-tagging. But I hope people will remember that this is not a big conflict between Chris and Nalle, only between observers who don’t know either person, have incomplete information, and are generally not involved with equipping routes or making first ascents.

Read his full post here.

Big Up’s Take On First Round First Minute from ClimbingNarc.com

5.14a Onsight For Dave Graham At Oliana

Narc — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:28:04 +0000

A bit quiet of late, Dave Graham onsighted Picos Pardos (5.14a) at Oliana, Spain the other day calling it “a real treat”. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come on his project Papichulo (5.15a).

5.14a Onsight For Dave Graham At Oliana from ClimbingNarc.com

The Lowdown On First Round First Minute

Narc — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:08:12 +0000

A somewhat interesting internet controversy started this week when Nalle Hukkataival mentioned in the comments of his blog that he was “not allowed” to try the very well-known First Round First Minute project in Margalef, Spain during a recent trip there. The FRFM project is well-known of course because it happens to be the main project of one Chris Sharma who also bolted the line. Hukkataival’s thoughts can be summarized with this comment of his:

The lesson here is that if you want to keep your project, don’t put it in the next BigUp release, but if you do, at least don’t let people think it’s open and travel a long way to try it and then suddenly close it (and still not make it publicly known that it’s closed)

Hukkataival’s thoughts touched off a firestorm of comments from readers of this blog and many others who questioned the motives of both Sharma and Big Up Productions. Most people expressed surprise that Sharma would close a project as this seemed out of character while others rightly pointed out that none of us really know the parties involved.

Josh Lowell from Big Up refuted claims that Big Up had anything to do with the closure of FRFM, but many were wondering what Sharma himself had to say about the situation. Despite not being an active participant in the online climbing world Sharma has, in fact, posted his thoughts on the matter on both girlfriend Daila Ojeda’s blog and TheLowDown:

So until recently Id never met or spent anytime with Nalle Hukkataival. He’s obviously a really amazing climber and I really respect the the style of boulder problems that he’s been putting up (big impressive beautiful hard lines). I can understand his draw to a route like FRFM. I guess what was surprising was that he didn’t ask my opinion or permission (not that he needs to, its not illegal or anything we’re just talking about climbing etiquette). I found out his aim that he came to spain specifically try first round by reading his blog. Discussing it with Dani (we were like : “thats strange; he’s never been to spain, where there are so many hard routes to try and he’s planning to go directly to my project”) . Catalunya has a lot of good climbers and in general the locals are pretty respectful about these things, at least to ask is a good policy. I feel that its better to express yourself if you feel like if you don’t your going to be frustrated., So I told Nalle that Id appreciate if he gave me some more time to try to get it done before he started working on it. Obviously he didn’t have to respect my wishes. Its not like I have any power to enforce any sort of climbing laws and not allow someone to try it, I just expressed my feelings. He could have disregarded that and tried it but it seemed that he respected that and gave me some more time and I was very appreciative of that. I pointed him in the direction of several other futuristic projects that I bolted that I thought he would like and it seemed like it was all good.

There is much more from Sharma so I encourage you to read the full post before forming your opinion on the matter…

Update: You can read some more thoughts from Hukkataival here including this interesting nugget:

Later on I found it extremely weird standing there on the ground, watching Dave Graham and Dani Andrada trying FRFM, when I wasn’t allowed to. I totally understand when Chris says he doesn’t want to turn it into a contest to see who does it first, but I surely felt left out standing there below the route, watching others trying it. I don’t think it’s cool to be separating people like that, who’s allowed to try it and who’s not.

The Lowdown On First Round First Minute from ClimbingNarc.com

New 5.14c From Joe Kinder In Southern Utah

Narc — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:46:32 +0000

Joe Kinder bolted and sent Flight Of The Conchords in southern Utah’s Hurricave to yield a new 5.14c. Check his blog and this interview with DPM for more info.

New 5.14c From Joe Kinder In Southern Utah from ClimbingNarc.com

News & Notes – 3/16/2010

Narc — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:00:12 +0000

The spring thaw continues here in Wisconsin, and if last year was any sort of trend the climbing season should be on at Devil’s Lake for the next 8 months or so. I’d be more excited about this development if a) I had done any sort of meaningful training this winter and b) the finger injury I was resting all winter felt any different than it did back in November. WHY???

But enough about me. Here are some News & Notes from people who are out there getting things done:

At the Jailhouse crag in California, Natasha Barnes redpointed Assassin (5.13d) while Alex Honnold redpointed Hacktivism (5.14b) and a new link-up he called Knee To Mile (5.14b). In total, Honnold has now done 7 5.14b’s; all but one coming at the Jailhouse.
GP Salvo has done the first repeat of Tactile Style, a desperate V13 on West Mountain at Hueco Tanks that was first done by Chris Sharma in Dosage IV.
Dean Potter checks in with an interesting post on the Five Ten blog:

Security was the main thing that lacked in my life. As I push towards more and more ultimate dreams on the rock, in the air and on the line I need stability, something to return to. These next years I plan on traveling the world looking for enchanted places where the ultimate in natural-human achievement can be reached. I want to fly free!

Hard new routes are getting done at Colorado’s Shelf Road
It’s not often that an ad on TV causes me to do a double take as I fast forward past it with my DVR, but this American Express commercial featuring Yvon Chouinard was a rare exception:

The HP40 Rocks Comps was a big success with 150 competitors and some 200 spectators on hand to raise over $2500 for various charities. Brad Weaver won the open division by completing an impressive 24 problems rated V7 or harder.
Simon Carter shares a series of excellent photos of a new 5.14b in Australia’s Blue Mountains.
Peter Beal takes an insightful look at volume 1 of the autobiography of Royal Robbins:

Readers looking for climbing narrative will be relatively disappointed. Though the book is bracketed by beautifully written accounts of Robbins’ groundbreaking solo on the Leaning Tower, its value lies elsewhere.

Access Alert for New York State Parks
Kelly Cordes shares the story from his recent accident that left him with a severely injured leg
Andy Mann shares how he constructed an image of GP Salvo attempting Nagual in Hueco Tanks
Rock climbing game coming to the Nintendo Wii?
Cool video of the bouldering in Varazze, Italy
It’s never too early to get excited about the alpine climbing season in Colorado. I know I’m already getting excited for our brief visit in early July.
For climbers in the Frontrange or Dallas, here is an event coming up in April where you can help raise money for young adults with cancer:

News & Notes – 3/16/2010 from ClimbingNarc.com

Adam Ondra Nabs 2nd Ascent Of Sharma’s Golpe de Estado (5.15b)

Narc — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:29:26 +0000

According to Vojtech Vrzba and 8a.nu 17 year-old Adam Ondra has done the 2nd ascent of Golpe de Estado (5.15b) on the beautiful limestone of Siurana, Spain. Golpe de Estado, which adds a bouldery 5.14d start to the 5.14c/d (or 5.14d, see below) Estado Critico, took some perseverance on Ondra’s part as he suffered a minor finger injury on a trip to Spain about a month ago. Pending his thoughts on the grade, Golpe is likely the hardest route Ondra has done…and he’s done tons of them.

You’ll recall that Golpe de Estado was first done in late 2008 by Chris Sharma. There is an excellent clip of Sharma working the route from Dosage V at the Big Up website.

Adam Ondra Golpe de Estado photo gallery

Update: More details from Czech Climbing:

“Golpe de estado“ is direct variant of the route “Estado critico” 9a (5.14d).
The first part of the route is 9a+ (5.15a). Then the route continues by “Estado critico”, that is after broken of a hold again 9a (5.14d) and in the new form it has not got any ascent up to now.
The first sender and creator of the route Chris Sharma had climbed it before the hold broke away. And what is Adam´s opinion about the grade: „After the hold was broken it is hard 9b (5.15b)“

Update 2: Here is what Adam had to say about the route on his scorecard:

HUGE relief for me, mission accomplished despite various obstacles – notoriously strong wind, injury, flu and stomach ache just before the second trip (thus I was out of shape). After first day in the route I did not expect I would have to dedicate so much time, but proved to be really hard and mischievous.

29 tries (mental torture for me!) during 14 days, but some days only go when I found out it is just too windy to climb at 6th bolt. I do not say it is hard 9b after breaking the hold, but 100% it is 9b now (a bit harder than Marina)

Adam Ondra Nabs 2nd Ascent Of Sharma’s Golpe de Estado (5.15b) from ClimbingNarc.com

Climbing Video: Chris Sharma Working Potential 5.15 Project In Oliana

Narc — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:20:48 +0000

Chris Sharma Working Potential 5.15 Project In Oliana Climbing Video: Chris Sharma Working Potential 5.15 Project In Oliana from ClimbingNarc.com Related posts:Big Ups To Footage Of Chris Sharma Working Pachamama (5.15a) Joy Trip Project Interviews Chris Sharma Chris Sharma Sends Clark Mountain Super Project: Jumbo Love (5.15b) Update on Sharma’s Project Climbing Video: Chris Sharma [...]

Climbing Video: Chris Sharma Working Potential 5.15 Project In Oliana from ClimbingNarc.com

News & Notes – 3/4/2010

Narc — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:59:37 +0000

News…

Chris Sharma did the FA of a variation to the infamous First Round, First Minute project at Margalef. This new line, dubbed First Ley (5.15a), climbs the first part of FRFM before trending left. Full details at TLD.
Daila Ojeda has climbed her first 5.14b, Oliana’s Fish Eye.
Dani Andrada is an animal
Australia’s Chris Webb Parsons’ recovery from shoulder surgery is nothing short of impressive. Here’s some video of him sending The Buttermilker (V13) at the Buttermilks just a year after severely dislocating his shoulder:

Alex Puccio did the FFA of Tequila Sunrise during the Hueco Rock Rodeo last weekend. Once graded V13 after its FA by Nalle Hukkataival, this problem seems to be settling in the V12 range.
Full results for the 2010 Hueco Rock Rodeo have yet to be posted, but thanks to the Spot’s blog one can learn the top 3 finishers in the Men’s & Women’s Mutant category. For several videos of men’s 2nd place finisher Sam Davis click here.

Men’s Results	Women’s Results
Daniel Woods Sam Davis Garrett Gregor	Alex Puccio Thomasina Pidgeon Audrey Gawrych

…And Notes

Nalle Hukkataival offers a well reasoned and informed opinion on the grade debate that has been swirling around the interwebs this week. Be sure to check out the comments for additional thoughts from Nalle.
Registration for the 2010 Teva Mountain Games is now open
Planetmountain interviews Adam Ondra and Iker Pou
ClimbTalk Radio interviews Thomas Betterton and Steve Mammen
The online version of the Red River Gorge guidebook just underwent a major overhaul. I can’t say that I love the look but the new functionality is superb.
Boston Rock Gym interview with Tim Kemple which includes an interesting tidbit about how Kemple is starting a video production company with Renan Ozturk and Jimmy Chin. Based on the trio’s prior work this collaboration is pretty exciting..
Part 2 of Peter Beal’s discussion with former Climbing Magazine EIC Matt Samet
Writing on the Five Ten Blog, Ethan Pringle goes back in time to the days when he received his first shoe sponshorship
A reminder for those in the southeast: the HP40 Rocks comp is taking place this Saturday.
Rib Mountain, a small bouldering area in northern WI, is closed to climbing.
Update on the forthcoming guidebook to RMNP and Mt. Evans
Touchstone climbing catches up with Alex Honnold:

Bishop has been fun this winter. I’m trying to build some power, in the hope that I won’t always fall off of the hard moves on routes. I think I’m naturally more of an endurance climber, so I guess I’m just trying to train my weakness.

But after about 6 weeks of bouldering I’m starting to get kind of into it. It’s so fun and chill. Super mellow. I see why so many people love to boulder. But I’m still fantasizing about walls. . .

News & Notes – 3/4/2010 from ClimbingNarc.com

Climbing Video: 2009 Season In The Frankenjura

Narc — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:26:07 +0000

2009 Season In The Frankenjura Climbing Video: 2009 Season In The Frankenjura from ClimbingNarc.com Related posts:Cool Video Of Adam Ondra Climbing In The Frankenjura Climbing Video: Spot Psychedelia 2009 Climbing Video: 2009 SBS Gun Show Comp Climbing Video: Hound Ears 2009 Wrap Up Climbing Video: Triple Crown 2009: The Stone Fort Climbing Video: Paul Robinson [...]

Climbing Video: 2009 Season In The Frankenjura from ClimbingNarc.com

Video Of Hard Sport Route 2nd Ascents To Get You Psyched

Narc — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:13:40 +0000

Winter training starting to wear you out? Looking for a reason to get off the couch? Need a little motivation for your weekend? Then perhaps one of these videos will help get you psyched.

The first is a stellar clip of Iker Pou doing the 2nd ascent of Chris Sharma’s tendon busting route Demencia Senil (5.15a or 9a+) at Margalef, Spain’s Laboratory crag.

IKER POU – DEMENCIA SENIL (MONTAJE 2.1) from jordi canyigueral on Vimeo.

The second video comes from Joe Kinder. While admittedly not the highest quality footage, the video shows Dave Graham doing the 2nd ascent of Lev Pinter’s Bunda Ju Fora (5.14d or 9a) at Acephale, Canada. Have a great weekend everyone!

Dave Graham on 9a Bunda Ju Fora from Joey Kinder on Vimeo.

This is what you do with getto footage from a trip that you just really want to use. Dave climbing the second ascent of Lev Pinter’s route Bunda Ju Fora 9a.

Video Of Hard Sport Route 2nd Ascents To Get You Psyched from ClimbingNarc.com

Climbing Video: Chris Sharma On First Round First Minute, Neanderthal FA

Narc — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:38:51 +0000

Prana has put out some really nice video profiles (in HD!) on their athletes of late with both Paul Robinson and Fred Nicole being featured in past weeks.

Their latest video features (among other things) Chris Sharma doing his thing on the First Round First Minute project in Margalef and the FA of Neanderthal (5.15b) in Santa Linya. Don’t miss the huge whipper after the credits. Mas!

Climbing Video: Chris Sharma On First Round First Minute, Neanderthal FA from ClimbingNarc.com

News & Notes – 1/27/2010

Narc — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:10:15 +0000

Despite all the joking around about the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show there were a few cool products unveiled at the show. Probably the most intriguing thing I’ve seen so far is the upcoming Red River Gorge iPhone App from Wolverine Publishing. Coinciding with an upcoming release of a 3rd edition of the Red River Gorge guidebook, the iPhone app looks to be a fully functional guide that you can take with you right on your phone. The possibilities for something like this are pretty amazing so I can’t wait to see the finished product. You can read a bit more about it at Western Colorado Climbing.
Iker Pou did the 2nd ascent of Chris Sharma’s Demencia Senil (5.15a) at Margalef, Spain. Pou is no stranger to the type of hard pocket pulling needed on Demencia Senil as he is well known for his early repeat of Wolfgang Gullich’s finger tweaking testpiece Action Direct (5.14d) back in 2000. Here’s a video of Pou doing a neighboring route at Margalef, Llamps y trons (5.14c):

For all the props Chris Sharma gets for his First Ascents of super hard sport routes, he also deserves credit for bolting a lot of these new lines as well. Lately, he seems to be one of the few top climbers that actually bolts his own projects. In that vein, he bolted a new 50m line at Oliana dubbed Chaxiraxi (after their dog?) that could be one of the hardest routes in the sector according to Daila Ojeda’s blog:

This place is wonderful and the lines are five stars of course! and now also Oliana has a new line of 50 meters bolted by Chris the last week… the name is Chaxiraxi and it can be one of the hardest route in the sector… 9b?? We will see that the machine says.. If it’s like this Chris has bolted four 9b routes in Catalunya Golpe de Estado 9b in Siurana, Neanderthal 9b inSanta Linya, First round First minute 9b project in Margalef and Chaxiraxi 9b project in Oliana. And with this line Chris has bolted in Oliana 10 routes. Looks like Chris doesn’t want just to send the hard routes, he want to create it too.

Finnish bouldering powerhouse Nalle Hukkataival has done his first 5.14c, Duela la realidad, in Oliana, Spain
Also in Oliana, Jon Cardwell and Dave Graham both recently dispatched the 5.14b Identifacation y placas
Desert Rat Productions has been hard at work on a guidebook for Moe’s Valley, a small bouldering area near St. George, UT. Check out their website for a free preview of the guide. They hope to have it ready by early Spring.
If you live in the Ft. Collins, CO area Pat Ament’s The Disciples of Gill will be featured tonight at CSU. The movie is being shown in the Clark A Building Room 103 and it starts at 7pm. Tickets are $10.
Renan Ozturk and Cory Richards completed the first ascent of a new line on Tawoche, a 21,000′+ peak in Nepal. Throughout their trip they somehow found the time, energy and internet connection to put together some pretty amazing video dispatches. The final dispatch is below and the others can be seen here.

TAWOCHE 2k10 dispatches #5 from renan ozturk on Vimeo.

It’s cool to see companies like The North Face supporting projects like the one Ozturk and Richards just completed, however it’s not cool to see them doing things like this.

News & Notes – 1/27/2010 from ClimbingNarc.com

Year End Wrap-Ups From UKClimbing

Narc — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:21:00 +0000

UKClimbing has a couple of nice year end review type articles that they posted recently to wrap up major news items from 2009. One for sport climbing and one for bouldering.

Year End Wrap-Ups From UKClimbing from ClimbingNarc.com

2010 SCS Open National Championship Results

Narc — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:55:15 +0000

Coinciding with the Winter Outdoor Retailer Trade Show, USA Climbing held the 2010 Adult Sport Climbing National Championships at Momentum in Sandy, UT this weekend. 28 men and 14 women came out to compete for the title of U.S. National Champion and to vie for a spot on the U.S. National Team.

Somewhat ironically, the Men’s side of the competition was not won by an American but rather by Norway’s Magnus Midtbø. Midtbø and Daniel Woods both onsighted the finals route but Midtbø’s stronger performance during the qualifying round gave him the win. The Women’s side was won in dominating fashion by a resilient Sasha DiGiulian who was wearing a cast on an injured ankle not that long ago.

2010 SCS Open Nationals Men’s Results	2010 SCS Open Nationals Women’s Results
1. Magnus Midtbø 2. Daniel Woods 3. Matt Hong 4. Josh Levin 5. Ian Dory	1. Sasha DiGiulian 2. Lauren Lee 3. Paige Claassen 4. Shannon Lochridge 5. Chelsea Rude

A combination of the results from finals and the qualifying round is used to select National Team members which means that a spot on the podium at the comp does not guarantee a spot on the Team. Here are the team members for 2010:

2010 US Team Members – Men	2010 US Team Members – Women
Daniel Woods Paul Robinson Carlo Traversi	Sasha DiGiulian Lauren Lee Paige Claassen

Here is a bit of video from the qualifier round courtesy of Jon Glassberg:

I’ll update this post as more news/media becomes available.

Update: Video of Finals from Jon Glassberg

2010 SCS Open National Championship Results from ClimbingNarc.com

Climbing Video: Patxi Usobiaga Climbing Realization 5.15a

Narc — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:07:00 +0000

Patxi Usobiaga Climbing Realization 5.15a Climbing Video: Patxi Usobiaga Climbing Realization 5.15a from ClimbingNarc.com Related posts:Patxi Usobiaga Climbing La Rambla Original (5.15a) A Not So Merry Christmas For Patxi Usobiaga Dave Graham Realization (5.15a) Video Sharma & Usobiaga Repeat Andrada 5.15a Dave Graham Climbs Realization (5.15a) Realization Revisited Ethan Pringle Realization Video Updates – Pringle [...]

Climbing Video: Patxi Usobiaga Climbing Realization 5.15a from ClimbingNarc.com

Climbing Video: Jonathan Siegrist Sending Lucifer (5.14c)

Narc — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:16:17 +0000

Jonathan Siegrist Sending Lucifer (5.14c) Climbing Video: Jonathan Siegrist Sending Lucifer (5.14c) from ClimbingNarc.com Related posts:Jonathan Siegrist Is Motivated, Sends Lucifer (5.14c) With Quickness Jonathan Siegrist, American Gangster In Yangshuo Video of Chris Sharma Sending Lucifer (5.14c) Climbing Video: Bret Johnston Sending Dr. Evil (5.14a) Climbing Video: Joel Zerr Sending The Ashtray Climbing Video: Jesse [...]

Climbing Video: Jonathan Siegrist Sending Lucifer (5.14c) from ClimbingNarc.com

News & Notes – 1/11/2010

Narc — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:35:16 +0000

The final post in the 2009 year in review series will be posted soon-ish. While you wait, here are a few News & Notes:

After leaving Arkansas, Paul Robinson moved on to Red Rocks, NV where he’s established 2 V13s (Meadowlark Lemon and The Grand Hustle), repeated another V13 and climbed a handful of V12s. Check the newly redesigned DPM for video of Paul doing Wood Grain Grippin’ (V14) in Arkansas.
Matt Wilder added a new problem in the hard V12 or easy V13 range called The Bandersnatch to Hueco’s West Mountain:

This new problem is a good candidate for the list of hueco classics with its varied movement, length, ground level location, and striking feature. Like the mythical bandersnatch, this problem warrants some fear mainly because an unplanned fall from one of the several heel hook moves could result in an unpleasant tumble down the slab behind the climb. Mostly, though, the climbing is safe.

Starting 2010 much like he finished 2009, Adam Ondra opened A Present For The Future (5.14d/5.15a) at Madonna della Rota, Italy
Congratulations to Will Gadd for climbing 194 pitches of ice in Ouray, CO over a 24 hour period this weekend to raise money for dZi Foundation. That’s over 29,000 around 25,000 feet of climbing!
The so-called super project at Boulder Canyon’s Cob Rock aka the “last great problem on the Front Range” has received a lot of attention in the past week or so. Likely V15 (at least), this problem has been tried unsuccessfully by many of the world’s strongest climbers. Jamie Emerson was there yesterday when Daniel Woods did all the moves and he has an excellent post with photos and some thoughts on longstanding projects. Here is some video that Chad Greedy put together to give you a better feel for the problem:

VideoClimb.com has a nice post of the top 10 most popular climbing videos of 2009
Dave Graham, Jon Cardwell and Kilian Fischhuber all repeated Dani Andrada’s Buma Ye (5.14c) in Margalef, Spain.
Jamie Emerson lists his top ten climbing sites
How much does it cost to go on a seven month international road trip?

Throw in a contingency plus a few hundred dollars for oversize baggage fees (crashpad) and we get to our grand total of $11,000 for seven months of international fun. If you are a climber in need of motivation to save money, I’d say this is a good place to start. I’d take the trip of a lifetime over buying a house or new car any day of the week!

From half way around the world, Renan Ozturk and Cory Richards are producing some amazing videos as they undertake an effort to do a first ascent on the 6000m Tawoche Himal:

TAWOCHE 2k10 dispatches #2 from renan ozturk on Vimeo.

Continuing his return to form, Chris Webb Parsons ticked off The Mystery (V12 although many 8a commenters seem to indicate this problem is ripe for a downgrade) at the Buttermilks in 2 tries. The Low Down has a nice interview with Parsons and the Dungeon Training blog has these videos of him climbing The Mandala and The Mystery:

Nice gallery of pictures from the fall gathering of Petzl athletes in Spain
And in case you hadn’t noticed, ClimbingNarc.com has undergone a bit of a redesign for 2010.

Update 1/12/10: Following up on the Chris Webb Parsons note, check out his website for some thoughts on grades and how 8a.nu affects things.

News & Notes – 1/11/2010 from ClimbingNarc.com