Ashima Hits The New York Times from Climbing Narcissist

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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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Mt. Everest, speed climbing, free soloing and now toddlers climbing, does that pretty much cover the extent of the general public’s knowledge of rock climbing?

Speaking Of Youth… from Climbing Narcissist

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Last weekend saw many of the world’s best youth climbers descend on Imst, Austria for the 2011 World Youth Championships of sport and speed climbing.  When the dust settled Sasha DiGiulian was the only American to stand on the podium for sport climbing finishing 3rd in a closely contested Female Juniors.  Here are the rest of the results including where the 26 American entrants finished:

If speed climbing is your thing then you’ll have to click through to one of the results links to get to the results from that portion of the event.

For some photos of the event check out this gallery from Luka Fonda on the Positive Vibes Facebook page or this huge gallery of pictures by Ernst Riha on the event’s Facebook page.

2011 World Youth Championships Results from Climbing Narcissist

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2011 Youth World Championships from Climbing Narcissist

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• Deadpoint Magazine reports on an 8 year-old girl from New York sending Power Of Silence (V10) in Hueco Tanks.
• The Enlightened Chuffer captures a few shots of Daniel Woods working what could potentially be the hardest problem on Boulder, CO’s Flagstaff Mountain.
• Excellent interview with Royal Robbins
• Check out this video of a new gym being built in Atlanta.  Once completed Stone Summit will be the largest climbing gym in the country, and it will be the site for 2010 Youth Sport Climbing Nationals as well.

• When Finnish boulderer Nalle Hukkataival went to Spain earlier this year it was assumed that he would try his hand at the infamous First Round First Minute project at Margalef since its bouldery style would no doubt suit him well.  It turned out he never got the chance to try FRFM  as it is apparently a closed project.  In the comments of a recent post on his blog Hukkataival says that, “When I went to Spain, my main motivation was to try a very well known project, but I was not allowed to try it.”
• In a post titled Live and Learn, Bolt Smart Joe Kinder addresses questions over some routes he bolted at the Red River Gorge in 2008 calling the situation “embarrassing” and “something that I have learned a drastic lesson over”.
• Splitterchoss.com had a couple interesting route development posts of late as well.  One post is about The Eight Unfortunate Truths of Route Development and the other asks the question Do First Ascentionists Own The Rock?
• In other Red River Gorge news, a gate has been installed along the trail to PMRP areas Solar Collector and the Dark Side to remind climbers that those areas were not free and to encourage continued donations to the RRGCC.
• The Cleanest Line blog brings us this amazing story of one man’s journey from life in East Germany behind the Berlin Wall to a career with Patagonia.
• Never Stop Climbing interviews Fitz Cahall, the man behind popular online climbing media Dirtbag Diaries and The Season.  If you haven’t seen it yet, here is episode 9 of The Season in which Matt Maddaloni continues his work on the “anti cam”:

The Season Episode 9 from Fitz Cahall and Bryan Smith on Vimeo.

• 2 separate couples donate $2,100 to the Access Fund for a day of climbing with Chris Sharma
• Colin Haley used a helmet cam to shoot this video of his solo ascent of Aguja Mermoz in Patagonia.  I enjoyed how the video demonstrated some of the solo-ing systems he used as well as the spectacular Patagonian scenery; however, I did not enjoy the motion sickness brought on by the constant head bobbing in the footage.  Just thinking about it as I write this is making me dizzy again.  Watch the entire 13 minutes at your own peril.

VIDEO: BD athlete Colin Haley wears a helmet camera during a solo ascent of Aguja Mermoz in Patagonia from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.

• How long have you been reading this site?

Update: To follow up on the FRFM tidbit and the notion that Big Up has something to do with who can climb on the route, Big Up says on their blog that “we don’t tell Chris what to do, that is some silly speculation. It’s pretty standard on top-end routes to respect the equipper’s effort.”  Make of that what you will.

News & Notes – 3/29/2010 from Climbing Narcissist

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The 2009 World Youth Climbing Championships were held this past weekend in Valence, France with many of climbing’s future (and current) stars on display.

Leading the American effort was rising star Julian Bautista who had an impressive 2nd place showing in the Mammut Bouldering Championships last month.  Bautista, who has the unfortunate task of competing against one of the best climbers in the world in Adam Ondra, finished 3rd in his division in a virtual tie with 2nd place finisher Max Rudinger from Austria.  Ondra of course easily took first place, topping out all 4 routes in the competition.

Two other Americans made it to finals in their divisions, Sasha DiGiulian (4th) and Michaela Kiersch (10th), but Bautista was the only American to make it on to the podium.  Don’t be surprised when you are reading about Bautista sending V14 and/or hard 5.14 in the next couple of years.

Here are the top 3 finishers for each division along with the finishing positions of all American climbers:

Complete Results

Update: You can see some pictures from the comp here or here

2009 World Youth Climbing Championship Results from Climbing Narcissist

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News…

The American sport climbing scene has shifted to Europe with Dave Graham, Joe Kinder, Daniel Woods, Jon Cardwell, Isaac Caldiero, Alex Honnold and others all holding it down in France at the moment.  Here are a few bits of news from their travels as well as the exploits of others back here in the States:

• Dave Graham is back in action after an unfortunate ankle injury sustained forerunning at the Vail World Cup.  In an uncomfortably hot Céüse, France he has done La Part du Diable (3rd ascent of a new 5.14c) as well as a 2nd go send (7 years after the first attempt) of Radot Jolie Pepere (5.13d)
• Also in France is Daniel Woods.  Climbing at both Céüse and Gorges du Loup he has done 4 5.14b’s and flashed a 5.14a despite the hot conditions.
• Earlier this month, Brad Weaver made a 4th try, no kneepads ascent of Andy Raether’s Kuru (5.14c) at Rifle, CO
• In increasingly old Rifle news, Sam Elias and Jon Cardwell repeated Dave Graham’s Girl Talk (5.14c) back in May
• Carlo Traversi did the 3rd ascent of Ty Landman’s Top Notch (V13) in RMNP.  Look for footage of the send (and several other RMNP classics) in an upcoming movie from LT11
• In Rocklands, SA, comp star Kilian Fischhuber climbed a well known project that had been dubbed the “Air Star” project.

…And Notes

• The Flashed website has a new section dedicated to their team of athletes that includes a nice blog.
• I Am Climb has launched as a new online climbing magazine
• 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell is coming up on September 26th, and word on the street is that one of the world’s best 24 hour climbers will be in attendance:  none other than Tommy Caldwell.  Will there even be enough climbing for him to stay busy for 24 hours?
• Jamie Emerson has put together a cool list of Colorado’s hardest boulders (V13 & up) as well as a list of all the V12s in the State.
• Friends of Muir Valley is holding their 6th annual Trail Day at Muir Valley on Saturday, September 26th.
• Jonathan Siegrist has been working on opening a new sport climbing area near Estes Park, CO dubbed Wizard’s Gate
• The Youth World Championships are taking place this weekend in Valence, FR.  You can see first round results here, and watch live video at this link.
• Interview with SuperTopo founder Chris McNamara
• Interview with Patxi Usobiaga in which he very interestingly says that he reads, “about comps in the US way more” than comps in Euorpe.
• Speaking of European comps, take this poll:

News & Notes – 08/28/2009 from Climbing Narcissist

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I learned a few things while coaching/belaying/juding at this weekend’s USAC SCS Youth Divisionals held at Adventure Rock, my home gym.

First, I learned that while there are no scientific studies to support this hypothesis, having the name Alex Johnson means you are predisposed to being an excellent rock climber.  Many of you are already familiar with the female Alex Johnson who is well known for winning a World Cup and sending V12.  What many of you may not know is that there is an equally talented and equally tall and lanky male Alex Johnson lurking in the Midwest.

I’ve watched this male version of the Alex Johnson climbing machine over the years at several youth comps.  He’s been making steady improvement in his climbing until this past year or so when he has simply taken his skills to another level.  The very “brave and humble”™ Johnson easily won his division at the comp yesterday, and recent Facebook stalking revealed that he has begun to take his skills out on the real rock with an impressive onsight flash of B.O.H.I.C.A. (5.13b) at the Red River Gorge (his first 5.13 one of his first 5.13s, thanks to ODub for the correction).

Second, I learned that I’m apparently not the only person who reads this blogsite.  Despite statistical evidence to the contrary, I’ve always operated under the assumption that no one ever notices what I do here.  Somewhat surprisingly, throughout the weekend I came across several people that complimented me on the site.  Thanks to everyone that took a minute to say hi, and shoutout to ODub who I had a chance to chat up while watching his daughter climb.

Finally, the oft-used phrase around our gym is that “it’s all about giving back to the kids” and this weekend was no exception.  Normally I would have been bent out of shape about not climbing outside on a weekend with such nice weather, but I really enjoy these opportunities to “give back to the kids”.  To be able to help facilitate an event like this and watch kids pushing themselves to climb their best was a lot of fun.  I’ve been coaching and attending youth comps for several years now so I’ve been able to watch many of these kids grow up which has been great.  It was also nice to see the female Alex Johnson helping out at the comp by belaying, iso running and climbing french freeing routes to hang ropes.  It’s not every day you see a former World Cup winner doing that sort of thing.

As far as results from the comp, I would link to them if I could find them.  I was too busy all weekend to take any pictures, but I know you will be able to find some in the near future at the excellent photo site ClimbingPix.com.  In the meantime, here are a couple of grainy iPhone shots that have nothing to do with actual climbing:

Boiling pasta for the kick-off party feast

SoIll holds, always a crowd pleaser

Divisionals Weekend 2009: It’s All About Giving Back To The Kids from Climbing Narcissist

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