Located near Mammoth Lakes, CA, the rock at Way Lake looks eerily similar to the rock found in RMNP, and it is apparently extremely comfortable to climb on.  To give you a better idea of what the climbing at Way Lake is like, here is a video of Nic Oklobzija making quick work of the 3rd ascent (after Isaac Caldiero and Jeff Sillcox) of the area’s hardest boulder, Chumscrubber (soft V12?):

For more Way Lake photos, check out recent posts at East Side Bouldering and Class•ic Bloc.

Climbing Video: Nic Oklobzija Climbing Chumscrubber (V12) At Way Lake

A sneak peak

My attempts to pry information about these new shoes out of various Five Ten sources were not successful, although I was able to see the prototypes in person last month.  What I saw was very promising and I was excited to see the finished product, whenever that may be.

Now, thanks to the French language site Stikkit, we have the finished product:  the Team 5.10:

Apparently inspired by the Jet7, Dragon and 5x shoes, the Team 5.10 has a new heel and Stealth Mystique 3.5 mm rands and outsole.  Don’t get too excited though, it will be the Spring of 2010 before you can get your hands on a pair.

New Five Ten products for Spring 2010

Thanks to the excellent French site Kairn for the tip!

Mysterious New Five Ten Shoe Identified

While climbing injuries happen can happen to anyone at anytime, 2009 has been an especially bad year for a few pro climbers who suffered injuries that make my knee injury earlier this year look benign by comparison.  Urban Climber caught up with injured climbers Dave Graham, Chris Webb Parsons, Ethan Pringle and Angie Payne to see how they are recovering from their busted ankles and shoulders.  There are some valuable lessons to be learned from reading their stories, especially the fact that Webb Parsons has had to dole out over $15,000 due to not having insurance at the time of his injury!

Urban Climber Injury Update

Pro Climber Injury Update

Thanks to Nic, a Wisconsin bouldering legend, for passing this along.

Climbing Video: Dave Graham Big Worm (V13/14) FA, Nalle Hukkataival Working Jade (V15)

One of the main events at every Roc Trip is the so-called Ultimate Routes that are setup, one for the women and one for the men:

This year, the 90 meter Utlimate Routes (Infinity Lane) shot up the overhanging Cathédrale, in the Gorges de la Jonte. Invited athletes had to flash the route, and weren’t able to work the route after falling. Excellent route reading skills and a massive amount of endurance were the two key ingredients

The women’s route was flashed by Martina Cufar and Florence Pinet with Chloé Minoret, Nina Caprez and Lynn Hill sending the route in a few tries.

The men’s route proved to be a bit stiffer a challenge as none of the men could pull out a flash of the likely 5.14b route in the first 2 days of attempts.  And then, on day 3, Chris Sharma showed up:

After a day of rest and chill climbing in the Tarn, Chris Sharma showed up at the Cathédrale… Using his climbing mastery and strength, he flashed the route, as photographers and the dumbfounded spectators looked on. Proof that his is still the King…

Petzl Roc Trip Millau Day 1 Report

Petzl Roc Trip Millau Day 2 & 3 Report

Update:  Thanks to daniel in the comments for passing along an interview with Dani Andrada (in Spanish) about the Roc Trip:

• It was hot
• They used 200 meter ropes for the climb
• Sharma took around 1.5 hours for his flash
• The route itself starts off with 50 feet of roughly 5.13c climbing to a long section of 5.12 that features a huge sitdown rest (not surprisingly) before finishing with some hard “resistance” climbing.  5.13c and 5.14a separated by a huge rest so more or less 5.14a according to Andrada.
• Having the Roc Trip in Millau is getting kind of boring

If you find anything else in the interview, feel free to share it in the comments.

Sharma Flashes 300 Ft. 5.14b At Roc Trip Millau

Sunseeker (V13) Video

Clip of Chris Sharma working Pachamama

Big Ups To Footage Of Chris Sharma Working Pachamama (5.15a)

Franz Widmer opened a new V15 boulder in Switzerland last month he is calling Kryptos.  The LowDown has more background on the boulder, and now the video is here to give a better idea what the problem looks like:

For me, watching videos of climbing gear breaking is both interesting and paranoia inducing at the same time:

More gear testing vids at the American Alpine Institue blog

Will Stanhope climbed Cobra Crack the other day without a video camera present to capture the send, but Sonnie Trotter was there to capture an attempt a few days earlier (please set cell phones to vibrate while watching…):

And finally, there isn’t much that can be said to introduce this video…

Video Dump Friday

Harness Humor

Source:  El Cap Report 6/24/09 & El Cap Report 06/25/09

2 Out Of 3 Ain’t Bad For Honnold & Leary

In his/her section, each climber speaks candidly about climbing motivations and personal climbing goals.  For example, Alex Puccio speaks about the competiton between female climbers and the need to continually raise the bar,  and Daniel Woods shares his desire to increase the popularity and awarness of climbing.  Dave Graham talks about…well it’s hard to say what exactly he was really talking about.  Either way, it was interesting to see those various aspects of everyone’s personalities.

The video did not hurt for intersting footage.  Shots of Chris Lindner deep water soloing in Vietnam, for example, were impressive as were the shots from South Africa.  Climbing destinations were diverse and the camera work was good.  Somewhat distracting, however, were the filler shots between climbs.  While some were interesting, a number seemed to function only to fill  time.  Overall, however, the movie kept a good pace and was enjoyable to watch.

Trailer for The Players

If you enjoy seeing some of the best climbers the U.S. has to offer climbing hard in a variety of disciplines, The Players is something you will definitely enjoy.  Check it out and let me know what you think!

Read more about The Players in this interview I did with filmmaker Brian Solano.

The Players, $29.99 at BSProductions.us

The Players DVD Review

News & Notes – 06/24/2009

Early last week he made quick work of Jade (V15) in RMNP for its 4th ascent before turning his sights toward a sit start project to an existing V10 highball at Mt. Evans first done by Cam Cross.  Enticed by pictures of the project from Carlo Traversi and Jamie Emerson (who presciently blogged that “when completed, this will be the best problem at Mt. Evans”) Hukkataival set out for Mt. Evans with Jon Cardwell, Chris Schulte and Traversi to have a look.  Here is how he described what they found on his blogsite:

I wanted to go try a project at area B, that I had seen photos of earlier this week. I thought it looked really good in the photos, but when we got up there I was blown away. This tall and proud line climbs a sloping rail on a perfect steep overhang, leading to a horrifying mantle high off the deck. It has a good obvious starting hold and about 21 moves, all of them upwards. The bottom part climbing into the stand is probably around V12 and after that you still have to do do stand start which is a technical highball V10. At the moment there is still snow on the landing making it possible to take falls without getting hurt, but when the snow melts it will most likely be a death landing.

Despite testing out the bad landing with a rough fall on his face, Hukkataival persevered and pressed out the exciting mantle to create Sunseeker (V13).  Traversi had to settle for the 2nd ascent a day later after falling from the last move an hour before Hukkataival’s FA.  Commenting on his 8a.nu spraysheet Traversi says that Sunseeker, “could be one of the best boulder problems in the world. 20-25 feet with a snow landing (for now). Tall, Proud, Pure, Technical, Powerful, and Balancy. FULL PACKAGE.”

Visiting climbers swooping and nabbing the FA of coveted projects is nothing new, but Jon Glassberg raises an interesting point about this in a recent post on his blogsite:

There has been a frenzy of activity at Mt. Evans involving strong climbers trying to send the Super Proj at Area B dubbed Sunseeker by Nalle Hukkataival who made the first ascent in a few hours work. I know that Carlo T., Max Z., and Chris Schulte have been putting a lot of effort into the problem over the past week or so, cleaning the line on toprope, hauling in stacks of pads, and working out beta…

Is it poor form to come in and scoop up first ascents without doing any of the legwork? Or is it someone else who is at fault for telling the strong climbers that hard gems are waiting to be plucked? Any thoughts? I’m sure Carlo was pretty bummed after falling off the last hold only minutes before Nalle put the send down, after being spoon fed beta.

I don’t know any of the principles in this instance, but since both Traversi and Schulte helped carry pads and spotted for Hukkataival I’m inclined to believe that it isn’t a big deal in this case.

In other Mt. Evans news, Paul Robinson has set his sights on another undone project at Area B and video of Chris Schulte’s ascent of Big Worm (V14) is now up at DPM.

Impressive New V13 From Nalle Hukkataival At Mt. Evans

Check out the American Alpine Institute blog for an additional video from Sterling with more information on how ropes are made.

Video: How A Climbing Rope Is Made

Another Update On The Five Ten Projects

In anticipation of the pending opening date, Movement has a new website where you can take a virtual tour of the new facility.  I was somewhat surprised by how small the virtual tour makes the gym seem, but actual pictures they have posted give a better idea of the size of the facility.

Virtual overview of Movement Climbing & Fitness

Beyond the walls themselves, I was particularly interested in the steps they took to make the gym more spectator friendly, mainly through the addition of stadium seating.  Given that they specifically built the walls to meet IFSC international climbing competition standards and the owner’s connection to USA Climbing it is likely that this gym will be holding many high level comps.  Based on my (mostly negative) experiences spectating at a few national comps, I really hope this new gym’s setup works well.

Probably more interesting  than how well the gym will work out for spectating will be seeing how the climbing gym economy plays out in Boulder.  Boulder’s The Daily Camera has an article about the new gym in which they raise the obvious questions about Movement’s close proximity to 3 of Boulder’s already existing gyms (if you count CATS).  The general manager of the Boulder Rock Club is quoted as saying “he hopes the business works out” despite being “only two blocks away [from the BRC]“.

Boulder’s cluster of climbing gyms

For someone living outside the “Boulder bubble” like myself, the prospect of this many gyms existing in a place like Boulder seems hard to believe.  I personally couldn’t envision paying $70 a month (the likely monthly membership cost at Movement) to climb and/or workout inside when there is so much outdoor climbing to be done year round.

What do people in Boulder think?  Can Boulder sustain this many gyms or will one of the gyms not make it?

Boulder’s Newest Climbing Gym Set To Open Soon

Prana Interviews Fred Nicole

• Video of Joe Kinder climbing his new 5.14d at The Cathedral The Re-Up
• Video of Daniel Woods on Chinese Arithmetic (V13 or 14)
• A story about the bouldering at Red Feather Lakes near Fort Collins, CO
• A comprehensive climbing hold review
• An interesting article on the state of the indoor climbing comp scene that includes this quote:

With the current government bodies of climbing pushing toward the Olympics, competitions are less about producing a good show and more about big business.  To spectate or compete in a national level competition now costs the same as a nosebleed seat at a Neil Young concert.  The increased costs, lack of transparency, strict rules, predictable route setting, faulty format, and multiple-way ties are leaving competitors disappointed and feeling cheated.

Issue 5 Of Deadpoint Magazine Now Available

Update: Check out Hukkataival’s latest blog entry for more info on how it took him “two days and around ten full tries from the start”.  BTW, the last picture gives you a good idea just how far Upper Chaos Canyon is above Lower Chaos on the far side of the lake.

4th Ascent Of Jade (V15) By Nalle Hukkataival

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