In early 2007, an obvious variation to the original Sharma line was also climbed. Jeff Sillcox did the FA of The Mandala Direct (V12) which climbs directly up the prow to the top instead of escaping off to the left near the top. The direct variation adds a difficult and committing deadpoint right near the top of the prow. This obviously opened the door for someone to climb from the SDS into the direct finish, a door which Paul Robinson walked through less than a week after Jeff’s send to create The Mandala Direct Assis* (V14). Paul commented on his 8a.nu card that he felt the direct finish was, “much harder than regular mandala”.

Here is the video of Paul’s FA:

*Assis, sit start, SDS…whatever you want to call it

The Prize

Valued at over $115, here is the Access Fund Holiday Gift Package you can win:

• 1 year Access Fund Membership: help keep your crags open!
• Access Fund T-shirt: Prana 100% organic cotton tee.
• Omega Pacific special edition Access Fund biner: locking biner engraved with "Access Fund".
• Petzl Spatha Knife: knife with a carabiner hole - think of the possibilities.
• Black Diamond Forearm Trainer: pump up your forearms in between workouts.
• 2009 Rock & Ice Calendar: monthly changing wall decoration. Keep track of your climbing dates.
• Clif Bars: seasonal picks from the crew making our favorite nutrition bars.
• RESTOP bag system: just because a bear goes in the woods doesn’t mean you should.

How To Enter

This weekend is the final event of the 2008 Triple Crown Bouldering Series at The Stone Fort in Tennessee.  The Women’s Open category is a neck and neck race between Kate McGinnis, Alex Puccio and Alex Johnson.  Here is how they stand after the first 2 legs of the series:

Even though McGinnis is in the lead it is possible for either Puccio or Johnson to win.

To enter the contest, simply leave a comment on this post with your prediction of who will be the overall TCBS Champion for the Women’s Open category.  After the comp this weekend, I will randomly select a winner from the pool of people who correctly predicted the series champion. 

This contest IS open to both U.S. and International users.  I will close the comments for entries some time on Friday. Good luck!

The problem Sandstone Violence has (in my opinion) the recipe for a perfect boulder problem.  It begins and ends on a jug, climbs using 4 bad crimps and has a bit of height to it.  The only negative thing that one could say about the problem is that one of the crimps is a bit sharp, but I digress.

I first gave the problem some serious attempts a couple of weeks back and quickly worked out every move save for the last one.  I returned this past Wednesday with fresher skin and the video of Nic’s ‘jump’ beta ingrained in my mind.  After a couple of misfires, I committed to Nic’s beta for the last move and stuck the jug!  While climbing a V8 is not impressive in the grand scheme of things, I was very pleased to climb something near my pre-injury limits.  Hopefully this is a sign that 2009 will be a good year.  

Saturday was another fine day here in Wisconsin with temps in the mid-40’s, so I made the 2 hour trip out to the Dodge.  With no real plan for once, I met Chris, Jay, Kayte, Paul and John for a day of messing around on the boulders at Group Camp B.  Chris and I both came agonizingly close to repeating Battle Of The Bulge (V7ish, unrepeated?) until I suffered a badly split tip on the problem’s incredibly sharp holds.  I taped up to stem the flow of blood to give it a few more goes, but in the end I had to give up my aspirations of repeating it.  Fortunately though, the day was not lost (see below).

Given that the Dodge is usually deserted during the times I have climbed there, it was good to meet some new people on Saturday.  I, of course, did what any self respecting Narc would do and made them take pictures of me repeating Sandstone Violence…

Sticking the jump move

Thanks to Kayte for taking the pictures!

SOLID COLOR MATS - Choose one solid color for a pad top and take advantage of the following price deals:

Solid Color Simple Pad with Hip Belt = $150*

Solid Color Full Pad with Hip Belt = $160*

*For color options, head over to the orders page; in-stock colors only. Not valid for multi-color or custom designs. Shipping not included; shipping rates depend on location. Please email with questions.

MULTI COLOR MATS - Free in-stock Chalk Bag and free Hip Belt with any multi-color or custom pads ordered during the promotion (full, simple, 4″ big, or 5″ big pads only).

If you are looking for other great climbing gear deals for the holidays, check out this list compiled by AllClimbing.

Video of Paul Robinson climbing this amazing line can be found here.

Other than UKClimbing.com and Jorgeson’s and Segal’s blogs, here are a couple more links for further reading:

• The ne2c blog (RSS feed) has a cool interview with Kevin Jorgeson covering his thoughts on his Gritstone experience (Via TK)
• Check out this preview of an interview with Alex Honnold that will appear in the 2009 8a.nu yearbook.  In it he offers his thoughts on the British E scale when compared with America’s YDS:

Obviously I’m still learning E grades since I’ve only been here for a month [and spent much of the time in the rain]. I think the concept of E grades is really good, they do convey a lot of information. But I don’t really know all that well. I still mentally convert everything here back to YDS. R and X wouldn’t really work at all over here [on Grit at least] since virtually every route would be considered R. They work well in the US though because routes are generally taller and better protected. Basically, a route is a route, it doesn’t matter that much how you number it. Ultimately you still just have to look at the route and decide if it looks like something you can do.

Below is an unofficial list of some of the more notable ascents by the “Team America” crew during their visit to England:

• Ulysses - (E6, Honnold flash)
• Balance it is - (E7, Honnold)
• Symba’s Pride - (E8, Honnold)
• The New Statesman - (E8 7a, Jorgeson)
• Parthian Shot - (E9 6c, Jorgeson first ground up E9)
• The Promise - (E10 7a, 2nd at 3rd ascent by Jorgeson & Honnold)
• Gaia - (E8 6c, Honnold flash, Jorgeson and Mat Segal)
• Meshuga - (E9 6c, soloed by Honnold and Jorgeson)
• End of the Affair - (E8, Honnold flash, Jorgeson & Segal)
• Master’s Edge - (E7, Alex Honnold onsight)
• The Groove - (E10 7b, 2nd ascent Jorgeson using a variation on the finish)
• Knocking on Heaven’s Door - (E8, Honnold)
• London Wall - (E5, Honnold onsight solo)

Leaving no room for debate this time, Kinder bolted himself a new project in the Red River Gorge and yesterday he did the FA of Southern Smoke.  For this new link-up, Kinder has proposed a grade of 5.14c.  If you’re keeping track at home, Southern Smoke is the RRG’s 3rd 5.14c after Mike Doyle’s Lucifer and Michael Fuselier’s Fifty Words For Pump.  

Southern Smoke adds a direct start into the crux of Ultra-perm, a classic 5.13d at Bob Marley.  Kinder had this to say about the route shortly after he bolted it:

The nature of the route is SIMPLE and PURELY stamina/resistance.  There is one shake spot on some getto holds after you have climbed something in the 13d/14a range.  After this the real crux comes that surely checks in around 13c/d to the top.

Southern Smoke follows the line denoted with the tag “New Joint”

After 6 days of working the route with the relatively unknown (but very strong) Brad Weaver, Kinder pulled out the send:

Next try, I killed to the top, everything felt a little harder, but just went with it.  I lined up for the last holds and was 1% less pumped…no joke.  I shot my hand up with ALL the strength I had left and stuck…Grabbed the jug and SCREAMED!!!!  SOOOOOO PSYCHED!!!!! 

Joe Kinder on Southern Smoke (5.14c)

Photo:  Joe Kinder / Spencer Victory

Photo:  Joe Kinder / Spencer Victory

It looks like Kinder has been bolting other routes as well so it should be interesting to see what he is able to get done before he leaves the Red.

As said, the crag in question is located somewhere in Alabama and the Southeastern Climber’s Coalition recently made a bid to buy the land.  The SCC will be revealing the name of the so-called “Crag X” at the upcoming Stone Fort Triple Crown Bouldering event, but until then we will just have to take them at their word when they promise a “mix of easy trad, mid range trad, and butthard slap your mama sport” at Crag X.

Here is where you come in.  The SCC is attempting to raise over $34,000 to pay for this land to ensure permanent access to the climbing there.  Here is what they had to say in a post on RedRiverClimbing.com:

The SCC is at it again… expanding YOUR climbing opportunities in the deep South.

We’re buying another crag in Alabama! The ink has barely dried on the contract for Crag X & we’re in full tilt fund raising mode! The clock is ticking & we’ve got under 90 days till closing. Email & call your friends this is HUGE for southeast climbing! Even if you can only spare $10, every little bit helps. Spread the word & let’s get this thing done so we can all go climb at a new crag in early ’09!

So far we have raised over $2,000 in 12 hours - and another $8k was raised off the radar in the past 2 weeks.

Sorry for the secrecy on the name, the official announcement will be on December 5th at the Stone Fort Triple Crown bouldering comp. This project has been three years in the making.

Here’s a link with more info & to pledge donations.

http://www.seclimbers.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=11226

A minimum $10 donation also gets you a year’s membership in the SCC. You can donate online on the SCC’s website under ‘Join Now’ & type ‘Crag X’ in the For box. But please post your pledge on the above link so we can track donations.

You can donate online here: http://www.seclimbers.org/modules.php?name=membership just type in “Crag X” into the info box.

It’s an exciting time for SEclimbers. Let’s get this one paid for so we can move on to the next acquisition!

Thus far the pace of donations has been feverish, and it would be great to see that continue.  It would be especially great to see ClimbingNarc.com readers helped keep that trend alive.  To donate simply visit the SCC website. It doesn’t take much; even $5 will go a long way toward ensuring permanent access to yet another climbing area.

To help motivate you (hopefully), on behalf of ClimbingNarc.com we will be matching any donations made by ClimbingNarc.com readers up to $200.  Simply put ‘Crag X CN’ in the reference box on the donation page.  I will update with our progress later in the week.

Jorgeson apparently decked from the precarious top moves on Gaia while on lead, but he was unharmed thanks in part to a crashpad at the base of the climb.  Relatively unfazed by the incident, he tied back in and finished it up.  Not wanting to waste the fleetingly good conditions and riding a wave of psych, Jorgeson followed the Gaia ascent up with a solo of the nearby Meshuga.  Not bad!

According to Kevin’s travel log, Alex Honnold also soloed Meshuga.  Not bad either!

Original MVM story

Updated MVM story with Kevin’s thoughts/corrections

Whopee! my hardest definately! a bit harder than Weisse rose, so 9a+ should be appropriate I hope, when Alex Huber did it, Action Directe considered as 8c+ , then 9a for this one was OK. Now when AD is 9a, this should be 9a+. 5 days, 9 goes, BUT always in good conditions and friction, in summer it would be something very different…

Adam Ondra on Open Air

Photo:  Vojtech Vrzba

This is an incredible achievement for the youngster from the Czech Republic, and surely a sign of great things to come.  What is most impressive to me about this news is the fact that Alex Huber did the first ascent of Open Air back in 1996.  Huber originally gave it a grade of 9a, or 5.14d. Ondra, however, has suggested an upgrade to 5.15a.  This he based largely on the widely accepted benchmark of Action Direct as 5.14d.

Given the adjustment of the grade of Action Direct and perceived inflation of the grade of his route La Rambla in Siurana, Huber gave his thoughts on the state of high end sport climbing grades in a recent interview with PlanetMountain.com: [emphasis mine]

Let me give you an example: Adam confirmed my thoughts about “Weisse Rose”: it’s harder than “La Rambla”. It’s a fact that La Rambla increased in grade from 8c+ to 9a+. Often people believe this is due to the route extension, but in reality the difficulties do not change substantially with this extension. The difficulty in traversing from the Rambla belay rightwards to finish up “Reina Mora”, compared to the crux on La Rambla, is not relevant. To this you also have to add the fact that La Rambla isn’t harder than Action Direct and therefore cannot be harder than 9a. In 1995 Action Directe was given 8c+, that is why my routes such as “Weisse Rose” and “La Rambla” had to be given 8c+. Nowadays Action Direct is considered to be the benchmark 9a, so both “Weisse Rose” and “La Rambla” turned into 9a. And if you take Action Direct as a reference for 9a, then I believe many current top routes are considerably overgraded.

Also worth noting is the effect that both the internet age and media publicity have had on the public perception of what are the hardest climbs in the world.  Chris Sharma’s ascent of Realization has been hailed as the world’s “first 5.15″ in print and in films since he first completed it back in 2001.  Contrarily, and for myriad reasons, Huber’s ascents of routes like Open Air and the unrepeated Om (5.14d/5.15a??) in 1992 were largely ignored in recent times.

This topic is especially pertinent given the recent ascent of Jumbo Love (5.15b) by Chris Sharma.  Headlines on the cover of the most recent Urban Climber read “5.15b now exists…the climbing world reacts to Chris Sharma’s Jumbo Love, the hardest route ever” and likely a feature in an upcoming Big Up film both play up the hardest route in the world angle.  It’s probably true, but the point is that nobody really knows.  Sharma’s ascent is groundbreaking, amazing and awe inspiring to be sure, but in this sport where several of the potentially hardest routes have yet to be repeated, questions still remain.  How can it be determined if the supposed hardest route truly deserves that title until other routes have been repeated and a proper consensus is reached on their grades? I guess it is important to keep that in mind and keep everything in perspective.

The whole situation is obviously unimportant, especially in light of the tragic death of two local RRG climbers mere days after the controversy started, but it makes for good internet fodder.  It apparently also makes for good rap lyrics as can be heard in climber-rapper ODub’s latest release “Fifty Words For Chump”.  Check it out if you want a good laugh…

…When you took the hammer to Fifty Words For Pump, you became synonymous with fifty words for chump…

For the blog readers out there, you can add ODub’s blog to your favorite reader by clicking here.

After spending the better half of the week closely monitoring the forecast in the hopes that a) it would finally stop raining and b) the temperatures would climb above 35 degrees, I was pleased to see that Sunday’s forecast called for temps in the mid-30s with a minor chance for some snow.  On Sunday morning I set off on a solo mission for Governor Dodge by 6 am and arrived at the boulders around 8.  I had my sites set on completing a trifecta of harder (for me) problems that I hadn’t tried yet:  Alpine Bouldering Club (V6), Illusions Of Paradise (V7) and Flavor Savor (V5). 

After giving up on properly warming up due to how cold it was, I made my way into the woods in search of Alpine Bouldering Club (ABC).  ABC is a cool new problem that climbs a series of right facing crimpers out an overhanging prow to a slopey topout.  After being thwarted by the snowy topout (see below) on my flash attempt, I was able to put things together a couple of tries later.  While ABC doesn’t have the most interesting moves (I mainly just bumped my way up), it has incredibly good rock by Dodge standards which makes it very worthwhile to check out.  

When I arrived at the ABC boulder it had begun to snow which created a really cool scene.  However, it also created a sloppy mess whereby everything was getting wet.  If you want a good laugh, just picture a lone climber out in the woods struggling to get on top of a snow covered boulder with his feet only a few feet from the ground.  That pretty much sums up how I must have looked on this problem.  Back to the report…

With objective #1 in the bag and conditions deteriorating quickly, I made the short drive to check out IOP.  I was pleased to see that its horizontal nature was protecting all the holds from getting wet and quickly went through the beta in my mind.  I pulled on for my flash go and before I knew it I was standing on top of the problem.  It was one of those rare climbs where I was in the zone, and I couldn’t even remember how I had gotten to the top.  I was psyched to say the least (picture a great deal of fist pumping toward noone in particular).  While there are a lot of minor nitpicky negatives you could point out about this problem, its status as one of the only roof boulder problems in the state more than makes up for them.  My unnatural lankiness allowed me to span the roof more easily than shorter folks out there which might explain my feeling that IOP felt easy for V7.  Either way, props to Sweatpants for finding it, cleaning it and sending it.

Here’s footage of Mr. Sweatpants re-enacting my send of IOP 3 months before it happened (AKA him doing the FA):

At this point in the day, it was snowing pretty good and it was getting treacherous to even walk around.  I slipped my way up the trail to check out Flavor Savor only to find that its entire right side was covered in snow.  It looks like an amazing line though so I hope to get back to try it before winter arrives in full force.

To summarize:

• I woke up at 5 am
• Drove 4 hours round trip
• Was at various times either frozen, muddy, wet or a combination of all three
• Climbed for only 2 hours, alone
• Made it to the top of only 3 problems 
• Had one of my favorite climbing days ever

I guess my Dad might have a point, but then again he spends hours on end freezing in the woods trying to kill animals so I have that on him.

On October 22, 2008, Alpinist LLC made an assignment of all of its assets for the benefit of creditors under Illinois law to the Trustee/Assignee Robert Handler of Commercial Recovery Associates. An Assignment for the Benefit of the Creditors is analogous to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The Trustee/Assignee is obligated to sell Alpinist’s assets in order to raise the highest amount possible for Alpinist’s creditors. Commercial Recovery will entertain all reasonable offers including bulk and lot sales of assets, which assets include the company’s magazine, subscriber lists, website, film festival and trademarks.

Given the current economic situation, it should be interesting to see if anyone steps in to buy any or all of Alpinist’s 8,500 magazine subscribers, 300,000 page views a month website or their film festival.  What remains to be seen is how much a future owner would be willing to stick with Alpinist’s now failed business model, and whether or not an increased amount of advertising would damage Alpinist’s “super-premium brand”.

I myself wouldn’t mind buying into a couple hundred thousand of their monthly pageviews…

The State of Kentucky is currently considering several options to improve Highway 715 that runs along the northwestern edge of Muir Valley.  It unfortunately looks like many of the options under consideration would have a negative impact on future climbing in the area.  Here is a summary of the potential impact from an email that will be going out via Friends Of Muir Valley and the Access Fund:

Nine Alternatives – A through H, and X – are under consideration. Most of these Alternatives would have a negative impact on Muir Valley, as they would require the acquisition of a portion of Muir Valley land by eminent domain, possibly closing the emergency and maintenance road entrance to the Valley. Alternatives A, C, or X (do nothing) would have the least detrimental impact on Muir.  Alternate H (spot improvements) is dependent on where improvements are made.

Selection of either Alternatives E or F would have a disastrous impact on Muir Valley!  The very heart of the Preserve would be lost to eminent domain, and the Muir Valley owners would be compelled to permanently close Muir Valley to all recreational activities (including climbing) that are now freely provided to the general public. Attached is a map of Muir Valley with the study area shown overlaid in pink. The map shows over half of the climbs in Muir Valley lie in this area, which could be taken by eminent domain.

Below are the two most detrimental options that are under consideration.  The yellow area would be a new road, apparently directly over the top of Muir Valley.

Alternative E

Alternative F

More details on why this project is being considered as well as how to contact the State in regard to this plan are available on the plan’s website.

Update 11/14/2008:  The owners of Muir Valley posted a thread at RedRiverClimbing.com with some more background on what is being done from their end of things.  I apologize to them if I jumped the gun with this news, however I felt as though it was important to get the word out on this issue before it was too late.  Despite the small number of whiners and complainers on message boards, there is a large community of people across the country who appreciate what they are doing.

Now, this is not to say that we didn’t have a great time or wouldn’t go back to the Ranch.  The bouldering at HCR is still worlds better than anything within a 5 hour radius of Milwaukee.  However, I think that most of us were expecting a similar experience to the bouldering at HP40 in Alabama, and HCR doesn’t quite have the same concentration of high quality problems in the grades we were looking for (V3-V7).  We were using the free topo provided by Dr. Topo so perhaps we just didn’t know about everything there was to do.

Overall, HCR is an incredible place to visit.  The landscape/scenery is amazing; our visit coincided nicely with the height of fall colors. The cabins are very comfortable  and the staff is extremely helpful and accommodating (fresh towels every day).  One of the barns even has activities available such as dodge ball, table tennis and basketball, which during the initial rain we experienced proved to be useful.  And if you’re looking for a bit more in terms of outdoor adventure, there is always horse dodging and goat fight vieiwing to partake in.  All of this, coupled with the climbing, made for a unique experience when compared with other climbing areas we’ve visited.

Mrs. Narc would like to mention that HCR is not ideal in terms of boot of doom accessibility - lots of sloping, rocky paths.  It, too, is a bit difficult to dodge horse doo with crutches…. The boulders can be reached, however, with perseverance and a good piggy-back ride or two.

Below are a few pictures from the trip.  You can see more on the recently updated Pictures Page, or if you are in the right circles you can see many pictures on The Facebook.

Danny working his way up Momento (V5)…

…and sticking the crux lunge

Tony topping out a cool V3

We came prepared to fall…

Mrs. Narc was not about to let the boot of doom hold her down

Pictures Page

Rattlesnake Mound

First up, I wanted to check out Quincy in the hopes of quickly ticking off the classic line there.  The problem in question takes an amazing line up a gently overhanging face using a really bad crimp followed by a throw to a slopey lip.  In my opinion it is one of the coolest looking lines in the entire state.  There’s only one problem…climbing is not allowed in the Quincy Bluff Preserve.  Doh!

So with that defeat fresh on my mind, I made the short drive over to Rattlesnake Mound.  I was a bit surprised with what I found.

Due to recent tornado activity, many of the trees in the area are gone and a grassy field is all that remains.  It offers a great setting for two large boulders in the field at the left side of the above picture.  The rock on these boulders feels like a mix between sandstone and quartzite.  The sandstone is of above average quality for Wisconsin and there are a few fun lines on each boulder.

A fun V4 hugs the arete using the corner and the crack on the left

A fun V4 climbs the left corner, and two easy problems climb the face

In addition to the two boulders in the field, there are several blocks surrounding the large bluff.  The rock here is very reminiscent of Governor Dodge so it is more friable.  There are a few cool lines established and possibilities for a few more.

Right now there are not very many established lines at Rattlesnake Mound, but there is more rock to be explored in several directions that could yield more climbing.  If you are looking for a diversion from the bouldering at Devil’s Lake or Governor Dodge it is worth a day trip to check out.

Skyler Weeks sticking the dyno Zion

Photo:  Chuck Fryberger

Obviously, when someone comes out with news of a new, hard problem in the Frontrange of Colorado it is going to draw some interest from people looking to repeat it.  With that in mind, Mark “Cookie” Hobson went to Clear Creek Canyon last week with filmmaker Brian Solano to check out Zion.  Hobson nearly flashed the line and sent it within a few attempts immediately calling into question the grade of the problem.  Hobson felt like the line was in the V8 range, not V13 or V16 as previously suggested.  Solano captured Hobson’s send on film and it was to be posted on MVM in short order.

Mark Hobson sticking the dyno Zion

Photo:  Brian Solano/MVM

Now, the point of this post is not to debate the difficulty of Zion.  As has been pointed out in a discussion on 8a.nu, the grade is irrelevant and the realization of this climb is still a great personal achievement for Weeks.  The point of this post is something most people probably haven’t even noticed:  the video of Hobson sending Zion was quickly and mysterioulsy removed after briefly being posted on MVM.  The Hobson footage has been replaced by a brief news blurb.

To me, this story exemplifies the ongoing debate within the climbing community over the effects commercial considerations are having on how news is reported.  It doesn’t take an episode of CSI to speculate what happened to the Hobson footage. Certainly sponsors and filmmakers have their reasons for sharing/withholding information, but the question must be asked:  How much influence should sponsors and/or filmmakers really have?  It seems that nowadays they have an impact on the distribution of not only the news they’re directly involved with, but also in related news being distributed by others.