News & Notes - 5/8/2008

Not much Earth shattering news going down lately but here are a few things to check out from the past few weeks:

• Joe Kinder prepared nicely for his 2 month trip to Spain with his recent FA of Golden Direct (5.14d) at the Cathedral in Utah.  You can read more about it here, here and here.  Look for footage soon on MVM. This may come as a surprise, but I have to admit that I am starting to "get" Joe Kinder.  For a long time his over the top persona and mangling of the English language had turned me off, but I am starting to come around.  I have a hard time not appreciating his enthusiasm for any and all things climbing.  Joe is in Spain right now with Chris Sharma so it should be interesting to see what is going down over there.
• Carlo Traversi made an early season visit to Mt. Evans this past weekend to find conditions at the Dali Boulder surprisingly good.  He managed to send No More Greener Grasses (V12) and Super Gui (V11, pictured below) before succumbing to altitude on the hike out.

Photo:  Greg Mionske

• Ty Landman was in Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT recently and he did what he usually does when he visits a new area:  namely fast repeats of hard problems.  Highlights include a flash of the classic V11 Bully and a fast 4th ascent of Ben Moon's Eclipse (V12 or 13).  You can read his full report at Moonclimbing.
• Matt Segal has been making a lot of headlines lately.  First was his repeat of Musta Been High (5.13c R) in Eldorado Springs Canyon, CO during which he eschewed the use of knee pads deeming them "poorer style".  He followed that effort up with a second free ascent of an extension to China Doll in Boulder Canyon that he gave a grade of 5.13d R, and in doing so raised the specter of chopping the bolts off the previously thought-to-be-unsafe-to-lead-on-natural-gear bolted crack.  Peter Beal is not impressed.
• Dougald MacDonald is reporting that Dean Potter has completed his BASEline walk in Moab that stirred up some mixed feelings back in March.
• Planetmountain has a nice interview posted with Adam Ondra (15 year old 5.15 climber)
• Jason Pinto has posted a few more photos from Switzerland and France including a few of Daniel Woods on The Dagger (V14) which Dave Graham added a sit start to in order to create Story Of 2 Worlds (V15).

Daniel Woods - The Dagger (V14)

Photo:  Jason Pinto

• Cool interview with Tim Steele at Routesetter.com on what it was like to be in the setting game back in the 1990's
• Dave MacLeod will be headlining the upcoming 15th Annual International Climbers' Festival in Lander, WY.  I was at the festival in 2001 and would very much like to attend again sometime.  Speaking of Dave, check out his blogsite for photos of some of the hard bouldering he is doing in the UK.
• Pretty much a dream location for a home.
• The historic Dewey Bridge outside of Moab, UT was recently burned to the ground by a 7 year old.  Click here for a large gallery of images of the fire.