Here at ClimbingNarc.com the summer climbing season at areas like Mt. Evans and RMNP is one I usually look forward to quite a bit as it usually provides good news fodder. Unfortunately, this summer has been pretty slow for news of really hard sends. Unlike the summer of 2007 when the likes of Daniel Woods, Paul Robinson and Ty Landman made sending V13s and harder a seemingly daily occurrence and the summer of 2008 when female boulderers were sending V12 left and right, the summer of 2009 has yet to have a defining theme.
Certainly Nalle Hukkataival’s quick repeat of Jade and his FA of Sunseeker (V13) were noteworthy but they left me wanting more. Even Daniel Woods’ recent 4th ascent of Big Worm (V14) at Mt. Evans barely registers because he has made the ascent of a V14 seem so commonplace.
My hope is that we are just in a “calm before the storm” moment, but Peter Beal may be right when he says, “The filling in the gaps era is here, the veterans, lifers and addicts spending weeks and months on a problem or a grade are all going to be here. Colorado is no longer where it is happening.” We shall see.
In the meantime, here are a few News & Notes:
- I dropped the ball by not mentioning this sooner, but Paige Claasen recently sent her first 5.14a, Zulu, in Rifle, CO.
- SuperTopo founder Chris McNamara has been fined $5,000 and banned from entering National Parks for one year after pleading guilty to illegally BASE jumping in the Grand Canyon during a November 2007 rafting trip with Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden. Filmmaker Corey Rich was also fined $1,000 for not reporting the incident. The charges against Rich could be dropped though if “he uses his work to promote Leave No Trace education and denounce illegal BASE jumping”.
- Dave Turner recently spent over 2 months alone in Baffin Island, Canada after which he put together this amazing trip report.
- Via Mountains & Water is this interesting article about best-selling author Jim Collins climbing El Cap in a day with Tommy Caldwell for his 50th birthday.
- A great re-cap of the recent memorial service for Wade Johnson, Jonny Copp and Micah Dash.
- Only women should click this link…
- Via the Getoutdoors.com blog comes news of a new cams from DMM that look eerily similar to another series of cams on the market
New DMM Cams
- Today is the deadline for entries into the 2009 Reel Rock Filmmaking contest.
- Video of Jon Cardwell on the 2nd ascent of Nalle Hukkataival’s The Machinist (V13) at Hueco Tanks, TX:
- Video of 40+ year old Dave Buzzelli sending Double Down (V13) at Great Barrington, MA:
Brian, thanks for the mentions/links. Yes the pace of climbing news has slowed to a trickle pretty much everywhere. Is it the economy? Are we just at a natural stopping place for a while?
Cool to see the Buzzelli video. Despite the solid reputation of the FAist, Phil Schaal, that is a pretty easy-looking V13. Have there been other repeats?
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According to Bass For Your Face it was first done by Dan Yagmin. Paul got the 2nd a few years back and said on his scorecard that it felt harder than the neighboring V13 Roses & Blue Jays so who knows really. I believe Schaal first did it earlier this year.
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It looks easy because he jacked the beta to death. It’s normally a series of bumps then a jump to a slot, but he seems to have found a different and presumably easier way.
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Wow. That new DMM cam looks like a direct ripoff of a Black Diamond Camalot.
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Thanks for the clarification Brian
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I’m so confused. Who is this Brian fellow?
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http://www.hulu.com/watch/19051/saturday-night-live-brian-fellows-safari-planet ???
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Unless there was some unknown shift in my demographic there are a lot of men clicking on the link I warned about. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…
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No, thank you, thank you for warning us. I know what the link is, I didn’t get the warning on Twitter and saw to much before it was to late to unsee what I saw. At least you gave us fair warning.
Edit: I can’t quite be sure what it is you don’t want me to click. I’m afraid of links now. But, if it is what I think it is *shudder*
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I guess you do work with wild animals in a sense
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Speaking of colorado bouldering, I had a quick question: I’m booked for a trip to RMNP, estes and boulder this week, but weather.com indicates daily rain/storms. Is that common? Will the rock be wet, or is weather.com notoriously inaccurate for the alpine areas? If not, I guess I’ll be checking out the gyms …
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I have limited experience with this but the weather high in the park can often be different than what is happening down lower in Estes Park. Hopefully your trip works out!
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If you are still out there not this weekend, but the following, maybe I’ll bump into you bouldering in RMNP and we can share pads. Good luck!
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