News & Notes - 4/12/2011

Not a ton of news to get to today, but the notes are piling up so here is the latest edition of News & Notes:

News...

• Nina Caprez and Cedric Lachat had a pretty nice trip to Oliana, Spain recently.  Caprez did Full Equip (5.14b) 2nd try (which she thought was no harder than 5.13d) and Fish Eye (5.14b) while Lachat pulled off a send of Sharma's Papichulo (5.15a).  Check out Caprez's blog for some excellent pictures of their efforts.
• According to her scorecard Holly McMullen repeated Gross's Roof (V11) at Cumberland, TN, her first of the grade after just over 2 years of climbing.
• Kevin Jorgeson has a nice report on his blog about his likely 2nd ascent of Dale Bard's Transporter Room (5.12 X) on the Grandpa Peabody boulder at the Buttermilks.
• Fred Nicole is still getting it done
• The first bouldering World Cup of the 2011 season is this weekend in Milan, Italy.  The U.S. will have 2 representatives in Alex Puccio and Alex Johnson.  Full start list is posted here.

...And Notes...

• In a nice gesture in an otherwise selfish sport, Adam Ondra has become the public face for the push to get climbers to sign up to become bone marrow donors:

Not everyone has such luck as myself, not everyone is “merely“ lucky enough to be healthy as most of the others and just go climbing, enjoy every day without any serious helathy problems at least while being young. To become a potential marrow bone donnor was quite an obvious choice for me, there are people on the world who might need me to save their lives, I asked myself if it was worth of sacrificing one week of life (if there will ever be person for whom I would be useful) for way longer and happier life of another person. Yes, the operation might be awkward, might hurt, it would avoid me to live my ordinary life for at least 1 week, but for me, it is definitely worth of it, what about you?

• Nice interview with Joe Kinder as he embarks on his trip to Europe
• Interview with Paige Claassen
• Profile video of the other Alex Johnson
• Planet Granite, a trio of gyms in the San Francisco area, has announced their new PG Gives Back program which aims to give back to the local community through a series of grants and donations to various causes.
• The parents of Chloé Graftiaux, who tragically died in a fall last year, have put together a book and non-profit association to help give, "nudges to the young people who have projects in climbing, in mountain sports or in mountain assistance,  but with the goal of sharing a passion".  Read more about the project here.
• The Access Fund announces the recipients of over $18,000 in the first round of their 2011 Climbing Preservation Grant Program
• The American Alpine Club is hiring
• Probably not a shock to many of you but the British Mountaineering Council has issued some guidance warning against the use of campus boards by children under 18.
• National Geographic recently launched a new videos series entitled Fringe Elements.  The series covers a broad range of outdoor activities including this video of Matt Maddaloni free soloing...with a net.