As usual it’s been a busy time for visiting climbers down in Rocklands, South Africa.
Highlighting the news of late has been Jimmy Webb who has been doing, frankly, what Jimmy Webb does. Webb touched down in South Africa a couple of weeks back and from the looks of his scorecard not much has slowed him down. He’s managed to repeat problems like Golden Shadow (V14), Derailed (he says V13, 10 of 11 other repeaters on 8a say V14) and Mooiste Meisie (V13).
In addition, Webb has managed two very noteworthy flashes in The Vice (V13) and Sky which is listed at V14 by 8 of the other 9 people who have logged it on 8a. Ever the Brave & Humble™ climber, Webb suggested V13 and had this to say about it on his scorecard:
One of the best feelings i’ve had in climbing. Such a rad bloc. Props to Daniel for establishing this incredible line. Fit me perfectly. 8B+ flash sounds nice but this is just not the case. At least for my height.
In other Rocklands news, Idaho’s Matt Fultz made his first foray down to South Africa and came away with an impressive ticklist that included repeats of V14s Sky, King Of Limbs and Derailed. Also on a similar send train was Aussie James Kassay who managed a repeat of Amandla (V14) in addition to the three V14s Fultz completed.
beast
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Just wanted to throw out that there was one other downgrading repeater of Sky that I know of (Griffin Whiteside on 27crags). His fits the trend of those that downgrade though – massive wingspans on each and every one of them.
It’s insane seeing someone as tall as Jimmy with the thuggish power usually reserved for the guys with shorter levers.
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Being on the tall side myself I long assumed that being tall was the ultimate trump card, at least until I actually saw how relatively short many of the best male climbers tend to be.
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I’ve never really noticed much of a consistent trend regarding the height of elite climbers. It seems like for every Koyamada or Traversi, there’s a Graham or Ondra.
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Wait J Webb is tall? His 8a says he is 157 cm. that’s not even 5′ 6″ right?
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I think Jimmy is bad at metric there. 6′ and 180 lbs here:
http://www.seclimbers.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=507
He is not a small man. Rustam Gelmanov – that is a tiny guy comparatively, especially next to someone like Sharifutinov.
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Ah that makes sense, thanks. He must be so strong (obviously) if he is 180 lb.
Aren’t most gymnasts pretty short too? As they say in Half Baked though, I just think its more complex than that.
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The trend is toward as high strength to weight ratio, which, other things being equal, favors the short and/or thin. I wouldn’t considered Graham or Ondra (both 5’11”) tall, and would say that the fact that climbers think of them as tall is a reflection of the short trend, but notice how thin they are compared to the short guys you mentioned. There are exceptions, like Jan Hojer, but outliers do not change the rule. The fact that they stand out so much shows that they do not fit an otherwise clear trend.
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I mean, (photographer) Andy Mann did it, so it can’t be that hard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol5-gpTMz3c
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