The last 6 months of this year are on the same track, and the weather in Wisconsin has been a big factor.  Outside of one sweltering week in June the temps have been in the low 80s or upper 70s and humidity has been relatively low.  For climbing outside in the summer one couldn’t really ask for more.

Taking advantage of another day in the mid-70s, Mrs Narc and I headed up to Devil’s Lake once again yesterday to log some trad climbing mileage in preparation for our upcoming trip to Tuolumne.  While we didn’t get as many routes in as we had hoped, one important milestone was achieved:  Mrs. Narc’s first trad lead!  Here are a few pictures of her on one of my favorite easy leads at the Lake, Full Stop (5.6ish):

Full Stop is probably not an ideal first lead as there isn’t a lot of gear, but Mrs. Narc really cruised it.  Not pictured is her running it out 20 ft. to the belay near the top.  Nice!

Here are a few more pictures from the day:

Stagnant potholes

A staggering amount of talus

Full Stop

Starting to sense I was missing out on something, I finally got around to watching a few of the videos the other day and I have to say I was pretty impressed.  The dispatches were varied, well done and overall pretty cool.

Here are a couple of the more recent dispatches that caught my attention.  The first video is of a 58 meter, 28 bolt sport climb in Cipo, Brazil that looks pretty amazing.  The second video is back here in the U.S. at Colorado’s Boulder Canyon. It shows Nellie Milfeld running it out on The Spoils (5.12 R).

Cedar Wright’s Vertical Carnival

*The streaming video blockers at work didn’t help either.

Climbing Videos: Cedar Wright’s Vertical Carnival

Ask and you shall receive apparently because finals for the upcoming Mammut Bouldering Championship comp at the 2009 Summer Outdoor Retailer trade show will be streamed online according to the blog of event organizers.  What the coverage will look like, and what number of people will tune in to see that coverage, remains to be seen.  Tune in next Tuesday, July 21st, at 8:30 pm EST to check out the action.

2009 Mammut Bouldering Championships To Stream Live Online

A preview of the comp wall

• Speaking of the World Cup in Chamonix, Paige Claassen was the only American participant, finishing in 37th place.
• Sean McColl discusses his experience at the climbing World Championships held recently in China
• John Bachar climbing timeline
• Video of Kornelius Obleitner on the 3rd ascent of Anam Cara (V15) at Silvretta, Austria
• Spraylords, the next movie from Spencer Victory looks…interesting
• The 5th Annual Johnny and Alex Trail Day focused on building and maintaining trails in the Red River Gorge’s Pendergrass-Murray Recreational Preserve is coming up on August 1st.  If you can’t attend, donations are a worthy substitute.  ClimbingNarc.com donated $100 to the event bringing our total donations to climbing causes to $775.

In personal climbing news, I had an excellent day at Devil’s Lake yesterday where we got 7 leads in before calling it a day.  I engaged in some reckless bold behavior by doing my hardest trad lead using a pair of borrowed shoes on a route with iffy gear that I didn’t practice ahead of time.  I botched the sequence high above my last (and pretty much only) trustworthy piece, and I was forced to downclimb a few moves before punching it to the top.  Terrifying and exhilarating at the same time…

News & Notes – 07/13/2009

One thing that is a constant with just about all of our trips is that we bring a lot of stuff.  We try to camp wherever we go for obvious cost saving reasons which necessitates bringing a fair amount of camping equipment.  Then there is the equipment needed for climbing itself which often takes up a good amount of room regardless of the type of climbing we’ll be doing on a given trip.  This isn’t really a problem for “local” trips, but when we need to fly it means getting everything onto an airplane which is becoming increasingly expensive.

Never a problem a few years back, nowadays airlines have been consistently ratcheting up various fees and restrictions when it comes to luggage.  It’s increasingly common to have to pay for each of your checked bags which generally means an additional $40 tacked on to the cost of your flight each way.  Throw in a crashpad and you never know what will happen.  Most crashpads are, depending on the mood of the person checking in your bags, “over-sized” luggage which can incur an additional $100-$200 penalty each way depending on the airline.  I’ve had instances where the airlines haven’t looked twice at our pads and other trips where they act like we are trying to bring a 500 lb. safe onto the plane.

The sum of all this is that in addition to paying for a plane ticket one must take into account additional expenses of up to a couple hundred dollars to go on a trip that requires flying.  For us this has meant a few things.  First, we’ve consciously tried to focus on trips we can take that don’t require any flying.  Second, when going on a trip that requires a flight we’ve chosen to use those trips for things other than bouldering.  For instance, on our upcoming trip to Tuolumne a crash pad would be nice, but since bouldering is only a diversion from our main goal of long trad routes the additional costs wouldn’t really be worth it.  The final thing is that whatever we do decide to bring is packed with ruthless efficiency and we unfortunately become “that guy” with an absurd amount of our belongings stuffed into our carry on luggage.  Gotta do what you gotta do, right?

I’m wondering what experiences others have had these past couple of years.  Have you changed your travel habits due to the new luggage fee structure?  What has your experience been when flying with crashpads or other large pieces of gear?  Take the poll and leave your thoughts in the comments.

The Cost Of Doing Business?

Not surprisingly the rest of the online climbing world is abuzz with the news of Bachar’s untimely death as well.  While it’s hard for most of us to grasp how someone could continually tempt fate through repeated free soloing, I think Peter Beal does a nice job summing up why the death of John Bachar has touched so many people in his most recent post.

To give some final context to this unfortunate and sad story, here is a video of an interview Bachar did last year where he shares his thoughts on style, the future of climbing, his sick one arm skills back in the day and his ideal method for putting up new routes.  There are some memorable anecdotes including how he told Sharma about The Mandala at the Buttermilks and how it was once thought to be impossible.

Via Outside

John Bachar Video Interview

The World Championships of sport, bouldering and speed climbing were held this past weekend in Qinghai, China.  While no North Americans made the podium in any of the events, Canada’s Sean McColl had an incredible all around showing qualifying for finals in both bouldering and sport where he finished 6th and 5th respectively.  Given that qualifying for finals requires 2 rounds of competition per discipline against specialists in that type of climbing makes it all the more impressive.

The small American contingent of Daniel Woods, Alex Johnson and Lisa Rands all made the semi-finals in their respective disciplines, but none were able to make it into finals.

Men’s Bouldering (Full results)
1. Alexey Rubstov (RUS)
2. Rustam Gelamanov (RUS)
3. David Barrans (GBR)
6. Sean McColl (CAN)
17. Daniel Woods (USA)

Women’s Bouldering (Full results)
1. Yulia Abramchuk (RUS)
2. Olga Shalagina (UKR)
3. Anna Stohr (AUT)
10. Alex Johnson (USA)
19. Lisa Rands (USA)

Men’s Lead (Full resuls)
1. Patxi Usobiaga (ESP)
2. Adam Ondra (CZE)
3. David Lama (AUT)
5. Sean McColl (CAN)

Women’s Lead (Full result)
1. Johanna Ernst (AUT)
2. Jain Kim (KOR)
3. Maja Vidmar (SLO)

UKClimbing write-up about Men’s Bouldering 3rd place finisher Dave Barrans

Climbing.com Write-up

Planetmountain Write-up

2009 Climbing World Championships Results

Best known for his boldness and staunch traditional ethic, Bachar is a figure in the climbing community who will surely be missed.

John Bachar – In memory of a great man 1957 – 2009

My thoughts are with his family and friends…

Update: In light of what happend, I think this interview John Bachar did earlier this year with Climb Talk Radio in Boulder, CO is all the more interesting to listen to.  Check it out if you want to hear more about how Bachar got into soloing.

John Bachar Dead At Age 52

Located near Mammoth Lakes, CA, the rock at Way Lake looks eerily similar to the rock found in RMNP, and it is apparently extremely comfortable to climb on.  To give you a better idea of what the climbing at Way Lake is like, here is a video of Nic Oklobzija making quick work of the 3rd ascent (after Isaac Caldiero and Jeff Sillcox) of the area’s hardest boulder, Chumscrubber (soft V12?):

For more Way Lake photos, check out recent posts at East Side Bouldering and Class•ic Bloc.

Climbing Video: Nic Oklobzija Climbing Chumscrubber (V12) At Way Lake

A sneak peak

My attempts to pry information about these new shoes out of various Five Ten sources were not successful, although I was able to see the prototypes in person last month.  What I saw was very promising and I was excited to see the finished product, whenever that may be.

Now, thanks to the French language site Stikkit, we have the finished product:  the Team 5.10:

Apparently inspired by the Jet7, Dragon and 5x shoes, the Team 5.10 has a new heel and Stealth Mystique 3.5 mm rands and outsole.  Don’t get too excited though, it will be the Spring of 2010 before you can get your hands on a pair.

New Five Ten products for Spring 2010

Thanks to the excellent French site Kairn for the tip!

Mysterious New Five Ten Shoe Identified

While climbing injuries happen can happen to anyone at anytime, 2009 has been an especially bad year for a few pro climbers who suffered injuries that make my knee injury earlier this year look benign by comparison.  Urban Climber caught up with injured climbers Dave Graham, Chris Webb Parsons, Ethan Pringle and Angie Payne to see how they are recovering from their busted ankles and shoulders.  There are some valuable lessons to be learned from reading their stories, especially the fact that Webb Parsons has had to dole out over $15,000 due to not having insurance at the time of his injury!

Urban Climber Injury Update

Pro Climber Injury Update

Thanks to Nic, a Wisconsin bouldering legend, for passing this along.

Climbing Video: Dave Graham Big Worm (V13/14) FA, Nalle Hukkataival Working Jade (V15)

One of the main events at every Roc Trip is the so-called Ultimate Routes that are setup, one for the women and one for the men:

This year, the 90 meter Utlimate Routes (Infinity Lane) shot up the overhanging Cathédrale, in the Gorges de la Jonte. Invited athletes had to flash the route, and weren’t able to work the route after falling. Excellent route reading skills and a massive amount of endurance were the two key ingredients

The women’s route was flashed by Martina Cufar and Florence Pinet with Chloé Minoret, Nina Caprez and Lynn Hill sending the route in a few tries.

The men’s route proved to be a bit stiffer a challenge as none of the men could pull out a flash of the likely 5.14b route in the first 2 days of attempts.  And then, on day 3, Chris Sharma showed up:

After a day of rest and chill climbing in the Tarn, Chris Sharma showed up at the Cathédrale… Using his climbing mastery and strength, he flashed the route, as photographers and the dumbfounded spectators looked on. Proof that his is still the King…

Petzl Roc Trip Millau Day 1 Report

Petzl Roc Trip Millau Day 2 & 3 Report

Update:  Thanks to daniel in the comments for passing along an interview with Dani Andrada (in Spanish) about the Roc Trip:

• It was hot
• They used 200 meter ropes for the climb
• Sharma took around 1.5 hours for his flash send
• The route itself starts off with 50 feet of roughly 5.13c climbing to a long section of 5.12 that features a huge sitdown rest (not surprisingly) before finishing with some hard “resistance” climbing.  5.13c and 5.14a separated by a huge rest so more or less 5.14a according to Andrada.
• Having the Roc Trip in Millau is getting kind of boring

If you find anything else in the interview, feel free to share it in the comments.

Update #2: According to Sharma himself, this was not really a flash.

Sharma Flashes 300 Ft. 5.14b At Roc Trip Millau

Clip of Chris Sharma working Pachamama

Big Ups To Footage Of Chris Sharma Working Pachamama (5.15a)

Franz Widmer opened a new V15 boulder in Switzerland last month he is calling Kryptos.  The LowDown has more background on the boulder, and now the video is here to give a better idea what the problem looks like:

For me, watching videos of climbing gear breaking is both interesting and paranoia inducing at the same time:

More gear testing vids at the American Alpine Institue blog

Will Stanhope climbed Cobra Crack the other day without a video camera present to capture the send, but Sonnie Trotter was there to capture an attempt a few days earlier (please set cell phones to vibrate while watching…):

And finally, there isn’t much that can be said to introduce this video…

Video Dump Friday

Source:  El Cap Report 6/24/09 & El Cap Report 06/25/09

2 Out Of 3 Ain’t Bad For Honnold & Leary

In his/her section, each climber speaks candidly about climbing motivations and personal climbing goals.  For example, Alex Puccio speaks about the competiton between female climbers and the need to continually raise the bar,  and Daniel Woods shares his desire to increase the popularity and awarness of climbing.  Dave Graham talks about…well it’s hard to say what exactly he was really talking about.  Either way, it was interesting to see those various aspects of everyone’s personalities.

The video did not hurt for intersting footage.  Shots of Chris Lindner deep water soloing in Vietnam, for example, were impressive as were the shots from South Africa.  Climbing destinations were diverse and the camera work was good.  Somewhat distracting, however, were the filler shots between climbs.  While some were interesting, a number seemed to function only to fill  time.  Overall, however, the movie kept a good pace and was enjoyable to watch.

Trailer for The Players

If you enjoy seeing some of the best climbers the U.S. has to offer climbing hard in a variety of disciplines, The Players is something you will definitely enjoy.  Check it out and let me know what you think!

Read more about The Players in this interview I did with filmmaker Brian Solano.

The Players, $29.99 at BSProductions.us

The Players DVD Review

News & Notes – 06/24/2009

Early last week he made quick work of Jade (V15) in RMNP for its 4th ascent before turning his sights toward a sit start project to an existing V10 highball at Mt. Evans first done by Cam Cross.  Enticed by pictures of the project from Carlo Traversi and Jamie Emerson (who presciently blogged that “when completed, this will be the best problem at Mt. Evans”) Hukkataival set out for Mt. Evans with Jon Cardwell, Chris Schulte and Traversi to have a look.  Here is how he described what they found on his blogsite:

I wanted to go try a project at area B, that I had seen photos of earlier this week. I thought it looked really good in the photos, but when we got up there I was blown away. This tall and proud line climbs a sloping rail on a perfect steep overhang, leading to a horrifying mantle high off the deck. It has a good obvious starting hold and about 21 moves, all of them upwards. The bottom part climbing into the stand is probably around V12 and after that you still have to do do stand start which is a technical highball V10. At the moment there is still snow on the landing making it possible to take falls without getting hurt, but when the snow melts it will most likely be a death landing.

Despite testing out the bad landing with a rough fall on his face, Hukkataival persevered and pressed out the exciting mantle to create Sunseeker (V13).  Traversi had to settle for the 2nd ascent a day later after falling from the last move an hour before Hukkataival’s FA.  Commenting on his 8a.nu spraysheet Traversi says that Sunseeker, “could be one of the best boulder problems in the world. 20-25 feet with a snow landing (for now). Tall, Proud, Pure, Technical, Powerful, and Balancy. FULL PACKAGE.”

Visiting climbers swooping and nabbing the FA of coveted projects is nothing new, but Jon Glassberg raises an interesting point about this in a recent post on his blogsite:

There has been a frenzy of activity at Mt. Evans involving strong climbers trying to send the Super Proj at Area B dubbed Sunseeker by Nalle Hukkataival who made the first ascent in a few hours work. I know that Carlo T., Max Z., and Chris Schulte have been putting a lot of effort into the problem over the past week or so, cleaning the line on toprope, hauling in stacks of pads, and working out beta…

Is it poor form to come in and scoop up first ascents without doing any of the legwork? Or is it someone else who is at fault for telling the strong climbers that hard gems are waiting to be plucked? Any thoughts? I’m sure Carlo was pretty bummed after falling off the last hold only minutes before Nalle put the send down, after being spoon fed beta.

I don’t know any of the principles in this instance, but since both Traversi and Schulte helped carry pads and spotted for Hukkataival I’m inclined to believe that it isn’t a big deal in this case.

In other Mt. Evans news, Paul Robinson has set his sights on another undone project at Area B and video of Chris Schulte’s ascent of Big Worm (V14) is now up at DPM.

Impressive New V13 From Nalle Hukkataival At Mt. Evans

Check out the American Alpine Institute blog for an additional video from Sterling with more information on how ropes are made.

Video: How A Climbing Rope Is Made