Chris trying a new project on Oliana in Catalunya. We can also see him chilling at his home with Daila Ojeda, Skateboarding and playing various instruments. Watch video

A WORKLESSCLIMBMORE production

“Enthusiastic climber gets pro-climber-signature ink”.

Seeing is believing…

For the full article check out UrbanClimber

Chris Sharma’s meteoric climbing career started when he won the Bouldering Nationals at age 14 and opened the hardest climb in America (at the time, 5.14c) a year later. In the decade that followed, Chris has continued to take climbing to a new level. Not only has he consistently shattered previous conceptions of difficulty, he was recently voted 8a Climber of the Decade. He has sent multiple 5.15 routes, bouldered V15, onsighted 5.14b, and established deep water solo routes at the highest grades. Chris holds claim to the current hardest route in America, and perhaps the world, with his ascent of Jumbo Love at Clark Mountain in California. Chris has a lot on his plate this year with a new house in Spain, establishing a string of 5.15 routes and climbing almost daily with his girlfriend Daila Ojeda. The area around their home is considered one of the hotspots for the sport globally with more than 70 crags featuring steep limestone caves and seemingly endless possibilities. It looks like Chris will have plenty of time to perfect his Spanish accent…

Cross Posted & Edited from UKClimbing.com

It’s been a good year for sport climbing, maybe the best ever. Why?

Well, we’ve been waiting some time for the flood wave to come, and although there’s been signs during the last few years, in comparison, they were mere ripples.The onslaught is lead by two kings, one of whom is not even a man yet, but a boy… or man boy maybe.

Anyway, his name is Adam Ondra and there’s a small army of kids following him. The other king is, and this shouldn’t come as a surprise either, Chris Sharma.

To say it’s only about Sharma and the kids would be a mistake though. In fact, more ‘middle aged’ climbers than ever are pushing the limits. So, lets start with them shall we?

François Nicole, 42, made the FA of Amazonie, F9a, at Saint-Triphon, Vaud, Switzerland. The rather short powerful route involves a crimpy section leading up to an astonishing all points off right-hand dyno followed by another bunch of “edgy” moves.

Cataluña

This is the laboratory of sport climbing these days (one of the sectors at Margalef is even called just that). This is the area many of the best climbers call home for shorter or longer periods of time. Leading the development, bolting tons of routes, are Chris Sharma and Dani Andrada.

Chris didn’t have as much time as usual focusing on his climbing this year however. The reasons were two, the building of his new house and his slide show/video tour. For most, this would mean a significant decline in shape. Sharma… not so much. In fact, if anything, he seems stronger than before. He started off in February with an ascent of Demencia senil, a super steep and powerful F9a+, on shallow monos and two finger pockets, at the Laboratory, Margalef.

Then, in May, it was time for Pachamama, an endurance feast of small pinches and slopey side-pulls at Oliana that, according to Chris, is his most difficult F9a+ yet.

His major ascent of the year came late though: The mighty Neanderthal, 9b, at Santa Linya. This route is only the second to climb the whole giant cave.

Dave Graham described the route:

“The route is like a F9a (more or less) which is comprised of something like four Font 7C blocs on a row, very resitant, on pinches and kinda crack like features. There are some holds to shake on in between the last Font 7C and the crux, which is this dyno. The dyno is a move from a crimp and a two finger pocket to a sloper brick. Then there is a jug after a couple more moves. The boulder must be Font 8A minimum.

Then there is a small rest, a small boulder, maybe 3 moves, not so hard, then a big rest. Then it is a maybe F8a+/8b route to the end of the cave, out another little bulge.

Thus the route is something like a F9a, to a Font 8A bloc, to a big rest, which makes solid F9a+ or easy F9b? Then about F8a+/8b route outro climb after a big rest in a break. This is Neanderthal.”

For the full article click here

Cross Posted from Red Kite Prayer

I took up rock climbing this year. Inside. Away from the wind’s howl and the mercury’s shallow dip. In place of long rides through Boston’s quaint colonial burbs, and hill repeats out in the Arlington Heights. The commute remains, but the time I might otherwise spend spinning, I now spend climbing.

And as I’ve learned more and more about my new sport, the more it’s caused me to reflect on cycling, on how the sport is contested at its highest levels, on how it’s marketed and what its fans value most, and how its icons measure up against one another.

Over the last decade, Lance Armstrong has established himself, not only as the most famous modern cyclist, but also, likely, in this age of rapid information exchange and media saturation as the most famous bike rider ever. His comeback in 2009 brought money and attention flooding back into the sport. Despite the emergence of young superstars who may, one day, supplant him, Lance has proven that he is still the biggest draw in cycling.

Chris Sharma is, by near consensus, the best climber in the world today. Twenty-eight years old, lithe and handsome, Sharma has done and continues to do things no other climber ever has. He has opened innumerable new routes, first ascents of the greatest difficulty that the world’s other top climbers struggle to imagine completing, routes that, finally, required the expansion of the rating system to adequately describe their difficulty. From the age of 15 when he became the US National Bouldering Champion, Sharma has dominated competitions and set an entirely new standard against which future climbers will be judged.

Like Armstrong, Sharma has a list of victories as long as his arm. They are both generational athletes, rare humans with a unique combination of physical gifts, mental toughness and superhuman drive. And that, my friends, is where the similarities end.

Because while Lance Armstrong has developed a reputation for gargantuan ego, savvy business sense, ruthless managerial tactics and a bullying and condescending approach to his rivals, Sharma has gone about his business modestly, quietly and with a focus on something beyond competition.

It is traditional, in climbing, for the first one up a new route to name that route, but this is something Sharma is reluctant to do, leaving many of his first ascents to others to name. When climbing with others, he is well-known for offering to belay first (i.e. stand at the base of the climb, protecting his climbing partner by managing the rope and calling out encouragement). In interviews he talks about the necessity of competing, to promote the sport, to maintain his sponsorships, to stay sharp, but he also speaks about the desire just to be outdoors, working on various climbing projects, traveling, seeing friends, pushing the limits of climbing without necessarily vanquishing an opponent. He smiles a lot. Laughs.

Lance Armstrong is larger than (more…)

Cross Posted From BigUp Productions

Brett’s over in Spain with Chris and Daila, filming projects, waiting out rain, helping with home-improvements. Yesterday we extended his ticket home for the third time, hoping to catch the FA of First Round First Minute, Chris’ current obsession.  This is familiar territory for B. He spent six weeks in Ceuse to get the FA of Realization, made four trips to Mallorca to capture Es Pontas, and ground it out at Clark Mountain for Jumbo Love. Trying to shoot first ascents of groundbreaking routes is a game of patience and luck, and with Chris it’s tricky to time, because he goes to the crag every day with the belief that he might do his project, even if he’s still falling three or four times. You never want to bet against him, because somehow you know the one day you don’t go to shoot is the one day he’ll send – “you shoulda been there, man…”

Here’s a little report from Brett on the scene over there, the status of the project, and the process of trying to shoot it:

“Last year we shot Chris trying First Round First Minute a few days for Progression. He wasn’t very close to sending, but it was clear that the route would be something unique and exciting. When I spoke with Chris a few weeks ago, I asked him how it was going. He said the day before he fell on the last move twice, and it was about to go down. “If you want to shoot the send you better come now.”

I was on a flight to Barcelona the next day, he picked me up, we drove to Margalef, and were shooting that afternoon. He fell on the last move again. I’ve been here 3 weeks now and he’s still falling on the last move.  He has the entire bottom section wired now.  When he reaches the last few moves you can watch the needle go from 1/2 tank to running on fumes.

Rain and snow came after the first few days, and the route was seeping. The only place to climb was Santa Linya, and while Chris’s focus was on First Round, he tricked himself and sent another one of his long standing projects, Neanderthal.  There was no pressure or intense desire, he just hopped on the route after barely trying it the past year, and hiked another 9b FA. Video still below.

It’s crazy how this region has become the epicenter of hard sport climbing. Dani Andrada has put up hard routes around here for years, and now that Chris is here the gravity has really shifted. So far we’ve seen Dave Graham, John Cardwell, Thomas Mrazek, Sachi Anma, Kilian Fischhuber, Anna Stohr, and a handful of others that you’ve never heard of who all climb hard 5.14.

Once the tufas stopped seeping, we went back to Margalef. Dani had opened a sweet 8c+ called Bumaye, just to the right of Chris’s project, and Dave and John were trying it, so we had a good group vibe going at the Laboratorio. Yesterday John and Kilian both sent, and Dave had done it a couple of days ago.  They are now trying the moves on First Round, and helping me out with the funky tracking rig I set up so I can shoot the whole send one camera one take, right in his face the whole way up. Yesterday I had John doing the pulling with Dave dangling on the other end as a human counter weight. Dave was pissed because he got spun around backwards while hanging and couldn’t watch the action. Sorry man, way to be a team player!

I came over with hopes of making it back to my family for the holidays, but that didn’t happen.  On X-mas day we were at the proj. Chris said “This would be a nice Christmas present,” but no.  We were there on New Years Eve, and Chris said “This would be a great way to wrap up ‘09,” but no. In Spain they exchange gifts on the day the Kings came to give gifts to Jesus, the 6th of January. Guess where we were? Chris said, “what are the Kings gonna bring me?” Nothing.

Chris and I have been comparing my job to those nature Photographers that sit in a bush in the jungle for weeks, waiting for the rare Blue Spotted Tiger to do his mating dance.  So if everyone would send some positive vibes our way, I will stick it out and get you the sick footage of the Blue Spotted Tiger.”

-Brett

UPDATE (Jan 8): Chris told us that he has fallen over 15 times on the last move (the crux) and is getting a little “down about it”. So please send s…ome good vibes his way! Maybe your positive energy will be all he needs to get through the crux!

UPDATE (Jan 12): Daila Ojeda… What happen with the weather now? The weather is getting crazy in Spain right now. It is raining and snowing for everywhere… Climbing with cold weather is really hard and climbing with wet rock is a piece of (poop).. but climbing with temperatures below zero and totally wet rock at the same time that is the worst of the worst! That means that we have to find the climbing gym keys wherever it is and to start training a little bit because our fitness is going to holidays! uff that sounds hard! It’s just motivation!! venga! a muerte! hehe

see you!

Cross Posted from Climbing Narcissist

As expected, Chris Sharma has done the first ascent of a possible 5.15b sport route in Spain, but it wasn’t the infamous First Round, First Minute project at Margalef which he is still reportedly very close to doing.  Instead Sharma ticked off the Neanderthal project in the cave at Santa Linya to yield his 3rd possible 5.15b after Jumbo Love and Golpe De Estado.

Seen in Dosage V, Neanderthal follows a long and sustained 40 meter line with a hard dyno near the top of the wall.  After two years of work, Sharma was able to climb “really solid and very psyched” to reach the anchors of Neanderthal with a cheering crowd looking on.

Interestingly enough, Neanderthal wasn’t Sharma’s main focus lately, but poor conditions in Margalef led to a change of plans.  Commenting on their blog, the guys at Big Up shed a little more light on things:

A quick heads-up: We got a last minute call from Sharma the other day, that he was about to send First Round First Minute, so Brett jumped on over to Spain to shoot it. Margalef got snowed out, so they went to Santa Linya instead, and today Chris did his other mega-proj, Neanderthal. Probably another 9b. There is footage of him trying it in Dosage 5.  Now they have a few more days to go back to FRFM and try to get it done too… We will be making the footage available as a download from our site as soon as possible. More info to come… -Josh

After a quiet middle part of the year, Sharma seems poised to finish 2009 strong with this 5.15 FA under his belt and another possibly on the way.  Stay tuned…

Chris’s girlfriend Daila Ojeda also chimed in on her blog…

Neanderthal 9b for Chris in Santa Linya!!

Today it was a beautiful sunny day of winter in one of our favorite crag in Catalunya, Santa Linya. It’s was really cold too and that means perfect conditions for climbing! And some days before Chris fell in the last move in his project in Santa Linya and after one rest day he arrived to the anchor to the hardest route in the cave Neanderthal 9b. He climbed really solid and very psyched with everybody cheering down below venga bicho!! nice Chris! The good thing is Brett Lowell captured everything on tape and you be able to see some nice footage very soon on bigupproductions.com (good job guys!)

And it’s was crazy because he was waiting for his other project in Margalef to dry and he went to the cave just for fun and belay me… then he has to go to Margalef and finish his work with First round first minute 9b?? before 2010… that sound really good man!

We’ll see next few days!

UPDATE from Björn Pohl:

The lowdown on Neanderthal

As we reflect on another great year (& decade) for prAna, we are proud that 10 of the to 25 “Playas” are or have been part of the prAna family (Sharma, Graham, Josune, Dani, Fred, Tommy, Beth, Martina, Jerome & Iker).

8a.nu celebrates its 10-year anniversary in the next few weeks! Here is their provisional 8a Climber of the decade list.

1. Chris Sharma USA First Ascent Pioneer

2. David Graham USA Combined 8a ranking leader for like 7 years

3. Patxi Usobiaga ESP Lead male comp climber of the decade, 8a route ranking leader

4. Yuji Hirayama JPN Competition, Sport, Boulder and Big wall

5. Josune Bereziartu ESP 9a’s, comps and Bigwall

6. Dani Andrada ESP FA Legend around Lleida, Comps

7. Kilian Fischhuber AUT Best Male Comp Boulderer, routes

8. Fred Nicole SWI Boulder Pioneer

9. Tomas Mrazek CZE Continuous in both comp and rock

10. Angela Eiter AUT

11. Steve McClure GBR,

12. Tommy Caldwell USA

13. Muriel Sarkany BEL,

14. Beth Rodden USA

15. Sandrine Levet FRA

16. Ramon Puigblanque ESP,

17. Martina Cufar SLO

18. Dai Koyamada JPN

19. Toni Lamprecht

20. Natalija Gros

21. Alexandre Chabot

22. Christian Bindhammer ITA,

23. Jerome Meyer FRA,

24. John Gaskins GBR

25. Iker Pou ESP

26. Fred Rouhling SWI

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