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Posts Tagged ‘Bouldering’
Enzo Oddo and friends spent a month this spring on the steep, pumpy climbs in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge. A few of the harder climbs sure got Enzo fired up, which helped fuel his redpoint of Pure Imagination, 5.14d. They soaked up the local culture and had some teenage fun – Southern Style. *Routes: Pure Imagination (5.14d), Lucifer (5.14c), Southern Smoke (5.14c), The Golden Ticket (5.14c/d), Forty Two Karats (5.14c)
More vids of Enzo crushing…
For more on Enzo visit http://www.prana.com/ambassadors/enzo-oddo
Functional Apparel for the Unconventional Spirit
Paul Robinson tore it up in Fall 2010 on the granite boulders of Switzerland, ticking off multiple problems in the 8B and above range, including a couple 8Cs (one, a first ascent). (BD) sent ace lensman Bernardo Gimenez up to Switzerland to capture some of Robinson’s bouldering sendage, as well as develop a video profile of Robinson that would showcase his personality and drive. The weather crapped out during Gimenez’s visit, but the ever-stoked Robinson still climbed a bunch of rad 8B to 8B+ problems for the camera, as well as sat down and explained his motivations and aspirations.
Paul recently sent “Big Paw” V15 in Chironico, Switzerland. This was the fourth ascent of the line (1st – Dave Graham, 2nd – Dai Koyomada 3rd – Adam Ondra). Congratulations to PRob on his latest!
Big Paw is a large prow in Chironico. The climb begins low and climbs the prow to its point at approximately 15 feet off the ground. Big Paw is one of the most exciting and amazing climbs I have ever climbed on. The beginning is very hard and powerful and the top is technical and crimpy. I climbed the full line in 3 days and had to brush snow off of the top out last night to make it possible to climb on today. It was so cold today that the remaining snow on the top out did not melt which made it possible for me to make the ascent. I have 20 days left in Switzerland and way too many boulders I want to climb!
~Paul
UPDATE:
Yesterday, I managed to make the fourth ascent of Dave Graham’s “Big Paw” in Chironico. This line has been one that I have been really psyched to climb on ever since first seeing it a little over 2 years ago. I climbed the stand start, “Boogalaga” about a month ago and was psyched to come back and try the sit. With so many other boulders in CH to try it took me until the other day to get back to work the moves out on the sit. I quickly figured out a nice sequence that worked for me and came very close to sending that day.
Snow was in the forecast for the next day but fortunately the weather said it would never be above freezing. That night I wandered out to the boulder at around 10 pm with a hand-made broom in hand along with my head lamp and lantern. I managed to clean a bit of an exit area in which to top out if I managed to send the following day.
The following day was perfect. It was freezing cold and never went above freezing so the remaining snow on the top out didn’t drip. I managed to send that afternoon and endured one of the scariest and iciest top outs of my life. I crawled to the peak of the boulder grasping chunks of snow and ice. But none of it mattered, I was so psyched to have sent such a brilliant line with my good friend mickey and dave jones there. The day was perfect and I could not have asked for more perfect conditions.
I am exhausted today and will be resting. I still have a few climbs left that I am psyched for! I hope to finish off the list before my departure to Font on Dec. 20! C’monnnnnnnnn weather!
A massive video with big paw, dreamtime, and la proue comng soon!
~Paul
Coming to Rocklands this year I had one main climb in mind, Monkey Wedding, V15. This line was first climbed by Fred Nicole over 8 years ago. I had briefly tried this line the first time that i came to Rocklands but at the time, the line felt way too hard for me and I knew i would have to come back stronger if Iever wanted to send it. Before my trip, I trained super hard! I knew I would have my work cut out for me on such an amazing and hard line! I began working the climb early in the trip but because of bad weather and sharp holds I was not able to give it that many days of work. By the middle of August, I had tried the line a decent amount and felt like i was
getting very close to sending. The weather was beginning to get very warm and my trip was coming to an end very shortly, so I knew I had to get it done in very soon! On the last day of my trip in Rocklands, I managed to nab the second ascent of Monkey Wedding! The feeling of sending such an awesome line made me so realize how much hard work and effort has to be put in sometimes to get something done. It is all worth it when you are standing at the top of your project feeling
nothing but pure euphoria. I am now in Cape Town for the next few days, bouldering and hanging out. My girlfriend and I head to Europe on August 31st! We are going
to be heading to Austria first and then off to Switzerland for the Fall! Stay tuned for more updates!
~Paul
After an estimated 750 million people watched the World Cup in South Africa, most of the visitors were headed out of the country but Paul Robinson and his girlfriend Alex Kahn were flying in in search of adventures and new lines.
The last few days have been amazing! We climbed our first day at the roadside where I did some fun moderates. The next day I felt strong so we headed to 8 day rain. I managed to send derailed, v14 in about 20 minutes which got me really psyched on how much stronger I feel this trip over last. Yesterday we went to another sector of 8 day rain and I managed the second ascent of jungle bar, v11/12 which was awesome to do! Today it rained and we explored a ton! We found livin large, nalle’s climb from last year, and I was not too impressed. The hike was insanely long and I don’t think I will try it at all during the trip. It looked ok but not worth the hike. I am very psyched on monkey wedding (unrepeated Fred Nicole line) and want to put my energy into that one! We did not find too much along the lines of fa’s but we are psyched for hopefully climbing tomorrow if the weather cooperates. I am looking forward my first day on monkey wedding now that I am feeling adjusted to the climbing area. Until next time! Tried monkey wedding today for the first time this trip. Psyche is high. It felt good and I look forward to trying it more very soon! Pics and vids to come! Internet here is bad! Can barely post text. ~PRob
And then Alex dropped us a note also…
Paul and I have been in South Africa just over a week now. The weather is different than expected and there is much more rain than we anticipated. The few days of sunshine we have had have been spent outside bouldering and exploring the valleys for new boulders. We stumbled upon Nalle’s sector where Livin’ Large is and looked for more potential there but unfortunately most of the boulders were blank. There is rock as far as the eye can see in almost every direction but as we get closer to it, a lot of it is unclimbable. We are hoping to stumble across a perfect valley of untouched rock with a ton of potential for hard lines- good thing we are here for 2 months. Paul has made a quick ascent of Derailed and the second ascent of Jungle Bar so he is off to a strong start. We have all adjusted to the time, now we are just trying to adjust to the temperature. It’s quite odd to go from 95 degrees and humid to 50 degrees max with clouds and wind. We are praying for good weather so we can repeat what is here and discover more! There have been a few incredible rainbows with all the rain we have had. Yesterday we booked a safari for the 2 days after Paul’s 23rd birthday so we are very excited for that as well! ~Alex
We look forward to catching up with them often as Paul continues his search for the worlds hardest lines…
It seems like an annual tradition at this point that each winter some of America’s strongest boulderers make their way to Arkansas to sample the untapped sandstone that can be found there. Recent winters have seen the likes of Daniel Woods and Dave Graham leave their mark with a number of double digit FAs. This winter looks to be no different with Paul Robinson making his first trip to Arkansas.
Not surprisingly, Robinson started things off quickly with fast ascents of the V13s Anti-Hero and Loved By Few, Hated By Many. The same day he also flashed Bloody Knuckles (V11) and nearly sent Daniel Woods’ Welcome To The Fight Club (V13). For good measure he threw in an ascent of Typhoon, a problem given V11 by all other 8a.nu registrants, Hurricane (V10) in his street shoes.
Paul Robinson attempting Welcome To The Fight Club (V13) Photo: Evan Ramsey
The next day, Robinson turned his attention to Dave Graham’s V14 Wood Grain Grippin’. Seen briefly in the Arkansas dose in Dosage V, WGG had only been repeated thus far by Daniel Woods. Wasting little time, Paul sent in a handful of attempts for an impressive 1 day ascent.
Moving on to Fred’s Cave outside of Cowell, AR, Robinson quickly dispatched nearly all the problems in the cave. He did V12s One Inch Pinch and Chunk Up The Deuce in a few tries, flashed Fred’s Roof (V11) and did Buddy (V10) second try. Making the short move to the nearby unrepeated Dave Graham V14 Lost In The Hood, Robinson put in a few tries working on the “lurpy” deadpoint crux as well as the top section. Sounds promising if conditions hold up.
Robinson has a couple of weeks left in Arkansas to try and finish a couple of hard sounding projects, one being a 30 move roof with a crux near the end, before moving on to Southern Utah. As always, I will provide updates as events warrant.
While we’re on the subject of boulders in Arkansas, the grade of the problem Loved By Few, Hated By Many is worth exploring a bit further since I think it illustrates a point worth remembering. The problem was first climbed by Dave Graham who had this to say about it on his 8a.nu scorecard in registering the problem as V13:
Hard Very difficult, sort of like a one percent move but not really, one long hard deadpoint, longfellow and oddfellow. definitely height dependent. Could be harder. Pretty.
Jimmy Webb came along with a fast 2nd ascent and registered the problem as V12 with this to say:
Soft quick. 6 or 7 tries. A couple tries last year. 2nd ascent Excellent!
And now Paul Robinson has done a fast 3rd ascent, registering the problem as V13 like Dave Graham did. This is what Robinson had to say on his scorecard:
Soft soft 8b… dont think it should get the full downgrade though… i dunno. 3rd asc. one real hard move!
Here we have 3 very capable climbers (2 with loads of V13s and V14s under their belts) with 3 differing opinions about what is basically a 1 move boulder problem. It’s obviously splitting hairs to pick a specific grade given how much of a role conditions and body size play in sending problems like LBF,HBM, but I always find it interesting to read first hand opinions on what these problems are like. To me it emphasizes the fact that while it is interesting to report specific numbers when reporting news like this it is really impossible to say definitively what problems will be graded years down the road after more people have the chance to climb them.
Cross Posted from Climbing Narcissist
BigUp Productions has just released the long awaited PROGRESSION film featuring Sharma’s send of Jumbo Love (5.15b) as well as other incredible lines from around the globe from Tommy Caldwell, Kevin Jorgeson, Paul Robinson, Daniel Woods and others pushing their limits. Purchase a copy (or 10) from HERE
Photo by Leland Marshall. Article from Climbing.com
Daniel Woods and prAna’s Alex Johnson won the Mammut Bouldering Championship in Salt Lake City. Woods dominated the men’s final, flashing three of the four problems and topping out on the remaining problem on his second attempt. Only one other climber, prAna’s Paul Robinson, flashed any of the final problems; Julian Bautista topped out on all four problems in a total of 10 attempts, good enough to grab second place.
prAna’s Alex Johnson battled with Alex Puccio for the women’s crown, with each woman flashing the first three problems. Johnson reached two holds higher than Puccio on the final problem to snag the win. Anna Stohr, the Austrian woman who is ranked second in the world in bouldering, was third.
The Mammut Bouldering Championships, held atop a hotel parking garage in downtown Salt Lake City in conjunction with the Outdoor Retailer summer trade show, drew several thousand spectators during the course of the evening final.
See full results and photos at Boulderingcomps.com.
Women’s Final
1. Alex Johnson
2. Alex Puccio
3. Anna Stohr
4. Sierra Blair-Coyle
5. Lisa Rands
Men’s Final
1. Daniel Woods
2. Julian Bautista
3. Paul Robinson
4. Jimmy Webb
5. Zach Lerner
