Yesterday Chloé Graftiaux died in the mountains. Late last night I finished this short clip about route setting during the 2010 Boulder World Cup with interviews of all the top competitors and was struck what a inspiring and spirited person #3 ranked Chloé is when I learned today about her tragic accident. The reason for the video, "route setting" is trivial by now of course, but it gives a glimpse of what a great human being Chloé was. Very sad!
The Bouldering World Cup 2010 stayed gripping up to the last problem! Munich's '72 Olympic stadium provided a worthy location for the final event. Of all the potential winners, only Chloé Graftiaux dropped the ball and didn't make it to the finals. In the finals Akiyo Noguchi won by the narrowest margin possible - Anna Stöhr needed one more try for the only problem the girls could climb in the finals.
Route setting was very "russian style" as many competitors put it, meaning rather rock like moves on bad holds, what tends to favor either, well, russians or … rock climbers. Since Adam Ondra is the best rock climber in the world right now It was no surprise than that he won the event and with it the overall Boulder World Cup 2010.
As usual you can check out the results here. We rather let the (moving) pictures do the talking, so watch our clip below and stay tuned for our route setting survey video among the top competitors here very soon! For our reports of the 6 previous Boulder World Cups please read on ...
The Petrohradské PADání 2010 again was a wonderful event! Taking place in the newly developed "Mlynsky Vrch" area we also the had the weather gods on our side. Some complained that it was too hot, but this didn't keep Adam Ondra from doing the FA of "Stix, sd", 8B+ and three 8Bs as well as several 8As over the weekend! Also starring two times lead world champion Tomáš Mrázek...
above: Adam Ondra, first ascent of "Stix, sd", read on for our reports of the 2006 and 2009 PADanis...
Being a wimp, I couldn't quite get myself to paddle around in the freezing waters of our beloved Brittany for the first surf trip of the season. Instead we opted for the Côte des basques, the birth place of European surfing. Unfortunately (no, not really ;-) the surf was pretty good, so we just visited two of the many high quality bouldering areas of the region. Let me tell you, Laxia and Jaizkibel are incredible! Check out the pics for now and stay tuned for more soon ...
It has been a while since the rock climbing world and the competition scene could agree on one champion. In 2009 Adam Ondra climbed the most not only hard but also diverse rock routes and won the World Cup. There is nothing super human or magical about Adam, he just brings, for the time being, the most complete climbing skill set to the table.
It is the nature of human progress that we learn. By watching the clips posted here and elsewhere, we will learn about climbing and therefore improve. Somewhere in the world a talented girl or boy, say 12 years old, who watches Adam, Johanna, Chris and all the other great climbers of our time, will be a far better climber in five years time than those guys ever could be! So read on, watch those clips, watch them again, discuss them - we will keep on making them, for the future of climbing!
Progression ist eine "abendfüllende" (so nennt man Filme mit Kinolänge von etwa 90min.) und packende Dokumentation über das Klettern auf höchstem Niveau. Heute ist endlich, mit einiger Verspätung die Progression DVD bei uns eingetrudelt. Nachdem man den Hauptfilm schon seit einiger Zeit bei BigUp 'runterladen kann, stellt sich natürlich die Frage, ob sich der Kauf der DVD überhaupt lohnt. Wir finden schon, denn viele Aspekte, die im Film aus dramaturgischen Gründen nur angerissen werden können, werden im Bonusmaterial sehr interessant vertieft. Man könnte auch böse sagen, der Hauptfilm wäre die mainstreamige Version des Bonusmaterials. Was bekommt man also für sein Geld? Bouldern in Südafrikas Rocklands. (gut 20min.), Sportklettern in Oliana (gut 7min.), El Cap Bigwall Hintergründe mit Tommi Caldwell in der Technoroute "Magic Mushroom"(knapp 15min.), eine Dokumentation über den Leadworldcup in Puurs 2008 (knapp 6min.), gut 4 Minuten Headpoint / clean climbing äktschn in Colorado, ein viereinhalb Adam Ondra Portrait in Spanien, der "This is the season" clip über Indian Summer Bouldern in New York State, knapp acht Minuten tolle Probleme in Bishop, eine DWS Bootserkundungsfahrt mit Chris Sharma auf dem Colorado bzw. am Hoover Damm und schließlich knapp sechs Minuten Hintergründe zum Klettern im britischen Grit. Wie aufwändig inzwischen Kletterfilmproduktionen wie Progression geworden sind, erkennt man auch daran, das nichts vom Trip nach China zu sehen ist. Ein Kamerateam mit Chris Sharma nach China zu schicken und dann nichts von dem verwerten zu können (aus welchen Gründen auch immer) muß weh tun. Das "Bonusmaterial" auf der Progression DVD ist trotzdem hochinteressant und besser produziert als die allermeisten Kletterfilme! Beeindruckend, wie ambitioniert Big Up Kletterfilme produziert! Hier gibts die Progression DVD in unserem Shop...
An alert mind that allows for quick descision making. Check! A huge repertoire of movements from lots of hard climbing already in the age of sixteen. Check! A body that won't hold you back. Check! Voilà, now you can virtually run through the notoriously overhanging Puurs competition wall! Demonstrated by Adam Ondra winning the IFSC Climbing Worldcup in Belgium Saturday night! His style is so efficient that we foresee that in the future everybody has to climb like Adam! The videos below let you compare the top 3 climbers of the men's finals and the women's superfinals (due to poor route setting in the finals, more about that later) to analyze their different styles. The indisputed winner Johanna Ernst for example climbs faster and apparently effortless through those endurance monsters, from the qualification routes to the superfinals. Check out the complete results here ... note: the videos below are again of very high HD quality and need a fast connection and computer. If you experience problems watching them, please watch them on our our youtube channel instead!
The BAZ! team managed to pull off another great event with the fourth incarnation of "Boulderen An Zee" at Scheveningen Beach. Even more climbers, better conditions (at least for bouldering, sun bathers were shivering) and the incredible atmosphere when the sun sets and the finals start... Stay tuned for more soon!
above: Planet BAZ! Friday, 20:00 CET, 14h to go before the comp starts. (If you are interested in what it takes to pull off such an event, check out the BAZ! blog.)
The BAZ! 2008 has been the best climbing related event I've ever been to! Around 700 climbers from all over the world met to climb on 200 carefully crafted problems, the best youngsters and adults made it into the enthralling finals that took place in front of a magical sunset (these guys are friends with all weathergods too!). Everything was top notch at the BAZ! 2008, with the help of more than 100 volunteers (!!!), they built 3 huge "boulders" and the final stage. They had DJ's, live music,impressive light, good food and some of the best route setting by any standard.
That all this can happen in a country without any rock doesn't come as a surprise, without any significant alpine tradition, the Dutch developed a very modern approach to climbing. They have some of the best climbers in the world, the biggest Fontainebleau site (and the nicest Bleau guide) and now:
above: birds eye view of the BAZ! site, thurday, 28.08.08, -44h till lift off
The BAZ! 2008 has been the best climbing related event I've ever been to and so the documentary about it became almost 35 minutes long. The first part tells you the logistics of such a huge event and gives some impressions of the open contest. The second part is about the finals with lots of split screens to compare climbers and some incredible fisheye close-up footage.
Think Climbing in China - think Yangshuo - think again!
Rockclimbing in China has gotten a lot of media exposure over the last months: From blogs and other well known internet resources to magazines and climbing flics everyone seems to have covered the topic. All these reports had one thing in common: The phrase „Climbing in China“ has been used synonymously with sportclimbing on the steep limestone cliffs of Yangshuo, situated in the beautiful southwestern province of Yunnan. While planning our summer vacation in China due to different reasons it was soon clear, that Piaʼs and my route wouldnʼt go any near the Yunnan province and therefore we wouldnʼt be visiting Yangshuo after all. We didnʼt want to give up on climbing in China though, so we started doing some research on other possible climbing – or even better bouldering – spots. After a long time of searching we found a short information about an obscure granite bouldering area right on the ocean at the city of Qingdao in between Shanghai and Beijing. There was no topo yet, but bouldering right on the beach sounded really inviting. We got in contact with some local climbers and planned for a longer stop in Qingdao.
(note: the clips above are of the best and fattest video quality, if you have problems watching them, consider our youtube channel instead)
Recipe for a fantastic boulder contest:
Invite 12 very different climbers, all with various backgrounds, 6 girls and 6 boys. Have a cool venue ready, with clean structures that allow for creative route setting that challenge all skills for bouldering. Let them pick straws, one girl and one boy share one section on your structure. Leave it open to them if or if not to coorporate, just ask them to care for each others safety. Let them put up problems, apply as few rules as possible, provide the girls with 2 additional (bad!) holds to compensate for reach etc. Do the ranking / prize thing Melloblocco style, each problem is worth x €, divided through the ascendonistas so nobody returns empty handed. After them setting for one hour, do something for your audience, get into the climber's head, ask them for the idea behind their problem, some might have one, some not, the crowd loves world class climbers talk about climbing!
Than it is bouldering time!
Your job is done, from now on the thing flows by itself! The climbers support each other, the vibe is friendly and the air electric. Some unexpected turns are to be expected, boys get grey hair over "easy" girl problems, girls cheat by solving macho moves with girl technique. More grey hair for the boys! After 90 minutes everybody is wasted beyond believe and you have clear, undisputed winners. (Jule & Jonas in this case) Everybody is happy.
For hours you've fought with this problem. By the time you've figured out the sequence, your power is gone. You rest. Put the shoes back on. Uuuuh, that hurts. Your toes are screaming, the laces cutting through the battered skin of your fingers. A couple more alibi tries before you admit that you are done for today, defeated! Hiking back you wonder if you ever felt so wasted before. You get lost. This dammed forest! Every muscle fiber is begging for mercy... But wait, this arête really looks too good! Lets check it out for another day! It is so tempting, you might as well put the shoes on and give it a try ... By the time you've figured out the sequence, all your power is gone ... It's getting dark, you are stoked, before you fall asleep your body remembers the moves it did today ... There still isn't a place like Fontainebleau in the bouldering world, regardless what the hype says. That arête you've been trying might be only 5c, but believe me, there isn't a climber who never struggled with a font 5c! Nowadays, bouldering areas are developed by 8a boulderers for their 8a buddies, media hype very welcomed. Most of these areas therefore lack the diversity and spectrum that makes them enjoyable in any physical shape you might be in, with any friends you are with (climbers or not) and in any season.
This is Fontainebleau,
the place where 8a heroes are being lectured by middle aged housewives, inflatable monster pads don't make you dare to top out problems that were established 30 years ago starting on a little carpet and the hardest easy bouldering in the universe!
Fontainebleau, the place
where it all began...
Cuvier Rempart - impressive problems, even with crash pads!
Bas Cuvier - some of the most classic boulder problems in the world!
below: some new pics of Jonas Baumann and Tobi Reichert from a photo shoot for my upcoming 'Lizenz zum Bouldern' book
below some older (and some downright ancient pics from our many trips to Bleau
