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URBAN CLIMBER MAGAZINE - 411
This is where we kick it up a notch with departments like: SHOW US YOUR WOODY, EYE CANDY and more!
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 SUYW #40 - July 2010 - Photo Annual
Having a cool house can sometimes be a burden because all your friends want to come over all the time. Dan Yates apparently welcomes the burden, as he, along with neighbor and fellow woody owner Patrick Andrews and friend Justin Laffey, built a woody in Yates’ garage near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, now cleverly named The Garage. They filled the 11’ by 22’ space with three differently angled walls, from slightly overhanging to 60 degrees, with hundreds of holds to keep it interesting.  Reviews - CORE
In the last few years, the production value of climbing films has changed a lot. Chuck Fryberger’s latest offering, CORE, takes it a step further by being the first climbing flick shot in HD and Blu-Ray. The high quality of the pictures taken, however, is not the only thing that makes this a movie you should have on your shelf. Fryberger gives special attention to the athletes featured in the film.  Spanish Inquisition
Competition climbers are a special breed. While the rock and natural lines drive most people, comp climbers spend most of their time on plastic, training and competing. One of the world’s best comp climbers decided to break the mold and spend her off-season crushing on real rock. When faced with the first World Cup competition in July, Maja Vidmar, 24, from Slovenia, decided to climb as many rocks as she could to stay in shape and stay motivated for comp season.  LOWDOWN - Earth Treks Roc Comp
After more than a decade of ruling the American bouldering comps, Chris Sharma proved that he still has it. As he hiked the men’s third and final problem at the Earth Treks Roc Comp in Timonium, Maryland, the crowd roared in approval. Paul Robinson came in a strong second, with Daniel Woods close behind.  SUYW #38 – May 2010
Mike and Bethany Rohler from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, have had a home wall for more than ten years. His most recent creation is a culmination of his experience building walls for his own use and for friends. “I was really going for a clean, professional look with this one.”  Access Fund TeamWorks
Each year The Access Fund (AF) awards a youth team and its coach for their stewardship and volunteer work at their community crags. In an effort to teach a younger generation about environment, access, and the impact they have as climbers, the AF offers a $1,000 grant to the team who accumulates the most hours of service in the outdoors.  LOWDOWN - Hueco Rock Rodeo
The Rock Rodeo marks the end of another season in Hueco Tanks. Aside from a few exceptions, this season had been marked by little news and even smaller crowds. The days leading up to the Rodeo were as quiet as ever, as the late season hold-outs wondered who would roll in with the tumbleweeds. Alas, tradition would have its way, and overnight the desert in El Paso, Texas, awoke.  THE LOWDOWN
‘TIS THE SEASON…FOR CRUSHING THE COMPETITION // The Southeast’s Triple Crown bouldering series wrapped up on December 4, 2009, with the Stone Fort (AKA Little Rock City) comp in Tennessee. Wins went to the Chattanooga transplants Jimmy Webb and Kasia Pietras (click here for an interview with Pietras on her win). The event, scheduled for Saturday, was pushed back a day due to snow, but when it went off, it went off. The temps were crispy and cool, perfect for bouldering. Webb and Pietras, a couple, also claimed the overall 2009 Triple Crown crowns (a repeat performance for Webb). And while there’s no doubt the competitors give it their all every year at the Triple Crown, the focus of the series has always been on fun, community, and coming together to fight for access in the notoriously touchy Southeast.  BELAY SLAVES
SHAKE UP IN THE AUTO-BELAY WORLD // October 2009, the Pittsburgh-based company MSA, maker of the Redpoint Descender commonly used in climbing gyms for solo toproping, issued a stop-use notice. “MSA very recently became aware of two incidents where climbers using Redpoint Descenders experienced rapid rates of descent resulting in injuries,” said the notice. This wasn’t the first time — back in 2005, MSA issued a similar notice. But the most recent incidents were the last straw. “We’re exiting the market; we’re not going to have a replacement device,” says Mark Deasy, MSA Communications Director. The issue was in the devices’ one-way bearings, but because MSA wasn’t able to consistently replicate the problem in tests, they decided to recall the units.  MISINTERPRETING ARCHITECTURE
THE ARD ARVIN/BUILDERING.NET EXTENDED INTERVIEW - Since a rock has no apparent purpose on this earth beyond just being, it’s fair to say that climbing is the interpretation of a rock’s surface through the vehicle of the body. On the other hand, since architectural structures are created by people for specific reasons, such as shelter or bridging a body of water, buildering could well be defined as misinterpretation of architecture…or at least that’s how webmaster Ard Arvin describes the pursuit on his site, buildering.net.  The AscenDance Project
AscenDance Project is a new company founded in January of 2006 by German born performance artist and rock climber Isabel von Rittberg to create work that explores the aesthetics of climbing. Performing entirely without the use of ropes, their work exhibits strength and grace enhanced by the effects of gravity on the dancers and their ability to overcome it. Check it out from March 5-14th at The Ashby Stage in Berkeley, CA.  SUYW #36 > FEBRUARY 2009/MARCH 2010
WE HAVE A WINNER - SHOW US YOUR WOODY — REDUX // - In UC35, we announced the return of the Show Us Your Woody contest. Response was swift, with a dozen entries hitting our inboxes within days. Among the entries were outdoor woodies, recycled woodies, and just plain badass woodies . . . In the end, though, one wall stood out above the rest — that of Ryan Spence, of Tacoma, Washington.  Alaska Climber Injured in Haiti Earthquake
Christa Brelsford, of Anchorage, Alaska, was volunteering in Dabonne, south of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on an 11-day program to teach adult and child literacy when the quake hit. It took her brother Julian and their friends nearly an hour and a half to dig her from debris, her legs trapped by rubble when a building collapsed. Her right leg was amputated from the shin down. Visit: keepchristaclimbing.org to learn more and to make a donation.  DOWN SOUTH
It’s no longer a secret that the climbing in the Southeast is among the world’s finest, with dozens of immaculate sandstone bouldering and route-climbing areas. Some of the attention in recent years is no doubt due to the stellar outdoor comps of the region. The big boys? The 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell (24HHH) and the Triple Crown.  DIGITAL VERTICAL
HIGH-TECH FOR CLIMBERS // Like everyone else, climbers are increasingly turning to the Internet: to get news, buy gear, and interact with other climbers. You may even have noticed your local plastic paradise now has a Facebook page and a Twitter account. And recently, code/stone monkeys have started designing dedicated mobile apps for climbers. What’s next?  SEEING RED
JONATHAN SIEGRIST LAYS SIEGE TO KENTUCKY’S HARDEST // With news swirling in the vertical blogosphere that Americans have fallen behind Europeans in the sportclimbing sick-o-drome, it was nice to see someone from these here parts (someone whose name doesn’t rhyme with “wham” or “schwarma,” at any rate) making 5.14 look really, weirdly easy.  YOU CLIMB WHAT YOU EAT
Nate Warren of Boone, North Carolina, is your typical obsessed climber: he selected a university (Appalachian State) based on proximity to rock; he bemoans the fact that school gets in the way of his climbing; and he stays fit so he can climb his hardest. But it’s Warren’s obsession with diet (in a healthy way . . . maybe) that sets him apart.  NEW SCHOOL IN THE OLD WORLD
In case you haven’t noticed, many of America’s pro climbers have been making their way to Europe lately, often for months at a time. Some bawllas, including Jon Cardwell, Dave Graham (who in late September ticked Abyss, one of three 9a’s [5.14d] at France’s Gorges du Loup), Joe Kinder, and Daniel Woods (who recently climbed his hardest route to-date, KinematiX, another of Gorges du Loup’s 9a’s) are touring French rock hot spots.  THAT'S THE SPOT
THE SPOT BOULDERING SERIES TURNS FIVE // In the beginning there was Psychedelia. The Spot Bouldering Gym, in Boulder, Colorado, held its first (and now [in]famous) black-light comp back in 2003. “It started as a cocktail-napkin conversation at the Outdoor Retailer trade show,” says “Howlin’” Dan Howley, Spot Owner and General Manager. The idea was simple: throw a comp/party, with black lighting only and holds painted with psychedelic patterns.  THE PAIN AND THE GLORY
Do you know what it’s like to climb 24 hours straight, pitch after pitch on demanding, technical granite till your tips pink out, feet swell, and mouth dries up like the ass end of the Swahili? Well, let me tell you . . . er, actually, I only made it to hour 22.5 at the launch of the friendly new competition: the 24 Hours of Gunnison Glory, held at Hartman’s Rocks, west of Gunnison, Colorado, this June 28-29, 2009. |
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