Warrior Up

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:41:02 +0000

8c in Wolverine Land from Courtney Sanders on Vimeo.

Solution

admin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 22:46:25 +0000

A while ago, Joe Kinder put together a nice promo vid of the Solution. I have worn this shoe for the last couple years and can say that it is THE best shoe I have EVER worn. Everything about it is perfect. The Solution is comfortable, agressive, and has a nice appearence. Enough said check out the shoe in action!

Got Cup?

admin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 22:27:02 +0000

On June 4-5, the 3rd annual World Cup was held in Vail, Co. A total of 52 male and 37 female competitors came to bring their A game, in hopes of finding a spot on the podium. Favorites for the male category included last years gold medalist Jonus Baumann, Kilian Fischuber, Gabriele Moroni, and Paul Robinson. For the female category, it was Anna Stohr, Alex Puccio, Alex Johnson, and Akiyo Noguchi. Competitors had to go through a qualification round on Friday, a semi-final round on Saturday morning, to make it to the Finals on Saturday evening. Twenty climbers advanced to the Semi- Final and 6 went from there to the final. The venue was located outside underneath a giant awning, weather was crisp and perfect; the only kryptonite was altitude.

To start things off, qualifiers ended up being a huge success. We had 5 boulder problems that determined who would advance to the next round. Overall, our problems were very physical, yet not straight forward. Problem one started with an iron cross push up into a mantel, following with a dyno around the corner to a poor left hand sloper and right hand sloper. From here, you crossed over to a small but incut edge, place your right foot next to your right hand, and lock off to the finish jug. Problem 3 was more complex with a 360 campus move in the mid section, leading to a technical move on the arete, and finishing up on pinches to the top. The nature of the problem was long and resistant, which allowed you to give it only a couple efforts. Only 4 competitors finished this boulder, with myself having the only flash. Problem 5 was completely opposite of everything else. It was our slab problem and spit off every male competitor. Paul Robinson, Jernej Kruder, and Tusukuru Hori were the only climbers to send this problem. It was very powerful/ technical on sloping balls with a difficult mantel finish. I ended up sending 4 out of the 5 problems, qualifying in 3rd place and advancing to the next round.

Paul took 1st and Jernej 2nd. The next day was going to be the true test.
Semi- finals ended up being a dramatic show. Our first problem was a slab that consisted of an awkward mantel to the finish jug. Problem 2 and 3 were pure power problems and 4 had a tricky start to technical climbing on horrible slopers. I ended up sending the first on my 2nd try and flashing all of the rest. The rest of the finalists completed 3 out of 4 problems. The line-up ended up being like this: Daniel Woods, Jernej Kruder, Francois Kaiser, Kilian Fischuber, Wouter Jongeneelen, and Tusukuru Hori. Every finalist was from a different country. Everyone had their eye on Jernej Kruder from Slovenja. He was tall and very talented on compression problems. The style fit him well and he was going to be a true test. This whole time, Kilian was competiting with a bruised toe and had to keep freezing it in between problems. He is a true competitor and has so much experience with climbing well in World Cups. The final round was going to be difficult.
Finals was kicked off with an introduction of the athletes, followed by our route preview. We had 4 final problems with 4 minutes to complete each one. The tries were unlimited and even with a few seconds left on the clock, you could jump on and give the boulder one final effort (this is different from the other rounds because in qualis and semis once your time is up you have to drop off. You also get 5 minutes to complete each boulder). Problem 1 was a compression boulder up a right arete. Problem 2 started with a dyno to two crimps with a technical dyno finish from two poor sloping pinches. Problem 3 had a technical start on slopers with a huge dyno finish. Problem 4 had a tricky dihedral start with a massive dyno to a ring following with crimps to the finish. On problem one Kilian, Jernej, Tusukuru, and myself all completed it. Problem two every competitor was able to reach the final hold or come close to it, but no one could do the final move. I ended up sending it on my second try and this was the deciding factor of the whole competition. Problem 3 had an impossible last move dyno which every competitor got too, but could not complete. Problem 4 had a dyno in the beginning that shut down most of the field. Jernej Kruder was the first to stick the move but came short of the bonus hold. At this point I knew that I had won since I had 2 tops and everyone else 1. I also wanted to do well on the final boulder and try to send it. I fell repetively on the dyno and chances looked slim for doing the boulder. I had 10 sconds before my time was up and had to make a deciding factor. Either not try and win or give one more effort to do the problem and take the win. I got really psyched and jumped on with 3 seconds remaining. The crowds intensity was high and to most people, I had not wont yet since Jernej had the high point. I finally stuck the dyno and climbed through to the bonus hold. Arriving at the two final crimps, I was staring down the finish jug and about to move then my foot picked off the hold and I was unable to keep enough tension to complete the last move. The crowd was roaring and to them I had solidified the victory. I really wanted to do this problem, but more than anything I was happy to be done with this competition. Two months of stress and training can be hard on the system, to have the relief of being finished and winning was bliss. The podium looked like this: 1st Daniel Woods, 2nd Tusukuru Hori, 3rd Kilian Fischuber. Second and third place were decided by falls to bonus on problems 2 and 3. Jernej had the previous rounds on lock down, but had too many falls getting to the bonus holds. If he would have stuck the bonus on problem 4, he would have placed 2nd.

Overall, the WC was a huge success. Everything was ran perfectly, the walls and setting were incredible,and the hometown energy was the best I have ever seen at a competition for climbing. Competitions are beginning to grow and I am excited to see what they will look like in the future. Congratulations to Tusukuru and Kilian for taking 2nd and 3rd and to all the rest of the competitors who entered the event. See you next year.

Wolverine Land

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:33:22 +0000

I haven’t blogged in a while due to the fact that I have been on a constant move. Recently, Dave Graham has come back into town and discovered a new area above Mt. Evans. It is a majestic talus field sitting on top of Lake Lincoln. The valley is vast, and there is so much potential for new projects everywhere. First day going up there, Dave showed me two amazing projects. The first line consisted of compression climbing with slopers for the right hand and crimps for the left. The finishing move was a sweeping dyno with the right hand to a sidepull. From here you go to the lip and topout. We shared beta and tried to figure out the best solution for getting up the bloc. After about a couple of hours working it, I managed to get the first ascent, naming it The Great War for Civilisation.

The next bloc was a roof that Dave had found with the potential of having 3 hard lines. One was located on the left side of the cave, and the other two on the right. I had my sights set on the one that was on the left side of the cave. This boulder has a very crimpy nature out of a horizontal roof. There is a really far lockoff out left to another crimp side-pull, followed by a couple of crompression moves to the top. Dave, Jimmy, Cardeck, and myself all went at the project trying to discover what was going to work. We figured out a sequence, and soon all the moves were complete. I made a good link from 2 moves in to the top, so I started giving it goes from the bottom. After a few failure attempts, I gathered myself together and fired off the FA of Evil Backwards 8B+. I am not positive on the grade, but I think it is harder than The Great War for Civilisation. Jimmy also confirmed that it could be harder. It is so inspiring to have these new lines to do at this area. There will definitely be more to come!

I’m Back

admin — Sat, 29 May 2010 19:32:32 +0000

Goin goin back back to poudre poudre

admin — Fri, 28 May 2010 05:53:56 +0000

This past week, C and I have been motivated on waking up at 7 in the morning, percolating some coffee, and rallying the 2.5 hour drive out to Poudre in the Corolla. A thing about the Poudre is that it is considered a “winter” area, which means end of May puts it out the game. We had a freakish week with 60 degree temps, so we took advantage of the situation. Courtney had her eyes set on finishing up the classico Bisher Trav. and I wanted to do Chris Shulte’s What’s Left of the Bottom of My Heart. Both are opposites in climbing style. Bisher Trav. consists of 18 moves out a perfect horizontal seam, with 3 crux sections. WLFTBOMH is a 4 move short compression problem. The difficulty of Bisher Trav. is executing each move perfectly and having enough energy to do the last Coup de Grace move. The style is very physical on the shoulders and fingers. It can be summed up as an 18 move campus problem due to the lack of foot holds. I was really inspired watching C session on this climb and go from not being able to do the intro moves, to doing all the moves. She has only been climbing for little over a year, so developing the finger strength and shoulder power needed to do these moves with such short climbing time is very impressive. On her 3rd day of effort, she hiked the boulder making it look like a warm up.

Absorbing the psyche from her send, I was ready to go and put down my project. This bloc climbs the left side arete next to Sharma Lunge. It begins with right and left hand sloping edges that parallel each other. You paste your left foot on and do two bumps to death slopers, then one more final bump to a hold just below the lip. Next, you place your right heal next to your hand and lunge for the lip, hoping that your heal stays. For me, this boulder was at my maximum reach. I could feel the muscles in both shoulders stretch to capacity each time I stuck the final bump move. It took me three days of effort to succeed. Chris called this problem 13 originally, then Jimmy and Brion both came and conquered quickly, giving it 12. Personally, I thought it felt 13, but height was a major factor in this. I had to place my hand and foot in the perfect position in order to make the span of the move. If something was off, then I was off. I could see it being easier if I was even an inch taller, but I am not and that is the challenge, so I accept. For being small it is an amazing bloc with really hard, precise moves for both feet and hands. Psyched to do another Poudre addition.

Now that we both sent our Poudre projects, we are throwing in the towel for the area and awaiting the melt off in RMNP. WOW RMNP is about to be in season. So ecstatic to have a summer in the park, it has been a couple years. I want to explore Upper Chaos and try to establish as many problems possible. Upper has so much potential! Psyched. Stay tuned I’m Goin Innnnnn.

Chicka has a new blog piece… CHECK IT OUT!!

admin — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:49:35 +0000

Courtney has made a new blog piece, go check it out. She will be giving updates on her adventures and will have numerous photos and videos posted.

http://courtneysanders.blogspot.com/

Climbing and where it is going

admin — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:27:57 +0000

Lately, I have been thinking alot about where climbing is going. In the last decade, climbing has progressed rapidly. I remember reading news about Fred Nicole establishing Dreamtime proposing 8C (v15), Dave putting up Story of Two Worlds 8C (v15), and Chris Sharma establishing Realization 9a+ (15a). All of these ascents were breakthroughs in climbing history. Not to mention these climbers were pioneering “hard” climbing and establishing themselves as icons in the sport. I looked up to these climbers since they were doing the impossible and this is what I wanted to do. In my mind though what they are doing for their generation is the same as what John Sherman, Gill, Lynn Hill, Conrad Anker, Peter Croft, and Wolfgang Gullich did for their generation. Sherman invented the V-scale and pushed the limits, Lynn freed the Nose, Gullich skipped 2 letter grades and estalished Action Directe 9a, Conrad summited Everest several times without oxygen. All of these climbers progressed climbing in a dramatic way and set the seed of inspiration for the next generation. The cycle is going to be endless. Now we have climbers such as Adam Ondra and Enzo Oddo who are taking down current test pieces quickly and establishing lines of their own. These are just a couple that I can think of, but in all reality there are hundreds of up and coming mutants that will take climbs from my generation and past, turd on them, then create the next level. This is just logical progression. The main difference I can see is the resources that are available now compared to in the past. Back then, climbing was the equivelent to when the Dogtown boys strapped some wheels onto a banana board and shredded up the streets. It was a baby sport with much discovering to be had. Gyms were not around and specific training was not thought of. Even when I started climbing, system workouts, HD video, and badass gyms were not there. In my mind, the only way to improve was to just climb. Yes this is important, but at the same time you need specific training to take your potential to another level. Think of Olympic athletes especially gymnists. They train specifically for 4 years to prepare themselves for the main objective; The OLYMPICS. They watch their diet, observe numerous videos, and have coaches to put them through hell and back. When I lived in Innsbruck, I was amazed at how many strong athletes were being brewed up there. I quickly found out why. Kids start out at an early age and learn very basic techniques then continue to progress from there. Innsbruck has one of the best climbing facilities in the world with prominent lead terrain and bouldering. It holds the likes of Kilian Fischuber, Anna Stohr, Jakob Schubert, David Lama, and Angela Eiter, all dominent competition climbers and very successful outdoor climbers. If the resources and motivation are there, it is inevitable that climbing will progress. I mean 14a and v6 used to be standards right? The next generation comes along and sets the bar and the cycle continues because the resources and research continue to improve. If skateboards never improved from the banana board, jumping off stairs would be impossible to do successfully. Lighter boards, trucks, and wheels were designed along with adding concave to the deck to make it flip and pop up higher. This paved the way for skaters like Tony Hawk to do the 900 and Jamie Thomas ollying over the Leap of Faith. HUGE progression in skating. Going from carving up the streets to getting 30 foot vertical air. It is because the resources and equipment have drastically improved. For climbing, the harnesses, shoes, ropes, draws, pads, and even chalk have increased drastically. These are all elements that contribute to taking climbing to the next level. With advanced product, better gyms, and training regimes; of course climbing will be taken to another level and will continue to imrove even from today. That is why now 100 people are climbing 9a or 8B+ and harder and not just a couple. This does not mean climbs should be downgraded, it just means more and more people are getting involved in the sport and improving. In my mind, I cannot see us just having 8B+ and 9a+ forever. I mean technially 8B+ has been flashed! Adam flashed Confessions and to me it was really fucking hard. I spent 5 days on it. Climbers like Ramonet, Patxi, Adam, Sylvain Millet, Dani, Enzo, Steve McClure, Jakob, David, Kilian the list goes on have all climbed 9a and harder and most have done it within a handful of tries! This does not mean it is not what it is but that more and more climbers are improving. Chris is taking a stand and making 9b the next level butI am sure he feels like 9b+ and c are just around the corner. For me I think there will be such thing as v17,18, and 19. Why not? There are too many generations to come to completely ride this option off. For me I can foresee doing v17 and 18, it is just finding the right piece of rock that offers it. I have always been really confused on what makes something a number grade. I like having numbers because it tracks self progression and gives me motivation to climb even harder. The difficulty is labeling something with a number and calling it good. So many factors play a part in climbing. Height, arm span, finger strength, technique etc. there is no way in telling how hard something is. Some tall beast can come along and set wide compression moves on non existant slopers and to him/her it is only v10 but for someone short it could be v15 or impossible even if that shorter person was a legit v10 climber. This is the same with a small person setting up a problem with mini moves, the tall person could be screwed or have much difficulty. Two climbers are the same level just different body types. I have worked this climb out at poudre for 2 days (no send) called Whats Left from the Bottom of My Heart that involves a long span move between two slopers. For me it is my full extension and if I graded it, it would be hard 13. Jimmy Webb and Brion Voges (both are over 6 foot) did the boulder in a day and made it look like v5. They both are very strong climbers but our heights are completely different. To them the Boulder felt like v12 but for me it was harder. Height does play a major roll in climbing and I have figured this out being 5 foot 7 compared to the average male climber who is 5 foot 10 or 11. This is motivating to me though to do moves that seem impossible for my height that someone who is 6 foot can do. Maybe it just means I have to jump for the hold they can reach statically. When it comes down to it though, there are going to be some climbs that are completely impossible for me to do. Everyone has their own style, which makes this sport very interesting. Everyone will have their own personal opinion on what things feel like and the opinion is neither right or wrong. The point is that I am excited to see climbing progress into this new rhelm and see newer things being put. Everyone should enjoy this lifestyle that we all experience and use climbing in whatever way they want to become motivated. There are no right or wrong approaches to the sport. The sport is like our universe, there is no end. DW

Show ya Tatts

admin — Sun, 23 May 2010 05:51:32 +0000

Now to fast forward to the future… After February, I started training alot at the Spot. This ended up in disaster when I bruised the lower left side of my ribs doing a wide compression move. At first it was not severe, but more of a scare. I decided to go for another attempt which left me on the ground curled up in the fetal position. I have never injured myself so far in my climbing career, so this was a shock to my mental. Two days later, Courtney strained a muscle in her neck at the spot, paralizing herself for a couple days. She was bed ridden and I could barely walk which meant we did a whole lotta nothin for a while. Three weeks later we were both back to our normal selves and in training mode. It is crazy how something so small can affect everything you do. I could only climb statically and “inside” my box. Anything outside just made me collapse back to the ground. As for Courtney she had to climb with a stiff neck and could barely look up let alone take any falls. We both looked like two retarded people trying to just stay on the wall and do moves. Pretty funny! I had a TNF expedition to Turkey planned for the middle of April, so the main focus was to maintain some power and just build my enduro. Luckily with route climbing, you do not have to do any real big moves, so this suited both of our handicaps.

Turkey ended up being such a phenomenal experience. I was priviledged to chill with Emily Harrington, Sam Elias, Renan Ozturk, Boone Speed, Eneko Pou, Jimmy Chin, and the Turkish Delight for 2 weeks. The dynamic of our crew was crazy. Emily and Sam were both Gs in the sport climbing and ice climbing rhelm, Eneko is the big mountain technical climbing and also pulls down on difficult sport lines, Boone is the veteran having put up Super tweak back in the day which was America’s hardest climb at the time, Jimmy and Renan were behind the cameras capturing all of this surreal footage that made the area look as if it were in a magical place outside of this universe. Besides fimling, they are both amazing climbers and very inspirational to watch on the wall. Renan was not afraid to go A muerte and give 100% until failure (though there was not much failure involved, and when it came, there was a nice whip to be made). I learned so much from everyone and was truly inspired. My approach to climbing completely changed. Normally when I go to a new area, my main focus is to try and repeat the hardest climb and everything underneath it. Being here made me realize that there is much more to climbing than just sending hard shit. Finding a beautiful line and tackling it with your own style is what makes climbing for me. I realized this when I watched Sam and Emily climb and observed their cryptic methods used to get to the top. I nicknamed Sam the Black Widow for his ability to dislocate his knees and span his legs in the splitt position to crawl out inverted walls. Was fucking impressive shit and there is no way in hell I could EVER do that. My style is straight forward thug climbing, but for me it works and for him it works and it is just two different ways to achieve victory. For me climbing has always been about the movement and finding ways that I believe are impossible for me to get to the top. They might not be the most efficient ways to some, but it works for me. God I love climbing. Back to the Turkey experience though. So, I have become motivated to branch outside of sport climbing, bouldering, and indoor climbing and try traditional climbing, and eventually mountaineering. Climbing has so much to offer, so why just stick to one aspect? This summer, my goal with Courtney is to start placing some cams and try to send the Diamond. It has always been a goal of mine so would be psyched to make it happen. The inspiration for this was being around so many well rounded climbers and hearing their epics from past expeditions. I have always been scared of entering the unknown until my eyes were opened. It was weird being there because all of a sudden everything that I feared in life was thrown out the window and I did not care if I died doing what I loved. All I wanted were these new adrenaline rushes that I have never had before. There you have it, climbing is the best drug out there on the market. The feeling of being scared shitless then relief immediately after is bliss. I want to take this new motivation and apply it to other factors in my life. Life is one giant obstacle that I have feared for many many years because I did not know what to expect until now where I have the motivation to do everything I can until the day I die. This is what I will do! After my two weeks were up, I returned back home to my girl (which was fucking AMAZING) and we have just been going a muerte with our climbing/training. I stopped alot of bad habits that I had in the past and progressed forward to the new me. Now I feel like I am in the best shape of my life and my only motivation is to test out what I can do in climbing, treat my chicka the best that I can cause she deserves the best, and try and learn this crazy foreign language called spanish. Life is good right now and I am looking forward to the future.

Recently, we both made the decision to go to Boulder Ink and get tattoos. My latest edition is located on the right side of my ribs and is a tribal lion’s head with the Aries sign in the middle. I was born August first, so that makes me a Leo which is why I got a lions head. Courtney is an Aries so I got her sign tatted into mine. The fire signs have united and now the take down begins . She got a snake wrapped around an egg on her left forarm. The egg resembles the world and the snake resembles the stars wrapped around the world. Its like the snake is the guardian of the world. Her nickname growing up was snake since she could weave in and out of defenders back in her soccer days, and I am the year of the snake when it comes to astrology. I never really new much about astrology until she spit out everything to me. It is really cool to see your traits as a person and who you are compatible with (or not ). The Leo traits all matched up with me so I am convinced that astrology is pretty legit and also fun to think it is legit. Nothing wrong with being proud of who you are and your sign. It is cool that I have a piece of her tatted in me since we are getting married and she means the world to me. Honestly, cannot see myself without her and I need her there to motivate me when I am slacking. It is motivating for me to gauge her progress as a climber. In one year she has made incredible leaps and inspires me to work harder so I can make leaps as well. Looking forward to seeing what she throws down in the future! Least we have the power of our tatts to give confidence in obtaining success. I must say though, getting a tattoo on the ribs BLOWSSSSSSSSS. I have never gotten one before, but it was 2 hours of some taking a knife and jabbing it into your rib cage then slowly moving around in the pattern of the art piece. After the outline is done, the shading feels like someone is taking a cigarrette and rubbing it all over your body for like 40 minutes. It is worth it and I am psyched that I commited to it. Bumbaclot!!!

About a week after getting the new Tatt, I competed in The Battle in the Bubble competition put on by the PCI. This ended up being one of the coolest comps I have done. The location was perfect on the reservoir with mountains and water for a backdrop. The opening was dramatic with a skydiver jumping out of a helicopter to deliver the starting hold of problem 2 to the route setters. To finish it off the DJ spun Dub Step style music, making the comp turn into one big house party. The problems were creative and the process of elimination format made it easy to find out who was going home with the gold, silver and bronze. It started out with 10 competitors who all progressed from the semi final round ending with the final two on the last problem. In the end, Julien and myself battled it out for the gold. I came out in first with completion of the final problem. Julien climbed very strong and was a tough competitor. He will be killing it in the comps to come! So far this is all that has happened, stay tuned for more! I will be updating frequently for now on since I deleted my facebook. Had that shit for toooooooo many years and am over it. Time for the NEW progression. Always psyched ya heard.

What has been up!!

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 05:31:17 +0000

Alot has happened since my last blog post. I have returned back from Euroland obviously, and have been residing in B-Town for the last couple of months. The three major events that have taken place in the last few months would have to be doing the FA of The Game, winning ABS Nationals, and getting engaged (soon to be married) to Courtney. Must say life has been really good. Now that I think about it, all three of these events occured during the month of February… CRAZY! Starting out with The Game. This was a project that was on my mind during my stay in Innsbruck. I was thinking of Frontrange projects that would be cool to try and complete, and this happened to be one of them. I remember trying it a couple years ago and came to the realization that it was impossible. Returning back to the U.S., I had a revised plan of attack for the boulder. I tried it for a total of 13 days this year (3 or 4 in previous years), having subtle progress each day. The first 4 or 5 days were commited to just figuring out how to hold myself onto the wall. Once this was figured, I began making links. This problem was a huge physical and mental step in my climbing. It totals 8 moves out a 60 degree overhanging roof with all styles of climbing. The beginning starts out technical with crimps, leading to a hard move with a finger lock, finishing with compression to the jug at the lip. It has a perfect starting jug and finish jug, to an easy topout. It boils down to linking each move together and being perfect. I began making quick links and soon found myself falling at the end. I took a step back from the problem to gain strength and confidence in Hueco. With renewed psyche, I returned and completed the boulder. For me it was the hardest climb I have ever completed. As for a grade, I suggested v16. It was harder than Terremer and Jade for me, so I believed it warranted the next level grade.

To put the icing on the cake, I proposed to Courtney on Valentines Day and we are getting married this summer. She has been the reason for my breakthrough in climbing. If I am slacking or not giving it my full potential, she will just tell me to sack up and do it haha. I love climbing with her and cant wait to be with her for the rest of my life… she is getting fucking strong too and it amazes me to see her progression in even just a couple of weeks. I am looking forward to seeing what she throws down in the months to come! Bumbaclot we are always psyched!