Archive
Jonny is Awesome!
Just got this newsletter from relatively new hold company Element Climbing who were part of the Urban Climber Hold Review that we conducted in January. When we opened the Element holds Jonny couldn’t help but rub his face on the smooth smooth dual tex on the outside of these Catalyst jugs. I took a pic, I think I even posted it on the blog, and Element liked it so much they used it in their newsletter–check it!
Gladiator Finals are set! Plus – The World Premiere Sneak Peek of the new E-Grips Giant Bubble Wrap Feature
The team for this comp was a little different than usual, as both Jon and Jay Jay weren’t able to come in and set. Luckily for us Nic Sherman was available for every stripping and setting session, and along with the usual team of Jonny, Carlo, Garrett, Danny, and I, we put all those sweet grips from the hold review to good use on the 42 recreational, intermediate, advanced, open, and finals problems.
Nic setting the Beach all by his lonesome.
These are some of the Element holds, brand new for this comp since they arrived late for the hold review.
Jonny loves Element's silky smooth dual-tex
Chris Danielson, who is, among other things, the rep for e-grips, teknik, and so ill holds, came in and played around with some big green pinches to make a tricky problem that later was tweaked down into A7. On top of all the awesome Hold Review Holds and features in the comp, Chris brought us a special hold to set with–E-grips brand new, never before seen, never before used, not even named yet bubble wrap sloper. You can’t buy it yet–it isn’t even on their website! We’ll only have this hold for a week, so if you want to climb on it you’d better come down to the comp and check out the sickness. Here’s Carlo trying to hold onto it in an early iteration of O9:
Bubble Wrap Sloper Sneak Peek
Speaking of O9, how many setters does it take to get a little volume on the wall?
Four? That seems like a lot...
Because our team was smaller than usual, it took only one Volkswagen to get us to lunch.
Fiver forerunning the space problem (think meteors and rocket ships)
This is the Gladiator Finals, the conclusion of SBS Season VI, and therefore the most awesome of all the SBS VI events. There will be jousting. Avery beer in cans. Epic long finals problems. Wahoo’s tacos. Tons of sweet new tester grips. A huge raffle. E-Grips Bubble Wrap Sloper sneak peek. Did we mention the jousting? We BROKE WRENCHES setting for this thing, that’s how awesome it is. So don’t miss out!!!
Breaking through 5/16" of solid metal? No problem for heavyweight setter Nic Sherman.
See you at The Spot!
Lincoln Lake Giants!!!
If you pay any attention to online climbing media, you’ve probably seen some reference to Lincoln Lake Giants–a 4-part film showcasing first ascents from this season at the newly-discovered area of Lincoln Lake (which, in reality, has been bouldered at for 10+ years, but that’s another story…). With the resurgence in development this season came many new and many new hard problems. A host of more moderate climbs went up as well, and the LLG crew of Jon, Carlo, Max (Climbing Czar) Zolotukhin, Ryan Silven and Kevin Jorgeson climb many of them before their unfortunate encounter with gigantic Jordan (of Louder Than 11) and Jonny in furry pants. You’ll just have to watch to see what I’m talking about. I, personally, think Jordan’s VFX skills have improved significantly since last year’s Colorado Glow! But that’s just one opinion. The soundtrack was custom made by Nic Sherman and their other DJ buddy. Watch on!
8-17-10 Setting Update
So a couple of things happened today. First off, a few weeks ago Daniel Woods went up to Minnesota and shaped his signature Nicros hold set. The new DW signature holds–2 copies each of a pinch set and a pocket set–are now up on the left Dojo.
Jon laying next to the DW Signature Set
Along with those are tons of other holds, since we set upwards of 20 new problems today on the left Dojo. One especially special part of this last set was the Bubble Triumvirate–a set of 2 gigantic bubble wrap features and 1 comp pour bubble wrap feature that make a U of amazingness on the headwall.
Jonny taping part of the Bubble Triumvirate
Also exciting was Jon’s taping revolution–the new chico. You’ll notice regular chico dots, stripes, and squiggles as well, but the new chico is formulated to better stay on the wall. Check it out on this ridiculous boulder problem:
Jon came up with a chico dot revolution--a way to make the chico stay...
So here’s the wall. More coming tomorrow…
The new Left Dojo
Discovering the Pogo – 3 video series by Jon and Carlo
The boys made these videos in conjunction with their sponsor Revolution/. It’s a 3 video series but they’re not too long and definitely worth watching, especially if you want to know how Carlo dynos so well, and what that funny thing he does with his leg is. Enjoy!
In Case You Missed it Yesterday – Men of Routesetting 2010 is now FREE!!!
Just a little something to look forward to when you download the Men of Routsetting 2010 Calendar for FREE from Louder than 11. Click this image for your free download.
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Click this image for the website of MOR photographer Susanica Tam
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Nice...holds? This will also take you to your free Men of Routesetting 2010 download from Louder than 11.
Oh yeah, and most of the rest of Louder than 11′s online store is also totally free, including Colorado Glow and New River Gorge With Extras. Check ‘em out!
Battle in The Bubble – Men’s Final 5 – Technique Thoughts
Obviously, Men’s Final 5 had to be a really hard problem. The bulk of the problem was set by Jonny Hork, who took one look at the big purple Climb-It tufa and set to work screwing it on the steepest part of the roof.
First hold on the wall.
The ladder was sketchy (flimsy aluminum on wet plastic) so Jon decided to help Jonny out a bit. Anyways, with a bit of input from the rest of the team and a lot of his own ideas, Jonny put up what turned out to be a spectacular final problem. One of the most interesting things about it is that, after a few tries, both Daniel and Julian were getting high on the problem, but Daniel was besting Julian by two moves (even before he stuck the final hold in the dramatic finish). Here are some pictures I took of their last tries, cause it’s interesting to see what’s different:
Julian
Julian sticking the Halo hold
Throwing his heel in the Halo
Doing an incredibly powerful flag move to the hold far out left.
Straining to reach the left hand hold, but he wasn't quite long enough in the position he was in to grab a hold of it well enough to move on.
It looked like Julian tried as hard as he could to reach that left hand, and he couldn’t quite get it well enough, so he fell off. That Halo he’s matched in is kinda slopey, and it’s pretty impressive that he did the movement the way he did. Let’s see how Daniel did it differently:
Daniel
Daniel kept his feet low and used a left foot heel hook on the tufa for the hand move out left.
He matched his right foot on the tufa, moved his left heel to a toe, and now he's in a good position to get his right heel up with his body already high.
With a high body and good heel, he can do the powerful move to the next high right handhold.
On his first two tries, Daniel did these same moves, but he seemed to be barely hanging on. Before this try he had a 2 minute rest, and it showed. In this sequence he is much stronger, and locked off much higher on his left hand and right heel, so the move to the high right hand isn’t so stretched out this time. Also, his foot cut isn’t quite as dramatic as the one you saw in this post: Battle in The Bubble Goes Off HUGE!!! This go, his last, he easily got his feet back on, hucked sideways for the finish hold, and somehow, magically, stuck it. The crowd went absolutely wild, competitors rushed the mats to hug Daniel, and everybody had huge grins on their faces. It was a fantastic ending to a great event.
Tuesday Setting Update and New Blog Page!
Hey Everyone,
Today we set the left side (the bulge) of the Dojo, and tomorrow the right side (the cave) is going down. Then back up again. Cause that’s how we do. Jonny likes to chalk all the holds before we forerun, so the problems will feel more like they’ll feel after they’ve been climbed on a couple of times, instead of feeling slippery and frictionless like new and just-washed holds usually do. This makes it easier for us to grade ‘em more accurately. Today, while Jonny was minding his own business chalking up the new Boss, this happened:
Jon "helping" Jonny out
JJ likened it to that scene from the movie Ghost. Ha. This sort of thing happens more often than you might think (unless you come in on Tuesday or Wednesday mornings, then you know this is relatively mild).
Anyways, in addition to the exciting new problems on the Dojo, I added a new page on the blog to (hopefully) better explain our grading system. It’s at the top, under “Spot Grading System” or you can just click here: Spot Grading System. We also re-named our “contact” to “Talk to Us” cause that’s what we want you to do there–general feedback, questions, suggestions, etc… Post-specific feedback can still go on specific posts, but for other stuff please try the Talk to us page. Thanks!
MEN OF ROUTE SETTING 2010!
Thats right ladies, if you haven’t heard, the first ever Men of Route Setting calendar has arrived for your viewing pleasure!! This issue was shot right here in Boulder at your very own Spot Bouldering Gym and includes several spot setters. Kick off 2010 the right way, in style, with this historic publication. You can get all the info you need HERE or if you just can’t wait to take a look inside get your very own copy now!! Just $1.99
Thanks for supporting you local Route Setters.
Men of Routesetting Preview
