Archive
Hold Company List Update – Namaste Climbing
There’s a new company on the Big Hold Company List – Namaste Climbing from Houston, Texas.
Namaste Climbing ~ Dave@Namasteclimbing.com ~ Houston, Texas, USA
Update – website – http://www.namasteclimbing.com/
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Sorry for the general lack of updates lately. Been very busy with comps and Kilter. I’ve been testing out FrictionLabs Chalk still and I’m still very impressed. We’re carrying it at The Spot now and there will be a review up here soon. Check out their website for more info and to read a scientific paper that’ll make you feel even better about buying chalk with a unicorn on the package (like you needed another reason): FrictionLabs
Psychedelia 2014 – Alien Abduction!
The theme for SBS X Psychedelia is Alien Abduction!
Hunter Damiani created this awesome SBSX art around our Psychedelia theme. Don’t forget to get your limited-edition t-shirt before we sell out. T-shirts are free with a SBSX Season package or you can get one for $25 at the front desk.
Part of what makes Psychedelia amazing is all the tape art and props and special performers, and part of it is all the amazing glowing costumes! We’ve been hard at work getting the gym ready, and we hope you’ve been finding creative ways to make yourself glowingly amazing.
Every year we get tons of questions about what glows and what doesn’t. To help clear things up, last year we made a long post about all kinds of costume fluorescents. Read it here: Psychedelia – What Glows and What Doesn’t?. Remember, this year’s theme is ALIEN ABDUCTION!
Be an alien, be a UFO, be an abductee! We love seeing how creative everyone gets with their glowing costumes and we can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with this year!
Oh yeah, and if you haven’t been before or don’t know, every year Psychedelia puts the gym at capacity, so if you want to come (and you do, trust us) we recommend pre-registration for spectators and climbers. Click here to pre-register for Psychedelia.
See you at The Spot!
SBS X Parkour Jam Rundown + Open Final Results!
Paul flipping out the window at the start of the Parkour course.
Parkour Jam was pretty amazing. We’d never done a comp quite like this before and it took a little longer with setting and forerunning to incorporate the parkour course elements but when all was said and done we ended up with 52 new boulder problems and 2 parkour courses.
The first six hours of Saturday were staggered groups of youth climbers. Teams from all over the place came to compete and we had over 250 kids!
Colin Duffy working hard on O3.
The adult session was from 5-8 and it was cool to see the rest of the problems get sent, even O10 got done! After the adult session scorecards were in we quickly shifted to the parkour demo race.
Our partners at Apex Parkour jumped out our office windows, jumped from boulders to I-beams and back again, ran up walls, and cleared huge gaps. The end of the first course was a jump to double downward dyno to wall run to jump and grab a swinging bone. Only Paul was able to stick the last move for the win. The second course ended with the guys clearing the huge entryway gap by jumping from the railing by the Font boulder to the railing by the Beach. The courses were crazy to watch and the Apex guys went all out, with more than one of ’em taking a big fall while trying their hardest.
After the Parkour course wrapped up we jumped back to the Open Final. The top 6 men and women from the redpoint round were the open finalists.
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Kilter Women Finals
The Kilter Women’s final was set almost entirely with 2 sets of Kilter’s newest holds, the Teagan Kaiju 1-3.
Teagan Kaiju 1-3 in purple.
These holds aren’t even on the website yet, but you can order them by emailing sales@kiltergrips.com. There were also three Sandstone medium 2 slots at the top, the same set that was used in the Toronto World Cup.
The female finalists were all from Team ABC as athletes or coaches so we got several nice shots of the group. Here’s me showing ’em off:
Lillian Friefeld, Megan Mascarenas, Margo Hayes, Brooke Raboutou, Nina Williams, and Stella Noble. Jackie presenting.
Qualification order:
1. Megan Mascarenas
2. Nina Williams
3. Stella Noble
4. Margo Hayes
5. Lillian Friefeld (first Spot final!)
6. Brooke Raboutou
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Here’s how finals went. All photos from JoAnne. Thanks JoAnne!
Brooke wrestling the 2nd Kaiju hold on the Kilter Women’s final.
Brooke came out first and we were worried cause she’s so short but she quickly perched up on the start Teagan Kaiju horn and made her way to the next. The 2nd big move required flipping your right hand and Brooke didn’t flip but she did give a few really solid jumps for the 3rd Kaiju and she almost stuck it. Good effort Brooke!
Lillian giving it her best shot.
Lillian is a new face in finals for us and she gave a great effort, getting up under the roof before falling off.
Margo staying tight to move off the Kaiju to the Sandstone slots.
Margo looked like she was trying hard but she made good choices and managed to flash the final!
Margo sizing up the final Kaiju. She stuck it and won!
Since there were still 3 competitors to go everyone was wondering if the final was too easy, but Margo is one of those strong climbers who will come out of the middle of a field and win (she’s done it at SBS before) so I wasn’t too worried.
Stella on the final.
Next up was Stella, who is another strong small climber. Stella amazed everybody several times with the crazy moves she was doing to make her way up the Kaiju. I really hope someone got video. I’ll share it if I find it, because at one point both hands came off but she had a heel-toe cam and a foot press and stayed on long enough to recover her hands. The entire crowd was enraptured with her efforts. She made it quite far, falling off the final Kaiju before the crimps. Amazing job Stella!
The last two up, Nina and Megan, are always neck-in-neck for first at SBS comps and came into this final separated by one fall. Nina knew Margo had flashed so she knew she had to flash too and it looked like she got quite pumped trying to figure out the boulder as she was climbing on it. She put a lot of effort into going out the roof upside down, which didn’t work and probably made her very tired.
Nina under the roof.
She finally figured out to go hands first but didn’t have enough gas to finish. Next go she did a bit better but the sandstone crimps at the end proved too much and she fell. Good goes Nina!
Megan Mascarenas setting off through the sea of Kaiju
Finally Megan came out. She knew that Margo had flashed so she’d have to flash to maintain her 1st place. She gave a good effort but in the end it took her several goes to figure out the Teagan Kaiju before sending the problem for 2nd place. Good job Meagan! Want to see a video? Megan Mascarenas sending the Kilter Women’s Final at SBS X Parkour Jam.
Women’s Final Results
1. Margo Hayes
2. Megan Mascarenas
3. Nina Williams
4. Stella Noble
5. Lillian Friefeld
6. Brooke Raboutou
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Urban Plastix Men’s Finals
We got a bunch of new UP to compliment our older UP and Jake put together a problem that he said “might be too easy or might be too hard, so probably it’s just right.” He used two of one of our favorite shapes, the Big Font Jug, some brand new Tremors (Tremor 3 and Tremors XL), El Fin, The Squeeze Set 2, an Epicenter jug for the undercling finish, and the Beanes ball slopers.
The male finalists were, in order of redpoint qualification:
1. Shawn Raboutou. We all know Shawn, and in this comp Shawn was the only climber to climb O10 for his first ever first-place qualification into finals.
Shawn laid out on the Urban Plastix Men’s Open Final.
2. Will Anglin is our buddy who moved to Golden Colorado to set and coach at Earth Treks. Will started shaping with Kilter and his Lost Slots were the challenging holds on the Open 3 problem on the Beach (in the pic of Colin Duffy above). Will flashed up to O9 but couldn’t quite do O10, falling repeatedly at the last move and ending up just behind Shawn going into finals.
Will showing off his first hold set, the Lost Slots.
3. Remi Arata is strong young climber and a regular at Spot finals and we were glad to see him back.
4. Nicholas Milburn has a history of 2nd places in SBS finals and we always expect great things from him.
5. Andrew Lee is a new face for us. Originally from Anchorage, Andrew now lives in Fort Collins where he runs a huge college climbing team.
6. Derek Anderson is also new for us and all I know about him is that when he got into finals (he was originally in 7th but one of the qualifiers, Tristan Chen, left before finals) all the Earth Treks guys went crazy. I’m assuming he’s a Golden boy then. Will update as I know more.
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Men’s final rundown
Shawn at the top.
Derek and Andrew both gave good efforts but had trouble establishing on and moving off the Squeeze pinches.
Nicholas Milburn came out next and did some work, sending the problem 3rd try after falling twice on the cross to the first UP Font hold. Again, some were concerned the final was too easy if the 3rd person to try it sent it, but Nicholas is a strongman and a wildcard and we know he can do well on any final we set.
Remi Arata came out next. I thought there was a good chance Remi would send as well and he gave some solid efforts but couldn’t quite finish the problem, falling near the top on his final go.
Will Anglin looked super strong and after slipping on his first try re-calibrated himself and sent the problem 2nd go in good style.
Shawn knew he’d have to send quickly to keep his first place and he flashed the problem in good style for the win.
I will find pictures of everybody soon when more pics are posted. Til then, here’s a video of Shawn’s flash
Check out Urban Plastix holds here: Urban Plastix
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Men’s Final Results
1. Shawn Raboutou
2. Will Anglin
3. Nicholas Milburn
4. Remi Arata
5. Derek Anderson
6. Andrew Lee
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Unofficial results for the redpoint round in these links. Please let us know if we got anything wrong by emailing events@thespotgym.com.
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Thanks for coming out. See everyone at Psychedelia next month. Better start on your alien abduction themed costumes!!!
SBSX Comp 1 – Parkour Jam – TODAY!
Visiting World Cup crushers Jorg Verhoeven and Katharina Saurwein helping set Parkour Jam.
After a long few days of setting SBSX Parkour Jam is all ready to go! In addition to the normal 42 boulders (10 Recreational, 10 Intermediate, 10 Advanced, 10 Open, and 2 Open Finals) we’ve got 10 Youth problems (it’s an ABS comp so we have to set youth boulders though, as you probably know, all Spot comps are youth climber friendly) and two crazy courses for the Parkour race demonstration that will be put on after the comp and before finals by the professionals from our partners at Apex Parkour.
Here are a few photos. See you today at The Spot!
Jorg forerunning one of the Open boulders he and Katha set.
Urban Plastix holds on the men’s final.
Kevin setting an Open problem with some new Noah Kaiju Huecos
Lance jumping out the window to text the Parkour course at SBS X Parkour Jam.
See you at The Spot!
Help with SBS X Comps, get a membership!
Want to earn a membership at the Spot and help us put on our massive comps this season? How about a comp entry fee?
The Spot Setting Crew needs volunteers to help us strip walls and wash holds. There are shifts available for each comp on a first-come, first-served basis. 6 hours of work = 1 free month of membership or 3 hours = 1 free comp entry, and you can save hours to use in the future. Having setting volunteers to help us with these tasks lets us set faster and more efficiently and we really appreciate everyone who helps us out.
Interested? Shoot us an email at routesetting@thespotgym.com and we’ll get you signed up.
Thanks!
SBS X – Spot Bouldering Series 10 – Comp 1 is coming!
Competition #1 of the 10th season of the Spot Bouldering Series is almost upon us! ABS Sanctioned Parkour Jam will feature all your favorite aspects of Spot comps – food, beer, lemonade, a huge raffle, music, a special event, and 52 new boulder problems (10 for each category: youth, rec, int, advanced, and open) plus 2 open finals where you can watch the top 6 men and women battle it out.
At Parkour Jam the special event is going to be a Parkour contest put on by the professionals at our neighbor Apex Parkour. These guys are some of the best in the world and they’re sure to put on a fantastic show for us. Someone might even get defenestrated.
Thanks to Scott Rennak and our generous partners we’ve got tons of sponsors for the season meaning huge raffles and giveaways. We’ve also got eight hold sponsors who are providing special holds for each comp and will each have one final problem during the season. The finals hold sponsors for Parkour Jam are two of our favorite companies–Urban Plastix and Kilter Grips.
Urban Plastix!!!
Kilter!!!
If you’re going to be around (or even if you’re only around for 3 comps) the best deal is to buy the season! It’s only $125 and you get preregistered for all four comps (and we’re gonna have even faster pre-reg lines this year) plus you save $5 over the regular price, and you get a special gift bag with over $100 value worth of stuff and coupons and one of our custom SBSX Alien Abduction shirts designed by local artist Hunter Damiani. You may remember Hunter from the cool art pieces he does at Psychedelia each year, like this one:
Hunter’s Skull at Psychedelia SBS 9
So pre-register for the season (or comp by comp) and learn more about the prizes and sponsors here: SBS X Pre-Reg
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Want to earn a free membership?
Finally, we have some volunteer opportunities available in the setting department, so if you’re interested in earning a free membership by helping us out, please email routesetting@thespotgym.com. For Parkour Jam we need help Wednesday, Sept 24th, from 10pm to midnight, Thursday Sept 25th all day in 2 hour shifts and again at 10pm – midnight, and Friday September 26th all day in two hour shifts.
That’s it for now. See you at Parkour Jam!
FA in Lincoln Lake for Jake
Jon Glassberg has shared this photo of Jake on the FA of Cookie Burger, a V6? highball at Lincoln that they put up the other weekend. Want to know more about Lincoln? Check out: Lincoln Lake Bouldering
Big Hold Company List Updates
It’s that time again. This industry is growing like crazy. Please continue sending me updates. Here’s what I added (or finally added) today:
Bloc Syndicate is the European distributor for all the fantastic brands listed above. To see their online catalog (no website yet) click here: Bloc Syndicate Digital Catalog 2014
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Speaking of Kilter, somehow in my bid to avoid favoritism I’d completely neglected to put Kilter on this list at all. Now it’s added:
kiltergrips.com ~ sales@kiltergrips.com ~ Boulder, CO USA
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Also from the USA is Kingdom Climbing:
kingdomclimbing.com ~ orders@kingdomclimbing.com ~ So Cal USA
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And distributing many European brands in the US including Artline, Cheeta, Holdz, God Hand, HRT, and Expression, we have Holdtopia:
holdtopia.com ~ contact via website ~ Pennsylvania/Salt Lake, USA
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Speaking of Cheeta, they’ve been added to the Europe list as well:
cheeta-holds.com ~ France
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And God Hand has been added to the Asia/Australia/New Zealand list:
godhandhold.com ~ info@godhandhold.com ~ Asia
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Update: Also Squadra:
squadraholds.com
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I think that’s it for now. More on the way!
Michael O’Rourke at Psicocomp!
Mike and Carlo about 1/2 way up the wall.
We didn’t get to watch or cover Psicocomp this year, but luckily LT11 was on the scene and they’ll have highlights soon. Til then, they posted all the head-to-heads on their youtube. You can see Mike vs Carlo as the 8th video on the full men’s bracket playlist here:
Here’s the women’s rounds:
Ian Dory is an American Ninja Warrior!
Ian at the Denver Finals
Our very own setter and coach Ian Dory joined several other climbers and competed on American Ninja Warrior in Denver this season. We are so proud of Ian! Want to see how he did? Rewatch the Denver Finals at this link:
American Ninja Warrior Denver Finals 2014
Click forward to around 54 minutes to watch Ian, or start from the beginning and watch climbers and Spot friends Brian Arnold, Matt Wilder, Keith Allen Peters, Alex Manikowski, Paul Kasemir, Noah Kaufman, and of course #mightymeagan Meagan Martin.
Nice job Ian!!!
The Spot Route Setting Blog 