Quick Setting Update – June 11 & 12th + Tuesday June 18th + New Treadwall!

Last week (June 11 & 12) we set the River and also reset the Treadwall. Today we reset the Left Dojo, and we’ll set more tomorrow.

The Treadwall has two things going on. First of all, Ian Powell has set some training problems, which are labeled “Powell Ladders”, and some other problems focused around doing big moves on a variety of holds. If you want to know more about how they work, feel free to ask Ian if you see him around. He has some different theories about training for climbing using the treadwall and we are excited to give him the opportunity to share those theories with Spot climbers. In addition, we will be posting some explanations near the treadwall in the near future.

Secondly, Lily and I set a bunch of routes. In the past we have set the treadwall with a left-to-right ascending difficulty, that is, all the problems start on jugs in a line and as you moved right across the wall the problems got harder and harder. Due to the needs of the summer camps, the desire of some customers to climb 2 climbers at a time on the treadwall, and other requests, we have tried something different this time. Now the difficulty level of climbs on the treadwall is more of a pyramid, that is, easier on both sides and harder in the middle. Remember, all treadwall problems can be adjusted for difficulty by changing the angle of the wall to steeper or slabbier, so try them out at different angles to see what is best for your training. Also, please feel free to leave treadwall feedback, or any other setting feedback, in the comment box at the gym.

Sorry I don’t have any new wall or treadwall pics. Should have some of the new Dojo tomorrow, and don’t forget we have most of our BRAND NEW FLOORING in, so come by and check that out if you haven’t yet. We think it’s pretty awesome and we think you will too!

The newest section of New Futurist Floor covers the Font and River boulders. Hueco and Dojo are the last parts of the gym and the floor for them is coming by mid-July!

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The Spot – Early May Setting Update + Spring in Review

It’s been a long period of short updates (besides comp coverage) and so here is a little review of what we’ve been up to lately:

fig 1. Connor’s ‘stache.

1) Connor rocked a mustache for a few weeks (fig 1). You might call it a bit of a  social experiment, as he learned some things. Most women liked it. Most men either thought it was awesome or thought it was creepy. Awesome = comfortable with their manhood, creepy = they were threatened by it. Connor looked pretty amazing, obviously, and when he felt like it could deadpan creep out stare like nobody’s business.

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2&3) We got a new setting closet. We moved from behind the River (fig 2) to the room that makes up the front half of the hold washing room. There are some things we will miss about the old room though (fig 3).

fig 2. The Old Closet

fig 3. awwww

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fig 4. Ian cleanin’

4) Ian Dory and I built some shelves in the new closet.

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fig 5. Progress?

5) Jay Jay started collecting tape for “the world’s biggest tape ball”. She’s convinced she’ll easily beat the current world record. We told her she can but she has to keep the tape ball somewhere else, and it can’t interfere with work.

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fig. 6

6) Danny put up the lunch rope and got carried away.

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fig 7.

7) The best block ever? Yeah, I did this.

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fig 8. New Floor under the Beach

8. We got our new flooring in under The Beach! More new floor, in the whole gym, coming mid-July!

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fig 9.

9. Jonny went all yacht club for the day in his Adidas Routesetter shirt, his fancy Verve pants, and his USAC Setter Sweatshirt.

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fig 10.

10. The septuplet tape job on the new Dojo.

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fig 11.

11) And finally, last week we reset the LEFT DOJO! Tons of new problems on the left bulge and the right side of the mid-Dojo overhanging arete. We’ve set more 2s and 3s than ever before on the left Dojo, so if you’ve never climbed on the Dojo might be a good time to try it. We’ve also got a bunch of everything else, so everyone should find something to send and project.

Enjoy!

Setting Update + Mini-Comp + 2 Years, and what has changed?

Setting Update

As you know, we had the Highballs & Highlines comp last week. That means this week was the first part of the reset. We got problems up on the Dojo, Full Hueco, Full River, and Full Font. Next week, the Beach!

Mini Comp

Things were a little different than normal because we ran a mock-onsight comp for our Comp Team to get them ready for Regionals this weekend in Fort Collins. We closed off the Dojo and Back Hueco and set 4 sets of 3 boulders of ascending difficulty. Each set had the first problem on the Right Dojo or in the cave, the 2nd problem on the Back Hueco Scoop, and the 3rd problem on the Left Dojo Belly.

The format is 4 minutes on, 30 sec transition, 4 minutes rest, 30 sec transition, 4 minutes on, etc…  If you finish the problem you get to rest the remainder of that 4 minute climbing period + your 4 minute rest period before climbing again. Tries count, so you want to onsight. If you’d like to check them out, here are the sets:

Set 1

Female Jr/Male Youth A (16-17) – Purple Tape

Prob 1  Right Dojo arete, compression, 4+

Prob 2  Starts on right side of back scoop on two purple e-grips scoops, moves up and left through scoop, finishes by downclimb. 4+

Prob 3  Starts on left side of Left Dojo Belly, big moves up thin crimps, 5-

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Set 2

Female Youth B (14-15) – Blue tape

Prob 1  Right Dojo by Yosemite Wall 4/-

Prob 2  Back Hueco Scoop, starts on yellow sloper on left side and moves up and right. (This problem was also used for Youth C) 4-

Prob 3  Left Dojo starts on right side, moves left through good holds and straight up. 4

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Set 3

Female Youth C/Male Youth C (12-13) – Orange Tape (and blue for prob 2)

Prob 1  Starts left side of Dojo Cave, climbs straight out. 4

Prob 2  Shared with FYB Prob 2 – Yellow sloper on left side of Back Hueco Scoop, climbs up and right, blue tape. 4-

Prob 3  Starts on large red rail on left side of Left Dojo, climbs up through pinches. Orange 4+

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Set 4

Youth D (11 and under) – White Tape

Prob 1  Starts back right Dojo Cave, climbs straight out to lip. 3+

Prob 2  Starts Left side of Back Hueco Scoop, climbs up and right. 4-

Prob 3  Starts left arete of Left Dojo Belly, climbs out face, then back up and left. 4/+

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2 Years…

At lunch yesterday Jonny, Connor, Jon, and I decided to take a shot like the shot for the Colorado Daily that our friend, photographer Greg Mionske took a few years ago. When I got home I found the old shot and realized they were taken almost exactly two years apart. We are more-or-less the same…Jon looks older and he and I are both wearing updated Sportiva Hoodies from the old ones we were wearing in the original. Connor and Jonny both seem to be wearing the same pants and Jonny perhaps the same jacket as well. Connor’s got a little bit more of a beard. Overall though, as Jon said, “What are we doing with our lives?!”

Quick Setting Update

This week we added a bunch of climbs to both sides of the Dojo and Hueco boulders. Next week, the Beach!

The week of Thanksgiving is pre-comp week so there will either be a light set, adding problems without stripping anything, or no set, depending on setters’ schedules. We’ll keep you posted.

Get in here and check out the new problems!

Setting Update for 4/17 & 4/18

On Tuesday Jonny, Jon, Nic, Danny, Jay Jay, Carlo, and I reset the right river.

The new Right River

In a departure from my normal schedule I ended up climbing after setting for several hours and it seemed like everyone was enjoying the new problems.  Especially cool are the white/green chico sloper problem on the arete, the white 4+ just right of the arete, the blue/black stripe/black chico just right of the arete (4+?), the yellow 5 spot in the middle of the wall that is much harder than it looks, the black 5 or 5- in the middle of the wall that uses the 2 DRCC scoops, the red 5- on the right of the wall, and the blue 4- and brown 4- on the farthest right part of the wall.  Actually, I think most of the problems were pretty fun and I hope you like them as much as we did.

Today we stripped and reset the Left Dojo. For various reasons we had a small crew today, with Danny, Nic, Jonny and I starting out in the morning and Carlo joining us after noon to finish the day out.  We ended up with a bunch of harder boulders though there are some good 4- and 4 problems as well as a 3+ and even (and possibly the first ever) a 3 spot up the middle of the belly. It is blue with a white chico, and if you’ve never climbed up the left belly of the dojo but always wanted to maybe give this problem a try! Also of note are the white 4 on the left side, the pink 5 or 5+ with some tricky beta at the start (also starting on the far left side), the orange 5-, the blue 5, the red with yellow chicos 5- (starts on rt side of left dojo), and, well…we enjoyed the rest of them as well. Here’s what the wall looks like:

 

Setting Update for March 13th and 14th

Reset Update

We reset the Dojo…

Several setters came in and stripped late Monday night to make sure we’d have enough holds for Tuesday (since density is up most of our holds are up on the walls right now). Though he’s been extremely busy with school and coaching, Garrett came in and helped us and ended up setting a problem as well. It’s on the far left of the Dojo and actually starts on the river wall and moves right into the Dojo at that sweet new DRCC sloper you can see in the left edge of the above picture. 3 more of those awesome slopers are spread across the left Dojo and are on problems from 4- to 5+.

Tuesday it was me, Jay Jay, Danny, Nic, Jon, and guest setter Gabor. Wednesday it was me, Danny, Jon, Nic, and guest setter Alton Richardson.

I forgot to take a picture so I just trolled his Facebook and came up with this one. Alton Richardson Self Portrait.

Alton just finished up a stint at Urban Climber Magazine and now he runs shoes around the La Sportiva Warehouse and interns with Jon and Jordan at LT11. He grew up in California and used to set out there, so we brought him in to help us give the Dojo a much needed reset. Thanks for your help Alton!

As of Wednesday afternoon there are 45 new problems from 2 spot (yep, there’s one 2 and several 3s and 3+s) to 5+. Several accessible problems climb out the middle and sides of the big roof, the bulge, and the far right side of the dojo, and there are many difficult problems to test yourselves on as well.

Problem Of The Week

Problem of the week goes to Nic Sherman who put up this gem:

Location: Right Dojo

Nic’s problem starts on that e-grips loaf and climbs up through an e-grips sidepull and a Teknik gaston to some cool moves off a custom Revolution sloper, an older So Ill sloper, and another Revolution sloper to the big pink Climb-it feature at the top of the picture.

Enjoy!

Quick Reset Update + An Interesting Solution

Reset Update

So in the last week we’ve reset the River, Dojo, Hueco, and today the Beach. Tomorrow is the Font, and it’ll be open around four pm. We’ve set a ton of problems of literally all grades so come on in and finish those comp projects and try out all our new lines as well.

 

An Interesting Solution

A popular problem at the Gladiator Finals was the intermediate on the slab. This problem consisted of two big footholds low down on the wall that you could either perch on or jump off to reach the big yellow HRT volume. From there one had to smear on the wall or jump to a large yellow Ruckus cone hold and then mantle off the volume to finish on top of the slab. A few people mantled on the volume without using the cone at all. I almost set the problem that way, but I added the cone to make the boulder a mid-intermediate instead of a low advanced. In any case, this young woman found an interesting solution to the “how-to-get-to-the-cone” problem:

Ok, so she's got the volume. Now how to get to the cone?

Ok, so maybe try a heel up?

And rock. This does not look super comfortable...

Yes, it did work. Apparently she does yoga. A lot. Nice job on finding an original solution to this boulder problem!

Gun Show Setting Has Begun

Tonight we stripped the Dojo and the Beach.  Tomorrow we’re setting ’em, but the rest of the gym is still open for your climbing pleasure.  Tomorrow night around 9 we’re gonna start dropping walls, but as usual there should be some left to climb on until regular closing time at 11pm.  Fun!  Jon and Johnny are both unavailable for this comp, but luckily Donell is able to help us out.  Get psyched!

So how hard are the open finals gonna be?

This hard!

Setting Update for 7/5 and 7/6

Jonny givin' it to his pink problem. Check out the volumes!

The Dojo is all brand new.  Yesterday Nic, Carlo, Garrett, Jon, Danny, and Jay Jay stripped and set several problems, mostly on the left side of the Dojo as Carlo took the opportunity of the blank right wall to put up the 4 triangle volumes and set a white boulder reminiscent of a World Cup competition problem.  Jon also managed to set a top notch simulator, on that wall, the top hold of which you can see in the middle right side of the above photo.

New Right Dojo

Today Jay Jay and Garrett were gone and Jonny and I were here and we added a bunch of problems to the whole Dojo so now there should be plenty for you to climb including the full range of 4 spots (and assorted other problems) going out the middle of the big roof.  The blue 4- is the easiest of the bunch, and really might be 3+, so if you’ve never tried climbing out the dojo but always wanted to now might be the time.

Enjoy!

Gladiator Finals Reset Update

As usual after a big competition, the setters spent the week resetting as quickly as possible so you will have a ton of new stuff to climb on.  Some of us were tired, some of us were sore, and some of us were a little goofy, but we got problems up on the whole River wall, the whole Dojo, the whole Hueco, and the whole Beach.  Tomorrow the Font may see some problems, depending on the outcome of tonight’s Beta session.  No, really, it just depends on everybody’s busy schedule.  Anyways, here are some pictures from the last four days:

On Monday, Carlo dropped a wrench on his face.

On Tuesday, Jon got back from the tradeshow and brought Danny a backpack with his picture on it from their mutual sponsor Revolution. We made him wear it all day.

Then Jon set a very creative start to a boulder in the right dojo.

Danny solved the problem another way, but Jon didn't really fit...

Carlo had to try it out as well...

Then Carlo became a "happy baby chalk bucket" which Jon had to try out. Nic watched with amusement from a hold bucket.

When we got back from lunch we found that somebody made their own very rugged parking spot.

Carlo sporting new Verve 4-way stretch camo Xeno pants while Danny foreruns the Beach.

Danny demonstrating the correct spotting position while Jonny does Carlo's technical blue 5- on the far right beach.

Left River

Right River

Right Dojo

Left Dojo

Hueco Front Scoop

Hueco Front Small Scoop

Hueco Back Scoop

Left Beach

Left Middle Beach

Right Beach

Enjoy!