>> August - September
2003
McClure Sends New
5.14d at Malham Cove
Sucking down a draught of Red Bull and tying onto a super-thin single
9.1mm lead rope, Steve McClure got ready to pull. The wind whistled around
the Cove and the temperature was 15 Celsius: unusually cool conditions for
June at Malham Cove, Yorkshire, England. He cruised to the “rest,”
a contorted and tenuous shake out at the top of Raindogs, a 10+m power-endurance
5.13b. Above lay the crux: a plethora of roofs and overhanging walls.
“Rested,” he pulled into the first and biggest of the bulges.
Back-to-back underclings, some as small as crimps, led into the V10 boulder
problem. Pulling past the second clip, a dogging-only bolt, he steadied
himself and then completed the link through to the better holds beyond.
A 3m traverse left led into another 8m of super-steep bulging rock crammed
full of burly underclinging and then the final obstacle, a final gnarly
bulge. By then he was breathing heavily and the air was pregnant with anticipation.
Silence echoed around the Cove. He caught the overhead undercling, as usual,
but this time he didn’t fall off. He disappeared from view onto the
easy-angled headwall. A whoop and a holler into the wind let the world know
that he was at the lower-off. Rainshadow, 9a, was borne. Steve lowered back
to reality, my responsibilities as belayer were over, and Steve could have
his life back.
Rainshadow, 5.14d, is Steve McClure’s third 9a, after Northern Lights
at Kilnsey, also in the Yorkshire Dales and Mutation at Raven Tor in the
Peak District.
Rainshadow is Malham’s latest primo climb, a mega route amongst many.
McClure, who seems to make a habit of completing long abandoned projects,
is typically ambivalent about the grade. He says his year’s onsighting
has sapped his power and he needs to get on something else hard to be certain
of the grade. He leaves for Greenland with a knackered finger, but with
one of the most enviable records of any sport climber in the world, and
a black book full of projects.
Correspondent: Keith Sharples
Bernabé Fernández
Claims Chilam Balam, the World’s First 5.15c
On July the 4th, in Villanueva, Spain, Bernabé Fernández,
after four years of attempts, made the first ascent of Chilam Balam, a route
he gave the unprecedented grade of 5.15c. Fernández said that 82
m route starts with a V12 boulder problem and climbs through a 20 m and
a 30 m roof. While working this massive route, Fernández took falls
up to 15 metres. The route has almost four hundred different moves. As to
the controversial grade, Fernández said that the climb was twice
as long and much harder than his route Orujo, which he graded 5.15a.
Action!
Christian Bindhammer has repeated Wolfgang Gullich’s seminal
testpiece Action Direct 5.14d. Often cited as the benchmark 5.14d, Action
Direct ushered in a standard of difficulty that was far ahead of its time.
The climb features campus moves between monos, and has seen only four repeats
since Gullich established it in 1991. For comparison, Dreamtime at V15 has
already seen five repeats. For his ascent, Bindhammer spent six days on
the route this year in addition to various days in previous years. Although
he had to work out a completely new sequence for the top, the most difficult
part of the route for Bindhammer was still the huge jump from a mono at
the start of the route, a move immortalized in posters of Wolfgang Gullich.
Bindhammer, a top world cup competitor, has done several other 5.14ds, most
recently, Underground and Ground Zero in Italy.
Fred the Strong Boulderer
After putting up Dreamtime, the first V15, Fred Nicole seems to have avoided
the limelight and dropped out of the climbing media circuit, while continuing
to climb at a high standard. In his absence, a few youngsters, most notably
Bernd Zangerl and Dave Graham, have risen to fill the void. Recently, however,
Nicole has resurfaced with ascents of Black Eagle sit start V15 in South
Africa and Nagua V14 in Hueco Tanks. His latest is a flash of Massive Attack
V13 at the Magic Woods, a high end bouldering area in Switzerland. Perhaps
old Fred isn’t ready to give up his title of world’s strongest
boulderer.
Fred the Other Strong Boulderer
Still maligned after all these years for having the audacity to claim
a 5.15b for his route Akira at a time when no one even dared to claim a
5.15a, Fred Rouhling gets no respect. On two recent trips to Switzerland,
Rouhling may have gained himself a little more credit for his tick list.
The highlights include Prophetie V14, La Voyage Du Crabe, A Thief Among
Friends, Sans Nom, La Proue, La Jonction and Red Snapper all graded V13,
in addition to stacks of V12s and V11s.
World Cup Action
The 2003 World Cup Season is underway with the first leg in Imst,
Austria. The top step of the podium at Imst looks the same as last season’s
with the overall World Cup winners Alex Chabot and Muriel Sarkany prevailing
again. Second place is occupied by a surging Ramon Julian, who won his first
World Cup at last year’s final event and also recently redpointed La
Rambla extension 5.15a. And on the third step is none other than François
Legrand, who has declared that this is his final season and he wants to
win it all one last time. Can these two mount a challenge to Chabot, who
won a record sixth consecutive World Cup last season? On the Women’s
side, Sandrine Levet continued to do the incredible by placing second at
the difficulty comp at Imst, and then only a week later won the opening
leg of the Bouldering World Cup in Yekaterinburg in Russia.
Correspondent: Andre Cheuk
Milton Unleashes
Shock and Awe
During a stay at Smith Rocks in May, Scott Milton of Calgary sent
an extension of Repeat Offender, a hard and insecure 5.14a in its own right,
linking it to Villain 5.14a. Milton says, “It’s the pure line
starting on the lowest right-hand side of Agro Wall.” The climb has
17 bolts and is 35m long. “I redpointed it during the war on Iraq,”
he commented, “So I called it Shock and Awe. “ He proposed the
grade of 5.14c. After Shock and Awe, Milton went on to send Mr. Yuck, 5.14a,
in three tries.
With the permission of Bend local Larry Brumwell, Milton sent a 20 m, eight
bolt project to the right of Rawhide. “It is really sustained fingery
climbing,” recalled Milton, “with tricky sequencing.” He
dubbed it Chemical Ali, ‘in keeping,” he said, “with the
absurdity of the Iraq invasion.”
Wright A-flight
Jordan Wright, another talented Vancouver climber, has been busy
cranking off some desperate problems of late. During this past winter, he
polished off a hard new boulder dubbed Sushi Special near Squamish. He named
it for the smell of rotting Salmon in close proximity to the climb and the
wickedly thin crimps hint towards a serious double-digit problem. While
traveling in the USA this spring, Wright also polished off the nervy highball
Evilution in the Buttermilks. This amazing testpiece on the Grandpa Peabody
boulder has inflicted a few injuries, yet Wright managed to come away unscathed.
He utilized spotters to hold a large crashpad above the ground to dissipate
force before hitting terra firma. At the time of writing, he was falling
off the last few moves of the unrepeated Superman (5.14c) in Cheakamus Canyon.
Watch this space.
Sean McColl Bouldering Spree
Despite having spent most of his climbing time in an indoor gym,
the young cranker, Sean McColl, proved once again that his skills transfer
well to the outdoor environment. On a recent weekend foray into the Grand
Wall boulders, he ticked a number of hard problems in quick time. Highlights
of his two day stay were No Troublems V9/10 – flash, The Egg V11, King
Swing Low V10, Sesame Street V9 and Worm World Cave V9, among many others.
It’s worth noting that Sean had not been on any of the climbs before
and has spent very little time bouldering in the area, making his efforts
all the more impressive. Expect to hear more about Sean as the summer progresses.
Squamish Spring New Routing
While skiers gouged their bases on Whistler Mountain during the dry
winter of 2003, the cliffs and boulders down in the valley stayed climbable,
much to the delight of many Squamish locals. Taking advantage of these prime
conditions, Peter Winter and Xander Botha unearthed over ten routes at a
new crag dubbed the Sanctuary. This cliff became instantly popular due to
the steep climbing and easy access from the nearby Ravenwoods housing development.
Grades range from 5.10c up to 5.13a with some excellent sport climbs in
the 5.11 to mid-5.12 range.
Local guide Colin Moorhead managed what is believed to be the first continuous,
“free” ascent of Planet Caravan in the Western Dihedrals, finishing
with Clean Corner. Moorhead flashed the entire route, including the previously
aided fifth pitch at 5.12-, although a short aid section was not freed giving
the route an A0 rating. Also on the Chief, Moorhead and local Damien Kelley
established Room with a View, a beautiful thin 5.12a crack, and Big Fat
Joint is a wicked little 5.12- sport climb, both single pitches. Unreported
from last year was a new full-length aid route established by Moorhead and
ACMG guide, Kai Hirvonen. Their climb, dubbed Stellar System, starts with
the first pitch of Freeway then moves left for seven independent pitches
to the top of the wall at 5.11/A3. Lots of thin nailing seems to be the
hallmark of the climb.
Squamish Access:
Lower Malamute Still Closed
The lower Malamute remains closed. Due to future access concerns, climbers
are asked to refrain from climbing at the cliff and BC Rail has indicated
a fine will be charged to those caught trespassing. The Climbers’ Fest
was a great success this year with over 30 volunteers participating. Two
new toilets were added to the Go Anywhere and Claim-it-All walls and two
others are in the works. The Squamish Adopt-a-Crag will once again be held
this coming fall with efforts focused on the Grand Wall boulders. Trail
work is planned and the installation of a toilet has been suggested. Highway
work has begun north of Squamish with major construction occurring in the
Chiasmus Canyon. For specifics on delays, call 1-866-986-8675 or visit the
web at www.gov.bc.ca/tran. It is still unclear exactly what impact the proposed
Highway 99 upgrades will have on the roadside cliffs and boulders around
Squamish but future problems are expected and the loss of some cliffs seems
imminent.
Correspondent: Marc Bourdon
New V10s and 13+
Sends
Québec’s climbing community saw a lot of action this
Spring with young people getting stronger than ever, raising the general
bouldering and sport climbing levels of the Province. At Mont-Orford, Mathieu
Fontaine opened the first V10 of the boulderfield. No Send starts sitting
down on the right arête of Le Revenant then traverses far right using
the lip of the boulder. In sport climbing, Sacha Deschênes did the
second ascent of Razzia (13c) in less than five tries and confirmed the
grade. Orford still offers four great open projects in the 5.14 range, while
Alpha-Gamma, a three star 13c/d route, remains unrepeated.
At Le Champlain, Québec City’s top-rope crag, Denis Mimeault
sent the ultra-crimpy Sado-Digitale (13b/c) and Clitoris (13c/d, third ascent).
Some newcomers sent their first V10 this spring. Sébastien Richer
did Cowboy at Val-David, Bryan Plante climbed The Devasating Reverend Tom
at Rumney and Jean-Do Saudan sent the second ascent of Venga near Sherbrooke
City. Special mention must be made of David Bolduc of Magog who started
climbing in September last year. During his first day bouldering at Rumney
(and one of his first days bouldering outside ever) Dave cranked a V7, a
V8 and a V9 named The Block Problem.
In May, Mat Fontaine made multiple trips to Rumney to work his project All
Day Slacker 14b and remains repelled by the last move. As side projects
he sent Riviera 13d and The Devastating Reverend Tom (V10) in one day. Mat
also easily redpointed Dodge the Lemon 13d-14a in four tries while the upper
section of the route was soaking wet.
Finally, Nathanael Amyot of Joliette had a great trip to Squamish. The 18-year-
old climber re-sent The Egg (V11) for a second consecutive year and added
Pet Detection and Defender of the Faith (both V9-V10) to his ticklist. Nat
also did the third ascent of Amon Ra (V10) at Giscome near Prince George.
Correspondent: Jean-Do Saudan
News from the Lost
World of Québec
Over the years, you have been overwhelmed by bad news coming from
the Québec climbing community. You have heard about small cliffs,
soft grades, sport climbing and a real bad Féderation Québécoise
de la Montagne et de l'Escalade (FQME) that was asking for money to climb
on its cliffs. To tell the truth, we have big cliffs with routes 300m long
or more; we have hard climbs, some of them waiting to see a first ascent
at 5.14; we have huge trad walls and some astounding hard aid. We have ice
climbing and drytooling that rival the best in the world; we also have a
Fédération with a new outlook that will redefine what a climbing
association should be.
We nearly lost it all. Québec’s laws say that a landowner is
liable if something happens on his property no matter what. This is the
reason for the liability insurance the FQME is paying for: it covers the
landowner in case of injury or death. Should the insurance or the deceased’s
kin decide to sue, the owner does not lose his farm, because the FQME covers
the bills.
The insurance company decided to get out of that market and all the private
cliffs closed in March. The FQME had its general assembly at the end of
March and a new board was elected, a board determined to change to way things
were done in Québec. A mad scramble found a new insurer within a
few weeks, but at a mindboggling price. The price was accepted because any
other answer would mean the end of climbing in the province, not by the
Fédération’s fault but due to the way the insurance game
is played and the liability law.
We are now working on changing the law, putting pressure on the government
to follow British Columbia’s example on the matter. But there is more:
the new team decided that offering only insurance to climbers was not the
way climbing is promoted. Climbers need more than that to be happy. Cliffs
and more cliffs will be developed with the money that was made available
to local équipeurs.
We also decided to twin the FQME with the CAF Alsace (Club Alpin Français).
If Québec wants to be world class it has to learn from someone, and
why not the best? So I took some vacation time and spent eight days in a
climbing marathon in the Vosges du Nord. I stayed with Jean Marc Chabrier,
the CAF Vice President, and he showed me some exceptional cliffs, even allowing
me to bolt three routes, a dream in a country where only the best are allowed
to bolt. All in all, the CAF offers a lot to its members. We want to do
the same: the insurance will stay for now in Québec because the law
demands it and 2000 members cannot pay for everyone’s privileges. But
we will offer more and more, open new cliffs, give clinics, organize trips
–to Alsace in September– try to attract more young people to the
sport and help with competitions. And to climbers from all over, the twinning
is done now and the CAF people are considered FQME members when in Québec.
And when we will have convinced the guys on Parliament Hill that climbing
is a legitimate passion and a lot less dangerous than snowmobiling, that
insurance requirement will become obsolete and we will have even more to
offer to FQME members.
Correspondent: Jean-Phillipe Banville
