Hopes and Expectations

Posted on May 20, 2013 by David Heerema

This summer I’ll be bouldering in Rocklands, South Africa. I’ve been to Hueco Tanks and Fontainebleau in the past and Rocklands is measured at this same standard.

In 2011, before I travelled to Fontainebleau I had some thoughts to share about my dreams of that magical forest and what I expected from my time there. Looking back, time having eroded things, I feel that my experience there was not what I had hoped it to be.

In 7 weeks I’ll be departing for South Africa. How many and what expectations do I have? What do I want this trip to be like? The answer: I don’t know.

Before my trip to Fontainebleau I was fully prepared and ready. I would look through the guidebook at night and imagine my body moving across the rocks. I would imagine the French villages and the beach sand stuck to my climbing shoes. I arrived and absorbed everything, comparing things to my expectations and constantly awakening.

Before my trip to Rocklands I am also fully prepared – prepared physically and logistically. I have a copy of the guidebook, I have my clothes ready, reservations made, and time booked. Physically I’m prepared as much as I’m going to be. I competed all season, trained with the team all season, and challenged myself as much as I could.

However, I am not prepared mentally and I don’t know why.

I’ll keep comparing this Rocklands trip to my Fontainebleau trip. It wasn’t until about 2010 when I wanted to go to Fontainebleau. For six years before that I had no desire. The climbing style was as foreign as the location and I wasn’t attracted. Maybe in the end I just needed to grow more, or at least grow into it (Fontainebleau). It eventually happened and I was so happy for that. The memories of that trip are wonderful.

Have I grown into desiring the Rocklands? I think so, but not at the same level. Is it simply because it’s no longer my first trip over the atlantic to a major desination, or have I just not watched enough Rocklands videos online? Is it simply because there’s no magic in Rocklands? There’s no footage of Ben Moon sending Karma, or Ty Landman crushing Khéops. You can’t ignore the fact that there’s just fewer magical moments to expect from Rocklands.

Or is there? Let’s be honest, I didn’t climb well in Fontainebleau. I don’t know how much of it was due to the weather but in five weeks I climbed only one V11 and two V10. The week before in Albarracin I did three V11 and one V10 in one week.

However, with a doubt, the magical things I can expect from Rocklands are great climbing moments. I will climb better in Rocklands. I will climb harder, I’m sure. I’m good at the style of climbing in Rocklands and I will enjoy it.

I just have to get mentally prepared for it. That’s the missing piece. I need to know the climbs more, read about the place more, dream about it more. I need to have expectations. Magical or not, achieveable or not, inflated or not. Perhaps once I have those expectations I can then begin to let them go, replacing them with hopes and then I can succeed.

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Posted on April 11, 2013 by Keith

Press Release – Flash Sports Inc.

Sponsorship Annoucement – IFSC Bouldering World Cup Canada 2013

Flashed is proud to announce that it will be sponsoring the IFSC Bouldering World Cup Canada 2013 on June 1 – 2, 2013.
Flashed is a designer and manufacturer of bouldering equipment and indoor landing surface systems. Our aim is to produce better products combining research, science and innovation. Flashed has been manufacturing bouldering equipment for climbing athletes for just under 20 years. Focusing on the outdoor and indoor athlete to maximize performance and safety, we explore both the quantitative and qualitative to create the best gear possible. Flashed is a strong believer in completion climbing, as it promotes community, sportsmanship and highlights the best the sport hast to offer.

As a proud supporter and sponsor of the first Canadian World Cup in Canmore, AB in 2011, Flashed is very proud to continue our support of the IFSC Bouldering World Cup Canada 2013. We look forward to welcoming international athletes and fans of bouldering to this incredible event.

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The Pursuit of Fitness

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Knut

In the pursuit of being a better climber, I convinced myself that rowing was what I needed.

Saturday my Concept 2 rower was finally available for pick-up, so I went, picked it up, set it up in the basement, and had a couple small rows while getting ready for dinner. Not much, just sort of played around, set up the computer, played around to see how it felt.

So then, I mention to a good friend, who we’ll call ‘Dave’ that I got a rower. So Dave casually says, in only the way that a close friend can…. “You should see what your 2K time is. Mine’s pretty good.”

So I think…challenge accepted. Well, keep care of myself. I’m a climber. I should do OK. Let’s see what I can do.

Sunday afternoon, I plop down on the rower, set it for a 2K time, and hammer off. And I’m pulling and thinking that this really isn’t so hard. I’m holding a sub-1:50/500M time, and I’m, you know, feeling muscley and stuff. You know. Manly. Grrr. I need a tattoo of a flaming otter skull with crossed oars underneath. Grrr. I take a moment to look at my arms, flex a little. Nice. That’s the biz right there.

I pass the 1K mark, and my heart is going. Light sweat. Ooo. This is tricky. An I notice that my time has slowed a little. Closed to a 2:00/500….. Arms are starting to feel it a bit. And my legs? WTF is with that. They’re like getting tired. But no matter. I’m cool. I’m half way there. I’ve got LOADS in the tank. Just push on through. This ain’t so bad. And speed up a little there bro, you’re falling behind your imaginary mark of manliness!

Passing the 1,200 mark. What? Only 200m? That felt longer than 200m. Is this thing broken? Only 200M? It must be broken, I’m taking it back. God my legs hurt. And my arms. I’m surprised to find my biceps are sort of tingly, or something. I note this and think “this is probably good for me”.

Passing 1,500. Come on. You’re nearly there….WTF? My time is now 2:05/500? That can’t be. I’m pulling just as hard. I know I am. I think I can hear my heartbeat, but I’m OK. I know I am. I’m fit and stuff. I’m good at things. Speed back up. Stop being a pussy. And breath. For the love of god, is there no air in the basement? I wonder if the furnace is on or something.

1,600. Air. I need air.

1,800. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE???? I’ve been going for HOURS and it’s like time has stopped.

1,850. I’m trying to call to my wife for help. She’s in the living room. I can hear her breathing. However my mouth is only occupied by trying to hoover as much air as possible into my now-sandpaper throat as my lungs are starting to revolt against this brutal intrusion of oxygen exchange. I almost don’t notice the lungs due to the agony in the legs. I think I’ve broken something. My delusional brain is trying to imaging what it looks like inside my quads right now. I have visions of Dante’s nightmares. I think that’s snot on my chin. There’s a weird humming in my ears. I can’t see.

1,875. Make. It. Stop. I’m at war with myself. The level of hate and the level of pain are in constant conflict. Do I hate myself for doing this, or for wanting to quit? Or for the fact that my time is now looking like 2:20/500M? Or do I hate Dave? His face now hovers in front of my eyes, laughing at me. I try to punch him, but forget I’m rowing. I miss.

1,900 What is happening? My body. Ruined. My life. Ruined. Why hath thou forsaken me God?

1,950. I don’t remember passing 1,950. There’s a fuzzy black-spot in my memory, during which I either passed out, or have blocked the memory of having my arms detach from the glenohumeral joint.

2K. The noise of the beep shakes me awake and the handle goes rocketing from my hands and ricochets off the flywheel. I try to stand up, and instead fall onto the floor. The snot and vomit and tears mix onto the rug. I make a note to clean that spot. My heart feels like a 40-inch sub in a 1980 civic, rattling the rust from the body. Why can I not get enough air. A bizarre instinct takes over, and I know that there is cooler air in the garden. No decision is made, no conscious thought. I just find myself starfished in the snow in my front lawn in shorts and a t-shirt, with the neighbors dog sniffing my head. I want to push it away, but my arms aren’t responding to commands. My wife is in the doorway saying something, her words drowned by the heartbeat in my ears.

After a while, I half shuffle, half crawl back into the house, while a neighbor is asking if I need an ambulance. I mumble terrible things at him. My voice sounds hollow and hoarse. I wonder how bad I look. My wife makes some comment about my eyes looking wrong and crazy. I ignore her.

I go downstairs, and look and the time. 8:04. I’m pretty happy with that. I think – I really flogged it. That’ll show Dave.

So, prideful, I text Dave, with my triumphant time, thinking that, well, damn, he’s GOTTA be impressed with that. I’ve never rowed before, and there’s no human alive that could have suffered like I just did. I wonder if that’s, like, an Olympic best or something. I better check online to see if I should line up some sponsors.

And I get a text back.

It reads. “6:32”.

For sale. Concept 2 rower. Barely used. Cheap.

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Posted on February 19, 2013 by Greig

Video of the finals problem at the SpotThis year I have been focusing on climbing in competitions as well as climbing outside. Since I can still compete in the ABS youth series, I have been trying to stay motivated to train for gym climbing. It is hard to maintain a sense of motivation to climb inside while the temps have been so good outside.

IMG 0535 from Greig Seitz on Vimeo.

In January, I went to the ABS Youth Divisional Championship in Tucson, Arizona. During this competition, I met many awesome climbers. The excitement level was high with all my friends and competitors supporting each-other. I wasn’t feeling very well that weekend in Arizona, but I ended up placing fourth. Placing that high at divisionals secured me an invitation to compete in ABS Nationals.

After this competition, I competed at the Spot Bouldering Gym. During the qualifying round, I climbed very well. The problems were extremely well set with big holds and big dynamic moves. This is how the Spot set during the qualifying round. I climbed well enough on these problems to make finals.

The finals problem was great. The beginning of the problem was slightly technical. Halfway through the problem, I faced out toward the crowd. This led into an all points off dyno. After the dyno, I climbed into some more powerful climbing. I ended up placing third in this competition under Daniel Woods and Dave Graham.

I am now focusing my time and attention on training for ABS Youth Nationals, which will be held in Colorado Springs next month. I have been doing most of my training at Miramont Lifestyle Fitness in Fort Collins. I look forward to climbing on the well set boulder problems at the next competition.

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Escape the Wet

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Brian

The weather in the greater Reno/ Tahoe area has been less than ideal lately.  Not enough good snow to justify breaking out the skis, but too much accumulated precipitation to return to the our mountainous projects.

We watch the weather report like hawks.  If its not precipitating and above freezing, or at least close, its game on.  When the weather gods decide to take pity on us, we seek refuge in the sandy, granite littered, hills of Doyle, CA.  The majority of the climbing in Doyle is had on decomposing granite egg boulders.  When the rock is solid, it yields bulletproof patina reminiscent of the Buttermilks.  When its not, the phrase “heaping pile” comes to mind.  Most of the climbs are on vertical or slabby faces in the V-B to V-6 range.  This is great for logging tons of millage, but can leave the “crush” muscles woefully unactivated.

Photo Nick Williamson © 2013

But, with a bit of exploration and a willingness to climb on some funky features that you might otherwise walk right past, some good hard climbing has been developed over the past few years.  Here are two such climbs that we have developed:

This climb was established by my cohort Ty Fairbairn a few years back and I finally snagged the second ascent;

The high this day was 23º F!  I managed to fight through numb fingers on my third attempt and snagged this FA;

You may have noticed that I didn’t propose grades for either climb.  Grading has become a seriously nebulous topic for me as of late.  But fret not!  I won’t be launching into a self-righteous diatribe about the subjective nature of grades and the need for consensus.  For us it’s a matter of not having others who have climbed in established areas recently to confirm proposed grades.  So, we end up either not grading problems at all (which is usually the case) or end up referenceing a climbs difficulty by how long the project took us to complete.
For example, the Cave Problem took me three days of work to climb, whereas Cryin Shame took almost five.  If these climbs were down in Bishop, they would probably both be considered around the lower double digit realm.  But they are not, and none of us have been down to Bishop recently enough to gauge our strengths.  So, we are left comparing climbs that really can’t be compared in order to arrive at a guesstimation of difficulty.  It tends to be a much cleaner business entirely when we simply leave off the grades and let people tell us how hard they think the climbs were (which people tend to readily exclaim with or with out our asking).  Besides, how do you put a grade on something that you onsighted in your approach shoes?  V-Fun, that’s how!

Ty logging some V-Fun

Leaving the grading to those who really care about such things enables us to focus on the whole reason we came out to Doyle in the first place; to hang out in the sun, move on some stone, and escape the wet.

Photo Ty Fairbairn © 2013

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Tweaky

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Matt

There is nothing more frustrating than injuries. Be it a large
scale catastrophic injury or little nagging buggers that don’t ever seem to go
away it is always important to step back, look at the bigger picture, and make
a game plan so you can get back in the game as soon as possible.

 

For the last several months my shoulders have been all kinds
of tweaky and no matter what I do they don’t seem to want to get healthy again.
Weeks passed and my psyche grew smaller until I started resenting going to
training and lacked the motivation and shoulder stability to go have a nice gym
sesh. Over the holidays the weather took a turn for the better and I took a bit
of time off training, and it gave me a chance to get back out on rock for the
first time in months, and it also gave me the chance to get out to the
mountains and try some new things, first and foremost, mixed climbing. I won’t
go into too much depth about my newfound love for the colder side of climbing
but needless to say just getting out in the mountains allowed me to get
motivated to get healthy. Being able to go skiing, snowboarding, mixed and ice
climbing and even occasional bouldering passed the time quickly and resting my
shoulder was less of a chore.

My shoulders are starting to improve now, and I credit a lot
of it to being able to step back look at the big picture and realize why I
needed to rest and recover so I could get back in the game as quickly as I
could. As the heart of the competition season approaches, (and maybe an escape
to bishop?!), staying healthy is going to be key.

 

More updates, hopefully from California, to come soon…

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TDB @ Climber’s Rock

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Aaron

Just over a week ago, I had the opportunity to chief the first Tour de Bloc comp of the New Year at Climber’s Rock. I assembled the setting crew, and 3 days before the event, we began setting the 8 finals problems and 61 qualifiers. I had laid everything out on a white board so that we could avoid clusters and lines during the comp, and so that the setters knew what needed to go where.

Setting went very smoothly thanks to the amazing setting team, and we found ourselves finished with all the setting around 5pm on Friday. After a quick bite to eat, we got down to the task of forerunning. With 61 problems to run, we brought in a few dedicated forerunners to make sure we stayed on track with our ordering of the problems and that we didn’t end up labelling a V3 as the hardest problem due to fatigue. Once forerunning was done, we labelled all the problems, cleaned up and were out of the gym just after 11pm.

The next day, Youth and Rec climbers kicked the comp off in the morning with their qualifying round, followed by the Experienced and Open competitors in the afternoon. Although the turnout was smaller than expected, the field for both Open men and women was strong. Several climbers from both Buffalo and Michigan also came out for the event, adding to the mix and making sure everyone stayed on their game.

When all was said and done, all but one of the qualifying problems got sent. After a short break, the result list was posted, yielding the following results:

Men

  1. Dylan Barks
  2. Keith Mackay
  3. Jeremy Noring
  4. Dustin Kerr
  5. Carmen Ing
  6. Florent Balsez
  7. Mathew Moreau
  8. Shaun Hunter

Women

  1. Kerry Briggs
  2. Marieta Akalski
  3. Holly Reid
  4. Clarrie Lam
  5. Bonnie De Bruijn
  6. Kacy Wilson

The setting team assembled once again and began tearing down qualifying problems so we could put the finals up. Everyone knew exactly what they had to do and worked to get it all done, and amazingly, we finished with 20 minutes to spare. Due to the numbers, we had 8 men and 6 women in finals. Because we were running them simultaneously, we brought the first two men out before the women appeared. This allowed for the top seeded man and woman to run through the problems together. As the finalists started to come out, the crowd got louder, and as the crowd got louder, the climbers tried harder, feeding off the energy.

Keith Mackay squeezing hard on Men's 4 (notice the Flashed flooring in the background)

Despite being tired and the problems being hard, the finalists, both men and women, put on a phenomenal show, proving every bit that they deserved their spots in the final. Dylan Barks from Michigan was the clear winner for the guys, flashing the first three problems with ease and falling off the last hold of the fourth problem.

Dylan Barks making Men's 4 look easy

For the women, Marieta Akalski pulled out the win, flashing two of the four problems and getting the bonus hold on the other two.

Marieta Akalski on her way to the top of Women's 3

When it was all said and done, both climbers and spectators had a great time. Being chief is never an easy thing, there’s always lots to worry about. You get all the appreciation if things go well, but on the other end of it, you get all the blowback if things don’t. Either way, it’s always a great feeling watching people climb things you’ve put up and the smiles on their faces when they send.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1-5-8.5

Posted on January 14, 2013 by David Heerema

A few years ago I got hooked on the campus board.  It’s a great way for me to train power and I really enjoy it.  I go long stretches where I don’t practice it at all, and then I’ll get back into it and train on it once a week.  I do a cardio warm up and boulder lightly for 45 minutes.  After that I get to the board where I follow a modified version of Ben Moon’s workout.

Immediately I was fascinated with the magical 1-5-9: Start matched on rung 1, move up to rung 5, then to rung 9. Match, drop, and rejoice.

1-5-9 was made famous in the film “The Real Thing” – The first true bouldering feature film, “The Real Thing” was released in 1996 and chronicled British legends Ben Moon and Jerry Moffat on a trip to Fontainebleau.  At one point in the video they’re training on a campus board and Ben completes a new personal best going from the bottom of the board to the top in only two moves doing “1-5-9″.  I say “1-5-9″ in quotes because if you watch the video (which everyone should) you can see that the last rung on the board is only at half the regular spacing because they have run out of room on the wall.  So, Ben Moon’s accomplishment is actually “1-5-8.5″ according to the specifications of his board.

This “1-5-9″ soon became the aspiration of all would-be tough campus boarders.

The first board that I trained on had rungs spaced at 8 inches apart.  After a while I achieved 1-5-9, to much screaming and excitement.  It was at this time when I became interested in the specifics of the campus board design in hopes of measuring exactly how valuable my accomplishments were.

The original campus board was built in 1988 by Wolfgang Gullich.  Although I’ve never officially heard first hand, this board is believed to have had rungs spaced at 8 inch distances and is the reason why a number of boards worldwide have this spacing.


The original campus board

After training on that original board with Wolfgang, Jerry Moffat built his own campus board at the famous “School Room” in Sheffield, England.  This board was built with rungs spaced at 22cm (except the last one) and this spacing has slowly become the standard spacing for an official campus board.


The board in the “School Room”

After researching online and speaking to climbers in Sheffield, Altitude Climbing Gym built a beautiful campus board completely to specifications:

- Approximately 20 degrees overhanging
- Rungs spaced at 22cm
- Columns of large, medium, and small rungs.

I have been on the campus board once a week for a about a month and I’ve recently repeated my personal best achieved in March 2009. I completed 1-5-8.5 on 22cm spaced medium-sized rungs!  This is a big deal for me and it’s equal to Ben Moon’s accomplishment in The Real Thing. I’m really excited. Here is a video snapped with my mobile phone:

While symbolic of a great accomplishment for myself, it’s also a pretty good achievement in the climbing community and certainly not a usual occurrence.  However, keep in mind that Malcolm Smith and Daniel Woods have done 1-5-8.5 STATIC.  Alternatively, there’s only a handful of people who are rumoured to have done 1-5-9 at 22cm, a feat which has been discussed to be around the V14 level of effort. I can’t wait to get back at it and keep reaching for that last half rung.

If this got you psyched here’s some other fun stuff:

In this video Nalle Hukkataival does 1-5-9 on a board with 20cm spacing.

In this video fellow Flashed climber Yves Gravelle does a number of impressive feats on a board with 20cm spacing.  1-6-10 is truly impressive.

For even more reading on the topic Jamie Emerson wrote an interesting article in 2010 with some good comments.

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Eric Ran Far

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Cooper

This post has nothing to do with running.  In fact, Eric despises running.  It is a play on words involving Eric’s last name Farran which is Ran Far when the letters are changed around.  Here is a video of Eric doing a one finger, one arm pullup.

http://youtu.be/pIbx_JnweJY

I would like to commend Eric for this impressive feat of strength and his dedication.  I would also like to commend him for his humble personality.  I was not aware that Eric was capable of this until he mentioned it during our conversation about core exercises on gymnastics rings on Youtube.  While Eric would prefer to climb instead of train he makes the best out of his situation.  He lives in the flat lands of College Station, TX nearly a two hour drive from the nearest rock or climbing gym in ATX.  In addition to this Eric works a tough construction job with long days to support his family, which consists of his wife and two kids.  Most people would simply crash onto the couch after a tough day of physical labor, but not Eric.  He chooses to train so that when the rare opportunity presents itself he can climb well considering his circumstances.  Eric is a great friend of mine that joined me on my 2009 summer sport climbing trip across western North America.  The two of us lived out of my truck together for several months.  We had a great time, and I have so many good memories from that time.  I hope this post will motivate those of us who are in similar circumstances (or are simply lazy) to improve.

A few weeks ago before the forest roads closed in Flagtown, Sam and I re-visited Leonard Canyon after an absence of a few years.  Leonard Canyon is a limestone canyon located on the southeast Mogollon Rim.  The climbing is characteristic of a blend of flagstaff roofs with Texas bulges on steep hillsides forming large, impressive features.  Here is a postdated video of the classic Swordfish prow to bring in the new year.  Happy New Year everyone.

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Passenging and Climbing

Posted on December 27, 2012 by regan

Passenging and climbing

Passenging- it’s a new word (passenger-ing), I made it up to describe what I did for about 30 hours split between 3 days while Josh drove me to Hueco. He wouldn’t ‘’let’ me drive, not that I put up much of a fight. At any given moment during the drive you could find the Hueco guidebook, a Lonely Planet for Turkey, our gas log or the USA map in my lap. Jade was obviously bored too, we nicknamed her ‘grumpus’. She meandered back and forth between the bed in the back and the one we built up for her between our seats. We kept telling her that Hueco will be worth it!

Hueco! Climbing climbing climbing! We have had nothing but amazing temps! Seriously, I don’t think we could have asked for better weather! We’ve been here for 12 days now and have climbed for 9 of those 12 days… needless to say I’m feeling a little worked!

We’ve spent all of our time on North mountain, making our rounds to problems we left behind last year and trying some new projects. Etienne is with us most days which is super fun! I have been really excited to try out my new flashed pad for the first time- custom built for me! I basically have a Ronin that has foam inside instead of the air cells – the reasoning behind this was to have a larger pad but a lighter pad. And, so far so good! The pad is big, great to fall on and easy to carry!

Speaking of falling… I’ve definitely been doing a lot of that! This time around, I was finding it hard to find a ‘project’ that suites me on north. I was feeling defeated by the steepness of the climbs. But with that being said, I also know that it usually takes me a while to get into the swing of things outdoors. Now, with 5 climbing days left I have three solid projects on the go… I should have some success!

So far some notable sends from our crew include: Regan – No Wonder V7,  Josh Diabolique V13 and Esperanza V14, Etienne – Diaphanus Sea V12

Jade chillin in the van

On the road! Regan, Jade and Josh

Unpacking for a day on North

New Flashed Pad!

Regan working Free Willy (left hand exit)

Josh checking out the moves on Dark Room

Brian working Loaded with Power

Jade gets new toys for Christmas

Regan working Pumped Full of Semen

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