Ekaitz Maiz has made the first ascent of Basapiztien eremua 9a at Etxauri, Spain.

Basque climber Ekaitz Maiz has bolted and freed a new mega route at Etxauri, "Basapiztien eremua" on the north face of the Kantero. The route is a massive 90m long and is the 29 year old local has graded it 9a.Although Etxauri isn't one of Spain's most famous crags, perhaps it should be. As many will remember, the cliff made headline news at the end of 2007 when Patxi Usobiaga climbed into history with the first ascent and contemporaneously world's first 8c+ on-sight, Bizi euskara. The route was later repeated and the grade confirmed by Iban Larrion.Maiz explains briefly why the crag is so special: "Etxauri is a climbing area in Spain's Basque Country, circa 15 km to the west of Iruña (Pamplona). The crag counts some 800 routes and the imestone is of excellent quality. There is much climbing tradition and classic and sport routes coexist. The climbing is mainly technical and crimpy, but there are routes of all styles . The best time of year to visit Etxauri is in autumn and winter, although due to the sectors facing different directions we can climb all year round."

Click on the picture for footage of the route.

(source: planetmountain)

Bouldering in Arkansas - by Jimmy Webb

Check this out.Found two videos from Jimmy Webb from bouldering action at the Ozarks, Arkansas. The most cool and notable footage is about the possible 2nd ascent of Chris Sharma's 'The Zone' possible somewhat at the grade 8B.

Part 2 of bouldering in Arkansas

Comic Daylight Saving Time - Dirkjan Humour

I love it, this kind of humour !

Nina Capres - Trailer Video Tuzgle

Nina Capres on a month long roadtrip in Argentina with Mickael Fuselier, Julien Nadiras, Nina Caprez. Lots of highballs, stunning landscape and loads of fun. A pure bouldering teaser made by ABK. Click picture to start the trailer.

(source: ninacaprez.ch)

Dilbert - Unproductive time

Hello world. Goodmorning Monday.

Adam Ondra bouldering at Melloblocco 2009 - Airbag

Click the pic to start the video. Funky moves and the crashpad must be the (in)famous airbag...

The Power of Jam / Video from the roadtrip of Nicolas Favrese and Sean Villanueva

Nico Favresse and Seán Villanueva spent four months in fall 2008 traveling western North America (the pair are from Belgium) with their climbing gear, a mandolin, a tin whistle and a penchant for hitchhiking. From Squamish to the Bugaboos to Yosemite to Indian Creek they did bold repeats, set new routes and played many a jam session along the way. Click the pic to check out the film about their trip.

(source weblog of Nicolas Favresse)

Berni Schwaiger - Anam Cara 8C (Silvretta)

Berni Schwaiger bouldering in the beautifull Silvretta (Austria) region. A short (duh) boulder route at 8C level with pretty small holds making body tension a must. Watch in awe (click picture to start the movie).

(source: climb-up.com)

Gunshow Boulder Venue Colorado

I found this video with footage on the net at Routesetter.com
Lot's of action and the familiar buzz of a boulder contest. Note the fabulous 'rock structure' of the boulderwall and the yeah! mantle moves you can make on them. Real Bleau-like. Love it.

By the way click on the Vimeo Link in the top righthand corner of my blog. To give it the full size left click with the mouse and select 'full screen'. Njoy !!

Frankenjura Climbing Update - Ondra / Bock / Seeger

Frankenjura climbing updates: Markus Bock, Sarah Seeger and Adam Ondra
Sarah Seeger climbs Steinbock 8c in the Frankenjura, Markus Bock creates his hardest to date, The Man That Follows Hell 9a+, while Adam Ondra makes swift work of two other testpieces in Germany's premier climbing area.

A crisp autumn has facilitated important ascents in Germany's Frankenjura. Sarah Seeger kicked off the high-end action on Saturday 3 October with her redpoint of Steinbock, a steeply overhanging 22 move 8c at the Orakel first ascended by Markus Bock in August 2008. After redpointing Ronin (10+/11-) earlier this year, Steinbock is now Seeger's hardest route to date and contemporaneously is also the hardest route climbed by a woman in the Frankenjura.A day after Seeger's success Markus Bock experienced "one of the happiest moments" in his climbing career when he freed The Man That Follows Hell at the aptly named Grüne Hölle. Bock's latest effort is in fact an old project originally bolted by Milan Sykora (thge man who envisioned the line of Action Directe) and a direct start to the existing Kawaschuwu (8c+). The straightened out version weighs in at 9a+ and the 30 year old described it as follows for the German climbing magazine Klettern: "16 moves - exactly as many as Action Directe 9a - with comparable climbing and steepness - yet the individual moves are significantly harder." Bock stuck the crux on his seventh try on 4 October of what is now, together with his 2006 testpiece Corona, the Frankenjura's hardest route.Talking about Kawaschuwu - last weekend Adam Ondra repeated this route third go, a day after redpointing Pantera (9a) which he had first attempted in June. Ondra needed 4 days to climb this nth Bock creation, a record for the young Czech climber who no doubt will have "Follows Hell" high on his agenda.

(source: planetmountain.com)

Sigmund Cartoon - Monday Philosophy

(source: sigmund.nl)

Frank Bogerman and friends in Rocklands South Africa

I found this footage on the site of Sloper. Click the picture to watch the video.

(source: sloper.climbing.nl)

National Geographic captures Big Sequoia

National Geographic sent Nichols to spend an entire year in California's redwood forest. His mission was to capture the majesty of some of the tallest trees on Earth, some of which date back before Christ. And if you've ever photographed in a forest, you'll understand the challenge this presented. There's no capturing the awe one feels before these monoliths that measure, in some cases, upward of 300 feet.

The making of the above picture, which is composed of no less than 83 images, took the team three weeks and an assortment of climbing gear worthy of climbing a big wall. In a recent lecture at National Geographic in Washington, D.C., Nichols described his frustrations. Eventually, though, he devised a way to do redwoods justice. It involved three cameras, a team of scientists, a robotic dolly, a gyroscope, an 83-photo composite and a lot of patience. Check the short movie about the making (click picture below).

(source: unclesomebody.com)

Totem Pole Tasmania climbed free

All individual pitches of the original climb up the Totem Pole in Tasmania, Australia, were freed in January by Doug McConnell and Dean Rollins.
News from downunder sometimes takes time to sicker through: in mid-Janaury the original route up one of Australia's most iconic rock pillars, the Totem Pole on the SE coast of Tasmania, was finally climbed free by Doug McConnell and Dean Rollins. In a massive nine-month effort the two local climbers freed all the pitches of the first route up this remote sea-stack, established with the use of aid by John Ewbank and Allan Keller in 1968. The three pitch outing now goes free at grade 27, circa French 7c, and the two climbers were the first to point out that their style can still be greatly improved upon: they had freed the individual pitchs on seperate days and pitches two and three were split by a hanging belay. Those aspiring to climbing the line in a single push should be aware that the route takes fiddly trad, is run-out and solid for its grade.

(source: planetmountain.com)

Kilian Fischhuber flies Airstar Fb 8B

Rocklands bouldering, In August 2009 Kilian Fischhuber from Austria freed Airstar Fb8b, a long-standing problem at Rocklands, South Africa.
What do you get if you stack two of the best boulders in Rocklands, one of top of the other? The answer is Airstar, the Fb8b problem first ascended by Kilian Fischhuber this summer in South Africa's bouldering hotspot. Airstar was an old project. Klem Loskot, Fred Nicole, Bernd Zangerl and many others had tried it. This year when I returned to Rocklands Nalle Hukkataival told me about it, and both he and Kevin Jorgeson tried it a bit (see here for more).

(source: planetmountain.com)

Simon's Cat - Cartoon and Animation (NEW)

Because it was World Animal Day (we should treat animals like it every day) last sunday here a hilarious and very cool animation about cat habits. In this case what cat's do when (trying) to catch a fly.... Love it ! Click the picture to start the animation.

(source: Marianne (thanx!) and simonscat.com)

Jason Kehl Routesetting at Mammut Boulder Games 2009

Niii-ce video by Jason Kehl and Abbey Smith about the routesetting activities with Joel Zerr and Bret Johnston. Note his funky hairdo and the cool ladder they use for placing the high holds.The fun begins at the moment they start forerunning the routes and after that the tries from the competitors at real competition. Njoy !

(source: revolution.com)

Chris Sharma Climbing with Jibé Tribout

This footags has been shot a while ago, but since Chris Sharma is giving a lecture coming saturday at our famous dutch boulder institute MONK (Netherlands) it's a warming up for the spectacular pics and stories held in store for us.

Chris Sharma and Jibé Tribout climb some crazy sport routes. JB is 45 something years old and still rollin'. Chris says that he was inspired by JB in his early climbing days and hopes he will be climbing as hard (or much harder?!) as him when he reaches that age.
Click the picture for a short movie about Chris trying and JB climbing Draconian Devil (8B+) on the Greek island Kalymnos.

90 Grad - A movie about Urban Climbing

A poetic climbing movie made by Ties Linders during his stay in Zürich, Switserland. An unorthodox view of urban climbing. Quite refreshing if you want something different from the all omnipresent and often overwhelming rock climbing- or bouldering movies.

As the title says, '90 grad' changes your view about the city and tilts your point of view as well.

Check this link to view the movie.

(source: monkbouldergym.nl)

Boulderblok Rotterdam - Topo met Pocketroutes

Yep, Bart van Raaij zit niet stil. Als 't ie niet met Arnold Pipel bezig is om het blad BLOK vorm te geven, dan is het wel om nieuwe routes te bedenken en openen op het fraaie boulderblok in het Zuiderpark, Rotterdam. In dit geval allemaal routes op pockets. Check deze link voor een geupdate topo.

(bron: www.bladoverklimmen.nl)