Climbing News is a new series at Moja Gear where we bring you an assortment of stories within the community. We’ll explore what’s happening, where it’s going down, and why it’s important. Onward!
Story 1: Notable ascents in RMNP
1a: Daniel Woods establishes possible V16
Over the past 15 years, Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) has become known for its ridiculous concentration of hard boulders on perfect rock. Colorado native Daniel Woods, true to his reputation as one of the strongest climbers ever, has continued the trend.
On September 27th, 2016, Woods established Creature From The Black Lagoon
The boulder problem adds a sit start to Leviathan Style, one of the first difficult lines (V12—no big deal) established by Dave Graham in 2001.
I believe this line is harder than most 15s I’ve done so why not call it 16 … If train is ran on it and consensus calls it 15, then that is all good. —Daniel Woods
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One of Woods’ most well-known and hardest first ascents is Hypnotized Minds (video), a roadside boulder in RMNP. Given the lack of success on the problem by some of the world’s strongest boulderers, it was thought to be V16. The climb went unrepeated for 6 years, until Russian climber Rustam Gelmanov—visiting the States for the Bouldering World Cup in June 2016—crimped his way up. See the video of Gelmanov sending below.
1b: Isabelle Faus climbs The Wheel of Chaos (V14)
Isabelle Faus has climbed The Wheel of Chaos—a power-endurance suffer-fest confirmed at V14—in Upper Chaos Canyon. Her ascent comes at the heels of her recent feature profile on Climbing.com.
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To see the full climb, check out The Wheel Of Chaos in this video with Alex Puccio, crushing it back in fall 2015.
Story 2: New 5.14 offwidth roof crack in Utah
British offwidth experts Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker —also know as the Wide Boyz—have taken to the desert. While developing offwidth first ascents in the Crucifix Cave in Canyonlands National Park, Utah, the two climbers established Crown Of Thorns (5.14a). With 165 feet of horizontal climbing, this is one of the longest roof cracks ever established.
In an interview with UK Climbing, the Wide Boyz have this to say of the climb: “Half of it is hands and fists width and the other is an offwidth to rival Century Crack in technical difficulty … It was the only one that felt like it gave adequate ‘fight’ compared to going on the primary objective.”
And what is that “primary objective?” Ironically, the two men see Crown Of Thorns as a simple training route for the real prize: the 180-foot Crucifix Project, described below:
“The first section we committed to aiding (and possibly shutting out all doubt that this was yet another disappointing “could have been”) was 70ft of fingers, thin hands and a couple of wide pods. The first 30ft seemed ok—we guessed 5.13c/d, but the next 40ft looked totally next level. It was like London Wall or Cosmic Debris turned into a horizontal roof with not a single good foothold. Even thinking about doing a single move, might have been the hardest crack move we’d ever imagined.”
If the Crucifix Project goes, it could possibly be the most difficult crack climb ever done. Read more about it here or check out the video below to hear about it directly from Tom Randall.
Story 3: Scottish climber receives Nobel Prize in Physics
Well-known British climber and physicist Michael Kosterlitz has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics along with two colleagues for their work studying “theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter.” In other words, the three scientists studied the strange behavior of matter on a microscopic scale.
In the 1970s, Kosterlitz and his colleagues became influential route developers in the Italian Alps. According to this article, Kosterlitz played a huge role in the progression of alpine free climbing in Europe:
“Michael played an understated yet influential role in developing modern European Alpine climbing by initiating the Nuovo Mattino or ‘New Morning’ movement in alpinism, in which limiting, old-fashioned values focussing on summits, nationalism and heroics were challenged in favour of creativity and technological advancement in free climbing.”
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If you love going down the rabbit holes of science, check out the scientific background document written by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Learn more about Topology—the mathematical concept on which Kosterlitz’ work is based—here.
Or if you’re more of a layman like me, this New York Times article explains the concepts behind Kosterlitz’ work in more understandable terms.
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