Nalle Hukkataival

Moving the blog to Tumblr

2011-07-21T23:43:00.000+03:00

Lately I’ve found myself having less time to write long trip reports and blog posts. That’s why my blog has gone without an update for a while now. Moving my blog to Tumblr seemed like a better option for posting shorter updates, photos and such but on a more regular basis. Also, unlike my previous blog which was strictly climbing related and only about my personal travels and projects, my Tumblr will be a place for me to share other things that I find interesting as well. I’m new to Tumblr, but I hope this new blog starts off smoothly and you guys like it. So here it is:

http://nallehukkataival.tumblr.com/

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Photo update

2011-05-12T17:58:00.000+03:00

Alright, it's been forever since I last updated this blog. A lot has happened since and I've been to a lot of different places. I don't even know where to start writing, so I'll just post a bunch of photos from the past months and try to find more time to write updates more often.

Topping out Evilution (V12), California. ©Chuck Fryberger

The Swarm (V13), Bishop, CA. ©Reinhart Fichtinger

Xavier's Roof (V11), Bishop, CA. ©Reinhart Fichtinger

Taking some air on Evilution (V12), Bishop. ©Reinhart Fichtinger

Highball (V11), Bishop. ©Reinhart Fichtinger

Angel's Share, Black Rocks, UK

Trying a new project, Black Rocks, UK ©Nick Brown

Tigre et Dragon (8A), Fontainebleau

Rainbow Rocket (8A), Fontainebleau ©Jani Lehtola

New FA: Peter Pan Syndrome, Ticino, CH

Bishop action

2011-02-28T05:21:00.000+02:00

Bishop was one of the last big bouldering areas I had not previously visited, so It was cool to be able to climb lots of problems each day. That's something I rarely get to do these days. Repeating the area classics was great, but did not leave much time for projects.

FA of The Swarm Direct (V13)

I did however get the first ascent of the direct finish to The Swarm after rappelling down and cleaning it. The first two moves are the same as the original line, but after the crux instead of doing the double gaston move you cross over to a good gaston with the left hand, get your right foot up on the rail. and lock off to a good crimp. After that you have a few crimpy but not so hard moves leading to a mantle on to the slab. This way you stay on the wall the whole time instead of traversing out right to the arete. For the grade I suggested 8B as for the original version. It's hard to grade this one because every time I did the crux move it felt easier and easier. A few days ago we went to film The Swarm with Chuck Fryberger and I did the whole problem again first try without warming up, so who knows.

This Side of Paradise

Trying Evilution ground up with no chalk or tick marks on the holds was a quite mission. First I tried the direct finish, but after climbing three times to the very top and taking big falls when I couldn't find the holds, I decided to do the original version. It's slightly harder, but you can actually locate most of the holds from the ground. It's definitely one of the coolest highballs I've climbed. Another amazing highball that I did was This side of paradise!!! This one I checked out with a rope first. Still, I was scared topping it out after a hold crumbled under my foot in the no-fall zone.

Maze of Death (V12)

Xavier's roof (V11), Golden Shower (V10), Haroun and the Sea of Stories (V11), Southwest Arete, Maze of Death (V12) all deserve a mention too as they were amazing along with many more problems.

3 weeks in Bishop

It was a very good trip for me, but I'm a little disappointed I didn't really get to try Lucid Dreaming. I tried it one time for about 15 minutes and split three finger tips and didn't really get another change with all the other problems I wanted to climb. Right now I'm in Las Vegas. I'm flying back to Finland for three days and then I'm off to Sheffield for a competition and a couple days on the grit. Font and/or Switzerland is in the plans after that.

Bishop

2011-02-13T02:29:00.002+02:00

After spending a few days in Las Vegas and climbing at Red Rocks we've made our way to Bishop. The weather has been perfect the whole time. On our first day we climbed a bunch of easier problems in the Buttermilks main area. The Southwest Arete on the Grandma peabody was a perfect introduction to Bishop highballs. I also climbed the classic Stained class V10 later that day.

Buttermilks main area

The second day we climbed Haroun and the Sea of Stories, an amazing V11 in the Buttermilks. Later that day we hiked to the Secrets of the Beehive area to check out The Swarm. I felt already quite trashed from climbing easier problems all day, but I thought I would try it anyway and I actually sent the problem pretty quickly. It's for sure one of the coolest crimp lines I've climbed and the double gaston move in the middle is amazing. As for the grade, I think V13 would be more appropriate than V14.

South West Arete on the Grandma Peabody

Next day we warmed up again in the main area of Buttermilks. Then, for some reason we decided to try Mandala when it was in the sun. After a while of shredding skin on the warm crimps, I got to last moves but could not even hang on the good incut crimps that had been baking in the sun. So we waited for the sun to go behind the mountains and the conditions improved immediately. I quickly sent the stand start (from the original start) and so did Kilian. I gave the sitstart a few goes and quickly afterwards sent it too. Both the stand and the sit are world class problems, no doubt.

Suspended in Silence V5

We've done a lot of hiking and checked out most of the areas already. There are lots of problems that I want to do like This Side of Paradise, Evilution, Spectre and many others. If the weather stays like this there should be more to report soon.

It's On Like Donkey Kong!

2011-02-03T07:06:00.000+02:00

It's been forever since my last blog post. As much as I love being constantly on the road, sometimes I just need a little break from it all; hotel rooms, airports, rental cars, airline food, speaking a foreign language, people that come and go… Traveling can get tough sometimes, so I've been chilling in Finland for a while and getting psyched to hit the road again.

The climbing season here in Finland has been over for long after we got a record amount of snow already at the end of November, so it's just been climbing on plastic for me. I completely missed the small window to try the Sisu project. Before the snow I had my last attempts on my Opposition project, but it still remains unclimbed. It's interesting that this is a project that is near my home and I've probably tried it more than any other project ever, but still I think it's only an 8B+. I got very close to sending it just before my trip to Colorado last fall, but then got a minor injury on it and had to stop trying it. In November, after returning from Colorado, I competed in the IMS Bouldering Cup in Brixen, Italy, which I was psyched to win ahead of Kilian Fischuber and Paul Robinson. Last week I also won the Finnish bouldering nationals.

IMS Cup 2010 photo: Angelica Hintner

Now it's time to get out there again and climb on some real rock! Right now I'm at Helsinki airport waiting for my flight to board. I'm going back to the States, to Las Vegas where I'm meeting up with Kilian Fischuber, Anna Stöhr and the rest of the Austrian crew. First stop is Red Rocks for a couple of days and then Bishop for about three weeks. Chuck Fryberger should be joining us in Bishop to do some filming. This will be my first time in Bishop and I can't wait for all the highballs and classics I've seen so many photos of!

Stay tuned for updates!

Norway Video

2010-10-02T11:17:00.000+03:00

I'm here in Colorado with only two days left for Wolverine Land before the road is closed for the winter. I've been doing a lot of editing lately and I finally finished a 30 min video from our Norway trip this summer. It's filmed at three famous bouldering areas in Norway: Harbak, Vingsand and Lofoten islands and features a lot of classic boulder problems and some first ascent like The Diamond 8B and Rough Gem 8B.

Bouldering in Norway from Boulderkeskus on Vimeo.

Wolverine Land - Season Finale

2010-09-25T10:53:00.001+03:00

Here's a video we filmed yesterday at Wolverine Land. The season is winding down with only nine days left before the road to Lincoln lake closes. Conditions are prime and the psyche is high.

Wolverine Land - Season Finale, part I from ZeroSkillz on Vimeo.

Colorado

2010-09-19T11:23:00.000+03:00

The conditions are getting prime in Colorado right now, so here I am. I got here three days ago and we've been to the new area Lincoln Lake / Wolverine Land twice now. I must say it's looking very promising. There seems to be a lot of potential for new lines and a lot of the established lines look really good. I still haven't fully gotten used to the altitude, because the area is at about 12,000 ft.

We probably have about 2-3 weeks time at this area, before the snow comes and the road gets closed. After that RMNP should be good and we're also planning on going to Idaho to try Warpath, an unrepeated V15 from James Litz.

This just happened today, so I may have to stay off crimpy problems for a few days, but I'm still psyched to get out there and go find some cool projects!

Norway video teaser

2010-09-04T02:07:00.000+03:00

I've been editing a short bouldering film for quite a while now. All the footage is from our last trip to Norway and features three of some of the best bouldering areas in Norway: Harbak, Vingsand and Lofoten Islands. It's been hard to find time for editing, but most of the work is already done. It's out when it's out. That's all I can say at this point.

Meanwhile, here's a little clip from the movie. It's the first ascent of a famous project in the Lofoten Islands in Norway, which I later named Rough Gem, 8B. This video was shot June 10th at about 2.30 A.M. when the sun did not set at all.

Norway Update

2010-07-05T21:04:00.000+03:00

It's been a while since my last blog post so here's a few photos from my latest trip to Norway. I'm back home now and pretty busy editing footage from the trip. We're putting together a short film again. Hopefully we can finish the edit soon.

We spent most of this trip near Trondheim, in Harbak and Vingsand, and last stop was the Lofoten Islands as soon as it stopped snowing up there. Harbak and Vingsand were definitely worth the trip, but Lofoten didn't quite match my expectations. While the weather turned out to be really good around Trondheim, in Lofoten the weather was more unstable than I could even imagine. We basically had to take advantage of every moment it didn't rain. The weather seemed to be more calm at night, so we started climbing at night, not that it really mattered when you climb since the sun did not set at all.

We spent most of the time filming so there aren't that many photos, but here are some from all of the areas we visited.

First ascent of Outlook

I heard about this boulder from a friend of mine who discovered it last year. It's very high quality sandstone with a small lighthouse on top of boulder. We put up a few really good problems here.

First Ascent of Outlook

I felt like I got in a really good shape this trip. I managed to flash two 8A+ boulders: Fokus in Harbak and Talib in Vingsand. Flashing Talib was very effortless, but I was convinced by my friends that it is indeed 8A+. On top of that I got the first ascents of two well known projects in Norway: The Diamond 8B in Vingsand and Rough Gem 8B in Lofoten, both of which are very proud and beautiful lines. Another first ascent worth mentioning is Straight Outta Hellvika 8A+ which climbs the biggest and most obvious line out of the Hellvika cave. I also got really close to sending a hard roof project in Vingsand that I called the Greg Valentino project, because of the very bicep-intensive crux move.

Video frame, FA of Rough Gem 8B in Lofoten at 3 A.M.

Harbak view

Video frame of me flashing Fokus 8A+ in Harbak

The highlight of the trip was without a doubt grabbing the first ascent of the Diamanten project in Vingsand. I had seen photos of this amazing diamond shaped boulder already two years ago. Just seeing the photos got me syked to go there and hearing that both Fred Nicole and Bernd Zangerl have tried it was sort of a conformation that it has to be pretty good. People who had worked on it speculated that it must be 8B+. Later an important hold broke off making it even harder.

First Ascent of The Diamond

I managed to do the first ascent in one day and that's why I didn't think it was quite hard enough to be 8B+, so I gave it 8B. We'll see what other people think of the grade. Regardless of the grade The Diamond is an amazing problem. It must be one of the best boulders I've climbed in Europe. The photo above unfortunately doesn't do justice for the problem. I'll try to get better photo from someone and we also have video footage of the send.

First Ascent of Where's the Paradise?

Eventually we got tired of the Lofoten weather and left a couple days early. I might be going back again soon possibly to try to finish the Greg Valentino project and try to find a new area. On the drive back home we made a couple quick stops and I ticked Lada Miestä Kuljettaa Assis 8A+ and Paddington which I think deserves a downgrade to 8A after I climbed it 3 times in a row.

Slartibartfast in Lofoten

Sømp 8A in Harbak

Midnight Sun 7C+ in Lofoten

Here's my ticklist from this trip:

The Diamond 8B   First Ascent
Rough Gem 8B     First Ascent
Trouble 8A+
Fokus 8A+     FLASH
Talib 8A+       FLASH
Origins 8A+
Straight Outta Hellvika 8A+      First Ascent
Lada Miestä Kuljettaa Assis 8A+

Cool Hand Luke 8A
Sømp 8A
Lynx 8A
Torstein problem 8A
Full Battery 8A First Ascent
Paddington 8A
Hurtigruttan 7C+

Strong Youth 7C+

Neptune 7C+
Akkurat Der 7C+

Midnight Sun 7C+
Tare Baby 7C+
Nesten der 7C+

Midnight Madness ? First Ascent

Norway

2010-05-23T22:58:00.000+03:00

I'm finally leaving to Norway tomorrow. I have to wake up in 6 hours (5am, early start) so I'm not going to make this very long. First stop is Trondheim (Harbak, Vingsand) and later we will continue further up north to Gjerdalen ja fianlly the Lofoten islands

I don't like checking the weather forecast for Norway, because it always looks bad, but I'm sure the weather will turn out to be fine (yeah right!)

Puumala

2010-05-20T14:41:00.000+03:00

My last weeks boulder hunt went well. The weather could not have been better and I spent every day running around the woods looking for new boulders and making first ascents.

Puumala area

I found a lot of boulders, big ones, but not that many lines for some reason. The rock quality wasn't the best in some places. I put a few nice problems, but overall this area wasn't quite as good as I thought it might be. Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes.

Puumala

Here's a little clip I filmed while I was there. I didn't have much time to put into editing it, but the footage isn't that great anyway so whatever. It shows two new problems I put up: Milestone and Laiskuus Palkitaan.

On Monday I'm leaving to Norway. I haven't spent much time there climbing, but I've seen enough to know that the potential for new bouldering is huge there. The last few days it's been really hot in Finland, so hopefully we'll find better conditions in northern Norway. If not, you can always do night sessions. Soon you wont even need headlamps because the sun doesn't set that far up north in the summer!

New boulders

2010-05-05T01:27:00.000+03:00

Not many people would drive 8 hours back and forth on a Friday to go run around the woods for nine hours while it's raining.

That's how I spent my Friday. After hours on the computer scrolling trough maps and aerial images, I was headed towards a remote area about 4 hours drive North east of Helsinki. Maps are an essential tool for finding boulders in Finland, because there are thick forest everywhere so the visibility is often really bad and the boulders are usually scattered around. You never really get a good view from the road, so you really need to go look at each boulder individually. So, after several exhausting hours of non-stop boulder hunting, I did find some really cool projects and not just individual boulders, but potentially actual areas.

Some of the small roads were in bad shape

The weather forecast for the this week looks a bit dubious, but whatever. I'm psyched to go out there and make some first ascents and brush some cool projects. If it's going to rain the whole time, at least I'll have a change to go look for some new boulders around.

I'm driving out there in the morning and I was just packing some of my stuff and once again realized how much gear I actually bring on a bouldering trip. Often people say that bouldering is nice because you don't need a lot of gear. I would say quite the opposite. When I was sport climbing in Spain, I often realized how nice it was that you didn't have to carry a lot of gear.

I'll be out for a few days if the weather allows and hopefully come back with some photos and video.

Happy Up Here

2010-04-26T15:17:00.000+03:00

Yesterday I put up a really nice new boulder in Sipoo. I tried this scary highball a little bit last spring and after falling from the last move a couple times I never went back. This year I finished it off on my first try after warming up on the bottom part. Happy Up Here has a technical start which leads to a bit steeper climbing with a committing move at the top. There are two ways to do the very top section, either a big dyno or two long lockoffs. I did it both ways and they feel about the same difficulty, depending on what your good at.

A video still of Happy Up Here

We got it on film, but I'm not sure yet when it's going to be out. I just started a new film project and I don't know whether I will release several smaller clips or make a longer flick like Could Be Worse.

I've spent a lot of time training for and working on the Sisu project, but I can't really say that there has been any progress lately. I'm planning to stay in Finland for about a month trying it, as long as the conditions are still good. After that the plan is to go to northern Norway and explore the endless potential for hard bouldering there. Alright, I'm off to try Sisu again!

Sisu Project

2010-04-12T23:34:00.013+03:00

The prime bouldering season is now really kicking in here in Finland and I've been taking full advantage of the good temps. I've spent four sessions on what I named Sisu project. All I can say at this point is that it is the hardest boulder problem I have ever tried in my entire life. It's still difficult to say if it actually goes or not.

So far, after four sessions on it, I've managed to do one single move, not counting the five last exit moves that I did on a rope (which are also hard). In total, this problem would be around 16 moves long and about 7 meters tall. Also, that one move that I've been able to do is the first move and most likely the easiest one. I've had my spotters push me into different places on the wall and at best I've been able to hold a positions of them for a split second, not even feeling remotely close to being able to move any part of my body.

To put things in a perspective, I've seen, climbed and tried several boulders graded 8C or 8C+ around the globe and this line seems to be on a completely different level of difficulty. I've done the all moves to several 8C boulders in a session or two. I climbed Jade in 2 days of effort, The Island took me 4 days. After spending 4 days on this project, I've been able to do 1 move, the easiest one.

Sisu project

I can't tell you how psyched I am, that I found a boulder this perfect and difficult near my home. It's still unsure if it actually goes, but no matter what, this has already been a dream come true for me. Even if I wouldn't ever be able to climb this line, at least I'll have an amazing project to work on for the next twenty years. It's a huge source of motivation for me and I've already started training like crazy to get fit enough to do a little better on it. I even built a training "simulator" of a couple of the bottom moves at my gym. I just canceled my trip to Switzerland, because the weather is just getting prime here and I don't want to miss a day of the perfect weather to try it.

I'm not expecting to climb this line any time soon, although that would be amazing and I am training harder than ever, now that I'm super motivated on this project. Most likely, climbing this line will take years and years of hard work and maybe it will still remain unclimbed. Time will tell, but I know I will enjoy every moment of trying it, no matter what the outcome is. Hopefully I can convince some other climbers to come and try it. We're also filming it and the footage will be released eventually in a climbing film, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to come out. For those who can't wait to see some video, I'll probably upload a short clip of me trying it/failing miserably, at some point.

Oh, and then there's the sitstart project, which adds a four move ∼ 8B+ into the the obvious stand start...

Finland update

2010-03-22T01:43:00.002+02:00

I left Spain a few days ago and now I'm back in Finland for a couple weeks. I had enough of sport climbing for a long time and am very psyched to boulder again! A few months ago I heard about a cool project near Helsinki and now that I'm back in Finland, I finally got a chance to go check it out. Today we went to go look at it, but the weather and record amount of snow turned our trip into an epic expedition.

Moving around in the snow was hard and really slow, but eventually we found what we were looking for and it was absolutely amazing! About 6-7 meters tall, steep, rounded feature with a Fontainebleau-esque top-out. The project is on bulletproof granite with small crimps that are far apart. Here's a few photos. The wall is frosted and the holds look better than they are, but you get the idea.

It's hard to tell how difficult it is yet, but it definitely seems like it could be very, very hard or even impossible. And then there's the sitstart... Either way, I'm very satisfied with this project. I've been searching for a hard project near my home for a long time now and here it finally is; an incredible line that will be a huge challenge.

We shoveled all the snow off the top, so that it won't seep when all the snow starts melting. I'm very psyched to start trying this as soon as possible, hopefully within the next couple weeks. It's about time for the weather to get better. I hope I get to try this before I leave for Switzerland in a couple weeks. If so, I will post some updates.

Bouldering grades: Everything is average nowadays

2010-03-03T19:48:00.001+02:00

I decided to write down some of my thoughts on bouldering grades, since a lot has been happening during the last years in the bouldering world. This sort of conversation still seems to be some sort of a taboo in the climbing community, so I am prepared to receive a lot of negative reactions, but I feel like this is a really important topic to discuss.

I'm going to start from the beginning of this whole mess. In the year 2000, 8C (V15) grade first got introduced to bouldering, when Fred Nicole did the first ascent of Dreamtime and proposed a never before seen grade of 8C for it. Soon it became known as the standard for 8C in the climbing media. That was 10 years ago. Still to this date, most of the cutting-edge boulders being put up are 8C. To most, this means that a decade passed and we have not progressed at all.

Sometimes things are not how seem. There has been huge progression difficulty-wise in bouldering. What happened is deflation in the grading scale. Dreamtime being set as the 8C standard (by the media), other hard problems are being put up and since Dreamtime is the 8C standard (and the only problem of that grade in the world) they get graded based on Dreamtime. New Base Line gets it's first ascent and marks the upper end of 8C. Time goes by, more hard problems get put up and graded based on these standards. And then, BOOOM! After Dreamtime gets enough repeats, turns out it is actually not 8C, but only 8B+. Same thing with New Base Line, which marked the upper end of 8C, it turns out to be 8B+ also. This is were it all started to go wrong.

Dreamtime, the problem that started it all.

In 2005 Dave Graham makes the first ascent of The Story Of Two Worlds and decides to call it the new standard for 8C, even though he could have proposed 8C+ as it was harder for him than anything else at the time. Instead, Dave chose to use it as the 8C standard and make some sense to the chaotic grading scale. Today, there is a lot of variety in the upper-scale grades, simply based on these double standards, because some problems are still graded based on the old standard, while other problems are more reliant on Dave's standard.

Story of Two Worlds, in Cresciano, Switzerland

I have repeated at least five boulder problems that were originally graded 8C or even 8C+, and have now been downgraded by a grade or two. And the list goes on. Actually, most of the proposed 8C's or 8C+'s have been downgraded and many of the ones that have not, are still unconfirmed. The issue here is that a few people (like me and Dave Graham for instance) are still trying to define the 8C grade (which I personally think is still the cutting edge) while rest of the climbers do not necessarily realize the the grade deflation, that has been going on for some years now.

Here are a few examples:

- Dreamtime downgraded from 8C to 8B+
- New Base Line 8C (hard), downgraded to 8B+
- The Never-ending Story in Magic Wood was originally called 8C+, now downgraded to 8B+
- El Techo de los Tres B's, downgraded from 8C to 8B
- Banshousha, supposedly the hardest slab in the world - downgraded from 8C to 8B
- Memento, downgraded from 8C+ to 8B+ (and according to many still deserves a downgrade)
- Amandla, downgraded from 8C+ to 8B+
- Terremer in Hueco Tanks, downgraded from 8C+ to (soft?) 8C
- Ode to the modern man, downgraded from 8C to soft 8B+
- Kheops assis, downgraded from 8C to 8B+

and the list goes on...

I see this trend repeating itself year after year and there seems to be no end to it. Why do so many problems keep getting downgraded? Why are so many problems overgraded in the first place? The media is adding pressure for professional climbers to strive for new grades, since bouldering grades have been stalling or even on the decline for years. An 8C first ascent is not necessarily that newsworthy anymore, after all that grade was climbed already 10 years ago.

Last June I did the first ascent of Livin' Large in South Africa. It is by far the hardest boulder I've climbed so far, a lot harder than any 8C that I have climbed in the past. Does that mean that it is 8C+? Maybe, just maybe. Does that mean that I should grade it 8C+? I don't think so. Why do we always have to shoot high first and then wait for the downgrade. Why is it never the other way around? I graded it 8C because I feel certain that it is at least 8C. If other people feel like it's harder, they can upgrade it. Why do people always choose the egotistical approach to these things instead of "playing it safe"? Furthermore, I think Livin' Large equals in difficulty with The Story of Two Worlds, the stiff standard set by Dave Graham back in 2005, defining the standard further.

The previous standards failed us and sent the highest grades to a down-ward spiral. This time we tried to set standards that are very likely to hold their grade. A solid foundation for the grade is what we need to correct the situation and that also means lots of downgrades. This is where it gets hard, because often people can take it personal, when their biggest pride gets downrated. The few people who actually put themselves on the line and try to make a change for better, get a bad name for criticising other people's ascents or more precisely the grades. Grading climbs based on the new-school standard can mean getting "left behind" so to speak. In the world of professional climbing, that can be a big risk to take.

It is too easy to keep quiet and go with the flow, but where will this lead us in a few years? Already, the grading scale is so chaotic in the upper end, that sometimes I'm not sure if it's even salvageable anymore, especially if we start basing an entirely new grade on the "standard" set right now.

Like I said before, there are not many people out there trying to fix the current situation, before jumping to a new grade. If others do not approve on this standard that we are trying to set and grade things based on a slightly different scale, that's totally fine with me, but in that case our problems need to be potentially re-graded. Who sets the grading scale, is the question here. I totally agree, that we need to move up on the scale soon, but I'm not sure if the necessary (big) step has been reached yet and further do we want to base a new grade on such a chaotic "foundation".

The fact is, that there is still no clear standard for 8C. We can all be throwingout big grades and flashy numbers and get on magazine covers, get better sponsorship and then a few months later watch our problem getting downgraded. The irony here is that a downgrade rarely makes the news and one would not necessarily get discredited for what he claims to have done.

I see lists of the hardest boulders in the world and in reality there is a three grades alternation between different problems, all categorized under the same grade. This almost makes me want to start a new grading scale. Another important thing is, that grades should be openly discussed, not kept quiet. Although, most grade related conversations on internet forums are usually quite pointless, I think there are people who are in certain situations qualified to state their opinion about a grade, without necessarily completing a climb.

In conclusion, grades are only estimates, personal opinions of the difficulty of a climb. People make mistakes, that is how it will always be. But how does it happen that 99 percent of the time, the mistake happens to be giving a HIGHER grade, very very rarely lower. Especially with upper-scale boulder problems, comes a fair amount of responsibility with the grading, because when the problem becomes a standard of some sort, a test-piece, it can and will affect the grading of many other climbs.

Grades are only a very small and quite unimportant part of climbing, but why do we even bother with the grades, if they really mean nothing?

sreen grabs: www.8a.nu

CORE Trailer

2010-03-01T01:27:00.002+02:00

This is the trailer for our upcoming feature-length climbing film CORE.

From the director of PURE...

CORE goes to the heart of climbing. Join an international cast of the sport's most dedicated athletes as they stick it when it matters most. Shot in 35mm Ultra High Definition, get ready to see every detail of some of the nastiest pieces of rock ever climbed.

A close examination of each character offers perspective beyond just their achievements on the stone. From Helsinki to Hueco, Africa to Italy, the enclosed forests of Tuscany to the vast open space of the American West, this film is a study in the landscapes and lifestyles that define our sport.

Be there, in the moment, as a 5.14 traditional route gets its first ascent. See the mind-bending footage from Livin Large, Nalle Hukkataival's monster 8C. Watch as Fred Nicole polishes off his multi-year project in Switzerland – his hardest ever. All these achievements and more are brought to you here in Chuck Fryberger's followup to the hit bouldering flick PURE. These are the moments and the athletes that define our sport, documented here with a unique style that invites the viewer to be part of the experience.

Featured Athletes:
Nalle Hukkataival
Matt Wilder
Fred Nicole
Kilian Fischhuber
Kevin Jorgeson
BJ Tilden
Lucas Preti
Cody Roth
Michele Caminati
Jamie Emerson
Sarah and Steph Marvez
Berni Fiedler
And Many More.

On Location in:
Lander, Wyoming
Colorado, USA
Hueco Tanks, USA
Helsinki Finland
Switzerland
Tuscany, Italy
Rocklands, South Africa

Spain and CORE

2010-02-21T16:27:00.001+02:00

Not much has been going on lately. I've been trying to get some endurance by climbing some easier routes around 8a+ - 8b. I feel like my endurance has finally improved enough to start trying the hard routes. We've been climbing mainly in Oliana lately, where all the routes are extremely long, but also a little bit in Margalef where all routes are much shorter. I've been syked on the long routes that are really hard for me, instead of getting on the short ones that I know I can do.

Since there's not much to report right now, here's a bunch of photos instead:

Margalef

Oliana

Humildes pa casa

Humildes pa casa, the best tufa in Spain!

Oliana

Dave checking out a boulder project

Lleida

Les Avellanes

Lleida

Oliana

On another topic, Chuck Fryberger's new film CORE is coming out soon. I'll let the trailer speak for itself. Check it out here soon:

Cataluña

2010-01-25T15:48:00.002+02:00

I've been sport climbing here in Catalonia, Spain for over a week now and it's been really fun. The bad weather all over Europe made me change my plans and I decided to come here to hang out with the crew. Overall the weather has been pretty good here, but Margalef is still wet for the most part, so we've been climbing a lot in Oliana.

Boira in Les Avillanes

Oliana is an amazing cliff with very long hard routes. Most of the routes are between 8b and 9a+. For a boulderer like me, climbing in Oliana has been very effective endurance training. I actually feel like I've gained a lot endurance in just a week and soon I can seriously start trying some hard routes. I can't wait for Margalef to dry up so we get to try some shorter routes also.

Dave on Fish eye, Oliana

Yesterday I actually managed to climb something by doing the first repeat of Duele la realidad, 8c+ in Oliana. To the right of Duele la realidad is a really hard project, that Chris bolted a few days ago. It has a very hard bouldery start. I managed to do all the moves of the first part yesterday, but linking them is going to be a challenge.

Jon Cardwell using his Mexican ninja beta on Duele la realidad

We have spent our restdays looking for boulders. From what I understand, not many people boulder here and even fewer actually go looking for boulders, so there's a lot of bouldering to be discovered.

Nalle Hukkataival trying Identifacation y placas, 8c

Chad filming in Oliana

Pure available as HD dowload

2010-01-09T18:48:00.003+02:00

Chuck Fryberger's latest film Pure is now available as HD download from Bouldering.com. I just downloaded it and it looks really good in high definition. Get it here for $14.99 (~10 euros)

Here's the trailer:

Pure is about 19 extraordinary climbers in six countries on three continents, with no ropes.

Featured Climbers:

Nalle Hukkataival: This young Finnish climber has put in his time on the world cup circuit and is now focusing on climbing the most daunting boulders on Earth.

Kevin Jorgeson: Pure features exclusive footage of Kevin's first ascents and first ropeless ascents in California. A Unique

perspective on the mind control necessary to solo, and the rehabilitation needed when you screw up.

Kilian Fischhuber: Winner of the Mens 2008 Bouldering World Cup. No climber has ever had a more dominant season on the World Cup

Circuit then Kilian, and few have the sense of humor.

Anna Stoehr: Winner of the Womens 2008 Bouldering World Cup. Professional Climber. 20 years old.

Fred Nicole: No introduction needed. The author of the lion's share of hard boulder problems in the world. The leader and grand master of the sport.

Cody Roth: Psyched to get on just about anything, PURE showcases Cody on hair-raising first ascents from Rocklands to Europe.

Areas Featured:

Rocklands, South Africa.

Sonoma County, California.

Fountainebleu, France.

Innsbruck, Austria.

Colorado.

Arco, Italy.

La Vallei, Magic Wood, and Brione Switzerland

Join these visionary climbers as they test their limits against the rock of planet earth in search of Taller, Harder, Cleaner, and Farther.

Could Be Worse

2009-12-25T20:45:00.006+02:00

Finally the film is finished. None of us know anything about filming or editing so we decided on the name Could Be Worse. I personally think it turned out pretty decent, so here it is. Please send all negative feedback to wedontcare@zer0skillz.com.

A short bouldering film (27 min) shot in Ticino, Switzerland and Maltatal, Austria. Starring Nalle Hukkataival and Kuutti Huhtikorpi.

List of problems:

Switzerland:
Conquistador, 8A+
Ninja Warrior, 7C+ FA
Schule des Lebens, 8A+
Nameless, 6C+
Special Edition, 8A
Fake Pamplemousse, 8A
Walker on Earth, 8A
Ninja Skills, 8B+ FA

Maltatal:
Wrestling with an Alligator, 8B
The Power of Goodbye, 8B
Marmelade auf der Schulter, 8A

I also added a video of Ninja Skills to my previous post (also in the film).

Enjoy!

Ninja Skills

2009-12-21T17:29:00.009+02:00

Two week ago I found the Ninja project in Sobrio. I cleaned it started working on it the next day. It turned out to be harder than it looks and the first day we spent trying to figure out the upper section. After lots of tries with countless different ways, I tried something out of the box. Smearing my left foot on the overhanging wall and kicking hard with my right foot as I jumped, gave me enough time to pull my right hand out of the pocket and latch for the next crimp. Instantly I jumped even too far missing the hold. After more tries we were unable to stick the crimp, but we were convinced we had figured out the beta for the dyno. I checked out the top part and once we got the sequence figured out, it didn't feel too bad, but could prove to be hard on the link.

Next day I got back to working on the crux dyno. I was getting closer and holding the crimp a little bit, but still unable to hold the swing. I started working on the lower part that leads up to the dyno. First two moves proved to be really hard again, followed by 6 slightly easier but tiring moves that lead to the crux dyno. All together the problem is 20 moves long, with hard climbed all teh way. It got dark and I had to pack my stuff unable to do the crux dyno or the first moves.

Working on the upper section

Working the first moves

After two days break from the project, we returned. Pretty quickly I managed to stick the crux dyno and climb to the top. I also did the first moves and managed to link it all the way from the start to the crux, but so tired that I really had no chance of trying the crux dyno.

Next day I started taking tries from the start, but got shut down really bad. Next day I came back feeling much stronger. After warming up I gave it a go from the start. I got through the first moves and the middle section. I set up for the dyno, jumped, got the crimp and held the swing for a moment, but then my hand exploded of the crimp. Second try I also made it to the crux dyno and stuck it. After a quick shake I fought my way to the very last lock-off. When working on the upper part, this move felt really easy once you got the drop-knee, but after 20 moves from the start something was different. I barely reached the intermediate and with my last strength deadpointed to the lip. I topped out completely pumped but pysched. I named the problem Ninja Skills and I think it's pretty solid at 8B+.

The crux dyno

The crux foothold

Luckily I sent it that day, because the cold front rolled in, taking over whole Switzerland. Chironico is currently too cold to climb in and Cresciano is the only place warm enough, so we've been climbing there for the past days. A couple days ago I climbed Mithril, 8B quite easily after trying it quite a few times over the last years. Today even Cresciano got snowed in so we decided it's time to flee the scene.

Our video camera broke due to a user malfunction (sorry Jarmo!), so no more filming. The movie should be out soon, once we get the finishing edits done. Of course Ninja Skills will also be in the film.

I'm hoping people will go and try Ninja Skills, since it's such an amazing piece of rock. Very close to it I put up another nice line called 'Ninja Warrior' 7C+. Here are instructions on how to get there:

Park in the village of Sobrio (on the other side of the valley from Chironico). Walk downhill following the hiking trail and signs for 'Scarti vegetali disposita'. After about 15 min you pass 'Scarti vegetali disposita' and follow the trail signs. After about 15 min more you arrive at an obvious 45 degree overhang on the right side of the path. Ninja Skills is 150 meters up and left from here. Ninja Warrior is 50 meters above Ninja Skills.

Here are some more screen grabs from the film:

Last move of Ninja Skills, 8B+

First ascent of Ninja Warrior, 7C+

Ninja project

2009-12-12T20:43:00.003+02:00

Weather in Ticino has been great and we've been climbing pretty much every day. Some days ago we had a nice night session at Dreamtime and I managed to do the FA (?) of the stand start after the break, which is probably 8B now. I must say it's not as good as it used to be. The would probably be a real 8C now.

Dreamtime stand after-break

On Wednesday I found a sick new project that I'm really psyched on! It's on a big proud boulder with only one very obvious line in the middle. It holds about 20 moves of intense climbing. The project name Ninja Skills comes from the interesting crux move in the picture along with some other crazy moves. I've worked on it for 2 days now and it feels hard.

The crux move of Ninja Skills project

Too many things to climb, need to stay focused!

Zero Skillz Productions

2009-12-06T21:32:00.000+02:00

I've been here in Switzerland for a couple weeks now. The weather has not been very good, but seems like it's getting better. A few days ago I did a very height dependent problem called Conquistador, 8A+ in Chironico. This boulder lies in the riverbed in Schattental and the landing is now about 2 meters higher than what it used to be. A nice problem nevertheless. Yesterday I climbed Confessions of a Crap Artist low, 8A+.

Confessions of a Crap Artist low, 8A+

I have a few harder things here that I want to try, so I'm hoping the conditions stay good. Today I tried a hard project that we call the Friction Addiction project. It's 30-90 degrees overhanging and about 10 moves long on really good rock. It's too early to say much about the difficulty, but it definitely feels hard. A lot of of the moves have gone already and I'm pretty confident the rest will go, too. I'm very psyched to spend more time on this one.

We also made a quick visit to Maltatal to check out some of Klem Loskot's classics like Wresting with an Alligator and Bügeleisen. Unfortunately Bügeleisen was wet so we never got to try it, but it looked really good. I'm very psyched to return to try it. Still, the trip wasn't for nothing as I climbed The Power of Goodbye 8B, Wrestling with an Alligator 8B and flashed an amazing problem called Marmelade auf der Shulter 8A.

Our Zero Skillz Productions has been busy filming and editing and we are trying to put together a short film from this trip, that will appear on my blog as soon as it's finished. So far we have footage from Switzerland and Maltatal. Stay tuned.

Here are some screens from the film:

Conquistador 8A+, Chironico

Wrestling with an Alligator, 8B

The Power of Goodbye, 8B

Marmelade auf der Shulter, 8A

Interview with Joost Climbing

2009-11-23T02:30:00.000+02:00

Here is a link to an interesting interview I did with JoostClimbing:

Finland Photos

2009-11-06T15:23:00.000+02:00

I'm in Helsinki, looking at the snow falling on the ground. For me the snow means one thing, time to get out of here. Conditions were nice until yesterday, but now it looks like there won't be too much climbing going on here anymore. Some projects remain unclimbed, until the next time. Chuck Fryberger was here filming and we got some nice footage, that I'm very psyched about. Since the snow put a stop to everything, there isn't much to report. 2 days ago I flashed a very nice 8A problem called Stylewars. It felt really soft for 8A, though. No photos of this one, sorry. Next week I'm leaving the snow and cold behind and going to Switzerland to develop a new bouldering area and try a few problems I haven't repeated yet. I'll post some photos soon. In the meantime here's some photos from Finland:

First Ascent of Spider Pig 8A, Sipoo

Tornaattori, Puumala

First Ascent of Never Land, Åland

Fågelberget, Åland

Bridge jumping

Finland

2009-10-12T00:13:00.001+03:00

Lately I've been hanging out in Finland. A few days ago Chuck Fryberger got here and we've been filming a lot of different things, also some that have nothing to do with climbing. Chuck's idea is to show a little bit of the people's lifestyles too in his next film, not just climbing. I think it's a great idea and it's been really fun shooting all kinds of things along with climbing, like longboarding and bridge jumping.

Longboarding in Helsinki

One of the boulders we've filmed so far is an FA of mine from 2004 called Hypergravity, the first 8B boulder in Finland. It's located in Sipoo, about 25 min drive from Helsinki. It's a really small area with a few quality problems and very good rock. Hypergravity has a perfect obvious starting hold and climbs out a horizontal roof on small edges. I'm really syked about the footage we got from this problem.

The plan for next week is to go try a really hard trad project, that I've been working on little bit. Also we want to film a cool problem called The Globalist, 8B+, which i put up this spring. Hopefully the weather will stay like this, because the conditions are prime right now!

photos: Chuck Fryberger

Jade, V15

2009-08-17T22:00:00.007+03:00

Dead Point Magazine posted a video of me climbing Jade, V15 in R.M.N.P. The footage is from June, in some very interesting weather conditions. To read more about my ascent, check out my earlier blog post.

Livin' Large in South Africa

2009-08-14T15:00:00.022+03:00

It's been a while since I last time updated my blog. The African internet connections can be unbelievably slow, if they even work. Anyway, once again Rocklands was amazing. I even found that really hard and perfect project I've been looking for. Last season I found this pretty small, but compact area while hiking around in the Kleinefontaine area. In the middle of the area stands a proud, tall, independent arete that looks a lot like a typical gritstone arête. Last year I didn't really get a change to climb in this new area, that we later dubbed the Champagne sector, but when I got to South Africa this year, the arête was the first thing in my mind.

The Champagne Sector

First time we decided to hike to the new area, we ended up wandering around for hours in the heat without finding there. Next day we hiked in from the same direction as I did last year and we actually found the area. First thing I went to check out the arête and it looked just as good as I remembered, maybe even better! To get things started I put a top-rope on it and started working on the moves. Normally I'm not a big fan of working boulders on top-rope. Infact, this is probably the first time I've ever done it, but for this arête, or 'Project Real Big' as we started calling it, there was just no other way. Before I put chalk on it, the starting hold and the top of the boulder were seemingly the only usable holds, and there is 8 meters distance in between them.

Project Real Big

After 4 or 5 days working it in top-rope, I had done all the individual moves: all 24 of them. And that's without including the super intensive foot beta. It was time to start trying it with pads. If it only would have been that easy! Talking people into hiking 45 minutes with their pads, to an area with only one really hard project so far, turned out to be hard, especially day after day. Still, everytime we went up we manged to get pads. Sometimes more, sometimes less. First days trying Project Real Big ground up were not very successfull, but everyday I was getting progressively a bit further. One time I got through the section I thought was the crux, but then fell 2/3 up. I was really dissappointed, because I honestly wasn't expecting to fall there anymore. Next time I fell from the VERY last move! I can't remember the last time I've been so dissapointed. I took a huge fall, but as I was falling I wasn't even thinking about the landing. All I could think was that I jut fell from the VERY last move of something really hard. Next time I fell there again. Turns out that the last move is actually the redpoint crux. That got me really syked again. I mean, how cool is that! You find a perfect, tall highball project just at your limit and the crux is the last move 8 meters off the deck! It doesn't really get any better than that!

One day we finally got really good conditions. Everything was perfect except that it was my second day on the project and i felt like I needed to rest, but the conditions were just too good not to take advantage of. Besides, I was starting to run out of days on my trip. Another problem was that we only had 4 not-so-good pads, which was very little compared to the more reasonable 10 pad we had a couple times before. However, at this point I was willing to take the risk if I got to the last move again, so I gave it a good burn and made it about 2/3 up before falling off. After a longer rest I tried again. I made it through the first crux again and the my foot popped. I surprised everyone, including myself, by somehow staying on. I got into the position to quickly chalk up the left hand, but my foot was sliding so i had to skip it. Every single move after that I felt like I was going to fall for sure, but somehow I found myself at the last move. Without hesitating a split second and trying my best not to think about the 4 small pads 8 meters below me I did the scary highstep and launched for the last sloper. Grabbing the hold instead of hitting the ground really hard felt unreal at that point. 12 days of hard work and mental torture paid off that moment.

After the send

I named it Livin' Large in the theme of the project name. Livin' Large is by far the hardest thing I've ever climbed and I feel confident saying that it's a proper 8C. Before this, I believe the most time I've invested into a single problem is 5 days. Another interesting thought that crossed my mind is that Livin' Large took me more days than Jade took me tries. That being said, the crux on Jade is a very powerful yet simple move, whereas the movement on Livin' Large is anything but simple. Apart from the difficulty, Livin' Large is pretty much a perfect boulder problem in my eyes and I hope the upcoming seasons other climbers will get as psyched to try it as I was.

My focus on this trip was pretty much fully on Livin' Large, but after I sent it, I was happy to be climbing on something easier. During the trip I repeated some classics, that I hadn't done last year, like Splash of Red V11 and Black Shadow V13. I also climbed some problems that I had d0ne before, but that are just so fun to climb on, like In Between Dreams V12, which I've probably done 10 times now, with Chuck yelling "Dance, monkey, dance!" from behind his camera. Chuck shot a lot of video with his new rig and just the raw-footage looks awesome. I can't wait to see it on a big screen.

Splash of Red

Most of my trip I spent at the developing the Champagne Sector together with Chuck. We put up about a dozen quality problems like Spudd Webb V8, Scorpion Slab V7, Mrs. Balls V12, Bob Saget Left V9 and there is still potential for more, if a 45-minute hike is not a problem.

Photos: Chuck Fryberger

FA of Leckerbraai at Death Jungle Area

Change of scenery

2009-07-02T22:27:00.009+03:00

My trip to Colorado in now over and I’m on my way to South Africa. I’m really satisfied with what I managed to climb in Colorado, especially since the weather was really bad at first. Climbing Jade was my primary goal and after quickly dispatching it, I was able to focus on other things like making one of my best FA’s, Sunseeker and repeating classics. Check out this excellent video of Carlo Traversi doing the second ascent of Sunseeker at DeadpointMag.com.

Nuthin' but sunshine, V13

My flight arrives in Cape Town tomorrow at 4 PM local time. I can’t wait to get to the Rocklands! As much fun as Colorado was, I don’t think I’ve ever been more distracted from climbing on a climbing trip. It was interesting to see that even though climbing seemed secondary most of the time, I could still climb really well. Rocklands will be different, though. I’m really psyched to get back to the same routine there, as I had going on last year; getting really fit by climbing pretty much every day.

Jade, V15

This year the name of the game will be first ascents. I have plenty of time and only a few problems that I want to repeat. My goal is to find and develop new areas and problems. I also hope to find something really hard and inspiring, that I get psyched to work on for a longer time. That’s something that I’ve always wanted to do, but never really have. That is because for me it is very important that a line I’ll spend a lot of time working on, is actually a good one, not just hard. A project that is hard enough, but not too hard and inspiring to work on at the same time, is incredibly difficult to come across. However, I believe that if anywhere, Rocklands is the place where you can find a line like this.

In South Africa internet access is very limited, but I’ll try to update the blog when I can.

8th Day of Rain area in Rocklands

Here’s my ticklist from Colorado:

Jade, V15
Sunseeker, V13 FA
Whispers of wisdom, V11
Kind traverse, V11
Storm Shadow, V12
Gobot V11, Flash
The Automator, V13
Wildcat, V11?
Nuthin but sunshine, V13

Sunset at Mt. Evans

Nuthin' but Sunshine

Mt. Evans

Lake Kayaha

Alpha Farms at Rocklands

Sunseeker

2009-06-21T03:03:00.009+03:00

Yesterday was Mt. Evans day again. I wanted to go try a project at area B, that I had seen photos of earlier this week. I thought it looked really good in the photos, but when we got up there I was blown away. This tall and proud line climbs a sloping rail on a perfect steep overhang, leading to a horrifying mantle high off the deck. It has a good obvious starting hold and about 21 moves, all of them upwards. The bottom part climbing into the stand is probably around V12 and after that you still have to do do stand start which is a technical highball V10. At the moment there is still snow on the landing making it possible to take falls without getting hurt, but when the snow melts it will most likely be a death landing.

After flashing the stand start and almost shitting my pants doing the mantle, I started working on the bottom part. I tried the beginning for some time and I got trough the crux and all the way to the mantle. I felt solid, but then suddenly my heel slipped and I took a really scary fall from about 15 ft, landing more or less on my face. I was lucky and I walked off with only a sore neck. After taking a bad fall I was really nervous to try again. However, next try I made it to the mantle again, scared as hell, and managed to keep it together. I pressed out the mantle, highstepped my foot on a bad smear and grabbed the top. Sunseeker, V13 got it's first ascent! I dare to claim that it is one of the best problems in Colorado and I still can't believe nobody climbed it before me. Big thanks to Carlo and Chris for the real effort; carrying up the pads!

Sunseeker, V13

View from the top of the boulder

Mt. Evans

Rocky Mountain granite

Photos: Jon Cardwell and Nalle Hukkataival

Colorado

2009-06-16T20:56:00.017+03:00

I've been here in Colorado for a couple weeks now and the weather has been anything but good. Actually it's been raining pretty much every day. Still we've managed to get some climbing in. The season is just starting in the park and a lot of the problems in lower and upper chaos are still buried in snow.

Freaks of the Industry, V13

Despite the snow, the Green 45 is in the prime right now meaning that I finally got to try Jade, V15. First day that we hiked up there I was definitely not used to the thin air at 11 000 ft. After a desperate effort to warm up I started working on Jade. I suprised even myself by doing the famous crux move on my third try. It was too cold to stay warm while resting. I got really close after a few tries from the start, but then split my tips on the tiny crimper.

Jade, V15

Yesterday we hiked back up, even though the weather forecast was bad. After I got warmed up up it started snowing really hard and we had to hide in the cave. Luckily it didn't last too long and the topout on Jade stayed pretty dry.

Whiteout at the Green 45

On my first try of the day I got trough the crux and felt solid. Then my left foot slipped. On the ground I noticed that my shoe was wet from the pads. I was really frustrated, because that try took a lot of skin, and you only get about five good tries before you split your skin on the tiny spike. Second try I stuck the crux hold, but my feet swung and I let go to save skin. Right when I fell on the pads I looked into the valley and noticed it was already snowing and saw a huge blizzard coming towards us. I knew this was my last change and with no rest I started climbing. I got through the crux, stuck the sidepull and got to the good rail. At this point it was snowing really hard and I saw some water dripping from the top. Carefully grabbing the holds I topped it out in the rain! In total Jade took me two days and around ten full tries from the start. Such a good problem! Video and photos coming up soon.

A cold day in Upper Chaos

I'm hoping the weather turns better soon, because I'm syked to climb in the park and Mt. Evans. There are a few hard projects that I want to get on before I leave to South Africa. This week we might escape the cold weather and go to Joe's Valley in Utah to climb on sandstone.

Benson

Lake Haiyaha

Home sweet home

2009-05-14T20:04:00.010+03:00

I'm back home from Val di Mello in Italy where the annual Melloblocco was held. It's a big outdoor bouldering event (6000 people estimated!) in the Italian Alps. This was my fist time there and I thought it was good fun, except for the weather which was really hot for hard bouldering. There were a few problems with price money that was split between the people who climbed them. Among lots of others, I was not too psyched to try these problems, because some of them had drilled holes, some sika used and holds or parts of the wall taped off. Adam Ondra was superior in the competition by climbing all 8 problems. Instead of the competition problems I was more motivated to climb on some of the nice looking problems that were outside the competition. One very good problem that stood out was La Chimera, a really beautiful and high 8A arête. Overall I thought Val di Mello was a nice area with tons of bouldering in a scenic valley. You might want cooler conditions though or you'll lose the skin really fast.

After Mello we made a quick visit to Zillertal in Austria. I only got to climb there one day, well half a day, because the weather has been bad in Austria lately. I got to see some areas I haven't been to before and climbed a classic problem called El Gauhara.

I'm excited to be back home now. I've been a traveling a lot lately, so I decided to skip the Nissan Outdoor Games in Switzerland. It's a really cool event and I like the concept, but spending two whole weeks at home just seemed too good. At the end of this month I'm hitting the road again, first stop Colorado for 5 weeks and then South Africa for 6 or 7 weeks! I'm really psyched for that, but at the same time I'm happy to spend some time at home.

The Machinist Video

2009-05-14T19:39:00.004+03:00

There is a nice video on Projekt-Media.com of The Machinist, V13. It's a really cool roof problem I put up in Hueco this spring. Props to Brant Hawkins for making the video.

The Globalist

2009-05-04T13:33:00.012+03:00

Last winter a friend of mine found this new boulder close to Helsinki that had an amazing project on it. It's definitely not easy to find lines here that are really hard but still have all the necessary holds. On overhangs the granite often seems to have either big holds or just a blank face. This line was not one of those. I was really stoked to have a project close to my home that was A. really hard, but possible and B. a five star line!

photo: HeikkiToivanen.fi

Since January I've been anxious to get on the project, but the weather has not been good. After leaving for Hueco in early February I haven't spent many days back home. Finally after returning from Japan a week ago, I got a change to start working on it, which also meant skipping the World Cup in Hall.

photo: HeikkiToivanen.fi

The conditions here have been good for once and I've been able to work on the proj without having to think about the weather. First day on it I managed to do most of the moves except for one or two. The line reminds me of The Island in Fontainebleau, because it has a similar sloper in the crux section, but for the opposite hand. It's not the tallest line but it has around 13 moves. It's all about compression. The whole way you are squeezing the feature on really bad slopers and a tiny crimp.

Second day on it I still could not do the crux move alone. Third day on it I stuck the crux move for the first time! The same day I got the crux crimp from the start twice. Yesterday I went back again. Knowing that I'm flying to Italy on Wednesday I was already planing to fly back to finish the project instead of staying in Switzerland. After a proper warm-up I tried the top part and for the first time I got the heel to stick two times in a row. A couple tries later I stuck the crux crimp from the start. I got the crimp perfect and my heel didn't slip. I just barely made it through each move after the crux, but it was enough to make it to the top!

photo: HeikkiToivanen.fi

I named it The Globalist. It took me 4 full sessions of work. My suggestion for the grade is 8B+, but it's definitely a hard one. Possibly the hardest 8B+ I've climbed, but I don't think 8C. I'm quite confused what the standard is? I've climbed some 8B+'s in a day or two that felt like they were a step below this one. And for that matter The Island also took me 4 days, but less work and it's quite comparable in style. But most importantly this is one of my best first ascents: a five star problem with only the necessary holds and very cool moves.

photo: HeikkiToivanen.fi

Japan Trip Report

2009-04-25T15:34:00.006+03:00

Once again I had to learn that climbing on plastic is not rock climbing when I didn't make to the semifinals in the World Cup in Kazo, Japan. After the World Cup we checked out a bouldering area called Horai, where Dai's new 8C called Epitaf is located. We drove more than five hours from Tokyo and paid over 10 000 yen (~ 90e) highway tolls just to discover that Epitaf is pretty much the only boulder in Horai. Soon we were told that the key hold on the problem broke - twice. The rock is quite loose and some of the still existing holds seem like they will break with some time. Since we made such and effort to get there I tried it a little bit and found myself falling off a big incut edge that had absolutely zero friction on it. I did quite a few of the moves but after falling a few times more from the big buttery crimp I called it quits. Needless to say I was not impressed with the "area".

Epitaf, Horai

Mitake was a really small area two hours north of Tokyo. There are some nice problems like Kani V11, Mushi V11, In Tokyo! V10. After all it's a pretty cool place with nice surroundings, but only a handful of boulders.

We climbed in Shiobara for a few days. There is the famous roof with many of Dai's hard roof climbs. I was really suspicious about this place because I had heard that all of the problems are chipped. After seeing it myself I can say that it is really hard to spot the chipped holds. I thought the roof was nice with a few cool hard problems - chipped or not.

Sabby in Shiobara

Ogawayama is an area with quite a lot of problems and good rock. It's only two hours from Tokyo by car and close to another bouldering area called Mizugaki. Definitely worth a visit if you go to Japan. Ogawayama also holds the famous slab Banshousha, which is 5. dan in the Japanese grading system that is the highest standard at the moment and earns you a "black belt" in climbing . It was given the grade of 8C by the first ascentionist Tokio Muroi, which would easily make it the hardest slab in the world. It was unrepeated for a long time until last Wednesday when I managed to make the first repeat. I was a little surprised it only took me one day of work, but a huge amount of tries to be honest. Was it hard? Yes. 8C? No. I never thought that a slab could be 8C knowing the standard in Font. However, Banshousha isn't a pure slab. Sure it's less than vertical hence a slab, but the whole time you are climbing a really slopey arete. Having something to actually grab onto makes a huge difference in the grading versus it being just a blank face. I felt like it is a really technical 8B and hard for sure, but not an 8C.

Mizugaki is my favorite area in Japan. It's 2.5 hours southwest from Tokyo and close (~ 40mins) to Ogawayama. Unfortunately we went to Mizugaki last and climbed only one day there. It seems that it's by far the biggest boulder area in Japan and there is a lot of potential for new problems. Rock quality varies from decent to very good. You won't find many crimpers, just pockets and slopers. Oh yeah, there are no chipped holds in Mizugaki (I think...).

Overall it was a really good trip. I must say I was pretty disappointed with some of the places. I would not recommend Japan if you just want to go on a climbing trip, there are much better places. If you are also interested in the culture and seeing the country, it's well worth the trip. Just use your consideration when choosing the climbing areas.

Nippon

2009-04-09T11:27:00.007+03:00

9.A.M. this morning me, Jarmo and Kuutti arrived very jetlagged at Tokyo Narita airport. We cleared customs and started making our way to Kazo, a place just outside of Tokyo. Since this morning we have learned many things about Japan.

First of all in most places here I might as well speak Finnish in stead of English, because nobody understands anyway. Japanese people are really nice and helpful, but English just doesn't seem to be very widely spoken here. After traveling for 20 hours to come here, Jarmo decided that he wants to have a nice cultural experience at the McDonald's. Soon enough it turned out that "BigMac" or a "meal" where not words that any of the workers the could understand. To make things even more complicated all the menus where written only in Kanji characters and the photos where really different so you couldn't even just point out what you wanted.

Still hungry after a random burger we went to the local grocery store. The best way to describe it would be that it's pretty much similar to a western food store...after you take away everything and replace it with noodles, raw fish, tea and a whole bunch of stuff of what you have no idea what it is. Jarmo was stubborn and stayed on the western diet and bought only bananas and pepsi.

The train system in Tokyo is a bit complicated. Getting from the Narita airport to Kazo is really "easy", only three steps - on paper. In reality it was more of a mess, even the local people could not read the train maps properly. And the luggage we had was not making the job any easier. First of all we took the Keisei Skyliner to Ueno. That was maybe the easiest part. Then we had to walk to the JR Ueno Station - not a bad task either. Just followed the signs, a couple of U-turns and we were there. Then we were supposed to take the JR Utsunomiya line to the Kuki. We followed signs as we are accustomed to do and we found ourselves walking in circles - great. After asking some locals for help we finally got on the right train. At Kuki we changed to the metro (or train, or whatever) and after two stations arrived to Kazo.

This years first bouldering World Cup is in two days here in Kazo. After that we are staying here for a while and super syked to go bouldering.

Zillertal

2009-04-03T14:59:00.003+03:00

On Monday weather was bad for climbing so went went snowboarding and took some photos. Actually the conditions were horrible even for snowboarding but we had a lot of fun anyways.

Ein Sickern Kickern, (c) Chuck Fryberger

On Tuesday we drove to Zillertal to the magic place. That was the only area dry that day. It's pretty much one cool boulder right next to the river. The conditions were far from perfect, but at least the rock was dry. Me and Chuck both climbed a nice arete called Trischebl, 8A+. After that I managed to flash The Riddler from Daniel Woods. He called hard 8A+ and possibly 8B saying that it felt harder than Incubator. Since I flashed it, it's really hard to comment on the grade, but I can say that it felt hard and I really had to dig deep on some of the moves.

Wednesday we went to Ginslingwald even though we knew pretty much everything was wet. So was Sundance sit, 8A+. We even saw a few big avalanches on the other side of the valley caused by the rapidly melting snow. We didn't give up and tried to dry the problem but it didn't help at all. Then I found some alternative beta avoiding all the good kneebars and using only the dry holds. It was for sure harder, but in the end it worked and I topped it out. The crux with this crazy beta is a foot move were you have to kick your foot really fast to a higher foot hold. Of course this is the last move after 10 hard moves and I managed to fall there five times because the kick needs to be really accurate.

Reini on Trischebl. The Riddler is to the right on the overhang.

Today we are driving to Italy for a show and a competition in Verona. After that I'm flying back home for a few days. I'm hoping the weather there will be good so I can try a cool new project that was found last winter.

We found some ninja prop at Reini's house and took some photos for absolutely no reason. Photo: Chuck Frybereger

Pure Tour, Part 2: Salzburg

2009-03-29T17:04:00.001+03:00

We are back at the base camp in Innsbruck again. The show in Salzburg went really well and we had a nice bouldering session before and after at the gym. We were syked to go bouldering in Maltatal but the weather wasn't on our side.

Busting some tricks with the scooter, (c) Chuck Fryberger

Now it is raining in Austria and the forecast looks pretty depressing. The next show is in Verona, Italy on Friday and we want to climb before that, but it looks like it will be raining all over Europe. Negative!! Ticino seems to be out of the question. Meschia is another option for bouldering, but it seems the weather will be bad there too.

Kilian whipping the crowd, (c) Chuck Fryberger

We've been training at Tivoli with Kilian Fischuber a couple times now, because the weather has been quite bad for this time of year. He keeps showing us these crazy problems that are actually really fun to climb. It's always a good workout pretty much for everything else, but not so much for finger strength. Luckily for increasing our finger strength, we have been playing a game called Catch-a-Mouse on my Ipod. That one we actually already beat, but now Chuck got addicted to a new game called Tap Tap Revenge 2 and has been playing it pretty much non-stop. He has already scored 259 116 points and his endurance has never been better. Now all he is talking about are multipliers and high scores.

Cody breakdancing in Salzburg

We are all hoping the weather gets better and we get to go climbing. If not, at least there is a lot of fresh snow up on the mountains so for snowboarding it should be good now. I only have another week left in Europe before I'm flying to Japan for three weeks, so I'm syked to climb while I'm still here.

Austrian way of promoting just another regular night at the club

Ticino

2009-03-26T14:21:00.005+02:00

I'm back in Innsbruck after a quick 2-day trip to Switzerland. The weather failed us in Austria so we drove some hours west to escape to Chironico.

On the first day I tried Frontline, a cool problem from Bernd. The crux on Frontline is a dynamic lunge from a very small and sharp sidepull to the top. I had problems fully committing to the move and sacrificing my skin, but once I figured out the foot beta I went for it. I got he hold perfect and pulled hard. I knew that was it, until the whole sidepull ripped off the wall. A big piece of rock came off and once again I had blood all over me. Schaisse! Luckily I was fine except for donating quite a respectable amount of blood. I climbed again later that day, but took it pretty easy for the rest of the day.

Yesterday we climbed some nice easier problems in Schattental and it was fun. I finally managed to get revenge on an 8A+ called Passo Ticino. It's a tall highball that Dave Graham put up a couple years back. Last time I was in Chironico I climbed it 3 times to the top hold, but I couldn't top it out because there was so much ice and I had to drop off from the top jug. This time instead of ice there was only water and I was determined not to drop off for the fourth time. Great success! As far as I know it was the first repeat, since not too many people even try this scary highball. It's a quality problem and stiff for the grade, I thought.

We had some trouble getting in to Switzerland because none of us really had any proper ID, not to even mention our passports. One day I also tried to pay with euros at a gas station, and I found out we were not in Austria but in Switzerland, because they wanted to give me my change back in Swiss Francs.

Tomorrow we are heading to Salzburg for a Pure screening. Red Bull is sponsoring the event and it should be a good party again! After that the plan is to go bouldering in Maltatal and/or Varazze depending on the weather.

Pure Tour, Part 1: Austria

2009-03-22T23:17:00.005+02:00

I've been here in Austria for a few days now with Cody and Chuck and it's been great. The Pure tour is on and so far we have done two shows here in Austria, one in St. Anton on Friday and one in Innsbruck last night. The shows have been good and a lot of people showed up. The next screenings coming up are in Zurich on Thursday and in Salzburg on Friday. Now we have a few days to go snowboarding and hopefully climbing if the weather allows.

The biggest achievement of the trip so far has been beating a game called Catch-a-Mouse. Chuck managed to solve all the 35 levels on hard in one session. I've done all the levels, but I'm still working on the link-up.

Here is Chuck playing the game:

Beat the Finn!

Cody doing something wierd

8a.nu

2009-03-18T14:22:00.006+02:00

I just received a password for my 8A.nu account, for the first time. Until now, someone still unknown to me has been keeping my scorecard and I never really had anything against that. It's just that when an ascent is logged to 8A.nu, people usually take the grade as my personal opinion, while in fact I've had no say in it. Also people have been sending me messages through 8a.nu, but obviously I've been unable to answer them. So, I figured it's time to take control of my own account. After all, it is a really good way to keep track of what you've climbed over the years. That's it, that's all.

Here's a couple photos of a very good problem in Finland called Never Land, 7C:ish. Still unrepeated.

Blockwork Orange

2009-03-16T23:52:00.004+02:00

Here's a short homemade film of our trip to South Africa last summer. It includes first ascents from a new area, but also some of the old classics. Thanks to Tommy Vänskä, Ville Kurru and Jarkko Parkkinen. Enjoy!

Finnish Bouldering Nationals

2009-03-16T16:20:00.004+02:00

Last Saturday I competed in the Finnish Bouldering Nationals in Helsinki. The competition was very well arranged and the problems from Markku Tawast were excellent! It was a very good show and I was happy to win ahead of Kuutti Huhtikorpi and Andy Gullsten. Roosa Huhtikorpi won the women's category.

MEN:

1. Nalle Hukkataival
2. Kuutti Huhtikorpi
3. Anthony Gullsten
4. Matti Joensuu
5. Rasse Ruokonen
6. Joonas Sailaranta

top
4
3
2
1
1
0

bonus
4
3
3
4
1
2

WOMEN:

1. Roosa Huhtikorpi
2. Anna Laitila
3. Matilda Nordman
4. Ansku Sihvonen
5. Minna Ruokonen
6. Veera Kainiemi

top
4
3
3
3
2
2

bonus
4
3
3
4
3
3

Hueco photos

2009-03-12T17:15:00.003+02:00

Here are some random pictures from Hueco Tanks that I just finished editing:

East Mountain

Dyno madness (and no, this is not posed)

Bleeding Brothers, V12

The Martini boulder and Tequila Sunrise V13

1up

2009-03-09T19:30:00.007+02:00

So, I'm back in Finland and it's snowing. Big surprise. Well, not really but I was expecting the weather to be better when I flew here. I might flee to Austria any day now in search of better weather. Anyway, last Saturday there was a premiere in Helsinki for the movie Pure, which went pretty well. It's good to notice how I seem enjoy the movie more and more every time I see it. That is a sign of a good movie if you ask me. Also, I think Chuck did a very good job with putting together the soundtrack. I'm really pleased with the music in the film.

Here is a short clip from last fall. We shot this at about 1 A.M, after hours of setting up camera equipment. This is the first ascent of a highball problem in Finland that I named '1up'. With about 9 meters height and the landing dropping away at the end, it is quite scary. The problem starts by climbing an 8A+ called Hottentotti, but instead of dropping off half way up, 1up climbs all the way to the top of the wall. The upper section isn't very physical climbing, but technically and mentally hard for sure. As the landing drops off at about 6-7 meters, falling off after that point isn't really an option. I felt like the last five metres of climbing surely add one grade, therefore the grade 8B.

Tomorrow in Helsinki!

2009-03-06T13:06:00.011+02:00

Saturday 7.3 18.00
at Boulderkeskus, Helsinki

About the film...
From the producer of Dosage V - Alpine Blocs comes a 35mm bouldering flick about bouldering on planet Earth: PURE. Pure is about 19 extraordinary climbers in six countries on three continents , with no ropes. This is the first bouldering film to be shot entirely in cutting edge 35mm digital format.

PURE website

Make sure not to miss it!

PURE - A Bouldering Flick by Chuck Fryberger OFFICIAL TRAILER from Chuck Fryberger on Vimeo.

Over and Out

2009-03-06T12:15:00.009+02:00

My trip to Hueco is over. Now I'm sitting in my home in Helsinki, jetlagged after 3 long flights trying to wake up by drinking coffee. It's not working very well. The weather in Hueco got unbearably hot and it was time to make a move. There are still so many problems left that didn't even get to try and countless projects that I want to try. We really only had a few days with good conditions, so I am very satisfied with what i climbed, especially my two V13 first ascents The Machinist and Tequila Sunrise.

Tequila Sunrise is a sitstart to Dirty Martini on the Rocks. I can't believe it hasn't been climbed before. It's really obvious and the moves and holds are awesome! I'll try to get a photo from Andy Mann who took some nice photos of the first ascent.

It's the end of a trip, but also beginning of a something new. I had a great time in Hueco and met a lot of new people, but it is definitely time for a change. I'm sick of the desert and eating Mexican food every day. I need to let my body fully recover and take it easy for a few days. Tomorrow I'm hosting a screening for the movie Pure in Helsinki. After that I might continue the Pure tour and go to Austria to chill for a couple of weeks. Early April I'm off to Japan! I can't wait!

Here's my final ticklist from this trip:

Darkroom V12
Alma Blanca V13
Power of Silence V10 FLASH
Diaphanous Sea V12? FLASH

Colorado:
Cage Free V10
Freak Brothers V10 FLASH

Full Service V10 FLASH
Full Throttle V13
Le Pelerien V12 FLASH
Algerita V13
Right Martini V12
Barefoot on Sacred Ground V12 FLASH
Coeur de Leon V13
Full Monty V12 FLASH
Windy ass V10?
The Machinist V13 FA
Nagual V13
The Flame V12
El Techo de los Tres B's V12
Wonderdyno V10 FLASH
Tequila Sunrise V13 FA
Doggy Jump V10
Bleeding Brothers V12
Free Willy V10 FLASH

Tequila Sunrise V13

Cage Free V10, Boulder Canyon, Colorado

Photo update

2009-02-26T22:28:00.005+02:00

Seems like the weather here is just getting hotter every day. Yesterday I managed to climb Nagual V13 and The Flame V12 even though it was the hottest day of the trip, around 90 degrees. With these temps skin gets destroyed before you even know it. A lot of the hard boulders here are just out of the question without good conditions. Tomorrow we will wake up early and try to make the best of the decent temperatures in the morning. The Rock Rodeo is on Saturday but I don't know if I want to compete in this heat and wreck my skin completely.

Nagual V13

Nagual V13

The Machinist is on this boulder

The Machinist V13

The Machinist

Flashing Full Monty V12

East Mountain

Jingus Bells V7

The Machinist

2009-02-23T23:19:00.005+02:00

I've had some good climbing days here in Hueco even though the weather has been really hot for climbing. The other day we climbed at North Mountain and I did Right Martini V12, Black Mamba V10 and at the end of the day flashed Barefoot on Sacred Ground V12.

Next day we went to East Spur to finish Coeur de Leon V13 which we had tried earlier in the heat. I did it quite fast that day but it did feel hard I must say. Next thing we went to Focus but I was too tired to even try it. After that Andre was psyched to try Full Monty so I decided to give it a go even though I was really tired. I amazed myself and probably everyone else by flashing it! It was the first flash for this problem. I was psyched! After that I still managed to do Windy Ass which I would call V11 no matter what the guide book would say.

A few days ago we chalked up this sick project on East Spur. It's a long problem that climbs out a big roof with long moves. Moves on it are just awesome. Yesterday me and Jon started working on it and at first it felt really hard. Figuring out the beta took a long time since it's a about 25 moves long. Despite the warm weather I managed to do the first ascent and named it The Machinist. Jon quicly made the first repeat. We both felt it's a pretty solid V13. It's a very physical climb and both of us got really worked from climbing on it. Hence the name Machinist.

So, today is a restday. El Paso isn't exactly the most exciting place to hang out and spend a rest day and going to across the Mexican border to Juares seems kind of scetch after hearing about the 17 000 murders that take place in Juares every year. It's not easy trying to rest here but I can feel my muscles need rest to recover for tomorrow. There's still a lot of great projects and classics to climb and the Rock Rodeo is coming up next weekend!

FA of The Machinist

Right Martini V12

Full Throttle V13

Back in Hueco Tanks

2009-02-18T23:04:00.002+02:00

Yesterday we finally got back to Hueco and I had a nice first climbing day. First I flashed the classic Full Service, V10 and after that made a quick ascent to Full Throttle, V13. After that I flashed Le Pelerin, given V12 but it felt really soft. Later in the day I did Algerita V13 and managed to fall from the last jug of Skidmark because I was so pumped. Feels really good to be back in Hueco! I'll post a photo update soon.

Boulder, CO

2009-02-16T18:58:00.006+02:00

I've been here in Boulder for the past few days now. It's cold here. Nothing like Hueco where it was nice and warm. This weekend I competed in the US Bouldering Nationals at the Spot. It was a nice competion and the problems were really fun to climb. I qualified third, but in the finals the problems were long. I got pumped and that was it for me. I didn't do very well. Daniel Woods crushed by flashing all four final problems.

We also climbed in Boulder Canyon where I did Cage Free v10, a really cool dyno and flashed Freak Brothers V10.

Today we will drive to Albuquerque and from there to Hueco tomorrow.

Finals problem 3

Snow in New Mexico

Juares, Mexico

Hueco Tanks

2009-02-10T05:47:00.001+02:00

I've spend a few days now here in Hueco Tanks and it's been great. The weather has been quite warm overall. Today it was a bit cooler and I had a pretty good day of climbing. First I flashed a classic problem called Power of Silence V10. After that we went to Diaphanous Sea V12 which I also flashed. It's hard to comment on the grade since I flashed it but it seemed pretty soft for the grade. We also had a session on Terremer and I felt really good on it. Hopefully we will have some better weather for this problem. Yesterday I did a really cool V13 called Alma Blanca and on my first day Darkroom V12.

Tomorrow we are driving up to New Mexico and later Colorado and then back to Hueco. Here's some random pictures from Hueco.

Power of Silence, V10

Dyno

Hueco!

2009-02-03T13:29:00.002+02:00

Ok, tomorrow I'm finally off to Hueco! I already thought the trip wasn't going to happen until last thursday. This is my first trip to Hueco and I'm super psyked. I'm flying to El Paso via London Heathrow, which was closed yesterday due to really heavy snowfall and over 800 flights were cancelled yesterday alone. That doesn't sound too promising for me making it to my flight. Anyway, I'll try to post some photos here soon.

PURE

2009-01-29T21:55:00.012+02:00

The official trailer for the upcoming bouldering movie Pure is out now! Check it out!

About the film...
From the producer of Dosage V - Alpine Blocs comes a 35mm bouldering flick about bouldering on planet Earth: PURE. Pure is about 19 extraordinary climbers in six countries on three continents , with no ropes. This is the first bouldering film to be shot entirely in cutting edge 35mm digital format.

PURE website

European Premiere Saturday 7.3 at Boulderkeskus, Helsinki

Make sure not to miss it!

Blog open

2008-12-21T16:04:00.004+02:00

Hello everyone. I finally decided to start writing a blog. I'll try to write here frequently about my climbing and travels and post a lot of pictures.

Right now I'm back home in Finland to spend Christmas here. There's not much climbing going on because the weather is pretty cold and wet, not to mention today is the shortest day of the year giving us only a few hours of daylight. I've been training in the gym for the first time this whole year really, and it seems to be exactly what I need after such a long time climbing on rock.

I'm setting of for Hueco after the turn of the year to get the season started. Then there will be something to actually write about.

I wanted to post this picture from the best place for bouldering in the world: Rocklands. Happy Holidays!

Rain and First Ascents

2008-09-06T22:18:00.007+03:00

The weather in Finland has been very rainy lately, but I’ve managed to put up a couple of new problems. One of them, located near Vihti, I named Optical Illusion, because it looks really easy, but in fact the difficulty is around 8A. Another FA I did, has been a project for a long time. My new problem is the full line climbing an 8A+ called Hottentotti (8A from the stand start), but instead of dropping off, you climb all the way up. I named it 1up, because it is THE line from the obvious sit start straight up to the top. 1up is 8-9 meters tall with the landing dropping away, so it adds quite a lot to the scary factor, but I'm not sure if it actually adds a full grade to the 8A+ difficulty.

First Ascent of Optical Illusion, 8A

We had night filming session, with a film crew plus two photographers, so there should be some cool footage of the ascent. The short film we made, might premiere at the Reel Rock Tour in Helsinki 13.9. We’ll see. Right now, I’m on my way to Arco Rock Masters in Italy and after that to hopefully not too hot Switzerland.

Let there be light

1 A.M. Bouldering session

Photos by Heikki Toivanen