8a Headlines 2005 - 2009

Practice & Ethics in rock climbing

22/02/05

What is good style in Rock Climbing? We have tried to list the most frequent areas with different possible interpretations. What do you think - Comment in the forum!

Chabot is out of the French team

(8)

15/09/05

Alexandre Chabot, winner of the last WC in Chamonix and #2 in 2004, has been bared from participating in the Marabella WC by the french climbing ass. Apparently, Alexandre has refused to sign a sponsor agreement due to ideological reasons.

8a interview in Climbing magazine

01/11/05

In the latest issue of Climbing there is an interview with Jens Larssen, founder of 8a. Climbing offers 8a visitors a special deal on their magazine: 22 Euro for 9 issues/year.

Climbers of the year 2005

06/01/06

2005 has been an amazing climbing year, setting new standards for the climbing community, where especially and in a unique way compared to any other sport activity, youngsters and women succesfully have challenged men on more equal terms.
Climbers of the year 2005 are;
Dani Andrada - Spain & Josune Bereziartu - Spain
David Lama (90) - Austria & Charlotte Durif (90) - France

Runner-Ups
Men: TomᚠMrázek, David Graham and Patxi Usobiaga
Women: Angela Eiter, Martina Cufar and Maja Vidmar
Adam Ondra, Daniel Woods, Magnus Midtbö, Nalle Hukkataival
Girls: Barbara Zangerl, Sasha Digiulian and Anna Stöhr

Preregistration for the 8a yearbook

18/10/06

We have planned to print 5 000 copies of The 8a yearbook 2006. In order to secure the distribution we ask you to talk to the local shop and gym and ask if they are interested. Preregister 1 – 25 copies without any obligation to buy and receive one free copy.
We are looking for picture contributers.

Relay interview Joey Kinder vs Paul Robinson

(1)

15/12/06

Earlier in 2006, we started a relay interview among celebrities. First out was Martina Cufar, followed by Natalija Gros, David Graham and Joey Kinder who now presents an interview with Paul Robinson one of the most productive  youngsters being #7 a the boulder world ranking.

Graham blogs – Old school grading

20/12/06

Graham states that there is an inflation going and compared to “old school grading”. In fact, without Dave, we probably would run into hyperinflation. We appreciate that he almost has taken the role as the boy screaming – Why is the king naked”, as in the fairy tale: The Emporer’s new clothes. The grading system is based on “old school grades” and new grades have to be equally hard.

Petzl buys yearbook 2007 back cover

21/07/07

Yearbook 2007 costs are secured after meeting with more than 50 companies in two days at the outdoor fair. The book will have 96+4 pages, be free of charge and at least 20 000 copies will be distributed to the major gyms in Europe, US, and . The coolest experience was when we arrived at Petzl's stand and their CO was wearing an 8a T-shirt(picture). Petzl immediately bought the back-cover. Prana, Mammut, 5.10 and Ocun are the other main sponsors. 8a is happy to get such overwhelming response.
We will announce the need for photo/text contributions from the community soon

'Oscar' awards in Arco with 8a

29/08/07

www.8a.nu will together with 13 climbing magazines select the best Rock climber and the best Competition for the season 2006/2007 in Arco. Check full update included info for the Arco Rock Masters XXI September 7-9.

8a friends - Facebook

(3)

03/10/07

Once you are logged-in, you can visit any friend's scorecard and click on the '8a friend button', which will make you automatically updated of your friend's doings.

New Supervariation/Combination 9b/b+/c

(6)

22/11/07

Rainbow creativety might be the hardest project in the world. After studying the topo from Mišja Peč and after a brainstorming session, we found the new magic rainbow line. - "This is the future of the sport. It makes everything easier. I will be the 8a world ranking leader next year". Click to see the 10 routes on about 100m2.

Dr 8a - Online Forum

23/01/08

8a will start an online injury Dr 8a Forum together with Björn Alber, MD specialized in sports and rehabilitation medicine, PhD sports physiology and olympic kayaker. Read his article - Climbing related injuries.

Ask questions on the Forum Anyody could ask or answer questions.

Magic Ondra (15) walked La Rambla

(11)

11/02/08

On his second day and fifth try Adam Ondra walked up La Rambla, 9a(+). Dani Andrada and Edu Marin could only watch in amazement. Adam was sponsored with an 8a Climbing share afterwards and then he tried an 8b - This route is harder for me than La Rambla! 'Harry Potter' with his magical style just seems to be from another planet. Given he has now taken two weeks off from school, which he'll be spending around Lleida, most probably, he will be the #1 climber in the 8a world ranking before he's back in school, with a higher score that anyone has ever had!
(c) Pete O´Donovan

Search best routes & Log them via your mobile - Click on the image below!

21/02/08

Imagine having breakfast and planning which routes to climb today. mobile.8a.nu will recommend the best routes/boulders in your area in 15 seconds. In the evening you log-in and register the ascents in 30 sec.

8a has probably the most user friendly mobile telephone application in the world for community interaction.

Stay automatic updated on your friends and the elites latest action and it works also in Spanish and French etc.

Marketing solo climbing is stupid

(22)

07/03/08

In the latest Rock & Ice magazine, there is a story of a 17-year-old kid soloing a 8a route in . The youngster repeated the solo for a photographer! This is just stupid that a magazine publish and glorify solo climbing by teenagers.

www.8a.nu often receives soloing stories and pics from youngsters. However, we never run stories like this. Here is an article of Safety in Climbing.

Beth Rodden makes First Ascent of Meltdown (suggested grade 8c/8c+)

(1)

08/03/08

Meltdown is one of the Valley's hardest single pitch climbs and could well be the world's hardest traditional climb completed by a woman. Despite the winter challenges, Beth did not deter her commitment and after 5 months of work she remarks 'it is the hardest thing I've done.' Footage of the climb will appear in Dosage 5.

Anorexia - Eating disorders

(62)

06/06/08

Some of the best climbers, especially women, are very skinny and in fact some are even anorectic. This might be considered as one of the major problems in the sport of climbing. Can we, the climbing community, do anything to help prevent people from developing eating disorders?

You don't have to be skinny to succeed. Look at Chris Sharma, one of the very best, who weighs between 71 - , at (6'1"). Should we make a recommendation of BMI > 17, for scorecard users?

Newspaper discuss 8a anorexia

(5)

15/07/08

The Independent, one of the leading newspaper has, based on a debate 8a has created in with our discussion regarding anorexia, written an article 'Dangerously thin' climbers face ban. The article will probably be read by millions as it is one of their headlines and also one of their most read articles. WOW!

Here is what Dr 8a thinks about anorexia and eating disorder

8a edited scorecard of Sharma

(45)

13/08/08

Chris Sharma has said that, "it is Ok" for 8a to keep track of his ascents in a scorecard. We do not know of all his ascents but with the ones we found at 8a news, Chris is #3 in the world.

Once we have put in all the 9a's and 8B's and harder the last 10 years, he will most probably be #1 in the All time high combined ranking.

(c) Maria Torres

'Poorly/Mainly Chipped'

(16)

20/09/08

'Poorly/Mainly Chipped' routes/boulders are now marked with * in the scorecard and the Tick List.

Webmaster has added a checkbox option in the scorecard, 'Poorly/Mainly Chipped'. This might be interesting info when you are about to create and print out a tick list for your next trip. It is also an 8a statement against chipping! In the next yearbook and in the Global Tick List book where we will publish pictures and list the best routes/boulders we will not include 'Poorly/Mainly Chipped' climbs, so we need your help to identify those.

700+ answers

03/10/08

List with all answers to the question - What do you like the most in your climbing life? (This is actually the biggest success since 8a was started in 1999 :)

You can also find the question and edit it from the link at the top of your Presentation page. Stay prepared for the next questions - Memberable fun/thrilling/amazing moments in your climbing life? - What is your best training and performance advice? - Who is your climbing hero and why? (Suggestions for more questions through the comments).

Differences in Trad & Sport ethics

12/11/08

The ethics in climbing were invented by the trad climbers who, in a way, invented sport climbing. Over the years the ethics in sport climbing have been modernized/eroded and 8a have since 2003 put together sport ethics and below the main differences atre listed, which in fact show that, today, it is more difficult to project and produce a trad "scorecard".

1. Preplacing gear is today allowed in sport climbing
2. Preclipping is common in sport climbing
3. A sport route to the anchor - A trad route to the top
4. Chipping routes is never the case in trad climbing
5. Cleaning with hammer. In trad they mainly use a brush
6. Variantions/Link-ups, Trad climber only go for the logic line
7. Sometimes Hang dogging bolts placed on sport routes

Updated Climber of the year list

30/12/08

But it is not final Come with comments, we are closing it for the yearbook - January 15th. And do not forget, lists like these are just for fun. Do not take them seriously ;)

1 000 000 ascents in the 8a data base

(4)

19/01/09

There are now 1 million rated ascents in the data base. In the long run, this will be the most important feature for 8a - To present and guide the climbing community to climb the best routes and boulders in the world.

UKclimbing & 8a agree on critics over E-grades

(36)

16/02/09

Jack Geldard, Chief Editor at UKclimbing.com, "If you had asked me what I thought of E grades one year ago, I would have said they were great. Now I'm not so sure. If, on the very hardest head point routes, you first have to think of the bouldering grade or sport grade, then 'work out' what the E grade is - what's the point of the E grade? They do seem to work well on big trad routes up to E8 though - perhaps that's where they belong?"

Six months ago 8a started to discuss and criticize the E-grades. We have been heavily criticised for it especially at Ukclimbing. 8a have been invited to the The Great British Grade Debate that will take place within two weeks in .

Surprisingly, the chief editor of UKclimbing, says he has changed his mind and today he has similar opinion as 8a started to say six months ago, "E-onsight grades seems to work fine for easier grades but for (redpoint routes) a supplementary grade should be added."

Up-side-down results again at World Cup

12/04/09

1. Akiyo Noguchi JPN - Stephane Julien FRA
2. Jain Kim KOR - Tatsuya Muraoka JPN
3. Anna Stöhr AUT - Rustam Gelmanov RUS
Complete resultsSeveral surprising results. Once again the results were almost up-side-down from the semi-final. Stephane was last in the semi and started first in the final. Akiyo was the second last in the semi-final. Here is an article that tries to explain why it's so hard to be starting last in the Boulder World Cup final

Wolfang Güllich the most important climber

(2)

20/09/09

In an 8a poll of who has been the most important climber until 1999, Wolfgang Güllich got 52 % of the 1 600 votes. Wolfang is famous for having done the FA of Action Directe for which he suggested XI, i.e. 8c+/9a (later upgraded to 9a).

Previously he had put up the world's first 8b, (Kanal im Rücken in 1984) 8b+ (Punks in the Gym in 1987) and 8c (Wallstreet 1987). "Wolfgang attracted people by his friendly manner and the respect he showed towards others. He aroused sympathy through his shy, modest character. He had charisma", Heinz Zak.

New records again

(13)

16/11/09

For the seventh time out of the last eight weeks, we have set a new record. Last week, the global page had 187 954 visits from 25 041 unique computers. Including all country specific pages, 300 000 hits were measured from 34 000 unique computers. This is some 20 % higher than the same week last year. The last two weeks we have had some 54 000 unique visitors, which could be compared with the distribution of the largest climbing magazines in the world.

Quantity or Quality by Steve McClure

(21)

09/12

Steve McClure has posted a comment regarding the 9a list, "my list of 10 9a's should really be five". The reason for this is, "some of the routes are link ups so probably not worthy of being a route in their own rite" and he continues, "some of the others mentioned are boulderproblems which lead into routes and should not really be in this list."

"It should also be noted somewhere that all of these routes (yes ALL) have not been repeated and so the grades are not confirmed at all, they are probably only about 7b+!"

The 8a policy towards quantity challenges and quality routes are exactly the same as Steve's position.

8a Climber of the decade

(45)

28/11/09

In less than 2 weeks 8a celebrates its 10-year anniversary. Here is the provisional 8a Climber of the decade list, please comment!

1. Chris Sharma First Ascent Pioneer
2. David Graham USA Combined 8a ranking leader for like 7 years
3. Patxi Usobiaga ESP Lead male comp climber of the decade, 8a route ranking leader
4. Yuji Hirayama JPN Competition, Sport, and Big wall
5. Josune Bereziartu ESP 9a's, comps and Bigwall
6. Dani Andrada ESP FA Legend around Lleida, Comps
7. Kilian Fischhuber AUT Best Male Comp Boulderer, routes
8. Fred Nicole SWI Pioneer
9. Tomas Mrazek CZE Continuous in both comp and rock
10. Angela Eiter AUT 11. Steve McClure GBR, 12. Tommy Caldwell USA13. Muriel Sarkany BEL, 14. Beth Rodden USA 15. Sandrine Levet FRA 16. Ramon Puigblanque ESP, 17. Martina Cufar SLO 18. Dai Koyamada JPN 19. Toni Lamprecht 20. Natalija Gros 21. Alexandre Chabot 22. Christian Bindhammer ITA, 23. Jerome Meyer FRA, 24. John Gaskins GBR 25. Iker Pou ESP 26. Fred Rouhling SWI

Oldies 9a FA explosion in 2009

(37)

11/12

Amazing First Ascents opened by old-timers and in most cases it is actually personal best's. Climbing is the only fysical sport where you can perform world-class between 13 - 52. Anybody forgotten? (There are also some 35+ "8c+/9a" personal record not listed.)

52 - Steve Haston, 9a Descente Lolita
50 - Mauritzio "Manolo" Zanolla, 9a Eternit
50 - Beat Kammerlander, 8b (+) trad Princip Hoffnung
45 - Arthur Kubista, 9a+ Der Lange Atem
42 - Francois Nicole, 9a Amazonie
40 - Yuji Hirayama, 9a The Fifth Element
39 - Fred Rouhling, 9a+ Empreinte
38 - Toni Lamprect, 8C+ Bokassa's Fridge
37 - Luca Zardini, 9a Welcome to the club
35 - Christophe Zehani, 9a Décalage vers la lumière
35 - Matteo Gambaro, 9a Azione Diretta

The best boulder competitors ever

(3)

19/02/09

1. Sandrine Levet 2 275 - 1 World Champ
2. Jérôme Meyer 1 650
3. Kilian Fischhuber 1 450 - 1 World Champ
4. Olga Bibik 1 125
5. Christian Core 850
6. Anna Stöhr 850
7. Salavat Rakhmetov 825 - 1 World Champ
8. Yulia Abramchuk 800
9. Dmitry Sharafutdinov 700 - 1 World Champ
10. Juliette Danion 700
100/50/25 points for World Cups. 200/100/50 for World Champion. 1999 - 2008.

The best lead competition climber ever

(30)

10/02/09

1. Muriel Sarkany BEL 3 575: 17< years 1 World C.
2. Angela Eiter AUT 3 175: 9< years 2 World C.
3. Francois Legrand FRA 2 600: 13 years 3 World C.
4. Alexandre Chabot FRA 2 575: 9 years
5. Tomas Mrazek CZE 2 200: 10< years 2 World C.
5. Liv Sansoz FRA 2 200: 11 years 2 world C.
7. Robyn Erbesfield 2 100: 5 years 1 World C.
8. Ramon J. Piugblanque 1 650: 9< years 1 World C.
9. Sandrine Levet: 1 575 12< years
10. Maja Vidmar SLO 1 400: 9< years
11. Patxi Usobiaga ESP 1 275: 14< years
11. Yuji Hirayama JPN 1 275: 17 years
13. Francois Petit FRA 1 250: 92 - 04 1 World C.
14. Susi Good SUI: 1 225 3 years 2 World C.
15. Jorg Verhoeven NED: 1 200

100/50/25 points for World Cups and World Youth. 200/100/50 for World Champion. 1991 - 2008.