Important news until 2004
10 years with 8a The most important headlines
From a personal blog to the leading climbing website in the world always with analyses, thoughts and new ideas that sometimes are controversial, creating interactive discussions.
1999 December, 10th
www.8a.nu appears on the internet for the first time. It is a local Göteborg blog/website by Jens Larssen including some training articles, the new routes he has put up and information from the Swedish Junior national Team.
2000
September: The scorecard system is introduced after many unpaid working hours by the webmaster Leif Jägerbrand, who also is a co-founder one of the largest banner systems in the world, http://www.admeta.com/. The idea is to give onsight a high bonus as most climbers are mainly focusing on endless redpoint projects. Shortly, many of the hard core climbers like David Graham, Steve McClure, Christian Brenna and Markus Bock become 8a members tracking their climbs.
Graham sends 8a+ blocs |
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14/09/00 |
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Dave Graham has, this past summer, kept himself busy in the Rocky Mountain National Park, opening hard problems left and right. |
(This was one of the first news that was published in the Global page. Graham news is as his Tick List, always very long!)
Check out 8a.nu's "Updated Ranking" - Scorecard! |
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31/10/00 | |
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8a.nu can present the first two ranking lists for Sportclimbing and Bouldering. Go to Scorecard! |
DYNOING: A ballastic science - Fly baby fly... |
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23/10/00 | |
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14 pieces of advice and training tips from 8a.nu. We have another 12 training articles that are beeing translated now. Stay tuned! |
Check out the interview with Chris Sharma! |
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06/12/00 | |
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(This is the first 8a interview with Chris Sharma)
Climbers of the year - 2000 |
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31/12/00 | |
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2001
Faster access to 8a.nu |
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01/06/01 | |
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As we have been growing so fast lately, this week up more than 20 percent, we have outgrown our bandwidth capacity. Some of you may have experienced it, as having slow access. |
(It has been a constant problem that we have been force to buy more space from our server provider :-)
Ethics in Bouldering: A Discussion |
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21/05/01 | |
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Check out the new article: Ethics in Bouldering according to 8a.nu |
(Article by Björn Pohl)
4th 8c by Bereciartu |
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14/05/01 | |
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Josune Bereciartu has climbed her fifth route of 8c or harder. The route, Última Aldea Gala, 8c, at Santa Cruz de Campezo, was opened by Iker Pou two years ago and is considered hard. News courtesy of Desnivel |
Sharma disqualified! |
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03/09/01 | |
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Jerome Meyer won at Rovereto, Andrada was second and Calibani 3rd, but THE news is that Chris Sharma has been disqualified from the comp! Like we all already kind of knew, or at least suspected, he failed the drug test, the ol' Mary n' Juana... Check out complete results at digitalrock.de |
(Chris Sharma won the Munich Boulder World Cup just weeks after he had done the FA of Realization.)
One year anniversary |
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The English version of 8a.nu started exactly one year ago. We would like to thank everybody that provides us with news and the, over all, close to 500 000 visitors that keep us on our toes. Last week we had nearly 6 000 unique visitors, something that suggests were probably the most important/updated site in our field at this moment in time. During this year have been mentioned in most of the major climbing magazines around the world, including Climbing, OTE
and Bergsport. |
Adam Ondra, a new wonder kid! |
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27/11/01 | |
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Adam Ondra from , is only 8 years young, but his ticklist would be impressive even for someone twice his age. He's already onsighted four 7b+'s and three 7b's this year. We don't want to put any pressure on Adam's tiny shoulders, but this is definitely someone to look out for in the future! |
Climbers of the year 2001: Top-10 |
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22/12/01 | |
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1. David Graham - (2:2000) |
2002
Jonas Emanuelsson starts working as the new webmaster.
Massive downgrading in the Maltatal |
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30/01/02 |
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Last weekend Werner Thon, Markus Bock and Harry Röker spent 3 days in Maltatal/Austria to try some hard boulders from Klem Loskot. |
(The first down grading suggestions appears on 8a. It is a fact that close to 50 % of the hard core boulders have actually been downgraded compared to have they first were reported. This is especially for steep problems in , and Hueco Tanks but very seldom in where the boulder grades where invented.
Two weeks later Markus suggest new down grades and another two weeks later he is on it again. All of the suggested down grades have been confirmed!)
Rating in theory and reality... |
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03/02/02 | |
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In climbing, we use an unique system for measuring performances. Other sports use split seconds, centimeters, points or a match/fight to decide who's best. Climbers do it by grades. But how does it work? Who's to determine a grade? Down-grading! One move boulder dynos! Tactics to maximize your climbing grades! This is how we and Albert Einstein see it - Everything is relative! |
(Grading is an invention by the climbing community but actually there is no set rules how it works. This is the first time 8a tries to explain it
but nowadays there are different opinions.)
Over 2 200 holders from 76 countries |
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22/05/02 | |
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Our database is growing and we are comming close to 50 000 registred routes/boulders. The following countries have more than 50 scorecard holders: |
(Today there are 1.3 million rated ascents in the 8a data base!)
Let's skip traverse grading... |
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24/10/02 | |
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The world's hardest graded travers is located i Fontainebleu and it's graded (8c+), which should be equivalent to 8B+, which we think is the correct and proper grade. The reason for this are as follows: |
9a by Bereziartu! |
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30/10/02 |
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We got an email from Franco Crani:Josune Bereziartu has redpointed an hour ago Bain de Sang 9a at Saint Loup!!! Josune is definitely in a league of her own. Remember she was the first to climb 8c (Honky tonky), 8c+ (Honky mix) and now 9a. Fantastic! |
(Josune was in the beginning of the decade in a league of her own when it come to redpoint. Bain-de-Sang is not any longer considered as 9a.)
Climber of the year 2002: Chris Sharma |
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29/12/02 | |
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Chris Sharma was voted climber of the year 2002 and he is also the 8a choice. Chris has combined world class performences in both Route, and WC events.Check out the interactive poll |
2003
Alex Huber free solos 8b |
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28/02/03 | |
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Alex Huber has free soloed The Opportunist, 8b, at the Schleier Wasserfall. First climbed in 1996 by Jean Minh Thrin Thieu, the route takes a steep diagonal line next to White Winds and Cool your foot man, and has the crux at about 12m. |
(8a has now a policy of not publishing solo ascents. We have received many mails over the year talking about solo ascents but we do not want to be part of promoting this activity!)
8a.nu on tour! |
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12/06/03 | |
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Well, I (Björn) is going away on vacation. From this Saturday there won't be much use sending me emails, but I'll try to check my account once in a while. |
(In the early days, we were allowed to use 8a as our personal blog.)
Different opinions regarding preclipping carbiners |
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03/07/03 |
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Poll: 50 % voted for one preclipped and 50 % otherwise |
(8a started doing polls in 2002 also in a way to communicate the communitys ethics.)
10-year-old onsights 8a |
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12/05/03 |
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Adam Ondra (10) from onsights Slimline, 8a in Frankenjura. This might be the best climb ever performed by a junior and one should bear in mind that Slimline previously has been graded 8a+. Anyhow, Adam who is #64 at 10 700 points, thought it was easy! |
(Adam Ondra has since he was 10-years-old always been consistent of giving a personal opinion of the grade and he is actually the one in the world suggesting most down grades.)
FIRST 9b+ FROM Fernandez!? |
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13/07/03 |
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After three years of work, on July 4th, Bernabé Fernández finally managed to redpoint his mega project at Villanueva del Rosario near . The route is more than 80(!) meters long, has almost 400 moves and is, you guessed it, super steep. According to Fernandez Chilam Balam weighs in at the never before proposed grade of - 9b+ and is entirely natural. We haven't heard much about Barnabè has been up to for the last couple of years, I guess we now know why... |
(The ascent has been heavily questioned since Bernabé has not shown any willingness to confirm his ascents and the belayer is un-known since he was just found in a bar.)
Winn 8a T-shirts: NIHIL |
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03/12/03 |
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NIHIL is a new Dutch company that sells "progressive climbing wear" through their website. Within their broad collection, you can buy an 8a T-shirt for Euro 21.95.or even better win it through their quiz or receive one as a giveaway once you are an 8a.nu member. |
(In Total, we have produced over 3 000 T-shirts with another seven companies: Prana, Peak performance, Red Chilli, Chillaz, Millet and Nihil who were first out and in 2010 we give 5 Euro to ear Child for every T-shirt sold.)
Climber of the year 2003 |
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25/12/03 | |
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1. Patxi Usobiaga ESP |
2004
Ignacio Sandoval Buron becomes the Spanish Editor.
Improve the comp. format |
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03/01/04 | |
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- "Difficulty comps are extremely boring!" |
(The ideas presented are flash in the qualification and shorter maximum time. In 2009, all qualifications were done in a flash format and shorter maximum times were applied.)
Three 8A's by Woods (14) |
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08/01/04 | |||
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July 1, Daniel Woods became the youngest American to climb 8b+ (The 7 P.M. Show). Now it seems he's taken up bouldering... | |||||
4 BEAL rope winners |
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31/03/04 | |||
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In the BEAL Dry Cover lottery, the following four get a free rope and become Test Pilots: Marko Marila - , Patrick Cassiday - , Niklas Gunnarsson - and Michel Fanguet - . |
(Beal is the first international company paying money for placing a banner on 8a.)
Martina Kufar new #1 |
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26/04/04 | |
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Martina Kufar, , has entered the rankings as #1 with 10 840 points. Three 8b's and a couple of 8a onsights is good, but she still has some way to go before she's near to Josune Bereziartu's highscore above 12 000 points. | |||
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(Martina Cufar is now a share holder of 8a Climbing Inc.)
8a.nu Updates - Banner |
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26/09/04 | |
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Now you can put an 8a.nu banner on your site |
(Over 20 websites presents 8a online updates on a 8a banner, including Climbing.com who has done that for five years.)
Practice & Ethics in rock climbing |
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24/10/04 | |
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In rock climbing, there are no written rules or judges like in all other sports. Instead, the climbing community creates and circulates the procedures and ethics. Over time, the procedures have been modified and in different subcultures different ethics apply. |
(The ethics are presented in a traffic light system where, green, yellow and red examples are given.)
5 year anniversary |
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06/12/04 | |
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In december 1999, 8a.nu was started as a local site for sport climbing in Göteborg - . Eight months later the scorecard was introduced and just afterwards the global site was opened. |
GRIGRI safety |
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13/10/04 | |
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Most of you have heard about mystical incidents with the GRIGRI. 8a.nu consider the GRIGRI to be the safest belaying device for sport climbing and we believe these accidents to be caused by improper handling and would like to share some thoughts about belaying techniques. |
(Four years later, Petzl changes their official recommendation, based on these thoughts, into what 8a suggested.)
Graham explains downgrading |
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24/12/04 | |
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From his new home in , Switzerland David Graham explains why he has retro downgraded many of his hardest sent boulder problems: |
(It is a long well written article J
Tsunami hits Railay Beach |
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26/12/04 | |
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A tsunami created by an eartquake hit in at 11.00. All restaurants by the beach have been destroyed but no climbers have been reported seriously injured. |
(As I, Jens, was standing at the beach, we could within 1 hour report that no climbers have reported seriously injured.)
Climber of the year
1. Tomas Mrazek
2. David Graham
3. Sandrine Levet
4. Patxi Usobiaga
5. Josune Bereziartu