NEWS

Markovic wins in Kranj and gets the overall title
Mina Markovic did get her third overall title since 2010. In the remaining the years she was #2 overall after Jain Kim. Winning in front of her home crowd, just beating Jessica Pilz and 16 year old Janja Garnbret, her possible successor, must have been awesome to say the least. Janja was previously #2 in the other two events she participated in. Overall ranking - Kranj results 527 Mina Markovic 461 Jain Kim 435 Jessica Pilz 381 Anak Verhoeven 298 Helene Janicot

Chilam Balam 9a+ (b) by Dani Andrada (40)
Chris Sharma comes with great news on Instagram: Dani Andrada has done the fourth ascent of Chilam Balam 9a+ (b) in Villanueva del Rosario. "Huge congrats to my friend @dani_andrada_climb for sending Chillam Balam today! I'm m so psyched and proud of you man! So inspiring!!!!" (c) Henning Wang The route was put up by Bernabe Fernandez in 2003 as the world's first 9b+ which created some controversy. Adam Ondra made the first repeat in just three days in 2011 suggesting soft 9b and later Seb Bouin has also done the 80 meter, 235 moves endurance monster. Dani has previously done two 9b's in Rodellar, both of which start with some 10 meters bouldering in the Ali Baba Cave before you clip into a route. The 40-year-old, "a muerte" climber, is also famous for being the pioneer putting up hardcore routes around Lleida and especially in Santa Linya. To Desnivel La Makina says that "It is possibly the most beautiful route I've done and the best in the world". Seb said he thought it was a 9a+/b or hard 9a+. Andrada also says that it took him over an hour including 25 no-hand knee-bar rests! In total, Dani has done 3 480 routes 8a and harder, 27 out of which are 9a's and harder. La Makina also says that he climbs 300-320 days every year! The bleeding eyebrow comes from a broken hold.

Kyparissi free topo
14 November 2015

Kyparissi free topo

Aris Theodoropoulos, aka Mr Kalymnos, has put together some info, which resulted in creating the free topo of Kyparissi, which in his opinion has the potential to be compared with Kalymnos. Aris also points out that the stone quality in certain sectors are world class. More info.

The Lead World Cup finishes this weekend in Kranj like always. The WC takes place there for the 20th time in a row. All the top climbers are there including Sachi Amma and Jan Hojer who are making their first Lead entry in 2015. This is the overall standing when the worst result has been taken out. 1. Adam Ondra 358 - Mina Markovic 427 2. Gauthier Supper 357 - Jain Kim 406 3. Jakob Schubert 331 - Jessica Pilz 355 4. Domen Skofic 325 - Anak Verhoeven 330 5. Romain Desgranges 307 - Helene Janicot 251 Live streaming starts on Saturday at 20.00 with the semifinal and the finals begin on Sunday at 19.00. Digital results live

During the last two weeks Jakob Kronberger has done three 8c's and Verbotene Liebe 8c+ in Plombergstein. This summer the 14-year-old did his first 9a. Update: One more 8c+ by the 14 year old, 3D in Salzburger Land.

Deathly dangerous carabiners removed in Mesa Verde
Philippe and Anna Gatta took off these fixed draws in "Pas de bras, pas de ski (7c)" in Mesa Verde sector (Gorges du Loup) because they were dangerous. Carabiner like this has actually caused a rope to be cut off as the carabiner get as sharp as a knife! - More should be replaced in other routes in Mesa Verde and Deverse. It is cool and practical to have fixed draws when they are in good shape but they should be removed when they are too old. More info.

Not only climbing in Kalymnos
Kalymnos Adventure Center was established in 2012 with a focus, beside climbing, on introducing other adventure activities on the island such as; caving, horseback riding, diving, sailing, hiking etc. Skalia Cave is possibly the most spectacular cave on the island, with huge, amazing formations of stalagmites and stalactites up to 15 meter high. You go down two ladders before you come to the spectacular 500 square meter chamber room.

First 9a by Sebastian Halenke
German Lead Climbing Team reports on Facebook that Sebastian Halenke has done his first 9a, Iron Dome in Tiefenbach. Christian Bindhammer put it up two years ago and Halenke needed only five tries. Earlier this summer, the 20 year old onsighted his first 8c. On Saturday, The German will compete in the Kranj WC, where he is currently #7. In the first event of 2015, he was #3.

11 November 2015

Let us grade Akira 9a+

A review is coming up for the 9th grade - 150 years of climbing, aka the Bible. There are some short interesting stories in the book. Buy it here for only 43 Euro including freight. Fred Rouhling put up Akira 9b in 1995, which created some controversies as nobody had done 9a+ and there were just some few 9a's at that time. Very few have tried it but Jibรฉ Tribout was once coached by Fred. - I had 8c+ at the time and the route seemed tome very hard but perhaps feasible. When Fred tried he was using more difficult methods than me, I was using easier ones but he did not them. He obviously preferred his own. 9a seemed a good ratingf to me but 9b was definitely to high, especially since historically one does not jump grades because it is impossible to understand such leap. Fred has previously confirmed that he did not opt for the easiest methods on Akira, "I go where the route seems most imposing." He has also said that if he had done it again, he would not have given it 9b. When it comes to the controversy of Bernabe Fernandez's grade of 9b+ for Chilam Balam from 2003, his ethics are criticized too. Orujo, the first 9a in Spain, "included several bolted-on artificial holds but two years later he removed three of them to raise the level to 9a+." The book tells also the story of Andrada criticising him for breaking natural holds next to artificial ones after his ascent! Fernandez opinion was that he could do what ever he liked with the route until it had been repeated, in order to force repeaters to use the FA's methods! For Chilam Balam, Adam Ondra has repeated it suggesting 9b which also might be confirmed as in 2006, it is told that Chris Sharma spent three weeks on it without being able to join up various sections. Andrada actually questioned Fernandez as he did not find chalk or rubber at the upper part of Chilam Balam. Interesting is also that in accordance to 8a data, Action Direct is said to have been 8c+/9a originally and that might be the only case where a slash grade is mentioned.