 |
|
|
McClure's new 5.15a Plus Q and A
6/02/08 - On May 20, 2008, Steve McClure, 37, freed his super-sustained 100-foot crimpfest project on the North Buttress at Kilnsey Crag, in Yorkshire, U.K., on his second redpoint attempt. 5/30/08 - The National Park Service has called off the active search for Japanese climbers Yuto Inoue, 24, and Tatsuro Yamada, 27, who disappeared high on the Cassin Ridge of Denali this month. (Updated - 6/02/08) 5/28/08 - A trio of Japanese climbers with years of experience in the Alaska Range completed a monumental link-up of hard routes on Denali over eight days in mid-May. 5/27/08 - A 76- and 75-year-old have summited Mt. Everest, setting new age records for the world’s highest mountain. 5/25/08 - This May, over the course of five days and in an uninterrupted push from the ground, Tommy Caldwell, 29, and Justen Sjong, 35, added a new first-free El Cap free feather to their already accomplished caps — Magic Mushroom (VI 5.13d/14a) — climbed from May 12 through 16. 5/22/08 - For the third consecutive year, Canadian wunderkind Sean McColl took top spot at the Tour De Bloc Bouldering Championships, having little challenge defeating a strong field of contenders. 5/21/08 - Adam Ondra, the 15-year-old Czech who has already completed nine 5.14d or harder routes, added perhaps the first and most famous 5.14+ to his resume this week: Action Directe in Germany’s Frankenjura. (New Video Added - 5/28/08) 5/20/08 - Zoe Hart and Max Turgeon took advantage of unusually good conditions on the north buttress of Mt. Hunter in Alaska and raced up Deprivation in just 23 hours from the bergschrund to the cornice at the top of the 4,000-foot wall. 5/15/08 - An Italian-Spanish pair has climbed a new variation on the west face of 22,493-foot Ama Dablam, the striking peak in the Khumbu region of Nepal. 5/13/08 - Four French climbers have made the first ascent of the northeast arête of Mt. Dickey in Alaska. 5/13/08 - Ben Gilmore, Maxime Turgeon, and Freddie Wilkinson have completed the first ascent of the Bat’s Ears, an 11,044-foot peak that was possibly the highest unclimbed major summit in the Alaska Range. 5/09/08 - A quartet of French climbers has repeated the 1974 route on the southeast face of Mt. Dickey in the Alaska Range, likely the third ascent of this mile-high alpine climb. 5/05/08 - A pair of elite French skiers has completed the famed Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt in less than 24 hours. 5/02/08 - Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner summited 8,167-meter Dhaulagiri in Nepal on May 1, giving her 11 of the 14 main 8,000-meter summits on Earth, more than any other woman. (New Photo Added - 5/15/08) 4/30/08 - Simon Anthamatten and Ueli Steck from Switzerland have completed the highly prized north face of Tengkangpoche in Nepal to its 21,283-foot summit, on their second attempt this season. (Updated - 5/15/08) 4/28/08 - Joe Kinder has completed Golden Direct (5.14c/d) at the Cathedral near St. George, Utah. 4/24/08 - Japan’s Yuji Hirayama, one of the great all-around rock climbers of the past decade, has focused on bouldering at home this spring, with impressive results. 4/23/08 - The trad-style/headpoint testpiece Must’a Been High (5.13c R), on the Rincon Wall in Eldorado Springs Canyon, Colorado, saw a record four ascents over a three-week period in late February, early March. 4/21/08 - Coloradan Daniel Woods finished third in the first bouldering World Cup of 2008, in Hall, Austria. The podium finish was Woods’ best result ever at a European competition. 4/20/08 - The superb all-arounder Toni Lamprecht has climbed his hardest boulder problem—and perhaps the hardest in Germany—with the first ascent of Assassin, Monkey and Man (ungraded) at Kochel in Bavaria. 4/18/08 - The American Alpine Club has announced the 2008 winners of its two major expedition grants: the Lyman Spitzer Cutting-Edge Award and the McNeill-Nott Award. Seven grants totaling $19,500 will help American climbers attempt new routes from Alaska to Pakistan. 4/14/08 - The Fly, a short 5.14+ route or V14 boulder problem in Rumney, New Hampshire, has seen two quick repeats, including the second bouldering ascent and the second one-day ascent of the climb. 4/11/08 - Dave Graham has completed a longstanding project at Fontainebleau, France, and graded it 8C (V15). (New Photo Added - 4/14/08) 4/09/08 - Americans Vince Anderson and Steve House climbed a new route through the rock headwall atop Mt. Alberta’s 3,250-foot north face in late March—the first time this daunting Canadian Rockies wall has been ascended in full winter conditions. 4/08/08 - Some thought it was an April Fools joke. Who would, or could, free solo Zion’s Moonlight Buttress (V 5.12d; 1,200 feet)? No joke, it turns out, and the climber was Alex Honnold, 22, of Sacramento, California. |
Copyright 2009 Skram Media LLC, All rights reserved.