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Big-Wall Free Climbing in South Africa
1/15/08 - Jeremy Samson and a gang of other climbers have completed the first free ascent of Newborn (29/5.13a, 14 pitches) at Yellowwood, a massive sandstone cliff in the Du Toits Kloof area, north of Cape Town. 1/15/08 - Jeff Mercier from France won the mixed-climbing comp at the 13th Ouray Ice Festival in southwestern Colorado. 1/11/08 - Sir Edmund Hillary, one of the first two men to climb the world’s highest peak, died January 11 in Auckland, New Zealand, his home city. 1/10/08 - Dan Corn and Jim Surette have skied the snow-covered granite slabs of Whitehorse Ledge in North Conway, New Hampshire, making two short rappels to bypass unskiable ice. 1/10/08 - Before the big meltdown this week, New Englanders snagged some fine first ascents. In New Hampshire’s Crawford Notch, Eric McCallister completed the first lead of Dial M for Murder (WI4+ M8) on Mt. Willard. 1/08/08 - Canadian Sean McColl snuck in an ascent of Goldfish Trombone at the Happy Boulders in California, as major storms pounded the Sierra. 1/04/08 - Colin Haley spent Christmas climbing the rarely summited Aguja Desmochada in Patagonia via a partial new route. 1/03/08 - Paul Robinson has made the second ascent of Terremer (V15), the hardest boulder problem at Hueco Tanks, Texas. 1/02/08 - Paul Robinson has flashed Nagual, a “hard V13” at Hueco Tanks, Texas. Robinson “waited two years” to try Nagual, hoping for a successful flash of the 45-degree overhanging wall in the East Spur Maze. 1/02/08 - An international team has climbed new routes on 16,050-foot Mt. Vinson, Antarctica’s highest peak, and 14,803-foot Mt. Epperly, making the third and fourth ascents of Epperly in the process. 12/31/07 - Sometimes called the single best boulder in the world, the Mushroom Boulder at Hueco Tanks, Texas, has been closed to climbing to protect the soil, plant life, and possible archaeological resources under the rock. 12/26/07 - Kelly McBride visited Bishop in mid-December, and came away with a handful of high-level sends. 11/24/07 - The U.S. Forest Service has added 360 acres of land containing Owls Head Cliff to White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire, completing protection of the large granite cliff. 12/21/07 - Twenty-year-old Dave Manning has soloed the Caroline Face on Aoraki–Mt. Cook in New Zealand. 12/20/07 - A six-member Slovenian team managed four new routes in the Kangchenjunga area of northeastern Nepal, after failing to reach the base of its original objective. 12/17/07 - Daniel Woods has made the second ascent of Midnight Express (V14) near Castle Rock in Boulder Canyon, Colorado. 12/13/07 - The superhuman Patxi Usobiaga has onsighted the first ascent of Bizi Euskaraz (8c+, or 5.14c), at the Etxauri crag in the Navarra region of Spain. 12/12/07 - New Englanders Andy Tuthill and Will Mayo have climbed a difficult new mixed route on Cannon Cliff in New Hampshire, 200 feet to the left of Omega (IV 5+) and just right of the Henderson Buttress. 12/12/07 - Finding excellent conditions on Ben Nevis, Steve Ashworth, Viv Scott, and Andy Turner made the first ascent of The Secret, a two-pitch crack line on the side of Number 3 Gully. 12/10/07 - Whit Magro and Kristoffer Erickson have free-climbed the classic Montana ice route Winter Dance, nearly ten years after its first ascent. 12/07/07 - Lisa Rands and Paul Robinson won the third and final stage of the Triple Crown Bouldering Series at the Stone Fort (aka Little Rock City) near Chattanooga, Tennessee. 12/05/07 - The great Japanese explorer Tamotsu Nakamura has returned from another expedition to far western China with photos of stunning unclimbed peaks. 12/03/07 - Patxi Usobiaga has concluded perhaps the most impressive week in sport-climbing history with his repeat of La Novena Enmienda (9a+/5.15a) at Santa Linya, Spain. 11/28/07 - Nine days after he clinched the 2007 World Cup title in Slovenia, Patxi Usobiaga returned to Spain and very quickly made the fifth ascent of La Rambla (9a+/5.15a) at Siurana. 11/27/07 - Two teams seized the same weather window last week to traverse three of the four summits of the Torre group in Argentine Patagonia, a feat only accomplished once before. |
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