The Most Amazing Rock Climbing Training Video Ever... No Really...Ever...

If he's not completely defying the laws of gravity, he is at least laughing at them...

Jan Hojer Training from Jan Hojer on Vimeo.

La Dura Complete: The Hardest Rock Climb In The World

Chris Sharma and Adam Ondra, the world's two top climbers attempt what is currently the world's hardest route (5.15c).

Apple - Chris Sharma

Rock climbing is not a well known sport and it receives little media attention outside its own inner circle. But among climbing fans, it does have its professionals... and then it has its superstars. Chris Sharma is easily the most well known rock climber in the world and he deserves it. There are only a few people who have sent the hardest routes that he has climbed.
Apple - Chris Sharma from Corey Rich on Vimeo.

Rock Climbing at McGee Creek State Park in Oklahoma

I am finally getting around to posting some photos from a rock climbing trip last weekend at a little known gem called McGee Creek state park near Atoka, Oklahoma. It's only about two hours from the DFW area and we couldn't have asked for better weather. A cool front had moved through the day before, so it was nice and dry with a high temperature in the 70's.

This was a nice overhanging arête climb. It's a hard 5.10 grade below and then much easier past the lip.

We pretty much had the entire park to ourselves.

The first long sleeves day of the Fall is always reason for celebration in my books.

Found a Walking Stick!!!

View from the overlook. The crag is down below.

This 35' foot corner crack was actually the harder climb. Not much for hand holds. It was a pretty sustained 5.10 climb throughout with almost no rest spots. My feet were about ten feet off the ground at this point.

The rock in this park was good quality sandstone with lots of interesting features.

World's Biggest Cave in Discovered in Vietnam

I had heard about the discovery and exploration of this cave five or so years ago. It's nice to see it documented so beautifully in this National Geographic film. It kind of brings together a whole host of personal interests of mine: nature, exploration of the unknown, caving and rock climbing.

Climbing at Paradise on the Brazos

I'm looking forward to getting outdoors this weekend at Paradise on the Brazos. It's about 2.5 hours west of Dallas near Possum Kingdom lake and it's some of the only natural climbing we have in the north Texas area. The walls are about 40 feet high, so it's almost twice as high as most climbing gyms. It's always nice to climb outdoors because natural rock is such a different experience from the plywood walls and plastic holds at the gyms. At the gyms you have these pre-set routes that are designed for climbing, but outdoors the rock has no such design and you have to have to adapt yourself to it instead. This will be my first lead climbing experience outdoors, so that will involve a bit of a learning curve. Having to clip your rope in as you go up is a whole different experience from top-roping where the rope is anchored at the top.

We'll be camping out in a tent the night before, then we'll wake up early and climb while it's still cool. This is a video someone filmed on a climbing trip to POB where I'll be going. Pardon the Guns and Roses (use the mute button if necessary).

James Kassay on the First Ascent of The Wheel of Life Direct (V16)

...And I thought V15 was as hard as bouldering problems got. I guess I was wrong. I've personally done a few V5's and those just about killed me. Imagine something literally three times as hard.

This guy's technique is so flawless that he makes these incredibly difficult moves look easy. The toe-hooks and heel-hooks are what I am fascinated by. But equally interesting is his creativity in finding spots to rest, for example the knee-jam where he hangs hands-free or the spot where he grabs his own shoe for a jug hold to rest on.

Commentary from Chris Parker via Rock and Ice magazine:

Repeating a 70-move, V15 roof climb was not quite enough for the Australian boulderer James Kassay. In fact, he wanted to make the problem harder! The line Kassay envisioned was a direct finish to Dai Koyamada's 2004 testpiece The Wheel of Life (V15), which climbs through the belly of the Hollow Mountain Cave in the Grampians of Australia. In 2011, Kassay repeated Koyamada's original problem, and then set to work on adding a more difficult finish. A year later, Kassay's links became longer and longer, until one November day, he sent The Wheel of Life Direct. Could Kassay's creation warrant the coveted V16 grade? Decide for yourself as you watch the video below and marvel at Kassay's flawless technique and unique rests such as grabbing his own climbing shoe!

Moonwalk

Moonwalk from Bryan Smith on Vimeo.

The ultimate full moon shot. Dean Potter walks a highline at Cathedral Peak as the sun sets and the moon rises. Shot from over 1 mile away with a Canon 800mm and 2X by Mikey Schaefer. mikeylikesrocks.com

This shot was part of a bigger project for National Geographic called The Man Who Can Fly. channel.nationalgeographic.com/videos/the-man-who-can-fly/

Chris Sharma Climbing "Pachamama" 5.15

Climbing grades generally start at 5.5 (which is as easy as climbing a ladder) and get more difficult as the holds get smaller and fewer...
I currently climb at about a 5.10 grade and my climbing gym bolts routes that go up to 5.13 in difficulty as its most strenuous climbs. This might give you some idea as to how insanely difficult a 5.15 climb is... And by the way, the there is no such thing as a 5.16 climb... At least not yet....

Bouldering in Tulsa

I had no idea there was this much good climbing in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area. Got a spare couch Rob?

SendNation: Tulsa from LadyHawk productions on Vimeo.

Located around Tulsa, Oklahoma are five different bouldering areas. This video showcases some of the more classic lines in these areas. With problems ranging from V1-V13, you're sure to find one the gets you psyched.

Freeclimber Dean Potter on the Subject of Death

A friend and I were talking today about the insanity of freeclimbing. Ironically, to say "I would never do that if my life depended on it" means nothing here...But I do understand a climber getting to know their own strengths and weaknesses to such an extent that they are completely confident in their capabilities and have an acute understanding of every move in the particular route they are climbing. But still, for me, my fear of falling is only tempered by my trust in the gear that is keeping me from being a big bloody spot on the ground.
Case in point: check out this climber who took a huge drop before an anchor broke his fall.

Bill Ramsey climbs a 5.14b at 52 years old

I was feeling old this week. I pulled a back muscle at the climbing gym trying to make a sideways reach that was just a little too far for comfort. I went ahead and climbed for two days after the injury hoping it would work itself out, and of course it got worse. Now my ribcage hurts when I breath deep and the pain is excruciating when I sneeze or cough. I'll take it easy this weekend and be back on Monday.
 At 41 years old, I've got back into climbing after ten years. I don't have any kind of expectations of greatness, or even mediocrity. I am only trying to stave off the oncoming glacier of old age. We all know it's coming, but if we're healthy, active and lucky we might hold back that glacier a little bit longer.

This video is pure inspiration... Bill Ramsey, who is a philosophy professor at the University of LasVegas, did a 5.14b climb a week before his 52nd birthday. To give you some idea of the incredible difficulty of this climb, the original Yosemite grading system stopped at 5.10 as the most difficult climbs. But then as the years passed it added 5.11, 5.12, etc. as climbers continued to mount more and more technically difficult climbs. I think the current record is set at about 5.15...
 My current best is still at a mere 5.10.

Perseverance

The climber, Dai Koyamada, travelled from Japan to the Swiss alps four times between 2010 and 2012 to work on this particular bouldering problem. Bouldering problems are climbs that don't require ropes because they remain close to the ground, but rank in difficulty between V0 (easiest) and V16 (impossibly difficult)... I, myself, can do somewhere around a V2 or V3 climb... But Dai Koyamada here solves a V16 climb...Notice how, at certain points, his entire body is hanging from two fingertips and a single toe-hook.
It's a long video, so if you get impatient, his final ascent begins around the 12:00 minute mark.

「The Story of Two Worlds low start V16」 from project_daihold on Vimeo.

More hippie shit...

I've been interested in the idea of barefoot shoes for a while now... I simply must have a pair of these...
http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/products/products_KSO_m.cfm