There are two things you need to know about today…
Every hour of time you donate to a crag helps show land managers that climbers are responsible stewards. Grab some friends, the kids, and a pair of work gloves and spend a day giving back to the sport you love! We hope to see you there.
NEW GUIDE!!! THAT’S MY HAND HOLDING THE BOOK!!!!!!
Sample photo from the new Stone Fort Guide!
Whoa! I just got the new Stone Fort Bouldering Guidebook in the mail today! Hot off the press and delivered to my front door thanks to author Andy Wellman. I immediately opened the package and began an uninterrupted and INTENSE, investigation into the highly anticipated new release from Greener Grass Publishing.
I first visited Little Rock City (Now called Stone Fort) about 9 years ago and was a bit overwhelmed. As a mid level boulderer back in the day, I had my work cut out for me and just finding the boulders was hard enough much less knowing what the hell I was climbing on… After a few visits I got the place dialed and I loved spending my time seeking out and climbing the best Stone Fort had to offer. The highlights at Stone Fort for me was climbing my dream project and one of the best boulders in the country, The Shield, and spending countless hours either judging, taking photos or climbing in the illustrious Triple Crown Bouldering Series held there each year.
The guide met my expectations for the area and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the grades seemed spot on and there were a handful of great looking boulders I never even knew existed! I really want to check out the new stuff and try some of the 20+ projects listed in the back of the book. The tick list and index are very well done and there are some very nice essays from some of the local heros that really add some nice depth to an otherwise purely statistical read.
The guide is for sale right now as a pre-order and is super cheap! $19.95 gets you a copy and puts you in front of the boulders that you are dying to try and fall is right around the corner… go grab a pre-order while you can by clicking here! You wont be disappointed.
Really solid area descriptions!
Stone Fort is like a maze so the maps in the guide are essential and are done very well…
Route descriptions and locations were spot on and it would not be hard to find problems as a first time visitor.
If you liked some of the photos from the guidebook, especially the cover, you should check out some of Chris Brown’s photography on his website by clicking here! Support your local photographers!!!
As many of you already know, last week was the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show in Salt Lake City. “The Show” is a very busy collection of outdoor big wigs and professionals in the industry all buying, selling, and schmoozing. It is a real shit show and quite a sight with hundreds of booths set up in a giant convention center in downtown SLC. In conjunction with the Trade Show is the 2nd leg of the Pro Tour called the Unified Bouldering Championships, hosted by NE2C. The event consisted of 3 rounds of climbing; a qualifying round cutting the field to 20 men and women, a semifinal round bringing the total to 6 men and women, and ultimately a finals round where the top competitors battle for first. This is the first year that the trade show comp has been run with that format and it was very interesting to compete in all three rounds and VERY exhausting.
This was the first competition I had entered in a year so I had zero expectations and was really there to just have fun and see where I stood climbing next to some of the best. Ill break it down based on each round and detail my experience becasue that is why you are reading this…
Qualifying round:
Held at the Front climbing gym and the setup was standard, complete with boiling hot isolation room, half naked men and women running around trying to look strong in front of each other, etc… There were 5 boulders and scoring was based on number of tops, points for holds, then falls. The first 2 problems were very easy and didn’t do much to separate the field. Problem 3 was by far the best and was a real separator forcing the climbers to think a bit and only a handful sent. Problems 4 and 5 were very hard and only a couple sent 4 and no one sent 5 which isn’t a bid deal but there were clear “stopper” moves that were not good for breaking up the scores and a lot of bottlenecks occurred. Overall, the qualifying round was a success and I placed 10th so it was on the Semifinals.
Semifinal Round:
Took place on the roof of the parking deck next to the Shilo hotel downtown. The setting is dramatic and the stage that the UBC boys present the event on is killer. Semifinals were held at the crack of dawn and it was into isolation by 7am and out to climb around 9. The problems for the round were significantly better than qualifiers but they were still very basic problems with very hard stopper moves. There was a serious scoring issue with mens #2 which badly altered the results, but after some time spent working out the kinks I was sitting in 4th place going into finals!
Finals Round:
this round went off without to much of a hitch but, similar to the previous rounds, mens #2 and #3 had very specific stopper moves and didn’t put on the type of show that the crowd was begging for. Sharma didn’t seem all that into it, the “Dark Pony” had some dissapointing foot slips, Ian Dory came out of nowhere, and Daniel crushed as predicted. It was a great show and I have to say that they run a good event despite the obvious neglect to route setting, scoring, and format. Most of the issues seem to be on the back end organization of the comp so for the spectators it is really no big deal. I have very high standards and overall I am very happy with the direction we are headed as an industry and with the quality we are starting to see from these big professional competitions.
There definitely needs to be a meeting of the minds concerning the format and the scoring of national events like the UBC Pro Tour and I am looking forward to figuring out a way to present these competitions to the spectators in a simple way that appeals to non climbers and competitors alike. If you have any ideas I would love to hear them…
I was truly blown away by my results and I was honored to be climbing along side the legends of our sport, mostly Steven Jeffery, but Sharma was nice too… maybe this is the motivation I need to compete for the 2010-2011 season!
Photos by Ryan Olson!!!!
Hello loyal fans, future lovers, sexy ladies, skeptics, and haters… The Louder Than 11 store has seen quite an upgrade and there is one major thing that you will love about the new face lift. EVERYTHING IS FREE! Everything except for the old movie I made with my friend Dustin Chambers back in 2007 called Satisfaction, that one is still for sale. All the rest though, is free.
Men of Route Setting 2010 Calendar is free! Moore’s Wall video, FREE! Its all free. Just enter your email and you will get a download link sent right to your inbox and its all yours, all day, all the time. Spread the word and download some half naked route setters, hot new tunes from Electric Banana, and some high quality top of the line entertainment.
In a weeks time we will be selling LT11 tee shirts in two styles and two designs. A tank top and a tee shirt. Within a few months we will have LT11 branded boxers for the guys and boy shorts for the girls… UNDERPANTS!
MELT YOUR FACE OFF!
Well this is it! The moment you didn’t know you were waiting for but know you realize you can’t live without. Louder Than 11 is proud to introduce The Electric Banana! Music entertainment pumped straight to your ears from the talented David Tucker. Click on the banner to the right or the image above and you will be taken on the audio voyage of a lifetime! David updates the Banana frequently and will be posting new music as he slaves away, listening to track after track to sort through the garbage and deliver the finest musical masterpieces to your ear holes. David has been blogging about the music scene since the beginning of 2010 and has developed quite a following so jump on the Banana and entertain yourself with some new music. Everyone else is doing it…
In the winter of 2009, Louder Than 11 was approached by a strapping young lad by the name of Ronnie Dickson. Ronnie is almost the same as every other climber out there. He is very psyched to boulder all the time, push himself to climb harder, and devote his life to climbing rocks in the [...]
The summer in Boulder is coming to an end. THANK GOD. The drama and hype of Colorado summers can wear on a boulderer and this summer has been nothing short of CRAZY. With the season coming to an end, climbers are heading back to their respective states and school is in full swing. As a [...]
Preparing the crux sloper on Never Never Land (All photos courtesy of Ryan Silven) SUPER CHAOS! is loaded with projects and among the hundreds of new lines waiting to be put up was a gem of a bloc that needed to be done. I first laid eyes on this tall and intimidating beauty a few [...]
The boulder, the myth, the legend… Full Chaos (V10) does exist and I climbed it! Flashed it in fact. I have wanted to climb on this “secret” boulder for a long time and had always heard stories about its quality and how difficult it is to find. Ryan Silven and I made it our mission [...]
Everyone is naming boulder fields these days so we have taken it upon ourselves to do the same. SUPER CHAOS! is where the new goods are located and you have to say it loud or type it in all caps with an exclamation point… It’s the only way people will know that you are talking [...]
Its here! The final installment of the Pogo series, Chapter 3! The finale includes Carlo’s discovery of the Pogo with the help of a fresh set of new Pusher holds. Carlo puts up the “dream pogo” boulder problem and demonstrates perfect form. My favorite part is what we called the pogo matrix, where Carlo goes [...]
