E9 Climbing

Saturday, 8 September 2012

Alpenliebe

Snug shoe fit is key on hard routes are key on Alpenlibe, Cima Ovest North Face, 7c 600m signed Hainz/Astner

Thursday, 6 September 2012

The Ogre South Face New route!

News flash: Details to come, but this post by Kyle Dempster points to a HUGE success in the Karakoram with Hayden Kennedy: a new route on THE elusive Ogre, a 7,285m peak that has only been climbed twice in history. We all grew up watching Doug Scott crawling off the mountain in Bonningtons book "Mountaineers".

"Chillin in Islamabad after an EPIC summer. Super good times climbing with Hayden and we're both feeling SO fortunate. Six months ago I wondered if pulling off two big mountains in Pakistan was more than we could chew, but we did indeed pull it off! First ascent of the east face of K7 and the first ascent of the south face of the Ogre1! So wonderful! We both want to thank you tons for the support this summer, the ropes worked great, thanks so much!
Hayden has already departed for CO and I leave tonight for Istanbul and a month of sport climbing with Jewell!" -Kyle Dempster

Edelweiss Ropes U.S.A

Monday, 3 September 2012

Going "Abus" in Gorges du Tarn!

Gorges du Tarn is back in play! And its all about "ABUS Routes!"

In fact Tarn has never been out of play its just been on the back-burner due to the lack of a dated topo and the huge re-bolting project, but the area has never been closed.

I have a few thoughts on Tarn...

First its 12 years since the last topo was published. Climbers not respecting the area is one reason this has kept back publishing a new topo. An other reason is the fact that it needed to be re- bolted. That has now been done. But its not FREE as many climbers seems to think. Its costed 104.000 Euros to re-bolt and a hundreds of man hours to make that happen. Some old areas are not in the new topo, respect that as FFME has most likely not secured agreements with the landowners.

The new topo is in in French, English, German, Italian and Spanish. The pictures are super good and plenty of new stuff to do. Tarn is all about the "Abus" for me! Abus is the local term for the long and committing routes that are plus 60 meters. You climb this routes ground up in one pitch using a "Tarn" specific technique and PLENTY of quick draws.

The grading.

Well this is a sensitive topic... No shit... And its very personal how grades apply to different individuals. In the new topo I noticed that the über popular "Moules frites" has been downgraded to 7c+ from 8a. It was talk last summer of down grading "Premiers choux fleurs" from 8a+ to 8a. I would have disagreed with that! A few other routes have been down graded like "Mosaik man" and that is more like it I think . What I find after trying some of the 8a:ish "Abus" routes is that the routes on "Tenessee" have "survived" any downgrading and quite frankly that is surprising to me. Compare "Premiers choux fleurs" to "Les ails du désir" or to an other 8a "Au temps d'avant" on "De Que fas Aqui" and you are miles apart in terms of difficulty. The two 7b+ on "Tenessee", "Une cologne derriér les versus" and "Les ails du désir" are both soft and in my opinion more of 7b. But I might be off. The same with "Pyromania" 7c+ its just not consistent with how other routes are graded to keep it at 7c+. When it comes to "Les ails du désir" 8a part of the grade must come from the huge flights you get if you fall off. If that route had 3 or 4 more bolts it would most likely not be much more than a 7c. But this is me speculating. Any way this is semantics and not important only interesting to me and this is my thoughts. I lift my hat and say CHAPEAU to the friendly crew in Gorge du Tarn. Thanks for all the hard work and the amazing climbing you have created. Its truly a unique place where chipping is rare! Keep it that way!

Thursday, 23 August 2012

Bodet & Petit down grade Camillotto Pellissier

After a swift raid in the Dolomites Stéphanie Bodet and Arnaud Petit ticked off Alpenliebe and Camilotto Pellissier. How ever they disagree with the routes grade and take the crux 8a+ pitch down to 7c+. I have only tried the first pitches and they felt like they where benchmark graded so I'm a bit surprised that the 8a and 8a+ pitches are being down graded so significantly. How ever most interesting and good is that Bodet and Petit really liked the climbing in Tre Cime! Its magic so if you have never been I strongly recommend you have a go at it!

Sunday, 19 August 2012

The shit you spread in Ceuse!

Last year was a bad in terms of theft, littering, illegal camping at Céüse and this year it seams to be increasingly bad. I like to point out that it is illegal to camp or bivy under the cliff or up by the parking above the designated Camping.

If this don't stop and the climbers keep leaving trash and using the nature as a public toilet it will eventually lead to a climbing being banned at Céüse. Using the nature is for free but it comes with a responsibility to leave no trace. This link provides some sad insight to the issue.

My advice is that if you can't afford the 6€ camping then stay at home!

http://www.kairn.com/news_escalade_79394.constat-situation-preoccupante-sette.html