40+ Masters Ranking in Climbing

Masters Ranking 40+
Global, based upon 8a.nu scorecards, on September 1, 2009

Routes
1. 11970 Evgeny Krivosheytsev 1969 Ukraine
2. 11550 Oleg Chereshnev 1963 Russian Federation
3. 11505 Jibé Tribout 1961 France
4. 11375 markus eberl 1964 Austria
5. 11315 Laurent Zoutte 1969 France
6. 11210 Andrea Gennari Daneri 1965 Italy
7. 11150 Jacek Jurkowski 1968 Poland
8. 11105 Pesche Wüthrich 1964 Switzerland
9. 11025 Marc Bourdon 1969 Canada
10. 11024 Thierry Caillaud 1963 France

Boulders
1. 9953 Hocquemiller romain 1950 France
2. 9715 EZ Harrison 1968 United States
3. 9670 Peter Beal 1964 United States
4. 9590 Sobczak Greg 1968 France
5. 9460 Wolfgang Antz 1967 Switzerland
6. 9353 Bart van Raaij 1969 Netherlands
7. 9324 Pesche Wüthrich 1964 Switzerland
8. 9310 Johan Luhr 1961 Sweden
9. 8953 Roger Mygga 1966 Spain
10. 8902 Mike Wohner 1967 United States

I created this list to reflect the level of true Masters level climbing worldwide. In every other sport that I am aware of, Masters designation begins at 40, not at 35 as 8a places it. It is interesting to note the absence of any Americans in the routes list and the presence of three in the bouldering list. There are a number of possible reasons for this but I find it a striking indicator of the popularity of V10 up bouldering among older climbers in the US. The top redpoint level in climbing routes is approximately 8c while in bouldering, 8a+ is pretty much the maximum grade.

I will update this list periodically, checking scorecards for anomalies or other curiosities. Let me know what you think of this.

The Power of Youth from Will Gadd

Will Gadd, one of the most diverse talents in outdoor sports, recently posted on the topic of "The Power of Youth." The piece is a short but powerful reflection on the self-induced damage caused by negative attitudes. Here's an excerpt:

"And you know what? I like 'em, especially in contrast to some of my generation. My generation was too dark, too pissy, too steeped in nonsensical holdover Victorian ideals, and over-read in Nietzsche and Sartre (plus a few others). I'm going to write more on this 'cause I think it's time to take a hard look at the dark motivations of so many climbers and paddlers in my generation."

I too look back and wonder what was going through my mind back then but also the minds of peers who by means subtle and not so subtle tried to keep other climbers "in their place." Thanks Will for shedding some light on this. I am really glad to be climbing in a time when this outdated approach is on its last legs. Climb what you want how you want, respect the environment, and have fun.

Smith Overhang V8

Here is a video of one of the most well-known problems at Flagstaff, Smith Overhang. I remember seeing grainy black-and white-photos of Pat Ament on this problem in the book of Colorado climbing history Climb! According to the Ament bouldering guide, A Climber's Playground, Richard Smith did the problem first in 1967. Little did I know until I saw the whole sequence that one started off a cheatstone to reach the flake. Now thanks to erosion of both the ground and the flake, you would need a pretty good-sized boulder to start there. The modern start is off two bad sidepulls below the undercling flake. In the video, I am standing on two fairly thin pads to reach the first holds. Although the landing is reasonably flat, pad the problem well as falls can be sudden and awkward.

Super Topo Report on Tommy Caldwell working Mescalito

Go here for photos, video and commentary from Chris McNamara about Tommy Caldwell's work on free-climbing the El Cap aid route Mescalito. This route will truly be something else as the pitch list indicates with multiple 5.13 and 5.14s . The video (shot by Corey Rich) link is here.

Here's some video from Chris of Tommy reviewing the pitch line-up.



It is also interesting to note a couple of comments on the Super Topo thread warning about adding bolts in order to avoid a "much less committing" aid climb. I wonder how this will play out, an echo perhaps of the history of the Dawn Wall.

Must-Read Article at UKClimbing

In many ways UK Climbing is one of the best Internet sites on climbing,not least because of its inclination to discuss controversial topics. An article on the relationship between climbing and global warming is the best I have seen on the subject so far. In particular, the author singles out the issue of air travel and rightly points out the impact of air travel on the atmosphere and on actual climbing areas and routes.

Hubble Video

Steve McClure - Hubble 8c+ from ben pritchard on Vimeo.

Anyone interested in the quest for absolute difficulty on rock knows of a few standout examples of routes that stand on the edge between bouldering and roped climbing and marked a significant step in the development of the sport, locally or internationally. Action Direct and The Fly are two names that come to mind but the gold standard for this kind of route will always be, for me anyway, Ben Moon's Hubble at Raven Tor, Derbyshire UK. I well remember the photos that came out after its ascent, showing a dreadlocked Moon in extremis on the underclings of the crux.

In todays Internet video universe, such a route should have tons of footage widely available yet except for a very brief snippet at the end of One Summer, no film of the route has been widely available. Perhaps this is due to a genuine dearth of repeats. It can't be because of accessibility as you could practically film it from a car on the road next to the cliff. Anyway, Steve McClure, who has climbed many 9as in Great Britain, came in for the sixth ascent which might not be big news except that the route was first done in 1990. Can this route really be merely 14c?

Go here for a follow-up from UK Climbing.