Hit The Rock: 2006

I went for a climb at KC with Lisa last night. I was tired, but still managed to climb a 6a without too much difficulty. Here's Lisa on the downstairs bouldering wall.

I tried a black-rated route on this wall — the one with the small purple-colored holds. I wasn't quite able to do the last two moves. Maybe next time.

This is a fun bouldering problem that I can do without too much trouble.

The gray problem is fun too, and a bit trickier.

This gray problem is even harder, at least for me.

Peter was there with his daughter. He showed me the first white-rated bouldering problem he has been able to finish. Go Peter!

It doesn't look easy.

The disc is the only hold of any appreciable size in this route. The rest of the holds are tiny and require a really strong crimp to hang on to them.

Just a bit farther!

Victory!

Update: high-resolution versions of these photos are now on Flickr.

Last night, I went to Karbin with Lisa, Matt, and my colleague Jens. It was time again for another Boulder Open competition. For 100 SEK, anyone can participate. Here Lisa is holding the list of bouldering problems. There were 10 problems of each difficulty grade: blue, red, black, and white. New this time was the fact that each problem was also given a numerical difficulty, with the easiest blue problems having a difficulty of 3 or 4, and the most difficult white problems being rated as difficulty 11 or 12. The most difficult problem I managed was a black problem rated difficulty 8. Each time you complete a problem successfully, you check it off the list. The problems were arranged around the bouldering area and numbered 1 through 40.

Here is a photo of me doing an easy blue or red problem to warm up.

Hung was there; he completed lots of difficult problems.

Anna was climbing like a pro last night, and advanced to the finals.

Daniella was looking good, tackiling a difficult black problem.

Victory!

This problem was tricky. It required very careful placement of hands and feet, and very slow movement to maintain balance.

Karbin has done an excellent job getting sponsors. Marmot, Mad Rock, and addnature contributed the prizes for the competition.

There were also folks there who weren't participating in the bouldering competition, such as this cute girl climbing one of Karbin's tall walls.

Hand-foot matches always look cool in photos.

He I am on the same problem. It was a fun one!

Anna doing the same problem. She is skilled and has very good grip strength.

Matt on the tricky problem that required good balance. See that tiny hold in the upper left? The small size of that hold is one of the reasons this was a challenging and fun problem.

Lisa about to lunge for the last hold in this fun problem.

This one was very, very tricky for me. The yellow-colored holds were quite small, with the exception of the one big one. The problem was that the one big hold didn't offer much of a place to grip!

Lisa & Matt.

After the main competition was over, people tallied up the difficulty ratings of the top ten of the problems they completed. These were put in a big box, and prizes were handed out by a random drawing. At the same time, the top men and women went on to the finals. In the background you can see the folks putting together new bouldering problems on the wall while prizes are being handed out.