Over the past two months, a number of pictures have surfaced showing a lot of people climbing on the sea cliffs of Howe Sound. Climbing off the water looks amazing but it also comes with a lot of risk so we thought we would check in with Chris Weldon, who has been developing these cliffs along with Andrew Boyd and Jim Martinello (just to name a few!).
Here is what Chris had to say.
Big sea cliffs in the Howe Sound. Photo courtesy of Chris Weldon ©
The last time I was on Ton Sai beach was in 1999. I had first arrived on Railay and quickly moved to Ton Sai to be closer to the climbing. There were a total of 12 climbers there and only two bungalows were open. The forest was still in tact and you had to walk to the end of the beach to catch a boat to Au Nang. Looks like things have changed a lot but the feeling captured was just the same. This video may be a little old but worth the watch. Thanks to Conrad McFarlane for bringing it to our attention.
Failure is such a big part of climbing. So often things don’t go as planned, all ones’s preparation and training turned to frustration. I love this video and how it perfectly captures the feeling of those moments:
Excitement is building as The Boulders Climbing Gym in Central Saanich prepares to host the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Speed World Cup (May 17) and the 2015 Climbing Escalade Canada (CEC) National Youth and Open Sport Climbing Championships (May 16-18). The IFSC Speed World Cup will be of particular interest on this weekend, as this marks the first time ever that the IFSC will be holding a Speed World Cup event outside of Europe or Asia. Athletes from a number
of countries, including Canada, the United States, Russia, China, Iran, the Czech Republic , the Ukraine, Poland, Italy and a number of others are expected to compete to see who can be the fastest up the 15-metre Peninsula Co-Op Speed Wall.
Please to announce that Graham McGrenere, originally from Vancouver Island sent The Replicant (5.13d) in Skaha last week. Graham and his girlfriend Kim House have been travelling around this year and it looks like it has paid off. Kim also sent one of her hardest ‘Wings of Steel’ (5.12d) to finish off the trip. Congrats!
Graham McGrenere getting some kneebars on The Replicant. Photo courtesy of Graham McGrenere
Kim on Wings of Steel. Photo courtesy of Kim House ©
A great little video from Jan Hojer featuring five hard problems from font.
If the provinces of Spain would form a family of siblings, Catalunya would be considered the “gifted” one. The landscape is varied, abundant and beautiful in every way. And we’ve all seen the videos of Sharma and Ondra shouting on their latest “mega-projects” on picturesque, streaked limestone cliffs. It’s the coolest thing in sport climbing, and rightfully so. The list of areas known and unknown in Catalunya is massive, requiring two full sized “select” guide books co-authored by the one and only Dani Andrada. Flipping through the guides is almost torturous, your first thought (no matter how much time you’ve allotted for your trip) is “I need more time”. But if you’ve managed to make it, don’t fret, Spanish life is easy, tranquilo.
Stunning sunset over Siurana. Photo by Nathan Hall ©
The final results are in for the 2015 Open Provincial Difficulty and Speed Competition at The Boulders in Central Saanich, BC. It sounds like Czech climber Libor Hroza set a new (unofficial) world record in Speed today, with a time of 5.578 seconds. The official IFSC sanctioned world record currently sits at 5.6 seconds.
Libor Hroza. Photo courtesy of Christian J. Stewart ©
Here are the results from the final today
This video features Matt Wilder and his family in Albarracin with Noah Kaufman, Siemay Lee and their sun Zun.
Peter Winter / Leavenworth WA / Grand Wall Boulders / 25 V4 Circuit / Home Campus Board
Hope BC / Jeremy Smith / Scrub your Face / Godman Creek / Ring Workouts / Wiretap