From Black Diamond:

It all started in the gym for BD Athlete Carlo Traversi. Now, 15 years later, he’s come full circle, tracing his roots back to where it began, only this time, as the owner of Sacramento’s new premier bouldering gym. But Carlo’s motivation is not only to provide quality plastic pulling, but also to create what he experienced growing up—a communal place for climbers to train and hang out, but also be mentored and taught the valuable ethics needed for the crag. Check out this film documenting Carlo’s journey from the gym to the crag and back again.

The post Video: Carlo Traversi – Gym. Crag. Repeat. first appeared on All Climbing.

Jimmy Webb: Nine Days at the New River Bounty from Kevin Takashi Smith on Vimeo.

From the New River Alliance of Climbers (NRAC):

In November of 2017, Jimmy Webb traveled to West Virginia to compete in the New River Bounty, a unique bouldering competition organized by the New River Alliance of Climbers (NRAC). Climbers were given a list of bouldering projects that had “bounties” placed on them – cash prizes for first ascents. This video chronicles the nine days that Jimmy spent at the month-long competition.

The post Video: Jimmy Webb, Nine Days at the New River Bounty first appeared on All Climbing.

While the concentration of climbers in Boulder is obviously quite high, I’ve wondered on the sustainability of all the gyms.

I just read an interesting post from the BRC (which is located literally one block away from Movement) in which they describe their new pricing changes. The summary: they’ve reduced all their prices.

When Movement opened, the lowest monthly rate for the BRC was $60 while Movement was $62. Two dollars extra a month for a shiny new gym and all their extras (full fitness center, yoga classes) was an easy decision for me to check it out for a few months. Now, the BRC’s lowest monthly rate is $55, about 8% less. But comparing apples to apples, that rate is for a 12 month commitment. The comparable rate to Movement’s $62 is now $58. While officially lower, for most people that’s a wash. And while this was more expensive than The Spot, the added fitness center justifies the price in my opinion.

These moves were obviously made to counter the new gym’s presence. The question for the BRC is will it be enough? I’ve heard a few rumors (likely just pure speculation) that Movement’s goal is to put the BRC out of business and then raise their rates. Personally, I find this hard to believe as it wouldn’t necessarily be the best business idea.

My membership to The Spot is ending soon and I’ve decided to switch over to Movement for now mainly because I need to be climbing more routes with my finger injury. I felt quite limited at my rehab efforts in a bouldering-only gym (yes, I know, nice problem to have). But if Movement eventually raises their rates too high, I would quickly go back to The Spot no questions asked.

Competition in all industries in good – it promotes innovation, better service, and a competitive price structure. For Boulder climbers, let’s hope all the gyms can continue to coexist and thrive.

So far, I’ve enjoyed climbing at Movement, but I’ve been limited in my climbing due to the finger injury rehabbing. Peter Beal has a good review from the perspective of someone who can hit the hard stuff there.

If you’ve been to the new gym, what were your thoughts?

The post The Effects of a New Climbing Gym first appeared on All Climbing.

There are some amazing photos of climbers’ home gyms in this very long thread. If I ever get around to putting up a wall in my house, I’ll be using these for ideas.

The post 8a.nu Asks Who has the Best Home Gym in the World? first appeared on All Climbing.

The Movement gym’s blog has an update on the ongoing construction and I thought it was interesting to take a brief behind the scenes look at a climbing gym being constructed.

Construction Progress from Movement Climbing + Fitness on Vimeo.

The post Construction of a Climbing Gym first appeared on All Climbing.

The money the park receives is part of the $750 million federal package to improve the national park system. A full list of the projects is located here.

I wonder if any of this work will be done for the summer alpine bouldering season?

(via Daily Camera and Denver Business Journal)

The post Rocky Mountain National Park Benefits From Federal Stimulus Package first appeared on All Climbing.

photo credit: ~ Phil Moore

UKClimbing.com offers up a comprehensive guide to bouldering at Fontainebleau, France complete with how to train, the local rating system, when to go, and where to stay.

It has been used as a bouldering area since the 1870s and has almost continuously remained at the centre of the world bouldering scene since the 1930s. Possibly as it is quite unique for one area to exhibit so many desirable characteristics: a large number of classic problems at all grades – including classic moderates, largely excellent soft and sandy landings, a positive and active local scene, historical interest (possibly the first or at least very early ascents of the first 4, 5, 6 and 7s in the world,) a strange and surreally beautiful locale, much potential for development and finally, the subtle nature of the problems, requiring footwork, body position and general trickery, often making success as much a mental as a physical workout and as a result it is supremely satisfying.

Another excellent resource for bouldering in Fontainebleau is Bleau.info

The post Guide to Bouldering in Fontainebleau, France first appeared on All Climbing.

The following shots are from a pull-off above the main bouldering areas. They show the highly trafficked Monkey Traverse and someone top-roping a climb on the face to the right and down the hill from Monkey.

I was particularly pleased with the last two images as the setting sun was just right for the shot, nicely lighting up the climber on the face.

The post The Monkey Traverse at Flagstaff Mountain first appeared on All Climbing.

I recently stumbled on this site and was impressed by the depth of each review. Each has a video of their hold testing along with suggested uses for your climbing wall.

They have a great variety of reviews on many brands of holds you don’t often see in your local gyms like Sequence Climbing, Three Ball Climbing, Teknik, Climb It, Atomik, and Project Holds; but also some of the bigger players like Nicros, Metolius, and EntrePrises.

The post Climbing Hold Reviews first appeared on All Climbing.

First off, Morrison is the kind of bouldering area where you will definitely need beta from the locals. I had a really hard time deciphering problems using the guidebooks (Colorado Bouldering and Bouldering Colorado).

As a frequently climbed area outside of Denver, the problems at Morrison appeared to be beta intensive as there were many variations and eliminates.

One of the more interesting problems I tried wasn’t even in the guidebooks. A local boulderer gave me beta on a problem they call the “Grand Traverse”. Basically you start as far right of the cliff line as possible (just below the Black Hole) and traverse left as far as possible. Not sure what grade this comes in at because of the many variations you could use to complete the traverse, but it’s a great workout nonetheless.

The problems in The Black Hole appeared to be the best quality with the most interesting moves. There were a few problems that I didn’t get to try that I look forward to working on next time I visit.

Additionally, there are intriguing boulders on the south side of the road that yield some good problems according to the guides.

Overall, I wasn’t too thrilled with the place. In addition to the beta issues, problems were on the polished side. Obviously, this is understandable due to the high traffic the place receives. I was there on a cold early afternoon day, mid-week and there were a bunch of climbers there. I can’t imagine what Morrison is like after work during the summer. I also prefer actual boulders with normal top outs and you don’t really have this at Morrison as it’s more of a short cliff line.

If anyone is familiar with Morrison bouldering and thinks I’ve misjudged the area, please let me know what I missed!

The post Bouldering in Morrison, Colorado first appeared on All Climbing.