StatsMix took TechStars founders out for a day of climbing in Boulder Canyon recently. I spoke about the relationship between climbing and building a startup in the following video taken during the trip (starting at 3:27 in the video):

"Be Fearless. Today" The Founders | TechStars Boulder | Episode 3 from Megan Sweeney on Vimeo.

If anyone is interested in trying out StatsMix, we’re currently in private beta so just leave your email on the StatsMix site and I’ll get you in as soon as possible.

The post Climbing and Startups first appeared on All Climbing.

Dougald MacDonald recently launched a new site focused on the Colorado backcountry called Colorado MoJo. I caught up with him to ask some questions about the site.

What prompted you to start a new website focused specifically on Colorado outdoor pursuits?

I started Colorado MoJo because I couldn’t find anything else online that covers all the outdoor sports I love, close to home. There are lots of great outdoor sites, but they’re mostly sport-specific. Most people I know don’t just climb…they also ski or mountain bike or hike 14ers. There was a need for one site that covers multiple backcountry sports, and exclusively in Colorado.

The other issue is that many of the best sites are forum-driven, and you have to read through a mountain of posts every day to get the most out of the site. With Colorado MoJo, we sort through all that information and only publish the real gems, the must-reads. Essentially, it’s a daily online news magazine.

Have you encountered any specific challenges launching a site focused on the Colorado backcountry?

Just lack of time. There is so much to cover, but this is still very much a part-time gig.

What types of content will Colorado MoJo publish?

All Colorado. Mostly backcountry. I started the site with the sports I know best: rock and ice climbing, mountaineering, hiking, backcountry skiing, and trail running. We’ll expand from there, but only when we have real experts to manage those pages.

The site is designed to be about 50 or 60 percent news, 25 or 30 percent inspiration and how-to information, and the rest off-beat, unpredictable stuff. We take a pretty broad definition of “news.” In climbing terms, that might be new routes or access issues, but it also includes first-person stories about cool climbs, epic tales, and photo- and video-driven stories.

We’re building a library of Classics, and we want to create mini-guides to climbing areas that aren’t well known. Obviously, a lot of this information is already available at sites like Mountain Project or Summit Post, but we think there’s an opportunity to present it in a fresh and possibly more useful way.

Please talk a bit about what you don’t cover and why.

The main thing at this time of year is we’re not covering resort skiing and climbing gyms and indoor competitions. Nothing wrong with those things, but Colorado MoJo is focused on the backcountry. That said, something like the Ouray Ice Festival would fit in our pages.

We’re not covering mountain biking or paddling yet, though that could change in 2010. And we’re not doing gear reviews. I think we’ll eventually start covering equipment, but not until we can do it in a way that brings something new to the table. There’s not a lot of truly Colorado-specific gear.

How many contributors do you have so far? Any trends you’re seeing with what is being submitted?

I launched the site in late November, and until now I’ve either written or solicited most of the stories. I’ve been getting some great contributions from climbing and ski guides around the state. They really know their local areas. I’m hoping to have a couple of regular contributors on board very, very soon, and that will broaden and deepen the coverage, especially in skiing.

How can my readers contribute? Any content type or activity that is currently under-represented?

We need to set up better ways for readers to contribute, but the door is definitely open. We’re looking for stories about new routes, epic adventures (in Colorado), and just great days out in the hills. Photo essays or video clips are super-cool. I’m also looking for Classics and mini-guides. People should contact me directly if they have an idea: mojo@coloradomountainjournal.com.

Lots of times, people post a story or report at one of the big forum-based sites and it immediately gets buried. We can lay out a reader’s contribution in a way that will really showcase it, so it will stand out from the crowd, and it will be highlighted for much longer on Colorado MoJo than elsewhere.

On a personal level, what are your favorite aspects of the Colorado backcountry?

Well, I’ve always been a climber first. I’ve been climbing for more than 30 years, and what keeps me going strong is variety: I like mixed routes in the mountains as much as sport climbs at Shelf Road. But, as I said before, I just like to spend lots of time in the mountains, and so I also love skiing, hiking, and trail running.

Anything additional you’d like to share with All Climbing’s readers about Colorado MoJo?

The site is brand new and still developing, and we’re eager to hear from readers with story ideas and suggestions for what they’d like to see at MoJo. Drop me a line! We’re also on Facebook and Twitter, and those pages get updated even more frequently than the main site.

Dougald MacDonald has been skiing since he was 3, hiking since he was 5, and climbing since he was 16. He moved to Colorado in 1987, specifically for the mountains. Dougald was the publisher and editor in chief of Rock & Ice magazine for a number of years, and was the founding publisher of Trail Runner magazine. These days, he’s an associate editor of the American Alpine Journal, and writes most of the news for Climbing.com. Dougald also writes frequently for Outside, Backpacker, 5280, Men’s Journal, and many other magazines. He also wrote the book Longs Peak: The Story of Colorado’s Favorite Fourteener. He also writes a personal blog for the past five years at (http://themountainworld.blogspot.com).

The post Interview with Dougald MacDonald of Colorado MoJo first appeared on All Climbing.

(via Colorado MoJo, Prana)

The post Climbing Video: Erik Weihenmayer Climbs The Naked Edge 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.

The Players – Alex Puccio sends Trice (v12) from BS Productions on Vimeo.

The post Climbing Video: Alex Puccio on Trice (v12) 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.

Well, it turns out one of the side benefits of her being born 10 days early was my ability to attend the premier of Rocky Mountain Highball last night at the Boulder Theater.

Overall, I found this to be an excellent climbing movie and I really only found a few minor flaws. The following are my impressions of Rocky Mountain Highball.

Before the show, the filmmakers mentioned that it took them over two years to make. That care and dedication for delivering this product was unmistakable throughout.

The title may lead the viewer to think this is just for Colorado boulderers. Rocky Mountain Highball was set in Colorado, but not specifically about Colorado. This is an important distinction. The film was more about the essence of bouldering and how highballs fit into the equation. How we as boulderers attempt to push our limits within the pursuit of bouldering. Rocky Mountain Highball appeals to all climbers regardless of style or geographic preferences.

That said, it depicted a nice overview of Colorado bouldering, really showing the breadth of rock type and quality here.

Rocky Mountain Highball had a great story line. Simply having a story, let alone an interesting one, is a major accomplishment for any climbing film. They started with examining the past, looking at the history of bouldering (not just highballs) and then progressed from the present to the future of highball bouldering.

The movie balanced between amazing footage of highball bouldering problems and short clips of commentary from boulderers both old and new.

The interviews with John Sherman, Pat Ament and John Gill were fantastic and likely worth the price of admission by themselves. Their insights and commentary on bouldering contrasted with the newer generation of climbers was striking.

During Rocky Mountain Highball I didn’t think much about the music until I started thinking about what I would say about the music! So I’ll take that to mean the score was unobtrusive and fit well with the climbing.

An often discussed topic, Rocky Mountain Highball took great care to dive into what highballs actually are and how climbers define them. Jason Kehl had one of my favorite quotes where he defined highball bouldering as when you personally feel like you’re too high off the ground (paraphrased). A highball for one person may not be highball for others. That’s really the essence of the experience, right?

It was also nice to watch a climbing film that wasn’t exclusively focused on the hardest boulder problems in the world. There were numerous problems shown that mere mortals could aspire to climb. Unfortunately, they were still scary and tall as hell.

There was also an all-star cast. From their web site:

Director/Filmmaker Scott Neel, and Yama Studio have brought in a huge cast of world renowned climbers, like Paul Robinson, Mark Wilford, Kevin Jorgeson, Lynn Hill, Daniel Woods, John Sherman, John Gill, Steve Mammen, and Jason Kehl. Having filmed more than 70 climbs with more than 35 athletes, this film proves to be an exciting journey through the world of highball bouldering.

Now for a couple negatives.

The film only showed names of climbers during their interviews, not during actual climbs. More frustrating though was the film only displayed the names of individual problems, but not the areas where they were located. As a new local to Colorado, there were many problems where I could place the area or specific boulder, but many I had no idea where they were located.

I spoke with @boulderdiaries after the show and he hinted at researching and publishing a list of the problems and their locations from the film. Or at least that was what I think I heard…

The only reason I can think of why they didn’t explicitly add the areas to the titles was the fact I mentioned above about Rocky Mountain Highball not really being a film about Colorado. Maybe by not highlighting the areas, the filmmakers were attempting to focus on highballing itself. Possibly true to their vision of the movie, but annoying nonetheless.

I know this sounds a bit of schadenfreude, but I think some more footage of failures or falling during some of the problems would have added to the movie. I say this because some of the more dramatic scenes were when a climber topped out of a highball. Watching well-known, pro climbers literally shaking from the fear and anxiety of doing the highball really made the viewer relate in ways you don’t normally see in a climbing film. Especially noticeable was hearing Lynn Hill stress out near the top of one problem. You immediately start to think “if Lynn Hill is freaking out a bit on this highball, how really scary is this?”

Overall, Rocky Mountain Highball delivers on its promise of exploring the world of highball bouldering and more interestingly why climbers push themselves on these types of problems.

My Dad is in town this week and I took him with me to see the premier. As this was a much more climber oriented film compared to the recent releases of The Sharp End and Pure and since he isn’t a climber, I wasn’t sure he would enjoy it. Afterward, he said he loved it. That in itself should say a lot about the quality of the film. Creating a work that is climber-focused yet still delivers an impressive and powerful story line is quite an achievement.

The post Review of Rocky Mountain Highball 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.

I wasnâ??t sure what Iâ??d get out of a weekend of ice climbing just with girls, because Iâ??ve always climbed with boys. Of course Iâ??d come away with sore shoulders, bigger calves and more mad girl-climbing skills, but what else would be on the table at a womenâ??s weekend? After an insanely fun weekend in Ouray at the Chicks With Picks Betty Ice Ball, I compiled a list of five things youâ??ll get more of when you climb with Chicks:

More Potty Talk: A lot can go wrong when you have to pee with a funnel. (I wonâ??t go into it here, but trust me — things can go really wrong.) Consequently, stories about pee funnels abound when you climb with women. After one of the dinners at the Ice Ball, a veteran Chick recounted a pee funnel story from her climb of Denali: The tube of her beloved Freshette landed in the â??toiletâ? at a high camp, sending her into total panic. How would she do the deed in a rope team with men now? A friend sent her to see the only other woman on the mountain, who, though she boasted about only using a hardware-store funnel herself rather than those fancy pee funnels, had a spare Freshette. The woman turned out to be Dawn Glanc, who served as a guide for this yearâ??s Betty Ball (and won the Ouray Ice Fest comp in Januray).

More Nudity: If youâ??re not afraid to bare your ass to the wind and other climbers in the Ice Park (assuming youâ??re not using the aforementioned Freshette), youâ??re probably not afraid to do it back at the Vic in the relative privacy of your room. Maybe my roommate and I were just exhibitionists, but when youâ??re queuing to get in the shower next so you donâ??t stink at dinner, you start peeling off baselayers. If other women came in the room to download the day of climbing while youâ??re toweling off, well, no time for modesty when youâ??re hungry enough to gnaw on your backpack. Thereâ??s nothing titillating about this, no grab-fanny going on here. That happens while weâ??re out climbing, fully dressed.

More Love: When you totally rock some climb, dude — and you will at Chicks, because youâ??ll have some of the best guides around, regardless of gender — expect high fives, fist bumps, puffy belay-jacket hugs and cheers. When a guide throws a contest into the clinic, like making it up in the fewest swings, expect stiff competition from your pals…and those puffy hugs in the end, because your competitors have grace. The love-fest wonâ??t go unnoticed. Nearby climbers seem a little jealous (could just be that youâ??re climbing with Kitty Calhoun), and one commented with a smile that we were having way too much fun, in these sports events, so if you’re a climber and you’re looking for sporting events today you can go here for this.

More Mascara: Iâ??ve never climbed in makeup. Probably because I almost never wear makeup. But for some reason, I spotted a lot of Chicks wearing mascara while ice climbing. I didnâ??t look further into this trend, but Iâ??m assuming itâ??s waterproof. How could it not be waterproof, right? Ice melts after it nicks your face. A few Chicks wore lip gloss, too, and I had to wonder how that doesnâ??t end up on your glove when you wipe your nose with the back of your hand. I donâ??t really get it, but it does look nice — much nicer than the layers of snot accumulating on my gloves. Perhaps I could learn something from the glam climbers.

More Climbing: The Chicks guides keep you moving. You start at 7:45 and climb until 4 p.m. You have 30 minutes to scarf lunch and move to your next clinic. When you get there, be prepared to work. Even when the guides donâ??t seem to be pushing you, they are. Sarah Hueniken, the guide for my mixed clinic, kept sending us further and further up routes by simply saying, â??Do one more move.â? This was the last clinic of the weekend, and I was wasted, but as soon as someone untied, sheâ??d get me to keep going with a mere, â??Youâ??re up, Jenn,â? and a smile. On the last climb, a tall M7, she summoned me to the rope and said, â??Well someone needs to go get the quickdraws.â? Indeed.

Jenn Fields is a writer and editor from Longmont, Colorado. She has written for Bicycling, Mountain Bike, Backpacker, Climbing and the Boulder Daily Camera. Her personal web site is http://www.jennfields.com. You can also follow her on Twitter.

Chicks with Picks just celebrated its tenth anniversary of teaching women of all abilities how to ice climb and improve current skills. More info can be found at http://www.chickswithpicks.net/.

The post More Chicks, A Weekend at the Betty Ice Ball 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.