>> October - November 2005
World
News
Munich World Championships
The World Championship took place in Munich during the first week of July,
crowning new champions in each of the three disciplines in competition climbing:
difficulty, speed and bouldering. Being World Champion is second in prestige
only to winning the overall World Cup title, since the World Cup is contested
over a full season it determines the best climber of that year. The biennial
nature of the World Championship, however, coupled with the large field
and the one event winner-take-all format, means that the World Championships
often produce surprises and can be nearly as difficult to win as the World
Cup title. In the difficulty event, Angela Eiter of Austria continues her
reign at the top, handily campusing through the crux of the final route
for the win. Eiter has so far remained undefeated this season and is the
runaway leader in the current World Cup Season. Emily Harrington of the
USA and Akiyo Noguchi were a surprise second and third.
For the men’s difficulty event, no one had yet emerged as the clear
favourite this season, and the field was wide open, with all of the contenders
– with the notable exception of opening World Cup winner Flavio Crespi
– making it to the finals. Unfortunately, Spaniard Ramon Julian Puigblanque,
the leader heading into the finals, was not aware of a change to the isolation
closing time, and missed heading into isolation by 20 minutes. Defending
champ Thomás Mrázek, who had a slow start to his season, seized
the opportunity with a decisive win to kick start his 2005 campaign. The
remaining places on the podium were filled by Spaniard Patxi Usobiaga in
second and Frenchmen Alex Chabot in third.
While the difficulty event was relatively predictable, the bouldering event
held big surprises. Salavat Rakmetov of Russia has been a top World Cup
competitor for more than ten years, starting in the difficulty event, though
he’s never won a major international title, Rakmetov was always a
threat. In Munich, 38 year-old Rakmetov took the win of his career on the
biggest stage possible by flashing all the problems in both qualifier and
finals, not falling once during the entire comp. Second place went to Austrian
Killian Fischuber, while Gerome Pouvreau of France, normally a difficulty
specialist, was a surprise third.
The women’s title was Frenchwoman Sandrine Levet’s to lose,
as she has virtually owned the World Cups for the past few seasons and is
the defending champion. Her failure to even make the finals was without
doubt the biggest upset of the comp. With Levet gone, the field was wide
open. When the dust settled, the winner that emerged was Olha Shalagina
of the Ukraine, who hasn’t competed on the World Cup circuit in over
a year, but clearly has been using time off training effectively. Ioulia
Abramtchouk of Russia and Czech Vera Kotasova rounded out second and third
respectively.
World Youth Championship in Beijing
The Youth World Cup was held in Beijing, China on Aug 25–28. There
were very strong showings by Europeans, who took the first three positions
in every event. The highest placed Canadians were Katie Mah, who took sixth
place in the Youth B (women’s 14–15 year old) category, and
Sean McColl, who took the same position in the Male Juniors. Americans Paige
Klassen won fourth and Melissa Main took sixth place in Youth B. A full
report will follow in Gripped December 2005.
Men
Youth B (14–15)
1. David Lama (AUT)
2. Jakob Schubert (AUT)
3. Yuriy Dzybyak (UKR)
—
10. Grady Bagwell (USA)
12. Simon Benkert (USA)
18. Brian Anthenuisse (USA)
21. Marshal German (CAN)
26. Patrick Valade (CAN)
35. Michael Weldon (CAN)
37. Andrew Calder (CAN)
39. Ryan Sewell (USA)
Youth A (16–17)
1. Magnus Midtboe (NOR)
2. Felix Neumärker (GER)
3. Sachi Anma (JAP)
—
9. Tyler Haack (USA)
10. JJ Mah (CAN)
11. Matt Johnson (CAN)
14. Carlo Traversi (USA)
23. Nick Douglas (USA)
38. Ian Tolar (USA)
46. Simon Parton (CAN)
55. Christopher Skeet (CAN)
65. Zak McGurk (CAN)
Juniors (18–20)
1. Daniel Winkler (SWI)
2. Nicolas Badia (FRA)
3. Ivan Kaourov (RUS)
—
6. Sean McColl (CAN)
7. Zeb Engberg (USA)
9. Dave Holodiloff (USA)
12. Zach Lerner (USA)
16. Paul Wallace (USA)
30. Brian Kim (USA)
32. David Nimmer (USA)
50. Dan Tersmette (CAN)
52. Alex Quiring (CAN)
Women
Youth B (14–15)
1. Charlotte Durif (FRA)
2. Alexandra Malysheva (RUS)
3. Juliane Wurm (GER)
—
4. Paige Claasen (USA)
6. Melissa Main (USA)
7. Katie Mah (CAN)
8. Marah Bragdon (USA)
13. Tiffany Hensley (USA)
24. Gabriela Bigras-Masse (CAN)
27. Alexandra Bigras-Masse (CAN)
35. Miranda Guzzo (CAN)
Youth A (16–17)
1. Caroline Januel (FRA)
2. Yana Chereshneva (RUS)
3. Akiyo Noguchi (JAP)
—
5. Victoria Weldon (CAN)
12. Elizabeth Broun (USA)
15. Sierra Crane (USA)
19. Kasia Pietras (USA)
20. Alex Johnson (USA)
23. Alex Puccio (USA)
27. Noella Nykyforuk (CAN)
28. Megan Cesarone (CAN)
34. Cathy Laflamme (CAN)
35. Laura Lingeman (USA)
Juniors (18–20)
1. Mina Markovic (SLO)
2. Florence Pinet (FRA)
3. Fanny Conan (FRA)
—
6. Chelsea Rude (USA)
14. Sarah Broun (USA)
18. Sydney McNair (USA)
25. Sage Early (USA)
32. Nani Woollings (CAN)
35. Josie McKee (USA)
37. Georgia Temple (CAN)
38. Amanda Berezowski (CAN)
43. Noelle Mayes (CAN)
Onsight Spree
from Mrázek
Clearly in good form following his world championship win, Thomás
Mrázek visited Gorges du Tarn in France and Rodellar in Spain, putting
his peak form to good use. Beginning at the Gorges du Tarn, Mrázek
onsighted four 8b/5.13d routes: Big Boss, Le plaisir qui Demonte, Teneez
and Priez pour nous in three days. Rodellar features long and ultra steep
climbing, suiting Mrázek’s World Cup trained skills to a tee.
There Mrázek dispatched two more 8b/5.13d, Esprit Rebeld and Gladiator;
and most impressively Mrázek onsighted Pata Negra 8c/5.14b. Mrázek
is only the second person after Yuji Hirayama to manage an onsight of a
5.14b. Several others including, Patxi Usobiaga, Kilian Fischuber, Iker
Pou, and Cedric Lachat, have come close by either onsighting 5.14a/b or
flashing 5.14b. Interestingly, all with the exception of Pou are active
highly ranked World Cup competitors. Perhaps high-end sport climbing and
competition climbing has not diverged as much as generally thought.
British Powerhouse
The Schoolroom in Sheffield is the private training space of some of the
best climbers in Britain. Ben Moon, Jerry Moffat, Steve McClure and Malcolm
Smith were all members at one time or another. To that list add Richard
Simpson, whose ability to campus 1-4-7 on one finger has already made him
notorious at The Schoolroom, but his recent exploits on the rocks should
raise his in the rest of the climbing world. During a recent month-long
spree in the Frankenjura, Simpson put all that mono ability to good use,
amassing a ticklist too long to repeat in full. The highlight of the trip
was undoubtedly Infinity 8c+/5.14c, which took Simpson a mere four days.
Simpson also collected five 8c/5.14b climbs: Intercooler, Armstrong, Showdown,
Raubritter and the classic Wallstreet, in addition to numerous 5.13s and
14a routes.
Not satisfied after that outburst, Simpson returned to the UK and repeated
Stamina Band/Pump up the Power, a 9a/5.14d first put up by John Gaskin,
though Simpson suggest perhaps 8c+. Simpson has already made plans to return
to the Frankenjura in the fall to try for the classic Action Directe 9a/5.14d
in more favourable conditions.
Bright future
Austrian David Lama, at only 15 years of age, has done No Future 8c+/5.14c,
a 70 m ultra-endurance affair at Ceuse and is the youngest person to do
so. Climbing since he was six, Lama was already onsighting 5.13b at age
11, and has been Junior World Champion multiple times in his age group.
The last couple of years have seen Lama try his hand more on rock, and the
results have come quickly, including an onsight of a 5.14a Bastilla at Misja
Pec, Slovenia, as well as a slew of fast 5.14 ascents. Lama’s follow-ups
to No Future, are prime examples of his speed in dispatching projects. Visiting
Terra Promessa in Spain, Lama dealt with Claudio Café 8c/5.14b in
three tries and Aerodrome 8b+/5.14a in a mere two. Lama won his age group
at the Youth World Championship in Beijing.
MOUNTAIN NEWS
Hardest Ice
Route in Peru
Jeff Lowe, one of the greatest climbers in history, soloed an incredible
line of icicles up the vertical wall of Trapecio (5,644 m) in Peru’s
Cordillera Huayhuash in 1985. Lowe rappelled 250 m from the summit, but
he believed the Trapecio climb to be one of his most difficult solos. In
July, Miha Lampreht, Branko Ivanek and Pavle Kozjek of Slovenia and Aritza
Monasterio, a Basque, climbed Lowe’s route and continued up summit
snowfields before two more difficult pitches led to the top. The route had
far less ice on it than it had 20 years ago when Lowe encountered mainly
ice on the first 700 m, showing how vulnerable difficult alpine ice routes
are to global warming.
Kazakhs Do New
Alpine Style Route On Broad Peak
An experienced team of Denis Urubko and Serguey Samoilov of Kazakhstan completed
a new route on the southwest face of Broad Peak (8,048 m) on July 25. Their
route had steep mixed climbing and heavy snow made conditions difficult
and dangerous. The route was so steep that they spent two nights in open
bivies because there were no ledges big enough for their tiny tent. Urubko
and Samoilov were the only climbers to have summitted Broad Peak by that
point in the season. Urubko is considered to be one of the strongest climbers
from his region. It was Samoilov’s first 8,000 m peak.
Huber Frees Hard
Granite Line on the Capucin
Alex Huber has freed a hard new line in the French Alps. Having freed new
groundbreaking lines in such classic areas as Yosemite and the Italian Dolomites,
Alex Huber has turned his attention to the Mont Blanc Massif. Voie Petit
heads up the Grand Capucin formation on Mont Blanc. The five pitch route
includes climbing up to 8b/5.13d and was originally done, though not all
free, by French sport climbing stars Arnaud Petit and Stephanie Bodet. Huber
freed the 450 m line in one day, alpine style.
Thomas Humar
Rescued on Nanga Parbat
Slovenian Alpinist Thomas Humar was rescued after being pinned on a ledge
on Nanga Parbat (8,125 m). Humar, one of the most accomplished and respected
alpinists today, was attempting a solo new route up the Rupal Face when
unstable snow conditions and rock fall halted his progress at 6,522 m on
August 4. Unable to find a safe descent route, and slowly becoming more
exhausted, Humar dug into a narrow snow arête at 5,913 m trying to
stay dry amid the spindrift and constant snow slides. Humar was trapped
for a total of six days and poor weather conditions thwarted repeated rescued
attempts before improved weather finally allowed a Pakistani Military helicopter
to evacuate the exhausted alpinist. Humar suffered dehydration and minor
frostbite.
Messner Brothers’
Nanga Parbat Traverse Repeated
The once feared Nanga Parbat (8,125 m) has had more than a dozen ascents
this season, but the most impressive was Kim Chang Ho and Lee Hyun of Korea’s
traverse of the peak via the Diamir and Rupal Faces. The Koreans climbed
a route similar to the Messner line on the Rupal face before descending
the Diamir. See below for details on the Messners’ first ascent.
Messner Vindicated
Remains of Gunther Messner, including his jacket and boots, were found in
early August by a Pakistani mountain guide in roughly the location that
Reinhold Messner had always claimed they would be, on the Diamir Face of
Nanga Parbat. This settles one of the most rancorous controversies in the
history of climbing.
In 1970, Reinhold and Gunther Messner, members of a German-Italian Expedition
to the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat, climbed the Rupal Face. Messner has always
claimed that they both reached the summit and then decided to descend the
less steep, but unknown Diamir Face. This would be the first traverse of
an 8,000 m peak. On the way down, Gunther was left to rest while Reinhold
searched for the right route. When he came back, Gunther had been swept
away by an avalanche.
Other expedition members have claimed in books and articles that Reinhold
sent Gunther, who was suffering from altitude sickness, down the Rupal Face
on his own and went down the Diamir Face to secure the first traverse of
an 8,000er. Lawsuits, allegations and denials have circulated for decades.
Karl Maria von Herligkoffer, the expedition leader, accused Reinhold of
sacrificing his brother to his ambition. Messner has claimed that von Herliggkoffer
was partly disturbed by the events because his obsession with Nanga Parbat
begun when his half-brother, Willi Merkl, was killed on a German expedition
in 1934, in which four climbers and six sherpas lost their lives assaulting
the peak the nazis called the Mountain of National Destiny.
Max von Kienlin and Hans Saler, climbers from the 1970 trip, also wrote
books accusing Messner of being partly responsible for his brother’s
death. Messner has claimed that von Kienlin was motivated by the fact that
Messner had had an affair with his wife, whom he married in 1972.
Messner went to Pakistan to positively identify the remains in mid-August.
Bonatti Pillar
on Dru Collapses
In 1997, one of the most startling rock falls in the history of the Chamonix
region occurred when much of the fabled West Face fell to the valley. On
June 29, 2005, the massive upper reaches of the wall, first climbed solo
in 1955 by Walter Bonatti, followed it. The Red Pillar of the Bonatti Route
is now gone and the very popular American Direct has been destabilized as
well. After the 1997 rockfall, a controversially dangerous new route was
put up in the scarred area by Valeri Babanov and Yuri Koloshenko of Russia,
but Vertical, a French magazine, has advised climbers to “let the
beast sleep” for the present.
