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Standard of indoor bouldering in Japan, according to Mickaël Mawem

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jwi:
Mickaël Mawem did spend some time bouldering in Tokyo in the beginning of the year, and after having returned to France he was asked by planetgrimpe about his impressions.

https://planetgrimpe.com/voyage-au-centre-du-japon-micka-mawem-nous-raconte-son-sejour-a-tokyo/

jwi:
Some interesting points:


--- Quote ---If you go into a Japanese bouldering wall one evening and take the top 40 in the venue, I think they all finish in the top 50 of the French Championship.
--- End quote ---


--- Quote ---"You ask yourself why they are so strong? For the simple reason that they are always pushing hard", exclaims Micka. "Over there, the hardest boulders in the gym are worth 8C outside. And people work them over and over again [...]
--- End quote ---


--- Quote ---However, according to Micka, we have nothing to envy our Asian friends when it comes to the quality of the setting. "It's really not great", says the Frenchman, used to the demanding style of our problems in France. "In France, we have the ability to do complex things, really more technical and demanding in terms of movements. They set less complex problems".
--- End quote ---

mrjonathanr:
Is there a cultural tendency to focus on excellence in one area from a young age, rather than do lots of ‘sport’ and eventually settle into a particular preference?

Tom de Gay:
Thanks for sharing this. I was in Tokyo at the same time as him, also climbed at B-Pump a few times (Mickaël says hi…) and came away with a similar impression. The average level of the after-work and Sunday afternoon crowd was very impressive. The women's level was particularly high and the best efforts I saw on the hardest problems were by women.

The style of setting has changed dramatically at B-Pump. 5+ years ago it was mostly clawing up closely spaced rat-crimps. Now it's all burly volume moves and people's shoulders have ballooned accordingly. I climbed there for several sessions and never even half-crimped a hold. Obviously, that's been the general trend in indoor climbing, but the contrast seems quite marked.

The B-Pump wall in Yokohama has a whole panel dedicated to Core holds, which is nice to see.

Fiend:

--- Quote from: jwi on February 10, 2023, 01:03:52 pm ---
--- Quote ---"You ask yourself why they are so strong? For the simple reason that they are always pushing hard", exclaims Micka. "Over there, the hardest boulders in the gym are worth 8C outside. And people work them over and over again [...]
--- End quote ---

--- End quote ---
Doesn't that contradict the 85% efforts protocol?

Also Mickael was much hotter with the tied back braids  :whatever:

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