UKBouldering.com
the shizzle => bouldering => Topic started by: Bubba on February 26, 2003, 10:59:00 am
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...not exactly bouldering, but good old Alex Huber has just soloed "Der Opportunist" at a pretty hefty 8b.....
(http://www.portfolio.planetmountain.com/portfolio/news/15/01.jpg)
He crazy.
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I wonder what the hardest route anyones ever soloed is?
I know Marc le Menestrel soloed Revelations at 8a+, Alain Robert is supposed to have done 8b in bare feet as a solo, Dave Thomas soloed flaming drambuie at e6 6b.
I soloed e2 5b, the dateline, Pexhill when I was 16. I am sooooo awesome.
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Dave Thomas soloed flaming drambuie at e6 6b
Yeah man, I watched that ascent ... and very scary it was too. Dave nearly came a cropper soloing an E4 on the Sanctuary Wall a while afterwards when he came across wet/loose holds - not good when it's too steep for a rope to get to you. Not to mention his solos of Lord of the Flies and Caveman at Berry Head with a new finish thrown in.
Dunno what the hardest solo is - anyone know? If there's those who can onsight 8b+, you'd think someone would have soloed one....
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I soloed dateline too when I was 16. Soloed Black Magic the same day. Bo selecta.
Dobbin-you ever soloed the Knife? It's fookin amazing...ly scary. I reckon that makes Huber look like a nancy.
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I've onsight soloed 8b. :shock:
No. Really. It was an 8b roof at Las Canadas, Tenerife.
Actually, it felt a bit easy for the grade.
Actually, it might have been a typo. :?
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Stu, in this pic you look like some sort of pervy gynecologist going in a scary Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers stylee, armed to the teeth with nasty metal implements:
(http://www.darkpeakimages.co.uk/peak/emeraldcrack.jpg)
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Isn't that Huber's warm-up route though?
When Mark Leach soloed Sean's Roof it was still given 8c.
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Sean's Roof doesn't count coz it's only about 2 feet off the floor....
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I once soloed Fear Of Faust on Lundy, which i recon is about the same angle as that Huber route.
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Hardest solos I've heard of were back in the early '90s when Alain Robert and Jean-Christophe Normand both soloed proper, big 8bs. Which I reckon makes them the first E10, possibly even E11, ascents.
I think the route Robert did barefoot was Cauchemar d'Elephant at Buoux, 8a.
After his 8b solo, Normand decided to train hard and solo the 8c at his local crag. He trained so hard and dieted so extremely that his liver failed and the doctors told him there was nothing they could do and he would be dead within 6 months. He wrote a very moving letter to Vertical saying goodbye to the climbing community. At the time he could barely get out of bed. He went on to make a complete recovery and has since climbed Font 8b.
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that is the maddest thing i have ever heard
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He trained so hard and dieted so extremely that his liver failed and the doctors told him there was nothing they could do and he would be dead within 6 months
OMG :shock:
That's madder than Ian Vincent's old dieting regime, and that was scary!
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Dobbin-you ever soloed the Knife? It's fookin amazing...ly scary. I reckon that makes Huber look like a nancy.
Is that the hanging arete thing to the left? H.A.R.D.C.O.R.E! I can see how that might be scary yes, and effort for Black Magic - quality route.
If Huber or Fred Nicole came to Pexhill (the North West's premier forcing ground) some 65 year old grandad with saggy grey pants would burn their asses like you've never seen! :twisted:
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That's madder than Ian Vincent's old dieting regime, and that was scary!
Skinny Vinny! what a character! couldn't mix to save his life but dope tunage!
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He used to play so hard the dancefloor would regularly flee for the safety of the bar!!!
He did get a lot better it must be said, and at least it kept his mind off his crazed training/dieting madness....
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A better pic:
(http://www.8a.nu/eng/pics/hubersolo.jpg)
Apparantly Spaniard Dani Andrada has soloed "Archipel" at Charent at 8c+ (though he downgraded it to 8c), but this is another "Sean's Roof" type thing:
(http://www.chez.com/charentescalade/voies/images/archipel2.jpg)
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vid of huber soloing kommunist 8b+
http://huberbuam.de/video/kommunist.wmv
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Weird how it stops before he tops.
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presumably he has to graba rope or something.
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Bon effort that man, the crux looks frighteningly slopey and slappy for a solo...
E11?? :wink:
Video is gash tho, hardly captures the movements well and too short :(
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ain't that the one he did alone, getting a passing rambler to hold the camcorder?
Might explain the crapness of the vid if a handlebar-moustached red sock-wearing bumbly was on the case...
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ain't that the one he did alone, getting a passing rambler to hold the camcorder?
what, a rambler on an ab rope? :?
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my bad - can't view vidz at work due to antiquated technology...
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both of hubers solo's are f**kin amazin.
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Im almost certain that dani andrada has soloed an 8c in Cuenca which is 35 metres long, and not at all a seans roof type thing, gets to about 30 metres off the deck, this is absoloutely amzing. Another spaniard (forgotten his name now) Soloed one 8b and one 8b+ that are 35 metres higth and total stamina routes with cruxes at the top. This is also amazing. Makes these poxy 7 metre E9's and E10's look like a joke. seriously what grade would a 35 metre 8c get as a solo it must be about E14 in comparison to something like the Zone or Knockin.
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i look forward to these guys coming over and onsighting equilibrium in that case.
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Serously i woudnt be suprised if equilibrium would get On sighted. Its fairly safe and only around 8b. Some of these spanish Guys on sight 8b for warming up no joke. If only they where intersted, but they would take one look at it and go home. As for parthian shot, they would absoloutely piss it On sight, the climbing would be so easy for them, they really wouldnt have a problem. I have tried to persuade these boys to come to britain but their not at all intersted, not even in the sport routes let alone the trad, if only i could persuade them to come for one week, thats all they would need, must try harder.
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Its fairly safe
yeah v12 crux section with 35 feet groundfall potential sounds pretty safe to me too.
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LOL :lol:
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i remember reading about sum foreign dude soloing a verticalish 12 metre 8b+ with the crux at the 8m point. no mats or spotters either. can't remember his bastard name though.
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Equilibrium won't be any harder than V9... Gresham's done it :saythat:
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...whilst commentating to 10 punters from London who where on a Planet Fear"Pay £900 to let Gresham poit out the obvious flaws in your climbing abilty" course! :? :lol:
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don't u mean 10 punters from london and 1 from lancashire greg? :wink:
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Nah I'd be down on the southern sandstone intermediates course with Shane Ohly and Adrian Baxter telling me how to put my shoes on and the correct procedure to opperate my chalk bag :lol:
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...and paying £2000 for the privilege :alco:
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'Got No Friends?
Well for just £10,000 we'll take u and 10 other socially retarded billy no mates' to france and let u belay myself (mr gresham, bodybuilder, ahem... climber extraordinaire). And if you're lucky i may even give u all a personalised in-depth report on just how shit u really are.'
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To be honest I have absolute respect for Planet Fear team they have come up with an license to print money and good on em!!
If some daft old fruit from London wants to pay shed loads to go climbing with famous types thats fine by me! Do you get a refund if Steve Mclure can't do a 8c+ on request :wink:
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on the subject of these spanish types comin over n leaving the peak in ruins... 8c kev, the clues in the name n he's spanish. could hang on crimps all day but...
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...and paying £2000 for the privilege :alco:
only £2000? where do i sign?
anyone else notice going on the photos on their site it seems to be the same people who go on each one? i wish i had money like that to piss away. Mind you, does beg the question if the coaching is that effective why do they need to go back? :wink:
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Who was that Swiss guy who was over a couple of years ago and was flashing Brad Pit and generally kicking some ass?
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Serously i woudnt be suprised if equilibrium would get On sighted. Its fairly safe and only around 8b. Some of these spanish Guys on sight 8b for warming up no joke.
yeah, but do they onsight tenchical slappy slopey arete shit, where you could die?
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I reckon the insecurity factor on thin vertical/slabby grit routes bumps the E grade. A super steep line of 8b posi pocket pulling could feel quite controlled if you had the power (and stamina), but stuff like Equilibrium (I'm guessing) is always going to feel on-off.
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regarding Spanish kev, the top spaniards are in a totally different league to kev, and even spanish kev managed an E7 on site, despite having done no trad whatsoever. really Im sure even Kev will tell you this, their another level to him.
Why do most brits think that foreign climbers would have a problem with grit because its so techniqual slopey bla bla blah.
These guys are doing 8c and 8c+ routes on vertical granite walls at places like monseratt in a few trys. you do not get more techniqual and thin routes such as these. They are also on sighting 8b's and 8b+ routes in the same style. Seriously they wouldnt have a problem with these types of routes. They are in totally different leagues to the likes of sharma Graham etc, i really dont think a 8b arete would cause them any problem.
And about it been V12 in the crux, Go try superman and then equilibrium, tell me which one is harder, enough said
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regarding Spanish kev, the top spaniards are in a totally different league to kev, and even spanish kev managed an E7 on site, despite having done no trad whatsoever. really Im sure even Kev will tell you this, their another level to him.
Why do most brits think that foreign climbers would have a problem with grit because its so techniqual slopey bla bla blah.
These guys are doing 8c and 8c+ routes on vertical granite walls at places like monseratt in a few trys. you do not get more techniqual and thin routes such as these. They are also on sighting 8b's and 8b+ routes in the same style. Seriously they wouldnt have a problem with these types of routes. They are in totally different leagues to the likes of sharma Graham etc, i really dont think a 8b arete would cause them any problem.
And about it been V12 in the crux, Go try superman and then equilibrium, tell me which one is harder, enough said
:bang: :blowjob: Viva Espangne eh Buoux
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Rock on, I did a bit with the Kev-meister last winter and it is true, he regards himself as nothing compared with Ramon, Patxi etc. And although he did do Shine On onsight (and then again for cameras!) lets be honest its not E7 its just a highball. He also admitted to being naff at "freection", "smeeerin", and "scary head shit". That said he is a fuckin wad! Lets not forget that even gritstone's hard shit boils down to beastliness.
Equilibrium V12! I've been on it and can tell you that its V9/10, depending on height. Most of this is safe as houses - its only dangerous after the crux, although the moves are still 6b here.
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Ivan Tresch (sp?) is the swiss guy i think bubba. He was a beast, got to the last moves on careless torque second go jumped off then went and tried something else!
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That's the guy, and apparantly his brother was even better than him.
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pussy
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hands up who's done superman? :lol:
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Ivan Tresch (sp?) is the swiss guy i think bubba. He was a beast, got to the last moves on careless torque second go jumped off then went and tried something else!
Onsight Solo'ed Marrowbone jelly and the other routes next to it one after another.
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These guys are doing 8c and 8c+ routes on vertical granite walls at places like monseratt in a few trys. you do not get more techniqual and thin routes such as these.
I was under the impression Monserrat was conglomerate towers, ie yarding on sticky out pebbles.
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I checked, i'm right. Its big pockety pebbly bucket pulling, not good training for Burbage methinks.
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These guys are doing 8c and 8c+ routes on vertical granite walls at places like monseratt in a few trys. you do not get more techniqual and thin routes such as these.
I was under the impression Monserrat was conglomerate towers, ie yarding on sticky out pebbles.
I was going to say that, but I knew Fatboy would only accuse me of being a geo-bore again :D
There are some super-thin and technical granite walls on Corsica though - didn't one of the Petits do an 8c there??
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There might be more than one Montserrat but you're right, the well known one certainly isn't granite....
It's a very strange place to climb and one route can offer several different styles of climbing and even several different types of rock. The "pebbles" range in size from tiny to enormous and you can find yourself with one hand on a bit of limestone and the other on a bit of sandstone.
But it's certainly not just pocket/pebble pulling - there's some very technical climbing there.
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I don't see why some of these top Spanish boys, one of whom has done 9a in a day ffs wouldn't come over here and clean up. I'm sure these guys climb hard at places like Font and aren't going to fail just because the climbing is slopey and insecure. Think how easy these routes would feel to them?
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you can't underestimate the head aspect though. i know its easy to say XXX person has done 100 9as thus would clean up on grit, but then again mclure has done 9as, gaskins has, moon has done damn near and with the greatest respect non of them have done much if anything i the way of the hardest trad routes on grit.
remember, you can be bouldering font 7c or whatever and 5b friction moves a long way above gear or solo can always feel scetchy and desperate - believe me. i imagine its also possible for a similar thing to happen at the top level.
but then again if these guys are as strong as LPT8c says, then i really wanna see them over here doing shit to prove it one way or another, otherwise its all talk, and talk is cheap.
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I guess that some of them wouldn't have the head for it, but there will be those that do. And how much of the hardest grit stuff has been onsighted even by UK climbers?
I think Mauro Calibani would be a strong candidate for a foreigner climbing hard-grit - world champion boulderer who's into trad and grit - he's put up an E9 in Italy and has onsighted E6 on grit already.
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bits and bobs have been onsighted/groundup on grit innit. doug, carmen picasso, countdown etc. probably more that no-one knows about. jordan tried to ground-up the zone, which is still on if he gets psyched to back.
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I think Mauro Calibani would be a strong candidate for a foreigner climbing hard-grit - world champion boulderer who's into trad and grit - he's put up an E9 in Italy and has onsighted E6 on grit already.
Word to Mauro. But lets not forget lanky loud Northumberland V14 beast Andy Earl who is also a World Cup wad and has put up loads of E8's and probably a couple of E9's.
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I don't doubt if the top climbers from anywhere in the world applied themselves to grits hardest they wouldn't find them too hard. However onsighting Equilibrium is another matter. I'm not saying they couldn't do it, I'm saying they wouldn't because without (and even with) a good knowledge of the perculiarities(sp) of grit, an onsight would involve too much risk of falling, too much uncertainty. Even if 9 times out of 10 you can piss up said grade, who's going to be stupid enough to risk it on unfamiliar ground? I dare say there could be people in the UK who might be able to onsight Equilibrium, but it's unlikely to happen anytime soon by persons of any nationality. Personally I suspect that some of this professed disinterest in climbing in the UK has as much to do with self preservation as anything else.
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Not dissing the Earl, but aren't we talking hardcore Johnny Foreigners here?
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Fair do's, but he is a geordie.
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Regarding monsterrat, i know the place isnt grante, not sure what i was thinking their, especially as i spent a week their once. It definetly isnt large pebble pulling though not in the high grades of 8c and above, the routes are as thin as anything and involve crimping very very small lumps of rock. The have climbed 8c+ routes on granite aswell, i cant think of the area though, i spoke to ramonet about it and saw some pictures, the routes are hideously thin. When i find out what the area is called il post it up.
When where talking about the head aspect, i dont think although alot easir they would be able to do something like Indian face flash, its to high and serious and they definetly would shit themselves. However Equillibrium just isnt dangerous, with a good belayer you will not hit the floor, from any of the hard moves, yes the top is a bit dangerous but its easy their. Besides its not exactly scary to look at is it. I think if you where to assure them they are ok they will have no problem going for it. And the climbing is no different to alot of things they have done in font etc etc.
So long as they know they wont hurt themselves, its no problem. Stuff like meshuga on the other hand, would need someone with a bit more of a reckless approach.
Their are many routes on grit that arnt dangerous and get very big numbers, i can think of 3 E10 routes that people have fallen off and been ok, as well as a load of E9's.
And there are some people that have on sighting in mind on these hard routes that are more than capable of doing it, mentioning no names but i am pretty sure stuff will get done this winter.
Personally I suspect that some of this professed disinterest in climbing in the UK has as much to do with self preservation as anything else.
Not quite sure what you mean by that, but i think that alot of british climbers are quite pleased that any foreign climbers havent been over to britain and pissed all or apparent test pieces. With certain exceptions i would say that most of the sport routes in britain are relatively soft for the gradesor even overgraded compared to certain areas in europe (Im not talking about Gorge Du tarn etc), and certainly wouldnt cause these guys any problems, i would be shocked if they didnt leave the country with an almighty tick list laughing at our supposed hard routes.
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Personally I suspect that some of this professed disinterest in climbing in the UK has as much to do with self preservation as anything else.
Not quite sure what you mean by that
I just mean maybe they don't want to die on holiday innit.
You are probly right about these euro-mutants, I don't have enough experience of european climbing and climbers to make a proper comment really :cry:
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Ok sorry Bonjoy, wasnt quite sure what you meant, yor probably right about them not wanting to die. Of course their is exceptions (Toby benham) who if anyones intersted is coming to britain to try his luck even further in january (judder judder).
Really i know i bang on about these european mutants, but they realy are something else and even make the like of Sharma and graham look mediocre.
If only i could climb that well, i could just nip to raven tor for the afternoon and have a quick redpoint of Mutation, then warm down on Mecca on site. (fingers crossed).
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The have climbed 8c+ routes on granite aswell, i cant think of the area though
La Pedriza - just north of Madrid?
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Really i know i bang on about these european mutants, but they realy are something else and even make the like of Sharma and graham look mediocre.
is that why sharma did realization? is that why graham did AD? on the subject of them two, they climb at the top level all over the world on different types of rock. there really is no putdown anyone can direct at them, except out of own amusement. no one on the planet would make them look mediocre!
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good point. if they make sharma etc look mediocre, then why aren't they putting up F10a routes right now?
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Ok they probably dont make them look mediocre, but they are without doubt another level to Sharma and Graham in routes anyway.
Two examples, Paxti usobiaga completed realisation this year needing very few tries on the route compared to sharma's huge amount of attempts, he also suggested that realisation is pretty ok compared to ramonets La Rambla and in comparision is proabably only 9a. Lets not forget that ramonet completed the first part biographie in only one day, an amazing effort. Paxti has also onsighted this year alone 5 8b+ routes, a feat that no one else has come close to in a lifetime.
Another example, Dave graham in siurana attempts a pretty famous hard project, trys it a fair bit, finds it horrendus, dosent really make much of an impression. Up comes ramonet for a weekends climbing, on the first day he completes another 9a project that he has been trying, he then does an 8c in a few tries in the same day, he also looks on the other project that graham had tried. Climbs up it once then goes home for a deserved rest.
The next day Graham and Ramonet at the same cliff, Ramonet has another look at this very hard prject, puts in his clips, lowers down, 20 minutes later sends it like it was a fucking warm up absoloutely no effort at all. Graham sits down watching, fucking gobsmacked to say the least, ramonet goes home with a new route, chikane 8c+. Not sure what Grahma was thinking at this time.
Really i know their are alot of amazing climbers out their and grahams ascent of Action directe in only 6 days is amazing, but these young boys really are a new breed, you have to see it to believe it. Really if you watched them climb you would rant as much as me, it really is truly inspiring.
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I'm with Rich on this one. I've seen both Graham and Patxi on Realization in the flesh, and Sharma on it on video. Patxi was obviously in another league on a route of this style - he was absolutely cruising, locking off the move that Sharma kept falling on, this after comparatively little time on the route. Basically this route is nowhere near his limit!
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i'm not disputing that they're wads at all. all i'm saying is that there is a massive massive difference between climbing all these hideous routes on lime or granite on your own turf, so to speak, n being paid to fly around the world doing cutting edge boulder probs n routes in many different countries on many different rock types.
just like jerry did back in the day :wink:
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More awesome footage of Huber soloing:
http://www.berghaus.com/our_people/berghaus_team/alex_huber_hi.asx