UKBouldering.com
the shizzle => news => Topic started by: HaeMeS on January 17, 2019, 03:28:49 pm
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1st 9A in Font by Charles Albert?
https://www.grimper.com/news-le-grimper-194-kiosque-histoire-deuxieme-proposition-9a-bloc-planete-decouvrir-exclu (https://www.grimper.com/news-le-grimper-194-kiosque-histoire-deuxieme-proposition-9a-bloc-planete-decouvrir-exclu)
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Love this google translation of Grimper:
''In this issue, the climbing UFO Charles Albert is honored for his success in the second 9A block of the world''
Mutant?
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For those who doesn't have Grimper:
The problem is on an old bivack site at https://bleau.info/rocherbrule and is called No Kpote Only (Bareback only) after some grafitti on the (destroyed) bivack. The first ascent was witnessed by Grimper's news editor Lucien Martinez, a very strong climber from southern France who knows Fontainebleau quite well. Yes, of course Albert climbed the problem barefoot.
Charles Albert, who spend 20 sessions on the problem, think it is 9a, because the 8cs he's tried in the same style seems like warmups in comparison, and that you need to be very flexible, quite tall, and strong on crimps to succeed – and mentions that it would probably suit Adam Ondra quite well.
Move to news? There is absolutely zero doubt that the boulder has actually been climbed, and very little doubt that it is brutally hard.
For those who can read French but doesn't have the latest issue of Grimper: get it! Worth the price and more just for the article on this problem. The issue also have a good interview with Albert.
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You can see footage of an attempt here:
https://youtu.be/SZNpaE0aJbc?t=394
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Really nice story indeed. CA living on lentils and rice. Repeating or opening the hardest problems, sans shoes et sans pads. :jaw:
Edited.
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in complete anonimity
:lol:
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The one @Cuvier.
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Wow. Bold moves! Thanks a lot for the video sdm, that does look brutally hard, and almost aesthetic enough to be at the right side of the Tor rather than in La Foret.
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You can see footage of an attempt here:
https://youtu.be/SZNpaE0aJbc?t=394
oh my christ. I will never know how he executes that iron cross move. That looks impossible :jaw: :jaw: :jaw:
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Wow. Bold moves! Thanks a lot for the video sdm, that does look brutally hard, and almost aesthetic enough to be at the right side of the Tor rather than in La Foret.
More like Dumby.
I like how through the French encouragement there's a quick 'yes mate!' from the group. I imagine there are lots of euro wads shouting 'G'wan pal!' at the sport crags while we're not there.
Anyway, looks ace and yes, very Ondra.
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Prob 7a+ with shoes. Might be another soon if BigJimmyWebb does Island sit.
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This should be massive news, shouldn't it? Second 9A! yet it seems as if the major reaction is underwhelmed. I found myself asking why this is, personally I initially found his persona a bit annoying, based on nothing of course. In reality he has done or at least claims to have done one of the two hardest problems in the world, its taken him a lot less time than Nalle took on Burden of Dreams, of course there are many differences, climate etc that could have a part to play.
The key reason may be that he isn't marketable, doesn't fit the 'athlete' niche, doesn't wear shoes, makes him weird, plus not very marketable, he doesn't even wear nice trousers! If the bouldering world emulated him, the cash would cease to flow.
The barefoot thing seems to throw people as well, one reason might be because the grades will vary wildly with this barefoot approach thus destabilising our view of difficulty and what not.
Time will well, super maverick outsider maybe or we wait to see who and when repeats the two 9A's in the world. On that note is Burden of Dreams getting any attention?
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It's the lack of hype. All the latest "hardest in the world" have come with an accompanying amount of build up, hype, and accompanying marketing. Dawn Wall, Burden of Dreams, Silence: they all had a crescendo, with accompanying film. I don't think this is unwarranted. After all, if someone is genuinely pushing the boundaries then there's no reason not to make a big deal of it. All those things also involved a massive journey to get there, and part of the delight for the climbing community was seeing someone at the top of the game reach the end of such a journey with a success. Other than some chat about him having lots of sessions on it, we don't really know how much effort went into this line.
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This should be massive news, shouldn't it? Second 9A! yet it seems as if the major reaction is underwhelmed.
It’s a bit disappointing that the first 9a in the forest is something that looks like it could be in a Lancashire quarry. This is my reason for finding this underwhelming, certainly not his presentation or persona.
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I'm just speculating, but it might be because he's a relatively new name in the super hard climbing scene and so his suggested grades have less weight than someone like Nalle.
On that note is Burden of Dreams getting any attention?
Daniel Woods mentioned trying it, as one of his aims for the year, at the end of his Hardclimbs podcast interview.
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He's a video of Nalle and co, climbing what I assume to be the finish of the 9A, and not making it look easy
https://youtu.be/dG6xzlYepIo?t=724
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It’s a bit disappointing that the first 9a in the forest is something that looks like it could be in a Lancashire quarry.
The longer shot with the woman trying it in the video 36C linked to does at least make it look a bit more like Font & less like Wilton One. Also shows how steep it actually is.
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It’s a bit disappointing that the first 9a in the forest is something that looks like it could be in a Lancashire quarry.
I get this, but BoD was such a classically good line with such good aesthetics (forest, snow, basic line of crimps up a steep wall) that its very hard to compare to that. This one is almost British in its grimness, which part of me sort of likes. The name amuses me also having had a new near misses with discarded jonnies while wearing flip flops in Font...
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It’s a bit disappointing that the first 9a in the forest is something that looks like it could be in a Lancashire quarry. This is my reason for finding this underwhelming, certainly not his presentation or persona.
I disagree. Obviously it's unfortunate that the boulder has had graffiti sprayed all over it but based on the vid posted by 36C (nice one), I think it looks like just as impressive a piece of pure sandstone as the Big Island Assis boulder - which as mentioned is the most well known potential candidate for the first problem at that sort of level.
It's also not surprising that something this hard would be in a relatively lowball cave. It's not going to be some big booming arete. Even the Big Island Assis has a stepped landing etc. although granted is the better looking.
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It's not going to be some big booming arete.
Why not though? Livin' Large is 8C. The Finnish Line is 8C+. Just need a big boomin' arete with a little bit more to it than those.
Regards quality of line. Would it not also be fair to say that this is a contrived, harder start to a more direct 7C/8A? Basically, it's a harder version of Barry Kingsize Sit :shit:
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Fair point, but it's still not surprising that it's a steep roof/lowball. I suppose my thought was that most of the big boomers in Font have been done but I'm happy to be corrected. Any example candidates?
I wouldn't say it looks contrived at all. You climb from a logical start at the base of the boulder up into the prow and to the top. The fact that you can start higher is neither here nor there; like saying the first three moves of Zoo York are pointless just because you trav slightly to get onto the arete...
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The normal start does look OK, I had only watched the lowball crabbing vid. Looks like Lebreton and Nalle are starting in the obvious position but hard to tell without having visited the boulder.
Considering there's more than 3k 7's and 8's in Font it seems likely that there's a nice aesthetic 9a waiting in there to be brushed up somewhere in the vastness of the forest. Pilier du Desert sit is meant to be a great looking project but no idea how hard.
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Why not though? Livin' Large is 8C/+. The Finnish Line is 8C.
keep up.
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As Stubbs says, hard to tell without actually having been, but Nalle appears to start with his arse on the deck and pulls straight into the nice groove-prow thing. The Albert start crabs into it from a little bit lower where the ground is more eroded. To this end I'm relieved that this isn't the worlds first 9A, though it is nice to see when locals get really psyched for arbitrary hard moves on shithole boulders.
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Going by the video it seem's fairly obvious that Charles has climbed it from the left, under the graffiti via a bunch of hard moved, whereas Nalle climbed it from low right.
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Wtf are you guys on about, makes me wonder if I watched the same video. What I saw was an incredible set of moves executed with amazing style on some seriously small holds. Probably the most inspired I’ve been by watching a boulder problem in years and not a set of dice being rolled in sight. Thank f@ck.
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Pilier du Desert sit is meant to be a great looking project but no idea how hard.
Been done from a crouch (sort of) by our very own James Squire at about 8A+. So sit probably in the 8B-8+ range unless it's totally ridiculous.
What Dan said. At least it's not as stupidly arse scraping as Il Pirata.
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Wtf are you guys on about, makes me wonder if I watched the same video. What I saw was an incredible set of moves executed with amazing style on some seriously small holds. Probably the most inspired I’ve been by watching a boulder problem in years and not a set of dice being rolled in sight. Thank f@ck.
I think it looks pretty good on the basis of the moves. Moves > line. IMO. Burden of Dreams hardly a stunner. Likewise Gioa. Ondra will be well into it I recks.
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what 36 linked is the sitstart to the 7c stand, which is supposed to be around 8a+ (going by the article in grimper)
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Has Franco been there with a rope and shunt yet? 😃
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I once had a dream..... no hang on that wasn’t funny the first or second time 😂
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Compared to a previous 'hardest in the world' (Terranova) this one's a beauty. Great story to add to the canon of climbing folklore: little-known crusty does world's joint hardest boulder without shoes, names it after local dogging activity.
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Very inspiring in terms of the hard moves but I'm in agreement that the rock looks dump. In terms of hard projects in font surely the sit start to Imhotep has to be right up there.
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Compared to a previous 'hardest in the world' (Terranova) this one's a beauty. Great story to add to the canon of climbing folklore: little-known crusty does world's joint hardest boulder without shoes, names it after local dogging activity.
In Grimper he gives as the main reason for trying the project that it was only an hour walk from home.
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Compared to a previous 'hardest in the world' (Terranova) this one's a beauty. Great story to add to the canon of climbing folklore: little-known crusty does world's joint hardest boulder without shoes, names it after local dogging activity.
In Grimper he gives as the main reason for trying the project that it was only an hour walk from home.
Is that with or without shoes?
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I definitely like how understatedly maverick the guy is. It's not very over-caffeinated sugary drink company which is nice. It does look better in the wide angle shot. The brutality of the moves give it the hard grade, other factors may give it star quality.
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I’ll admit I read this thinking it all sounded a bit dubious, but then I watched the videos and it actually looks amazing! Sure not the most aesthetic, but amazing bloody hard moves.
I’m another sucker fooled by the mass climbing media into thinking you can’t to anything hard without the fame and the hype and Instagram. This is brilliant.
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I like how through the French encouragement there's a quick 'yes mate!' from the group. I imagine there are lots of euro wads shouting 'G'wan pal!' at the sport crags while we're not there.
Sorry to disappoint you but on a second watch/listen I'm pretty sure it's "yes mec" not "mate".
"Mec" being basically "mate" en français (or "bro" or "dude" if you prefer)
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I don't buy the Albert product. Nothing against his climbing, but he, as a person, looks to me as fake as a 3 euro bill.
Maybe at the beginning of his career, he was just a naif guy with strong fingers and toes, but - at least from what I get from that first video linked - now he looks very, very well aware of his mediatic power, and very well versed into walking the thin line between limelight and stealth performances and appearances.
"We managed to go to the proj..."
"That fucking pinch dude..."
He was barely able to speak and look into the camera just a few years ago. Now he seems to have learnt the American way of talking "hardcore climbing".
"The proj", "Dude", are you fucking kidding me?
To me it's just copy/paste. Let's do what others do.
Again, incredible climbing feats, etc. But I don't buy the whole package.
Twenty sessions, videos on it, witnessed by Grimper's editor, but no video?
Nalle was on his own for years, yet there's video of the send.
A two moves, 8c sitter to Hypothese, and no video?
Why?
Why?
I am not doubting his ascents, I don't even care.
I am asking myself if the is really so casual or so calculated.
I am asking myself if the lack of videos, teamed with the witnesses thing, people sure about his achievements, couldn't really be a very productive strategy to be under the limelight without really being under the limelight. Measuring every public appearance, then throwing big numbers to the media, couldn't only be a successfull marketing way of creating a new climbing hero?
"He's not even sponsored, he doesn't have shoes, yet the climbs the hardest problems ever! He's the new generations' hero!"
Anyway, I wonder why I even posted this, given how little I care about Charles Albert (or any other climber, to be honest).
Finally I ask myself: can you do three good laps back to back on a 9a boulder problem?
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what 36 linked is the sitstart to the 7c stand, which is supposed to be around 8a+ (going by the article in grimper)
So it's a 5 moves sequence into a 7c?
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I like how through the French encouragement there's a quick 'yes mate!' from the group. I imagine there are lots of euro wads shouting 'G'wan pal!' at the sport crags while we're not there.
Sorry to disappoint you but on a second watch/listen I'm pretty sure it's "yes mec" not "mate".
"Mec" being basically "mate" en français (or "bro" or "dude" if you prefer)
Not disappointed at all, very interesting. Thanks
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Jimmy Webb repeated and just logged "Belial" (Charles Albert's 8C) at Bas Cuvier as 8B+ on 8whatever.nu.
Webb's long term project is the big island sit, about 8C into 8C (the stand being soft 8C, i remember him saying somewhere) ... but i'm hoping he'll get on this new thing
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I don't buy the Albert product. Nothing against his climbing, but he, as a person, looks to me as fake as a 3 euro bill.
Maybe at the beginning of his career, he was just a naif guy with strong fingers and toes, but - at least from what I get from that first video linked - now he looks very, very well aware of his mediatic power, and very well versed into walking the thin line between limelight and stealth performances and appearances.
"We managed to go to the proj..."
"That fucking pinch dude..."
He was barely able to speak and look into the camera just a few years ago. Now he seems to have learnt the American way of talking "hardcore climbing".
"The proj", "Dude", are you fucking kidding me?
To me it's just copy/paste. Let's do what others do.
Again, incredible climbing feats, etc. But I don't buy the whole package.
Twenty sessions, videos on it, witnessed by Grimper's editor, but no video?
Nalle was on his own for years, yet there's video of the send.
A two moves, 8c sitter to Hypothese, and no video?
Why?
Why?
I am not doubting his ascents, I don't even care.
I am asking myself if the is really so casual or so calculated.
I am asking myself if the lack of videos, teamed with the witnesses thing, people sure about his achievements, couldn't really be a very productive strategy to be under the limelight without really being under the limelight. Measuring every public appearance, then throwing big numbers to the media, couldn't only be a successfull marketing way of creating a new climbing hero?
"He's not even sponsored, he doesn't have shoes, yet the climbs the hardest problems ever! He's the new generations' hero!"
Anyway, I wonder why I even posted this, given how little I care about Charles Albert (or any other climber, to be honest).
Finally I ask myself: can you do three good laps back to back on a 9a boulder problem?
That’s a lot of ‘not caring’ ;)
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Dès sa première journée en forêt, le colosse américain [Jimmy Webb] a réalisé la première répétition de Belial, un 8C ouvert par Charles Albert au Bas-Cuvier, et propose de ramener la cotation à 8B+. (https://www.grimper.com/news-jimmy-webb-arrive-grande-forme-fontainebleau)
:whistle:
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I hope colosse translates directly to colossus as that’s the best compliment ever.
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That’s a lot of ‘not caring’ ;)
Very good :D
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I don't buy the Albert product. Nothing against his climbing, but he, as a person, looks to me as fake as a 3 euro bill.
Maybe at the beginning of his career, he was just a naif guy with strong fingers and toes, but - at least from what I get from that first video linked - now he looks very, very well aware of his mediatic power, and very well versed into walking the thin line between limelight and stealth performances and appearances.
"We managed to go to the proj..."
"That fucking pinch dude..."
He was barely able to speak and look into the camera just a few years ago. Now he seems to have learnt the American way of talking "hardcore climbing".
"The proj", "Dude", are you fucking kidding me?
To me it's just copy/paste. Let's do what others do.
Again, incredible climbing feats, etc. But I don't buy the whole package.
Twenty sessions, videos on it, witnessed by Grimper's editor, but no video?
Nalle was on his own for years, yet there's video of the send.
A two moves, 8c sitter to Hypothese, and no video?
Why?
Why?
I am not doubting his ascents, I don't even care.
I am asking myself if the is really so casual or so calculated.
I am asking myself if the lack of videos, teamed with the witnesses thing, people sure about his achievements, couldn't really be a very productive strategy to be under the limelight without really being under the limelight. Measuring every public appearance, then throwing big numbers to the media, couldn't only be a successfull marketing way of creating a new climbing hero?
"He's not even sponsored, he doesn't have shoes, yet the climbs the hardest problems ever! He's the new generations' hero!"
Anyway, I wonder why I even posted this, given how little I care about Charles Albert (or any other climber, to be honest).
Finally I ask myself: can you do three good laps back to back on a 9a boulder problem?
That’s a lot of ‘not caring’ ;)
Indeed, hence my question about why was I posting in the first place.
But not caring doesn't mean that I like to be treated like a fool by anyone...
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I hope colosse translates directly to colossus as that’s the best compliment ever.
Never mind that, what's the deal with that moonboard replica in Grimper?
And Nibble - I get what you're saying, but aren't you risking a 'witch test' by your logic. Under the radar and good enough to climb 8C+/9A - clearly the reticence is fake. In the limelight and good enough to climb 8C+/9A - clearly an attention craving sell-out.
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i'm hoping he'll get on this new thing
Crikey I'm not. As much as I've defended this new 9A, I'd much rather see Jimmy get up Big Island Assis!!
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Pete and Dan, I get what you mean as well.
I only feel that HIS reticence is fake.
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Never mind that, what's the deal with that moonboard replica in Grimper?
The Kilter board https://settercloset.com/pages/the-kilter-board like the Moon board but with nice holds. Some of them are also adjustable angle.
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what 36 linked is the sitstart to the 7c stand, which is supposed to be around 8a+ (going by the article in grimper)
So it's a 5 moves sequence into a 7c?
Yeah, the first three moves are supposed to add up to around 8a+, so really only two hard moves.
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Pete and Dan, I get what you mean as well.
I only feel that HIS reticence is fake.
Who are the 8C+/9A beasts whose reticence isn't fake?
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Thomas Willenberg? Klem Loskot?
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I don't mind 'That fucking pinch!' The thought crosses my mind most sessions! :P
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Shame about the graffiti, but the rock and climbing look great. And hard!
So what's the disgruntled attitude about then, disbelief that he actually did it or disbelief that it's actually 9A?
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The no shoes thing is interesting isn't it. I always assumed it was a bit of a "look at me" thing but watching him climb, it's hard to imagine using the footholds in the way he does with shoes on.
I reckon a session on dartmoor granite would change his mind though
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So what's the disgruntled attitude about then, disbelief that he actually did it or disbelief that it's actually 9A?
Surely the latter as the ascent was witnessed.
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Isn't it mostly the fact it looks like something r-man would point Dolph at?? ;) In the lower half at least.
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I don't know what that means
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The no shoes thing is interesting isn't it. I always assumed it was a bit of a "look at me" thing but watching him climb, it's hard to imagine using the footholds in the way he does with shoes on.
I reckon a session on dartmoor granite would change his mind though
TBF, I think font is likely the best venue anywhere for no-shoes shenanigans. Also, TBF, I think he's been to that sharp granite venue just north of Barcelona and climbed ~8s barefoot. Not in the same league as the Dartmoor granite though.
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i'm hoping he'll get on this new thing
Crikey I'm not. As much as I've defended this new 9A, I'd much rather see Jimmy get up Big Island Assis!!
Grimper appear to agree "More likely, he will begin by trying to release the seated departure of The Big Island" That really is the big proj in Font/the world that needs doing imo
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More footage of someone climbing the direct version (link stolen from 8a.nu). Looks like a brilliant problem to me
https://vimeo.com/141639813
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More footage of someone climbing the direct version (link stolen from 8a.nu). Looks like a brilliant problem to me
Nice one, thanks for sharing. I agree, both stand and direct sit look brilliant. On the list for my visit in March!
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More on the line from Guiliano Cameroni (in french):
https://www.grimper.com/news-le-virtuose-grimpeur-suisse-giuliano-cameroni-parle-9a-charles-albert?fbclid=IwAR304afrE3xIwsXQUqsw8dcyuJpwunmlM6WS2qV47xWXWy8ZlZ1ag4OV-iw (https://www.grimper.com/news-le-virtuose-grimpeur-suisse-giuliano-cameroni-parle-9a-charles-albert?fbclid=IwAR304afrE3xIwsXQUqsw8dcyuJpwunmlM6WS2qV47xWXWy8ZlZ1ag4OV-iw)
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Rough translation for the non-french? :please:
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Here you are (http://)
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Rough translation for the non-french? :please:
December 13, 2018, without crash pad, without slippers, Charles Albert succeeded No Kpote Only , a block of almost unreal difficulty on the heights of Rocher Brûlé de Fontainebleau. After Nalle Hukkataival's Burden of Dreams , this passage is no other than the second 9A proposal in the history of rock climbing . Having put his fingers in the block during his previous stays in Fontainebleau, Giuliano Cameroni was kind enough to give us his impressions.
pied_main
Charles Albert's foot and hand sharing the same hold in No Kpote Only (9A). Photo: Lucien Martinez
For those who do not know him, Giuliano is 7 8C block, 23 8B +, 73 8B and 315 8A + and 8A. At 21, he has already given himself one of the most well-supplied notebooks of crosses on the planet. His strength ? It is his ability to adapt to the rock. He never says that a block is too hard and he has to go back to train; he seeks the means to pass, and he passes.
cameroni_bleau
Giuliano Cameroni in The Force of Destiny, a classic 8B + from Fontainebleau which he has only munched
Q hich were his feelings when Giuliano tried No Kpote Only (9A) ?
Although he went there several times to accompany Charles and climb the other passages in the area, Giuliano has not tried very much. He quickly identified that the key to the block lay in the terrible hand-foot movement to fetch the right-hand shoulder arch. He tried the movement barefoot and in slippers. feet naked, you have to scratch the right foot with the toes which forces you to move away from the wall. It is then very complicated to arrive at three fingers on the small ruler (Charles made the block by putting only two fingers on the catch). In slippers, the movement is more difficult to trigger but the center of gravity remains closer to the rock and the option to put three fingers on the ruler then seems realistic. Anyway, even if the movements are the same, the feelings barefoot and slippers remain very different.
Will he try again?
Not only Giuliano will try again, but it even makes it a priority! One or two projects to finish in Switzerland then direction Fontainebleau to measure No Kpote Only . Last time, he tried at the end of the trip in a state of relative fatigue; the sensations were nevertheless encouraging, hence the great motivation of the man!
What is his feeling about the difficulty of No Kpote Only ?
The Swiss mutant may have put his fingers in the challenge, he can not decide without trying longer. He thinks the block is worth at least a solid 8C + and seemed harder than any 8C and 8C + he tried. Will it be enough to reach 9A? Impossible to say for the moment. Everything will depend on the diffi culty added by the first three "easier" movements that make it possible to reach the famous crux of the hand-foot.
What is the strength of Charles?
Giuliano knows him well for having climbed with him several times. According to his own words , he is a "climbing genius". He even adds that he tries to take inspiration from Charles' methods of progress: to try as many blocks as possible beyond his capacities in strong fingers, so that they are always mobilized to their extreme limit.
Who is Charles Albert? What does a day of linking a block of this level look like? Why did he propose 9A? Why does the bloc have a controversial past? All this and many other things are to be discovered alongside illustrations in
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Damn! Google translate is getting good! Apart from some of the contextual uses of croix, reglette, prise and passage the translation is basically lexically correct.
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Damn! Google translate is getting good! Apart from some of the contextual uses of croix, reglette, prise and passage the translation is basically lexically correct.
Giuliano Cameroni in The Force of Destiny, a classic 8B + from Fontainebleau which he has only munched
:???:
What would you translate that as JWi? I genuinely can't work it out!
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hahaha! bouchée = small tasty snack (the dictionary suggest mouthful, but it has taken more and more the meaning of amuse-bouche). A human could translate this as
Giuliano Cameroni climbs La Force du Destin, a classic 8B+ in Fontainebleau as a small appetiser
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Rough translation for the non-french? :please:
I wish I had such an impressive notebook of crosses :lol:
December 13, 2018, without crash pad, without slippers, Charles Albert succeeded No Kpote Only , a block of almost unreal difficulty on the heights of Rocher Brûlé de Fontainebleau. After Nalle Hukkataival's Burden of Dreams , this passage is no other than the second 9A proposal in the history of rock climbing . Having put his fingers in the block during his previous stays in Fontainebleau, Giuliano Cameroni was kind enough to give us his impressions.
pied_main
Charles Albert's foot and hand sharing the same hold in No Kpote Only (9A). Photo: Lucien Martinez
For those who do not know him, Giuliano is 7 8C block, 23 8B +, 73 8B and 315 8A + and 8A. At 21, he has already given himself one of the most well-supplied notebooks of crosses on the planet. His strength ? It is his ability to adapt to the rock. He never says that a block is too hard and he has to go back to train; he seeks the means to pass, and he passes.
cameroni_bleau
Giuliano Cameroni in The Force of Destiny, a classic 8B + from Fontainebleau which he has only munched
Q hich were his feelings when Giuliano tried No Kpote Only (9A) ?
Although he went there several times to accompany Charles and climb the other passages in the area, Giuliano has not tried very much. He quickly identified that the key to the block lay in the terrible hand-foot movement to fetch the right-hand shoulder arch. He tried the movement barefoot and in slippers. feet naked, you have to scratch the right foot with the toes which forces you to move away from the wall. It is then very complicated to arrive at three fingers on the small ruler (Charles made the block by putting only two fingers on the catch). In slippers, the movement is more difficult to trigger but the center of gravity remains closer to the rock and the option to put three fingers on the ruler then seems realistic. Anyway, even if the movements are the same, the feelings barefoot and slippers remain very different.
Will he try again?
Not only Giuliano will try again, but it even makes it a priority! One or two projects to finish in Switzerland then direction Fontainebleau to measure No Kpote Only . Last time, he tried at the end of the trip in a state of relative fatigue; the sensations were nevertheless encouraging, hence the great motivation of the man!
What is his feeling about the difficulty of No Kpote Only ?
The Swiss mutant may have put his fingers in the challenge, he can not decide without trying longer. He thinks the block is worth at least a solid 8C + and seemed harder than any 8C and 8C + he tried. Will it be enough to reach 9A? Impossible to say for the moment. Everything will depend on the diffi culty added by the first three "easier" movements that make it possible to reach the famous crux of the hand-foot.
What is the strength of Charles?
Giuliano knows him well for having climbed with him several times. According to his own words , he is a "climbing genius". He even adds that he tries to take inspiration from Charles' methods of progress: to try as many blocks as possible beyond his capacities in strong fingers, so that they are always mobilized to their extreme limit.
Who is Charles Albert? What does a day of linking a block of this level look like? Why did he propose 9A? Why does the bloc have a controversial past? All this and many other things are to be discovered alongside illustrations in
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hahaha! bouchée = small tasty snack (the dictionary suggest mouthful, but it has taken more and more the meaning of amuse-bouche). A human could translate this as
Giuliano Cameroni climbs La Force du Destin, a classic 8B+ in Fontainebleau as a small appetiser
When used a as verb, i.e. " ne faire qu'une bouchee" is not more along the lines of "to make short work of"? So the english translation would be more along the lines of:
Giuliano Cameroni making short work of La Force du Destin, a classic 8B+ in Fontainebleau.
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Yes that is the meaning. It is always hard to strike the balance between being idiomatically correct or to get a flavour of the original. Since the question (in my mind) was why the machine produces an erroneous translation, I found it better to give a translation as close to the original syntax as possible.
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Yes that is the meaning. It is always hard to strike the balance between being idiomatically correct or to get a flavour of the original. Since the question (in my mind) was why the machine produces an erroneous translation, I found it better to give a translation as close to the original syntax as possible.
My french is quite rusty but it's a phrase that has stuck. I agree wholeheartedly with the balance of idiom and a more direct translation, most of m,y more recent translation has been along the technical engineering language within engineering and I've made some right balls ups deviating too far from the original and distorting the actual meaning.
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It's interesting, there's exactly the same idyom in Italian.
"To eat something in just one bite (or mouthful)".
It's perfect because in Italian it keeps the same reference to quantity, rather than time.
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Name is gross though, he could have chosen something classier.
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Name is gross though, he could have chosen something classier.
:agree: If you do a new route or problem this significant you're obliged to give it a decent name.
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So far I've never heard anyone refer to the problem by the name given to it by Albert...
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I'm bit surprised they has not been more debate on the 9A grade. CA logic seems to be its harder/taken more sessions than anything else.
With BoD NH had repeated seasons trying the problem and then when the BoD season finished he went and tried other hard problems in similar style and boshed them off double quick.
CA obviously one of the best boulders out there at the moment, but just cos he took twenty sessions to climb a problem doesn't automatically make it 9A.
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That’s the test of time. Being in font it’s bound to see some attention and likely be downgraded, or not and remain unrepeated for years. Anything else would be speculation about someone’s ability and judgement
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So far I've never heard anyone refer to the problem by the name given to it by Albert...
What’s it’s* name again?
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So far I've never heard anyone refer to the problem by the name given to it by Albert...
What’s it’s* name again?
What, that left sitstart to Gaia in the Roche Acléaude cave?
Re: The grade. Time to apply the old JB-Tribout test again: Anyone capable of doing 9A in less than an infinite number of tries should do 8C in a day and flash 8B. But as this 9A is found in the centre of the world and Hukkataival's 9A is found in the middle of nowhere there is no price for guessing which one will have a consensus grade first...
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Although Daniel Woods is at least planning on getting back on Burden in April.
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as this 9A is found in the centre of the world and Hukkataival's 9A is found in the middle of nowhere there is no price for guessing which one will have a consensus grade first...
There's a significant factor of reputation and perception at play here as well.
- Burden of Dreams took arguably the best boulderer in the world, operating in his perfect style, dozens of sessions over multiple seasons of effort, with accompanying social media publication and a full 30 minute film of the process.
- No Kpote Only took a local barefoot oddball 20 sessions.
Irrespective of how hard the two problems actually are (and the nebulous personal nature of grades is another topic), I think that is the main issue which is likely to lead to a) more attention, and b) a probably downgrade. However, until it does see attention and a consensus then surely you just have to take everything with a pinch of salt. Maybe No Kpote Only is 9A and Burden of Dreams is 9B? Who knows.
On an entirely separate subject, the problems have now been added to Bleau Info, providing an intriguing back-story to the boulder. Sorry if everyone knows about this already but for those who don't, the boulder previously had walls built around it as a bivouac and at some point this all "fell" down. Various problems were then very quickly added around 2015, and then in 2017 someone damaged a few of the holds.
https://bleau.info/rocherbrule/265201.html
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There's a significant factor of reputation and perception at play here as well.
- Burden of Dreams took arguably the best boulderer in the world, operating in his perfect style, dozens of sessions over multiple seasons of effort
Hmm. It took Nalle multiple seasons of effort when failing on his original sequence. Then he changed his sequence and did it fairly fast. Time spent doesn't mean everything, though it does mean something.
Here's another story that doesn't mean everything, though it does mean something. I was in Font a couple of years ago with Polish Dave. Dawid did Delire Onirique, then Nalle and Jimmy Webb turned up to try the sitter which Charles had recently done, with Neil and film camera in tow. We pottered around trying the 8A to the left, then gave up and moved on. Nalle and Jimmy hadn't got going yet. Whilst I was trying something else round the corner, Dawid went for a wee and took a long time to reappear. He eventually rounded the corner looking a little awestruck. Apparently he had gone to peek at the wads on the 8C. They were struggling "like a sack of potatoes". Charles turned up, took off his shoes and cruised up the problem, first go. Neil couldn't get the camera ready fast enough, and missed his chance. Dawid was amazed how impressive Charles looked. I think he might have said "another level!" Like I said, it doesn't mean everything - perhaps Nalle and Jimmy just weren't feeling it that day. But when Charles talks about 8Cs feeling like warmups in comparison, this is what I think about.
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There's a significant factor of reputation and perception at play here as well.
- Burden of Dreams took arguably the best boulderer in the world, operating in his perfect style, dozens of sessions over multiple seasons of effort
Hmm. It took Nalle multiple seasons of effort when failing on his original sequence. Then he changed his sequence and did it fairly fast. Time spent doesn't mean everything, though it does mean something.
Pretty sure it still took him more than another season after 'finding' the new foot beta.
Still took him multiple seasons to do the first move.
I agree with your point re time not meaning everything. It's pretty easy, albeit not very fun, to spend a lot of time on something when you're arguably not good enough to do it. I think a lot of long sieges are like that.
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It's pretty easy, albeit not very fun, to spend a lot of time on something when you're arguably not good enough to do it. I think a lot of long sieges are like that.
Wise words.
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It's pretty easy, albeit not very fun, to spend a lot of time on something when you're arguably not good enough to do it. I think a lot of long sieges are like that.
Wise words.
Story of my life
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It's pretty easy, albeit not very fun, to spend a lot of time on something when you're arguably not good enough to do it. I think a lot of long sieges are like that.
Wise words.
Story of my life
Could be applied to a few relationships I've had... :D
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On the subject of his being next-level strong, Tim Palmer said he saw him on some 8B thing (Landman does it in Between The Trees) where you hold two shit holds and throw into a slot as your feet come off. It's kind of a hard dyno move of holds that are practically unholdable. Albert was there just hanging them and kicking his feet back and forth to warm up like it was nothing.
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Here's another story that doesn't mean everything, though it does mean something.
That is a fantastic story.
It's not my perception, but I do think it's one that many people might have (exhibit A, the post above questioning the grade; I've not seen anyone question BoD).
Anyone who doubts CA should watch this vid of him pissing up Monkey Wedding without pads.
https://youtu.be/WWoTtjQi4y8
On BoD, from a quick scroll through of the vid he works out the new beta in season 6, has the moves wired by the end of that season but eventually did it in season 7. And as others pointed out either way features the same first move.
I agree with your point re time not meaning everything. It's pretty easy, albeit not very fun, to spend a lot of time on something when you're arguably not good enough to do it. I think a lot of long sieges are like that.
Urgh, tell me about it.
Another awesome story
I'm liking this chap more and more. Nalle who?
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For more 'CA can climb hard stuff' see him climbing l'alchemiste in out of sight iii
https://youtu.be/GmftEXJTsfg from 6:30
I think I'm right in saying he uses the original sequence (which Nalle had written off post chipping.)
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For more 'CA can climb hard stuff' see him climbing l'alchemiste in out of sight iii
I think I'm right in saying he uses the original sequence (which Nalle had written off post chipping.)
I was just about to post that video as it shows Charles and Jimmy doing the sit and stand, respectively, of the aforementioned Delire Onirique
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On the subject of his being next-level strong, Tim Palmer said he saw him on some 8B thing (Landman does it in Between The Trees) where you hold two shit holds and throw into a slot as your feet come off. It's kind of a hard dyno move of holds that are practically unholdable. Albert was there just hanging them and kicking his feet back and forth to warm up like it was nothing.
Délire Onirique was the problem. Sounds similar to Dawids experience seeing him on the sit to it.
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I think I'm right in saying he uses the original sequence (which Nalle had written off post chipping.)
For comparison, Marc and Nalle on l'Alchemist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpqSruvP_U8
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I had forgotten about this video.
That's quite a big chink in Nalle's otherwise shiny and immaculate armour.
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I guess one thing that we can't understand, because absolutely nobody else does it, is what difference it makes to climb barefoot. Personally I can't imagine the pain of standing on gratons, but if you can learn to bear it and harden your skin I can imagine there being big benefits on certain problems. The way he wraps his toes around stuff and bears down on it is basically the perfect version of what a downturned shoe is trying to emulate. Could you pull on small crimps if you'd put on a pair of tight sticky-rubber mitts? Sportiva are trying to flog No Edge shoes - CA really has no edge!
Maybe coupling this skill with next level strength is where the future of climbing lies?
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Hope not, it’s gross.
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Bet he has sex without a condom too. :sick:
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Is it that big of a chink in Nalle’s armour?? We all have weaknesses/nemesis routes problems that we find tricky.
The guy has done loads that I know of and I’m not fully up on bouldering ascents as it’s not where my main button climbing lies.
Maybe it’s just a plus for Charles maybe being right or close to right on the grade? Nalle posted about on hipstergram so presumably he has some sort of belief in it being hard/9A? :shrug:
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Also this isn’t a competition between Charles and Nalle. Just because someone can climb maybe 9A without hype it doesn’t mean someone else can’t climb maybe 9A with lots of hype. I would say it still falls into the significant first ascent categories. Live and let live.
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Ooh...
(Never miss an opportunity to post this)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3BO6GP9NMY
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Second place is first loser
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Bet he has sex without a condom too. :sick:
Prob name means "No Bareback" doesn't it?
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“Capote anglaise” (literary “English Hood”) is a dated euphemism for a condom. Kpote was formed by shortening as usual since french words are too long; I don't know how common Kpote is, as I'm very much not down with the kids.
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“Capote anglaise” (literary “English Hood”) is a dated euphemism for a condom.
As opposed to a "French Letter".
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Repeated.
https://planetgrimpe.com/2019/03/le-japonais-ryohei-kameyama-devient-le-premier-repetiteur-dun-9a-bloc/
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Repeated.
https://planetgrimpe.com/2019/03/le-japonais-ryohei-kameyama-devient-le-premier-repetiteur-dun-9a-bloc/
Awesome - he had a pretty productive trip back in 2017 too (https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2017/11/two_8cs_and_more_by_ryohei_kameyama_in_fontainebleau-71363)
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Very cool! Hopefully he will be back to Burden of Dreams as well. Here's a clip where he does it from the “high start” ;) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnhfWrPj7zj/
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I see that Kameyama opted for a heel rather than a toe for the right foot on the hard move.
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I feel that "Burden of Dreams" is a bit more difficult than this problem. I think this boulder [No Kpote] is v16/17, but I haven't climb many hard boulders like v15 or v16. So I can't compare with them. Perhaps my grading isn't correct. I want to try other hard boulders!
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Mad isn't it, some guy I've never even heard of comes along and does potentially one of the hardest bits of rock climbing in the world, ever. Love this sport.
Unless I'm and idiot and he's a well known crusher?
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Well if it’s anything to go on he only has 900 Instagram followers and I think he got about 700 of them today!
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Mad isn't it, some guy I've never even heard of comes along and does potentially one of the hardest bits of rock climbing in the world, ever. Love this sport.
Unless I'm and idiot and he's a well known crusher?
He did a bunch of 8b - 8c (including Big Island) in quick time two years ago and the locals were quite impressed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JO3PlQSDCw
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Is he relatively unknown apart from that?
I remember a time when the standard thing to say was "oh some Spanish wad would come and crush that". Now it seems to be "oh some Japanese wad would come and crush that"
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Took him 4 sessions. Surely if anyone can climb a 9A in that time it just isn’t 9A
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Took him 4 sessions. Surely if anyone can climb a 9A in that time it just isn’t 9A
I quite agree. Someone who can do 9A in less than 5 sessions should be able to flash an 8C every now and then or do at least 9A+ with siege tactics.
Maybe Mr. Kameyama can, but he's mightily silent about it in that case.
I rechecked the pics and videos, apart from using the heel instead of the toe he also takes an intermediate before spanning out to the gaston crimp. Likely just a much better sequence than Albert's
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shoes innit
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"I feel that "Burden of Dreams" is a bit more difficult than this problem."
8a.nu reports that he took 8 sessions to link from the second move to the top (though the starting position in the Insta video above is surely two hand moves and a load of foot shenanigans in?) and that he hasn't done the first move. Sounds a but more than a "bit more" difficult.
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'a bit difficult' in Japanese often means 'completely impossible, why we are having this coversation?'.
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A conversation about the hypothetical relative difficulty of the only two 9A boulder problems, on a bouldering forum?
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His 8a scorecard lists The Big Island and some other 8C (Jour de Chasse) which seems to have comments on it that it's soft or maybe chipped? This website (https://www.99boulders.com/hardest-boulder-problems) has got him down as having done The Big Island and an 8C in Japan. According to that list there's no shortage of 8Cs in Japan (19) and there's an 8C+ there.
So he's done 2 8Cs, nothing at 8C+, and he's knocked off this problem in 5 sessions using different beta to the FA. Seems clear that a downgrade is in order. Although apparently the Japanese have a totally different attitude to training. Maybe he lives at the wall, is a complete monster, and only goes outside every now and again...
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Not everyone has to go out and downgrade everything they climb...
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it seems he said it's "8C+/9A"
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He did these in 10 days 2 years ago:
- Fatman, ~8B
- The Traphouse, ~8B+
- Gecko assis, ~8B+
- Jour de chasse, ~8C
- The Big island, ~8C
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He did these in 10 days 2 years ago:
- Fatman, ~8B
- The Traphouse, ~8B+
- Gecko assis, ~8B+
- Jour de chasse, ~8C
- The Big island, ~8C
Is Fatman not defunct nowadays? I thought that was the one that had the holds removed. Anyone?
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https://bleau.info/rempart/356.html doesn't really help answer that with "Still possible after destruction of the holds?"
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This website (https://www.99boulders.com/hardest-boulder-problems) has got him down as having done The Big Island and an 8C in Japan. According to that list there's no shortage of 8Cs in Japan (19) and there's an 8C+ there.
According to that site 8C, or above, was climbed 70 times in 2018! I've never really thought about what that number should be, but it's higher than I would have guessed. Also, in total, 8C or above has been climbed 409 times.
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5qERffAPg96HP43OPUHPTw/videos
videos of him on Big Island, Jour de Chasse amongst other things here.
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According to that site 8C, or above, was climbed 70 times in 2018! I've never really thought about what that number should be, but it's higher than I would have guessed. Also, in total, 8C or above has been climbed 409 times.
Clearly significantly easier than doing 9a+ or onsighting 8c, which to me indicates that the gradespans on hard boulder grades are too narrow. Contrary to what many of the strongest claim.
I'm pretty confident that 8A boulder is approximately as hard as onsighting 8a for the average male climber. Same for 7a/7A
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The point is if it is 9A it’d make him another level from any of the other top boulderers. 9A will get done much quicker than Nalles 100 days (or whatever it was) but surely not 4 days yet. That’d make him head and shoulders above the rest (maybe he is?!) Daniel Woods was close on Sleepwalker sit which sounds like a grade harder than the stand but he must have been on it 20 days or so at least.
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approximately as hard as onsighting 8a for the average male climber
So, impossible?
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haha! I could have expressed myself better
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'a bit difficult' in Japanese often means 'completely impossible, why we are having this coversation?'.
^ THIS! When someone responds “chotto muzukashi” (literally “a bit difficult/complicated”) to a request I usually take this to mean “never in my lifetime”.
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According to that site 8C, or above, was climbed 70 times in 2018! I've never really thought about what that number should be, but it's higher than I would have guessed. Also, in total, 8C or above has been climbed 409 times.
Clearly significantly easier than doing 9a+ or onsighting 8c, which to me indicates that the gradespans on hard boulder grades are too narrow. Contrary to what many of the strongest claim.
I disagree about 8C being easier than 9a+, but perhaps that's my bouldering bias coming through.
Regardless, more data from the same site gives:
- bouldering: 409 8C and above from 131 different people
- sport: 304 9a+ and above from 78 different people.
You'd have to normalise the data before you can make any meaningful comparisons though :)
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You'd have to normalise the data before you can make any meaningful comparisons though :)
This is what I thought when I saw the comparison; seems there's more people operating at the top of bouldering than there is at the top of sport climbing.
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Is Fatman not defunct nowadays?
Bleau info seems to suggest that it might still be possible https://bleau.info/rempart/356.html (https://bleau.info/rempart/356.html)
Ellis doing it and now this chap would appear to corroborate this. Although its not clear whether they might possibly have done something else in this area mistakenly thinking it to be Fatman? :-\
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You'd have to normalise the data before you can make any meaningful comparisons though :)
This is what I thought when I saw the comparison; seems there's more people operating at the top of bouldering than there is at the top of sport climbing.
49 ascents of routes 9a+ or harder last year:
Name Grade Climber
1: Disbelief 9b Adam Ondra
2: Eagle 4 9b Adam Ondra
3: High Line 9a+/b Adam Ondra
4: Czech Trip 9a+ Adam Ondra
5: La Castagne 9a+ Adam Ondra
6: Meiose 9a+ Adam Ondra
7: Sacrifice 9a+ Adam Ondra
8: Stone Butterfly 9a+ Adam Ondra
9: Super Crackinette 9a+ Adam Ondra
10: Underground > Pure dreaming 9a+ Adam Ondra
11: Energia Cosmica 9a+ Alessandro Zeni
12: Perfecto Mundo 9b+ Alexander Megos
13: La Cène du Lézard 9a+ Cédric Lachat
14: La Capella 9b Daniel Woods
15: First Ley 9a+ Daniel Woods
16: Modified 9a+ David Firnenburg
17: La Rambla 9a+ Gerard Rull
18: Super Crackinette 9a+ Gérôme Pouvreau
19: Artaburu 9a+/b Iker Pou
20: Neanderthal 9b Jakob Schubert
21: Stoking the fire 9b Jakob Schubert
22: El bon combat 9a+/b Jakob Schubert
23: Catxasa 9a+ Jakob Schubert
24: Catxasa 9a+ Jakub Konecny
25: Es Pontas 9a+ Jan Hojer
26: Dugi Rat 9a+ Jernej Kruder
27: Life of Villains 9a+ Joe Kinder
28: La Rambla 9a+ Jon Cardwell
29: Jumbo love 9b Jonathan Siegrist
30: Panorama 9a+ Jorge Diaz Rullo
31: Sashidananda 9a+ Loïc Zehani
32: Fight or Flight 9b Matty Hong
33: Life of Villains 9a+ Matty Hong
34: Ali Hulk (extension total) 9a+ Piotr Schab
35: Ali Hulk (extension) 9a+ Piotr Schab
36: Biographie/Realization 9a+ Piotr Schab
37: Catxasa 9a+ Piotr Schab
38: No Pain No Gain 9a+ Piotr Schab
39: La Barrière 9b Pirmin Bertle
40: Soul Mate 9b Sachi Amma
41: Rise 9a+ Sachi Amma
42: Les yeux plus gros que l'antre 9a+/b Sébastien Bouin
43: La Côte d'Usure 9a+ Sébastien Bouin
44: First Ley 9a+ Shawn Raboutou
45: Biographie/Realization 9a+ Stefano Carnati
46: Perfecto Mundo 9b+ Stefano Ghisolfi
47: La Capella 9b Stefano Ghisolfi
48: La Rambla 9a+ Tomas Ravanal
49: Jaws II 9a+ Tristan Chen
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Had a look at this today, obviously looks very hard, but the holds are quite positive. I reckon it’s one of the less conditions dependant hard problems I’ve seen. I can see why a strong fingered light person would get on well with it.
It also looks a lot better in the flesh than on video.
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Had a look at this today, obviously looks very hard, but the holds are quite positive. I reckon it’s one of the less conditions dependant hard problems I’ve seen. I can see why a strong fingered light person would get on well with it.
It also looks a lot better in the flesh than on video.
How did Ned get on? ;)
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Rest day scenes, there’s some good looking problems on that boulder though.