Category: Bouldering

January 31, 2016

USA Climbing - Bouldering Open Nationals 2016 Winners

Watched The USA Climbing: Bouldering Open Nationals 2016 final yesterday and have to say it was an amazing competition, in particular the men’s was very closely contested and Daniel Woods was dethroned as reigning champion. Megan Mascarenas was the clear leader amongst the female competitors, however I was hoping Alex Puccio would take it and she left me on the edge of my seat on occasions when she fell off some of the problems.

Here’s the final standings: -

Women’s Podium

  1. Megan Mascarenas (18)
  2. Alex Puccio (26)
  3. Claire Buhrfeind (19)

Women’s Final Results

The USA Climbing: Bouldering Open Nationals 2016 Women's Podium

From Left to Right: Claire Buhrfeind, Megan Mascarenas, Alex Puccio

Men’s Podium

  1. Nathaniel Coleman (19)
  2. Jimmy Web (28)
  3. Carlo Traversi (28)

Men’s Final Results

The USA Climbing: Bouldering Open Nationals 2016 Men's Podium

From Left to Right: Carlo Traversi, Nathaniel Coleman, Jimmy Web

You can watch the finals below: -

AddThis Social Bookmark Button · Email this article · Comments (0) · Permalink · Categories: BoulderingClimbersAlex PuccioDaniel WoodsMegan MascarenasClaire BuhrfeindNathaniel ColemanJimmy WebCarlo TraversiCompetitionsUSA Climbing: Bouldering Open Nationals

January 31, 2016

USA Climbing Bouldering National Championships 2016

It’s that time of the year again as the American Bouldering National Championships for 2016 are underway at Manona Terrace in Madison, Wisconsin. I watched some of qualifying last night and the end of semi finals on the live stream. The top 6 from the semi final round are going through and it’s going to be the following competitors

Men’s Finalist’s

  1. Nathaniel Coleman (19)
  2. Kai Lightner (16)
  3. Mohammad Jafari Mahmodabadi (32) - non US national
  4. Tyler Landman (25)
  5. Daniel Woods (24)
  6. Carlo Traversi (28)
  7. Jimmy Web (28)

Full Men’s Results

Men's Finalists for the USA Bouldering Nationals 2016

From Left to Right: Nathaniel Coleman, Kai Lightner, Mohammad Jafari Mahmodabadi, Tyler Landman, Daniel Woods, Carlo Traversi, Jimmy Web 

Woman’s Finalists

  1. Megan Mascarenas (18)
  2. Alex Puccio (26)
  3. Michaela Kiersch (21)
  4. Claire Buhrfeind (19)
  5. Meagan Martin (26)
  6. Sierra Blair-Coyle (22)

Full Women’s Results

Women's Finalists for the USA Bouldering Nationals 2016

From Left to Right: Alex Puccio, Megan Mascarenas, Michaela Kiersch, Meagan Martin, Sierra Blaire-Coyle

I’m particularly interested to see is how Alex Puccio and Daniel Woods do, they are both 9 times champions of this event and I’m hoping that they both win it for the 10th year in a row. In particular Alex Puccio has had to recover from injury as outlined in this short preview clip below

I was quite pleased to see what shoes Alex is wearing now, they are none other than the same shoe I wear for bouldering, namely the Scarpa Instinct VS

Alex Puccio in the Qualifying Round of the 2016 US National Bouldering Competition

Alex Puccio in the Qualifying Round of the 2016 US Nationals (Source: USA Climbing)

Daniel Woods in the Qualifying Round of the 2016 US National Bouldering Competition

Daniel Woods in the Qualifying Round of the 2016 US Nationals (Source: USA Climbing)

You can watch finals at the USA Climbings YouTube live stream which takes place at 7.45pm CST 30th January 2016

AddThis Social Bookmark Button · Email this article · Comments (0) · Permalink · Categories: BoulderingShoesClimbersAlex PuccioDaniel WoodsClaire BuhrfeindNathaniel ColemanJimmy WebCarlo TraversiCompetitionsUSA Climbing: Bouldering Open Nationals

January 26, 2016

New heights for Reach Climbing Wall in London

My first proper indoor climbing experience was at the Reach, a climbing wall in South London. That was a year and a half ago and I’ve been climbing there quite regularly during this time progressing from top rope climbing, to lead and then traditional (trad) climbing outdoors.

Since I’ve taken up climbing I’ve tried out numerous indoor climbing and bouldering walls. In fact, I’ve pretty much tried out all of the walls in London looking for a place that I can frequent before or after work as well on weekends. I’ve always thought the Reach was a great all round wall in terms of what they had to offer, namely indoor bouldering, top rope and sport climbing as well as a training room and monkey/zoo room that caters for all age groups. Over the last few months some of the improvements they’ve made have, I believe, have established them as the top climbing wall in London. These are: -

New Overhanging Lead Climbing Wall

New Overhanging Lead Climbing Wall

This has climbs graded from around 6a+ to 8a. As much as I like this new feature I haven’t had a chance to jump on it yet but will certainly be doing so over the next couple of weeks and as my grades improve.

Additional Bouldering Wall – aka The Taco

There’s already plenty of good bouldering on offer at the Reach, this new wall just adds a few more options. Here’s a short clip of me warming up with some traversing

New Auto Belays

New Auto Belays at Reach Climbing

The was one feature I really missed when joining the Reach and that is lacking at a lot of climbing walls (due to cost) is Auto Belays. When I first started climbing I didn’t know a lot of people who could belay me so I ended up bouldering and using the auto belay a lot. However, the Reach only had 1 or 2 Auto Belays so the number of routes I could do was limited. I’m pleased to say I now know more people that can belay me but that aside there are now 12 Auto Belay’s at the Reach graded from 4+ to 6c. This is superb if you would like to do some endurance training and the clip below show’s me doing just that

That’s my plug for this great indoor climbing wall, hope you get to try it out some day

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