Category: Daniel Woods

February 9, 2016

Climbing Magazine’s 2015 Golden Piton Awards

Climbing Magazine has just announced their 2015 Golden Piton Award winners. According to their web site: -

Sponsor-laden Instagram posts, video clips, and news blips come and go, but some climbing achievements truly are destined for immortality. Each January, Climbing re-examines the past 12 months of great ascents around the world and chooses a few standouts for our top honor: the Golden Piton Awards.

For 2015 we’ve selected eight climbs and remarkable climbers to celebrate. Without further ado: Climbing’s 14th annual Golden Piton Awards.

This is a really good selection of the top climbers and climbs and has made me aware of some climbers that I didn’t know about.

Ashima Shiraishi is a 14 year old climber who has gone from strength to strength this year. What stands out for me this year is her double gold at the 2015 IFSC World Youth Championships and becoming the youngest athlete to send a 9a+ route.

The climb of the Dawn Wall by Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell was something I also followed quite closely. I got to see glimpses of the climb as its featured in the Reel Rock 10 video but I’m looking forward to the day they release a full feature film since what’s shown in Reel Rock is just a snippet.

As for Will Gadd, being the first person to ice climb Niagara Falls is an amazing accomplishment and quite unlikely to be repeated, firstly because it’s normally illegal to do it and secondly because the freezing conditions that caused the ice build up this year were also quite unique.

Daniel Woods ascent of the first v16 Boulder problem "The Process" also captured in the Reel Rock 10 film has certainly taken bouldering to new heights. More recently it was good to watch him and Megan Mascarenas competing at US Nationals this year.

I’m wondering if these climbers actually receive a "golden piton" or something symbolic of that.

· Email this article · Comments () · Permalink · Categories: Climbers, Daniel Woods, Megan Mascarenas, Kevin Jorgeson, Tommy Caldwell, Ashima Shiraishi, Will Gadd

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

Megan Mascarenas (18)
Alex Puccio (26)
Claire Buhrfeind (19)

Women’s Final Results

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

Men’s Podium

Men’s Final Results

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

You can watch the finals below: -

· Email this article · Comments () · Permalink · Categories: Bouldering, Climbers, Alex Puccio, Daniel Woods, Megan Mascarenas, Claire Buhrfeind, Nathaniel Coleman, Jimmy Web, Carlo Traversi, Competitions, USA 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

Nathaniel Coleman (19)
Kai Lightner (16)
Mohammad Jafari Mahmodabadi (32) - non US national
Tyler Landman (25)
Daniel Woods (24)
Carlo Traversi (28)
Jimmy Web (28)

Full Men’s Results

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

Woman’s Finalists

Megan Mascarenas (18)
Alex Puccio (26)
Michaela Kiersch (21)
Claire Buhrfeind (19)
Meagan Martin (26)
Sierra Blair-Coyle (22)

Full Women’s Results

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 Nationals (Source: USA Climbing)

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

· Email this article · Comments () · Permalink · Categories: Bouldering, Shoes, Climbers, Alex Puccio, Daniel Woods, Claire Buhrfeind, Nathaniel Coleman, Jimmy Web, Carlo Traversi, Competitions, USA Climbing: Bouldering Open Nationals