Category: Megan Mascarenas

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 (0) · 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 (0) · Permalink · Categories: Bouldering, Climbers, Alex Puccio, Daniel Woods, Megan Mascarenas, Claire Buhrfeind, Nathaniel Coleman, Jimmy Web, Carlo Traversi, Competitions, USA Climbing: Bouldering Open Nationals