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Month: March 2013

Megos finishes La Rambla 9a+ in second attempt

Barely a week after his historic 9a onsight of Estado crítico, 19-year-old Alex Megos has climbed La Rambla (9a+), his first of the grade, in Siurana, Spain. This route was the German climber’s original objective, but when he didn’t have enough beta to give it a shot, he hopped on Estado crítico instead. He finished La Rambla on his second try.
Ramón Julián Puigblanque first climbed La Rambla in 2003, and it’s seen repeats by Edu Marín, Chris Sharma, Patxi Usobiaga, Adam Ondra, Sachi Amma and, most recently, Felix Neumärker. Neumärker, a fellow German, has been climbing with Megos in Siurana. Megos’ first try on La Rambla was a flash attempt with beta from Neumärker; he fell only a couple moves from the top. He promptly sent next go, marking the fastest ascent this route has seen.
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Chris Sharma, La Dura Dura 9b+

Interview with American climber Chris Sharma after his repeat of La Dura Dura 9b+
Saturday 23 March 2013. Chris Sharma managed to redpoint La Dura Dura, the superb route he had bolted at the Spanish cliff Oliana more than four years ago and which, right from the outset, caught the climbing world’s attention due to the “hideous” difficulties and also the fact that both he and Ondra had decided to combine forces to send the line. Something rare was going on there in Spain: for once the best in the world shared the same focus to add a new chapter to the history of this sport… it was both beautiful and exciting. And so Chris and Adam worked the moves together, shared ideas and beta and the seemingly impossible began to take form, so much so that this season both got closer and closer to the first free ascent. Then, as is well known, Ondra succeeded first in February. A “goal” for which he suggested a massive 9b+, a difficulty on a par with his own Change, possibly slightly harder even. At this point many would have given up, no so Sharma who was spured on in farther, and his redpoint on Saturday not only crowns years of effort and dreams, it also lays an important brick in the history of sport climbing as his is the first confirmation of a 9b+. These are unpararlleld difficulties, currently firmly – and solely – in the grasp of Ondra and Sharma.

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World’s first 9a on-sight

Alexander Megos on-sighted Estado Critico at Siurana in Spain, becoming the first climber in the world to climb a 9a onsight.

The news spread like wildfire: according to www.desnivel.com, on Sunday German climber Alexander Megos succeeded in on-sighting the 9a Estado Critico at Siurana in Spain and, in doing so, the 19-year-old has now become the first climber in the world to send a route of this difficulty in the purest of styles.

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Sharafutdinov & Stöhr wins IFSC (B) World Cup 2013 in Chongqing

The long wait for all sport climbing fans has finally come to an end and the IFSC Climbing World Cup is back! 2013‘s kick-off event directs all eyes to Eastern Asia. The world’s best Boulder athletes have been meet in Chongqing, China, to compete in the first contest of the brand-new season. After the season is before the season – true to this motto the IFSC World Cup climbers spent their winter months mostly on regeneration, preparation, training and the one or other rock climbing project.

On March 22th they have been finally back into their competition business. Two contests in both Speed and Boulder disciplines mark the beginning of the season for Anna Stoehr, Rustam Gelmanov, Alina Gaydamakina, Stanislav Kokorin (winners of the IFSC Overall World Cups 2012) & Co.

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Allen wins World Open Title again

Stevens made breaks of 112 and 100 but the Welshman was unsuccessful in his first ranking final since 2008. “To win the same tournament two years in a row is a great achievement and I’m happy to retain my title,” said Allen.”The snooker wasn’t as good as I had hoped. I didn’t get into a rhythm and I didn’t score very heavily. The scoreline was flattering and it wasn’t as one-sided as that. “But the result is all that matters. My form has been good for the last few months so I’m relieved to finally get a win. Hopefully I can push on now and win more.”

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