Boulder Worldcup Vail (USA)

The third round of the 2010 Bouldering Worldcup was held in Vail, Colorado. We flew out to Denver on Sunday after the competition in Vienna and made our way to Boulder in two massive jeeps. After a few days of relaxing in Boulder it was time to compete. I managed to qualify in 5th place on Friday and in the semi-final I climbed the first two blocs and had a few good goes at the 3rd leaving me in 10th. I really enjoyed climbing infront of an American crowd, they really get behind the climbers and the energy is 'awesome'. The final was fantastic to watch with Daniel Woods pulling it out the bag to show an unbelievable amount of power.

The Austrian Team had some bad luck, Kili stubbed his toe the night before the Quali leaving him struggling to weight his right foot, he still finished 3rd though (incredible). Johanna was climbing so well during the quali when disater struck on the final bloc with a massive inversion injury rupturing all three ligaments in her ankle. Johanna has now got to decide whether surgical or conservative intervention is best.

(Heiko Wilhelm)

Boulder Worldcup Vienna (AUT)

The bouldering World Cup in Vienna was very successful. I was able to climb in my first World Cup final and finished in 4th behind Fishhuber, Ondra and Rubtsov. Climbing in the final was an unforgettable experience, particularly on the third boulder where you had to perform a footless cross-over on small screw-ons...the crowd went wild.

Dave Barrans climbed very well finishing in 8th.





I am now in Boulder, Colorado, relaxing before heading up to Vail at the Weekend for the next round of the World Cup.

(Heiko Wilhelm)

Boulder Worldcup Greifensee (SUI)

The 15th of May saw the start of the 2010 Bouldering Worldcup in Greifensee, Switzerland. The qualification round went well and I made it through to the semi-final finishing in 10th place. A real highlight of the event was watching the battle between Ondra and Fischhuber. Kilian demonstrating mega composure and winning the event.

Members of the 2010British bouldering Team climbed well with Mina and Diane finishing 25th and 27th respectively. John, Adam and Mason gained critical experience ready for the next event. The team will be flying out to Vienna next weekend where Barrans climbed very well last year making it through to the finals.

You can follow the British Team's performance at the BMC or the IFSC's website:

http://www.thebmc.co.uk
http://www.ifsc-climbing.org/?page_name=home

Wilhelm and British Bouldering Team

Der Schwarzer Schwan

After Viktor and Tanja's wedding on Saturday we decided to head to Markus Haid's new climbing spot where he'd made the first ascent of an incredible route. 'Der Schwarzer Schwan' ≈Fr8c winds its way up a blank wall of pristine granite before a bouldery top out. We warmed up in a nearby area and headed up to the secret spot with Markus. The route reminds me of 'new baseline' at Averstal and I thought I might be able to do it in a day. I had a good flash attempt and on my 2nd attempt I made the 2nd ascent. The route is destined to be a mega classic in Tirol.

kitzrock bouldercup'10

The 2010 kitz rock event was, as always, fantastic with a massive number of climbers participating. The qualification round on Friday night was very busy and had a great vibe with loads of strong climbers wanting to get through to the semi-final round. The semi-final and final were held on Saturday and were world cup modus. The competition was intense in the final with a battle between Lukas Ennemoser and Kilian, Luki looking like a mashine and pipping Kili to the title. Jonas Baumann took 3rd place and I took 4th. Highlight of the event has to be our 4th bloc in the final, a pocket problem involving a huge footless cross-over on 2 finger pockets followed by a one-arm pull up...I was loving it! Looking forward to some rock now before the next event in 3 weeks.

(Elias Holzknecht)

CWIF 2010

When Graeme invited me and Sabby to climb for the Climbing Works Team at the 2010 CWIF alongside Gabri Moroni and Stéphane Julien I was a little suprised. Instead of worrying too much, I just used it as an incentive to climb really hard at the comp. The Qualification round involved climbing a circuit of 30 problems scattered around the Climbing Works. I got to work and started making my way through the blocs and was amazed by how good the quality was, every bloc had something special about. I qualified in 2nd place for the semi-final and the Climbing Works Team won the event ahead of some very strong teams including the beastmaker!

I made it through the semi-finals and was able to climb in the final with 4 other climbers. I slowly warmed up my aching muscles and enjoyed climbing infront of a cheering crowd. I finished in 4th.

work, train, ski, work, train, ski.....

The past few months have been spent in the practice, at the wall and on the mountain. I was able to spend a weekend in Chironico last month but it was too cold to try really hard so we ended up just climbing lots of blocs to keep warm. On Thursday I will be returning to the UK for the Climbing Works competition and spending the following week with the Austrian Bouldering Team on the grit.