http://fiveten.com/ http://fiveten.com/images/stories/NewBox_black.png http://fiveten.com/ http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13703-novdec-2012-the-beginnings-of-a-climbing-team-will-roderick http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13703-novdec-2012-the-beginnings-of-a-climbing-team-will-roderick Classes have finished, and winter break is just starting. Over the past month, I’ve mostly been climbing indoors both at the gym on the Stanford campus and at Planet Granite in Sunnyvale, CA. Actually, just recently at Planet Granite, Andy Lamb and I saw Daniel Woods, Alex Johnson, and Kevin Jorgeson, who were teaching a clinic as part of Professional Climbers International. Andy and I have both been training hard, and we’ve also been taking interested students to the climbing gym. A couple days ago, we, along with another climbing buddy named Matthew, met with the director... ]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 05:22:00 -0500 13703 2012-12-15 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-0986-1355548920.JPG http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13488-ubc-championships-sbc-pro-seattle-alex-johnson http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13488-ubc-championships-sbc-pro-seattle-alex-johnson SEATTLE!!! It was awesome to have such a HUGE Pro event in the Pacific Northwest. We haven't had a Pro Bouldering Competition there in my lifetime, and it was awesome to break free from the typical geographical locations. Seattle was awesome, it's a cool city. We had GREAT weather (surprisingly enough). The Unified Bouldering Championships Competition was held at Stone Gardens, a new gym that just opened up in Seattle. I have no doubt that after we cleared all our comp mess out of the way Stone Gardens is going to be one amazing bouldering gym. There... ]]> Wed, 26 Sep 2012 19:38:00 -0400 13488 2012-09-26 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_408526-439328239446220-116700069-n-1348688325.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_419567-439327226112988-1198618567-n-1348688325.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_388968-439327436112967-4101401-n-1348688325.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13085-news-from-americas-largest-outdoor-sports-and-music-festival-sasha-digiulian http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13085-news-from-americas-largest-outdoor-sports-and-music-festival-sasha-digiulian This past weekend the largest outdoor sports and music festival took place in Richmond, VA. Totaling an estimated 75,000 people at the event over the course of three days, The Dominion Riverrock Festival was without a doubt a huge success. Joyfully, for me, too! For the second year in a row, the Dominion Boulder Bash took form with unique “cage-like” volumes composing two steep, impressive structures. The competition began on Friday with Qualifiers in the evening, then Saturday were Quarterfinals in the morning and Semifinals at night, followed by a fourth round (Finals) on Sunday. Having four rounds of... ]]> Wed, 23 May 2012 17:29:00 -0400 13085 2012-05-23 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-1534-1337794187.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-0281-1337794187.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12691-backstage-at-the-2012-bouldering-nationals-chris-schulte http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12691-backstage-at-the-2012-bouldering-nationals-chris-schulte The 2012 Bouldering Nationals, held in Colorado Springs, Colorado, saw one of the strongest fields that North America could have provided. I was fortunate enough to score a press pass for the event, and got a pretty edifying, behind-the-scenes perspective on what is going through the minds of a number of Five Ten athletes as they line up time and effort for the annual showdown. ]]> Fri, 02 Mar 2012 22:06:00 -0500 12691 2012-03-02 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/12691_cs-2-1330731146.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12619-st-george-and-vegas-areas-ben-spannuth http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12619-st-george-and-vegas-areas-ben-spannuth The last couple weeks I've been bouncing around some St. George and Vegas areas with numerous climbing partners. I've never gone on a climbing trip alone before and usually have much more specific goals but I basically haven't had any idea where or with who I'd be climbing recently until the day before. It's turned out amazing since there are tons of people psyched on getting out and everyday my skin could handle it I've been at the VRG, Cathedral, Moe's, Krafts, Mt. Potosi, or Black Velvet. Part of the trip will be in a... ]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:21:00 -0500 12619 2012-02-11 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dsc-0177-1328944902.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dsc-0203-1328944902.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-0538-1328944902.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12368-european-summer-2011-joseph-gifford http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12368-european-summer-2011-joseph-gifford This past summer I was fortunate enough to take a two month trip of a lifetime to Europe with Alex Johnson, Josh Levin, and Nick Milburn. We boarded a plane in Atlanta the day after U.S. Nationals (which went very well) and flew across the Atlantic Ocean, landed in Munich, and began our European climbing trip. ]]> Wed, 30 Nov 2011 06:32:00 -0500 12368 2011-11-30 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_DSC00411_1322634728.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_DSC00194_1322634728.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_DSC00151_1322634728.JPG http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12218-midwestern-autumn-alex-johnson http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12218-midwestern-autumn-alex-johnson I briefly stopped back home in Wisconsin for a minute to attend a wedding during these last few hectic months, but the "doing" didn't quit. I saw another premier of Chuck Fryberger's newest flick "The Scene" at the Minneapolis showing. The difference this time was that my mother came along. Word of the wise to all of you out there, do not bring your mother to a movie featuring you. She will be obnoxiously proud... ]]> Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:07:00 -0400 12218 2011-10-27 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_IMG201110161356081half_1319684828.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_IMG201110161359081half_1319684828.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12122-commrow-grand-opening-in-reno-jon-cardwell http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12122-commrow-grand-opening-in-reno-jon-cardwell Last weekend I was in Reno for the grand opening of one of the most unique climbing facilities I have ever seen. The building, CommRow hosts the world tallest outdoor climbing wall. Formally a casino called The Fitzgerald, CommRow renovated the building into an entertainment facility complete with multiple restaurants, bars, coffee shops and even a venue for music. On the second floor there is large room filled with two high quality freestanding boulders built by Vertical Solutions, the same company who constructed the walls for the UBC and ABS National competitions. The lead wall was... ]]> Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:36:00 -0400 12122 2011-10-11 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_31682110150462718906102788821101108706641611700954n_1318311419.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_3156681015046271546110278882110110870611628450586n_1318311419.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_3129102018520232186041139919886712754700551001012889n_1318311419.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_30777110150462722866102788821101108707412114058955a_1318311419.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_30146310150462713216102788821101108705821351132671n_1318311419.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_300125193724104031396113991988671275446747155487303n_1318311419.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12106-commrow-grand-opening-and-tahoe-climbing http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12106-commrow-grand-opening-and-tahoe-climbing This past weekend I traveled up to Reno, Nevada to attend the grand opening of a new gym called CommRow. Boasting one of the best bouldering areas in the country, (thanks to our good friends over at Vertical Solutions) the only official 15 meter speed climbing wall in North America, and the tallest climbing wall in the world, (over 165 feet of vertical climbing) this gym definitely lives up to its expectations as one of the top climbing gyms in the world. ]]> Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:17:00 -0400 12106 2011-10-06 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_3403702049421362416061071815626843315322791320511172o_1317860235.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12096-intro-to-autumn-2011-alex-johnson http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12096-intro-to-autumn-2011-alex-johnson This Autumn for me has been the busiest one of my life. I kicked things off in early September in Sonoma, CA for a clinic instructors' course. Our goal was to tear down climbing; moves, techniques, training ideas, competition strategies, efficient teaching skills, all leading towards producing the best clinics possible. With the additional help of Beth Rodden, Emmy Surma, Rusty Klassen and Andrew McDermott we were able to come up with an incredible and unique clinic program that we could pack up and take with us like Cirque du Soleil. ]]> Mon, 03 Oct 2011 02:43:00 -0400 12096 2011-10-03 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_clinics_1317609802.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_8_1317609802.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_311722205759183929412295513633175096661101781n_1317609802.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_3109862057592879320122955136331750975127914321n_1317609802.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12091-commrow-opens-on-oct-1-with-climbing-demos-clinics-live-music-and-food http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12091-commrow-opens-on-oct-1-with-climbing-demos-clinics-live-music-and-food RENO, Nev. - Presenting the world’s tallest climbing wall on Saturday, October 1 is just one component of the Grand Opening celebration for CommRow, Reno’s first “Urban Adventure Destination”. Downtown’s first nonsmoking, nongaming, pet-friendly property will showcase many entertainment facets, full schedule below. Please Note: North Virginia Street will be closed between 2nd Street and Commercial Row between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. Saturday, October 1 ]]> Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:13:45 -0400 12091 2011-09-29 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/12091_WallLoRes_1317331081.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/12091_Wall929_1317331082.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/12091_BouldersLoRes_1317331082.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/12091_KarlClimb_1317331083.JPG