http://fiveten.com/ http://fiveten.com/images/stories/NewBox_black.png http://fiveten.com/ http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13588-competition-season-emily-dudley http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13588-competition-season-emily-dudley In September the ABS competition season started. I kicked off the year setting for a local competition at Miramont Lifestyle Fitness. As one of the route-setters I love comp season. ]]> Wed, 31 Oct 2012 03:24:00 -0400 13588 2012-10-31 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_crush-festa-1351653846.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dscn0914a-1351653846.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13585-comp-season-aicacia-young http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13585-comp-season-aicacia-young Comp season has officially begun! A couple weeks ago, I participated in a bouldering and sport climbing comp at UTSA. It’s a fairly small gym, but one of the walls is 54 feet tall, so it’s a nice opportunity for some endurance training. They dedicated a whole week to climbing, calling it Climbapalooza. It was a 4-day competition with about 35 routes/problems, and a complimentary showing of Reel Rock 7 halfway through the week. It was an absolute blast, and I really surprised myself with some of the problems. I’m not exceptionally dynamic or capable of utilizing slopers, but... ]]> Sun, 28 Oct 2012 22:04:00 -0400 13585 2012-10-28 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_665236-4869316579427-1288210707-o-1351461885.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_133248-4869644947636-459600420-o-1351461886.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13582-portland-boulder-rally-riley-joyce http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13582-portland-boulder-rally-riley-joyce Waking you knowing you are going to have the time of your life. First stop was coffee. Then off to The Portland Boulder Rally; a local competition at the Circuit climbing gym in Portland Oregon. As a team member I hoped into the team bus to be greated by all my other teammates. We were all very excited about this competition. One, because it was the first competition of the season for us. Two, there were going to very well known climbers there that we can interact with. But most importantly, it sounded like it was... ]]> Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:37:00 -0400 13582 2012-10-28 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_1-1351442273.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_2-1351442273.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_3-1351442273.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_4-1351442273.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13565-psychedelia-matt-lubar http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13565-psychedelia-matt-lubar Fall is here in Colorado. The leaves are changing and a chilly breeze inhabits the air. This can only mean one thing: Psychedelia is on it's way! For those of you who don't know, Psychedelia is The Spot Gym's annual halloween themed glow in the dark black light bouldering competition and the second of four comps in the Spot Bouldering Series. Every year The Spot replaces all the regular light bulbs with black lights and begins painting hundreds of holds with fluorescent paint. They also bring in a handful of people to create tape art. It's amazing what people... ]]> Wed, 24 Oct 2012 04:25:00 -0400 13565 2012-10-24 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_spot-psychadelia-1351052750.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_psychadelia-3-1351052750.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13541-growing-up-alex-fritz http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13541-growing-up-alex-fritz September and October have been busy months for me! Back in September I competed in the Unified Bouldering Championships competition at Stone Gardens here in my city of Seattle. It was such an exciting step up for the PNW competition scene to be able to host such a high level competition, and an exciting step up for me to be able to compete in it! I was incredibly stoked going into the competition because I finally felt like I was ready to do it. After all the years of competing in youth and never venturing out into the adult... ]]> Sun, 14 Oct 2012 22:16:00 -0400 13541 2012-10-14 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dsc-0147-1350253001.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dsc-0162-1350253003.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dsc-0261-1350253004.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_fritzbeaupbr-1350253005.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13535-a-week-in-valais-niccolo-ceria http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13535-a-week-in-valais-niccolo-ceria Hi everybody, This blog spot will be mainly dedicated to describe my week in Valais, an amazing area where many gems deserve to be visited. Before the principal topic I would like to write something about one weekend in Magic Wood and Murgtal, a new area for me. Magic Wood has been almost absent from my summer list for some causes, but basically because I wanted to avoid it since it is completely crowed by climbers in July and august and I would have difficulty to find a quiet place where to climb and where to put my tent.... ]]> Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:33:00 -0400 13535 2012-10-12 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_radja-8b-branson-fileminimizer-1350052381.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_scarred-for-life-8a-fionnay-2-fileminimizer-1350052382.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_permanent-midnight-8b-fionnay-3-fileminimizer-1350052382.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_permanent-midnight-8b-fionnay-2-fileminimizer-1350052382.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_touch-by-the-devil-8a-vernayaz-fileminimizer-1350052382.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_les-yeux-rouges-7c-vernayaz-fileminimizer-1350052383.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_asterie-8a-valais-fileminimizer-1350052383.JPG http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13530-summer-sweat-fest-finale-2012-eric-sethna http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13530-summer-sweat-fest-finale-2012-eric-sethna Hello again! The 2011/2012 competition season has finally come to a close – just in time for the first Tour de Bloc of season 10! The Summer Sweat Fest season wrapped up with the finale at True North Climbing a few weeks ago. I had been looking forward to the comp for weeks after having a ton of fun at last year’s finale event. The setters and organizers also had surprises up their sleeve for the comp format this year, which both excited and intimidated me. I managed to win all the Sweat Fest comps... ]]> Thu, 11 Oct 2012 20:31:00 -0400 13530 2012-10-11 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_259062-10152101086245357-953545596-o-1-1349987480.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13527-portland-boulder-rally-oregons-got-the-psych-nina-williams http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13527-portland-boulder-rally-oregons-got-the-psych-nina-williams Out of all the competitions this season, I must say that the setting for this year's PBR earned top points for creativity and interesting vagueness. I was a little nervous after our preview since it wasn't the difficulty of the problem that was intimidating; it was figuring out how to even climb it! We weren't familiar with the sweet spots on many giant volumes that dominated the walls and there were random holds we may or may not have needed; we truly forged into the unknown! Once I was on the problems however, everything more or... ]]> Thu, 11 Oct 2012 01:17:00 -0400 13527 2012-10-11 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_pbr-nina-1349918253.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_pbr-alex-1349918253.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_pbr-fritz-1349918254.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13525-up-rock-down-rock-broken-in-the-end-sam-hayden http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13525-up-rock-down-rock-broken-in-the-end-sam-hayden My summer has been pretty interesting, fractured my knee, biked quite a bit, and found some new rock. In recovery right now from my broken knee...avulsed my tibia where the ACL connects biking with a friend on a paved road. I had surgery a week after the accident and they screwed me back together. Since then I’ve been training upper body and core like crazy and have been able to do some one footed climbing the last two weeks. Hopefully I’ll be doing the ABS comp at Petra Cliffs in two weeks, though I’ll... ]]> Wed, 10 Oct 2012 00:14:00 -0400 13525 2012-10-10 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-1134-1349828063.png http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-0835-1349828064.png http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-1336-1349828064.png http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-1442-1349828065.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13501-plastic-and-rock-nicholas-milburn http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13501-plastic-and-rock-nicholas-milburn Last weekend I flew out to Seattle to compete in the Unified Boulder Championship at Stone Gardens. First thing that I need to point out is how organized the UBC guys are. They emailed a packet out to the competitors that was the best comp packet I have ever seen. I didn't even know such things existed! They even gave the competitors a free Adidas jackets. Stone Gardens is a brand new gym, and its newness definitely shows. Brand new walls, brand new holds and brand new mats. The first part of the gym I saw was the isolation... ]]> Tue, 02 Oct 2012 02:55:00 -0400 13501 2012-10-02 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_seattle-1349146556.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13500-why-6th-place-is-the-best-nina-williams http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13500-why-6th-place-is-the-best-nina-williams The UBC competition last weekend was fun and a bit sentimental for me in a few ways. The producer of UBC, Pete Ward, has been putting on amazing events for the past 10+ years, including but not limited to the Gravity Brawls, the Nor’Easter, and the rooftop competitions during the OR Tradeshow in Utah. I’ve come to love how much of a show these events turn out to be with motivated crowds, creative setting, decent cash purses, entertaining lights, music, and an overall air of professionalism. The fields of these comps have always been stacked with a lot... ]]> Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:07:00 -0400 13500 2012-10-01 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_girls-preview-1349129242.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_nina-finals-4-1349129242.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_womens-top-3-1349129242.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_finals-lineup-1349129242.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_mens-top-3-1349129242.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_nina-finals-2-1349129243.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13490-an-american-road-trip-jamie-emerson http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13490-an-american-road-trip-jamie-emerson “So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?” -Hunter S. Thompson And so it was. American am I. Are we (?). Dave and Daniel (they need no introduction). Reunited once more. It was interesting because I couldn't decide if time had passed or not, since I had seen them last, and there was no way of knowing. Well, there was, and there is, and my senses fought... ]]> Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:12:00 -0400 13490 2012-09-27 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-1991-1348733579.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-3335-1348733580.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-1987-764x1024-1348733581.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-2007-1348733581.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/13485-munchkin-lunge-video-seth-rogers http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13485-munchkin-lunge-video-seth-rogers I already posted my climbing Munchkin Lunge but Matt Grossman made a really cool video from it and I had to share it! Thanks Matt!! ]]> Wed, 26 Sep 2012 04:44:00 -0400 13485 2012-09-26 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/13485_photo-1-1348760512.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13480-sbc-pro-seattle-angela-payne http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13480-sbc-pro-seattle-angela-payne This weekend I traveled to Seattle to compete in the Seattle Bouldering Challenge Pro Competition. The event was put on in collaboration with the UBC and was hosted by Stone Gardens. I had never been to this facility before, and I must say I was immediately impressed with the extensive bouldering terrain the gym had to offer. I flew to Seattle just two days after returning from Paris, so I was a bit weary from travel when day one of the comp rolled around. Qualifiers went well, however, and I (barely) managed... ]]> Mon, 24 Sep 2012 05:59:00 -0400 13480 2012-09-24 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_photo-14-1348466373.JPG http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13478-sbc-pro-natasha-barnes http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13478-sbc-pro-natasha-barnes Yesterday was the qualification round for the comp. Two days earlier I woke up with severe shoulder pain. I frantically searched for a sports chiro that could help before the comp. I found a fellow alumnus from Palmer at Kinetic Sports Rehab in Seattle to look at my shoulder for me. He thought that my issue was a possible partial thickness tear of supraspintus but after talking with usual chiro at home we decided it must be bursitis. I couldn't lift my arm at all the day before the comp and I thought I wouldn't be able to compete.... ]]> Sat, 22 Sep 2012 22:34:00 -0400 13478 2012-09-22 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/13478_image1-1348606260.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13475-trip-report-leavenworth-melissa-lipani http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13475-trip-report-leavenworth-melissa-lipani Fall is slowly arriving and that means trips to new locales to enjoy crisp temps, changing leaves, and time with new and old friends. I'd always been curious about Leavenworth, a tiny Bavarian style town in Central Washington, whose granite blocks along Icicle Creek beckon climbers from all over.While we were lucky enough to catch dry weather, we unfortunately timed our trip with a very bad, large wildfire that saw daily drops of water from Chinook helicopters, views of hot flames above our campsite, and thick, smoky air that blocked views of what would normally be lovely pine forested... ]]> Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:26:00 -0400 13475 2012-09-21 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_atomic-energy-1348244809.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_town-1348244809.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_rig-1348244809.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_adam-1348244809.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_flames-1348244810.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_icicle-creek-1348244810.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_left-of-the-shield-1348244810.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13471-ubc-pro-tour-comp-part-1-of-4-natasha-barnes http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13471-ubc-pro-tour-comp-part-1-of-4-natasha-barnes Five Ten Athlete Natasha Barnes goes on a road trip to the UBC Pro Tour stop in Seattle and stops in Gold Bar, Index and Leavenworth on the way. About 3 months ago I decided to compete in my first big comp since doing the Dark Horse last Fall/Winter, the UBC Pro Tour stop in Seattle. This time I had been training for the competition under the guidance of Kris Peters and with some strength training help from my friends at Anthropos Performance. A couple weeks ago I got to test myself against some of the best... ]]> Thu, 20 Sep 2012 00:36:00 -0400 13471 2012-09-20 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-3233-1348101369.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-3258-1348101370.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-3263-1348101370.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-3280-1348101371.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-3329-1348101371.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-3223-1348101372.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-3358-1348101373.JPG http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13468-summer-bouldering-in-yosemite-seth-rogers http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13468-summer-bouldering-in-yosemite-seth-rogers I just got back from bouldering in Yosemite. I have been there lots of times, but only for rope climbing. Last time I was up there, it was really cold and we ended up climbing while it snowed. So it was a nice surprise to have warm weather. I went climbing with Zero Gravity teammates: Matt Grossman, Cameron Reed, Hannah Grossman, my brother Ethan Rogers, and Scott Corey, the youngest person to climb El Cap. We stayed at a house in Yosemite owned by the current El Cap speed record holder, Hans Florine. We mainly climbed near... ]]> Wed, 19 Sep 2012 08:00:00 -0400 13468 2012-09-19 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_munchkin-lunge-1348041612.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_with-friends-1348041613.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_approach-1348041615.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_working-an-traverse-1348041616.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_unnamed-boulder-1348041617.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13456-bouldering-world-championships-paris-angela-payne http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13456-bouldering-world-championships-paris-angela-payne I'm currently in Paris for the bouldering World Championships. I was back in Colorado for just a few weeks after my Greenland trip before turning around and heading to France. I trained a bit while back home, but I didn't expect too much from myself coming into this competition. To my surprise, I climbed relatively well in qualifiers, and felt okay. I ended up 8th in my qualifying group, and 15th overall, so I qualified for semifinals (20 competitors advance to semis). The competition is being held in a neat sports... ]]> Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:47:00 -0400 13456 2012-09-14 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-6285-1347652076.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-6340-1347652077.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-6271-1347652077.JPG http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_img-6353-1347652078.JPG