http://fiveten.com/ http://fiveten.com/images/stories/NewBox_black.png http://fiveten.com/ http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13809-dark-horse-tour-de-bloc-and-nationals-isabelle-faus http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13809-dark-horse-tour-de-bloc-and-nationals-isabelle-faus Currently I am in South Hadley, Massachusetts waiting out the blizzard Nemo. The entire place is covered in snow, we may have gotten around 2 feet. Today I was supposed to go to the Power Struggle comp in Connecticut, but the snow has delayed the comp to tomorrow. I have been competing a lot these days, the first comp of 2013 was the DarkHorse championship; the last comp in a 4 round series. I won the first round, and got 2nd and 3rd in next two comps. Going into the last round I was really excited. Myself and some... ]]> Sat, 09 Feb 2013 15:57:00 -0500 13809 2013-02-09 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_406083-10200442400286315-1044338225-n-1360425423.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_isabelle-p-4a-1360425423.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_734692-4957816500004-33116076-n-1360425424.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_isabelle-p-2c-1360425424.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_isabelle-p-4c-1360425424.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13806-dark-horse-championships-josh-levin http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13806-dark-horse-championships-josh-levin This past weekend concluded the epic saga of the Dark Horse Bouldering Series. This year, Josh Larson and Dave Wetmore really stepped up their game, producing not two, not three, but FOUR heart-stopping, jaw-dropping, crowd-pleasing finals rounds that cumulated in the final championship round on saturday.To kick the weekend off, my friend Nicholas Milburn flew in from Houston to compete, so we decided to pregame for qualifiers by going out for some delicious dim sum at a local restaurant nearby my dorm on Northeastern campus. Bright and early the next morning, we headed off to Metrorock after a solid... ]]> Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:49:00 -0500 13806 2013-02-08 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_5-1360345744.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_1-1360345743.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_2-1360345743.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_3-1360345744.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_4-1360345744.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13775-and-they-all-screamed-dark-horse-nicholas-milburn http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13775-and-they-all-screamed-dark-horse-nicholas-milburn This past weekend I was able to fly up to Boston to compete in the Dark Horse Finals. I've watched all the recap videos and immediately put on my list of must do competitions. I was feeling pretty good when I bought my plane tickets. I just had a great trip out in southeast where I did some of my hardest sends and I just won youth ABS Divisionals. Only problem was that every other strong person on the planet flew out to climb at this thing too. Daniel Woods, Paul Robinson, Jimmy Webb, Vasya Vorotnikov, Carlo Traversi, Nick... ]]> Tue, 22 Jan 2013 21:25:00 -0500 13775 2013-01-22 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dark-horse-5-of-17-1358889935.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dark-horse-11-of-17-1358889935.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dark-horse-8-of-17-1358889935.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dark-horse-6-of-17-1358889935.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dark-horse-13-of-17-1358889936.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dark-horse-9-of-17-1358889936.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dark-horse-15-of-17-1358889936.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13720-dark-horse-2012-francesca-metcalf http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13720-dark-horse-2012-francesca-metcalf I finally finished up a very busy but ultimately successful fall semester at GA Tech. I decided to kick off the winter break with one of my favorite competitions- The Dark Horse. As always it was held at my home gym, MetroRock in Boston. However, it was a much different competition than previous years- the field of girls was by far the strongest ever at the comp. There were at least 12 girls who were strong enough to climb in finals, which made the red point very crucial since there were only 8 places in finals. I got to... ]]> Mon, 24 Dec 2012 18:47:00 -0500 13720 2012-12-24 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_francesca-problem-3-1356374838.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_francesca-problem-2-1356374839.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_francesca-heel-hook-prob-2-1356374839.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_francesca-metcalf-problem-1-1356374839.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13613-dark-horse-1-josh-levin http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/13613-dark-horse-1-josh-levin Is the Dark Horse the most epic bouldering competition ever created? Absolutely. For the past couple years, I've been watching videos of bouldering competitions on the east coast, (namely Dark Horse and Heart of Steel) fantasizing about one day being able to travel out there to compete.Although the Heart of Steel has since been cancelled, the Dark Horse is still in full swing in New England, put on every year by head setters Josh Larson and Dave Wetmore. Watching the highlight reels made the events look insane - big dynos, drop-down moves, backwards mantles, swinging on non-climbing holds, you... ]]> Fri, 09 Nov 2012 02:45:00 -0500 13613 2012-11-09 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_p2-pinch-1352429109.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_rest-1352429110.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_preparing-for-dyno-1352429110.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_dark-horse-1352429110.png http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_double-heel-1352429111.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_right-heel-1352429111.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_cross-1352429111.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12687-2012-darkhorse-and-abs-nationals-andrew-kim http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12687-2012-darkhorse-and-abs-nationals-andrew-kim Pretty late blog post... but DARKHORSE! Championship! in boston was crazy! A good amount of pro competitors showed up in boston for the comp, such as Dwoods, Carlo, ROBBY D, ADJ for the guys, leading to a very difficult qualifying red point round. even though I didn't do well enough to qualify for finals it was almost as good just watching the finals event unfold. with 4 finals problem, Daniel woods took 1st flashing all problems, then ROB D, this guy is one of my favorite guys to watch and to climb with, so much sike! in 2nd with... ]]> Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:22:00 -0500 12687 2012-03-02 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_bagley_darkhorse_2.4.2012-3972-1330719741.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_bagley_darkhorse_2.4.2012-4340-1330719741.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_400273-3288694296136-1231057383-33419144-374608059-n-1330719741.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_bagley_darkhorse_2.4.2012-4097-1330719742.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12616-3-comps-3weeks-sebastien-lazure http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12616-3-comps-3weeks-sebastien-lazure January 28th.It was the third editions of the Gonflé à Bloc comp in Montreal and it feels to me that the first one was held only few days ago. Time goes by, and it's been already three years since my home gym's first Tour de Bloc stop. It was the only stop of the tour in Montreal this season and expectations were high! A total of 235 climbers competed that day! I think it was an overall success and one of the best one so far! Not because I’m really happy of my climbing that day but surely because... ]]> Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:44:00 -0500 12616 2012-02-10 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_seb-problem-5-nic-1328903097.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_bagley-darkhorse-2-4-2012-3725-1328903097.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_bagley-darkhorse-2-4-2012-3923-1328903097.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_vertical-bourdeau-2-1328903097.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_vertical-bourdeau-1328903097.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_vertical-guy-1-1328903098.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12612-dark-horse-3-francesca-metcalf http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12612-dark-horse-3-francesca-metcalf Last weekend was the final Dark Horse comp. It was amazing, as expected. It was great to be back home again and competing with so many people I haven’t seen in a while, including a bunch of people new to the Dark Horse competitions. Both the women and men categories were totally stacked- Angie Payne, Daniel Woods, Kashia Pietras, Rob D., Isabelle Faus, and Alex David Johnson just to name a few. ]]> Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:26:00 -0500 12612 2012-02-10 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_418692-10150598984099090-803324089-8789609-1279301246-n-1328855210.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_396461-10150598983864090-803324089-8789606-16847326-n-1328855210.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12608-training-blog-3-the-dark-horse-championships-angela-payne http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12608-training-blog-3-the-dark-horse-championships-angela-payne Since my last blog, I feel like my attitude has improved and my motivation has been somewhat renewed. I had a pivotal moment at the gym last week when I was climbing poorly during an evening onsight session. I was feeling angry and frustrated and tired and my attitude was deteriorating quickly. I wasn’t doing any of the boulders, and I was basically being sour and negative. I don’t get nearly as down on myself for failing as I do for not trying hard. That night, I knew I wasn’t trying hard, so I... ]]> Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:21:00 -0500 12608 2012-02-09 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_imag2178-1328768493.jpg http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12410-dark-horse-series-sebastien-lazure http://fiveten.com/community/blog-detail/12410-dark-horse-series-sebastien-lazure We did the 5 hours drive to Everett, MA near Boston. It was my first time in a Dark Horse Comp and I had plenty of fun! there was some nice problems and every one were super friendly! Actually, I feel in pretty good shape! and I think I climbed really well that day! I made it to finals being 2nd in qualification. Unfortunately, I didn't feel the first problem in any way.. we had to turn the corner of the wall and reach for two holds on a volume, I tried it a couple ways but none felt... ]]> Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:21:00 -0500 12410 2011-12-12 http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_bagleyDH20122loresselect1782copy_1323721265.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_bagleyDH20122loresselect1761copy_1323721265.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_bagleyDH20122loresselect1557copy_1323721265.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_bagleyDH20122loresselect1405copy_1323721265.jpg http://fiveten.com/images/stories/jreviews/_bagleyDH20122loresselect1616copy_1323721265.jpg