blurr - news (sept 07)


Blurr News - September 2007 Comp success for Juliette Danion Having spent the summer climbing outdoors on routes and bouldering in Switzerland (Magic Wood) and in France (Annot) Juliette has ended the summer with a win at the International Open of La Colmiane in France. She is now ranked 4^th in the world for 2007 and her next competition is the World championships taking place in Avilés in Northen Spain between the 17^th and 23^rd of September. Juliette climbing at Annot – Photo Juliette Danion collection Park Success for Sean McColl Sean McColl continued his form from Salt lake to RMNP Colorado. The highlight being the second ascent of Daniel Wood’s test piece Aslan. This 30 move endurance problem that weighs in at V14 (8b+). Other notable ascents on his trip included Don’t get too Greedy, Skipper roof L and Riddles in the Park. Sean working a project which was later climbed by Daniel Woods. Photo Jason McColl Sean with Daniel Woods making the most of the cooler night time conditions whilst working Aslan. Photo Jason McColl Summer OR Bouldering Competition Sean McColl competing at this summers OR bouldering comp. Photo Jason McColl Two of our blurr athletes: Portia Menlove and Sean McColl both made the finals of this years Outdoor Retailers bouldering competition at Salt Lake. The report below is from Mike Doyle who narrowly missed making the final himself. “During the Outdoor Retailers Summer Market a few brave (or foolish) blurr B-unit team members participated in the Mammut Bouldering Contest. With 41 women and 76 men registered it would prove to be difficult to make the top 12 and advance to finals. After the dust (and chalk) had settled from the qualifiers only Portia Menlove on the women’s side and Sean McColl on the men’s side would move on to represent blurr in the finals. The organizers this year decided to throw a bit of a twist in for the finals. They decided the finals would be held outdoors, on the top of a parking garage near the tradeshow centre. Now as most people know summers in Salt Lake City are hot, damn hot. By the time the finals started at 6pm on Saturday evening the holds and climbing area had been baking in mid-90 (~30 C) degree temperatures. Hot temperatures combined with slopey holds would provide the crowd with some entertainment for the evening. The sun was still out when the women started although it was slowly moving lower in the sky. Portia Menlove had qualified in fourth position and was one of the last females to start climbing. She made quick work of the first two problems, appearing to dispatch them with ease. However it was the third problem that gave her a few problems. She cruised the bottom of the problem but pulling the final lip, locking off to a hold a long ways away and standing up to the finish hold had her trying to sort out a sequence for awhile. At one point she grabbed her left foot in order to shift her weight a little more and gain the much needed reach for the second last hold. A pretty amazing technique that I’m not sure I’ve seen before. Despite the obvious desire and effort the last few moves eluded her. However Portia made up some ground by flashing the final two problems leaving her with four flashes in five routes, good enough for third place. By the time Sean McColl entered the finals climbing area the sun was quite low in the sky and obscured by a few clouds. I’m not sure the temperature had dropped at all and this didn’t bode well for the men as most of their problems appeared to be littered with quite horrendous slopers. Sean flashed up to the last long dyno on problem number one but even after a few attempts was still not able to latch the final hold. Problem number two fell to the flash but problem number three, which did not see an ascent by any competitors, stymied him at the lip. Problem number four (only climbed by eventual winner Chris Sharma) involved a large sloping feature and the need to pinch the arete quite high with the left hand. While Sean could reach the pinch he couldn’t negotiate the arete and get his body weight around the corner. The final men’s problem was a series of big moves between slopers and Sean did quite well to finish in seventh position, just out of the money. All in all it was a great event from a spectator’s point of view. The problems were gymnastic, well set and the outdoor atmosphere was unique, allowing for hundreds of spectators to watch the event.” For photos and a report of the event, check out the Rock and Ice site: w ww.rockandice.com Mike is currently on the road and climbing well, check out gripped magazine online - www.gripped.com for a report on his recent trip to Rifle and also Mike’s own site for frequent updates on his travels - www.mikedoyle.ca		Previous News Current news February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007