Fred Beckey is one of the world’s most accomplished climbers and turned 93 on Jan. 14, 2016.

Born on Jan. 14, 1923, Friedrich Wolfgang Beckey has established new routes all around the world, authored a number of best sellers and continues to get out into the mountains.

Fred Beckey. Photo Alain Denis

In 1961, Beckey played a large role setting the stage for hard alpine routes in Canada with The Beckey/Chouinard on the South Howser Tower in the Bugaboos and The Beckey/Chouinard/Doody on the north face of Mount Edith Cavell near Jasper.

Some of Beckey’s first ascents.

1939 Mount Despair, North Cascades.

1940 Forbidden Peak, North Cascades – with brother Helmy, Lloyd Anderson, Jim Crooks, and Dave Lind.

1946 East Ridge Devils Thumb, Alaska with Bob Craig and Clifford Schmidtke.

1947 North Peak, Liberty Bell, North Cascades.

1948 North Ridge of Mount Baker, North Cascades Fred Beckey, Ralph and Dick Widrig.

1954 Northwest Buttress to North Peak, Mount McKinley, Alaska (May 27) with Donald McLean, Charles Wilson, Henry Meybohm and Bill Hackett.

1954 Mount Deborah with Heinrich Harrer and Henry Meybohm.

1954 West Ridge Mount Hunter (Alaska) – with Heinrich Harrer and Henry Meybohm.

1959 Yocum Ridge, Mount Hood, Oregon, USA with Leo Scheiblehner.

1961 North Face of Mount Edith Cavell, Canadian Rockies, Canada with Yvon Chouinard.

1961 The Beckey/Chouinard Route on South Howser Tower, Bugaboos, Canada with Yvon Chouinard.

1963 Northeast Buttress of Mount Slesse, British Columbia, Canada with Steve Marts and Eric Bjornstad.

1963 West Buttress IV 5.8 A1 Musembeah Peak, Wind River Range, Wyoming, USA (September) with Layton Kor.

1967 El Matador IV A3, Devils Tower, WY. FA with Eric Bjornstad.

1968 Direct East Buttress IV 5.8 A4, South Early Winter Spire, North Cascades, WA. FA with Doug Leen.

1968 South Face III 5.8 A1 Cathedral Peak (Okanogan), North Cascades, WA. FA with Dave Wagner, John Brottem and Doug Leen.

1968 Northeast Face, Mount Hooker, Canadian Rockies, Canada. FA with John Rupley.

1970 Beckey’s Spire aka Christianity Spire, Sedona, AZ.

1996 Mount Beckey, Cathedral Mountains, Alaska, USA – 1996, with John Middendorf and Calvin Hebert.

The post Happy 93rd Birthday Fred Beckey! appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

The first Alberta provincial competition will be taking place Jan. 16 at the Calgary Climbing Centre (CCC).

The CCC’s Simon Villeneuve noted there are two head setters, Dustin Curtis is in charge of Open and Kaleb Thomas is in charge of Juniors. Assistants are Eugene Kremlev from Canmore, Matt Lucas and Regen Waldman.

Check back here for results and follow along on social media @grippedmagazine for up-to-date comp action.

CCC Hanger Provincials – Live Stream – Peter 1 from Walson Tai on Vimeo.

The post Pete Woods Talks About Upcoming Alberta Comp appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Nathan Kutcher has reported about his onsight of a hard mixed route in Ouray.

A number of Canadians have made the trip to Colorado to compete in the upcoming Ouray Ice Festival, arguable North America’s most popular ice climbing event.. Kutcher, who won the Ouray Ice Fest in 2012, has returned for another go.

His onsight of  the 35-metre You’re My Hero M12+ at the Hall of Justice took 30 minutes and he sent it in comp-style. For those unfamiliar with the different styles of mixed climbing, there has always been some debate about what’s fair, but in competitions only the climber’s hands can touch the tools – no resting by hanging from your wrapped arms or legs.

The day before the impressive send, Kutcher onsighted Andrea’s Route M11 and suggested a grade of M10.

Nathan Kutcher onsighting Your’e My Hero M12+ and sporting his Team Canada shirt.

– Be sure to follow Kutcher on Instagram here.

The post Nathan Kutcher Onsights a Colorado M12+ appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

The University Bouldering Series (UBS) is a relatively new comp circuit in Canada aimed at university students.

Max Summerlee is the president and one of the co-founders of the UBS. Climbing for 20 years, he has spent time competing and climbed in the Tour de Bloc (TDB) nationals in 2012.

University Bouldering Series. More info here.

“I have been working in gyms and setting at comps for a good part of my life and last year I also had the good fortune to run the first ever Youth Bouldering Nationals, hosted by Climber’s Rock in Burlington,” said Summerlee.

He is currently the general manager of Basecamp Climbing, which opens in Toronto this month. The other co-founder is David Albert-Lebrun who now lives in Vancouver and is in charge of heading up the West Coast chapter of the UBS.

Gripped touched base with Summerlee as the UBS prepares their first comp of 2016, which will be a at the Guelph Grotto on Jan. 16.

When did the UBS start?

The UBS was started by the two of us and our mutual friend, Ali Sutherland, back in 2011. The competition was originally pitched to be just for Guelph students, but our scope quickly grew when we gauged the interest in it and before we knew it the first comp had nearly 150 competitors.

How many comps the first year and how has it grown?

We base our comps around the academic school year, so after the first comp it wasn’t until the next fall that started into it again. Since then, we have grown steadily with about six competitions per year. This year will be first season we have expanded out of province.

What is the format like? 

Our format for the regular season competitions, is a standard scramble format competition: three hours, 50 problems, two signatures from competitors. But the UBS isn’t just about individuals, it is about team competition and at the end of every season we have a Team Finals.

The format is unique. The day of finals we run a standard scramble format qualifying round and then when all the competitors have finished, we tally the scores and combine the top three men and the top three women’s scores from each school to produce a final ranking.

After we have done this tally, the top three schools (thee men and thee women from each school) will be taken into our team finals. For that, we set a flight of three men’s problems and a flight of three women’s problems for the athletes to tackle. As the comp starts, all three teams are brought out and put in front of a problem, men and women at the same time.

University Bouldering Series. More info here.

The teams are given two minutes to look over the problem they are in front together and then it’s time to start. All the competitors who qualified in third place are up first, thee men and thee women, all climbing at the same time. These competitors are given four minutes to attempt the problem in front of them, with the obvious goal of sending the problem in as few attempts as possible. After their four minutes is up, the second place competitors are on the wall, with even less time to attempt the problem, thee minutes and 30 seconds.

And then, we culminate with the firsst place competitors, with only a brief three minutes to try and send their problem. When all competitors have run through the problem, the teams will then rotate to the next problem in the flight (taking another two minutes to look over the problem together) until all three teams have completed all three problems. The idea is that the three climbers work as a team to spot each other and figure out the best beta.

Is it only for university students?

The UBS is for registered university or college students, although in some select location we offer other categories, including Alumni in Ontario and a public category at ClimbBase5.

Do you advertise at universities?

Most of our advertising has been done by word of mouth, although we tend to circulate posters to Ontario gyms and universities that have their own clubs or facilities. Our budget is small so we really depend on our amazing competitors to keep spreading the word.

What university has the most climbers?

This year, it is looking like the University of Western Ontario is bringing out the biggest group of competitors, although traditionally McMaster and Guelph have strong showings.

This is the first comp out west, how are people taking to it and why Climb Base5?

The interest seems positive so far, but as with anything new there is still that period of anxious anticipation about when registration will take off. The competition isn’t well known on the West Coast so we have been doing our best to make our appearance out west through the connections and relationship we have managed to make through the growth of the series so far.

University Bouldering Series. More info here.

Luckily, we have a relationship with Kaleb Thomas (who is always up for a comp) and Daniel Poggi, who was very insistent on making the UBS happen. We owe a lot to them for taking a chance with us.

Will climbers from Ontario be travelling west?

We aren’t sure if any climbers will be traveling west for the event at Climb Base5, but you never know. We consistently have climbers coming up from New York to compete in Ontario events, so maybe.

There is the Tour de Bloc and the National Series, how does the UBS fit in to the bigger picture?

The UBS hangs out on the periphery of the comp scene, for the moment. We have been spending the last few years getting on our feet and working out some of the kinks of running competitions (it’s actually a lot of work) so there is no direct correlation between us and the TDB and National Series, although I am happy to announce that many UBS athletes have gone on to compete in the TDB (and vice versa).

Hopefully there is a future that sees the UBS having a place with the other series as part of a comprehensive national system.

What’s the future of the UBS?

We’ve been rolling with the punches and making it up as we go along, but the “plan” has always been to grow this series, to help legitimize climbing as a sport in Canada and most particularly, on the varsity scene. Most provinces, more comps, more climbing.

– The first West Coast event will be held on March 19, for more info on all comps, visit here. Follow the UBS on Instagram here.

The post Words With University Bouldering Series President appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Vitaliy Musiyenko made the first known solo of the 300-metre Widow’s Tears WI5 in Yosemite at the start of 2016.

The ice route rarely forms and was first climbed by Mark Chapman and Kevin Worrall over three days in 1975.

Musiyenko has made a number of trips to Canada. In the fall, he made quick work of a number of classics, including Nemesis WI6. Follow Musiyenko on his blog, here.

Vitaliy Musiyenko Soloing Widow’s Tears in Yosemite National Park from Alpinist Magazine on Vimeo.

The post Watch Solo of Yosemite’s Big Ice Climb! appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Tommy Caldwell was one of the many top climbers the the 2015 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.

Listen to this recording of his presentation about Dawn Wall and Fitz Roy in front of a sold-out audience.

The post Tommy Caldwell Talks Climbing At Banff Festival appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

The CEC National Series and Alberta Climbing Association’s combined Youth/Open Boulder Competition is on Jan. 16 and 17.

The event will be held at the Calgary Climbing Centre’s new Hanger location. There are two head setters, Dustin Curtis is in charge of Open and Kaleb Thomas is in charge of Juniors. Assistant setters are Eugene Kremlev from Canmore, Matt Lucas and Regen Waldman.

Watch a short profile on Canmore-based Alex Fricker, who will be competing at The Hanger:

There are climbers travelling from B.C. and Saskatchewan for the event that promises to be one of the biggest of the season. For more info and registration, see here.

Alyssa or Peter? CCC – Hanger Bouldering ACA Provincials January 16/17 2016 from Walson Tai on Vimeo.

The post Alberta Provincials at Calgary’s Hanger Tomorrow! appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Watch a ski descent by Brette Harrington and Marc-Andre Leclerc of Lady Peak’s Northeast Couloir.

The steep route is in the Cheam Range of southwestern B.C. Leclerc wrote, “From the summit ridge of the peak, a mixture of belayed skiing, lowering from buried skis and down soloing was used to gain access to the main section of the chute via an exposed ramp on the Northeast Face.

“Radder skiers might be able to send the cliff bands and/or the direct start, but would have to brave the long skin up, which took us eight hours breaking trail.”

–  Follow Leclerc on Instagram here and Harrington on Instagram here.

The post Watch a Ski Descent of Steep B.C. Couloir appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Chris Snobeck from Denver recently sent The Mustang P-51, an M14- in Colorado.

Story by Sam Sala

Tying in, Chris flashes me the same laser-focused, yet serene smile I’ve seen so many times, the one that always seems to tell me this will be the go that counts. This burn, his second of the day, will be the one that ends in me paying out slack for the victory whipper. I’d seen this smile earlier in the spring of 2015 just before he ticked off The Lightning P-38 (M13-); another one of the prolific Will Mayo’s hard mixed lines at the storied Vail Amphitheater, in Vail.

Inspired by the iconic WWII fighter that defined agility wrapped in toughness, The Mustang P-51 more than lives up to its namesake. After starting off with an 20-metre WI5/M6 “approach,” up Jeff Lowe’s classic, Seventh Tentacle, Mustang banks hard right and sets into the business of crossing the amphitheater’s awe-inspiring, 25-metre-long roof. Working through sequence after sequence (after sequence after sequence) of inversions on delicate limestone edges and tenuous pockets, Chris floats his way past Vail’s sentinel ice pillar The Fang, which looms within kicking distance.

Chris Snobeck sending The Mustang M14. Photo Ryan Vachon / Follow on Instagram here.

Here, the route intersects several of North America’s toughest climbs, The Lightning being among them. The tension is huge for the next few moves as the transition into The Lightning is one of several notable cruxes along the way. He makes the huge reach to a chewed out groove, plants the soles of his fruit boots firmly in the roof above, and releases slowly, careful to keep his tool torqued hard to hold its fragile placement and to avoid pinching a hand, which was the undoing of his first try earlier in the morning. Having belayed Chris through multiple redpoints of The Lightning, I breathe a huge sigh of relief as he shakes out, once again in familiar territory.

He’s only traversed about half of the roof at this point though and his dogfight against gravity and time is far from over. A few encouraging shouts from the now enraptured spectators, and he is weaving through the draws once more. He reaches a tiny weakness in the roof which leads to the upper reaches of the amphitheater and takes a few moments to shake again, recollecting his strength. He will need all of it, plus miles of concentration here as the only way out is via a series of lock-offs in a dirty smear of thin, steep ice.

He disappears around the corner and for several tense seconds we wait in total silence, craning up to catch even the slightest bounce in the rope that shows movement. It slides once, twice, three times to the end of route, then the “WOOO-HOOO!!!!” rings out. I yard out a few arm loads of cord just before he hits eject and casts off into the void. Lowering to the snow and ice below, he looks as if he’s parachuting down, like so many downed enemy pilots that went up against the P-51; except this time, it’s The Mustang that has gone down.

– Sam Sala is a climber based in Fort Collins. Be Sure to follow Chris Snobeck on Instagram here and Ryan Vachon on Instagram here.

The post Short Story on Chris Snobeck’s Mustang M14- Send appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Conrad Anker caught the action after a pipe burst at the Ouray Ice Festival on Jan. 16.

A number of Canadians are at the popular winter event and the competition wall is far from the flowing water, so the show will go on.

Done sprung a leak.

A video posted by Conrad Anker (@conrad_anker) on Jan 16, 2016 at 12:47pm PST

The post Watch Pipe Burst at Ouray Ice Fest! appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Qualifying results from the CEC National Series and Alberta Climbing Association’s combined Youth/Open Boulder Competition on Jan. 16.

The Hanger

Male / Female Open

1. Jason Holowach / Stacey Weldon
2. Gavin Johnson / Thomasina Pidgeon
3. Jesse Taplin / Alyssa Weber
4. Dan Archambault / Regan Kennedy
5. Sam Tucker / Julia Goldhoff
6. Simon Yamamoto / Becca Frangos
7. Marc Eveleigh / Eva Thompson
8. Alex Fricker / Allison Vest
9. Scott Williams / Alison Stewart-Patterson
10. Matt Hendsbee / Lisa Van de Panne

Male / Female Junior

1. Simon Yamamoto / Becca Frangos
2. Matt Hendsbee / Eva Thompson
3. Hamish Thomson / Ayla Mahabeer
4. Scott Eveleigh / Danya Bowen
5. Andrew Funk / Naomi Bird

Male / Female Youth A

1. Alex Fricker / Julia Goldhoff
2. Matt Wright / Lisa Van de Panne
3. Dylan Abel / Jenna Deibert

Male / Female Youth B

1. Silas Roy-Brenneis / Paige Boklaschuk
2. Tyson Martino / Manon Mackasey
3. Carter Caisse / Emily Kay-Leighton

Male / Female Youth C

1. Ben MacDonald / Ali Dyack
2. T.J. Foley / Patricia Bories
3. Isaak Keskula / Lily Trottier

Male / Female Youth D

1. Bryton Kapitza / Sydney Kozak
2. Dane Menzies / Alexa Vanier
3. Louka Gay / Isobel Stady

Eva ready to execute at Alberta provincial championships.

A photo posted by Josh Muller (@joshmuller) on Jan 16, 2016 at 4:56pm PST

The post Results from ACA Comp at Calgary’s Hanger appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Watch Nina Williams and Y.O.S.A.R. member Helen Sinclair on the Rostrum in Yosemite. 

The Rostrum is a pillar of steep stone with orange and splitter cracks. There are a few routes up the face, but The North Face, which is also called the “the Rostrum” is the classic.

It was first climbed first climbed in 1962 by Warren Hardy and Glen Denny and first freed in 1977 by Ron Kauk and John Yablonski at 5.11c.

In 1987, Canadian Peter Croft made the first free solo link-up of Rostrum and the popular Astroman 5.11c.

The post Watch Nina Williams and Helen Sinclair on Hard Yosemite Route appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

The first University Bouldering Series (USB) comp of 2016 took place at the Guelph Grotto on Jan. 16.

Lots of university students/climbers travelled to Guelph for the big event. Read an interview with Max Summerlee, the president of the USB, here.

Lots of familiar faces from the National Series and Tour de Bloc events made the trip. Below are the top fives for Open and for complete results from Beginner, Intermediate and Alumni, visit here.

Male Open

1. Anthony Richard from University of Guelph-Humber
2. Nate Lo from George Brown College
3. Kevin Westermann from University of Waterloo
4. Andrew Wetjen from Rochester Institute of Technology
5. Luis Pavon from Flemming College

Female Open

1. Elise Sethna from Queens University
2. Pia Graham from Ontario College of Art and Design
3. Alex Kuusela from University of Waterloo
4. Arina Sporova from Conestoga College
5. Jazmyne Watson from University of Western Ontario

A video posted by University Bouldering Series (@ubs_canada) on Jan 16, 2016 at 7:47am PST

The post Results from UBS Comp at Guelph Grotto appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

In this first episode of The Marins’ Alps Project, Edu Marin and Francesco ‘Novato’ Marin set off on their summer road trip through Europe.

One of the routes they attempt is Orbayu on Naranjo de Bulnes in northern Spain, which is known as the country’s hardest multi-pitch.

The post Watch Edu Marin and Dad on Multi-Pitch 5.13 appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

The Climbing Escalade Canada (CEC) and Alberta Climbing Association’s Youth to Open comp took place on Jan. 17.

The Hanger is a new gym in Calgary and it was a great place for this competition. Climbers from B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan came together for the big event.

There were nearly 200 people watching the LIVE feed and at the Hanger, spectators filled the floor and sat on the stairs.

Qualifiers took place on Saturday and a strong field advanced to Sunday. For Saturday’s qualifying results, visit here.

Here are the top finalists from Sunday, for more results, visit here.

Open Male / Female

1. Jason Holowach / Eva Thompson
2. Jesse Taplin / Stacey Weldon
3. Dan Archambault / Alyssa Weber
4. Sam Tucker / Allison Vest
5. Marc Eveleigh / Julia Goldhoff
6. Simon Yamamoto / Becca Frangos
7. Alex Fricker / Alison Stewart-Patterson
8. Gavin Johnson / Thomasina Pidgeon

Junior Male / Female

1. Simon Yamamoto / Eva Thompson
2. Andrew Funk / Becca Frangos
3. Matt Hendsbee / Ayla Mahabeer

Youth A Male / Female

1. Alex Fricker / Julia Goldhoff
2. Matt Wright / Freya Hammond-Thrasher
3. Michael Svoboda / Lisa Van de Penne

Youth B Male / Female

1. Tyson Martino / Emily Kay-Leighton
2. Silas Roy-Brenneis / Katrina Sutley
3. Dylan Bokenfohr / Paige Boklaschuk

Youth C Male / Female

1. T.J. Foley / Lily Trottier
2. Ben MacDonald / Ali Dyack
3. Isaak Keskula / Paticia Bories

Youth D Male / Female

1. Dane Menzies / Sydney Kozak
2. Bryton Kapitza / Isobel Stady
3. Louka Gay / Alexa Vanier

Here are photos from Junior and Youth Finals today by Philip Quade and full Open Finals gallery to come.

The post Results from Alberta Provincials at the Hanger appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Watch as the strong climbers Enzo Oddo, Gasper Pintar, Etienne Tafary , Fab Clavel and François Riffet visit Indian Creek to sample difficult crack climbs.

Fire Dust & Cracks from Tchaloproductions on Vimeo.

The post Watch Hard Indian Creek Sends appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

The Ouray Ice Festival took place on Jan. 16 and 17 and had a number of international climbers attend.

A video by Conrad Anker of a water pipe exploding at the Ouray Ice Festival went viral on the weekend. No one was injured and the climber next to the gushing water has a story to tell. Watch the video here.

A number of top climbers travelled to the 21st annual event in Colorado, including European Lucie Hrozova and Canadian Will Gadd.

Ryan Vachon, a 43-year-old from Boulder, improved on his 2015 seventh-place finish with a win for the men. In second was Sam Elias and third was Kyle Dempster. The top Canadian was Will Gadd, who finished in seventh place.

The 27-year-old Czech climber Lucie Hrozova took first place for the women, followed by Italian Ange Rainier and American Katie Bono. Canadian Rebecca Lewis climbed her way to fifth place.

These are the preliminary results and the order of top finishers might change.

Results for Male / Female

1. Ryan Vachon / Lucie Hrozova
2. Sam Elias / Ange Rainer
3. Kyle Dempster / Katie Bono
4. Rudi Hauser / Emily Harrington
5. Jason Nelson / Rebecca Lewis
6. David Lee / Jewell Lund
7. Will Gadd / Naoko Adachi
8. Masato Nakajima / Susan Owen
9. Will Mayo / Yukie Ishihara
10. Jon Merritt / Beth Goralski

A photo posted by Ryan Vachon (@nerd_in_nature) on Jan 16, 2016 at 9:10pm PST

The post Ouray Ice Festival 2016 Results appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Lloyd King pieced this short video together of some classic boulder sends in Squamish. 

Sḵwx̱wú7mesh ~ Bouldering from Lloyd King on Vimeo.

The post Short Video of Classic Squamish Boulders appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Alex Honnold was recently interviewed on the American station NPR.

Alex Honnold on The Pre Muir Wall Photo John Dickey / Follow Dickey on Instagram here.

The post Listen to Alex Honnold on NPR appeared first on Gripped Magazine.

Watch this great film by Tom Cochrane and Mike Hoover, which is about Cochrane’s big wall solos in the 1960s.

Filmed in original 16mm film, Solo won over 50 awards in film festivals all over the globe. For more on Cochrane and how this film led to the Eiger Sanction, visit here.

Hoover went on to make more films, including the Hollywood movie Endless Summer II.

The post Watch 1972 Documentary of Yosemite Soloists Career appeared first on Gripped Magazine.