Europe Trip 2011

Well I finally sat down for more than a few seconds so that I could update this ol' blog thingy for everyone.  Over the summer I was lucky enough to explore Europe for a little over a month with my homies Josh Levin (fellow 5.10 athlete), Joe Gifford, and Nicholas Milburn.  Concluding my last SCS Youth Nationals in which I placed 2nd in after a very EPIC 12min long time on finals (haha if u were there u know), we booked it to Munich for a few days.  While in Munich I was able to go explore the Olympic Park and hang out at some festival right by the park which was crazy!

Big Up to Jansport for providing the bags for my trip to Europe, they held up amazing!

Munich

Festival near the Olympic Park 

One of many Audi R8's spotted

Sweet BMW

Olympic Park 

My new BMW bike :D

Another Audi r8

Arco

After Munich we headed on over to Arco Italy where the Arco World Championships were being held and which I was competing in Bouldering, Sport, Speed and Team Speed.  

Places:

Bouldering:

Sport:

Speed:

Team Speed:

I had a blast in Arco, by far the most climber friendly place I have ever been to.  Literally a climbing shop every ten feet, it was ridiculously awesome!

Cool fountain

Church

Cool castle

Church

Countdown clock in the town center

Bloody huge bag

Arco

Arco

The wall

Bouldering Wall

Riva Del Gardo - town south of Arco

Finals crowd

Male bouldering champs

Sweet!!

Arco

Arco

Underground 9a

Castle that was closed after we hiked all the way up this super longggg hill. (apparently there was a sign at the bottom that said it was closed) oops lol

Crazy rooster at top of long hill 

Super Model show that me and Joe Gifford got sidetracked by on our way to Finals and ended up watching instead haha

Ceuse

Following Arco nest stop was Ceuse France.   To be honest I was not too psyched on the hike up lol as I am not the biggest fan of hiking but the climbing was definitely worth the long grueling hike up (after a nice long nap of course haha).  Sadly it was raining the next day at Ceuse so we decided to host a mini comp at the little wall that they had at the camp ground near the bottom of the wall.  

Comp Wall

Joe's feminine side

The comp winners!!

Briancon

After Ceuse was Briancon, France where my second Sport World Cup that I was going to compete in was taking place.  I placed a solid --- at the event.  These blokes are super duper strong, let me tell you lol.  I had a blast though climbing with all the legends of rock that I see on the comp killing it all the time. 

This is what happens of you dont make finals haha

Super sketchy free solo of an old castle at least 35ft, thankfully I had 5.10 on :)

The A-Team!!!!!!

Huge sucker

Dungeon

Rodellar

Next stop was Rodellar Spain!!!! Rodellar was amazing!!!  We spent nearly two weeks here and I loved every second of it.  Tufas, kneebars and drop knees galore, climbers paradise.  It was here that I sent my first 8c "Welcome to Tijuana" and 8b+ "El Chorreras".  Cannot wait to go back!

Send List:

Attempting to get some good pics while on take working Welcome to Tijuana haha

Welcome to Tijuana 8c

El Delfin

Zillertal Austria.

Josh getting his photo on 

Imst 

Arco Sport Qualifiers

Arco Sport Qualifiers July 21st, 1st out on route #1 (Climb at Noon, Italy Time) and 36th for route #2 (Climb around 3:36)  Watch live www.ifsc.tv

Arco Boulder Men and Women Finals

A HUGE CONGRATS for Sasha DiGiulian of USA for 2nd place!!!

Watch Live Men @ 7:00pm Italy Time 

www.ifsc.tv

Youth Nationals

 Nationals

The 2011 Youth National Competition was held at Stone Summit in Atlanta Georgia.  It was a four day competiton starting on the 7th of July and ending on the 10th, sport qualifiers were held on the the first two days in flash format then followed by semis and finals.  I competed in both sport and speed.  I sent qualifier one without any trouble where as the second qualifier was a little tougher with some hard roof moves to the face above the long roof.  I fell within moves from the top.  Semifinals was a blast to climb on, I scored high point for my category placing me in first going into finals. After the finals route preview, I was super pysched to get on the route.  However, in the middle of the climb there was an awkard face dyno to two slopers, unfortuonatley I totally missed this during preview and did not want to risk falling of a dyno in finals so I chilled in the same spot for 6 minutes (thank god we had unlimited time as I was on the route for 12 minutes haha) untill i finally manned up for the not so bad move.  I then speedily climbed the rest of the way as to not be on the wall any longer than I already had been.  I ended up placing a solid 2nd place in my last youth Nationals and 4th in speed with a time of 6.07.  I will now represent the US over in the youth World Championships held in Imst Austria in August.  
Qualifier #1
Qualifier #2
Semi-Finals
Finals
(Videos coming soon )

2011 Bouldering World Cup Vail!

The 2011 Vail Bouldering World Cup was a blast!  The Bouldering portion kicked off with the opening ceremonies on the 2^nd of June.  It was fun to mingle with the fellow competitors.  The next day started off with the 35+ female climbers all vying for their spot into semi-finals, followed by the men.  We had only five problems for qualifiers.  

Problem #1

Problem #2

Problem #3

Problem #4

Problem #5

 I did not have the best of days but that has just given me more motivation to come back next year even more focused.  The US ended up with an impressive 14 climbers in the Semi-Finals with the two young Superstars Julian Bautista and Dana Riddle both placing 9th overall.  Could not have asked for much more in finals with Kilian Fischhuber of Austria making it look  easy with the flash of all four Finals problems. Alex Puccio had a very impressive day in finals ending up in 2nd without even getting a bonus on on the problems.  Angie Payne of USA also had an impressive finish of 6th place.  

Triangle Rock Gym

After my amazing experience at the Dominion River Rock Bouldering Bash, I went on over to Triangle Rock Club to hang out the team kids and to do a private clinic with a few of the members on going big!  I had a wonderful time with all the team kids there.  So freaking strong they are!  I wish them GOOD LUCK on their upcoming endeavors.  :)

Special Thank To TRC for flying me out to North Carolina to hang with them.  If you are ever in the area please check them out.  Great gym!  http://trianglerockclub.com/

Dominion River Rock Comp "Bat Hang" Climb

Semi-Finals Climb

Thanks pigsalreadyfly for the video!

1st Ever Dominion River Rock Bouldering Bash!!

This year I had the opportunity of competing in a bouldering comp unlike anything else done before.  The magnificent wall was built and designed by Brent Quesenberry, whom did a great job of really creating the ultimate viewer experience for someone who has never seen a bouldering competition, along with making it super fun to climb on.

The wall

As you can see it is just a metal structure with huge volumes hanging down that we climbed between to seek  the prize of topping the huge 30 beast out.  

Qualifiers, I really was just getting used to the wall as I sent problem #1 but not as smoothly as I would have liked due to the different style of climbing.  Qualifier #2 was pretty tough and I was pretty pumped from problem #1 as we only had 5 minutes per problem.  I made it far enough though to qualify me to semi-finals.  Technically, this was a boulder competition but felt more like a route competition as each problem had 20+ moves.  This led to exciting, showy big move climbing. 

Semi-Finals 

Semi-Finals
Photo - Travis Wills

I was prepped and ready to crush.  Qualifiers were over and I had a good feel of the wall.  Our semi-finals route was one of the coolest problems I have been on.  It had cool movement to a strong one arm lock off move to some shoulder moves on pinches, 

Shoulder Moves

Photo - Travis Wills

which then led to my favorite move of the comp "Bat-hang"!!!! and then a huge two handed dyno to finishing pinches. 

Psyched before the Bat-Hang

Photo - Travis Wills

Bat-Hang

Photo - Travis Wills

Coming out of the Bat-Hang

Photo - Travis Wills

 During route preview I immediately scoped the bat-hang out and could not wait to do it.  Oddly enough I was the only person to do the move the quote un quote proper way haha.  Go figure.  I was the first of two to send the problem, Zach Lerner being the 2nd.  

Dyno!

Photo - Travis Wills

Looking at the Crowd

Photo - Travis Wills

Victory!!!

Photo - Travis Wills

Finals

Finals were supposed to follow semi-finals later on that night, however we were forced to delay them till the next day due to a sudden thunder storm that brought everything to a halt.  Only one problem lay in front of me on finals day.  During preview time I knew that I could send all I had to do was get past this one dyno move right near the end in which one could easily fly off the hold.  I easily made my way to the move through some solid feet first climbing action.  To my dismay I did not stick the sideways dyno first go, with only 5 minutes per climb I rested for a few seconds before hopping on again to give it my final burn.  Again I easily cruised to the move seconds before I was about to go for the move my feet cut which was actually better because it was better for me because I found out that I could just campus the dyno.  After sticking the campus I climbed up on the last move, looking at the last move which was a doozy I simply had no more gas left.  In the end I tied for 3rd but ended up taking 5th place due to falls.  

All in all I had an amazing time at the competition and cannot wait till next year in which I know will be even better!!

Highlight Video

2011 Dominion Riverrock Bouldering Competition from DPM CLIMBING 

Canadian Nationals!

       So this year I decided to head on up to Canadian Nationals to get some more comp experience and to see how they did things up there.  It was held at Climber's Rock Gym, they did a real nice job with everything too.  The first day was Qualifiers, in which we had 5 problems.  5 minutes on 5 off.  Problem #1 was a short crimpy flat wall problem.  I flashed it quickly allowing me ample time to rest before problem #2 which was probably the hardest climb of the day.  Problem #2 was a pure tension problem on not very good slopey holds.   Thankfully, I this did not stop me from cruising right up the problem.  Problem #3 I ended up sending second go.  Problem #4 had this interesting sideways dyno in it that for some reason I could just not stick (go figure)  haha Finally, after like 6 tries I connected with hold and finished it up easily.  Problem #5 was pretty chill and went down first try as well.
Finals
       For finals we had four problems.
Problem #1

Problem #2
Had a sweet start to it as you started facing the crowd and finished up on some rather enjoyable campusy moves.
Problem #3

Problem #4

2011 SCS Nationals!!!

Sport
Results
1. Carlo Traversi
2. Magnus Mitboe
3. Matty Hong
4. Alex David Johnson


Male Highlight Video

(Louder Than 11 - Video)


Female Video Highlights


Results
1. Sasha DiGiulian
2. Paige Claassen
3.  Dana Riddle
4.  Alex Johnson

(Louder Than 11 - Video)


Speed

        Speed climbing went really well this year, it ended up being me and Joshua Levin vying for the title.  Joshua did a very impressive run in the 6 second range.  I knew I was going to have to step it up on my next run.  Thankfully, I climbed smooth and fast and just clinched 1st place, earning me the title of Open Speed National Champion!

Cage Free Video plus some Extra's!!!

Big ups to Chuck Fryberger Films and DeadPointMagazine for taking some time to shoot a little video after my recent succes at ABS Nationals!  I had a blast working with everyone and hope to do more in the near future!!

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2011 ABS Youth Nationals!!!

Final Results:

1.  Alex David Johnson

2. Griffen Whiteside

3. Michael Beyer

Qualifers

Semi Finals:

Sorry I do not have any videos for finals but they were by far the best climbs yet for Junior Finals, great job setters!!!

2011 ABS Nationals Highlight Video!!

You can check out the highlights from the Championships here http://jonglassberg.lt11.com/2011/02/15/2011-abs-nationals/

2011 ABS NATIONAL CHAMPION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was pretty bummed because without that third bonus hold I knew I probably wasn’t going to make finals.  I then get a text from my buddy and fellow 5.10 athlete Josh Levin who crushed in the comp by the way, that I had made it!?!  At first I thought he was just messing with me, so I text him back, “Are you serious??”.  He then calls me and confirms that I did indeed make into Finals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I just went crazy, running all around Spicy Pickle, the restaurant that I was eating at, not being able to contain my excitement!!! Haha.  I then went back to my hotel and took a very nice nap before heading over to the wall for finals.  They ran finals in a world cup format style.  In the world cup format style; they bring out the competitors one by one and introduce them to the crowd.  Then both the male and female preview their 1^st problem, climb it and so on for #2 and #3.  As I was the last to make finals, I was out first to climb. 

Finals 1 (Bonus)

The first problem was not your usual problem, it started with a goofy but fun mantle to friction paper in the shape of two hands, and then you fell into a pocket and threw out to a jug.  In order to get to the next hold I a figure 4 came in handy.  This was the first time that I had ever utilized a figure 4 so my first few attempts at reaching the next hold were rather sloppy. Lol After several attempts I ended up sticking the bonus hold, but falling shortly after in attempting to reach the next hold.  I gave it a few more burns and managed to touch the second to last hold.  It was cool being able to go 1^st out on each of the problems, I felt it was a lot less stressful because you did not have to sit in the chair and wonder how everyone else had done.  I was not stressed though for Finals because I did not have any expectations, I just too busy having too much fun; just happy to be in finals.  No one managed to send problem #1 for the men, se we all entered problem #2 ready to take revenge and SEND!!

Finals 2 (Send)

As soon as we turned around to preview the problem and I saw how the problem was, I knew this one was going to be fun.  It suited my style perfectly.  First attempt I just barely missed a key hold.  Second time around I knew what had to be done, turned it on and Sent!!  To my surprise problem #2 gave the others some trouble.  The last move was rather unforgiving and spit off several of the climbers on the first attempts to the top. 

            Finals 3 (Bonus)

            Going into problem #3, I knew if I wanted, any chances of winning I was going to have at least get the bonus hold on my first try and or send the problem.  I had a really good burn on the problem, just barely missing the finish hold after a rather large dyno that had skipped the last half of the problem.  I had some good goes after this one, but this by far was my best attempt. 

            In the end, I ended up finishing in a very impressive 2^nd place next to the very talented Sean Mcoll from Canada.  I cannot describe to you how ecstatic I was when I had found out that I had placed 2^nd in the 2011 Open ABS Nationals, earning me the title “2011 ABS NATIONAL CHAMPION.”  I still cannot believe it! Haha

            Next up is Youth ABS Nationals (Feb, 18-20).  Then Canadian Nationals, World Cup in Canada, Vail and Arco Finals which is held in Italy this year!  2011 is going to be one fun year cannot wait! J

Special thanks to all of my sponsors who have helped me throughout the years: Rock Candy Holds, Organic and Five Ten, and a very special thank you to my family and MOM!!!

2011 ABS Nationals Semi-Finals!!!

Really my only goal going into semi-finals was to make it to the final round, to be honest I didn’t care how I did (obviously I wanted to my best) but in reality just making it to the finals was good enough will all of the top competitors in the running such as D-Woods, Sean Mcoll, Magnus and others.  This time we only had 3 problems unlike the 6 for qualifiers.  It was very important that I flash every problem and or get the bonus hold 1^st try if I wanted to get into finals later on that night. 

Semi-Finals 1 (Flash)

Problem 1 was put on the slab portion of the wall.  I had to think a second about how I was going to start the problem as the right hand was not very good and you had to do a slight dyno out right to thankfully what was a decent hold.  I did each move on this problem with the ut most care, as I knew flashing the first problem was very important in me advancing to the finals.  To my relief I flashed the problem setting me up nicely for the other 2 problems to come. 

Semi-Finals 2 (Bonus)

            I really enjoyed problem number 2 as the holds were friendly and the moves my style.  I ended up sticking the bonus hold on my 2^nd attempt, which I was very pleased with.  Sadly I was not able to finish the problem but I was happy with my performance and just glad I got the bonus hold. 

Semi-Finals 3

            This problem gave me some trouble; it started on two not so good slopers.  My first attempt I slid right off the holds onto my back lol.  I quickly got up before too many people saw haha.  Finally, I got my hands and feet right and was able to stick the next few moves.  I did not have the one arm strength to do the intended beta, so I tried a mono match to set myself up with the other hand for the next move.  It worked but I slipped going to the bonus hold. 

I knew that without the bonus on problem three it was going to be close as to whether or not I sneaked into finals.  

2011 ABS Nationals Qualifiers!!!

            I was really excited this year for the 2011 ABS Nationals because unlike every other year, this year it was going to be held inside of a warehouse with optimal seating and a BRAND NEW wall!!!  Unfortunately, I had not yet seen the wall so I did not know what to expect.  Let me tell you though they did an AWESOME job on the wall once I finally saw it!!

Thankfully, for qualifiers again this year we had six problems with four minutes climbing time and four-minute rest.  I was very excited that we had six problems again this year.  Because the competition was held inside of a warehouse, we had the option to choose where we wanted to warm up.  I chose to go to the spot as I feel it is the best bouldering gym around.  I was set to climb at 3:52 and let me tell you the time could not come quick enough!  I could not wait to finally get on the wall and climb.

            Qualifier 1 (Flash)

Problem one went down rather easily, I felt it was a very nicely set problem to get everyone warmed up for the other 5 to come.

            Qualifier 2 (Flash)

I actually, like when I see slab problems at comps because it mixes it up and they are rather nice because you don’t get crazy pumped on them.  I over gripped slightly on this problem just because I wanted be ready in case a foot slipped on me lol.  Thankfully, my feet stayed solid and I was able to flash the second problem. 

            Qualifier 3 (Flash)

I had a great time on this problem, big moves to solid pinches.  For some reason my feet did not want to stay on for this problem, literally every move my feet decided to slip off, making for a rather epic climb haha. 

            Qualifier 4 (Flash)

As soon as I turned around for problem four I knew and saw all of the small but positive crimps, I knew it was going down.  I love crimpy style problems. 

            Qualifier 5 (Flash)

As you can imagine I was pretty psyched at this moment having just flashed problems (1-4).  For problem five, I went right hand to a pocket then for the next move had to throw out to a crimp.  I was slightly nervous for this move because I could not find a way to do it static (as you can see in the video).  I ended up blindly dyno-ing for the crimp over the lip and to my surprise and excitement, I caught it!  The problem finished up with some technical crimp moves. 

            Qualifier 6 (Bonus)

After climbing five problems, fatigue was starting to set in, although I still had enough gas in the tank for one good burn.  I ended up getting the bonus without too much trouble.  For some reason after pulling the crux move, I decided to down climb and try another way to get to the top (not smart idea) lol.  My first burn ended up being my best attempt for this problem.  Unfortunately, I was not able to keep the flash streak going, however I had made it to the next day which was all I really cared about. J

Ecuador Bouldering Videos

Ecuador Part 1 - Bouldering

I have just recently returned from the Pan American Games which were held in Ibarra Ecuador in which I took 1^st place in Juniors for Bouldering and Sport and 6^th place for Speed. It was a real privilege for me to represent the USA in the first ever Pan American Games. The games had a very impressive turn out with representation from Argentina, Canada, Mexico, USA, Venezuela and of course Ecuador. Bouldering was the first discipline to start off the competition. Due to weather conditions the competition schedule had to be rearranged and moved around a lot; however it all worked out in the end. Bouldering Qualifiers went really well as I was the only one in Junior to send 4 of the 5 problems. In doing so I felt pretty confident about my chances of doing well for finals which were the next day. I really liked the way they held finals, because they used the world cup format. In the world cup format all of the six finalists, preview each of there four problems. Each climber then takes turns climbing the problem, once everyone has finished we then move onto the next problem. This way each climber has a good solid rest between each problem, allowing the problems to be harder in difficulty. I really liked problems two and three for finals. Problem two had a sick dyno to two spiky looking holds, my first attempt I didn’t fully commit and slipped off the two holds. Second go I fell on a cross move in which you had to step your foot up really high. Then third go I had my beta down and finished it off. Problem three was really unique in that you started the problem by swinging from a hold attached to a rope to another hold on the wall. I thought that was really unique. I ended up flashing problem number four as well making me Continental Champion for Bouldering in Junior Male. As you can imagine I was super stoked!!!

Bouldering Awards

Photo - Cami del Castillo

Qualifier #1

Photo - Faith Sullivan

Bouldering Qualifier #2

Photo - Faith Sullivan

Bouldering Qualifier #3

Photo - Molly Gaynor

Bouldering Qualifier #4

Photo - Faith Sullivan

Bouldering Qualifier #5

Photo - Faith Sullivan

Bouldering Finals #1

Photo - Vanessa Rubio

Bouldering Finals #1

Photo - Vanessa Rubio

Bouldering Finals #1

Just barely snagging the under cling with two finger

Photo - Vanessa Rubio

Bouldering Finals #2

Photo - Tomas Vila

Bouldering Finals #2

Photo - Vanessa Rubio

Bouldering Finals #2

Photo - Vanessa Rubio

Bouldering Finals #2

Photo - Tomas Vila

Bouldering Finals #4

Photo - Vanessa Rubio

Bouldering Final #4

Photo - Vanessa Rubio

Bouldering Final #4

Photo - Vanessa Rubio

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Some Good Advice

Pick up the newest edition of DeadPointMag for a tip from yours truly on how to succeed with the ladies! ;) (pg20)

Dead Point Magazine Interview and Music Video

Check out DeadPointMagazine for my exclusive interview with yours truly about my recent online music video sensation and for some funny questions. A big thank you to Matt @ DeadPointMagazine for the interview.

Worlds Edinburgh Scotland 2010

-Photo Alex Fritz-

Worlds this year was amazing, it was held in Edinburgh, Scotland. I only made it for speed this time around and ended up taking 17th place. The venue in which the games held was amazing it was by far the biggest gym i have ever seen, it was built inside a quarry. I got a chance to explore the wonderful town of Edinburgh, with all of its castles and interesting scotish architecture. I had a really fun time meeting new people, climbing and cheering on all of the other competitors. Cannot wait for next year WORLDS!!

-Photo Alex Fritz-

Rifle!!

After the SLC ORSM, my friends and I decided to go to Rifle, Colorado. We crammed four people into a little Nissan Versa and away we went. We rolled into Rifle Mountain National Park around midnight. The following day we decided to check out Ruckman Craig. I had my eyes set on ‘Don’t point that thing at me’ a relatively short powerful 5.13c. It started off with about 45ft of a sustained 11d then transitioned into a pretty tough v9 boulder problem, into about 20ft of pretty easy flat wall climbing. By the time I had worked out the beta I had run out of steam for the day. After a good nights sleep, I went back to Ruckman and sent ‘Don’t point that thing at me’ first go. I was super stoked!! I then set my eyes on ‘Beer Run’ a super classic 5.13a. It was one of the longer routes that I got on while in Rifle at around 90ft. My first attempt on the route was spent trying to figure out the beta. After I was sure I had all the moves down, I went back up it later on in the day and sent. The next day we decided to check out Winchester Cave. I really wanted to try ‘7 PM Show’ which I read was a good 5.14a for young climbers, along with ‘American Prayer’ another 5.14a. I was able to get about half way up ‘7 PM Show’ and make some progress on ‘American Prayer’. I was really excited to get to work some 5.14’s. Even though I did not send, I feel trying the routes made me a stronger and more well rounded climber. I was also able to get ‘Bite the Bullet’ 5.13c down to one fall. I can’t wait to go back to try and send that route. The third day we went to Wicked Cave. I was really pumped to get on ‘Believe It’ another really short powerful 5.13c. My second attempt on it, I fell two moves two moves from the clipping jug. I was confused and tried to dyno to a non-existent hold. I was pretty bummed. I tried it again and got close to the top but was too tired to hang on. That night all I could think about was sending that route. I ran the sequence through my mind over and over again until I had that thing down. The next morning it was game time. After warming up, I got my game face on and sent ‘Believe It” first go. This route was really different than a lot of routes I had done because it had two knee bars, one right before the crux and one right before you clipped the anchors. It was really cool to be able to experience and learn a new style of climbing that I am not very used to. Shortly after, I Flashed ‘The Beast with two Backs’ 5.13a. Rifle is a very sick place to climb. I recommend if you have not gone, GO! The routes there are amazing and will challenge you in many different ways. I cannot wait to go back!!

Trade Show

August 31st 2010. I boarded my plane which was headed to Salt Lake City, Utah for the annual Outdoor Retail Show and Unified Bouldering Championship competition. This was my first OR competition in Utah. Unfortunately, I was not able to train as much as I had wanted to for the intense competition due to a recent ankle injury, however; I was as psyched as ever to climb with the Pro’s Daniel Woods, Chris Sharma, Dave Graham and many others. Qualifiers were intense; the route setters did a very good job of keeping you on your toes with their unique setting style. I qualified 19th, earning me a spot into semi-finals. Our shuttle from the warm up area to semi-finals was a pimped out SUV stretch limo. The limo ride was super fun. I also enjoyed getting to know the other climbers during the ride as well. For semi-finals we had three routes. I onsited the first problem, which was a technical flat wall problem. This left me plenty of time and energy for the second and third problems which were both long powerful moves on an overhanging wall. I did equally well on both problems, getting about half way up on each one, which bumped me up to 16th for my overall score. Unfortunately, this was not good enough though to make finals. UBC did a really good job of putting on a very exciting final. Next year I plan to come back even stronger and make finals, be a part of the Finale experience.