Vids! Shiny climbing vids!

[rydra_wong]

By gracious permission of the mod, an inaugural linkspam of some of the best online climbing videos I've found. Please add your own favourite links in the comments, and then we will have a collection of video awesome!

I'm sure my biases are completely evident in this, but hopefully there's something here for everyone (except ice-climbers and mountaineers, as I am sadly ignorant in these fields -- give me your recs, people!).



Sport climbing:

Beth Rodden and Tommy Caldwell on some ridiculously hard sports routes

Natalija Gros cruises Histerija, 8c+

Catching Reality (A 17-minute mini-movie about Said Belhaj's climbing-and-music roadtrip round Morocco)

Dave Graham working on Coup de Grace

Lynn Hill onsights a 5.13b in a casual manner

Trad climbing:

Lynn Hill and Katie Brown on the West Face, Leaning Tower, Yosemite

Jordan Buys on the first ascent of French Duke (E9 7a)

Dave MacLeod on The Walk of Life

Katie Brown leading on the Tombstone

Kev Shields: Climbing One Handed (The voiceover starts off a bit "Isn't it inspirational that he's climbing despite being disabled?" but then rapidly improves.)

Bouldering:

Tyler Landman on Ode to the Modern Man (This was when he was 16, I believe.)

Lisa Rands does The Mandala

Leah Crane sends Doctor Crimp in Chironico

Bernd Zangerl on "from the dirt grows the flower"

The Dutch women's bouldering national championship 2007 and 2008 (I really like getting to see how different people tackle the same problem).

Deliverance: A Journey to Failure (A charming film about that problem that you know is way out of your league, but that's so wonderful you just have to have one more go.)

Lynn Hill saunters up Midnight Lightning on her first try. (Because what we learn from this linkspam is that Lynn Hill could kick Chuck Norris's ass.)

Stanage Circuit (A tour of gritstone classics from V2 to V10, including Not To Be Taken Away, Crescent Arete, Brad Pit, and The Storm.)

Adam Long on The Angel's Share (E8 7a) (This has a route grade, but it's one of the ultra-short but vicious gritstone routes that has no viable protection, so he's doing it as a highball boulder problem.)

Mixed/miscellaneous/unclassifiable:

A Gritstone Year (Boulder problems, trad routes, and one route where the climber isn't roped but the spotters are, as a fall would otherwise knock them off the boulders they're standing on.)

Tommy Caldwell on the Great Roof of the Nose on El Capitan (I believe this has trad gear placements and also fixed bolts.)

Ascendance dance-climb fusion company present Just You and I and Sway

Johnny Dawes demonstrates one-handed (and no-handed) feats of skill

Comments

[sixbeforelunch]

Oh, awesome! You always find the best videos. :)

[bilyana]

Wow, thanks for spamming :) Still haven't watched all of the vids, but I love what I've seen so far. It's just the kind of inspiration I need to get going again (and maybe finally give bouldering a try...)

[rydra_wong]

Wow, thanks for spamming :)

There will be more, I can pretty much guarantee it *g*.

and maybe finally give bouldering a try...

I am shameless in my bouldering bias, but that's because I have the attention span of a gnat and am afraid of anything that requires me to tie knots *g*. It's fascinating to me to see different people's preferences and what we all get out of different types of climbing.

[bilyana]

There will be more, I can pretty much guarantee it *g*.

\o/

I am shameless in my bouldering bias, but that's because I have the attention span of a gnat and am afraid of anything that requires me to tie knots

Well, my attention span's fine :), my strength and technique however... It's what's kept me from seriously tackling bouldering so far. (I gave it shot once, and it actually looked a lot like the first minute of that Leah Crane video - the wall just seemed more rewarding at that time). But I guess it actually is a great way to improve both strength and technique, so yeah, I think I'll have a go at it next time.

[rydra_wong]

my strength and technique however... It's what's kept me from seriously tackling bouldering so far.

FWIW, when I started (about 10 months ago), I obviously didn't know anything about technique, and had all the strength you'd expect from someone who's spent a good twenty years avoiding all sport-type activities with fear and loathing.

(I think I am semi-officially the worst person who's ever been on the bouldering wall's induction course, apart from the person who refused to get on the first problem. By about halfway through, the instructor was reduced to saying things like "You fall well!" in a desperate attempt to be encouraging.)

And I've been boggled by how much progress I've been able to make in a fairly short space of time.