The folks over at Momentum Video Magazine have their new site up. I tried to check it out, but the videos were super slow, and I noticed other glitches. They should have waited to send this thing live, and I’ll wait until the kinks get worked out to see how I like it. It does appear the bulk of the site is built with Flash, which is a big fat check in the negative column. More to come…

UPDATE 11/15/07

I went back and checked it out some more, and here are some more thoughts. I liked how the videos were bigger in the old version, these seem pretty small. I guess you have to pay now for the bigger ones, although from the free preview they aren’t all that big, especially if you are paying for it. I don’t like the navigation for the videos and news columns, the mouse over scroll thing is just too jerky.

The paid option is interesting, but most climbers are pretty damn stingy, so it’ll be interesting to see if folks will pay for this stuff. I would have probably left everything free for awhile longer, to get people really psyched on it, and then offered a paid model. Of course without knowing how much traffic they get, it’s difficult to say whether they jumped the gun or not. Going straight to paid I think leaves a lot of folks wondering if it’s really worth it.

It would be nice if the news had an rss feed, and the same goes for the videos, so we could easily see when new content is added. Welcome to 2007 people.

I did enjoy the video of Jaws II, but because its a flash site, I can’t link to just that video, so you’ll have to go there and find it for yourself. It would also be nice to be able to embed the free videos, like how you can share a YouTube video. That would probably really help them to gain some exposure.

I don’t want to come across too negative, I still think the idea behind the site is good, I just feel it could be executed so much better. And part of what I do for a living is make websites better, so I can’t help but notice all the flaws. Maybe the NEXT redesign will be better

This morning as I was sipping on some coffee, staring out at the new snow on Sopris, I got to talking with our roommate about climbing and grades, and how many people are drawn to routes simply based on the grade. I think this is lame on several levels, it’s much more important to me how the route climbs, how the movement is. Who cares what the grade is. Obviously grades give you an idea of what to expect difficulty wise, but leave it at that.

If you’ve climbed for any substantial length of time, you know that grades vary from area to area. A 5.10 in Yosemite is usually much more demanding than a 5.10 in Red Rocks. Grades at Rifle are stiffer than most other sport crags in the country. The list goes on. What’s important is that you get a general idea of how hard something is, especially compared to other routes at the same area. Many people like to bicker over grades so they can compare themselves to (and often make themselves feel better than) other climbers. This is just dumb. The grades at any area are reflective of a general consensus. Holds break, new holds are found, short people find some climbs easier, tall people make longer reaches with more ease.

The climbers I’ve always admired the most are the ones that can climb hard, but that have fun on any good pitch, regardless of the difficulty. Enjoy climbing for what it is, and stop worrying so much about how hard it is. Challenge yourself, and get to know the other climbers, instead of trying to compare yourself to them. You might actually find you have a better time.

Things have been busy recently. We just spent a week up in Jackson Hole, visiting the family. No climbing, but good hang time with some fishing and hiking. Having not spent much time up there in the summer, I couldn’t believe how bad traffic is from people visiting Grand Teton and Yellowstone Parks. I can see how living in town you could come to hate all the tourons who stop the car every time they see any kind of animal.

Catching up on work here this week, but look for posts coming about La Plata Peak, Challenge Aspen and a guide for new boulders on Independence Pass, just in time for some good fall temps before the snow comes…

As reported on Climbing.com, Sonnie Trotter has climbed a new 5.14 that is a contender for one of the hardest trad lines in the world. The route is located at Lake Louise in Alberta and climbs 130 feet of overhanging seams and crimps up a quartzite face. It was an old sport route project that Trotter decided would and should go on gear (which he describes as good despite the potential for big falls). This trend seems to have taken hold among some top climbers, and it’s pretty inspiring to see these folks pushing the standards in this way. The video is up over at the Climbing Narc. The footage isn’t that great and it looks like a somewhat lame ad for Aliens, but it’s worth checking out. I mean how often do you get to see people climb 5.14 R? View it here.

It’s official, a second edition to the Western Sloper guidebook is in the works. While many folks will be interested in the new routes that have been done in Rifle, the book will also feature many of the local climbing spots that have been developed over the last couple of years, some of which are featured on this site. The guidebook will cover many previously undocumented crags, including areas that have never been published in print or online. Here’s the rough list of what will be included at this point:

Rifle Arch
Rifle Mountain Park
Main Elk Creek and Pup Tent
Fortress of Solitude
Windy Point
Puoux
No Name
Super Puoux
The Neighborhood
Mud Wall
Shoshone
Surgery Buttress
Redstone Boulders
The Narrows
Coal Creek
Raleigh World
The Skillet
Lime Creek
Dead Horse
Hagerman Pass

As part of this process, we are looking for high resolution photos to include in the book. Please send an email to bj@splitterchoss.com if you have any photos of people climbing at any of these climbing areas in a high resolution format. (300 dpi)

We would also welcome any new route info that you would like to see included. It’s going to be a full color guide in the high quality style that other titles from Wolverine Publishing have come to represent.