Triple Crown:  Hound Ears, Boone, NC
Words and Photos by Dan Brayack (brayackmedia.com)

Question: How do you (legally) get into a closed bouldering area set deep in a ritzy, gated community, and sample its concentrated, high-grade sandstone?

Answer: Triple Crown, Hound Ears.

Hound Ears, the first installment of the Triple Crown’s three-part outdoor series, is notorious for its razor sharp holds and soft grades.  Soft grades, that is, when conditions are good — this year, they were downright awful.
Two steady drizzles hit the night before the comp and the rocks absorbed the precipitation like sponges. Regardless, the comp was going to go off in the morn – water-soft stone, rather than soft grades, was the name of the game, reconfiguring the playing field a bit.
The standard Triple Crown strategy is to have a wire ten high-value problems. This gives a significant advantage to both locals and returning climbers. This year’s conditions forced many to break their circuit and try different problems, however, turning well-laid plans on their head.
For the first time in Hound Ears’ fourteen-year history, a local, Jill Church, won the Women’s Open category. Jill joined last year’s overall winner, Kate McGinnis, who placed 2^nd, and Japanese Climber Tomoko Ogawa, who took 3^rd, on the podium. On the business-as-usual tip, the Men’s Open field was once again dominated by Paul Robinson, while Nick Vosbein took 2^nd and Ryan Roden claimed 3^rd. Maybe the biggest treat of the competition was the participation of bouldering pioneer and legend, John Sherman, who easily clinched the so-called Stone Master division.

Check out triplecrownbouldering.org for more info on all the Triple Crown events.

Petzl Roc Trip / Rocktoberfest
Words and photos by Justin Roth

OK, spraylord, you want to hear about the numbers, don’t you? I know you do. That’s why you go to 8a.nu daily to see where the new 5.15+ is, or who crusherated a V16 cave in Italy or Arkansas. But like moms always told you, you’ve got to eat something healthy before you get desert; here’s the Beta on the great cause behind the combined 2008 Petzl Roc Trip/Rocktoberfest event — all that big-number hype will come at the end.
The Petzl Roc Trip went down at the Red River Gorge, Kentucky, this October. Petzl chose the time and place to coincide with the Red River Gorge Climber’s Coalition’s (RRGCC) annual Rocktoberfest fundraiser. With such tag-team tactics, the Petzl Rocktobertripfest (not the official event title) turned into a super-event, drawing nearly 1,000 people — Petzl team pros, spectators, and everything in between — from across the world. When I registered I noticed that people were coming from across North America, Europe, even Africa.
The $10-15,000 goal was handily exceeded, as over $30,000 dollars were raised to help pay off the mortgage on the 750-acre Pendergrass Murray Recreational Preserve (PMRP), purchased by the RRGCC in 2004 and containing 300+ routes. The cash raised knocks out all of 2008’s payment, keeping the uber-classic routes of the PMRP safe from would-be developers and climbing haters for at least another year. If you want to help keep the Red, which many of the visitors admitted was one of the best sport areas in the world (I overheard several Euros say this, I swear) open to climbers and growing, go to rrgcc.org to find out more and chip in a few beans.

Mmmm...tasty knowledge. Now let’s witness the fitness (this is just a taste, too much went down to include it all):

5.14c... or harder – A guess made by British 5.15 climber Steve McClure as to the grade of Petzl bounty route project at a new area, Chocolate Factory, bolted by local, Kenny Barker. Nobody sent during the trip. McClure said: “This route will go, but man, it is way hard.” Another route at the Chocolate Factory garnered guesses as high as 5.15 from Mr. McClure.

5.14c – The grade of 50 Words for Pump, a long-standing project sent by French climber Mickael Fuselier and later repeated by Dave Graham. The route was bolted by local legend Hugh Loeffler in the late 90s and has rebuffed many attempts by strong locals.

5.14b – Grade of one of the Red’s hardest routes, Thanatopsis, FAd by Dave Hume, which was beta-flashed by Canadian Sean McColl (who then went on to onsight a 13d, White Man’s Shuffle, that same day; McColl also repeated a 5.14c called Lucifer just after the Roc Trip.)

5.13d – Difficulty of the route Ultraperm, which Emily Harrington sent in only three tries (as her tenth route of the day, according to the Petzl Team Blog; petzlcrew.petzlteam.com — go here for more results and insider info).

Did I mention the party?