Orange Crush, a film by Alex Savage, features over 30 minutes of HD sports action in one of the greatest bouldering areas in the world, Rocklands South Africa. It showcases Jesse Bonin, Les Warnock, Kenyon Smith, Ian Cotter-Brown, Matthieu Saulnier, and Alex Savage climbing 22 boulder problems from 6B to 8B! The film features music from Wax Tailor, Aether, Sibot, Dane Moss and more! The song in the trailer is Fire Face by Dane Moss.
Orange Crush will be released by the end of the month and will only be available for download right here on savageclimbing.com!
THANKS to Organic for making the BEST crash pads!!
Featured boulders are:
The Rhino 7B+
Hole in One 7C+
Dirty Lies 7B+
The Waterfall 7C
Witness the Sickness 8A
Green Mamba 8A+
Macho King 7C+
Roadcrew Arete 7B+
Cedar Spine 7C
Pinotage 7C+
Springbok 7B+
Splash of Red 7C+
Stretched & Pressed 7C+
Battle of the Skink 7C
Golden Virginia 8A
Barracuda 8A
Dream Life 7B – First Ascent
All In 6B – First Ascent
Vlad the Impaler 7C – First Ascent
Sunset Arete 7C
Nutsa 8A/8A+
Black Shadow 8B
Stand and Deliver is an amazing V11 put up by Ethan Pringle back in 2005. I think it’s only seen a handful ascents to date. It sits alone high in Juniper Canyon and requires a 45+ minute hike to reach. Fortunately it is one of the best of it’s grade in the country so it is well worth the trek. It features immaculate polished sandstone on a slightly overhanging wall. The holds are decent but some of the feet are poor.
We spent an hour hiking today and eventually found the boulder. I pulled on for my flash attempt, did the first two moves then stuck the big crux move and commenced a crazy helicopter:
Sticking the crux on Stand & Deliver
Helicopter on Stand & Deliver
I somehow reeled in the swing and moved upwards to gain the sloper pinch near the top which felt way better than I expected. At this point I knew it was done since all I had to do was match on the juggy crimp and hit the top. I high stepped to do the match:
Then realized the high foot wasn’t going to work and right as I was about to pull it off to campus the move, the foot popped which made my left hand pop and allowed gravity to grab me.
Uh oh
Two tries later I found myself on top of the boulder smiling. A little later Anthony nabbed his 5th V11 to complete the team send!
I hauled my camera up for this one but of course the battery died just before I topped out. I did get footage of Anthony on my iPhone which turned out really well so that video should be posted within the next couple of days.
In other news, I started a Facebook page for Savage Climbing. I’ll be posting lots of real-time updates about where I’m traveling, what I’m climbing and how my video projects are coming along. There will also be lots more photos posted as well as other climbing videos. Come check it out!
I went on a solo mission today to climb UltraViolet V9, an area classic at Red Rocks. UltraViolet isn’t the tallest boulder but it’s not short so I was a bit worried about taking a fall on my heel without a spotter. The heel is feeling better since last week’s fall on Wet Dream but it still hurts to walk on hard surfaces.
I didn’t haul my camera gear up to this one so I filmed with my iPhone 4. Best to watch in full screen since I filmed in portrait. Hoping to go back with some friends to get some proper footage of this climb. It’s the best I’ve climbed in Red Rocks so far. Don’t think it gets much traffic, there was no chalk on it at all.
I fled the snow in Yosemite last week for the sunny skies of Las Vegas.
Red Rocks
It’s been a wonderful thanksgiving with many old friends coming over from SoCal. I’ve been staying with my good friend Adam who has been kind enough to let me crash at his house in Las Vegas! I’ve done a little sport climbing in Vegas before but this is my first bouldering trip here. On day one I went straight to Wet Dream which is a classic V12 that Ethan Pringle established in 2004. It’s an amazing overhanging wall that leads to an exciting finish on slopers and pinches. It is very steep and very sustained. There is also a right variation that is equally cool and clocks in around V11. I’ve done all but one move on the 12 and I nearly sent the 11 a few days ago falling off the slopers up high. Unfortunately, the first time I fell off the top I swung out, missed the pads, and landed on the rocks below. I bashed my left heel pretty good so I haven’t been able to climb since Friday. It’s feeling better now so maybe after another day of rest I’ll get back out to the boulders. You need a lot of pads for Wet Dream and I’m scared to take another fall on my heel so I’m not sure when I’ll have the chance to get back on it.
Before I hurt my heel I had a day at the Kraft Boulders which is the main bouldering area of Red Rocks. I had a good first day there with flashes of Angel’s Dyno V7, Monkey Bar Direct V8, and Stake Your Claim, a new V10 that was just put up a couple weeks ago. Since I couldn’t climb this weekend it gave me the chance to do a lot of filming which was fun.
Savage Stunners
Go to StunnerBox.com for some Savage Shades.
Anthony displaying his dyno prowess on Angel's Dyno V7
Anthony campusing Stake Your Claim V10
Stake Your Claim
Anthony Trying Americana Exotica V10
I’m planning to hang out here for another week, then head down to Hueco for two weeks before I go home for the holidays. My Rocklands film is almost finished. I’m hoping to wrap it up in the next 2-3 weeks.
I showed up to Camp 4 last week and enjoyed 3.5 good climbing days. My friend Scott showed me around to a few of the area classics and I was just getting used to the style here. Then Nature decided to throw a loop into my plans and brought in some snow yesterday. There was 1-2 inches in the valley but it was already getting slushy by the end of the day.
Half Dome
El Cap
Then it got worse. When I looked outside my tent this morning I saw this:
Camp 4
It dumped 6 inches of the white fluffy stuff overnight and it’s been snowing all day. My 3,000 mile trip to Yosemite is officially busted. Yosemite was the main goal for the fall but it was too little too late for me. I’ll have to try again in the spring. I’ll be heading to either Vegas or Bishop tomorrow or the next day.
Camp 4
Midnight Lightning
Camp 4
El Cap
Bridalveil Falls
El Cap
I finally made it to Yosemite last week and got a few good days of climbing in so far. The amount of bouldering here is staggering. So many big tall lines to be climbed. Sorry I don’t have any climbing photos yet, just waterfalls.
Lower Yosemite Falls
Vernal Falls
Vernal Falls
Nevada Falls
Nevada Falls
Liberty Cap
On my way out west I stopped in Lake Tahoe for a couple of days. Jesse showed me a rad line that Noah put up this year called Ground Control.
This was climbed, filmed, and edited on Sunday November 14th, 2010.
Music: Abstrackt Keal Agram – Interlude 2
Thanks to:
The Access Fund
Evolv
Organic Bouldering Pads
Yesterday I stopped in Little Cottonwood Canyon, just outside Salt Lake City. I only tried a couple problems before the 30 degree temps without sunshine got to me.
I’m now in Lake Tahoe for the weekend checking out the boulders here before heading to Yosemite on Monday or Tuesday!
