A Mellow Switzerland (1/4)

Back in winter Daniel Woods, Jimmy Webb, Giuliano Cameroni, Keenan Takahashi and Roman Yalowitz spent the whole season in Ticino, trying to develop Val Bavona; one of the coolest climbing spots worldwide. Kevin Takashi Smith was there capturing the best moments so here we go with part 1/4!
 
Grandissimo 7C+ FA
No Picnics 7C+ FA
Il Pagliaccio 8A FA
La Peregrina 8A+ (FA by Jonas Winter)
Squalo Bianco 8B+ FA
Space Cadet 8B FA

“Defying Gravity” FA by Daniel Woods

Daniel Woods makes the FA of Defying Gravity at Thunder Ridge, CO. One of CO's finest power blocs.

“Deathstar” by Daniel Woods

In a galaxy far far away lies a bloc just chillin on the side of the road. It hosts a very powerful line going out the center of the overhang. The crux revolves around a heinous gaston move that makes your shoulder feel like it is going to burst into tiny pieces. Do or Die.

Video by Chad Greedy

“Sleepwalker”

“Sleepwalker” by Drew Ruana

Drew making an ascent of one of America's new testpieces in Red Rocks, NV.

“Sleepwalker” by Daniel Woods

Back in Jan. Daniel made the 2nd asc. of "Sleepwalker" established by Jimmy Webb. Climb is located in Red Rocks, NV on the infamous wet dream boulder. The climb is ranked as one of the hardest lines in the world.

“Sleepwalker” First Ascent by Jimmy Webb

Jimmy Webb, Daniel Woods, and Keenan Takahashi battle against one of the hardest undone projects in the United States. On December 15, 2018, after 11 days of effort, Jimmy Webb completed the first ascent of "Sleepwalker", suggesting a grade of 8C+(V16).

Puccio and Woods in Ticino

Daniel Woods and Alex Puccio crushing classics in Val Bavona and Brione in Ticino, CH.

Boulders in order: Wie im Urlaub (7C+), Amber (8B), Heritage (8B+), Brionesque (8A), The Kingdom (8C)

Video//Edit by Keith Allen Peters

Primitivo 8C/V15 First Ascent

Primitivo is one of the best new problems in the world situated in Val Bavona, in Ticino, CH. FA circa April 2019.

Climbers:

Isabelle Faus
Daniel Woods
Giuliano Cameroni
Jimmy Webb

Filmed by the crew//edit by Giuliano

Box Therapy - first ascent

Daniel Woods doing the first ascent of Box Therapy "up in RMNP" 8C+ !!!

PRobinson|DWood in Joe’s Valley

PRobinson|DWood in Joe’s Valley

La Force Tranquille

Daniel Woods on the First Ascent of La Force Tranquille V15

La Force Tranquille V15 - Nalle Hukkataival

"The Creature from the black lagoon"

The Creature from the black lagoon


by Björn Pohl - UKC 29/Sep/2016

Daniel Woods has fiinally climbed through his mental barrier and made the first ascent of The Creature from the black lagoon, ~8C+, at the Upper Chaos Canyon at Chaos Canyon, Colorado.

The Monster from the black lagoon is the low start to Leviathan style, ~8A, and Daniel says  "...it felt like v15 to get into the stand of leviathan, no rest, then soft 11 to the top."

He also says that he could do all the moves and link a few of them already on day one, but that it, as so often is the case, turned into a mental battle.

I finally got to the point where I was sure it was in the bag. More days passed and I continued to fail. I would link multiple times from just 3 moves in to the top, but could never add in the first 3 relatively easy moves. This tripped me out considering that the Boulder had essentially been climbed haha. I became worried that I had already mind fucked myself and would have to wait for a new season to start fresh and see the bloc through with another set of eyes. Motivation to climb something is funny in that way. I go through this same struggle with everything challenging that I try. I beat myself up because I know it's there and overcoming mental disbelief is the most satisfying feeling for me in climbing. I had false confidence in the beginning with this thing, and that is what led me into a war of attrition. Luckily, can just look back at all those failed attempts over the course of 15 days and smile.

About the difficulty, he says: I believe this line is harder than most 15s I've done so why not call it 16... and that the same level in bouldering has maintained from Fred Nicole, Bernd Zangerl, and Klem loskot a decade ago until now. We can either acknowledge what is a level up from the standard of 15 (based off of consensus over the years) or continue climbing v15 for another decade.

This was Daniel Woods' third  ~8C+ after Hypnotized minds, which he put up back in 2010, and The Process at the Buttermilks., which put up in January last year. The former didn't see a repeat until this year, when Rustam Gelmanov made a relatively quick repeat, the latter lost parts of a crucial hold shortly after the first ascent. Whether it's still roughly of the same difficulty remains to be seen.

Let's hope it doesn't take too long for Daniel's new creation to get repeated.

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