Weekend Warrior - Videos to get you STOKED!!!

American Alpine Institute guide Tad McCrea has put together another great video of his climbing adventures around the Leavenworth area.


Cascade Country Club from tad mccrea on Vimeo.

This next video needs a little more explanation...  If you haven't heard of the show "Ninja Warrior," then you obviously haven't spent enough time flipping through basic cable at midnight.  The show originated in Japan and is called "Sasuke" there.  This sports-entertainment phenomenon starts with 100 competitors and pits them one-by-one against a four-stage obstacle course.  In the 29 seasons of "Sasuke" only 4 competitors have reached "Total Victory."  Recently, American TV has caught on to the success of this cult show and are producing their own version.  They recently had a try-out in Venice Beach, with one of the few participants to make it through being a boulderer from Tahoe.



In 2004, Dai Koyamada established "The Wheel of Life," a V15 boulder problem in Hollow Mountain Cave in the Grampains of Australia.  The problem linked a series of shorter V8 to V15 problems into one 60-move problem.  Since then, it has only seen 6 more ascents, the 4th of which was by James  Kassay in 2011.  Since then, Kassay has strived for an even more difficult series of linkups through the cave roof,  with each one longer and longer, until finally in November of 2012 he completed his 70+ move sequence "The Wheel of Life Direct."  The new video below not only shows James' amazingly smooth technique and flow through the problem, but also his innovative rests including one where he locks in on a toe hook, then crimps the sole of his own shoe to keep the actual hold free for his other hand.


Black Diamond athlete James Kassay climbs the Wheel of Life Direct from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.