In just a couple weeks, the 2009 Reel Rock Film Tour will kick off in Boulder on September 10. There are two main attractions for this fourth installment of the tour. Big UP will present Progression featuring Chris Sharma, Kevin Jorgeson, and Tommy Caldwell.

Sender Films and Nat Geo Adventure Channel will preview First Ascent: The Series, a new TV series set to air in January 2010.

The Reel Rock Filmmaking contest is also back this year. Last years entries were quite good, so don’t forget to vote by August 31.

Here’s a link to the trailer on the Big UP site and the full tour schedule can be found here.

The New River Rendezvous is of one of the best climbing events I’ve attended and this year the seventh version of this annual event takes place this weekend from May 14-17. Unfortunately I’ll not be able to attend this year, but apparently the forecast is good and there’s an outstanding lineup of events planned.

The Rendezvous is the annual fund raising gig for the New River Alliance of Climbers. It’s a fun and friendly three-day celebration of climbers, climbing and the New River Gorge. Gather with friends, relax, compete, play, laugh and climb here in the laid back atmosphere of Southern West Virginia–America’s best kept secret!

Tickets are only $25 and it looks like they’re closing registration Wednesday.

During the event, participants climb for donations at participating climbing gyms (Sportrock and Earth Treks), receive instruction from world-class climbing athletes, and can learn basic climbing skills from REI staff at the Intro to Climbing class.

For the $30 registration fee, it looks a good deal as well:

Registration includes punch cards valid at both climbing gyms, good for 11 days of climbing at each gym; plus a wildcard (one bonus day at each gym); goodie bags with giveaways from sponsors (available for participants who register before February 26); admission to Kick-Off event, Climbers’ Festival and Wrap party; discounts; raffle prizes and more. Participants also receive discounts on gym classes and memberships. New climbers who want to try out their skills before the event can do so on the climbing walls at REI Fairfax and REI Timonium (call for hours).

The funds raised go to support research at Johns Hopkins University on early detection, better treatment, and prevention of ovarian cancer.

Anyone can participate, so please check out the registration at www.herafoundation.org.

I wasn’t sure what I’d get out of a weekend of ice climbing just with girls, because I’ve always climbed with boys. Of course I’d come away with sore shoulders, bigger calves and more mad girl-climbing skills, but what else would be on the table at a women’s weekend? After an insanely fun weekend in Ouray at the Chicks With Picks Betty Ice Ball, I compiled a list of five things you’ll get more of when you climb with Chicks:

More Potty Talk: A lot can go wrong when you have to pee with a funnel. (I won’t go into it here, but trust me — things can go really wrong.) Consequently, stories about pee funnels abound when you climb with women. After one of the dinners at the Ice Ball, a veteran Chick recounted a pee funnel story from her climb of Denali: The tube of her beloved Freshette landed in the “toilet” at a high camp, sending her into total panic. How would she do the deed in a rope team with men now? A friend sent her to see the only other woman on the mountain, who, though she boasted about only using a hardware-store funnel herself rather than those fancy pee funnels, had a spare Freshette. The woman turned out to be Dawn Glanc, who served as a guide for this year’s Betty Ball (and won the Ouray Ice Fest comp in Januray).

More Nudity: If you’re not afraid to bare your ass to the wind and other climbers in the Ice Park (assuming you’re not using the aforementioned Freshette), you’re probably not afraid to do it back at the Vic in the relative privacy of your room. Maybe my roommate and I were just exhibitionists, but when you’re queuing to get in the shower next so you don’t stink at dinner, you start peeling off baselayers. If other women came in the room to download the day of climbing while you’re toweling off, well, no time for modesty when you’re hungry enough to gnaw on your backpack. There’s nothing titillating about this, no grab-fanny going on here. That happens while we’re out climbing, fully dressed.

More Love: When you totally rock some climb, dude — and you will at Chicks, because you’ll have some of the best guides around, regardless of gender — expect high fives, fist bumps, puffy belay-jacket hugs and cheers. When a guide throws a contest into the clinic, like making it up in the fewest swings, expect stiff competition from your pals…and those puffy hugs in the end, because your competitors have grace. The love-fest won’t go unnoticed. Nearby climbers seem a little jealous (could just be that you’re climbing with Kitty Calhoun), and one commented with a smile that we were having way too much fun.

More Mascara: I’ve never climbed in makeup. Probably because I almost never wear makeup. But for some reason, I spotted a lot of Chicks wearing mascara while ice climbing. I didn’t look further into this trend, but I’m assuming it’s waterproof. How could it not be waterproof, right? Ice melts after it nicks your face. A few Chicks wore lip gloss, too, and I had to wonder how that doesn’t end up on your glove when you wipe your nose with the back of your hand. I don’t really get it, but it does look nice — much nicer than the layers of snot accumulating on my gloves. Perhaps I could learn something from the glam climbers.

More Climbing: The Chicks guides keep you moving. You start at 7:45 and climb until 4 p.m. You have 30 minutes to scarf lunch and move to your next clinic. When you get there, be prepared to work. Even when the guides don’t seem to be pushing you, they are. Sarah Hueniken, the guide for my mixed clinic, kept sending us further and further up routes by simply saying, “Do one more move.” This was the last clinic of the weekend, and I was wasted, but as soon as someone untied, she’d get me to keep going with a mere, “You’re up, Jenn,” and a smile. On the last climb, a tall M7, she summoned me to the rope and said, “Well someone needs to go get the quickdraws.” Indeed.

Jenn Fields is a writer and editor from Longmont, Colorado. She has written for Bicycling, Mountain Bike, Backpacker, Climbing and the Boulder Daily Camera. Her personal web site is http://www.jennfields.com. You can also follow her on Twitter.

Chicks with Picks just celebrated its tenth anniversary of teaching women of all abilities how to ice climb and improve current skills. More info can be found at http://www.chickswithpicks.net/.

The following day, on Friday, February 13 at 7pm, All Climbing is hosting a meetup / welcoming party with Andrew Hyde (a startup guru in Boulder) for Steph. Andrew is a good friend of Steph’s and helped setup her blog. We share a common interest in mingling the techology and climbing communities.

The location is still to be determined, but we’re currently taking names of those interested in attending. If you’d like to come, please sign up here.

Also, if there are any other organizations out there that would like to help sponsor this event, please contact me.

I know some climbers will be in town for the ABS Nationals at The Spot and if you have some time I hope you can join us for this meetup with Steph.

I’ve tried forever to find a single comprehensive list of climbing events, but they were scattered across numerous sites. So All Climbing is putting together the most comprehensive list anywhere. Check it out and if you see a missing event let us know.

If you use Google Calendar, iCal or any other calendar application that supports the iCal format you can use this address to subscribe to the climbing events: http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/tmarkiewicz%40allclimbing.com/public/basic.ics.

You can always view the calendar directly on our events page.

If you have any additions to the list, now or in the future, please use our contact form.

Entering its fifth year, the 2008 Adventure Film Festival starts today and ends November 11 in Boulder, Colorado. Focusing on all types of adventure, the festival bills itself as an international venue for independent films.

“I’ve been exposed to an incredible world of adventure through years of expeditions and work in outdoor media,” said founder Jonny Copp, a photographer, writer and filmmaker whose work has appeared in Outside Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, Climbing Magazine and Men’s Journal. “We created this film festival because there is powerful medicine within these stories. … (They) have the power to change us and change the world.”

Here are the festival’s “official selections” and the major award winners this year:

• People’s Choice – Living With Grizzlies by Jeff Turner
• Best Cultural Documentary – Recycled Life by Leslie Iwerks and Mike Glad
• Best Action Film – Seasons by The Collective
• Best Climbing Film – The Sharp End by Sender Films
• Activism Through Adventure – Sharkwater by Rob Stewart
• Best Surfing Film – Sliding Liberia by Britton Caillouette & Nicholai Lidow
• Intrepid Travel Award – A Map For Saturday by Brook Silva-Braga
• Best Whitewater Film – Source by Young Gun Productions
• Make Your Own Legends Award – Klunkerz by Billy Savage

Unfortunately, I’m out of town this weekend and will not be able to provide a review. If anyone attends, please leave a comment and let us know how the festival went.

Chris Sharma is coming to the New River Gorge on Saturday, October 25th, 2008. He’ll be there for a slide show and the Dead Point Magazine Launch.
From the New River Mountain Guides:

Come down for the weekend and climb and have the opportunity to meet him in person and watch his amazing slideshow.

Chris’s life has allowed him countless experiences during his travels from one edge of the globe to the other and you can experience them with him as he recounts these moments LIVE! Moments such as sending Necessary Evil (14c) at 14 years old, his groundbreaking ascent of the Mandala, solidifying the first ascent of a 5.15 with Realization, the first ascent of Dreamcatcher and the monumental send Pontas Arch!

This is the first slideshow tour Chris has ever given in the dirty South, and it’s exclusively available only to Evolv and Sterling Rope dealers. Chris is going to be showcasing his Sharma Signature Series, his personal line of climbing shoes he developed with Evolv Footwear.

Show starts @ 8:00pm with the Dead Point Magazine party with a hip-hop
performance with Odub and a live DJ after the show.

More info on the Chris Sharma slide show can be found here.

This year there is also a filmmaking competition, where anyone could submit their best three minute climbing film.

I’ve already bought my tickets and will be attending the premier in Boulder. Check their calendar to see if the tour is coming to your city.

The Backcountry Blog has an insightful and partially negative view of the recent Red Rock Rendezvous.

As it turns out, being a pro climber does not necessarily make you a great instructor. It does make you an excellent advertiser though, and it was clearly conveyed what company makes the best equipment.

While the author didn’t appreciate the trad clinic, apparently the rest of the event was a great success.

I’ve been meaning to attend this rendezvous the past few years and have never made it. Did anyone attend this years Red Rock Rendezvous and have similar experiences?

I’ve heard reports that the New River Rendezvous registration is starting to get full. This year organizers are limiting the event to the first 700 climbers who register in advance.

The fee is only $25 and from my past experiences at the Rendezvous, it will be money well spent.

April 4-6 – Spring Fling Quartz Gathering, Quartz Mountain, OK

April 4-6 – Warrior’s Way and New River Mountain Guides Trad Camp, New River Gorge, WV

April 6 – YMCA Climb-Off ’08, North Canton, OH

April 12 – 8th Annual Crux the Competition, Radford, VA

April 13 – Radical Reels, Boulder, CO

April 16 – Galen and Barbara Rowell Lecture Series [tickets], San Francisco, CA

April 18-19 – ClimbFest Ogden 2008, Ogden, UT

April 19 – Goddesses on the Rocks, Joshua Tree, CA

April 18-19 – Red River Reunion Trash Clean Up, Red River Gorge, KY

April 26 – Beginning of Season Party and Pig Roast, Seneca Rocks, WV

There will be a few changes this year including pre-registration limiting attendees to 700 (last year was around 1200 climbers) and parking passes will now be needed.

Registration will be live on March 1, 2008.

We will be requiring everyone to pre-register online for a small fee. The days of giving it all away are behind us. It’s not something that we want to do because it means more work for us, but there’s no gettin’ around it. Why you ask? A couple of reasons…The NPS has asked us to limit the number of people who attend the event because the Brunwood is busting out of it’s seams. That means we need to count people and weed out the riff-raff. And B, we also have to kick down for event insurance, and if you know anything about the insurance industry, you know it ain’t cheap.

The event schedule looks to be the same as last year, so everyone should be in for a good time.

A full schedule of classes include beginning through advanced ice climbing, snowshoe mountaineering, and avalanche fundamentals.

The rule that specifically bans deep water soloing is “Entering the lake from a height greater than one’s own is always prohibited.”

Here’s the full press release:

Effective immediately, the Huntington District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is banning cliff jumping/diving on all district managed recreational property.

Cliff jumping/diving is a reckless and potentially very dangerous activity that has always been strongly discouraged on USACE recreational projects. Recent water-related accidents and fatalities have prompted Huntington District to take the lead in prohibiting this activity.

Overall, there have been 69 water-related deaths in the Huntington District since 1993; there were seven deaths in 2006.

Warnings will be posted at district projects alerting users of the dangers associated with cliff jumping/diving and advising them of the ban. Warnings will be issued by park rangers explaining the dangers associated with the activity.

Failure to heed warnings may result in citation under Title 36, which may result in a penalty of up to $5,000 or even federal imprisonment.

District lakes where the ban is now in effect include: Alum Creek, Deer Creek, Delaware, Dillon, North Branch of Kokosing and Paint Creek Lakes in Ohio; Beech Fork, Bluestone, Burnsville, East Lynn, R.D. Bailey, Summersville, and Sutton Lakes in West Virginia; Dewey, Fishtrap, Grayson, Paintsville and Yatesville Lakes in Kentucky; and John W. Flannagan in Virginia.

For more information, please contact the Public Affairs office at (304) 399-5353.

I didn’t take any pictures of the happenings at Burnwood (as I forgot my camera in the car), but my wife and I were able to take a bunch of pictures as we competed with Jon B. during the bouldering comp at Interp and the OUL areas. The full set of pics are on Flickr here.

I entered the bouldering comp just for fun as I knew it would just push me a little bit harder all day. Jon, Kelly, and I started at Interp and made our way through the circuit to finish at OUL (with a quick pass by the Tugging Shacks at day end). Again survival was key as I pulled off a big hold on a V2 called Curley at Interp. From a sit-down start, you basically have to mantle up to a crimp then bump up to a jug. As I grabbed the jug, it popped off and hit me in the head as I fell to my crash pad. No blood, so I guess I was fine. Nice way to start the morning. I decided to not push my luck and moved on so I’m not sure how much harder the problem became with the missing hold.

For more New River Rendezvous reports, check out YourClimbing.com

Can you believe it? The 5th Annual New River Rendezvous is coming up. It seems like only a matter of months ago that we were scrambling to pull off the first Rendezvous in the full-on pouring rain, (proving once and for all that weather is not a factor), now look at us–busting out our own website! How far this event has come. Nothing demonstrates this more than our fundraising totals which have doubled every year. That means our philosophy is working: Because of the generosity of our sponsors we can offer darn near everything free, leaving you to make a donation you are comnfortable with. You guys get it! Most of what you donate to New River Alliance of Climbers (NRAC) goes straight back into the resource that we come together to celebrate: The climbing at the New River Gorge. The balance goes to support the Access Fund. This amazingly effective organization has been working for climbers for over twenty years. Have you renewed your membership?

Thanks to you, we can continue our mission of replacing worn-out hardware and developing and maintaining the climber trail system. NRAC also provides a voice for climbers on larger environmental issues, such as the current viewshed issue. Outreach is the final part of our mission—we want more of you to get involved! Stop by the NRAC tent to find out how.

We look forward to seeing all of you this year. Come early, stay late and remember to carpool!

Be aware, this event gets extremely crowded. All proceeds benefit the New River Alliance of Climbers (NRAC).

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UPDATE: Due to the weather, the cleanup event has been canceled.