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zakadamsgt
Jun 30, 2008, 4:08 PM
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This guy is a mutant...everybody talks about our american guns (woods, sharma, graham etc), but this guy I think gets overlooked as a result of a chipping episode on a route years ago...does anyone know the story behind the chipping? I watched a video of him sending salamandre, and it's insane! He has to be in the top list of climbers in the world. I believe he boulders hard too.
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CrazyPetie
Jun 30, 2008, 4:15 PM
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I havent heard anything about a chipping incident, but i agree that he is the shit. I've seen several videos of him sending "proposed" 5.15's. His one finger holding skill is amazing.
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Carnage
Jun 30, 2008, 4:26 PM
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he proposed a route he did was a 5.15b way before there was 5.15a. the route also was not very tall at all, most of the hard moves were maybe 10ft off the ground. once you got out of the cave there wasnt really much to the route. i want to say only like 1 person watched him do it too. i may be wrong thought, been a while since i read up on it.
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Basta916
Jun 30, 2008, 7:07 PM
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You are talking about "Akira" ??????
as for a chipping episode , he chipped a hold to make a route harder back in early 90's.....that made him infamous, never the less HE is a very strong and talented climber
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sungam
Jul 2, 2008, 11:25 AM
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Yeah, he surely means akira.
He climbed it, no doubts. Plenty of people have seen him do it, there a videos of him doing it, and plenty of other people have tried and failed to do it.
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devkrev
Jul 2, 2008, 11:40 AM
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I think the thing with Akira is that its more of a boulder problem then a route.
He has a interesting little segment on the extras of the movie First Ascent, they probably cut it from the regular section because it had a different "feel" to it then the rest of the movie.
But he is really strong.
edit: Freddy on Akira
dev
(This post was edited by devkrev on Jul 2, 2008, 11:42 AM)
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camhead
Jul 2, 2008, 12:31 PM
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There was a very good article on him a few years ago in one of the mags. The guy is incredibly strong, and has been in the vanguard of hard pocket climbing for over a decade.
The article indicated that he really does not care too much for the climbing "scene," that he just kind of keeps to himself, doing hard routes that nobody can repeat.
As for chipping, he stated that Akira was merely cleaned; not shipped. It is not on the best of rock. There were several other routes that he did chip, though. This is not unusual in Europe (or the US, for that matter), though.
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Carnage
Jul 2, 2008, 1:37 PM
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fucking good article. definitely changed the way i thought about him (and kinda alexander huber too). He seems like a cool guy
as for akira...i still kinda think its a dumb route. between being handed at rope for the end and being possibly chipped/glued, i think i'm just pretend it never happened.
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sungam
Jul 2, 2008, 2:42 PM
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Carnage wrote: fucking good article. definitely changed the way i thought about him (and kinda alexander huber too). He seems like a cool guy as for akira...i still kinda think its a dumb route. between being handed at rope for the end and being possibly chipped/glued, i think i'm just pretend it never happened.
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camhead
Jul 2, 2008, 2:46 PM
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Carnage wrote: fucking good article. definitely changed the way i thought about him (and kinda alexander huber too). He seems like a cool guy as for akira...i still kinda think its a dumb route. between being handed at rope for the end and being possibly chipped/glued, i think i'm just pretend it never happened.
so, how would you climb the route? Gluing aside, suppose you found a cave with a classic v4 jug haul for 60 horizontal feet, and then ended on 25 vertical feet of 5.11 with a bad landing? Would you do the route any differently?
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GeneralBenson
Jul 2, 2008, 3:10 PM
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One of the climbing mags also had something on him/akira maybe six months ago. It definitely gave me more respect for him. Chipped or not, apparently dani andrada spent 6 months or something like that on it, and couldn't send. Other people have tried too. Maybe it's chipped, but maybe it's also the hardest route in the world; and long before Realization.
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Basta916
Jul 2, 2008, 3:49 PM
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camhead wrote: Carnage wrote: fucking good article. definitely changed the way i thought about him (and kinda alexander huber too). He seems like a cool guy as for akira...i still kinda think its a dumb route. between being handed at rope for the end and being possibly chipped/glued, i think i'm just pretend it never happened. so, how would you climb the route? Gluing aside, suppose you found a cave with a classic v4 jug haul for 60 horizontal feet, and then ended on 25 vertical feet of 5.11 with a bad landing? Would you do the route any differently?
You make a great point with V4/5.11..... but just a weeee bit harder, I heard a while ago Hirayama looked at it, and thats as far as HE got ...
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camhead
Jul 2, 2008, 4:28 PM
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Does anyone know if Dai Koyamada has given Akira a go? It seems like it would suit him well, based on his past sends and FAs such as "Wheel of Life."
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Carnage
Jul 2, 2008, 4:39 PM
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i agree, good point w/ the v4/5.11 thing. given the choice, i would prolly give it a go, then call it a stupid route. less it had some fun moves in it. also, i would call the ppl who only did the first part vaginas.
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c4c
Jul 2, 2008, 5:13 PM
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Who?
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Arrogant_Bastard
Jul 3, 2008, 11:24 PM
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devkrev wrote: I think the thing with Akira is that its more of a boulder problem then a route. He has a interesting little segment on the extras of the movie First Ascent, they probably cut it from the regular section because it had a different "feel" to it then the rest of the movie. But he is really strong. edit: Freddy on Akira dev
Cool vid and all, but how is that not a bouldering problem.
And I thought his stuff in FA was cool, but it did belong in the extras section.
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sungam
Jul 4, 2008, 11:56 AM
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Arrogant_Bastard wrote: devkrev wrote: I think the thing with Akira is that its more of a boulder problem then a route. He has a interesting little segment on the extras of the movie First Ascent, they probably cut it from the regular section because it had a different "feel" to it then the rest of the movie. But he is really strong. edit: Freddy on Akira dev Cool vid and all, but how is that not a bouldering problem. And I thought his stuff in FA was cool, but it did belong in the extras section.
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devkrev
Jul 4, 2008, 3:01 PM
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Its not a boulder problem because he did it in 1995 when boulder problems weren't that long, maybe, I was 12 it 1995, so I dunno.
dev
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sungam
Jul 4, 2008, 4:16 PM
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Seen the footage of Salamandre, btw?
Fuck.
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bender
Jul 4, 2008, 4:18 PM
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once you get to the bolts on akira you still have an 8a left to do; where did this 5.11 description get started?
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Carnage
Jul 7, 2008, 11:37 AM
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bender wrote: once you get to the bolts on akira you still have an 8a left to do; where did this 5.11 description get started?
it was an analogy; akira for a pro is like a long v4 boulder start with a 5.11 finish for me.
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rockclimbergabor
Jul 7, 2008, 12:02 PM
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to clear it up..
Akira probably isn't chipped. There were rumors but people went up to look at it and all the holds seemed natural. Its definitely very hard but most people aren't interested in it for two reasons - location (its in a dirty bat filled cave far away from other routes) and ego (they don't want to get shut down on it). Instead, they go to Spain and Southern France where there are lots of options, the grades are soft and everyone has a good trip.
A proud send for sure. If I had a route of this caliber 15 minutes from my house, Id probably try to climb it too..
(This post was edited by rockclimbergabor on Jul 7, 2008, 12:03 PM)
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sungam
Jul 7, 2008, 1:18 PM
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Carnage wrote: akira for a pro is like a long v4 boulder start with a 5.11 finish for me.
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Arrogant_Bastard
Jul 7, 2008, 4:57 PM
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sungam wrote: Arrogant_Bastard wrote: devkrev wrote: I think the thing with Akira is that its more of a boulder problem then a route. He has a interesting little segment on the extras of the movie First Ascent, they probably cut it from the regular section because it had a different "feel" to it then the rest of the movie. But he is really strong. edit: Freddy on Akira dev Cool vid and all, but how is that not a bouldering problem. And I thought his stuff in FA was cool, but it did belong in the extras section. It's not a boulder problem just the same as any route with a "bouldery start" with a jug hual after. Like this E2 by my old house, easy after the crux, but to get to the easy bit you had to climb a V5, simple as that.
I dunno, if the climbing is far easier than the real meat of the climb...
Kind of like how a 5.11 climb won't get an R rating if there is a 5.8R section on there. Anybody at that level should be able to cruise 5.8 with a bit of runout.
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