UKC

Climbers Jonathan Thesenga and Brittany Griffith are the first Americans to climb at Stolby, a central Siberian nature reserve, where the locals free solo en masse.

Sometimes with dire consequences!!!! No top ropes here.

Watch the video: http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=555

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: deja-vu.

antwan isnt this the movie you posted a while back?

In reply to beastofackworth:

“You do not think this type of climbing is common in your America?”

“Ah ... no, Valeri, this type of climbing is super not common in America.”

Brittany, Burcham and I are climbing with our 68-year-old Russian friend/guide/translator, Valeri. We are unroped, free soloing halfway up a near-vertical 400-foot climb in Siberia’s Stolby Nature Reserve, a collection of 100-plus Joshua Tree-esque domes and pillars sprouting out of the dense taiga forest. One slip, one flubbed foothold, and it’s dirt-nap time.

This is as dangerous and serious as rock climbing can get. Yet all around us, there are hundreds of people – an eclectic potpourri of men, women, kids, the elderly, toddlers and partying teens you’d expect to find at a shopping mall – free soloing as well, erratically scrambling up the dome, alongside, above and below each other like ants. If one person falls, they will all be bowling-balled down the steep face to their deaths.

http://www.patagonia.com/usa/patagonia.go?assetid=21083

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

I'm sure you posted this not so long ago...

In reply to CJD:
I don't know about Mick, but I certainly posted about it back in July...
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=252172&v=1#3714823

In reply to amf37:

ahhh!

my mistake.

In reply to amf37:

Well done.

It is now a VIDEO article at UKClimbing.com.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=555

And featured here: http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/

Worth giving it more visibility.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:
Somebody really ought to teach those guys how to top-rope before someone get's hurt

In reply to Chris the Tall:

I suggest we send a crack team of UKClimbing.com's finest top ropers..with top rope kits and instruction manuals.

John Cox, Al Evans and Horse

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:
You forgot Fiend and Sloper

Surely if anyone deserves a trip to Siberia it's those two

In reply to Chris the Tall:

Of course.

I'm sure they would have a great time. Fiend could report back to us, fill us in with all the E0's he found and a list of Stolby's last great unclimbed lines - probably been soloed onsight and left unrecorded.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Bolts! They need bolts!

Did I really just see someone climbing upside down?

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: heehee, looks great! i want a go!

In reply to Toby S:

They have bolts. They also have considerable amounts of graffiti.

I got a visit in November 05 - just a day trip while I was in Krasnoyarsk on business. With me in suede shoes and six inches of snow on the ground, I kept my soloing exploits fairly limited (and head-upwards at all times.)

Just having a dig through my pictures to see if I can find any with bolts showing. There weren't many bolts, but more than you'd find on a UK grit outcrop. Did a quick article for my club magazine once I got back. You can also see more details on

www.stolby.ru.eng

Y

Incorrect link:

http://www.stolby.ru/eng/

In reply to beastofackworth: Yeah, thats the one i posted last week for your perusal, watched it ages ago.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: OK so nominate a few routes you could see/ would like to see being done in the Stolby upside down style. ( Oh God, we would have yet another grading system!)

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: hadn't seen that - quite something