News 2006

2006/12/29 LOC, NS
_ photos: zigtv
Rich Lapaix on the new line Make a Wish. It is found in the woods area inland behind Corn boulder. The line climbs out an overhang between two birch trees! Cool!

2006/12/18 Annapolis Valley, NS
_ photo: D.Smith
John Lodge on the Atlas Project on some newly found rock. More new photos to come in the next two weeks...

2006/11/13 West Pennant, NS
_ photo: zigtv
Grizzly at night time.

2006/11/10 West Pennant, NS
__ photos: zigtv
Ben Smith on Papa Bear during a late night session at Owl's House.

2006/11/05 West Pennant, NS
__ photos: zigtv
Nick on a super cool project in WP. Will be done very soon...

2006/10/31 West Pennant, NS
Nick Sagar has added another "Halifax Hard" problem to the growing list of testpieces by his home in West Pennant. His latest, VIP, starts on Honey Tree (v8) but shoots immediatly left on some unrelenting tensiony moves to a hard mantel finish.

2006/10/30 Halifax, NS
__ photos: Benoit Robitaille
Nathan Smith completing Open finals problem #1 during this season's first Tour de Bloc held at the Rock Court in Halifax. John Bowles and Tania Wong grabbed 1st place. Complete results to come on TDB website.

2006/10/29 Maple Ridge, NS
_ photo: Eric Smith
Derick Smith on the first ascent of Sheer Desperation (sit) at Maple Ridge.

2006/10/05 Grover, NS
___ photos: zigtv
Last night during a very late session Ben Smith completed the 4th ascent of Fine Line. Ben was quoted saying: "I promised myself I wouldn't climb outside of NS until I had sent Fine Line". And true to his word Ben left this morning for New Hampshire!

2006/10/03
Tour de Bloc 2006-07 is about to start up again. First comp is at the Rock Court in Halifax on Oct.28. Check the tour's website.

2006/10/01 Grover, NS
__ photos: B. Garrison
Two old photos of Ben Blakney sending Trail Blazer (v9) in Grover.

2006/10/01 Halifax, NS
RADICAL REELS. The Trail Shop is proud to host the latest project from the Banff Festival of Mountain Films. Designed to serve our need for adrenaline, and the joys of living vicariously through the hi-speed, daring exploits of others, Radical Reels will offer a ride like no other. So join us 7:00pm, Wednesday, October 4th, 2006 at Park Lane Cinemas for some of the wildest skiing, mountain biking, kayaking and BASE-jumping films on the planet. Tickets are $15.00 in advance, $17.00 at the door, if there are any left.

2006/07/11 Annapolis Valley, NS
___ photos: D. & S. Smith
Ghislain working on a great tall project (v??) at Maple Ridge.

2006/07/10 Annapolis Valley, NS
_ photo: zigtv
Derick Smith on Far stretch of the imagination (v5) at the Maple Ridge area.

2006/06/20 Fiera Di Primiero, Italy
Results from the recent bouldering World Cup in Italy. Canadians Sean Mcoll finished 9th place while John Bowles finished 58th. We will continue bringing you results and updates from these guys in upcoming WC events.

2006/06/11 Grindelwald, Switzerland
Our two canadians in Europe competed this past weekend in the bouldering world cup in Switzerland. Sean Mcoll finished in 13th place while John Bowles from New Brunswick finished 46th in his first world cup. We will continue bringing you results and updates from these guys in upcoming WC events in Italy and Austria.

2006/05/31 Halifax, NS
If you want to attend Boulderfest on Dover Island, go to www.climbnovascotia.ca. There's still around 20 spots left so don't hesitate.

This year's schedule for the Monday Night Series. They leave from the St. James Anglican church on the Rotary in Halifax at 6pm sharp!!! (get it sharp, really sharp) All info is on the website groundzeroclimbinggym.com. Big thanks to Sean Therien and GZ for organizing this series.

June 5 Prospect Bay
June 12 Duncans Cove
June 19 Chebucto Head
June 26 Polly's Cove

July 3 Chebucto Foot
July 10 Crystal Crescent Beach
July 17 Land of Confusion: Scrappy Boulders/Area 51
July 24 Land of Confusion: Cheesecake/Nouveau Riche/Borg Boulders
July 31 Skull Rock

August 7 Duncans Cove
August 14 Land of Confusion: Mission Impossible wall/Scoop/Mega
August 21 Polly's Cove
August 28 Prospect Bay***Night Bouldering***

2006/05/22 Vancouver, BC
The unofficial results after this past season in the CEC bouldering competitions. The CEC will make an annoucement in the coming weeks. Good luck to Sean McColl and John Bowles who will attend some World Cups in Europe this summer.

2006/05/20 Halifax, NS

photos: B.Garrison, N.Dumas
Ocean Commotion and Jungle Fever, just two of the many new testpieces to go up this year. Ocean Commotion is the low traverse found left of Spanky's Arete on Dover. Jungle Fever is the old cave project on the Jungle boulder in the LOC. Other lines to go up, all by Nick, include Honey Bear, situated at Owl's House, a long crimpy linkup start into the crux of Last Chance. Last Chance is also a worthy arete climb that is long, technical, and commiting. At Hephalump, Deeper Understanding starts as Access Denied but goes up and left over the bulge past some bad slopers. Right of Access Denied is Phase VIII (or Phase III which is the stand start version). This line starts with the obvious right hand rail and cranks through 3 hard moves. Ben Smith also reversed Tsunami from a sit star naming it Imanust.

2006/05/15 Vancouver, BC
Final results from the Tour de Bloc nationals held this past weekend in Vancouver. Final standings for the Tour de Bloc will be announced this week. The CEC will also post its national team list in the near future.

2006/05/09 Canmore, AB

Fragilo Productions just sent me his new video for the Tour de Bloc's Western Regionals which were held at the Vsion gym in Canmore. Check it out! The Nationals are this weekend in Vancouver.

2006/04/30 West Pennant, NS

_ photos: zigtv
Nick Sagar on the first ascent of Grizzly at Owl's House. This burly line is found just right of Papa Bear. Unlike regular bears grizzlys require bigger guns and more time...

2006/04/25 Annapolis Valley, NS

_ photos: D. Smith
More new lines at Maple Ridge; another area near Bridgetown. Left and Right is John Lodge from Fredericton and center is local climber Sarah Smith.

2006/04/08 Vancouver, BC

The Tour de Bloc bouldering championship will be held this year in Vancouver and Coquitlam on May 13 & 14. Good luck to John Bowles from Fredericton who will travel to the nationals and compete with some of Canada's best plastic pullers. Represent! Click here to visit the nationals' official website or the Tour de Bloc for current national point standings.

2006/03/30 Annapolis Valley, NS

_ photo: D. Smith
Zig Checkin' it twice (v9).

2006/03/28 Annapolis Valley, NS

_ photos: D. Smith and F.Gallacher
Two more new lines named Outlaw (v7) and Sick Dog (v5) . The mandatory descent from Granite Maximus.

2006/03/27 Annapolis Valley, NS

_ photos: zigtv
Fiona and Derick on the first stretch move of a new line in the valley. More new photos this week.

2006/03/20 Pawtuckaway, NH

_ photo: B. Meyers
Kyle on the new line Catcher in the cold (v9) in Pawtuckaway. Many more new lines to come in 2006.

2006/03/20 Terence Bay, NS

_ photo: C. Baker / tracstarr
Craig Stamp almost sending Magnet during the CNS' TB woods event this past Saturday. More photos available on Tracstarr.

2006/03/12 Fredericton, NB

_ photos: zigtv
Mackenzie Oram (2nd place) and Elizabeth Maltais (1st place) on the final's problem #1 at the UNB tour de bloc. Results on the Tour de Bloc website.

2006/03/06 West Pennant, NS

_ photo: zigtv
Nathan Smith almost sent Weakling (v9) in a few tries but the top out was dripping with the mild temps.

2006/02/25 West Pennant, NS

_ photos: zigtv
Ghislain on the starting moves of his new line at the pit boulders called L'espion au galot (v8).

2006/02/22 Terence Bay, NS

_photo: G.Losier
This just in... On March 18 TB woods will be open again for one day. The owners gave permission to host another CNS event which will start at 10am, participants will have to sign a waiver, and is open to the first 20 registrants starting... now. Email Ben Smith (bn948751@dal.ca) to register.

2006/02/19 Terence Bay, NS

_ photos: G.Losier
Scott Richardson climbing on a nice project in -20 weather.
Another cold day out in Terence Bay. We went out climbing but not for long. We spent more time trying to keep warm.

2006/02/18 Terence Bay, NS

_ photos: G.Losier
Ben and Nathan Smith working on Ghislain's new line La Vague de Froid (v8). This big boulder is found far into TB past Grover. Quite the hike but worth it seeing the quality lines with nice features. The only other line named 1mm (v6) was climbed last weekend on the tallest face (20'). Stay tuned for more bitter cold bouldering news!

2006/02/17 Ground Zero, NS
Last Sunday Ground Zero held the 3rd Tour de Bloc comp for Atlantic Canada. Results plus a comp report by Sean Therien are found on the Tour's website. The last local comp for the tour in our region is at UNB in Fredericton on March 11.

2006/01/07 West Pennant, NS

_photo: G.Losier
Nick focusing on the crux of another double digit project. This one at Hospital Hill.

2006. Another year is upon us. Even after a decade boulderers keep searching and finding new boulders around halifax and now elsewhere in the province. People are now "boulder-hunting" with GPS and satellite images. In the Nova Scotia bouldering scene, 2006 should be another fun and exciting year. Stay tuned!