Incredible video of "Spiderwoman" setting new speed climbing record

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/22/incredible-video-of-spiderwo.html

5 Likes

Wow! That’s incredible!

18 Likes

Holy shit. :open_mouth:
I’d have trouble running that distance that quickly.

12 Likes

I’m… not sure I could do that pitch at ANY pace.

6 Likes

Bela… wow, that was quick!

2 Likes

Shit, I can’t even climb out of bed some mornings…

8 Likes

Friggin’ amazing. Damn.

There’s this other wall I’d like to see her take on; most of it hasn’t been built yet, and if we can get her to the southern border and she can demonstrate it’s monumental uselessness, we might be able to keep it that way.

3 Likes

I keep looking at the video wondering, “That’s impossible!
They seem to defy physics. Part of that is that they’re allowing the line to hold their weight each time they gain elevation I guess, but still

2 Likes

I went through a climbing phase at my local gym, where they have auto-belays. I can definitely tell you, it’s not cheating exactly, but their times might not be so fast with a person belaying.

Once you know a wall pretty well, you can do this kind of stuff. Just for fun, I’d see how fast I could get up the easiest wall with the most/best hand/footholds and I could fly up that thing much as you see here. I knew the routes very well.

It’s worth noting, this is a taller wall, and the hand/foot holds are more intermediate level. It’s impressive! I do wonder how much practice they get? If she’s 100% fresh on this wall, it’s super impressive. If she’s had a chance to do a few dozen top-rope climbs it’s a normal amount of impressive. From my armchair perspective, it looks like her opponent was similarly skilled but just didn’t know the wall.

2 Likes

The wall height and hold pattern don’t change - so it doesn’t matter where you are - it’s the same.
Speed climbing is the red-headed stepchild (sorry) of the competition climbing world. There is a ton of contention about including this as a qualifying event for climbing at the Olympics. It was added mostly as it’s something the average viewer will understand: X-Y in Z seconds.
Most serious climbers would likely request it’s removal - but you have to put butts in seats an all…

5 Likes

Truly amazing!

i had never heard of speed climbing until a few months ago when i saw this video:

interesting stuff. check it out.

1 Like

Whatever the conditions, very impressive.

Excuse the poor quality, but this one always blows me away – this is by Highway 50 head from Sacramento to South Lake Tahoe; Lover’s Leap, if you are familiar with the mountain.

4 Likes

Well yeah, because they’d trip on the rope on the way up. It doesn’t go through my grigri (a belay device) that fast in either direction.

Autobelay devices don’t hold, they let you fall immediately and then catch. She seems to hang in midair because she’s basically getting hang time on a jump. That she launched from a vertical surface. After basically jumping to that spot from a lower vertical surface. And catching herself with her fingertip grip strength and a toe…

4 Likes

Fantastic. I almost had a neck cramp just following her on screen. Bravo!

1 Like

Watching that damned video and now every muscle in my body is sore. Dang!

2 Likes

This is true, but at the same time there is a significant difference between a hop and grab while bouldering or manually belaying, and auto-belay.

Maybe it is placebo, but it feels like the auto-belay provides some kind of assist, however small.

1 Like

If only exercise worked that way :wink:

1 Like

Your experience with autobelays is different from mine. I’m completely the opposite, there’s just enough pull to suck the rope up, and when it’s time to let go at the top, it’s a jump. Versus a manual belay, where they hold you for a second before lowering.

Basically, they terrify me.

1 Like

holy…shit!

1 Like

I don’t know which pitch, but it’s that mountain.