Naked Edge record broken!

Impressive for sure - but more-so only after looking at their other accomplishments - otherwise it’s kind of hard to tell.  It’s a super niche record that only a small handful have tried - a few of whom are dead.  If it were less dangerous with less of an obstacle course involved in getting to and from the actual climbing objective - perhaps there would be more contenders - likely better ones, given the number of elite climbers in this town.

James Wwrote:

Impressive for sure - but more-so only after looking at their other accomplishments - otherwise it’s kind of hard to tell.  It’s a super niche record that only a small handful have tried - a few of whom are dead.  If it were less dangerous with less of an obstacle course involved in getting to and from the actual climbing objective - perhaps there would be more contenders - likely better ones, given the number of elite climbers in this town.

Man, the obstacle course is the best part! It's a triathlon -- a hard aerobic uphill effort, steep climbing, and an ultra technical downhill run. What's not to like?

I think the most impressive part is they beat the old record by almost 2 minutes. They could've had a snack at the top and still make it down in time. 

Gabriel Bwrote:

At the end of the day, who really cares?

Er, the people posting in this thread? Really, what's the point of a post like this?

chummerwrote:

An outstanding athletic and technical performance. Impressive by any standard. I followed their progress on Strava all summer and they truly earned this one. They put in so much work on the new speed record. I've never worked so much for any climbing goal. I've climbed the Naked Edge 7-8 times and just the amount of beta you have to memorize to climb that efficiently is a feat unto itself. Not to the mention the level of cardio they're at. It was a world class performance by two "amateurs." I would argue it was no more dangerous than most other ascents given the level of preparation they put in. As well as the level of focus they were bringing to the table. 

You've perfectly captured exactly what this is - a learned gymnastic routine akin to Olympic performances.

Marc801 Cwrote:

You've perfectly captured exactly what this is - a learned gymnastic routine akin to Olympic performances.

Out of respect for actual elite and olympic level performances - the Naked Edge climbed at the speed wall pace would get done in about 56 seconds.  The finals routes are 14a and up and climbed on-sight - a grade nobody spending their days lapping 5.11s will likely send after even 100 tries.

James Wwrote:

Out of respect for actual elite and olympic level performances - the Naked Edge climbed at the speed wall pace would get done in about 56 seconds.  The finals routes are 14a and up and climbed on-sight - a grade nobody spending their days lapping 5.11s will likely send after even 100 tries.

Wasn’t commenting on difficulty or not being on-sight, merely the learned/memorized movement. More like a gymnastic or the various skating routines.  

James Wwrote:

Out of respect for actual elite and olympic level performances - the Naked Edge climbed at the speed wall pace would get done in about 56 seconds.  The finals routes are 14a and up and climbed on-sight - a grade nobody spending their days lapping 5.11s will likely send after even 100 tries.

The official speed climbing route is rated approximately 10c.

James Wwrote:

Out of respect for actual elite and olympic level performances - the Naked Edge climbed at the speed wall pace would get done in about 56 seconds.  The finals routes are 14a and up and climbed on-sight - a grade nobody spending their days lapping 5.11s will likely send after even 100 tries.

Have you climbed the Naked Edge? And are you familiar with any of the Naked Edge record holders (e.g. Brad Gobright)? They all climb 5.13, and ~half of them have climbed 5.14 (John Ebers climbed the Dunn Westbay in 2020).

Perhaps if the Naked Edge was an Olympic sport (not a bad idea) and had an industry surrounding it the times would be lower, but to say this is not an elite performance seems a bit bitter. The cohort of Naked Edge record holders are all phenomenal athletes.

I also wonder if it's meaningful to compare a technical outdoor route with a juggy 10c protected by an auto-belay (that's another great idea though, perhaps we could get TruBlu to rig up the top of T2).

PRRosewrote:

The official speed climbing route is rated approximately 10c.

Not for someone that actually climbs it in < 6 seconds: https://www.wired.com/story/the-best-speed-climbers-dash-up-walls-with-a-time-saving-move/

Of course, one also ups the technical difficulty (& definitely the risk) by speed climbing the edge.

Regardless, James has a point that it's hard to compare Olympic-level competition (even for an obscure sport like climbing) to a local competition. Olympic-level speed climbers are way better overall climbers than one may think.

rebootwrote:

Not for someone that actually climbs it in < 6 seconds: https://www.wired.com/story/the-best-speed-climbers-dash-up-walls-with-a-time-saving-move/

Of course, one also ups the technical difficulty (& definitely the risk) by speed climbing the edge.

Regardless, James has a point that it's hard to compare Olympic-level competition (even for an obscure sport like climbing) to a local competition. Olympic-level speed climbers are way better overall climbers than one may think.

YDS 101: ratings are not dependent on how many times you've done a route or how good a climber you are.

Stefan is such a beast. I do enjoy (as I enter old fart age) that he's more than 2x and approaching 3x the age of many Olympic climbers. 

I could see a Honnold or someone go faster on just the climb itself, but I don't know about roundtrip. (that's a huge compliment)

PRRosewrote:

YDS 101: ratings are not dependent on how many times you've done a route or how good a climber you are.

Competition climbing 101: YDS is irrelevant 

Long Rangerwrote:

Stefan is such a beast. I do enjoy (as I enter old fart age) that he's more than 2x and approaching 3x the age of many Olympic climbers. 

I could see a Honnold or someone go faster on just the climb itself, but I don't know about roundtrip. (that's a huge compliment)

Stefan has an amazing level of cardio talent. His times on so many of the local adventure challenges are phenomenal for anyone much less a working dad. And a glance at Joe’s strava indicates elite levels of fitness. this record is savage and will be very difficult to beat. I climbed it in 2 hours or so a while back and could imagine doing it in an hour at my best in my 20’s. But 22min! wow. 

it is dangerous no doubt. but as i mentioned these guys overprepared for this one. Smart and effective. 

James Wwrote:

Out of respect for actual elite and olympic level performances - the Naked Edge climbed at the speed wall pace would get done in about 56 seconds

10/10, thanks for the laugh

John Alcornwrote:

10/10, thanks for the laugh

It would be sweet to climb it on auto belay

Is there any actual video footage from, say, the Bastille? Totally insane!

EDIT: And I, too, hope this is the final record. 

Marc801 Cwrote:

Er, the people posting in this thread? Really, what's the point of a post like this?

Er, I do get that you care, i just dont get why

Gabriel Bwrote:

Er, I do get that you care, i just dont get why

Why do some people like Norwegian death metal, smutty romance novels, ultra running or putting gerbils in their hineys? Why do some people like posting assinine comments in threads celebrating the awesome accomplishments of others? We may never know the former things, but we do know that the latter will occur invariably in the MP forums.

chummerwrote:

Stefan has an amazing level of cardio talent. His times on so many of the local adventure challenges are phenomenal for anyone much less a working dad. And a glance at Joe’s strava indicates elite levels of fitness. this record is savage and will be very difficult to beat. I climbed it in 2 hours or so a while back and could imagine doing it in an hour at my best in my 20’s. But 22min! wow. 

it is dangerous no doubt. but as i mentioned these guys overprepared for this one. Smart and effective. 

Joe has the FKT on the b2b Yellow Spur, the base-to-summit climb of the Direct East Face on the 1st Flatiron, and downclimbing Freeway on the 2nd Flatiron. Additionally he just narrowly missed the FKT on the Evolution Traverse... while onsighting the route. To call him anything but an elite athlete would be a gross understatement!