Marmot is pleased to announce that Leah Crane has become the newest member of its European athlete team with immediate effect. In addition to sponsorship, Leah will also be working closely with the Marmot sales team to offer retail product training, in-store support and attendance at events.
Leah has been climbing since she was five, and is most well known for her outdoor bouldering and results on the competition scene. She has turned her hand to traditional climbing, deep water soloing and ice, but sport climbing and bouldering are her favourite disciplines. She is currently competing on the Bouldering World Cup circuit, with her first result being 7th; only one place off reaching the final. In 2009 she claimed the crown of British Bouldering Champion, and then went on to travel Europe leading the life of a full time climber. She returned home and successfully defended her title in 2010, before her life in her words “took a grown up turn with a full time job and a mortgage”.

Hugh Harris, Marmot UK’s Sales Director said: “It’s fantastic to attract an accomplished athlete of Leah’s calibre to be part of our Marmot PRO Team. As one of the UK’s strongest female climbers she is already very well known and will be a great ambassador for our brand. What makes her even more of an asset to Marmot is the excellent retail and apparel experience she has gained from working within the outdoor industry during the last 2 years. Marmot is continuing to grow its market share in the UK and she’ll be invaluable to help us effectively communicate our brand story and technical product knowledge to the ever growing number of retail staff we are working with.”

Leah Crane said:“I can’t express the excitement I have for joining the Marmot family; both their UK team in Kendal and their world renowned athlete team. Marmot’s heritage is rich and authentic and I feel privileged to be a part of it. I look forward to meeting everyone involved from sales staff in stores, through to Marmot’s international team. When I’m not working for Marmot, I’ll be travelling the world on Marmot Adventures realising my full potential as a climber, wearing a brand I know and trust.”

This winter, Fabian Buhl could fulfil one of his biggest dreams by climbing "Dreamtime" (8C) in Switzerland. Read what he writes about the time working this legendary piece of rock:

"As I didn´t want to spend my semester vacations in the grey winter of the northern part of the San Bernadino, I decided to stay another month in my beloved Ticino. After I had pretty much reached all my goals for this bouldering season in January with climbing The Dagger fb 8b+ and an FA in Bodio (which felt as hard as the Dagger to me). Since then I was searching for a new challenge.
During the time I spent working on The Dagger, I sometimes went on the other side of the boulder in order to play around on the stand start of Dreamtime. Dreamtime was first ascented as the first 8c, by no other then the legendary Fred Nicole and eventually got downgraded to 8b+. A few years ago a big part of the good hold in the middle section broke and after that it got first ascented again by Adam Ondra. For me this boulder is truely THE line in Cresciano. When I was bouldering in Ticino for the first time, a friend of mine showed me this line and explained that it is Fred's masterpiece. After touching the holds, I was deeply impressed and overwelmed by the line. But I could not imagine to even leave the ground with these holds. So we went onwards and I climbed my first fb 6c+ slopertraverse this trip.
A few years passed and I have gotten stronger, also because I was bouldering a lot in Ticino during the winter time. Surely I sometimes walked pass the Dreamtime boulder. However I knew I was way to weak to try it, but at that time this and other hard boulders had literally been parts of my dreams. Beside the beauty of a line, these visions are my sources of motivation.
So this year I played around at the standstart and finally found a good, but pretty extended beta and was able to climb it. At that time I thought the first time that I might try to climb the full line, finally I had to work out the pretty powerfull bottom moves. The heelhook move drove me nearly crazy, but even this part of the puzzle got solved and the goal for the semester holidays in February was set. I rented out a place in Claro together with good friends. Thankfully to the warm and snowless winter, I could try and train nearly every day on my project when I felt well rested and my skin was heeled up. After a few days I was able to make a lot of good tries within one session. But I also have climed a bunch of other problembs because the fingers and the skin suffer a lot on the small crimps. Additionally I had to be 100% recovered and the conditions had to be prime, even if I didn´t want to believe this a few times.
The crux for me was definetaly located in the standstart, it was the far move out left, from two razor crimps to a slopy sidepull crimp, which I had to hit perfectly. When I did that move the problem went down, but I kept falling at least 25 times there over a few days. Unfortunately I wasn´t able to complete the boulder during my holidays, but I rested three days at home and then came back for the weekend, although the forecast wasn´t stable at all. So I stood in front of a wet Dreamtime on Saturday, but didn´t want to rest another day and I desperatly tried to dry the holds. I even made it five times to the crux, just in order to slip with wet fingers out of the wall.
Due to the fact that I had to drive to Innsbruk on Sunday, I tried my luck on the second climbing day although I normally don´t climb very well on the second day on. But low expectations are sometimes the key, if a boulder got mental anyways and the conditions had just been perfect.
I felt a little sore during warmup, but my skin got really nice and cold in the wind. I arranged all my pads and set on the start of the boulder and concentrated. Then I climbed very relaxed to my crux and dug deep, suprisingly I stuck the left sidepull and was hanging totally perplex in the boulder. Now I knew I was not allowed to fall because you never know when you will be able to stick it again. So I turned the autopilot on and suddenly stood on top of the boulder of my dreams! I couldn´t belive it! That was such a big relief for myself and definetly may hardest boulder to date. But everybody knows, after the project is before the project!"

Check also out Fabi's blog: fabibuhl.jimdo.com/.
Foto: Stefan Kürzi; see www.stefankuerzi.ch.

Marmot PRO Matilda Söderlund has trained hard during the past weeks. With her send of "Pati Noso" (8c/+) in Siurana / Spain, all these efforts paid off! Read what she writes about the ascend:

"Today I climbed Pati Noso 8c/+! 40 meters if beautiful climbing, such a cool route!

I tried the route a few times last year when I was in Siurana. My plan for this week was actually to climb in Margalef. But due to the rainy weather earlier this week, many sectors were wet. So direction Siurana it was... Since I left without sending Pati Noso last year, I though it would be interesting to give it a try and see how it would feel this time. I worked the moves and tried it three times in total yesterday. Everything felt a lot better than before and very possible. Nice to feel progression! Today I did it on my first go! It is definitely one of the coolest routes that I have ever done, and the hardest...

Now time to celebrate! HAPPY TIMES!"

Congrats Matilda, keep on crushin'!

Photo by Jonas Wiklund

Take perfect granite, nice (or half-nice) weather and a lot of motivation and fun - the results are two impressive tick lists and many hard boulder problems for Marmot PROs Katha Saurwein and Jorg Verhoeven.

For Katha, the flash of "Tricky" (8A) was a true highlight. Apart from that, she could tick some hard boulder problems up to 8A/8A+, such as "Frogger", "Fake Pamplemousse", "Pamplemousse", "The arete with the pocket" and "Frank's wild Years".

Jorg nailed down 15 problems graded 8A/8A+. Furthermore, he climbed "Flash Flood" (first ascent), "General Disarray", "Shadowfax", "Collateral" and "The Dagger" (all 8B or 8B+) and flashed "La Proue" (8B).

Watch a little movie of the trip here, for more info go to www.katharina-saurwein.com and www.jorgverhoeven.com.


Jorg in General Disarray, 8B


Jorg flashing La Proue, 8B


Jorg in Great Shark Hunt, 8A+


Katha in Pamplemousse, 8A


Katha in Komilator, 7C

This winter, Marmot PRO Sarah Seeger together with Dorothea Karalus and Mona Christof spent some time bouldering in Ticino / Switzerland. Read their report about a nice and successful time at the Swiss granite:

"Why would somebody visit the same place again and again? For Ticino, there is one clear answer: Besides the perfect rock, it is the blue sky and everlasting sunshine which embrace you once you have passed the tunnel and left the grey fog behind you.
This winter, we have been treated extremely well by the Ticino weather gods – as well as by Lucullus: Being served mousse au chocolat for breakfast and vegetable quiche, gorgonzola-apple-risotto, Allgäu style ‘Kässpatzen’ or self-made gnocchi for dinner by our “master cooks”, we girls could fully relax and concentrate on bouldering with sunshine and excellent conditions.
We spent funny days figuring out many great boulder problems and solving them in real teamwork. Inspired and motivated by what was possible for the others, all of us could send some hard problems. Doro climbed ‘Sun Ichiban’, ‘Dreams are full of maybes’, ‘Frank’s wild years’ and ‘Marilyn Monroe’; Mona sent the wonderful ‘Pamplemousse’; and Sarah could tick ‘Sun Ichiban’, ‘Pamplemousse’ and ‘Dreams are full of maybes’ (all 8A).
Fortunatelly, some projects still remain undone, so there are definitely more great girlie bouldering days to come. A presto, ragazze!"

Foto above: Sarah Seeger in 'Pamplemousse', 8A
Foto: Dorothea Karalus


Sarah Seeger in 'Dreams are Full Of Maybes', 8A
Foto: Dorothea Karalus


Dorothea Karalus in 'Marilyn Monroe', 8A
Foto: Andi Barth


Dorothea Karalus in 'Marilyn Monroe', 8A
Foto: Andi Barth


Mona Christof in 'Pamplemousse', 8A
Foto: Fabian Christof


Mona Christof in 'Pamplemousse', 8A
Foto: Fabian Christof

With the 2013 ISPO MUNICH trade show due to start in a couple of days, Marmot’s brand new Isotherm Hoody has been selected as an ISPO AWARD GOLD WINNER 2013. An independent jury of experts consisting of 57 members from 14 countries selected the Isotherm for this prestigious award in the “Outdoor / Midlayer Insulation” product category.

Delivering the highest levels of active performance, the brand new Isotherm provides perfect insulation and optimal moisture management for all winter sports. The innovative POLARTEC® Alpha® technology sets new standards in breathability and thermal regulation, while the feather-light PERTEX® QUANTUM® shell fabric ensures maximum protection at a minimal weight.

Polartec® Alpha®
Alpha® is the latest technology from the Polartec® stable and delivers impressive thermal regulation and breathability performance. Polartec® Alpha® promotes unimpaired moisture vapor transport, an attribute that makes it suitable for an extremely wide spectrum of winter activities – from freeriding to ski touring and ice climbing.

ISPO AWARD
The ISPO is the leading international sports business trade show and a meeting place for the entire sports business sector. The ISPO AWARD is an annual award from the ISPO MUNICH and honors the most exceptional products and pioneering trendsetters in the sporting goods industry. The official awards ceremony for this prestigious award takes place on 3 February 2013 at the Snow Ice & Rock Summit at the ISPO MUNICH trade show.

More Info:
www.polartec.com/polartec-alpha
https://www.facebook.com/ISPOAward

Having five 8b+ boulder problems on his tick list, Fabian Buhl from Southern Germany can look back on an extremely successful bouldering year 2012. In his season's review, he explains what else made his past climbing year so special.

As I was trying one of my projects lately, I was getting upset about myself once again. A second later I had to laugh about my anger. Obviously you always want more ascents and each of them faster done. However, the process of figuring out each individual move and working the problem is also very satisfying and it is definitely as important as the ascent itself.
With this point of view, I really can be happy about my bouldering in 2012 because when I restarted climbing around Christmas 2011, after a four-month injury pause, I doubted my abilities in climbing. But the movements started to feel fluent again and the power came back, faster than I expected. I soon started to climb some 8a boulders and even managed to climb my first 8b in Ticinio, “Delusion of Grandeur“ in Chironico.
Around that time I always had to think about “New Baseline“ (fb 8b+) in Magic Wood and hoped to be able to try it in late spring. Due to unusually little snow and a really warm end of winter, I could start working it in April.
To my surprise I was able to climb it in sections quite fast and was lucky having climbed my goal for the year within a few days. Only a few months before I hadn´t even dreamt about it.
Actually, the ascent was perfectly timed because I needed to study for my upcoming exams and the heatwave was rolling in. All the more, I was looking forward to the upcoming Rocklands-Trip.
This trip was absolutely an eyeopener to me. After some time of getting used to the sandstone, I started working on a few harder projects. I was really happy that I was able to climb “Golden Shadow“ (fb8b+) quite fast, but the main ascent of the trip was “Oliphants Dawn“ (fb8b+/c). However, the trip was not only dedicated to hard bouldering. I had a great time and made new friends. All in all, it was a new cultural experience and a great summer.
When I came back to Germany in September nothing had changed, it was still very hot, which came in handy and I got my well-earned and much needed rest. As soon as it got colder, the motivation came back and the boulder wishlist grew even longer.
I still had one month before I needed to go to Innsbruck in order to study again.
So I set my focus on a longstanding project in Allgäu, which I got from Christian Bindhammer. After another 10 days of work I finally managed to do the first ascent and created my hardest boulder problem so far. It’s called “Steinig“ and weighs in around fb 8b+.
From now on everything went really fast because with my arrival in Innsbruck, my projects changed and I could start working the leftovers from spring. Unfortunately, the weather in fall was really bad, with a lot of precipitation. Therefore, I couldn’t finish all my projects but got a good compensation with an ascent of “American Gangster“ (fb 8b+) in Zillertal.
Looking back on my bouldering year 2012, I am really happy and want to thank all my friends and the people I met, who have all supported me. Let´s just hope 2013 is getting at least as good as the past year.

Foto: Fabi Buhl in "New Baseline" (8b+)

Marmot Mountain Europe would like to wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2013!

Marmot is committed to a socially and ecologically sustainable approach. With our donation to SOS Kinderdorf and Tasuleasa Social we would like to make a gift and support those who spread hope and confidence with their constant engagement.

More information at www.sos-kinderdorf.de and www.tasuleasasocial.ro.

Marmot PRO Stella Marchisio (Italy) has been one of the strongest female boulderers for many years. In 2012, Stella and her husband Christian Core got two little girls. The video "Conception" filmed by Christian Core shows Stella's new life - both as mother and passionate boulderer.
Enjoy watching!

Marmot is proud to announce its title sponsorship of Marmot Dark Mountains™ - the mountain marathon with a darker twist! The cooperation commences with the January 2013 event and will last for five years.



Hugh Harris, Marmot UK Sales Director said: “Marmot has always prided itself in producing quality outdoor clothing and equipment for harsh environments, and our products have been regularly used by athletes in mountain events. We’ve been looking to develop a closer connection to the event community for some time, ideally through support of a suitable mountain marathon.The Marmot Dark Mountains™ is the type of event we were looking for and we loved the concept straightaway. It’s a perfect balance of controlled insanity and athletic challenge, and comes with a great point of difference to other events out there. It’s an excellent opportunity for us to showcase the breadth of our range to some of the most committed mountain enthusiasts around.”

From Marmot’s beginnings on the Juneau ice fields in Alaska, its products have been worn by climbers, mountaineers, skiers and all those who enjoy the mountains, since 1974. Over the years Marmot has accrued a wealth of awards for its design and product innovation, and has been a leader in the use of many new technologies and constructions techniques that are now taken for granted in the manufacture of outdoor clothing and equipment. Marmot has always relied on feedback from professional athletes and mountain guides and is glad to join Dark Mountains™.

More info at www.marmot-dark-mountains.com.

Photo: (c) Tim Glasby