Dave Graham

David Ethan Graham (born November 10, 1981 in Maine) is a professional rock climber. Professing to enjoy bouldering the most, he is one of the elite sport climbers and boulderers of his generation. Graham repeats classic routes/problems as well as puts up cutting-edge first ascents. Graham is known for his stance against grade-inflation and for his strong anti-chipping ethic. He writes an ongoing blog for the website of Climbing Magazine.

Rumney

*On 2000-04-01, Graham had the first ascent (FA) of "The Fly" (9a/5.14d or 8B/+) in Rumney, New Hampshire. Rumney is where Graham initially trained and established himself as an elite rock climber with his two friends Luke Parady and Joe Kinder. The three youths were instrumental in each others development as climbers. Graham also established some of the other hard testpieces at Rumney, such as "China Beach" (5.14b), "Jaws" (5.14c), and "Livin' Astro" (5.14c) at the Waimea crag. Holds had broken on "Jaws", making the problem a project again. On 2007 October 14, Vasya Vorotnikov had the FA of "Jaws II", this "Jaws" with the broken holds, and proposed a grade of 9a+ [http://climbing.com/news/hotflashes/rumneyjaws07/] .
*Known for his finger strength, Graham initially would be able to rely a lot on this strength to do routes. (Malcolm Smith has stated that "no world class climber has weak fingers but many get away with weaker bodies.") Graham has since continued to refine his technique and has a rather distinctive climbing style. For example, in the article about Daniel Woods in the September 2006 issue of "Climbing", Kinder remarks that Woods is a very powerful climber and climbs squarely with the rock, and one does not see any of those "sassy Dave Graham drop-knees." In a 2005 interview on 8a.nu, [http://www.chadurif.fr/ Charlotte Durif ] stated "Le style désarticulé de Dave Graham est un spectacle fou. Il y est tellement généreux et sincère." This translates roughly as "the contortional style/method of Dave Graham is a crazy (in an amazing and fantastic way) spectacle/vision. It is so/really rich and sincere/well thought out."

Off to Europe

After high school, Graham left for Europe in 2000. He would subsequently spend much of his time climbing at different locales in Europe, with brief return visits to US climbing sites.

*On May 21, 2001 Graham repeated the route "Action Directe" in the Frankenjura, Germany. "Action Directe" (FA by Wolfgang Güllich in September 1991) was the world's first 9a, and is generally considered to be the benchmark for the grade.
*On 2002-01-30, Graham repeated "Dreamtime" (8B+/V14, FA by Fred Nicole) in Cresciano, Switzerland. It had once been considered the benchmark 8C/V15.
*On July 12, 2002 Graham had the FA of the sport route "Bah, Bah Black Sheep" (8c+) in Céüse, France. This line is near Realization.
*On April 26, 2003 Graham repeated "New Base Line" (8B+, FA by Bernd Zangerl on 2002 December 12) in Magic Wood, Switzerland. "New Base Line" has been climbed by Zangerl, Fred Nicole, Graham, Franz Widmer, Christian Core [http://freakclimbing.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1445] , Daniel Woods and Tyler Landman.

*On January 9, 2005 Graham made the first ascent of "The Story of 2 Worlds" (8C/V15) in Cresciano, Switzerland by adding a sit-start to the 2003 boulder problem "The Dagger" (8B+/V14) by Toni Lamprecht. The second ascent of "The Dagger part 1" was by Graham in December 2004 (041219). Later on 050301, Lamprecht also added a different sit-start to "The Dagger". Lamprecht's sit-start begins on the right of the boulder while Graham's sit-start begins on the left. Lamprecht feels that Graham's "Story" is harder than his new "The Dagger SD". Upon completion of "Story", Graham proclaimed it may be the new standard for 8C/V15. (See "Dreamtime". "The Dagger" is actually on the backside of the same boulder that holds "Dreamtime".) Graham believed that bouldering was suffering from grade inflation. Subsequently, on his 8a.nu scorecard, he downgraded many of the boulders which he had climbed. He further explained that these are " [his] grades, not the real grades, not the world grades," stressing the subjective and relative nature of grading.
*Then, on March 7, 2005 Graham made the first ascent of "From Dirt Grows The Flowers" in Chironico, Switzerland, another possible 8C/V15. After completing this problem, he stated that he is as confused as ever about grading, despite his earlier proclamations.
*On April 13, 2005 Graham repeated "Bain de Sang" (9a in St Loup, Switzerland, FA by Fred Nicole in 1993). "Bain de Sang" was the world's third 9a. The route took Graham only three tries so despite not downgrading it, he asks whether it may actually be 8c+.
*For about 6 years, Dave Graham lived the expatriate life and climbed in Europe, putting up many other hard boulders, such as "Kings of Sonlerto" (8B+ in Ticino, Switzerland, FA on 2005 November 11). On 051108, this culminated in the first ascent of "Coup de Grace" in Ticino. He proposed a grade of 9a+/5.15a for this 80-foot sport route (see Realization).

*In October 2006, right before the Petzl Roc Trip in Kalymnos, Graham did the FA of Titanthrope 5.14c/8c+. He previously tried this line years ago and found new beta this trip and sent it 5th go. Titanthrop is a 65m route up a beautiful blue streaked wall in Kalymnos, Greece. The 65m route took him 45 minutes to climb with thanks to his belayer Sean McColl

*On 051207, Graham repeated "The Mandala" sit-start (aka "Mandalion"), 8B FA by Tony Lamiche) in Bishop, CA.

*On April 7, 2008 Graham made the first ascent of "The Island" in Fontainebleau, France which he graded 8C/V15 and took him 3 days work.

Hueco

*In the winter of 2006, Graham visited the bouldering mecca of the Hueco Tanks, TX and proceeded to repeat many of its hard problems as well as established many new lines. Descriptions of some of this trip can be found on [http://www.moonclimbing.com/Moonblog.aspx Ben Moon's blog] .
*On January 20, 2006 Graham repeated "Esperanza" (8B+/V14, FA by Fred Nicole). On February 1, 2006 he then repeated "Terre de Sienne" (8B+/V14, FA by Fred Nicole). Next, on February 6, 2006 he repeated "El Techo de los tres B" (8B+/V14, FA by Fred Nicole) and grabbed the second ascent of "Diabolique" (8B/V13, FA by Chris Sharma). He also fell at the top of the problem on his flash attempt of "Slashface" (FA by Fred Nicole) which Graham graded as 8B/V13, and subsequently did it on his second try on February 11, 2006. And on March 11, 2006 he had the FA of "The Evangalion" (8B), which is up the Slashface boulder. Sharma and Graham also worked on a new project together called "The Land Before Time" (8B), which saw its first ascent on 2006-02-17 by Graham. He was also trying the Nicole problem "Terremer" (V15), which is a logical link-up of "Diaphanous Sea" (V12) and "Terre de Sienne", when he tore a flapper on his finger and so could no longer continue working the problem.

*Graham took a few months off in the summer of 2006 to nurse a climbing injury.
*On 2006-09-13, hopefully indicative that his injury has healed with some osteopathy, Graham had the FA of "Scarred for Life" in Fionnay, Switzerland. It is a 30-move roof boulder problem, which he graded 8B+.

pain

*On 2006-12-07, Graham had the third ascent of "A Muerte" (9a in Siurana, Spain, FA by Rich Simpson on 2006-03-01 [http://freakclimbing.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1061] , second ascent by Edu Marin). This occurred during a trip to Spain, where many elite climbers, including Chris Sharma, Dani Andrada, Yuji Hirayama, Edu Marin and Klemen Becan were working on routes. This trip was most notable for Marin's and Sharma's repeats of "La Rambla Original" (FA by Ramón Julián Puigblanque and see "Realization").
*On March 8, 2007 Graham repeated "Esclatamasters" (9a, FA by Ramón Julián Puigblanque on 2006-04-17) in Perles, Spain.
*On May 26, 2007 Graham had the first ascent of "Los Borrachos del Mascun" (8c+) in Rodellar, Spain.
*On June 27, 2007 Graham repeated "Ali-Hulk (de pie)" (9a, FA by Dani Andrada) in Rodellar, Spain.

*Following his time in Spain, Graham went back to Céüse, France. Other strong climbers were also present, such as Sharma and Ethan Pringle. Highlights of the trip include the FA of "Three degrees of separation" by Chris Sharma, Graham repeating "Realization" (9a+, FA by Chris Sharma) on 2007 July 30, and Ethan Pringle also repeating "Realization". Sharma also bolted another hard project to the left of "Realization".

Trivia

*Dave Graham is 179 cm and about 63 kg.
*Born 10 November 1981, Dave is a Scorpio Rooster.
*Has one younger brother, Isaac, and one much younger half-sister, Eleanor.
*Likes to ski, but does not often get the chance to do so.
*Introduced to gym climbing in 1997 by a friend from his track team, he was sending 5.14a after a year.
*In the spring of 1998, Graham climbed his first 5.14a, "The Present" (FA by Boone Speed).
*In 2001, Graham visited the Rocky Mountain National Park for some bouldering. Clips of this can be seen on momentumvm.com. At the time, he tried the Green 45 project. It remained a project for years until 2007 June 19 when Daniel Woods had the first ascent, christening it "Jade" (8C), which can be seen on bigupproductions.com. Tyler Landman had its second ascent on August 4, 2007 agreeing with the grade. See the Moonblog on moonclimbing. com for Tyler Landman's comments on the problem. A third ascent of the problem was done by Paul Robinson on August 23, 2007.

External links

* [http://www.climbing.com/exclusive/problog/davegraham/ Dave Graham's Pro Blog]
* [http://www.planetmountain.com/english/Special/people/graham/index.html Old interview at planet mountain]
* [http://climbing.com/news/storyoftwoworlds/ "The Story of 2 Worlds"]
* [http://www.climbandmore.com/climbing,8,0,1,climbers.html ClimbAndMore.com]
* [http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/grahamamuerte/ Graham on "A Muerte"]
* [http://climbing.com/news/hotflashes/grahamrealization/ "Realization"]
* [http://rock-climbing-for-life.com/dave-graham.html "Cool Dave Graham Videos"]