Whassup y’all. With the Pro Qualifiers only three weeks from this Friday (!!!), we thought it might be a good time to hit up a UBC FAQ that hopefully answers all of your pressing questions that can’t be resolved by visiting www.boulderingcomps.com. If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to hit us up: info [at] ne2cproductions.com.

So let’s dive in!

1. What’s the comp schedule? Pro qualifiers are at 12 noon on Friday the 24th and pro finals begin at 3pm on Saturday the 25th.

2. When do I have to check into iso? Same as always, at least one hour before your climbing time for qualifiers. For finals, iso closes at 2pm and all athletes must be check in by then. Please leave extra time to deal with getting through festival ticketing.

3. Where is iso located? UBC iso is behind the main competition walls but in the same tent. Look for the signs at the West end of the athlete parking lot and check in at the left end of the bleachers.

4. Where is Loon and how do I get there? Directions are available here.

5. Where do I park? While general festival attendees must park offsite and take shuttle buses in, all UBC athletes may park on site at Loon. Again, arrive early to make sure you get a space!

6. So this is an outdoor comp huh? What’s the weather going to be like? Um… hard to say… You should be prepared for everything from a bluebird day in the 80’s to a freezing cold New England worst-case scenario. The climbing wall and iso will be under a canopy, but warm clothes are definitely a must!

7. What do I get for my $75? You get your competition fee as well as free onsite parking and entry to the Nor’easter vendor village. You also get one free companion (or coach) into the venue with you. Register now at www.ubcprostore.com

8. What if I want to see all the music on Friday and Saturday nights? All UBC athletes get a discount on any festival tickets you want to buy for you, your coach/parent, your friends, whatever. Just buy em when you register and you get $22.50 off of each weekend-long pass. That’s www.ubcprostore.com

9. Who can compete? The UBC is a come-one come-all open competition for anyone who wants to test themselves against the best of the best!

10. What’s the format? This time we’re headed back to a two-round format with Qualifiers and semi-finals. There will be 5 (maaybe 6) qualifiers problems and 3 finals problems. The format will be the same as the Earth Treks Roc Comp and ORSM with Qualifiers being the “Normal” US pro format (5m on, 5m off, cycle through all problems) and Finals in the World Cup format (Group preview, all climbers climb each route before moving on to the next, etc. If you have questions on the specifics of our 2010 Rules and Regulations, please check them out!

11. What’s the cash purse? $10,000. The payout is (as always) equal per gender and breaks down as follows: 1st $2000, 2nd $1000, 3rd $600, 4th $500, 5th $400, 6th $300, 7th $200.

12. Where can I camp? There is limited camping onsite and you can camp (tent only, no RV’s) onsite at the Nor’easter if you register early.

13. Camping in New England? Sounds cold, I need a hotel!!! Fair enough. We suggest starting at The Econo Lodge at the cheap end and working your way up from there. There is plenty available if you’re psyched to drop $$$ on a condo or something.

14. But wait! I have more questions! As always, please feel free to get in touch anytime you like at info [at] ne2cproductions.com

Thanks for coming y’all PSYCHED to send 2010 out with a great comp!

Check out Joe Kinder at the end of The Road to the Nor’easter!

The Road to the Nor’easter: Joe Kinder in New Hampshire from NE2C on Vimeo.

Thanks to everyone who helped with the RTTN shoot, great times. Looking forward to doing it again soon!

The Road to the Nor’easter continues with Sonnie Trotter and Russ Clune at The Gunks climbing Enduro Man and The Sting (both 5.11). Now I’m not saying that we were out all night beforehand and that this shoot required one of the all-time legendary rallies to accomplish, I’m just saying that we thoroughly enjoyed the huge venison dinner we had at Russ Clune’s house afterwards and the nourishment it brought with it and that if you think we look totally spent and that you see huge bags under our eyes, you’re imagining things. Hope you enjoy!
Nor’easter tickets are on sale now at www.noreaster.ems.com.

The Road to the Nor’easter with Sonnie Trotter & Russ Clune from NE2C on Vimeo.

With the Nor’easter Festival only five weeks away, we thought it would be cool in introduce some of the key people who have been working on this project since we picked it up again almost exactly one year ago. It’s hard to imagine how much work can go into producing a three-day festival until you try, and the group included in this project is only a small cross-section of the larger crew that has been required to pull off this event. Each person involved in The Voices of the Nor’easter has contributed substantially to the Nor’easter since August 2009 and will be there this September. Leading off… it’s me (Pete Ward) and Jason Danforth of NE2C Productions.

Jason and I started running climbing competitions back in 2005 and our work lead us in a bunch of different directions. First, we’ve got the longest running series of pro bouldering competitions the U.S.. We first ran the Mammut Bouldering Championships which eventually evolved into the Unified Bouldering Championships Pro Tour. Along the way, we also dabbled in fashion, built something of a portfolio producing photo & video shoots and finally landed here, with all of that cobbled together and working with almost everyone at Eastern Mountain Sports to celebrate who we, the New England Outdoors Community, are at the 2010 Nor’easter Festival.

Now if ya ain’t heard, the Nor’easter is two things: First it’s the obvious, a three day festival of Music, Sport and Conservation happening this September 24-26th at Loon Mountain in Lincoln, NH. There’s a million different things going on there, some great music and some of the biggest names in our outdoor community will be there too. But the Nor’easter has become much more than that too, and really therein lies the impetus for the Voices of the Nor’easter project. It’s hard to fully communicate the scope of what the Nor’easter has become without bringing you inside, so that’s what we plan to do. We want to show the Nor’easter the way we see it.

Jason and I (along with Beth Marchand) are the Project Managers and Event Directors, and for us, The Nor’easter is a 24/7/365 baby that we continue to learn about and get more and more psyched on every time we add something new to it. I mean, we’re just some rock climbers who thought we’d come up with a good idea and when we book a band like The Gaslight Anthem who no less an authority than Pitchfork calls “The answer to a prayer”… I mean, that’s some great validation of our community. None of us set out to learn to climb, or to go for a walk in the woods or to paddle a boat because we thought it would make us cool, but here we are at the pinnacle celebration of our community and real live rock stars want to come hang out with us cause they think we’re the cool kids! I hope your inner 16 year old gets as much of a high from that as mine does.

I love The Nor’easter because for my money, there’s nothing better in life than figuring out who we really are and that’s what The Nor’easter is. It’s who we are. It’s outside, it’s rain or shine, it plays hard and picks up after itself when its gone. It’s the enthusiasm of first tracks and the anticipation of tying in under a route that you probably can’t do without falling. It’s an embodiment of That Moment we’re all chasing. Because when I am asked by someone, “Why do you like to climb?” (or paddle or hike or bike or walk in the woods)… It’s not a question I can answer with words, the best I can do is to invite you along for the experience.

Next week you’ll hear from some of the top climbers in the world, Eastern Mountain Sports athletes Joe Kinder and Dave Graham and then we’re off to the races. Here are the rest of the people you’ll be hearing from and who they are:
• Will Manzer and Ted Manning of the Nor’easter Steering Committee
• Brandon Koger and Pete Kearns. Eastern Mountain Sports Product Managers and according to myth, the spring from which the very idea of The Nor’easter sprung.
• Tim Keenan and Aimee Tetrault of NE2C Productions. Tim and Aimee have been with us for years and Aimee famously video blogs NE2C events and Tim’s alter ego Mon Voyage Neon has DJ’d many of our events.
• Tim Kemple of Camp 4 Collective (and The Road to the Nor’easter & Adam Myerson of Cycle-Smart Productions
• Kate Lynch & Mike McCoey of the Eastern Mountain Sports marketing department and the Nor’easter planning committee.

And if you just can’t get enough of me talking about The Nor’easter, here’s installment #1 of The Road to the Nor’easter which you will see running in stores shortly:

The Road to the Nor’easter: Introduction from NE2C on Vimeo.

The Road to the Nor’easter continues with Abbey Smith and Arturo Quinones of Eastern Mountain Sports. We shot this chapter over two days and mixed it in with our time at Brooklyn Boulders. Abbey is a total pro and rallied from a recently busted up ankle and Arturo is one of the most articulate guys we’ve ever had on camera. We’re looking forward to working with them both again soon.

The Road to The Nor’easter: Escape From The from NE2C on Vimeo.

Tickets for the Nor’easter are on sale now!

Congratulations to our winners. Looking forward to seeing you all again at The Nor’easterfor the UBC tour championships.

Awesome climbing y’all. Good luck at finals!!! Doors are at 6pm and we anticipate a sell out.
Here’s the Finals Running order and Results!