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!

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 with Sonnie Trotter & Russ Clune from NE2C on Vimeo.

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: Escape From The from NE2C on Vimeo.

Tickets for the Nor’easter are on sale now!

UBC Pro Tour: OFFICIAL TRAILER from NE2C on Vimeo.

• This is the 4th year NE2C has run an event at OR Summer Market, and the first with 3 rounds of pro climbing.

• Having 3 rounds of climbing has allowed us to push finals all the way back to 8pm (Broadcast starts at 7:30pm), which means cooler temps for pros who make finals!

• Once again, there is a $10,000 cash purse for pro climbers.

• Here’s a fun fact: Since NE2C started running competitions in 2006 and by the end of 2010 we will have given away over $111,000 to pro athletes, an amount we believe to be more than all other pro competitions in North America combined during that same time.

• There will also be a $10,000 cash purse at the UBC Pro Tour Championships at The Nor’easter September 24th & 25th.

• It’s not all about the money, we’re just sayin.

• Spectating at Qualifiers and Semi-Finals is FREE to anyone who wants to come.

• Qualifiers begin at 12 noon and will run till they’re done. Please arrive at least one hour ahead of your scheduled climbing time.

• Semi-Finals are at 9am at the Shilo Inn. Semi-Finals iso opens at 7am and closes at 9:30 at The Front.

• Iso opens for finals at 5:30pm and closes at 6:30pm at The Front.

• This year we have pro problems sponsored by Nicros, Pusher, 3-Ball and Bomber holds. Thanks for the support!

• The wall for this event is supplied by USA Climbing and is a turbo-charged version of the wall use at the Vail World Cup! (we hope you dig the modifications).

• Dope volumes for Pro Semis and Finals are supplied by Motivation Volumes.

• Only four athletes have ever won an NE2C competition at ORSM: Alex and Alex and Chris and Daniel. Will 2010 be the year a dark horse breaks through?

• The official UBC Pro Tour T-Shirts were made by our friends at Granitlife and are available online at www.ubcprostore.com

• The 2010 UBC Pro Tour will be the most easily accessible climbing event ever! You can watch it live at www.boulderingcomps.com, follow us on facebook (Search “Unified Bouldering Championships”), or follow the live blog at www.climbingnarc.com.

• Wikipedia says that the average high in Salt Lake City is 88.7 degrees. Which, based on past experience, seems really low to us.

• Please support our partners at Eastern Mountain Sports, The North Face, Native Eyewear, Sanuk, The Front Climbing Club, Rock & Ice Magazine and everyone else you see onsite. These brands all are the engine that makes pro climbing possible and we’re grateful for their support.

• Your ticket to finals includes FREE entry to the after party featuring a live performance by DONAVAN FRANKENREITER

We hope that you guys love climbing as much as we do. THANK YOU for the support and GOOD LUCK to all climbers. Climb hard and HAVE FUN!

More info at the UBC Pro Tour Homepage www.boulderingcomps.com

The Road to the Nor’easter 2010: Stencil Art with Joe Iurato from NE2C on Vimeo.