Daniel Woods’ new Boulder Canyon test piece, The Game, goes at V16. That could make it the hardest boulder problem in America, if not the world. We hiked up there with Daniel, Rob Frost and Renan Ozturk to document the action for the upcoming REEL ROCK tour 2010. Photos courtesy of Renan Ozturk.

Last week the Sender team headed down to the Pacific Coast of Mexico for what we billed as a “writing and surfing retreat”. We are working on the script for our upcoming documentary about Yosemite, entitled Valley Uprising, and figured we might as well escape the snow in Boulder and enjoy the sun and surf of Sayulita. The waves were too small for Pete “frickin’ ankle breakers”) and too big for Nick, who ended up getting pummeled by cracking a 9-foot long board in half (sorry Tim Nickles). Now we’re back in Boulder, where the ice in the back driveway hasn’t melted since November.

The First Ascent series has begun to roll out on tv screens across Europe and Asia, and will soon hit Latin America. Anecdotally we’ve been told the show has been kicking butt, garning viewership 4-5 times higher than average Nat Geo ratings in Australia, for example. Not a bad start! Stay tuned for U.S. tv distribution announcements, and more on the DVD box set release in the fall. Meanwhile, check out how Nat Geo Adventure is promoting the show heavily on their website.

The First Ascent series continues to pick up big festival awards! The Wild & Scenic Environmental Festival granted Episode 3: Alone on the Wall the “Most Inspiring Adventure Film” award. Our young hero Alex Honnold was on hand to pick up the award in person, only to find it was being presented by none other than Captain Jean Luc Picard himself: actor Patrick Stewart. For young Alex — who is apparently a HUGE Trekkie — it was like shaking hands with a god. (just kidding everyone, we have no proof that Alex is into Star Trek at all, we just like messing with him). Alex’s mom was on hand to snap this pic.

Sender Films has launched a dedicated YouTube channel where fans can check out clips and trailers of all our past films and tv projects. From exclusive glimpses of our First Ascent TV series (coming soon!), to classics from the vault like Scary Faces and esoterica like the ‘Global Underwear Crisis.’ Check it out: youtube.com/senderfilms

From Montreal to Tblisi, The Sharp End has garnered a number of big film festival awards over the past year. Here is a rundown:

Graz International Mountain Film Festival (Austria) - Kamera Alpin in Gold
Int’l Mountaineering Film Festival, Teplice (Czech Republic) - Grand Prize
Tbilisi Int’l Mountain Film Festival Niamori (Georgia) - Grand Prize
Torelló Mountain Film Festival (Spain) - Grand Prize
X-Dance (Utah) - Best Adventure Film
Travel & Adventure Film Festival (Canada) - Best Mountain Film
St. Anton Mountain Film Fest (Austria) - Best Climbing Film
Boulder Adventure Film Festival (Colorado) - Best Climbing Film
Telluride Mountain Film Festival (Colorado) – World Tour Selection
Banff Mountain Film Festival (Canada) - World Tour Selection

If you don’t yet have your copy or are looking for the perfect gift for that special climber in your life, buy The Sharp End at our store.

At the Kendal Mountain Film Festival, Episode 3 of our First Ascent series, “Alone on the Wall”, garnered the Grand Prize AND Best Climbing Film. “Alone on the Wall” features superhuman free soloist Alex Honnold and his rope-less big wall ascents of Moonlight Buttress and Half Dome. Kendal is the premiere mountain film festival in the UK, and there were some serious challengers this year, so we were both surprised and extremely honored.

Check out this video of the Grand Prize announcement at Kendal

What a coincidence: Just as we were finishing up our Episode 6 for the First Ascent series, the final installment that features Dean Potter’s breathtaking innovations in the fields of climbing and BASE jumping, Dean was awarded Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic Adventure magazine for his world record wingsuit BASE jump of the Norh Face of the Eiger. We had captured this feat for First Ascent, so the magazine asked us to put together a short video. Check it out here.

The video contains a hint of the excitement to come in our groundbreaking series, coming out in 2010.

Tonight, at Jonny Copp’s amazing Boulder Adventure Film Festival, we premiere Episode 5 of the First Ascent Series, “Point of No Return,” which follows Jonny, Micah and Wade on their fateful expedition to China. This piece, which draws on extensive footage shot by Wade and recovered at the Mt. Edgar base camp after the tragedy, is obviously a huge deal for us, and we are so honored to have the opportunity to debut the piece at Adventure Film, where so many people who loved these three guys will be in attendance. Here is a short teaser.

Sorry for the long, fallow season of no blog posts, Sender fans. We have been holed up for the last several months mourning the loss of Wade, Jonny and Micah, and scrambling to finish some massive projects. But slowly life is returning to “normal” over here, and we will have a lot to report. The biggest news is the completion of ourFirst Ascent series for the Nat Geo Adventure Channel. We could not be more pleased with how it turned out, we are so grateful to the talented and eternally patient people over there at Nat Geo, and we think you guys are going to like it. A lot. Ok, stay tuned, more to come soon.