Welcome to our new series “Origins” — a fun video concept developed with the crew at Evolv Shoes, and also sponsored by Mountain Gear. “Origins” focuses on climbing’s rich history, following top athletes of today as they team up with their heroes from the past, and attempt to climb the iconic (and iconoclastic) routes of earlier generations.

The First “Origins” episode features two climbing stars: Kurt Smith, who put up some badass routes in Joshua Tree in 1988, and Chris Lindner, who was sending 5.12 routes when he was 5 years old. In this “Origins” episode, Chris sets out to climb Kurt

Paul Robinson made the first ascent of Lucid Dreaming, a line that extends Rastaman Vibration in Bishop, CA to make for one of the hardest boulder problems in the country, if not the world. Paul started working on the problem two years ago, but was unsuccessful. Returning to Bishop two years later, Robinson continued to struggle with the problem until he had a dream. In the dream, he called home and spoke to his father. He was at home in his parents’ house making short work of a wall filled with tiny pinches. He woke immediately. The night before he had celebrated his father’s birthday. His father had spotted him when he first attempted the problem, and passed away eight months ago. Paul left immediately for the problem. Rain was coming in, and the moisture in the air made the key pinch sticky enough to hold on to. He sent the problem on his second try that day.

The problem is tentatively being rated at V16. The only other proposed V16 boulder problem is Daniel Woods’ The Game. Woods and Robinson have a long standing friendship and competitive rivalry. Pushing each other on, they are testing the limits of bouldering.

Our man Rob Frost (who is working with Sender so much these days he is de facto staff) just got back from shooting the Iditarod dog sled race. Here is his report:

Just got back from an amazing journey through Alaska. Snowmobiled and filmed the famous 1,000 mile Iditarod dog sled race that starts just north of Anchorage and finishes in Nome. It was truly one of the most epic adventures of my life and an unreal way to see the expansive wilderness up there in Alaska. The trail takes the 71 teams 9-14 days to complete. They pass through checkpoints which are old mining towns in the interior, and Inuit villages once the course hits the Bering Sea. Each dog eats 10,000 calories a day and they are some of the most gifted athletes I have ever seen (and contrary to the myth that this race is cruel to the dogs, I saw up close and personal how they live for this type of effort– it runs through every fiber in their DNA). We saw temps that got as low as -46 F. The first three days we went through the Alaska Range, over Rainey Pass at 3 in the morning in a blinding blizzard. Sacha Gros was my travel companion and survival expert- a total badass. He towed an 8 foot long sled with our stuff. We went three days straight with no sleep through driving storms, getting flipped sideways in deep snow drifts in the extreme cold, having to tow one another out, dig, and cut small trees that we got hung up in. I had moments of desperation for sure. At points I was hallucinating due to the sleep deprivation. I would fall asleep at the wheel, only to catch myself waking up and realizing that I was on a snowmobile in the middle of endless wilderness. I hit 91 mph on the Yukon River, and at one point flew off the back of my snowmobile at about 25 mph and took a gnarly digger. At about 600 miles the trail hits the coast and then angles up to the finish line in Nome. I spent the last two days of the event following and filming Lance Mackay as he mushed his way into the history books with his 4th consecutive win. It is an adventure I will never forget and hopefully I will do it again next year. Some jobs stand out, and this was certainly one of them.

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
Torell