La Proue

Just got back from a short trip to ticino right after new year. I hadn't been down there in quite a while so I was very excited to climb on good old swiss gneiss once again! As some snow dropped down at the higher spots the days before we arrived the desicion was made to climb at Cresciano. We got there in the afternoon and just climbed around randomly, enjoying the rock and the forest and meeting people I hadn't seen in a while...

The following day we went all the way over to the La Boule sector as I was keen to get on "La Proue". It's a short and powerful line established by Fred Nicole in the late 90's of the past century, classic and quite technical, around 8B. I had randomly tried it every once in a while over the past years but with little success... I kinda expected it to be the same this time but to my suprise I felt stronger on it. I stuck the crux move for the first time that day and fell off on the next one because I kinda had no clue what to do after... So the plan was to rest one day, return back, warm up, then first do the upper part isolated to get the beta and then start from the bottom again.

The crux Move, pic by Korni Obleitner

Being a lazy b**ch and full of confidence on my return two days later I thought it for sure will go without sticking to the plan. So again, I stuck the crux move perfectly and yes, again I punted somehow and fell off. I did try the upper moves after that, figured out the foot-moves which are the tricky part but the power was gone and I couldn't get up there anymore... Idiot.

The following day was my last chance. It was sunnier and warmer as the days before and the tries didn't feel good, I was pretty sore as well from the day before. I made a long rest until 30 minutes before it got dark and started my last set of tries, already making up plans in my mind of returning the next weekend because I didn't feel like it would go anymore today. So I set off with no expectations and everything clicked, some surprised and adrenalized roars later I stood atop of the boulder... happy and with a big smile on my face that didn't go away the whole drive back to Innsbruck.... 

Video below!

Emi