So long...
...since the last post... sorry for that but things just have been really busy, not in climbing outdoors though unfortunatly! Since the semester is coming to an end things at Uni are spicing up really hard, lots of stuff to do, papers to write, presentations, and all this kinda stuff... And to top it all, there was a period of straigth rain in Austria for the last four weeks! So well, all there was left to do, in lack of spare time and because of the weather, was to go to the gym and train. It was fun but I truely miss the rock and all those cool sessions outside and simply can't wait for summer and more time for climbing! Anyways, enough of the whining, I found this video on my computer that I once made after the rocklands trip last summer and somehow we never put it online somewhere, so here it is! It's the footage of one of my best climbing days ever... Psyched for the rocks!! - Emi -
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Swizzy update...
We've once more been down in Ticino last week, originally planed to stay for a week at least but unfortunatly the weather wasn't nice to us (as mostly this winter...) and after four days we just couldn't stand the rain and even snowfall(!) anymore...
Anyways we had a good start with a sunny day in Chironico, Juri and Mario and Me and lots of cool Boulders in the 101 sector.
First stop was a roof called "Tricky", a really nice and weird 8A were you have to do some crazy double toehooking to solve the puzzle and climb out to the lip... Juri quickly found out the solution (thx!!) and so we soon all succeeded. Next we moved over to test our powerendurance skills on "The Arete with the Pocket", a sustained 8A with about 20 moves that each for itself aren't really hard but add up on the redpoint and create some nice spice in your forearms! Got my first proper pump this year... but luckily made it to the top though :) After a long long rest the pump finally dissappeared and I felt ready to go and try "Keinfisch Kleinfisch" again, a short Dave Graham 8B just a minute down the hill. It involves some nice compression climbing with a brutal kneebar into a kinda tricky mantle and a slab to top it out. I allready checked it out last time and this time got some nice beta-tips from my mate Martin who just did it a couple of days before... so allthough kinda sour allready, with the solution more technically than hard pulling, I somehow managed to sneak through the problem, didn't punt on the mantle, vibrated up the sandy slab and had it in my bag, end of a nice day!!
Below is a photo of Flo bouldering in "Atlantis" on the last rain free day before we gave up and bailed... At least the snow was good back at home :) some more shots in the bouldering gallery.
Happy easter everyone!
Emi
Anyways we had a good start with a sunny day in Chironico, Juri and Mario and Me and lots of cool Boulders in the 101 sector.
First stop was a roof called "Tricky", a really nice and weird 8A were you have to do some crazy double toehooking to solve the puzzle and climb out to the lip... Juri quickly found out the solution (thx!!) and so we soon all succeeded. Next we moved over to test our powerendurance skills on "The Arete with the Pocket", a sustained 8A with about 20 moves that each for itself aren't really hard but add up on the redpoint and create some nice spice in your forearms! Got my first proper pump this year... but luckily made it to the top though :) After a long long rest the pump finally dissappeared and I felt ready to go and try "Keinfisch Kleinfisch" again, a short Dave Graham 8B just a minute down the hill. It involves some nice compression climbing with a brutal kneebar into a kinda tricky mantle and a slab to top it out. I allready checked it out last time and this time got some nice beta-tips from my mate Martin who just did it a couple of days before... so allthough kinda sour allready, with the solution more technically than hard pulling, I somehow managed to sneak through the problem, didn't punt on the mantle, vibrated up the sandy slab and had it in my bag, end of a nice day!!
Below is a photo of Flo bouldering in "Atlantis" on the last rain free day before we gave up and bailed... At least the snow was good back at home :) some more shots in the bouldering gallery.
Happy easter everyone!
Emi
Powder days...
We've been out in the snow recently and had some good days! Zlu has put up a new Gallery on his webpage called "white gold" where some shots of the action can be seen. Below is a clip of how I put an end to my snowboard by hitting some snow-covered rocks, those bastards!! Well what can I say... Allways wear a helmet :)
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Some days in Ticino
Me, Korni and Katha spent the last days down in Ticino, giving it a try on the quest for dry boulders. After realising that there still is plenty of snow arround we first focused on climbing in Cresciano. Our first day there, a sunday, was sunny, dry and with perfect temps, psyche was high! We bouldered in Osogna on classic old lines like "Revê de Mario", the first 8A in Ticino established by Fred Nicole back in the day or the perfect slab "Mary Poppins"... It felt so good to touch the good old swiss granite after a long period of snow, rain and days in the gym...
The next two days were rainy and we ended up sitting and driving arround, basically getting really bored and hoping for the weather to clear up. Wednesday was sunny finally and we were back at Cresciano. We mainly tried "Mithril", a short and steep 8B established by Dave Graham. All the moves went down for both of us at the end of the day so motivation was high to come back and try the whole thing. Two days later we returned and started trying it from the start. I suddenly stuck the first move, did the second, the third,... and suddenly found myself on the tricky mantle! Kinda shaky and surprised what's going on I did't get a foothold the right way and when I tried to stand up allready, all of a sudden, my foot slipped and I dived down face first into the pads! Holy crap! I just fckd it up at the mantle!... Luckily nothing was hurt except some scratches and my heartbeat slowed down again... Whilst I took a long rest Korni managed to fight his way out the roof too and was at the mantle... Both of us knowing you easily can blow it up there we were kinda stressed, him climbing, me spotting. He kept it together though, stood on the slab, shaking like he had just drunken 20 Espresso shots in a row, greeeat success!! I put my boots back on again, ready to find out if I could climb the thing again and get another chance for the mantle... After struggling on the first move twice I stuck it and climbed up to the mantle again! This time I was better prepared, did everything exactly according to Beta-Plan and topped out, yessss :)
The following days we spent climbing in Chironico, on and off, with the rain between sunny days... I managed to climb a really amazing problem called "Conquistador", 8A+, compression climbing on a beautiful bloc lying in the riverbed at "Schattental".
Allthough the weather was pretty bad most of the time we had some nice days as well and can't wait to return soon! Some more shots in the bouldering and people galleries.
The next two days were rainy and we ended up sitting and driving arround, basically getting really bored and hoping for the weather to clear up. Wednesday was sunny finally and we were back at Cresciano. We mainly tried "Mithril", a short and steep 8B established by Dave Graham. All the moves went down for both of us at the end of the day so motivation was high to come back and try the whole thing. Two days later we returned and started trying it from the start. I suddenly stuck the first move, did the second, the third,... and suddenly found myself on the tricky mantle! Kinda shaky and surprised what's going on I did't get a foothold the right way and when I tried to stand up allready, all of a sudden, my foot slipped and I dived down face first into the pads! Holy crap! I just fckd it up at the mantle!... Luckily nothing was hurt except some scratches and my heartbeat slowed down again... Whilst I took a long rest Korni managed to fight his way out the roof too and was at the mantle... Both of us knowing you easily can blow it up there we were kinda stressed, him climbing, me spotting. He kept it together though, stood on the slab, shaking like he had just drunken 20 Espresso shots in a row, greeeat success!! I put my boots back on again, ready to find out if I could climb the thing again and get another chance for the mantle... After struggling on the first move twice I stuck it and climbed up to the mantle again! This time I was better prepared, did everything exactly according to Beta-Plan and topped out, yessss :)
The following days we spent climbing in Chironico, on and off, with the rain between sunny days... I managed to climb a really amazing problem called "Conquistador", 8A+, compression climbing on a beautiful bloc lying in the riverbed at "Schattental".
Allthough the weather was pretty bad most of the time we had some nice days as well and can't wait to return soon! Some more shots in the bouldering and people galleries.
Conquistador - Pic by Katha Warming up in Cresciano
Boogalagga
Last Saturday, the 2nd of January 2010, has been the first day of bouldering for me and Korni in 2010 and it started good! Good because we were able to climb a really amazing problem despite the absolutly freezing conditions that day. The year started cold! It was a windy day in Ticino's Chironico, wind at minus 5°C or more means that it actually felt like minus 20°! A "warm up" was pretty senseless. No way to get "warmed up". So this ment we started without one, trying "Boogalagga", an amazing line established by Bernd Zangerl, around 8B, technical, powerful and really cool holds and pockets. We've been working the porblem lately and made good progress but this day, because of the cold, our tries felt really bad! With a massive lack of cordination or feeling for the moves, we saw our chances of succeeding disappear. We kept trying though and all of a sudden I stuck the first (the crux) move for the very first time. Out of nowhere it seemed. Both, me and Korni, where confused, that was something totally new. After maybe two seconds I realized I stuck the hold and was still on so time to move on! I kept it together, stuck the last hard move to a crimp and topped out. Nice! Psyche was high, I came down, high five, Korni chalked, pulled on (I still had my shoes on) and sent it just right after me! We both where more than glad that the whole desition to not go to Cresciano but freeze our asses off here paid off and we got the candy in the end... Two more Photos in the bouldering Gallery.
pic by Korni
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