boogie boogie...

went up to magic wood with my brother and met some good old friends in the wood. despite the three days of beeing sick i did not feel too bad. the temps were moderate and there was wind blowing - NICE conditions!!! so i wanted to make use of it and had a look on nbsl.

but due to WAY toooo soft skin i punted around on  the second move like a beginner. from there it was ok, but i wanted to try from the start, and as that f*ç4" second move did not happen it was off (NEVER try this boulder with bad/soft skin - its a wast of time!!!) then i wanted to do something to keep up my endurance on big holds (for susten/ticino) - so looked for something with REAL holds and BIG moves: “Electroboogie”!

THE sloper on the boogie, pic back from 2005 when i did it for the first of maybe 15times up to date - it just toooo good to do it just once... ;)

I loved that boulder from the first moment I saw it YEARS ago. a freestanding pure line with intense and tricky compression moves – just perfectly my style ;) since last fall, electroboogie has a broken hold (does not affect the orginal beta/grade) – and I wanted to know if I coud still climb it with my old beta. I did not wanted to reclimb it with the original crux-beta, cause this beta involves a (haaaard) shouldertweaking move I really disliked from the first time I tried it in 2005. Back then I figured out some nice heelhook compressionmoves. I used the shoulderhold just shortly and then another crimp lefthand to avoid my shoulder from dislocate. That crimp I used back then is broken now and so I had to find something new.



the left-hand-crimp is broken, instead you can go another 50cm to the left and down (with a nice left heelhook) to get a good crimp and do some nice compression moves to gain the top-sloper.


After playing a bit around I recognized that I coud reach with my left hand even further down left to a nice sidepull. From there I could make use of my old beta with some more nice hooks and compressionmoves to top it out.

I tried this new beta shortly 4weeks ago, but was (powerwise) not ready yet after the summerbreake. This time I was ready. It felt perfect, nearly too good as i was kind of “disorientated” while climbing, never "knew" where i exactly was cause it felt so diffrent (more like 6A) compared to 4weeks ago (where it really felt like 8A+). it was a funny state of mind – shoud happen more often ;) unfortunatley it was allready too late for something else. but as I REALLY like the moves with the new beta i then made use of the “momentum” and did some laps on the "NEW" boogie, boogie – YEPPPPAAAA ;))



searching for the toe-hook left, to go for THE sloper left hand - bodytension all way to the top - i liked and i still LIKE very much ;)



presenting: THE BUTCHER

this NICE little cat can do BAD things to you if youre too slow...

cat-pics by angela wagner

 -if youre not fast enough -  it will CATCH you BADLY

and thats the DEEP RESULT as i WAS too slow (well at least not at the tips)

my hand after PLAYING a littel bit with the cat...

and to clompete the MESS, i must have eaten something "wrong" or i catched kind of a virus:  2days on the toilet does not really help to get you in perfect shape to get your projects down either.

at least the weatherforecast is CRAZY again: 25C for tomorrow; may the snow will disappear just in time to get another (last) chance at susten. we will see...

winter

arrived at the susten-area - project number one(s): IKARUS and HIGHLANDER are OFF.

sustenarea, yesterday

i  just can't believe it, everything went perfect after my summer-breake: in 5weeks i went from fb7A to 8B-area again, and my power endurance built up. temps finally droped from 30C to 20C and after 4days on "ikarus" and "highlander", i climbed allready three times a day (solid) to the second last move of "ikarus" to neeeeeeeeraly stick it and i was 100% positive to send in 1 or 2 more days.

but nature had other plans: winter hit at least 5weeks earlier and WAY heavier than usual (from 23C to 8C in 1 day) and it looks like the game is over at sustenpass for me :( approx 30/50!!!cm of snow will need at least 2weeks to melt. as i allready had to fight with wet holds, despite 2weeks of not so much rain, with all the new snow the holds will not dry again till end of october (when winter normally hits the area).

from TOP to FLOP in 2days. looks like the weather really does not like me this year - CRAZY SHIT- for the last 6years october was PRIME for bouldering up there... - this october it looks like you may better go snowboarding up there...



sustenpass dumped with snow



fit test II

chironico, still GREEN and WARM

if it rains in the north of swizzy - very often in the south it does not - so chironico this time - nobody else in the wood, may cause it was still WAY tooooo GREEN and still WAY tooooo WARM (23C) - but the forest is starting to change colors - HIGH hopes ;) anyway i re-did some nice classics, searched for shade and wind and then the 101-area is great. there i managed to "resend" "arrete with a pocket" and "einfisch,keinfisch". the problems went down quite well, despite the warm temps - HIGH hopes when COLDER temps ;)

einfisch,keinfisch - pic from last spring - by angela wagner

resting and waiting for the good weather to come

i surfed a bit on the net and had a backflash from my summer-holidays. thats how it was in august, and thats why you better dont go surfing to france in early august...

 early august: FLAT, crowded nonsens...

and that was THIS thursday, and thats why you better go surfing to france in fall. but as fall is also the KILLER season for bouldering, watching pictures like this results in a (kind of painful) tradeoff - its a 14h drive one way... its hard to get your boulderingprojects AND this waves done in the same short season... - but not impossible ;)

mid september: empty PERFECTION, pic by msw

testing my fitness - failure or PROGRESSION ?

i just wanted to test my fitness and NEARLY climbed a life-time-project...

i was up at sustenpass with my borther rolf and we had a great afternoon in the sun, above the foggy landscape. rolf climbed really well, flashing standingstart to classic and super aesthetic "3er-dyno" and sending the sds on his second try - cool!!!

beautiful sustenarea, again and again...  (if you dont count the roaring sound from "organ-donators" (bikers) speeding over the pass all the time)


after the sun was down behind the mountains friction increased and it was time to get to the "traumland"-boulder. last week i had set myself a new target: highlander woud have to wait (to hard), instead i woud first try to exit over "warmduscher", calling it the "icarus/deadalus-project" (still linking two 8A boulders that way). warumup felt great, but according to my "shedule" after my summer-break i needed another week or two to be in acetable shape again. nevertheless i decided i woud just give a "test-burn" from the sds to have a look where my fitness really was.

i climbed super relaxed, friction was great, fingers did not get cold and suddenly i was at the starting-moves of the "traumland"-part - i stuck the first super hard move climbed to my former highpoint - did NOT felt tired - stuck the next hard move - but just with three fingers. for 5 or 6 seconds i tried (nearly freehanging) hard to bring my pinky on the hold - i knew i woud send with my F**** pinky on it - but i did NOT mangage to bring my pinky on the hold and went DOOOOWN... - two moves from the "rescue-jug" - failure. this boulder really has nothing for free for me. but it was BIG progression too. i felt so good, i now KNOW (last week i was still sure, that its just to hard), that i even can CLIMB "highlander" - back in the game i am ;)



thats the position where my "fitness-check" ended; was not able to bring my pinky-finger on the right handhold to do the cross-move left hand to the right, to the top-hold of "traumland". pic by angela wagner 



on my second try from the sds i nearly stuck the hard "traumland"-move again. and to finish, i climbed through all the hard moves from just two moves in... GRRRRRRR, im getting fit again, and its getting clooose - SOOOOOOO 6weeks left for two moves - if i dont get this two moves together, i will BURN my pads ;)



Downgrading

ahhh soooo coool; finally i can downgrade something... ;)

summary: in 2008 i did the FA of two topouts (a left, and a right one) to the classic "traumland" at susten - perfect lines and very nice to climb!!! now they got the first repeats by local boulderer ronny birchler and better beta was found - what takes the grades down - what is cool, cause like that, more people shoud be able to try and climb this beautiful lines. that also shows that you shoud never let yourself fool from grades: if the line and/or the moves are cool, go for it!!! the boulder may suit your style, you may find better beta, you will never know unless you try it!

drive to susten: up there where the snowfields are, the boulders wait

details for the interested ones:  "warmduscher" takes the finishinghold of "traumland" and climbs slightly to the right and up. this line got the first repeat this starting summer from local boulderer ronny birchler. he had a great summer up there, making fast ascents of some 8A's at susten. he found new beta for the sitdownstart (to which to easiest beta (for me) is no longer possible after a hold broke) which suits him pretty well (i cant do that beta, feels to near everything).

he felt like the topout may not ads tooooo much to the difficulty to "traumland", but really completes the line. so he felt more to 8A then to 8A+.  for me the topout still adds difficulty but after rethinking may not enough for a real "+". may its just my "boulder" endurance that fails there... - but i will not call the boulder "soft". instead to make everybody (except yens) happy i will suggest a slashgrade 8A/+ for "warmduscher" (what also suits the name) - so everybody can take the grade he/she likes ;)

on the FA of "schön wie...", pic by angela wagner


«Schön wie das zufällige Zusammentreffen einer Nähmaschine und eines Regenschirms auf einem Seziertisch»
or shorter just; "schön wie..." is the direct (left) topout to "traumland". i graded this topout 8B cause of a horrible unsave, hard move after the "traumland"-part which took me weeks to complete on link. this spring (while getting ready for the highlanderproject again) i figured out that just 15cm to the left is a way better hold than i used (stupid idiot i was). the move to the new hold is bit harder, but the new hold makes the former crux-move EASY - so the grade has to go down to 8A+.

"schön wie..." got his first repeat yesterday by ronny - strong again after summer-family-holidays. AGAIN he found new beta for the cruxmove (normally i am the one who finds the easiest betas, but now i start to feel like a complete idiot... ;) but he still tinks its a notch harder then "warmduscher" - so we stick here with the "+".  or we go for 6B ;)  what ever, beautiful lines you have to climb when youre up there!!!

finally there was at least one boulder left, on which i had better beta... ;) after showing my "rève de faire"- beta to ronny he quickly climbed the crux-sequence and i am sure if the army-service does not make him to "lame", he will soon make a rare repeat of this amazing fred nicole classic - FUERZA!!!

WHAT GRADE

can a guy like HIM boulder??? 8C???

sorry but that pic was just tooooo NICE ;) pic by b3bouldering.com

yes HE can, even without some big PESEL, NANA, 10.5, BLACK BLABLA, E69 prints on his
back/butt...!!! well at least on this pic... ;)

i LIKE a LOT

Castle Hill New School Classics Vol One from derek thatcher on Vimeo.

fall FAILED but PSYCHE is HIGH

last week i was up at the susten area to check where i am after my yearly 4.5week summer-break. totally psyched for good temps after having seen the webcams (snow arround) and checking the weatherforecast which said: 8C at 2000m. arriving up there, still snow was arround, everything soaking wet and it was !!! 18C !!! - sooooo WARM - so much to swizzy-weather forecast.

nevertheless the "traumland"-block with the "highlander"project was more or less dry, just some wet holds. i had a great session with a local guy called ronny, who had a fantastic summer up there, crushing quickly lot of the 8A's at sustenbrüggli.

beautiful susten area. it looks cold but it was WARM during the DAY

i was quite satisfied with my bouldering that day. i am perfectly at the point in my schedule where i hoped to be. i start to feel power on the holds again and my skin is rebuilding. by 6 in the evening the sun was down, the temps droped, the grip improved DRAMATICALLY and we had a nice session. after two weeks of sun and sea, ronny worked on his shape too and was allready looking strong again - figuring out his beta to "reve de faire" and "schön wie...".

i surprised myself by doing the (for me) hard undercling startingmove of "traumland" on my second try that day and reclimbed "traumland". i did "reve de faire" from the standingstart, did the first part of "highlander" several times again, did the stand start to "schön wie..." with better beta... and so on... it was good training - and i am positive that i will be ready in two weeks for crushing mode again... FUERZA  

back from surfing...

...or what was supposed to be surfing. for everybody who thinks bouldering/climbing is really dependent from conditions (weatherwise) i suggest go surfing during summer in europe once!!! i was well aware that surfing in august in france can be like bouldering in cresciano in august: from 30days, may 1 or 0 will be good in terms of conditions - cause its just not swell season. and you know it allready: it was exactly like this - FLAT or FLAT and MUSHY. but even then, a REAL surfer NEVER gives up - he joins the crowd and waits for waves:

crowds waiting for waves - ALL day long - everyday picture...

but at least you have to be COOL when you are looking and waiting for waves, there have been soooooo many soooooo cool guys, i nearly needed a down-jacket for wave spotting ;)

flat sea but just be cool must save the day... ;)

after the moring swell-check i had to do something against the hunger: eat some healthy food everyday and you will be fine:

"american-sandwich" in st.girons - a real MUST ;)

so what to do instead of hanging out in the water and waiting for waves which everybody knew (swellforecast?!) woud never arrive that day(s)?! may going for aerobic?

morning aerobic on the campground - hmmmmmm....

or you coud go "whale-watching"

whale-watching in france is possible but, well ähmmm, may you try it better in oz... ;)

i preferred more to watch out for some greek "sirens" on surfboards...

yep, WAY better than "whale-watching"... ;)

fall has arrived in swizzy ;))))

webcampic from susten-area 1.9.2010

now the best time of the year for swizzybouldering starts - 2more weeks and i am ready again to CRUSH ;))))

can't wait for fall

therefore i will take my summerbreake right now. get some recovery from a long and hard season in which the weather just took me down three times in a row soooooo close before sending some of my nicest and hardest boulders ever. so hopefully it will be like in the past few years and i will come back in fall just a little bit stronger. and combined with slightly better weather i may will be able to do one or two more moves on diffrent boulderproblems, which will be enough to send...


for folks who are in the search for "neversummer" - this woud be the place to be right now, soooooooooo beautiful and NO crowds - just some nice and super motivated locals:


A few days at Castle Hill from derek thatcher on Vimeo.

and thats how i will escape the summer-heat in a non-climbing-way - fuerza... ;)

"magic" wood? NO: "shitty" wood!!!

"main trail" 10m below "octopussy" - watch down left...

close-up:

can you believe "that"?! shitting right on a  main trail?! at least there woud be a big hole 10!!!cm left to dispose... but nope, just let it on the trail - nice present thanks!!!

so just go on, waste that wood: drop ALL your cigarettes to the soil, also your tape, chalk all the holds with 1m of chalk but NEVER brush a hold, dont dare to say hello, bring more beer, and very important: ghettoblasters!!! lets have PARTYYYYYYY - and let that idiots of "locals" clean up the SHIT after you. i know, "noooooo climber" will do shit like that, but then where is all that "shit" coming from??? there are just climbers in that magic shitty wood!!! 

i wish everybody a nice "shitty" summer in the wood - i am off to a diffrent playground

no summerbrake yet - instead doing THE move...

...from the sustenproject for the first time on link but went down 3moves (on the last really hard move) away from the top-hold of the second (from three) part of the "highlander-project".

on the move to the right-hand-hold (in the pic above) i went down - "highlander" goes up and left (--> HARD), "ikarus" ends 30cm to the right on a big jug (traumland-end) and "deadalus" will be the topout to ikarus and exit via "schön wie..." just dont talk about that... - everything clear ?! ;)


on the one hand i was happy to get to a new highpoint. on the other hand i am starting to get a bit annoyed by NEARLY climbing so many (personal) hard problems this year. (cause even the "easy" straight top-out(deadalus) will be superhard for me. i am not so sure about the "highlander" anymore. will be SUPER hard).

but mainly it was kind of a brakethrough: first i found (despite trying it allreaday for years) again slightly better beta for the staringtpart. second i really start to understand this strange and hard cruxmove on link - and i climbed so far despite it was way too warm (+20C), with bad grip and all that after climbing allready 4h on and off that problem that day.

so hopefully i will get some windy and under "30-celsius-days" during the next two weeks or then i will definitely take my summer-brake and come back in fall - we will see.

lifetimeproject...

in the last two super lousy weeks i had just one boulderingday. this day there was again no nice weather anounced, but pretty fresh and STRONG winds. so i packed my stuff and headed up to sustenpass to have a look on the "highlander-project", a proud, unclimbed and hard line. for the first time i tried it allready some 5years ago. and despite trying seriously again every year there was no sucess. i was coming superclose allready two years ago on a easier variation, but then i broke off a part of a hold and it got WAY harder for me. so its a real life-time-project by now... ;)

view from the "highlander-project (wall on the left)" to the approaching rain

i just wanted to have a look on it, normally best time is fall cause summer its way too warm. but this day the conditions were, despite some occasional rainfalls - GREAT. it was 12C and the wind was ROARING like hell, so strong i once had to rest for 1h cause my pads (mondo, metoliusroll) were repetely FLYING pretty far away - SICK!!!. i slowly wurmed up, enjoyed the wind and the cold after the last few warm and humid weeks. i quickly checked out all the moves again, repeated all the sections. everyting went well. just the move with the broken hold still felt ankward and hard.

on the first part, lastyearsession, pic by angela wagner

then i gave it a go. while climbing i was wondering why the moves of the first part all went so well. they never went so well before. the wind? low gravity? may both ;) i came to the crux with the broken hold and i was not even slightly pumped ore tired. i pushed really hard, nearly did the move but just  n e a r l y - F*** it!!! i am pretty sure that i woud have climbed it with the old beta! but instead of celebrating i was sitting in the pads again - but i will come back in fall (summer is way too warm) with nice conditions over a longer period of time and then hopefully win my fight against the highlander. you know: there can be just one ;)

deadly tragedy

thats more for climbers, but may also some boulderers go rope-climbing from time to time and if you go for cleaning highballs WATCH and LEARN what can happen if you use long, open slings with a string (but even without a string that can happen!!!). thats not a "new" problem, but a tragical reminder:

deadly tragedy

discussion

scary movie

petzl manual


and go if ever possible for THAT rapelling-method and NEVER take someone out of your belay until he/she stands on ground again!!!

source: climbingnarc.com

just do it

i know, this is a blog about bouldering. but today is a historical day for swizzy-football and there is something to learn about this too:


switzerland 1 - 0 spain


thats totally CRAZY, EVERYBODY expected them to loose but they did not ;) that just shows that if you REALLY fight and if you really give 150% for what you REALLY want - go 4 it - and you get it!!! thats so true for bouldering too, and also in life for general. not every time you will get it, but far more often than if you hide behind a tree or any another excuse why you can't ...  instead to just do it!

down under in swizzy

last week i was calling for a submarine, but it got even worse and the water is still rising as the rain just sporadically stops from coming down in large amounts!!!

"never ending story" (above) and "the riverbed" (below) can be climbed as dws-boulders right know - dont wait too long its a rare opportunity. fly in and enjoy totally soaked swizzy bouldering...

the forecast (till sunday) is not looking very diffrent from the last few weeks. still the ocassional hourly thunderstorm, long periods of rain, quite high airtemps and therefore a climate like in the tropics. VERY nice for bouldering. so i slowly think about asking for "other" help if that f*** weather does not change:

a submarine in magic wood?!

subpic source

- yes that woud have had been super usefull as it was perfect, wet, humid conditions but "neverendingstory" was UNDER water (bit too much rain for the river) - so no sub, no climbing - bad timing again...

a nice cold bottle of beer

in warm and humid air. how does that feel to touch?! well, pretty condensating (dripping WET!!!) - exactly like NBSL was to touch last friday. but i felt strong, tried to dry it up. climbed the stand again for wurm up and nearly sticked the 3rd move (despite complete wet holds) from the sit - but just NEARLY, i kept slipping off that crack... looks like i have BAD timing AGAIN. like in the fish-project: the power and finetunig is here, conditions are gone *arghhhh*...

so NBSL is OFF - i am really not in to play cat and mouse with the weather all the time. but when the wather turns WARM and HUMID there is one problem in magic wood which turns into GREAT conditions: NEVER ENDING STORY

some years ago, first part of  the "never ending story", pic by angla wagner

but NES is pure endurance on juggy slopers, not crimpy shit like nbsl. so totally diffrent style and power again. will see if i get the really specific endurance together. i allready tried it some 10days two years ago, was able to send the first part like 6times in a day, second part for wurmup - but never stuck the first move from the second part on link. i desperatly was "waiting" for some rain to get "better" grip, but it was just pure blue sky for 3weeks. as i got tired of trying and went into my regular summer-brake it promptly started to rain for 2weeks... lets hope i get some more luck in the next two weeks - otherwise there are some great projects in the susten area waiting...

magicwood CLEAN-UP-DAY 14.08.2010

Magic Wood Clean Up Day 14.08.2010

9:00 – 10:30 Registration & Coffee
10:30 – 20:00 Clean Up & Bouldering
20:00 – 23:00 Socialising on the campfire

At registration & coffee we would like to devide all volunteers in 4 groups, which take care independently to an allocated area. There will be enough time for bouldering too.On the end of the day we collect the whole trash at the campground to see the dimension of our action.
Bodhi Climbing is offering a free night from the Saturday 14.08 to Sunday 15.08 & Coffee to all volunteers whom register for the event until Saturday 14.08, 10:30 am.


The event will be take place at every weather conditions.

Registration is available from now on under onsight@bodhi.ch.
We hope for numerous assistance and a beautiful boulder day with friends.


pic by angela wagner
text source/more info  ---> http://www.bodhi.ch/magic-woodenglish


ps: woud be nice if everybody just woud clean up their own stuff (and clean the rock from your chalk), so there woud be no need of a clean-up-day. help to keep the magic in the wood - THANKS!!!

+10 degrees on newbaseline

what can they do to you? well they can make ALL the diffrence as i had to (re) learn last week.

part1: desperation

last week i was well rested, good skin. everything perfect. just there was some heat anounced. so i was getting up at 6am, was on the rock at 0830 for wurmup (NOT my climbing time!!!) - but as i had to discover it was allready to late... it was getting 28C in chur (about 24in magic )by noon - and i was desperatly trying to do the 3rd move after the match in the crack (for maybe 6times) but was just not able to do it anymore - just sliding out of the crack - so insted of going to try hard on the send of the 11moves i was not coming over the 3rd one - THATS what 10 degrees warmer can do to you. from top to FLOP.

sticking the 3rd move (which was just impossible last week in the heat) (handy)pic by angie, michele is watching closely

at least i found some major beta improovment for that strange cross-move right after the razor-sharp-crimp righthand. it allways felt strange that move. now it feels quite ok, thats very helpful, cause when i arrive there from the sds i know i can do that move...



part2: running laps

yesterday i was back, my fourth day on this year. it was humid as hell but more than 10degrees colder then last week. the "impossible" 3rd move was totally ok again. changing temps can make real miracles, and that not just in font :) . despite not climbing for a week due to cramped back muscles i climbed three times to the move to the razor crimp (again). once i dryfired off, and twice i had just a bit to much swing with the razor-crimp allready in my hand.

i did the razor-move from the second move in and for cool down i did the standing again. so it looks like i am beginning to build up some crimp-stamina which is so important in this anti-style bouldering for me. i just need 2/3 more days in a row (not just one day every second week) with coold temps, so i can build up enough stamina for this strange moves. then i think i may have a chance to send.

but we are allready approaching summer with big steps... if i am lucky i get these days - if not i will have to wait for fall to bring nice cold crispy sending temps again... it really gets down to low temps on this one 4 me.

attempting NBSL - or its all about BETA

some 3/4weeks ago i was up in magic wood for the first time of the year. it was  perfect 12-15C. it was a nice and positive atmosphere with a big group of italien friends (simone,gianluca,michele,gabri and many more) bouldering, joking and laughing all arround nearby. going back to my programm of trying my "anti-style" i retried NEWBASELINE, wonderful line with very weird and strange moves.

i allready tried it last year and just as i made good progress i was shoot down by the heat. i retried the moves and i felt really good, my body was not going back where it used to last year. and all the holds seemed to have grown a little ;) but i still found the first move really hard. due to my fat fingers which just dont fit properly in this tiny crack it never felt really good. so, together with michele we tried some diffrent beta.

he told me he tryed to use a close heel and go right hand further up. allready last year my girlfriend angela told me to try this, but it looked just impossible for me. what a BIG mistake that was. first try this year and i sticked the first move in slomotion, it felt just PERFECT ;) but i went up left hand insted of right hand. unfortunatley for michele and gabri it was not that perfect with the heel for them. thy slipped all the time of the heel while going for the intermediate hold. it looks like your shoe has to fit perfectly there - looks like i had again the perfect heel-hooking shoe with my VENOM from sportiva (what a shame they stopped producing it!!!)



no sponsors, no music, no close-up, no cutting - uncut sequence to show real bouldering and what happens after you do a new move for the first time (after 40sek). a beta-session with friends on newbaseline, magic wood. (sorry for the bad quality. its a handymovie, and it allready was getting dark)


so that was GOOD news, because now i coud also grab the second hold way better what made the second and third move easier. GREAT. i had then one go and ended up there at the razor-sharp crimp. happy with that i went back for the fish in chironico and just returned last week. windy and 12/14C it was great grip again. i managed to fall down three times on the move to the razor-crimp. that was ok, cause i knew that i had first to regain some crimp-power-endurance.

sebastian spauween doing the move to the razor-crimp, pic from his blog

what to do round4 - escape to FONT

because of this horrible weatherforecast some two weeks ago, greg an i packed spontaneously our stuff together and escaped to font, cause forecast was great there with 15C and WIND ;) 

after driving 6hours through rain it finally cleared and we coud se the stars - just right before we arrived in font. after a night spent in the infamous F1 in nemours we wook up to sunny and WIDNY weather - big smile on our faces as we entred the classic area of bas cuvier cause the friction for so late in the year was just great. unfortounatly we had no camera with us, so to make som illustrations the pics that are used here all all from the net, you will find the source right under the pics.

we played arround on the boulders got our obligate nemesis on a 5something-wurm-up and so on :) then we watched a guy, not 20anymore, obioussly a real bleausard, cause he was just flowing effortlessly through all the boulders. then we "met" at Cortomaltèse.

cortomaltèse, pic from bleau.info, by michele caminati

there the bleausard tried to climb the crack in the middle of the pic above but just with left hand and then to exit straight. it looked quite hard to stand up on the "podest" and he droped down on the last moves several times. we offred him our pads cause there was a big stone in the landing. he acepted and invited us kindly to try too. i was a bit sceptical, cause he did all the other problems in the area so easy and had to struggle here - hmmmmm - but never mind, it looked cool and so we tried all together. the blausard introuced himself as philippe and as i found out at home it was Philippe Le Denmat, the opener of countless problems in the forrests of bleau and also the opener of the famous slab of  duel! aha, therefore all the boulders in cuvier looked so easy while he was gliding through them.

philippe on le duel, 8a - no pads for real men!   pic by blau.info

as he told us the problem we tried was not climbed yet, and after some changes in beta greg finally toped out first (followed by philippe and myself) and made his first first ascent in bleau. philippe sougested as a name:  tourniqueton  cause you make such a nice 180-turn when blowing the crux :) grade woud be somewhere arround font 6c, but i needed way less tries on the berezinga-carnage assis which is suggested as a font 8a - grading is just funny childish rubbish some times (well most of the time)

afterwards philippe showed us the first 7a boulder of font, the famous: l'abottoir. he showed us the originaly climbed sequence (later way easier beta was found)  with a very hard undercrossmove in the middle. powerfull and tecnical at the same time. today this beta woud be a hard 7b for sure (if you compare it to other 7a's in the area). sick what people allready climbed in 1960!!! it was verynice to have philippe with us, cause like that you get so much more insight in the history of an area. and in an area like font there is so much history sitting litteraly arround every other corner.

then i made use of the great windy conditiones and feeded with beta from greg i climbed fast through the very nice and superclassics right from l'abottoir. le carnage was first, la bérézina next and then bérézina-carnage combi assis. it was very nice for once to just climb some problems and not to try for weeks to get some single moves solved ;)

then we were allready bit tired, but wanted to visit the boulder of the famous gecko.

michele caminati IS a gecko, pic by bleau.info

first time i touched the hold michele is aiming in the pic above with left hand i was shocked. it was so bad, it did not feel even close to a hold. my skin was so soft, i was just gliding over it. so we tried arround a bit on the right variation called les beaux quartiers. went bit better on that one but we both were allready too destroyed to send. after a well deserved restday (i am not 20anymore) and with better skin we were back at the gecko again. i wanted to know if i really just coud not hang on this hold or not. this time it all went way better. i did all the moves but the move into the undercling. i could just not feel it. i was very comfortable sitting on my hook but i just coud not hold this strange undercling when grabbing for it. its crazy what friction and good skin can do in font. and i can imagine on this "noholdbouldering" where some holds are not a little bit positive (and where you cant yourself really pull in) you can get frustrated because you can just slip out of this holds whenever you dont think about it. (visit uncle somebodys blog for a hint what the nohold- gecko can do to you). therefore i prefere it to try hard problems at my limit on more "positiv" holds (like the problems in the ticino, avers normally have), where you can dig deep and give all you have. but nevertheless i will be back in the winter. i want to feel what real friction feels like :)  

what to do round3 - climb SICKhard stuff

while i was complaining about bad weather (well it really was bad most time). two guys showed great tactic abilities and made perfect use of some weatherwindows.

as by now everybody may knows, dai koyamada (beside many other hard sends) made the first repetition of dave grahams "story of two worlds" in cresciano - one of the hardest boulderproblems worldwide for sure - SICK strong.

dai in the "story", pic from his blog

then sebastian spauwen, a strong friend from the netherlands was in swizzy for a short visit. despite an ugly weatherforecast he quickly climbed in magic wood the wunderful line of "one summer in paradise" and was doing well on "newbaseline" - then he had to escape from the rain. so he went to the valais. there he made a super fast ascent of the fred nicole ULTRA classic "radja" (the worlds first 8B+). he did it in good style as he climbed the problem in the original version (skipping a chipped hold). SICK strong too!!!

sebastian on radja, pic from his blog

and yessss, weatherforecast for ticino turns finally NICE for next week. sunny, windy -->  fishtime ;)

what to do – round2 – full fishproject again - getting CLOSE…

so no frankenjura, no sweeden. what then? make use on a 6h weather window (more ore less no rain) in ticino. drive down and sprint to the project. after wurming up quickly and drying the last wet hold it starts to rain again. dammmm!!! puting a pad on the exit-mantle so it stays dry. my friend greg from romania is holding an umbrella over the sensitive part of the exit which can not be protected by the pad. big thanks to him! i start on the standingstart (feeling still not ready for the sit). after two "wurmup-goes" with some minor mistakes in the funky moves i manage to climb (again) to the secondlast move. going down here for like 15times now, i tried (again) a change in beta AND the move worked then WAY smoother - YEPPPA another DETAIL (and one of the most important for the full problem) in this story of "TOO many details".

i just dont belive that i have not registred that "new" fothold before - its quite obvious! but as the (8A+) exitboulder for itself just felt not that hard at all for itself i did not search for a better beta. i just kept thinking i was too tired after the “einohrfisch”. i tried some changes in hand-beta but never was thinking about changing my feet, despite feeling bit shaky on the move all the time when i was climbing in from the deep start. what a “beginner” mistake that was!!! 20days to final BETA now, new personal record - but you never know ... :)

using my new beta on the next go i climbed for the second time to the last (really) hard move. i knew from the former arrival at that last move that i had to be 95% fresh to make it. i felt still ok this time, but hesitated a second and then missed the hold clearly.

i took a big 1h rest and spotted greg (in between showers) doing nice efforts on the beautiful electric ant "bas" (starting on the "natural" sitdown start, for which you need two mondopads because of the digging down to make this ugly, nasty hard start move of the “assis” possible)

after the rest i started again. whith the new foot beta i climbed to the last move again: felt better - no stoping this time - hit the hold hard - stayed for a second - but had not enough bodypower left to stay on - so down to the pads i went. but with this newest beta I know, that I can climb the full problem even from the sit… - if just that f**** rain woud stop.

what to do - round1 - where to go

with one week holiday left? first i wanted to go to the frankenjura. visting friends and finish one of my personal favourite compressionmadnessboulders: RIOT ACT

jonas junker macht riot act. pic from: thelowdown

but weatherforecast was with every day rain. as i was allreay last year going down on the last move cause of rain i did not wanted to repeat that scenario. then i saw that sweeden had a nice weatherforecast. found a cheap flight too but then the forecast turned bader and for just 4 climbing-days to go all was a bit too stressed. but i will go there for sure - looks amazing:

tobi in "the office", västerfik, sweeden. pic by stefan

so there was still the question of: where to go?!

nice weather for bouldering-holidays in europe

weatherforecast for next week for europe/swizzy:

that sucks especially when you have holidays!

magic wood in prime shine this morning:

what to do????????????????????????????????????????

First Ascent of “Einohrfisch”, 8B/+ (aka "too many details") in ticino, swizzy

A summary for those with little sparetime

After five weeks with 15+ days of trying on and off the moves on an old (to me) impossible looking project in ticino, swizzy I was finally able to solve the puzzle and sent the first part in +/- 10moves. the link into the second part is another story. its a lowball, but a nice little line for itself. The boulder requires brutal power and/or funky tricky moves on big holds with weird body positions after a crimpy start. The boulders name is “einohrfisch”. And yes it was hard for me. In terms of numbers: As grades are highly subjective i can just speak for myself. Somebody else will feel totally different, especially if one is tall, the start (crux) will be WAY easier. The moves to me feel way harder and it took me WAY mor time (despite feeling stronger now) then the ones i did on “la soucoupe” or “einfisch, keinfisch” or “riverbed” or even “nbsl” (all graded in upper 8range). so for me the grade of the new problem is in the 8B/+ range. Or in “new-school-real-softie-grades” somewhere arround 7C/+ – but that’s another story to tell.

               on the FA of "einohrfisch", pic by angela wagner
                           

For those with a bit more time: "Einohrfisch" or how to make something impossible very possible

some three years ago i allready tried a bit around on this bit of fine swizzy gneiss in ticino but was not able to do one single move. despite beeing very lowball its a nice little line for itself with a potential highballfinish to the left. visiting this spring many personal "anti-style-boulderproblems" and other stuff i was by far not able to send in the past, i came along again by this particular piece of rock. inspired by a friend trying the moves and watching him doing them isolated i gave it a go too. that was over 5!!! weeks and some 15boulderingdays ago.

i tried my friend's beta but was not able to do more than two of the 5-6 moves. for one move i was too short to place a big toehook, for antother move my foot was just to thick (or too fat ;) to push it into a crack-hold and generally I felt i was just to weak. but the holds were there and exept the first one they were quite good too. and like bernd (zangerl) once said: if there are holds, it can be climbed. And I may ad: in severeal ways.

So simple that sounds so hard it can be in reality. There are mainly to ways to success. First one is the easiest one: just be (get) strong enough and do it. Second one is way more subtle: be creative enough and “cheat” your way up. My way normally is the second one as I am by far never that strong brutal power wise as other people bouldering in the bigger 8 grades (I barely can lock with on arm 90degree on a big jug!!!)

So I was going once more for the second way. Standing under these holds and touching them it was like with so many other boulderpuzzles in the past (the dagger, confessions, boogalagga, nbsl, natural beauty, supertussi, highlander and many others) that I was totally sure that there HAD to be (another) a solution to the puzzle. I just had to find it.

This time the process lasted over one month, 15+days and it was nearly about "too many details" (therefore the aka-name of the boulder); many not really planned nighstessions up to 11:30pm alone in the wood. several setbacks cause I coud climb the problem in two sections but not link them, so I had to start more or less from the beginning. Figuring out what I was sure was the key-beta, coming back two days later and not beeing able to repeat this moves (this scenerio several times this time). Girlfriend and friends starting to get concerned about my mental-state as I was talking at home that I finally solved the puzzle just to fail miserably under their eyes days later. Investing days to just “re-find” precisly what i had been doing as the moves felt ok. This problem was a super tricky one to me. It needed lot of precise changes of body positions to get pressure on the holds and to be finally able to do the moves that felt first totally impossible. Gripping a big juggy hold one centimeter to the left and placing a heelhook one centimeter to the right finally solved the last “open” move and was then the end of the puzzle. but the end of the puzzle ist just the beginning of linking the puzzle parts. after some more days i was able to link the first part, which is now the "einohrfisch". the whole line which exits over a hard 8th grade boulder itself is another story. its getting to warm in ticino so that has to wait till fall arrives.

I often like this proces of solving a complex 3d-boulder-puzzle (way) more than finally sending a problem. the moments when i dive deeeeep into the mikrokosmos of boulderingmoves and then finally after hours, days, weeks, ore even months when I finally have found the last little detail to the last little secret of the last little (foot)move is for me one of the greatest moments bouldering has to offer. Surley it is also nice to climb problems fast; flash, onsight them etc… but you will not even scratch the surface, you will truly miss one of the greatest experiences bouldering has to offer – the moment when something impossible becomes very possible.

first post: why a blog? cause there is so much more then just numbers

“New 8B/+ boulder climbed in ticino”, that woud be a typical headline (jens from 8a.nu woud cut off the slashgrade as grades are not so important to him ;) and a total empty headline. As empty as the following discussions to such headlines (like if that grade coud even be possible and that it may shoud be downgraded to 8A or upgraded to 9C or whatever blablabla). The part behind the numbers, the moves, the special moments, everything arround is the part in which I am intrested. Therefore I like to read blogs, to read what other climbers stories are. And therefore I started a blog too, may there are some other people out there interested in more then just numbers.