the "rabbit and carrot - scenario"

you know that scenario; the carrot is hanging in front of your nose - you come closer and closer and you feel like you just have to grab it. BUT everytime you grab it - the carrot just goes that bit further away you came closer to it.


thats how i feel. pic source

thats exactly how i feel at the moment. its the same with every harder boulder i tried during the last time. if it's mithril, riverbed sds, newbaseline, entlinge, dreamtime, the fisch-project... on every boulder i feel pretty good, and just minor improvements woud may leed to sucess. but everytime i make some progress, the carrot is moving too - it drives me CRAZY. if these boulders woud just feel WAY to hard, this woud not bother me at all, i woud just move on. but if i feel close, i have to try, again.... again.... again.... and again..., arrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

new rock

it was time to to check out some new rock (well "new" to me). i allways wanted to visti the "oetztal-area" once for bouldering but somehow never made it. last week i had the chance for a short 2day visit and i had GREAT FUN. it was all dry and cold. nice friction!

"tumpen"-ambiente, little magic wood ;) pic by: boulderschof

feeded with infos from the very kind manuel (aka the boulderschof), i explored the woods arround tumpen/habichen and met some nice people. compared to the ticino or magic wood its a small area and the stone is more "skin-eating" (sharp). But there are some VERY NICE lines in every grades AND there is some great foooood too be had... ;)

first day i checked out the following lines:
-reaggea jamming
topo says 7A+, but i did a pretty hard low start that felt more like 7C - may i was just too stupid and/or can't jam..?!)
-demon roof
SUCH a PERFECT line - a 7B-compression-bulge, BEST!!! onsighted it - but you cant cant go really wrong on that one... - a MUST... ;)

christian in "demon roof" - SICK LINE. pic by bernhard ruech

-crocodile, stand
super happy to have met some folk cause you need some pads for this GREAT compression 7C. thanks to my spotters i was able to flash that one.
-crocodile, sit
a bit narrow and dabby - BUT climbs GREAT!!! some burly moves into the stand. second go. in the 8A-area. perfectly my style, need more of that - GREAT!

manuel going for the crux-pinch in "crocodile" - such a GOOOOOOOD move. pic by bernhard ruech

second day (again i had to discover i SUCK on a second climbing day... ;)

-did some nice classics for warm up

-got shot down on the last hard move on a flash-burn (and the next 5trys) in the "hooky" and great - "In bocca al lupo", 7C/7C+. figured then out some better beta but was to tired to finish up... (manuel sending it in good style in the vid below)

Sherwood Forest - In bocca al lupo! (fb. 7c) from Boulderschof on Vimeo.

-checked out with manuel and bernhard the KILLER-LINE of "die perfekte welle", 8A+. thanx to them for sharing beta!!! they both looked strong and nearly sent the stand (manuel) and the sit (bernhard). the sds is just climbed by bernd zangerl yet - (hard) 8B-ish?! i had some fun checking out the the GREAT moves - and CAN NOT wait to return. unfortunatley i got sick (noro-virus) a day later and was not able to return yet. but i will be BACK for sure - hopfully there will not be to much snow the next days - there are some LINES left i MUST climb!



THE PERFECT LINE of "die perfekt welle". the right arete - GREAT MOVES - the BEST :) pic by: boulderschof


and last but not least the nice food to be had in austria - (one of) the reason why i will never boulder REALLY HARD - but life its too short to not enjoy NICE food - and i rather climb a grade less but can eat delicious stuff like this all the time when i want to... - even with 33 - *mampf* ;))

"kässpätzle" and a "weizen" - gives you energy back instantly ;)

"schnitzel" (33cm!!!) and "pommes" (the "kaiserschmarren" is missing here)

as predicted... the "dagger-scenario"

.... i kind of established on my resistance on my 4th day on the "fisch". i climbed twice into the last moves. i was even able to repeat my original start-beta on my first try of the day. its again and again amazing to see how its possible to adapt to strange, hard moves; from impossible to possible in just a few days. BUT also as predicted i just fired of the last moves with toooo gold and greasy fingers.... bähhhhhh.

this scenario of cold fingers reminds me very much on my sessions back in the winter 2008/2009 on the famous "dagger" in cresciano. there i went down over WEEKS with just to cold fingers on the very last moves again and again... on the first "warm" (15C) day of the year i climbed all the way to the top JUGS and just went down on the 2A-mantle with the JUGS in my hands - total fatigue. on the next "warm" day (17C) i had for the second time no cold fingers and climbed the dagger.

"dagger-scenario":  after doing a crazy 180turn you are in the position above and you enter the second part of the dagger (cresciano). two moves later (two hard moves from the top) my fingers were usually frozen. same same as in the "fisch"... pic by angela wagner. (the beta described above is by far not the easiest, but it was the most fun for me to climb)

BUT the difference is that the "ending-part" on the dagger is about 7C+ and the the "fisch-ending" is about 8A+ with a HARD last move (and nasty mantle) where i need some decent friction (and bit of power too) to be able to finish... so it can't be toooooo warm.


anyway, i may better stop whining, start to get stronger to reach the "jerry-point" (see below) and come back in summer when its warm enough for me. the (in)famous jerry moffat stated in the movie "no comment" (great!) something like: "... i have this little bit more power, so friction doesn't really matter to me anymore..." - sounds perfect to me; let it be WARM and let ME be jerry... ;)

fiiiiiishhhhhhhhh

to warm, to cold, to dry, to wet, to what ever... i am getting all crazy about this project.... normally in february its anyway to cold to try longer (15+moves) problems in ticino, especially in chironico (higher up, less sun then cresciano). but since three weeks its unusally warm (up to 15C), DRY and just perfect. so despite not really feeling fit enough (after my december-break) i coud not hesistate and went back on the "fish" to try to make the best of the unusual good conditions. you never know...

wurm-up with the "einfisch/keinfisch", pic by angla wagner

allready on my first session two weeks ago i was able to climb the exit-part ("einisch/keinfisch") literally for wurmup and cooldown. but despite knowing ALL the details i needed three sessions (days) to get the tricky moves of the first part dialed again. and linking the two parts was just out of question at that point. but i then managed to establish on a more safe beta for the first move. i can do that first move now numerous times a day pretty solid (compared to the old "shaky" beta with which it was not unusal to not be able to do the move for hours, despite beeing solid just two days ago - weird i know, but thats it).

but there are some problems with that new beta:

- it involves a small and sharp crimp (pretty painful)
- it makes me colder fingers (squezes all the blood out of my left hand on this first move)
- i have to make an extra move by using that beta and that makes me even more tired then with the old one...

BUT its safer and like that i fail cause of i am tired near the end and i dont have to wait for hours anymore to eventually stick that first move. definatly more motivating with the new beta!

the "old and shaky" beta for the first move on the "einohrfisch", pic byanglea wagner

two days ago i was able to repeat the "einohrfisch" (the first part of the whole line) and nearly climbed into the last move of the whole line again but went down with icy cold fingers... to make some "resistance-training" i went on for the "standing-start" of the "fisch" (starting standing 3moves in on a BIG jug, not climbed yet, in the 8B+ area for itself...). i was kind of surprised to find myself suddenly on the last hard move, i noticed the cold fingers but went for it nevertheless. AND with the numb fingers i dryfired off.....OUTSCH.....

emi going for the move; watch out for the left hand - i have to crimp it and its pretty under pressure on that moment. if you dryfire:

thats the result, and yep there was MORE blood bit later..., but the most important: thumbs up ;)

at least i am getting back in shape, but its still to cold for me. i can't climb (hard) with icy-cold fingers. on the other hand i need good friction; if its to warm the start-move and especially this last hard slaping move are getting so much harder that i will not be able to complete the line. its a SMALL line and everything has to work perfectly together. well thats noting new, thats for everybody the same who is trying to push his/her personal limits, but its still impressive what you can DO if everything fits :)

normally i need arround 5 to 6 climbing-days with enough rests in between to build up my specific resistance for a HARD boulder. that woud mean two/three more climbingdays. but its allready getting colder and the weather is about to change on this weekend. looks like i missed my chance. so i will have to wait for the next weather-window... hopefully i dont have to wait till april - wish me luck for a "warm" early spring - it looks like i really need it for this one...

baboonmaster vid

check out the trailer and the first part of this vid from my baboonmaster-friends and watch out for my little part in it: that nice little "kermantis-prow" in valle bavona, nice stuff!

the trailer





the vid

GOSSIP...

edit: to put it in the right context: it looks like somebody got real pissed about my previous "fire-post"...

...strange things happen these days (in cresciano)… somebody watching and taking pics secretly, then anonymously (not under a real, full name) posting first weird, strange, then aggressive comments on my little blog. then finally (after 8posts!!!) spraying wrong accusations and producing gossip that I made “an open fire with an msr-burner to make coffee”. All that crap was loaded on my blog in a pretty offensive way, instead of talking personally to me as there was obviously the opportunity to and clear the matter on place – that seems like the behaviour of a REAL man to me… !!!

just for the record: I DID NOT MAKE ANY FIRE - NOR COFFEE (I don’t even drink coffee at all!!)

what happened that day is that I met a couple I know from the climbing-gym and THEY were making some coffee (right next to me) with an msr-burner.

 making coffee with an msr burner is way less dangerous

even if using an msr-burner is tecnically an “open fire” (and therefore not “alloud”), I woud reckon that PRACTICALLY (in the means of fire-danger) there is a HUGE diffrence between an open fire (espcecially placed right on a tree) and making a coffee on a msr. also lightening cigarrets is tecnically an "open fire" (I DON’T smoke) and practically way more dangerous (when thrown away not fully off) then an msr-burner. There where may 50+ people smoking that day in cresciano, but the anonymous poster (may he even smokes too?!) did not even bother about that?!


then a cigarette and...

in the contradiction to the anonyomus poster i see it not personally but PRACTICALLY. and PRACTICALLY “regular” open fires are the biggest fire-hazzards and the most visible for the local-population. if a “normal open fire” gets “officialized” in a world-wide spread video I feel that it is necessary to speak out that making “open-fire” is NOT OK. If I see somebody making (carefully) a coffee on a msr (and not spread it on a video) or somoking a cigarette I personally don’t have any problems with that.



...especially an open fire literally on the roots of a tree



there is no point in making this to a personal, hating – whatever-story.

for most people it does not seem to be a problem but for the very few who do not understand how to communicate: a bit of “netiquette” for my little blog if you want your comments to be published:

- I will not allow “anonymous” posts. If you have to say something post with your FULL REAL name (or a link to it, if I don’t know you). otherwise your comment will not be published.

-don’t fool arround, if you have to say something say it straight.

-be respectful, I don’t want haters to spray arround in my little blog.

-if you have something personal, don’t hesitate to talk to me "on place" if you have the opportunity to or send me a mail.


thanx, martin