timing

most of you will know that just too well:

weather today at my free afternoon (yes it IS raining, and snow will start again soon):

weather yesterday while working:

i am glad and thankful that i have some time during the week for climbing as well (on the other hand i give up a lot of cash for that "free-time"). but with a fixed schedule at school you can't just leave your students because its nice weather at your project ;) but hey; nothing is flexible enough... (as long as you are NOT a pro-climber)

at least its going to be nice weather at the weekend again. its burning under my fingers, winter can hit every time HARD, so i just can't wait to try my "new" old beta on link at the highlander... *grrrrrrrrrrrrr*

On...

and OFF again... but new (old) significant beta improvement! (ok, may its just psychologically - but thats what this fight seems to be all about since some weeks...)

snow again this morning in the highlander-area...

looks like climbing twice into the last moves was too much and i was not able to recover enough before snow hit again. this time i was mentally ready but i exploded on the second last move (on which i felt quite ok, but did not commit some days ago...).

that game is now going on for over one month. once i feel super strong but conditions are shit. then i feel shit, but conditions are great and so on and on... result: i nearly always climbed into the last moves but not once further up... and i just once hit a day when everything fitted perfect and then i went down on the very last move... hmmmmmm....

angela enjoying the sun at sustenpass...

but on the other hand (thanks to the shitty conditions sometimes) i (had to) learned some new micro-beta on how EXACTLY i have to move and grab some cruical holds. really interesting what details you can figure out after YEARS of climbing (and analysing) on that piece of rock... really interesting!

after going down again on that last moves i tried again to climb another beta on that last crux. i figured out that different beta some 5years ago when i tried to climb the "reve de faire"-part. its about a tricky heelhook that slipped all the time on the last move. so i changed to the beta, climbed "reve de faire, 8B", and i kept that beta since then.

there is another way to climb that move... pic by ikuko serata

but early this fall i took that old "hooking-beta" out again because i was afraid i could fail on the original beta in the very last move because you tend to slip of crimp facing in the wrong direction (i whished i would not have had been so right about that!). but about one month ago i tore my hamstrings while hooking too hard and was not able to climb that beta again. until now.

this fall that heelhook always felt super strange. but i did not had it as such a strange hook in my memory. so i tried it again and suddenly found the way (again) how to hook (without getting blocked by my hamstrings) and how the heel even stayed on the last move. with this "NEW" beta i climbed the standing-start twice in a row at the end of the day despite feeling pretty tired! BAMMMM!!! its not a much easier beta, but safer and as i failed so many times with the old beta also good for my mind to climb (totally) different into that last moves...

hopefully i will get a chance to try my new beta on link before winter definitely shuts bouldering down for this year up there.

more punting...

...i can not describe it any better - SHAME  ON ME!!! i really still don't no what happend?!

well the good news is that thanx to a lot of rain and some nice, warm days the snow is nearly gone. and susten is still ON!!! crazy how fast the snow melted!

finally temps got down and today was a (nearly) perfect day. angela was up there with me, it was some 10C, sunny and bit windy. perfect friction. and unlike the last two weeks i did not not go down on the first crux anymore - i climbed (again) twice into the last two hard moves... that was "nice" - but i don't want to climb "nice", i want to f*ç&ing climb that "highlander" !!! i just don't get it. i can climb twice a day the 8B/+ part of "ikarus" but not once link two more moves, even if they are far from super hard, even if i feel not too tired at all...

what was NOT so nice today was what i did on my first go of the day, or better what i did not. it was may my best go EVER up there. it felt not super strong, but i felt like climbing with glue on my fingers. so sticky, so much friction. i climbed super solid into the second last move, just a bit cold fingers, everything perfect. then when taking out a toehook i got a bit too much of swing, free hanging on bad holds i had to pull hard to come back to the wall. that worked, i had to resort my left hand and i was ready for the second last hard move. its a bit a nasty one. a little deadpoint, if you miss the next crimp you go down... i nearly went once, twice, i waited (still don't know for what) and then i went down - not even trying the move - just like "ohhh, no i  don't feel 100% solid, just 80%... so no, i will not even try it...". well it looks like i had the agression-level of an overcooked tomato at that point - LAME!!!

who is afraid of that move? well in the pic i was not, last time i was..., you can fall 1.50m down into two mondo-pads - soooo scary!!! may i will take a rope next time ;) pic by ikuko serata

standing on the pads i was pissed about myself to say at least, i don't mind going down - but giving up just like that is something i did not know i am able to do: NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!! then on my second go the aggression-mode was back on. i felt tired from the very first move, but as to show me again what i just threw away on my first go i climbed exactly into the same position as on my first go... when i felt 10times better... nice JOKE.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

crazy "fall" in swizzy

"fall" in the north???!!!

30min away: fall looks better in the south (but up to 27C at wednesday!!!)

well we had also 3 very nice weeks in the north. but it was more summer then fall. and what i feared happend: BAMMM: and WINTER. at least in the very south its good weather (up to 27C!!! at wednesday!!!). thats nice especially as i have two weeks of holidays now. BUT it does not look like its my time of the year: it seems i did something wrong while cleaning up our cellar last saturday, really painful!!! so no ticino.

but electrostimulation and massage helped a lot. THANX to angela! it looks it is "just over-use" of the lower back-muscles (5hrs of moving stuff around). so i am positive to get down to ticino soon. AND if weather cooperates (a little bit)  i will go BACK to SUSTENPASS next week as WELL even if have to DIG out that boulder and cover every single hold with aluminium-foil cause it will be all wet... the last 7years october was always prim-time up at sustenpass. often we have been able to climb into half of november. so i will not give up at the start of october - NO WAY!!!

the FA of "deadalus direct" - or "world class VS local punter"

i missed my last opportunity at susten and now the snowfalls have started - game over for highlander...

sustenarea today, and there will come a LOT more snow down over the weekend

...while i continued punting around on the last moves of the highlander-project for three weeks i had to "re"-learn how important the perfect conditions up there are (for me). one week ago i climbed twice to the last moves in a day and yesterday i was not even able to climb once through the first crux of the project (which is 6moves lower then the highpoint). and that despite beeing super rested and feeling strong. crazy in one way. but coming down to the car and seeing it totally wet from the humidity things were somehow not so crazy anymore.

beautiful sustenpass area before the snow. pic © angelawagner.ch

nevertheless dai koyamada did not seem too impressed from the sub-optimal-conditions. "trained" from the heat in the ticino (where he is working on the lowstart to story of two worlds) he did the FA of "deadalus direct, 8B+/8C".

some days ago i suggested to dai, that he should try (do) this project as its a wonderful line and some good (stamina-)training for his ticino-project as well. and so he went and sent - NICE ONE!!!

dai koyamada on the FA of "deadalus direct, 8B+/8C", sustenpass. pic © angelawagner.ch

i asked dai to give a short summary from his blog-entry and drop me a few lines about his newest FA. and this is what dai has to say:

"I succeeded in a first ascent of "Deadalus direct", an open project showed by a friend, Martin Keller, on the 3rd of October. It was really hot when I arrived there so I worked on my beta a little and I started my try again in the evening after taking hours of break.

As I felt something wrong with my right wrist and I found the crux, the undercling, of the Ikarus was really hard. The "direct part" moves are : after a dyno, take a crimp with left-hand after an intermediate, hook right foot toe and heel then take a pinching hold with right hand then a little crossing move to the jug. It was harder for me than an original cause I had to do some more moves after finishing "Ikarus"  without a rest. It was a good line.
I thank Martin for giving me a chance to try this beautiful project."

discussing beta. pic © angelawagner.ch

and that seems to be (one off) the difference between a world class climber and a local punter: 

no punting - just do it!

sounds easy ;) and i WILL do my best next year. so i will BE BACK - .... and what would a "highlander" be without an EPIC battle? so from the "epic-perspective" everything goes "perfect" for me ... ;)

now i am off to the ticino. from snowy susten its just another 30min drive through the gotthardo-tunnel and you arrive in sunny, dry ticino. the northwind (who brings the snow to the north) brings sun, but colder temps and wind to ticino - PERFECT - i love swizzy!

a 30min ride north and it snows and rains... so i am off to sunny, windy ticino!

epic mode

warm-up at the exit-moves of "deadalus",  angela taking pics. pic © ikuko serata

i am definitely into "epic mode" again - after going down on the LAST HARD move some days ago, i managed to climb into the two last hard moves TWICE in the same day. i never thought it to be possible for me to climb twice through 8B+ - terrain in the same day. that was great, but i would have had preferred to climb just once so far, but then one move further...

one move before the move in the pic i lost a toehook (again) which just took the power for the last move (again). pic © ikuko serata

on the weekend it was soooooo warm (the rock just heated up too much), i had to overpower every move so hard that i just exploded going for the crux-move... i am READY to send, i climbed already 5times into the last two moves, but i have to get that ONE DAY when everything fits in perfectly!

to spice things up the weather will change to cold and SNOWY on thursday/friday. that means i have one more day before it may already gets too cold and too wet for this season! EPIC MODE at its best... reminds me at last year. hopefully it will be the same as last year and i will top-out my project right before winter hits!!!