345days - dai koyamada and his "insane" swizzy-trip ;)

i was already looking forward for a nice fall at sustenpass, then going south to chironico, brione and bavona. especially as my friends dai koyamda and ikuko serata were scheduled to fly in mid october from japan. it was a real shame that i was not able to climb and not even meet with them thanks to my injury, but it was nice to see that they had a nice stay!!! (check dai's blog)

dai had a great run and started with some unfinished business first from last spring and pretty quickly climbed the impossible looking "from dirt grows the flower (left), 8C".

from dirt grows the flower (left), 8C. pic by ikuko serata

then he went on to check out my own new problem from last spring:"der mit dem fels tanzt, 8C" and climbed that one after some days as well. i felt really honored that dai was the first to repeat it and that he put in some effort (and did not climb it in some one day or so ;)
funny thing when i think back, that i was trying some 100+ days and he finished it off in 4... thats inspiring and thats the difference between absolute world class and local punter... ;) well quite..., he had bit beta from me (without beta, it may would have taken him five days ;) and i fell for about 2years on the last moves. if i had been just a little bit stronger i could have had climbed it WAY faster. so lesson learned: i really need to get this little bit stronger!!!

dai makes the second ascent of "der mit dem fels tanzt, 8C " (pic by ikuko serata) ..... here you can see "the master" and...


here the local "punter" ;)

pic by angelawagner.ch

then there was bit bad weather in the south and i suggested to him to go north and try "sur le fil, 8B/+" in wassen and a project i tried there as well. some days later i got a mail that he just sent every boulder at the bloc, including the project; "sur droite, 8B". he then went on to quickly climb "conquistador direct 8B/+", pure addiction 8A+/B and the beautiful "dulcifer, 8A+/B".

dai climbs "sur le fil, 8B/+" in the rain...., pic by ikuko serata

and thats a funny thing when i meet with dai. i just suggest some nice projects i tried but that felt really hard, and some days later he just climbs them - inspiring to say a least! he seems to live that famous word: "just do it"!!! last year that already happened with "deadalus direct, 8B+/c" and "lost in paradise, 8B/+" (which may is more B+!!!).

dai on the FA of "insanity of grandeur, 8C", pic by ikuko serata

and then right before the trip ended, dai even put one on top with the FA of the absolute stunning line of "insanity of grandeur, 8C" in chironico. NICE effort!!! after my FA of "der mit dem fels tanzt" i climbed that one from 3moves in and was getting really close, but then it was too warm and the warmth made the startmoves impossible. can't wait to go back on this one as well!!!

back in spring as "insanity of grandeur" was still a project - i was getting CLOSE... - but thats what i do everywhere, all the time... ;).
what a line! one of the best in ticino for sure and the moves are just RAD.!!!

348days to go - at least i got something to laugh at... thank you jens... ;)

"open your mind and understand...." - in J.E.N.S. we trust - follow him to the light... ;)

...sorry could not help to post this... one of my all time favourites! must be a fake, doesn't it???!!!

and today it came even better. i know that my english is pretty messed up and that i do a lot of misspelling myself and whatever, and also i have absolutely nothing against gay's! but i don't know what jens really wanted to tell us about james.....??????

what puzzled me a bit was the: "... i (jens) had to put him against the wall..." ;)) so is this jens here coming out of the closet??? now i am really confused.... - who is coming out of which closet here.... ;)))))

352days to go - breaking bad - or make it happen

two weeks since surgery, still lying around on the couch most of the time but pain is decreasing and i am slowly getting better.

i am so thankful for my lovely girlfriend angela who was been with me and cared for me from the very first second after the injury. she put me back down from the "highlander", took and takes care of everything, organizing everything in the background, made an appointment possible with the sportsdoc in this sportsclinic, was with me every day in hospital, drove me around to all the appointments, organised physiotherapy at the best spot... and so on.

well angela makes it happen... - don't know what i would do without her... kissssssssss ;)

especially if you take in account that just two days after my injury some stupid kid crashed into angela's car, what gave and gives her some great pain on her back and shoulder... and obviously we had no car anymore... perfect timing...

looks like no "big deal" but the whole car was "compressed" from the back to the front... - game over...

breaking bad?????? well not angela... she is a though girl, so she went on to "lift" our bed as i am not able/aloud the bend my hips. well she took care of that as well, very glad with the outcome and i am very proud of her - she is just the best :)

how to lift that bed some 40cm... 

taking out the "roast", fixing it on some wooden planks

putting this inflatable mat on top... (don't ask about the hairdryer;)

put the sleeping-mat on top... and yep "catalina"is always first to try... ;)

358days to go: back home - the outlook....

the surgeon is very pleased with the result. the ligaments and the muscles are back attached to the bone with two screws/anchors. so everything went perfectly fine. i am very happy about that, and everybody here in the hospital took great care and they were very motivated, that helped a LOT!!! you can't imagine how much a smile helps when you feel like a piece of sh**!!!

you can clearly see the two anchors (to which the hamstrings are attached now).

the first night however was though. no slepp, constant pain like hell and not even morphine helped... was close on going totally crazy... the second night went MUCH better - constant iceing my but was the key!!! and now the pain has decreased a lot... but then my autonomic nervous system  was playing bad games all night with me... i was for 6 days in the hospital, till pain decreased enough to be tolerated with regular painkillers (very thankfull for that, in the us they send you home the same day surgery is completed (sic!).

 
the way to the next epic... i will get you "highlander", not now, but i will get you... ;)

for the next 6weeks i am not aloud to sit or to move too much around in order to prevent my hamstrings from any tension so the ligament can heal properly. so i will lay in bed all day long, but will try to stand on my good leg for as long as possible and getting some upper body work-out done with some rubberband. 6weeks may sound not sooo long, but try once to just lay around for 6straight days and you get an idea... especially when you are used to daily sport!

back home- fighting with different "problems" ;)

then after 2months (if everything go my es fine) i will have to "relearn" how to walk properly and then (may bit earlier) i will be able start first ever hangboard/campusboard-training as well. but it will take at least 6months to be back to climbing, more realistic 9-12months. but thats an investment in my future. the next 6-12months will be hard, but when everything goes fine my leg will work good for the next 40years of climbing and even more important is that i will be able to just walk normally again!!!

365days to go - the real epic has just begun...

thanx a LOT for all the positive encouragement i got, i really appreciate!!!

i was thinking about putting that blog to a rest till i have some "climbing-news" again. i know and understand very well that many people are in no way interested in the whining and self-pity of a spoiled western european (hopefully just temporary) cripple, cause out there in the world are billions of people who are a million times worser off then me. and there are a lot of other climbers who suffered and will suffer way more then i did and will do.

but i put up this blog to show "another" view on bouldering then the daily "second-try-5min-i-am-sooooos-strong-dude-softie-mix", and what happened happened (no i am not "lost" yet... ;) , and it's part of "the game" called life - there is not just the bright side of climbing. so its about breaking bad (yo mr. white...;) right now - well, ok, maybe not yet...
whatever, there are many (friends) out there who care, others that are injured and fight to get back, so thats for them, all the others are kindly requested to leave the train here... - and so i will continue... with my personal "dark-side of bouldering":

for the next 364days this blog will not be about some crazy new, bad ass, super nice, sick hard new 9C boulders. it will be about that long journey and all that struggling from just beeing able to lie in a bed to learning to walk again, till the day will come when i will climb that piece of rock up there at sustenpass which has caught me for the last 8years and on which i nearly destroyed my (climbing)-life... it is and it will definitely be a tiring and humbling (compared to giving "personal-down-grades" on 8a.nu...) experience to make my way back... so the real epic hast just begun.

but i will be back and i will be stronger - so see you in a year (or two...): "highlander"!!!


update: surgery went well so far. soon more about that...