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.!!!