Tuesday, January 31, 2012

snowy swizzy...

i was thinking about an "adventure-trip" to sustenpass to finish up the "schneehäschen-project". but sustenpass has some 5.5METERS of snow right now and its even getting more... 

lots of snow going down in north of swizzy...
its getting arctic-cold with a daily highest of -8C  (in ticino -3C) and now even the ticino and even cresciano gets its share of snow (at least not as much!).

cresciano at noon today

 so its time to escape: by saturday morning i will be climbing in the sun at +15C.
 HUECO i am coming ;)

pic by vcrux.com







Tuesday, January 17, 2012

scary chironico

SCARRY chironico  - watch out where you mantle... - klick on the pic to get really scared... ;)

After my 4weeks "winter-rest" in december i am back on rock and on my way back to get in shape to send all that projects i was sooooo close to send in 2011.

its funny; there are people doing a 3weeks rest and then climb their hardest stuff. but after a 4weeks rest i felt (and always feel) like shit (related to bouldering hard stuff). no power, no tension, no skin... after 2.5weeks i still feel pretty weak, but i am slowly getting the feeling of "power" back. unfortunately i have to work way too much at the moment and can not climb as much as i liked to, but there will be better days to come!

chironico mid of january:
just some now left on the open/shaded meadows. the lower areas and "paese" are free from snow.

last weekend i was in chironico to get my fingers on rock again. the "paese"-area was nicely in the sun,  no snow, bit wind and not cold at all. it was very quiet and relaxed with just a handful climbers out there. just perfect! jumping from one boulder to another i met fellow "moon-athlete" simon weill from australia and some friends of him and it was great fun to play around on the "souvenir-boulder" together.

later on i decided to get a look at "no mystery" and "schule des lebens". i was told that the left-hand-crux-crimp broke and as far as i know its not climbed again yet. i was greeted by the local goats and it was kind of scary when i wanted to check out the topout as you see in the pic at the beginning ;)

the bad news:  yep, its broken. the good news: it should be still possible. in the pic below you se thomas schmid, strong swizzy-lad going for the crux-move (some days before it broke). the left hand crimp is gone by now and doing the move the same way from the lower left hand hold looks like 8B+++ now...

left hand crimp used on THE move is gone....
pic from schmid-climbing.ch (by fulvio silvestri)
but (as usual) i found a "cheater-beta" involving a nice heel-hook movement and going for the rail with my left hand using a small right-hand-crimp-pinch. first the rail felt just too far away. but as i started to "listen" to my body instead of powering around like a bison, i found a "move-in-the-move" and suddenly i was 20cm higher and way closer on doing the move. its a HARD and tricky move - as i like it best and the following sequence offers some of the smothest harder moves in chironico - really flowing - i can't wait to go back... ;)

these are the moments i like so much in bouldering at my limit. when its not just about stupid pulling but power AND very subtle microbeta to solve a move. with a BIG smile on my face i went home: looks like the mystery will not last too long... ;)

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

enlightened



Get enlightened ;) 
check out my newest moon-blog-post