just this 5cm, not even half a move...

perfect conditions again: "fön-wind" again and some 13C... felt strong as never before, no mistake... felt very good climbing into the last moves... got really exited about still being able to FEEL that second last hold... but also could feel that my power was on the way down... so i was digging deeper then ever and went for that LAST hold...

and some 5cm before i got it - i slipped off that crimp right hand... %&ç*"+)(/$;>§??? - well "SOMETHING" always seems to go wrong... but i am getting so used to it... i did not even surprise me... - and so there was no (much) cursing at all... ;)

second go i went down with ice-cold fingers on the second last move.... then i did some sequences on the "hasi-project"...

tomorrow another chance on the highlander. may it will be the LAST one for the season before the nights get really cold and the rock will be WAY too cold for that 20+ moves....

wish me luck... i just need half a move more ... - should be possible shouldn't it... ;)

one day - twice...

going down on the last move of highlander... weather and conditions were perfect; warm, dry, bit windy.... felt very strong, did no mistake, climbed solid... just got a little bit too cold fingers climbing into the crux and got tired one second too early... sooooooooo close to the perfect day!!! at least twice an 8B+ in a day: i am back in real shape i guess ;) just need one more day before winter hits... will i be lucky for once or will i have to wait another 6months??? tension rising... ;)

perfect conditions - epic on full swing

...but i missed it (again). back home from two weeks of nice holidays in the frankenjura and ticino there was "foen-wind" forecasted for sustenpass. that means a "warm" (12C that time) and very dry wind... the snow was gone, i felt strong... everything perfect... as it felt too cold for the "highander" i went to the left to try the "verschärfter base"-project again. it felt WAY better then before... looks like the franken-beer has made me stronger again... ;)

i got the crux-crimp, could take out my heel (crux) - felt solid and strong - but missed a tricky foothold-change - and down i was in the pads. as this footmove is not super hard but easy to f*ck up i started to look for better beta. the result after that 1hr-non-stop-beta-check was: i did found nothing better and i was wasted like hell... that was a bit a shame as just two days later even more crazy "foen-wind" was forecasted... and yep two days later it gripped like hell, never experienced something like that...

but with just one rest day... working during the day... closed road in the evening... consequently hiking up and down... all that made me feel super tired. that was just "GREAT"; perfect conditions and me tired as hell. WTF???!!!

on the hike up... the bad weather from the south lurking over the mountains...

as i felt way too tired for the hasi i just thought i would train bit "fitness" on the highlander. first try i went down at the very end of the traumlandstartmove...  nice warum up 8B that was ... ;)

setting up lights on the "highlander"....

second go i passed that move... felt tired... pressed on... got cold fingers... pressed on... got the ikarus part... even colder fingers... pressed on... went into the highlander-crux... could not feel (as so many times before) the hold anymore... pressed on... dry-fired off setting up for the last move..... BUMMMMMMMMMMMER!!!

at least i went for it..

but at least i went for it.... and considering the odds it was quite a good effort (never ever climbed so far before with just one rest day...). but it was so typical for me up there. every time one piece of the puzzle does not fit. if there are perfect conditions i am not ready (just one rest day, bad skin, not fit enough...) or i slip off. if i feel in perfect shape then conditions are bad, a hold breaks or i injure myself or whatever... i am still waiting for THE PERFECT DAY!!! and it looks like friday or saturday could be THE one... at this time of the year you never know when winter is coming. so i will be up there again - and it will be exactly one year since i injured myself so badly up there. would be perfect timing, wouldn't it?! EPIC in full swing again ;)

epic mode again

insane (9'ish) projects and other daily business... ;)

well there i am again... falling on the second last hold of my highlander-project... one year after ripping off my hamstrings on that boulder and half a year after tearing my meniscus in two parts... - it's not like before the injuries but it's really ok and i am very thankful to be climbing again and to be able to push it without thinking all the time to be careful because of my hamstrings and meniscus.. 

right now i am building up that specific resistance to climb this 17 hard moves in a row... starting to feel strong again.... good feeling... and if winter does hold back for another few weeks i think i have a good chance for a send ;)

going down on the second last move again... but building up... ;)

while working on the highlander-moves i checked out again a possible lower start to the beautiful "kein schneehasi". i already worked this moves with my friend ronny last spring. we could do all the moves but the first and i still could not do it as there was nothing there for the feet. well there was a good foothold, but there was a bit of a stone sitting right in front making it impossible to use it... so i started to dig this (small looking) stone out. as i was digging the stone got bigger and bigger. it took me quite some time but finally it was out and it was now possible to make use of the foothold (note; the foothold was not digged out, there was just a stone removed to make it possible to use it). i still had a hard time on the first move because my toehook slipped off all the time. back home i did put some more rubber/glue-paste (thanx 5.10) on my toe and on the next day up there my toe did not slip once - GREAT - there it was my new project... "verschärfter hase" its waiting... ;)

first move of the "verschärfter hase"-project... tension on your toe is what you need

the line is really good, its massive, 8moves just sidepulls, compression as it best, steep but not too steep, the moves are tricky and very physical at the same time (may the most physical ones i ever tried, my biceps ached for days...), the holds are quite ok but i am stretched out all the time to the max (for somebody taller it will be much easier, for somebody shorter way harder) its nearly perfectly my style and as i quickly reclimbed the "kein schneehasi" i thought it would be a matter of one or two days to do the full line...

at that point i already feel tired... but thats where the crux-moves start... getting that crimp and release the heel feels NAILS... (if you are tall its easy, if you are 1.80 its hard, if you are smaller its VERY hard...)

...but i quickly had to learn that this few moves made me so tired that the "easy" "schneehasi"-part suddenly got super difficult. i really was not looking for another project at my very limit..  really NOT - but well i will take it... and may when the temps drop an i get a bit stronger again... it may will be possible... we will see... ;)

doing the hard traumland-start-undercling-crux-move and climb left... the "bissiger hase" project... I LIKE ;)

to make things even more exciting i found a nice little beta to start at the traumland-start and climb left into my new project... (something around 8A+ itself) and again you climb some very physical compression-moves which made me so tired i was not even able to think about doing the first move of the "verschärfter hase" not to think about the crux-heelhook-move (pic nr.3) ... that would be a rad project... "bissiger hase" would be a nice name... ;)

coming from the very right... possible as i have climed all the sequences... but pretty sure 4ever very impossibel for me; the "fetter hase" project... 

and as that is possible it is also possible to start at the very right of the boulder (linking another 8A+) and do the full-low-line: the "fetter hase project" must be something 9'ish... and it is VERY possible, i climbed all the sequences... its crazy that something like this exists, soooooo powerful, 25 hard moves without any resting position... this will require a level of fitness i am pretty sure i will never reach during this life... - i will be a happy "hasi" if i can do the "easy" 8C-finish...  VENGA... ;)