magic wood news!!!

i am really happy that we finally have a real boulder-meet-bar-restaurant-lounge in avers (magic wood) with really nice hosts which are local climbers as well and who are in touch with local community to handle all the problems considering the impact of the boulderers. and you have nearly daily update on conditions on their face-book-site ;)

the guesthouse "generoso"

thomas and his lovely wife science with their kids from the "bodhi-climbing" - (who run the camping as well) are now (since start 2012) running the restaurant "edelweiss" (and the guesthouse "generoso"). so drop by to take a beer, dinner after climbing. they deserve our support to get their business started!

and his lovely wife; science

the host; thomas (committing in "höhenrausch, 7B+")

youngest bodhi-team-member; alicia

• they make great food 

you must try their THAY CURRY!!! (the perfect boulder-food and one of the best i ever had!!!) and especially convenient for boulderers, you get dinner till late at night!!! so when you intend to climb longer in the evening and don't want to cook by yourself but still like to have some nice food; give them a phone that you come in late or order some food in the afternoon and you will get your curry (or whatever) till late at night...

angela and mirjam ready for the tasty curry

• ice cold beer/ wine/ regional liquer/ everything liquid you need

no need for words here, fuels youre forearms immediately ;)

• a cosy lounge with FREE WIFI, TV, VID to hang out... watch the UEFA EURO 2012 (soccer)  and the Olympic Games up there this summer! (but hey; order at least a beer or two... as you are using their infrastructure) 

the lounge and little shop...

watch the euro 2012... if you are into soccer (and beer ;)

• a woody where you can climb/train during bad weather

more holds are on the way...

• little boulder/climbing-shop with everything you need

the little shop

• hot shower  for the guests staying at the camping (3chf)

or you get your bikini and shower in the river.... ;)
there are rumors they will visit magic wood this summer as well... ;)

getting old(er) and too motivated can cause problems...

in a brief chat i had with andreas schweizer (THE finger-doc in swizzy) he asked me how old i am. i told him and he was like: "ahhh, with 35 stuff like that will happen more often..."(funny guy he is;). if i am lucky my finger is just "overused" what can mean some weeks of rest, if not.... well lets don't even think about that!

last week my finger doubled its size..., hopefully thats not too worse...

but to start at the beginning: i was very close and motivated to complete two amazing and hard boulders before i wanted to head up to sustenpass in the next weeks. 

but then i managed to kill my knee (not too worse) while hooking too hard on the one problem. some days later on the other problem i killed my finger. both injuries occured while overgripping (overhooking...;) and slipping around, because it was so greasy. but i was just too motivated and pressed just harder. my knee is getting better, my finger does not look too good, but is slowly getting better as well. the "funny" thing was, that i did not feel anything, no pain, nothing. just while driving home i recognized my finger was doubling its size...

on that nice compression-boulder ("riot act, 8B+") i killed my knee and it sent me down on the second last move with ice cold fingers (could not feel anything anymore... summertime???!!!)

and one of the crimps in "from shallow waters to riverbed, 8B+" (sds to the famous riverbed) killed my middle-finger, just slipped at the very end, so it nearly was worth it...?! and i don't have to mention that the last week have been some of the best conditions of the year up there in magic wood, do I?!

fighting through the riverbed-part of "from shallow waters"...

nasty crux crimp on the sds to the riverbed (from shallow waters...) may i did crimp just too hard here...

so you see how close victory and total failure can be. instead of finishing two nice and hard boulders in one week, i did none of them and am sitting at home nursing an injured knee and finger.... thats what old lads do, but at least there is the beer we brought home from the frankenjura... ;)

(updated**) WANTED - let them burn - 600$** reward!!!

**thanx for all the support. the news are spreading and there are coming in some hints as well... keep your eyes open!


**upping the reward to 600$!!! 
i will set out my annual free moon-pad (warrior) including shipping (~300$) to the finder in addition to the 300$ donation to the Elizabethfontaine Primary School near Rocklands SA (which was already supported by chuck fryberger) in order to help really poor kids (who can't afford to travel to swizzy, go bouldering and steal someone elses belongings). so the reward summs up to 600$

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this post does not apply to 99.99% of you, but may that 99.99% of you can help me here: 

two weeks ago i wanted to get my pads back home from ticino. i went down to chironico to check again last week. but some very smart-ass-boulderers have won lottery (as they might think) and as they stole 3 pads!!!  

my rope and harness seemed useless to them as they left it where they found it. however i ask myself how smart they have really been: all pads are very old (bad foam) and marked (see pics). the "mondo" has a big hole in the red cover (eaten from mouses, see pic), the belts to carry it around are cut, the "dropzone" is full of mouseshit, is marked and without straps to carry it arround. the "satelite" is marked as well:

-one black diamond mondo-pad

the mondo-pad with the damaged surface, and the cut straps so you can't just carry it around...

 all pads tagged with XXX

-one black diamond dropzone-pad

no carry-system on this one

tagged as well....

-one black diamond-satellite-pad

tagged with XXX as well and with my name (MK) on it as well

i don't mind the loss of the pads (too) much, but i really hate this attitude. we do the same "sport", better same "way of life", enjoy the same rock, the moves, the fun with friends... WHY steeling? is it just pure ignorance or is it the money, or both? i know that pads are expensive because i paid all this pads from my own money for which i had to work for as most of us have to. just because i get some free shirts does not mean i get everything in my (climbing) life for free! i have absolutely nothing against people using my stashed pads (near the place they found it!!!) for bouldering. therefore they are there. but please put them back. and don't argue like "stashed pads are littering". thats not an issue in swizzy. and no, i was not lazy at all. i carried up to 3pads 60min uphill when i was there by train. and i don't want to hear arguments like "stuff that lies around can be picked up and taken home by everybody who feels like that". thats ignorance at its best, and to people who argue like that; i would really like to have a chat with theier parents cause there must have been some issues during childhood...

as i sad, i don't mind the loss of the pads too much. but i can't stand this behaviour and i want to see them BURN for it. i want to see their NAME and FACE on the net, so everybody knows what KIND of person they are!!! so if you see/know somebody with my pads (seen in the pics above), please let me know!

to speed up the process i will set out a reward of 600$* for the names, faces (and pads) - let them burn!!!


please spread this news so we might catch them!!!


if you have any infos please send a mail to aversius@gmail.com


*i will set out my annual free moon-pad (warrior) including shipping (~300$) to the finder as well to the 300$ donation to the Elizabethfontaine Primary School near Rocklands SA (which was already supported by chuck fryberger) in order to help really poor kids (who can't afford to travel to swizzy, go bouldering and steal someone elses belongings). so the reward summs up to 600$

back home in paradise and in puzzling-mode again

till up to 4m of snow melt at the sustenpass i have to play around somewhere else. 

so i went up to magic wood for the first time this year. it was great to climb and play on that easy and intermediate ones again. the only downturn was that it despite beeing nice weather it was bit greasy and way too warm. but hey, its all about motivation ;) despite the not perfect conditiones i went up to newbaseline to have a look on it again.

but i got my ass kicked up there. it was so greasy in that crack that i barly managed to do the single moves. this boulder is killing me. if conditiones are great i can climb into the last moves nearly every day. if it gets greasy i just fail on every single move. so i went down to check out the moves of the sds to riverbed "from shallow waters...". 

the startingprow. the ticks are normally footholds, i used it as handholds and climbed the prow - but thats SUPER hard... so i had to search for something easier...

i just cant't climb the original beta on that one, too small and bad holds for me (and gabri calls that 7C+ climbing???!!!). but last year i found finally some crazy beta which worked for me, but it was hard as hell, waaaaaaay harder then the "riverbed " itself, (8B+  for just the first part). last week now i quickly had to see that it would take another epic to put this together. so i went on to check for better beta - and the night-puzzling-mode was on again ;)

puzzling.....

puzzling.....

puzzling..... 

and finally i solved the puzzle - happy times down there in the magic-night ;)) its about some crazy moves i already tried last year. but this time i found some cruical beta-details and it just worked out fine. its not easy, (feels like around 8A/B) but it worked and hopefully i will be able to reproduce it, its quite tricky - and then its on for the full line - yepaaaaaaaaaa ;))

relaxing...

after finishing up my chironico epic it was the perfect time to have a little break. so i had a very nice, short 5day trip with angela in our "schlumpf-bus" ;) 

we played around, met friends, had nice food, nice beer, a lot of laughing - just a hell of a great time ;)

we climbed a bit as well, and angela just burned me (again) on this nice, little 7B.... 

despite going HARD for 20minutes i was just not able to do it.... and as i was able to flash boulders up to 8A this february i consequently upgraded it to 8A+...

that was angela's reaction, she was like; "you may just had too much beer, hmmmm ;)))

so i went on to some unfinished business, great 8B/+ compression-stuff (ok that was not that relaxing anymore, but great fun nevertheless). and that somehow worked better then the 7B...???!!! i got close...

but got stopped by 27C heat and finally the rain like two years ago... so i will back again, more beer... ;))

FA of "Der mit dem Fels tanzt, 8C", Chironico.

it is DONE!!! i still can't believe i finally managed to climb the "fisch-project" in chironico!!! 

pic ⓒangelawagner.ch

after more then 3years, 100+ days of struggle a dream came true! for me its a very nice, once "impossible" looking line and by far the most funky, most crazy, most powerful, most delicate and hardest moves i have ever been able to link! i finally got my little bit of luck. the perfect day. the perfect go. no tiny error but also no power left for even one more move. thats how it feels when you climb on/over your limit. just perfect ;)

First Ascent of "Der mit dem Fels tanzt". pic ⓒangelawagner.ch

a long journey has come to a great end. all the laughing, joking, cursing, climbing with good friends who motivated me again and again, climbing all by myself at 2am-5am (to catch the cold in spring), all the 9hrs travels by train, all the days spent working in the office when conditions were great, all the days waiting at home for good conditions and driving my girlfriend crazy, all this days/nights of pushing my body and mind for 150%, all that days of coming super close last year and then had to come back for one more year to finish the line from the proper starting-hold (which added just one move but completed the line and thats what this was about!)

the start-crux and the hardest four moves i have ever linked. some days i was just unable to link this moves.
pic ⓒangelawagner.ch

despite that project was way beyond my abilities when i started to work on it, despite it felt like a real "hybris" to just try it, i started to work out that funky moves because that crazy 3d-puzzle of holds just kept me going back and back. as there were holds there had to be a way to climb through. i just had to be smart enough! so it just catched me and did not let me go anymore and as i am (and was) always curios of how far i could push myself, this was just the perfect setup to go for it.

crimping hard on the "einfisch/keinfisch"-part. pic ⓒangelawagner.ch

i am well aware that this ascent is nothing "special" for the world, not even for the climbing-world (boulders that hard are beeing flashed these days...). but this ascent showed me again, no matter what grade you are climbing, that if you really, really want to do something hard or over your limit, then don't put your head in the sand. stand up and go for it. and more often then you might think you will be able to finish it up. but you may have to give a lot from you. not just a two-day-mini-"epic", may you have to fight hard with yourself, you have to think, dream, and literally live it. that experience is something you can't buy anywhere and there is no number to express it. there are no shortcuts, you have to go for it by yourself - the whole way!!!

and as others have proven and to give the "normal-nonpro-nowonderkids-climbers"some confidence: even if you did not started climbing with 2years (i started with 20), even if you are not a "wonderkid", even if you are not a climbing-pro and have to deal with daily work; you can climb pretty crazy stuff... ;)

the mantle. its not over yet!!! pic ⓒangelawagner.ch

about the name: "der mit dem fels tanzt" (dances with rock): the name is a good description of what this boulder is about. a friend who has seen me climbing on it was like: "thats more dancing then climbing" ;) so the name was supposed to be "reise durch den fisch" (journey through the fisch)... or "der mit dem fisch tanzt" (dances with the fisch). but some weeks ago i lost a good climbing friend. working as a mountain-guide he was ripped over a huge cliff by an avalanche. i still have a hard time to accept that fact. he never was pushing the risks too far. he was always cautious about objective risks! i remember him driving on the highway just 10km/h below what was aloud because he thought it would be more relaxed and less dangerous. back in time he took me out for my first longer climbing trip, and that despite he did not knew me at all. i learned a lot from him and he showed me what climbing is about. he used to climb always very smooth and elegant, like dancing, also on hardest and scary onsights in the mountains. so that one is also for you "günti". rest in peace my friend, you are greatly missed!!!

the story - or 3years of my life - behind "der mit dem fels tanzt":

years ago before there was any topo of chironico i got directions from dave graham to "delusion of grandeuer" and "einfisch/keinfisch". arriving down there i did not know how and where to start. so i sat down at the lowest point under a little cave-like wall but was not able to make one move (that was what became later the "fisch-project"). some days later i met with dave again and he told me where the established problems start. so i went down again, found the start-holds of "einfisch/keinfisch" and was again not able to do one single move...

back in time when i asked myself more then once: will i ever get this moves together? pic ⓒangelawagner.ch

packing few years on top of that i was checking for "einfisch/keinfisch" again. down there i met markus windisch, a very strong local from the frankenjura. he showed me some great beta for the "einfisch/keinfisch". it was totally my style and i obviously had become way stronger. so i was able to complete that one pretty quickly. we have then also been talking about the obvious "low-left-start"(under which i was sitting the first time i was there) which would complete that nice line. and as he was pretty psyched about the "einfisch/keinfisch", which he just had climbed as well, he went on the check the lowstart-moves. he figured out some rad beta and really got me inspired because it looked just impossible but amazing at the same time. first i did not even wanted to try the low start. i seemed just way too hard to me. but markus insisted that the moves were great. so i gave it a try. again i was simply unable to do just do one move, but that was nothing uncommon for me down there ;) and there were holds, not even bad ones and it looked just like a great 3D-puzzle waiting to be solved.

dry firing...

it took days, weeks of ups and downs, diving again and again deep into the microcosmos of movements and it nearly drove me crazy. several times i was sure that i found THE beta for me, just to find out that i could not link it together into the second part, or then i came back some days later and was not able to reproduce it at all. my girlfriend was already sure i was going literally CRAZY as i once wanted to present my final beta to her and was not able to do even one single move....

pic ⓒangelawagner.ch

despite that embarrassing performance i knew i was close on the solution. and after about 15+days of puzzling i figured out my own little crazy beta. but i was unable to link more then 2moves in a row and i therefore never had the serious intension to try to links all that moves together. i was just very happy to have solved that funky 3D-puzzle. bad weather in other areas and the very cool and crazy climbing kept me going down to the 101-area again and again... somehow the line and its crazy moves catched me and didn't let me go again. as time was passing i found more and more microbeta, the moves went better and better. and one day it did not appear to be a too great "hybris" anymore to try to link that moves and so the "fisch-project" was born.

discussing beta with nicolas. its always nice and helpful to have some input when you may have been climbing too long just by yourself ;) pic ⓒangelawagner.ch

one year later i met again with markus down there at the 101-area. i had perfected my beta and felt strong, climbing already every time into the crux-move of the "einfisch/keinfisch"-part. i was sure to be able to climb it within a few days. back then i started sitting: grabbing a crimp high up left and a big (slopy) rail with my right hand. considering the line, markus (as well as dai koyamada and paul robinson) thought that it would make more sense to start both hands matched on the obvious starting hold (the rail). 
and it made sense to me as well. so i started matched on the rail as seen in the pic above. just on a carpet, like the old warriors ;) starting matched on the rail added just one more move and not even a hard one. but the gripping-position on the holds and the bodyposition changed a lot and i first was totally unable to reproduce the four start-crux-moves anymore. so from falling on the last hard move, i was back to the first move... and this little "detail" finally needed me to go back for over one more year!!!

the starting-position. both hands matched. just a carpet.

this year however i felt strong as never before. after my usual climbing-break i had a nice start back into bouldering in hueco (by flashing power of landjeager) and then in chironico with climbing "no mystery" after a broken hold. after some sessions down in the 101-area i was able to climb up to the mantle-move on "der mit dem fels tanzt" and was confident it would be a matter of one or two more visits. well i was completely wrong! i was up there at the mantle-move again and again, even twice a day - but was just unable to get the hold to rock over. or then i had too cold fingers and slipped off, or i was too tired when i got the hold for the mantle.

doing that mantle-move after the "einfisch/keinfisch" was not a problem at all, but coming from all the way down, i may was a tiny bit too tired or my beta was not accurate enough! in late march we suddenly had a weekend with 25C. and consequently i was not able to complete the start-crux anymore... was summer already here? had i missed my window of opportunity? would i have to wait till october/november to come back again? i have to admit i had a little panic-attack ;)

focus on the following mantle. pic ⓒangelawagner.ch

after 7weeks of going down on that very last move i did a step back again and worked one day just on that mantle. i tried about 356 different ways and i kind of knew what the problem was and what i had to do, but somehow it just not worked out perfectly. and then in the evening i finally got the last little micro-beta-detail.

but during the following week there was a lot of rain, so no ticino. i was like sitting on needles. summer was just around the corner so i wanted to try my new beta instantly! then two dry, not too warm and not too cold days arrived. on the second one i was back at the start again. first go i slipped off the very first move (never happened before!). on the second go everything worked perfectly and i managed to get up to that mantle again. i already had felt better up there, in fact i was tired as hell. nevertheless i went for the new beta - and it worked out perfectly and i got the hold up left. but i was soooooo wasted that i just barely managed to rock over...

standing on the slab i felt even more trashed and we don't talk too much about that i nearly lost my nerves on the 6m-6A-slab-topout... ;) to exactly avoid that i had climbed that "easy" topout every time i have been down there. and i did it at the end of the day. i wanted to be sure to be able to climb it even when i was totally tired (i had learned my lessons on failing on "easy" topouts the hard way!). so i knew what i had to do and for once i was lucky as well and toped that beauty out.... ;)))))))))))))

many, many thanks to all the people who helped me in the one or other way to let that dream come true - it would have never been possible without you!!!

that mantle is steeper then it seems... better get your beta right ;)
pic ⓒangelawagner.ch

and before i forget it, here is the grading-candy: for me the difficulty of "der mit dem fels tanzt" can be best described as about a 4-move-8B/B+ into a 15move 8B (or a 7move 8B+ into "einfisch/keinfisch 8A+/B"). the 6m-6A-slab-topout just adds some spice, but no real difficulty ;) 

compared in difficulty to a classic 8B+ like "the never ending story" (8A/+ into 7C+) in magic wood, this is another story. so when you want to use grades to express differences in difficulty, the only grade that makes sense for me is 8C. but i am sure there will be some experts who will evaluate and calculate that precisely in the future - while i will be looking for the next "impossible" looking line... ;)

pic ⓒangelawagner.ch

same, same but different

and i was up there at the mantel-move AND i got the hold up left again:

but i did not found the blind-foothold (right) fast and good enough and then had from one second to another a total muscle-failure in my left arm - not beeing able to move anymore - and went down again...

BUT this time it was DIFFERENT!!! i got the missing link!!! while warming up i finally found out how to exactly move on the mantel to get that 1cm more hight to get that hold left hand for the mantel. it was all about micro-beta again... - happy cause i don't feel like i could get any stronger at the moment... i am already going on 150% every try... ;)

and i also started to fully "understand" the starting-move-sequence... so i don't have to try for 1hour anymore to get that first 4moves together...

so i just miss this little bit of luck, the "perfect" go... may i will get it monday??? it looks like (after days of rain) the weather could be just perfect; not too dry, not too cold, not too warm... we will see!!!

sometimes you got to believe that you're gonna make it...

a little vid about the process of sending "no mystery" (low) after a broken crux-hold.
hope you enjoy!




and yep; sometimes you're ruling your world... ;)

one handed..., twice a day..., 25C and game over ?!

well not one handed (yet) but nearly twice a day... it was 20C+ so not best friction, but still ok, as the night was cold and so was the rock! first try i slipped off the lip (may i missed some friction there?!)

i took a long rest and nicolas worked the moves of "delusion..., 8B" and got a super nice sequence together!

nicolas looking strong on "delusion of grandeur, 8B"

he motivated me to give another try, but after such a hard  (and longer) boulder i normally can go home. especially there is no way i can climb a super hard start sequence like the fish has one!

to my BIG SURPRISE i made it up to the mantel again. went for it. had contact with my tips, stayed for 2seconds up there...

but went down (again)...

i am getting into mega-shape but this "fisch" escapes EVERY time..., it really looks like i have to do it 2times a day, allez-retour, one-handed....

discussing beta with nicolas. finding the "missing link" for the mantel? pic by angelawagner.ch

i tried again hard to find a safer solution to that mantel but found nothing... but then nicola insisted to try a slightly different footposition on the mantel (not even a different foothold, just a different position) and the move worked WAY BETTER!!! CRAZY!!! THIS really could be the "missing-link"... but may it came too late?

cause on the weekend the WARMTH kicked in, 25C..., no real cooling down anymore in the night=BAD for fisching... nevertheless i made it through the start twice but slipped off in the middle section... but the moves felt super hard in that HEAT, like i was wearing a 20kg weight-vest - that was too hard to link... hopefully i will get another chance on some under 25C... otherwise i managed again for the 3rd season in a row to come SUPER close and NOT send one of my two lifetimeprojects... but may i should be happy about that, cause if i send, what will i do afterwards? playing chess? hanging around at a railway station and pretend to be super cool... ? - we will see.. ;)

making the best of the heat - having fun with friends... ;)