why a "new" start to the "fisch-project"?!

despite beeing allready super close on the send i have changed some 3weeks ago the start from a sds to a laydownstart. its not a BIG difference, its just one/two more moves that are not super hard. but in the end  (unfortunatley for me) that makes to boulder way harder for me.

after talking with several strong people (koyamada, robinson, windisch) they all suggested to start in the most logical and clear position. its also a way to avoid any "discussions" about the startholds in the future. so the "new" start woud be matched both hands on a very obvious rail (the rail on which i have my right heel in the pic below). it is the lowest hold. you don't need a pad, just a carpet/small foampad and its kind of a "lay-down-start".

"new" laydownstart: both hands matched on the rail i have my right heel on. pic by angela wagner

before i started on a to me also "logical" sitdownstart. sitting and with my right hand on the same rail but my left allready on the crimp further up. i am still not sure if this "new" start really makes much sense or not - its a logical possibility for sure and it stops any discussions about "the" startingholds. but the concept of "sitting down and taking the holds you get" seems also pretty ok with me. but as these days strange things happen to sitdownstarts and discussions about it (story of two worlds), its may more consequent to go from the lowest and most logical holds. its then somehow defined (and shoud be decently marked in areas where thats ok, like in the ticino) and like that missunderstandings of the start-position/holds can be easily avoided.

same move, different angle. new start both hands on the big rail. first move then up to where i have the left hand in the pic. its an "easy" move for itself, but it makes continuing SUPER HARD!!! pic by ronny birchler

i still can climb the sequence, but a consequence oft that new start is that its WAY harder now. you can FEEL the new start when entering into the crux at the end. i am not too happy about that, for me it was allready hard enough from the sds...

ON FIRE!!!

EDIT 6.4.2011: just got a message from JERNEJ KRUDER who confirmed to have climbed the sds to the "schmankerl" allredy last year. so most surley and till other notice the GLORY for the FA belongs to jerney - my respect to jernej and ronny who sent both so fast!!!

on my way back from another fisch-session (more about that soon) i joined my friend ronny birchler at a crazy little night-session in the barierra-sector. and  he really was on fire and made perfect use of the great conditions that evening!!!

after doing (some days ago) the stand-start from the very nice shield of "schlonziges wiener schmankerl" (7C/8A) he went for one of the nicest looking unclimbed lines in chironico: the unclimbed sitdownstart to the "schmankerl". its just two more moves into the stand, but it makes things complicated cause its hard to get established for the BIIIIG cruxmove.


ronny at the STANDstart of "schlonziges wiener schmankerl" in the barierra-sector in chironico. the SITDOWN starts SITTING (as many people tend to "american-sds these days) down at the obvious, large rail (at his feet in the pic above).

some strong people have tried it, but nobody suceeded till now. ronny however did short work with that nasty beast and dispatched it in the same session he tried it from the sds for the first time. so we have a new, very nice looking boulder in chironico: the SDS to "schlonziges wiener schmankerl". WELL done and it was great to be there and impressive to watch!!! 

the line is now complete and its a real stunner if you look at the shield from the trail on the way to deliverence-sector! ronny felt the sds like an 8A+. i feel very diffrent. as i tried this sds to the "schmankerl", the nearby "bogalagga" felt way more doable for me and so it was. but it looks like ronny fitted perfectly into that hard sds and he did it quickly and did not feel it to be super hard - thats bouldering and thats great. to finish that nightsession, he sent "doctor pinch" (~7C+) in something like 5min... (to get the 8A+ you have to go for the "unpaded" low-down-start)

ronny celebrating his FA of the SDS of "schlonzigs wiener schmankerl". watch closely and you see him - i know i have to buy a better phone/cam, but hey it was 10pm... ;)

ronny had a crazy week and he is progressing faster then he can climb ;) climbing very fast through three hard (8A+) boulders at his limit..., but well its not his limit anymore if he can climb that stuff in a session...

- "sur gauche" in wassen
- "einfisch/keinfisch" (one session and one in october last year) in 101-area , chironico
-  2nd ascent of the SDS to "schlonziges wiener schmankerl" (one session), barierra, chironico

so it looks like its time he finds something HARD now ;)

another PERFECT day?!

everything was set up perfectly:

- i was well rested (2restdays)
-slept well and enough
-it was sunny, dry, windy, not too cold
-i had enough skin

beautiful view over chironico. sunny, warum, windy - seemingly a PERFECT DAY

there was NOTHING that seemed to speak against THE send, BUT:

since days my mind does not stop spinning arround the terrible things that happen at the moment in japan, libya and elswere in the world. what was i doing here in the tinco moving arround on boulders when there are people so desperatly suffering and the world needs to be saved from an atomar collaps?! 

the contrast to the ticino-pic above coud not be bigger. a city in japan after the recent zunami. pic source 

its not "new" to me that a LOT of people all over the world are suffering while i am so fortunate to live in a safe and rich country and so beeing able to spend a lot of my time with playing arround on rock. but the recent new's brought that thoughts back in focus once again... and i still do not have an answer to it. at least in my work as a teacher (economics) i try to give my students a "different" view from the world (then the one you get when you just consume mainstream-news), try to show them what (and why) things go wrong in our world and how we can act to make it (a bit) better... its not much  i know, but i believe its way more then to just think and work all day on how to make 100million$ more earnings for a corporation allready making some billions in a year...

finally clearing up my mind by warming-up i recognized that i just slipped arround on the rock. it was SO DRY (the fön-wind) that my skin turned to glass and i had NO friction at all. looked like i used a bit too much of "antyhdral" for this conditions. i worked on my skin with sandpaper and water to soften it and it got bit better. down at the "101-area" my friend ronny managed to grab a very quick ascent of the "einfisch/keinfisch" (after a brief session october last year) - and he was looking STRONG and made it look easy!!! 

normally i like this signs of wind, cause that indicates GREAT friction. BUT yesterday it was just too much...

psyched from ronny's send i went down to the sds of the "fisch". BUT i just slipped arround on the (starting)holds. i needed even 3tries for the very first (easy) move. i was really puzzled, it felt like climbing on another problem then the week before. my glassy skin had NO FRICTION on the holds! on my first go on which i managed the starting-sequence my heel slipped on the transition into the second part - DAMN ! on my second go i overpowerd every move so hard that i nearly saw "stars" while making my way to the start of the "exit"-part. just to arrive there and another heel slipped.... DAMN !! 

on my third go i lost (slipped out) a hold (jug) on the middle-part... WTF ??? !!! and i even maganged to get a mini-cut in my index-tip (what normally never happens as i have so soft and thin skin).

yep, it was too dry!!! sounds stupid i know, but it was "too dry" and my skin too hard, so NO FRICTION!!! i KNOW that i am ready to climb that line, but i am really wondering what CRAZY THING will happen next to not let me sucessfully link those funky moves... too much friction was not bad, what will be next.... *arrrrghhhhhh* .... any suggestions?!

ON THE OTHER HAND, given the above discussed BAD things that happen right now in the world my "problems" at that pice of rock are totally ridiculous and that day must very well be described as a PERFECT DAY!

moon(ie)

you may have seen the "moon" on the side of my blog allready. that means i am officially pimped to a moon(ie) :)

MOONCLIMBING is my first real sponsor (after a one-time gear/clothing support in the past by bd). like that i "give up" my years of "independent-underground-homie-blablabla" - but hey; i still buy my shoes and a lot (most) of the other stuff by myself. so it was not a 1'000'000$-deal. but thats fine with me as i am psyched to work together with a smaller but very fine brand from climbers for climbers.



check out my interview: moon(ie) interview


first blogpost for moon: moon blog (1)

second blogpost for moon: moon blog (2)



just a shame that shane at moon did not publish THAT profile-pic of me. dont know why - represents perfectly my "serious style..." - i think that would have had been very "british" ;))

mister "serious". pic by angela wagner

perfect day - finally tricked the carrot!!!

i did not (yet) climbed the "fisch". but i was super close and whats better then when you can climb and discuss beta with a friend as addicted (or even more) then yourself about bouldering?! it really was a (nearly) perfect day :)

i started at the new lower start what worked ok (but its still so much harder then my former start). and my new beta for the ending seems to work as well as i fell with my ice-cold fingers allready on the hold of the last hard move - SO CLOSE!!! after a 30min break i then nearly climbed the boulder for the first time from the "standing-start". i just slipped down on the rock-over of the mantel, not exactly getting a foothold.

last year this position felt not too comfortable at all, now i can (must) shake out my left hand. that is cruical to get rid of the ice-cold fingers to be able to go 4 the following crux-move. pic by angela wagner

this two attemps first look like "failures". but these "failures" gave me some new important insight (still new beat-details after 40 or so days on climbing on that piece of rock - i love 3D-bouldering.. :)

- i climbed twice over the "carrot-move". so i definitely TRICKED THAT CARROT-MOVE!!!

- i now know i have to "invest" some power in getting that foothold at the very end really precise

- and i found a "hard-resting-position" two moves before the crux in order to get rid of my cold fingers lefthand.

so again, for may the 10th time i think i am READY to SEND. but this time its DIFFERENT. i have reached two new high-points (from the sds and standing) and i just went down because of cold fingers - and against the cold fingers i found this new "rest-point". so lets play some ROCK N ROLL ;)

but it looks like the carrot has not given in yet: watch the weatherforecast for next week:

.... anyway next weekend the weather shoud be perfect: sunny, warm, windy. i am "waiting" since a year... so one week more ore less does not matter at all. even though i would prefer to go back immediately - CARRRRRRAMBA ;)

tricked the CARROT?!

i climbed two more hard moves - that shoud be enough you may think as i was allways talking about ONE more move. correct. BUT the two more hard moves were at the (new) start!!!  (more to that new start in another post)

after 4restdays i felt strong, good skin and it was perfect friction. i think i woud have done THE CARROT-MOVE from my (old) sds, but with the new start i went down on it again. despite the two extra moves i was getting closer, but it got me again... damm carrot ;)

the carrot still gets me, but we will see who is laughing in the end ;)

BUT then a friend talked me into have a look for an alternative to the "carrot-move". i did first not listen to him, cause the (easier) BIG-boy-beta does not work for me and i felt (still feel) it is just a matter of two/three more days to be able to do that "carrot-move" on link. but with the new and harder start in mind i was not totally against any better beta ;) after working arround a bit i really got an idea of a possible alternative. i finally found another way to the lip, but coud not get a cruical toe-hook out without loosing the holds. after 3hrs and after climbing may 20times through the hard part of the "einfisch/keinfisch" i found a way to get my toe-hook out: looks like i tricked the "carrot" :)
the new beta makes instead of one hard move (the "carrot-move") arround five (complicated) moves and it is overall just slightly easier then the old beta. but (the most important) is that there is no brutal onemover anymore where you go down cause you have just 80% and not 90% left in your tank. now i can switch into fight-mode and i can continue to fight my way up. it will get a hell of a fight thats for sure - and you know:  i love that perspective ... :)

the CARROT-MOVE

the move/sequence i can do literally for wurmp up

the move/sequence i can do when i am pretty tired too.

the move/sequece that feels possible up to a second before executing it when coming from the lowstart...

the move that feels so close and at the same time so far:

THE CARROT-MOVE:

emi moosburger going for the CARROT-MOVE!!! pic by angela wagner

thats WHERE i went down some 15+ times allready. but to be realistic: i have to climb into that move with 90% power left. otherwise i can not even dream to DO that move.what makes things a bit complicated is that its not a little nice hike in the park to get there. you have to climb a tricky and powerful  8B/8B+ boulder to just set up for that f**** CARROT-move.

its pretty steep, the heel left is pretty small and the move up requires serious body- and squeezingtenion in between the open holds if you want to stay on the holds.
i can do that move/sequence from the original "einfisch/keinfisch" literally for wurm up. but if i climb into it from the new start, perspectives dramatically change in seconds! i manage to climb pretty ok into the handholds needed for the moves, but bringing up the heel left just takes the power out of my body and arms. the cold fingers do not make things easier too.

to get used to that i started working the sequence when i was tired. and i can do the sequence and the move when i am not feeling (much) fresher then coming from the low-start. its really just a matter of staying fresh for two more seconds.

so close but so far at the same time...

the "rabbit and carrot - scenario"

you know that scenario; the carrot is hanging in front of your nose - you come closer and closer and you feel like you just have to grab it. BUT everytime you grab it - the carrot just goes that bit further away you came closer to it.


thats how i feel. pic source

thats exactly how i feel at the moment. its the same with every harder boulder i tried during the last time. if it's mithril, riverbed sds, newbaseline, entlinge, dreamtime, the fisch-project... on every boulder i feel pretty good, and just minor improvements woud may leed to sucess. but everytime i make some progress, the carrot is moving too - it drives me CRAZY. if these boulders woud just feel WAY to hard, this woud not bother me at all, i woud just move on. but if i feel close, i have to try, again.... again.... again.... and again..., arrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

new rock

it was time to to check out some new rock (well "new" to me). i allways wanted to visti the "oetztal-area" once for bouldering but somehow never made it. last week i had the chance for a short 2day visit and i had GREAT FUN. it was all dry and cold. nice friction!

"tumpen"-ambiente, little magic wood ;) pic by: boulderschof

feeded with infos from the very kind manuel (aka the boulderschof), i explored the woods arround tumpen/habichen and met some nice people. compared to the ticino or magic wood its a small area and the stone is more "skin-eating" (sharp). But there are some VERY NICE lines in every grades AND there is some great foooood too be had... ;)

first day i checked out the following lines:
-reaggea jamming
topo says 7A+, but i did a pretty hard low start that felt more like 7C - may i was just too stupid and/or can't jam..?!)
-demon roof
SUCH a PERFECT line - a 7B-compression-bulge, BEST!!! onsighted it - but you cant cant go really wrong on that one... - a MUST... ;)

christian in "demon roof" - SICK LINE. pic by bernhard ruech

-crocodile, stand
super happy to have met some folk cause you need some pads for this GREAT compression 7C. thanks to my spotters i was able to flash that one.
-crocodile, sit
a bit narrow and dabby - BUT climbs GREAT!!! some burly moves into the stand. second go. in the 8A-area. perfectly my style, need more of that - GREAT!

manuel going for the crux-pinch in "crocodile" - such a GOOOOOOOD move. pic by bernhard ruech

second day (again i had to discover i SUCK on a second climbing day... ;)

-did some nice classics for warm up

-got shot down on the last hard move on a flash-burn (and the next 5trys) in the "hooky" and great - "In bocca al lupo", 7C/7C+. figured then out some better beta but was to tired to finish up... (manuel sending it in good style in the vid below)

Sherwood Forest - In bocca al lupo! (fb. 7c) from Boulderschof on Vimeo.

-checked out with manuel and bernhard the KILLER-LINE of "die perfekte welle", 8A+. thanx to them for sharing beta!!! they both looked strong and nearly sent the stand (manuel) and the sit (bernhard). the sds is just climbed by bernd zangerl yet - (hard) 8B-ish?! i had some fun checking out the the GREAT moves - and CAN NOT wait to return. unfortunatley i got sick (noro-virus) a day later and was not able to return yet. but i will be BACK for sure - hopfully there will not be to much snow the next days - there are some LINES left i MUST climb!



THE PERFECT LINE of "die perfekt welle". the right arete - GREAT MOVES - the BEST :) pic by: boulderschof


and last but not least the nice food to be had in austria - (one of) the reason why i will never boulder REALLY HARD - but life its too short to not enjoy NICE food - and i rather climb a grade less but can eat delicious stuff like this all the time when i want to... - even with 33 - *mampf* ;))

"kässpätzle" and a "weizen" - gives you energy back instantly ;)

"schnitzel" (33cm!!!) and "pommes" (the "kaiserschmarren" is missing here)

as predicted... the "dagger-scenario"

.... i kind of established on my resistance on my 4th day on the "fisch". i climbed twice into the last moves. i was even able to repeat my original start-beta on my first try of the day. its again and again amazing to see how its possible to adapt to strange, hard moves; from impossible to possible in just a few days. BUT also as predicted i just fired of the last moves with toooo gold and greasy fingers.... bähhhhhh.

this scenario of cold fingers reminds me very much on my sessions back in the winter 2008/2009 on the famous "dagger" in cresciano. there i went down over WEEKS with just to cold fingers on the very last moves again and again... on the first "warm" (15C) day of the year i climbed all the way to the top JUGS and just went down on the 2A-mantle with the JUGS in my hands - total fatigue. on the next "warm" day (17C) i had for the second time no cold fingers and climbed the dagger.

"dagger-scenario":  after doing a crazy 180turn you are in the position above and you enter the second part of the dagger (cresciano). two moves later (two hard moves from the top) my fingers were usually frozen. same same as in the "fisch"... pic by angela wagner. (the beta described above is by far not the easiest, but it was the most fun for me to climb)

BUT the difference is that the "ending-part" on the dagger is about 7C+ and the the "fisch-ending" is about 8A+ with a HARD last move (and nasty mantle) where i need some decent friction (and bit of power too) to be able to finish... so it can't be toooooo warm.


anyway, i may better stop whining, start to get stronger to reach the "jerry-point" (see below) and come back in summer when its warm enough for me. the (in)famous jerry moffat stated in the movie "no comment" (great!) something like: "... i have this little bit more power, so friction doesn't really matter to me anymore..." - sounds perfect to me; let it be WARM and let ME be jerry... ;)

fiiiiiishhhhhhhhh

to warm, to cold, to dry, to wet, to what ever... i am getting all crazy about this project.... normally in february its anyway to cold to try longer (15+moves) problems in ticino, especially in chironico (higher up, less sun then cresciano). but since three weeks its unusally warm (up to 15C), DRY and just perfect. so despite not really feeling fit enough (after my december-break) i coud not hesistate and went back on the "fish" to try to make the best of the unusual good conditions. you never know...

wurm-up with the "einfisch/keinfisch", pic by angla wagner

allready on my first session two weeks ago i was able to climb the exit-part ("einisch/keinfisch") literally for wurmup and cooldown. but despite knowing ALL the details i needed three sessions (days) to get the tricky moves of the first part dialed again. and linking the two parts was just out of question at that point. but i then managed to establish on a more safe beta for the first move. i can do that first move now numerous times a day pretty solid (compared to the old "shaky" beta with which it was not unusal to not be able to do the move for hours, despite beeing solid just two days ago - weird i know, but thats it).

but there are some problems with that new beta:

- it involves a small and sharp crimp (pretty painful)
- it makes me colder fingers (squezes all the blood out of my left hand on this first move)
- i have to make an extra move by using that beta and that makes me even more tired then with the old one...

BUT its safer and like that i fail cause of i am tired near the end and i dont have to wait for hours anymore to eventually stick that first move. definatly more motivating with the new beta!

the "old and shaky" beta for the first move on the "einohrfisch", pic byanglea wagner

two days ago i was able to repeat the "einohrfisch" (the first part of the whole line) and nearly climbed into the last move of the whole line again but went down with icy cold fingers... to make some "resistance-training" i went on for the "standing-start" of the "fisch" (starting standing 3moves in on a BIG jug, not climbed yet, in the 8B+ area for itself...). i was kind of surprised to find myself suddenly on the last hard move, i noticed the cold fingers but went for it nevertheless. AND with the numb fingers i dryfired off.....OUTSCH.....

emi going for the move; watch out for the left hand - i have to crimp it and its pretty under pressure on that moment. if you dryfire:

thats the result, and yep there was MORE blood bit later..., but the most important: thumbs up ;)

at least i am getting back in shape, but its still to cold for me. i can't climb (hard) with icy-cold fingers. on the other hand i need good friction; if its to warm the start-move and especially this last hard slaping move are getting so much harder that i will not be able to complete the line. its a SMALL line and everything has to work perfectly together. well thats noting new, thats for everybody the same who is trying to push his/her personal limits, but its still impressive what you can DO if everything fits :)

normally i need arround 5 to 6 climbing-days with enough rests in between to build up my specific resistance for a HARD boulder. that woud mean two/three more climbingdays. but its allready getting colder and the weather is about to change on this weekend. looks like i missed my chance. so i will have to wait for the next weather-window... hopefully i dont have to wait till april - wish me luck for a "warm" early spring - it looks like i really need it for this one...

baboonmaster vid

check out the trailer and the first part of this vid from my baboonmaster-friends and watch out for my little part in it: that nice little "kermantis-prow" in valle bavona, nice stuff!

the trailer





the vid

GOSSIP...

edit: to put it in the right context: it looks like somebody got real pissed about my previous "fire-post"...

...strange things happen these days (in cresciano)… somebody watching and taking pics secretly, then anonymously (not under a real, full name) posting first weird, strange, then aggressive comments on my little blog. then finally (after 8posts!!!) spraying wrong accusations and producing gossip that I made “an open fire with an msr-burner to make coffee”. All that crap was loaded on my blog in a pretty offensive way, instead of talking personally to me as there was obviously the opportunity to and clear the matter on place – that seems like the behaviour of a REAL man to me… !!!

just for the record: I DID NOT MAKE ANY FIRE - NOR COFFEE (I don’t even drink coffee at all!!)

what happened that day is that I met a couple I know from the climbing-gym and THEY were making some coffee (right next to me) with an msr-burner.

 making coffee with an msr burner is way less dangerous

even if using an msr-burner is tecnically an “open fire” (and therefore not “alloud”), I woud reckon that PRACTICALLY (in the means of fire-danger) there is a HUGE diffrence between an open fire (espcecially placed right on a tree) and making a coffee on a msr. also lightening cigarrets is tecnically an "open fire" (I DON’T smoke) and practically way more dangerous (when thrown away not fully off) then an msr-burner. There where may 50+ people smoking that day in cresciano, but the anonymous poster (may he even smokes too?!) did not even bother about that?!


then a cigarette and...

in the contradiction to the anonyomus poster i see it not personally but PRACTICALLY. and PRACTICALLY “regular” open fires are the biggest fire-hazzards and the most visible for the local-population. if a “normal open fire” gets “officialized” in a world-wide spread video I feel that it is necessary to speak out that making “open-fire” is NOT OK. If I see somebody making (carefully) a coffee on a msr (and not spread it on a video) or somoking a cigarette I personally don’t have any problems with that.



...especially an open fire literally on the roots of a tree



there is no point in making this to a personal, hating – whatever-story.

for most people it does not seem to be a problem but for the very few who do not understand how to communicate: a bit of “netiquette” for my little blog if you want your comments to be published:

- I will not allow “anonymous” posts. If you have to say something post with your FULL REAL name (or a link to it, if I don’t know you). otherwise your comment will not be published.

-don’t fool arround, if you have to say something say it straight.

-be respectful, I don’t want haters to spray arround in my little blog.

-if you have something personal, don’t hesitate to talk to me "on place" if you have the opportunity to or send me a mail.


thanx, martin

finally bouldering again...

...was what i felt last week in cresciano ;) after a 5week break in nov/dezember i restarted. cause of the bad/cold weather i did some indoor-bouldering, even a bit of campusing (for the first time ever - have to work bit on my week-spots) and then was again on real rock two weeks ago. it was a SHOCKED: no power!!! i was not abel to hold this shitty-outdoor-holds (not even on "old-regular-warm-ups"). ok, i shoud have known better, its every year the same. but it "tricks" me every year again - CRAZY ;) indoorbouldering does not really train you for the outdoors in the ticino. a great post about that issue can you find HERE.

as angela still cant join me (still recovering from her acl-rupture), i have to "steal" pics from some friends ;)

emi moosburger going for the second move of "mithril". from this position i have climbed the problem. (pic from moonclimbing.com)

what ever, after two weeks of punting arround i went on with my "try-your-anti-style" and tried "mitril," a hard 8B in cresciano again. for me its my TOTALLY antistyle: brutal raw-crimp-power over two moves - the rest fits me then way better. even if it is not my style i love to try the moves - its pure bouldering as it best. last year i tried it a bit but i was not even feeling the first move. i coud do the second move once, but was not able to continue. so last week i was VERY HAPPY to have climbed it from the second move in and coming close in doing the first move. i really felt like i was able to bring power to the holds again - GREAT feeling ;)

paul robinson doing the first move of "mithril".  the move i have a real hard time with. but i am getting close...
pic from paul's blog

that was BIG progression for me, and if the year continues like that - i am super psyched cause that woud mean i will be ready for the FISCH and HIGHLANDER ;)

NO!!! FIRES IN TICINO!!! PLEASE!!!

after a break of two months i was last week in chironico again. at "la soucoupe" i recognized that all the wood on the muddy-floor has been gone (thanx for that anyway). and that there was a "fireplace" right at the base of a big tree next to the boulder!!!

coming home and surfing through the internet i found the video to the "fireplace": a very nice vid but spoiled by the open fire...: http://vimeo.com/18909662

literally on the roots of a tree - NOOOOO!!!

its allready the second movie this season in with you can see a fire in it. people can boulder without t-shirt but need a fire to wurmup?! (http://vimeo.com/18156577)

even if there is snow - no fire PLEASE!!! may a shirt helps too...

...and as it seems from comments to the vids people do not consider that as a great deal. but it is NOT OK to make fires its a GREAT DEAL in TICINO (even if you see some strong guys in vids dooing it):


PLEASE NO FIRES IN TICINO!!! its vorbidden by LAW (and even if it seems wet, its may dangerous and one fire was not even 10cm away of a tree, it was literally on the roots!!! )its clearly stated in the guidebook and on the new SIGN on barierra-parking to NOT make FIRES. FIRES ARE VORBIDDEN (http://www.chironico.ch/download-document/78-info-boulder) if you get caught it can cost you several HUNDRED EUROS (like if you get caught on "wild camping").

thanx to respect that, martin



what you CAN NOT MISS if you use the barierra-parking, like the guys used in vid2!!!
(http://www.chironico.ch/download-document/78-info-boulder)



because STYLE matters!

its kind of "old" news, i climbed that boulder back in 2009 but i just recently got the chance to get some pics from "natural" collateral in chironico. it's the well known dave graham boulder "collateral" BUT without using the chipped-crux-hold. many thanx to angela for the pics and all the best for her recovery, she just had surgery on her knee, acl-rupture :(

so here is the story and the pics from the "fa" of "natural"- collateral:

years back in chironico: i still see dave (graham) in front of me; angry, getting all crazy and talking about somebody just "killed" (CHIPPED) "collateral" - one of his new high-end-problems and making it seriously easier (from 8B+ to 8A+ according to dave). inspecting the "collateral damage" i thought that there may woud be a way to climb that beauty without the chipped hold (today used as the "crux crimp"). but back then i was still far away from the power and the tricky beta required to do so.



after the crux, but still powerfull. pic by angela wagner


over the years i tried with some friends to find a way to skip the chipped hold. we got some "near-beta" but nothing worked out properly. one day a friend called me and he was pretty excited as they found some crazy double-heel-hook beta to skip the chipped crimp. days later he showed me the beta. i was close, but i coud not really do the move. but it was amazing to see that there was a way, even a VERY nice way to skip the chipped hold.



the little white hold in between my two hands is the "chipped crimp" which you just dont need if youre creative enough. pic by angela wagner



after climbing the "dagger" in cresciano (2009) i felt in pretty good "compression-shape" and was wondering if i finally was able to do the crux-moves in "natural"-collateral. and somehow the moves suddenly worked. but they never stopped to feel weird and it was still a hard way to go. despite feeling in good shape i went down over days on the very last hard move. with the chipped hold i woud have climbed it in a few days, but to climb it that way was just not the point. finally i was able to climb into the last moves totally fresh and doing so the "fa" of  "collateral" without chipped crux-hold. consequently adding a "natural" to the "collateral" (aka "natural beauty", because it climbs sooooo gooood without that chipped hold).

climbing "my" beta felt like climbing in the 8B/8B+ -range. but may there is even better/easier beta. and as it is so cool and "sexy" to downgrade everything these days, i will do that by myself. as i am much stronger then last year and as i want to express that and as i want to be "REALLY" brave, hummer, cool AND sexy i say: its a (soft) 2Ka+s-L ;)

on the last moves of the beautiful "natural" collateral ("FA"). chironico. pic by angela wagner.

few weeks ago "natural" collateral got its second ascent by visting, super strong and very kind dai koyamada . it was very nice and inspiring to watch him finding his own, crazy beta. because he is not amongst the tallest (1.65) he had to figure out completely diffrent beta. i think we did not climb one of the 5 crux-moves in the same way. it looked like a totally diffrent boulder. and thats great! i like it so much if it is not JUST about power, not JUST about reach. i like it when it is also about creativity. and if you are smart enough there is very often a chance to find your own way (especially if there is a chipped hold)!
"discovering style is one of the last great things in climbing..." and  "...it's very creative and it's a bit more then just a physical activity..." (fred nicole in "core" ). nothing to add from my side.

uuuups, i did it again ;)

it was just too good the last time, and there was a LOT of pow left. this time i teamed up with andreas and martin, who took the pics (click on the pics to make them bigger).

it was another PERFECT day ;)

andreas WARMING up

i LIKE to SPRAY ;)

andreas HIKING the ridge, i spotted last time

into THE void

and yep, i LIKE to go STEEP, not just in bouldering... ;)

 

the ULTIME line again; left of sunny top - 1'200m (3'900ft) straight down!

DAYS to REMEMBER

instead of freezing my ass of in the ticino i make use of the cold weather doing what cold weather really is made for: ripping POWDER-SNOW ;)

yesterday was one of the best FREERIDING days EVER for me. but see yourself:

wurm-up
(yes it is a snowboard, its a splitboard. highly recommanded for pow-touring!)

the LINE: riding left of sunny top - pretty much straight down ;)

the BIG days when you can ride CRAZY lines like the one above in deep-pow-snow in middle winter are very rare in the alps. the conditions MUST fit. and conditions-wise its even way crazier then with bouldering. especially the avalanche risk very often makes things too risky, and you can simply (and very fast) die if you push it to far in unstable snow-conditions. but if everything fits... the BIG day is on ;)

DROPPING - straight for 1200m pow ;)

you may have 2-3 REALLY good days in a year, like in climbing - a day like yesterday may just ONCE in every two/three years or less. and in this area i even can't remember one day during this time of the year when everything fitted so well together - so you MUST USE IT, there is NO WAY to miss it - you may will never get a day like that again...

steep-pow

 the vid (taken by another team, a week ago)

BIG thanx to the guys (who opened the line for this season) sharing the vid and showing the perfect condtions of the line!

wikileaks and 8a.nu - SAFE 8a.nu...

recently found documents show that 8a.nu (JENS) really is in great danger... ;)

personal grading*: don't go on with it!!! 

*the article about the DANGER of personal grading that disapeard miraculously from the website - why? ;) 
(klick to make it bigger)

---dont go on with personal grading as this kills (JENS and his) grading-system!---  that puzzled me a bit cause jens can not rest to tell everybody that grades are personal, you shoud be brave and hummer, not take the grades from the guidebook, that grades are unimportant cause climbing is about fun and so on... BUT it got even worse:

the dateabase SABOTAGE and the f***ed up system*!!!

sabotage and f***ing up HIS system (klick to make it bigger)

JENS found PROOF for SABOTAGE. the proof that i was NOT using personal grading and therefore was f***ing up his system (business): i forgot ONE boulder (from the last 12months) to put in my "personal-grading"*. so i felt caught, you cant argue against hard facts, can you?!

as a brave and hummer 8a.nu-member i imediatly made the commanded changes in my scorecard to 8a.nu-conform-grades. and in order to safe JENS, 8a.nu and the scorecards of some other point-hunters (who got all pissed when they saw i DOWNGRADED theier (soft) 8A/B boulders to 7A's) i see it as my duty to stop the climbing world from personal grading!

SO, PLEASE STOP PERSONAL GRADING AS THIS KILLS (Jens and) 8A.NU !!!

INSTEAD ASK JENS (or MIKE. mike knows too, cause he is a professional as well ) FOR THE "8A.NU-CONFORM-GRADE" ;)

jens or MIKE will SHOW you the way ;)

*the background to what did the "sabotage":  it was consequent personal grading - i took a "standart" for an 8A-boulder (great shark hunt) and messured all my other boulders i did on it: the result was quite weird. for example the riverbed in magicwood (which felt way easier then shark hunt) gets then a 7B... - perfect illustration that the (current) grading-system is about as reliable as long-term-swizzy-weather-forecast - and therefore shoud not be taken to seriously.... ;)

restday

what do you do if the ticio is looking like that:

bellinzona, close to cresciano - one day after climbing in the nice sun - dumped with snow - BAD for bouldering...

well make the BEST of it ;) one day after enjoying sun and bouldering in cresciano back home: up to 60cm of fresh snow, -16C, rock n roll ;)

how a real WINTER must be - i love it ;)

nice playground in my backyard - 40min drive and youre in a little freeride-paradise...;)

even a bit "alpine-style" - the way to go to enjoy 900m first tracks in waist deep powpow ;)

and yep, it was like THAT ;)

today it just does not stop snowing and tomorrow its gonna be sunny in the mountains - yepaaaaaa ;)

view out of our appartement, if its looking like that down here, how does it look in the mountains?!