Wednesday, September 26, 2012

back home - getting in shape (and into epic) again

after coming home from rockands and climbing three weeks in nuclear heat at home, angela and i had a quick visit to the frankenjura to get some good beer - and climbing as well ;) i still had to be a bit careful with my finger, but i had in mind that the nice compression-prow "riot act" which i fell on the second last move this spring had pretty ok holds. so i played a bit around on that one, found my beta pretty quickly this time and went down on the same move again (as in spring) because my heel slipped. well then, no present offered here again. and as i was just not yet fit enough for climbing that 8B+ twice a day i got a beer out of our fridge and was happy that i slowly got back in shape again... ;)

nice fridge climbing, nice beer, nice food - i love frankenjura ;)

then i was off to sustenpass for the "highlanderproject" again. i missed the spring/summer season due to my injured finger and i could not wait to go back and climb that ONE more move i went down over and over again over 7weeks in a row last fall. i quickly repeated all the parts and climbed it from two hard moves in. so two weeks agao i just wanted to make a try from the start to see if i already could make the heinous crux-move of the "traumland-start-move" when arriving from the far right. i made it through that move and to my upmost surprise managed to climb up to the second last move.... , climbing past the "ikarus, 8B+" - part, before i fell.  looks like i am getting in decent shape again.... and just in time for fall to arrive ;)

falling again on that move i went down for 7weeks last fall... (pic from last fall)





















despite my finger still holds me from climbing as much as i would like it looks like (with 2-3days of rest in between climbing days) my finger can more or less managed the holds of the "highlanderproject"..... hopefully i will get my "cold-finger-syndrome" from last year under control. it was a great surprise to climb so far into the project, but with just two more harder moves in front it also would have been nice to just climb through them, i was not far from it. but since 8 years, there is no "free lunch" for me up there...  and the epic kicked in again already. after climbing and feeling really strong that day, the next week i was not able to climb over the first crux again....



first it was so cold that my fingers froze and one week later it was 20C again - at 2000m over sea - thats totally CRAZY!!! so i just slipped around like trying to climb on wet holds....  no chance for a send at all. i was getting a bit mad about the fact i even did not get over the first crux moves anymore. in fact, "bad" thoughts and feelings start to cross my mind.... was i getting weaker, why i was unable to climb through that move anymore... will i get fit enough again...

but then i hat to put back in mind that some years ago the temps had to be under 15C for me to just beeing able to do the single moves. now i can climb the finishing 8B-part even in 20C.... thats nice, but not what i want... i want THAT FULL line *argggghhhhhh*..... !!!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

things weighing up...




i got a lot of feedback for my last blog-entry about the rocklands-hype. some people have been "shocked", some argued that there was a lot of "irony" in the text. well there was no irony at all in that text. irony means that you say something what you don't mean. i.e.; i really liked to see people shitting under the boulders... but i DID NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL!!! so even if i may used a "funny" language and really pointed out the facts quite prominent - i really disliked these facts (how the f**k one could NOT?!)

so why the hell i extended my "trip to hell" for two more weeks... ? well after nearly leaving earlier, i kind of learnt how to manage the "dark side of rocklands" and if you have a look at the pictures you will understand as well... ;)

angela doing the classic "mary's roof"
philippe in "tea garden roof" - pic by angelawagner.ch

africa -  pic by angelawagner.ch

back from a perfect day - pic by angelawagner.ch

"perfect" - the name says it all!
can you believe we met some people in front of that line who "refused" to climb it because it was "not in the topo" ???!!! - pic by angelawagner.ch

crazy, hard, but super funny toe-hook-beta for "weichei", pic by angelawagner.ch

6m above the ground the fun starts ;) - pic by angelawagner.ch
 toping out the tricky "shallow cave" - pic by angelawagner.ch

angela enjoying rocklands-perfection

another perfect one - pic by angelawagner.ch


and despite all the downturns mentioned in the last blog, what made me extend that trip were the moments i shared with the nice people i met. like watching dave graham on his first day ever in the rocklands - you should have seen his eyes... - like he had won the 10billion-lottery ;) getting the second ascent from micheles latest FA "how tall are you" (with my own totally crazy beta), watching andy sending his first 7A, witness johanna "i don't climb higher up then two meters" climbing an 8m highball... and having a nice breakfast and drinking coffee and tee at the legendary "hen-house" with my lovely girlfriend was just the best!

and then the for me most inspiring "climbing-moment" down there was:
 
pic by from jesse's blog, by tyler gross

meeting up with jesse - "it's all about motivation" - bonin (check jesse's blog; excellent writing up of his epic fights!!!) at the fireplace after his epic and finally successful battle with "the arch", 


see him getting a full champaign-shower from shannon - well done shannon ;) 


and then see him jumping into the freezing cold pool at 11pm was priceless... - go4it jesse!!!