summer... ???

same place, same season, same view - 
anyone catches the difference ?

never ever seen something like that in the last 30years... -
this is not 3600m (12'000ft) - its 1900m (6'200)... and end of june... ;)

projects that went down...

well, not by myself (as i am still nursing my finger...) but it is very nice to see that some of the lines i brushed (may some have been "found" before by others, but not cleaned, or then they got all "green" again...) but not was able to climb, got their ascents during the last years and some very hard ones the last year:

first of all there were these little holds behind the darkness-cave in magic wood, right beside a line brushed and cleaned by my friend tobi. tobi built a huge landing-zone for THE kingline in magic wood: "the bizarre ride" which still waits to be toped out by him (SCARY and HARD!!!). at the right of it i found some small holds, started to brush, built a landing zone an tried a bit on what got the projectname of "black pearl" cause of the beautiful black rock! but on every move i was kind of 30cm "too short" ... better say... WAY too weak. but it was clear that it was possible, there were holds. but super hard. so it was amazing news to hear that daniel woods did the first ascent of that nice and proud line:  "La force tranquille, 8C". and for the future... there is also a possible direct topout to this line... absolute stunning but bit scarrrrrry one - any takers???!!!

opening moves...

(here the first ever published pics?!)
daniel woods on the
FA of "La force tranquille, 8C".

pics: screenshot from here , when will we see the movie???

higher up; better holds but still hard and steep, the line now goes to the right (big, bit loose flake) it would also be possible to head up straight, bit left (you can see the line of the "bizarre ride" down left here)

at the same time tobias kleemair  cleaned THE kingline of magic wood 2m to the left. his "bizarre ride". 2m right from tobi you can see the ticks and the "non-holds" of "la force tranquille" and the possible direct exit. pic by angleawagner.ch

another angle to get an idea of the steepness of "bizarre ride" (which is the line climbed in the pic) and "la force tranquille" of which you can see chalk on the very right.... pic by jarko.

another story was the stunning line of "steppenwolf, 8A+/B" at magic wood. after i was able to climb that one in 2005, i noticed some kind of holds going right and up. it looked like a very nice line. so i brushed and cleaned it, chalked it and had an idea for a beta. unfortunately i was not able to do even one of the HARD moves. so you have a idea of how hard it is compared to topping out "steppenwolf". it was BIG news for me as i heard that chris webb pearsons was able to link all that moves. and he did it perfectly the way i pictured it. but for me each move was just WAY too hard! so with some totally sick and HARD beta "believe in two, 8C" was born. the line got a second ascent by daniel woods with a totally different beta (which is likely to may not be possible anymore in the future cause of a loose hold that will breake... )

chris in the crux of "believe in two, 8C". super SICK and HARD cross move to be followed by a SUPER long and hard move out to the very right with his beta. pic by rock.com.au

next one was last summer/fall- visit of dai koyamada. it was very nice to meet him again and it is always amazing to see him climbing. everything looks soooo easy, light and precise when he is climbing and you can not tell if it is 6A or 8A by just watching him... he was in perfect shape climbing everything from 8A-8C very fast. his next project was the low start of "the story..." in cresciano. but there it was way too warm. so we met up there in the mountains of sustenpass. also there he was so fast in climbing through nearly all the established classic lines. so i suggested to him a very nice, unclimbed line on the other side of the sustenpass that i had in mind since some time. so after short work day came back and there was born another stunning boulder: "paradise lost, 8B/B+".

dai koyamada on the FA of "paradise lost, 8B/B+", steingletscher. (click to see dai in this massive line!) pic by ikuko serata

after this dai joined me at the "traumland-boulder" where he quickly did the classic lines and the first repetition of "deadalus, 8B+". as there is a logcial, direct (and harder) topout to "deadalus" (over "schön wie..."). i suggested to dai to give it a try. as i met him again some days later he had done the FA of "deadalus direct, 8B+/C". way to gooooooooo!!!

day koyamada on the FA of "deadalus direct, 8B+/C", sustenpass. pic by angelawagner.ch

back in chironico last fall i met again with "gu". there was this direct exit to "block addiction" who was waiting to be climbed. i did the standingstart with a visiting american-climber last year. but had a super hard time on the "blochx-addiciton-part". as i was working the "fish-project" this spring i tried it again and suddenly was able to do the lower moves as well. but somehow i never went back up there at the "paese"-area. so it was up to "gu" to make the FA of "pure addiction, 8A+/B" (i have upgraded that one for myself to 8B, as this i seriously HARDER then the "regular" ticino 8A+....)

gu on a video-still on his FA of "pure addicition, 8A+/B"

and there are older problems like the superclassic of "one summer in paradise, 8B" up there in magic wood.

working the moves of "one summer in paradise" back in 2004. i immediately saw and cleaned the line full line (before there was just the start in the middle of the line called "pura vida") and finally my friend simon wandeler was able to make the 1st ascent, some weeks later i was there for the 2nd ascent... pic by simon from munich.

or "deep throat, 8B" in magic wood.

i cleaned it with petra together an we thought it to be 7B!!! but then we basically were unable to do a single move. so i showed it to dave graham, we worked it and we figured out some RAD and HARD (way harder then what it is climbed these days) beta and dave (as always) took it down with great style - i still did not top out that one... but i will (once my finger gets better...). pic by angelawagner.ch

all this FA's are very inspiring and it shows me what is possible when you are REALLY strong... i am working hard on that ;)

amazing, outstanding, mind-blowing!!!

its one of the most crazy things i have ever seen...: dai koyamada's FA of the "story of two worlds, low - 8C+" in cresciano. check out dai's blog and the movie of his low-start-ascent, its one of the most inspiring things in bouldering i have ever seen!!!

dai koyamda; FA of: the story of two worlds - low start. 

here you can see us watching (in pure disbelief, cause that seemed against every rules of gravity) dai koyamadas first ascent of the low-start to "story of two worlds" in cresciano. now its online: watch it but don't bee fooled!!! you can watch dai climb 6A or 8C boulders, most of the time it looks the same: just super smooth, very precise and effortless. so even if it looks "easy" when you see dai climbing here, i can confirm that there is not even one move close to "easy" in this boulder ;)

dai solved the starting-puzzle from the lowest possible startingholds in a very creative way. it may looks unusual, you have to think "outside the box" and then it's obvious when you see it, but you HAVE to SEE it - and you have to be able to climb it!!! this start-sequence and the whole first part are incredible HARD, especially if you are just 1.65m like dai!!! and then you still have to climb "the dagger"... 

especially holding that swing is INSANE!!!

and to cut loose the feet in this position and placing the toes on the other side of the dagger is just CRRRRRRAZY - amazing bodytension - when i see stuff like this i feel like i have to go training NOW!!! 

biggest respect for this ascent and especially for his motivation and determination to come back after climbing the original problem (from one move in) and then going for an even harder low-down start and even when it was 25C last november or unusually wet, he kept trying and trying, came back and back again - till it was done - WAY TO GO!!!

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... ;))