Anyway… I like this
boulder very much and I fit in perfectly. It’s my style… pretty athletic, quite
long but homogenous, without ultra-small crimps but many slopers, some far
moves and a delicate mantel at the top. Yeahh…!! ;)
Another reason why I
like this boulder is the fact that this
line is offering all kind of styles in one route. You start with some bodytension-moves and hooks in a roof, followed by a far dynamic move to the first sloper. Afterwards you have to do some
more bodytension-moves hanging on this sloper until you can go for the
middle part… a traverse on a strongly decreasing ramp. After the traverse you
have to do (already pretty tired) a long move to an ok hold followed by some “oldschool-climbing-moves” on good
crimps up to the top (current position in the pic below). The last part then is the topout… a quite tricky mantel over the lip followed by
a 6 or 7 meter slab. And… the line
is not a super-highball, but still pretty
high. The crux for me is the needed endurance
due to the length of the boulder and the scary
slab at the end.
 |
| picture by Nicolas Delaleu... |
Up to now I was 4
days in this boulder. I started to work on it because I met Nicolas Delaleu
some weeks ago, which told me that he is also interested in this line and had
already started to work on it. Especially the fact that he was willing to
invest some evening-sessions was the very first reason for this “cooperation”.
Alone I had never started with this line…
So the first session
in the line was together with Nicloas. I climbed and Nico took some pictures
and told me his beta. Already this evening I felt pretty good and was able to
climb all the sequences except the mantel, which I didn’t tried that evening.
Nicolas is an
aspiring photographer and a very nice guy. Have a look to his homepage if you’re
interested in some more info about him and his work. www.nicolasdelaleu.ch
The second and third
day I was alone at the boulder. The goal was to improve my beta for all the
sequences and put them together. The third evening I was already able to climb
the whole line up to the top and therefore I decided to give it some real tries
the next climbing day.
The problem is that
you really need either enough pads (at least three big pads) or a spotter, which
has to move the pads around. But because of the scary and not safe finish, it
is highly recommended to have a spotter. So I asked some guys to come down to
this line with me and give me a spot.
Luckily all of them
were willing to do so and yesterday was the first day that I could go for an ascent.
Big thanks to Nicolas again, which
just arrived for spotting. He didn’t climbed because of his planned climbing
today at “I portici, 8A+” in Osogna.
This is real motivation and incredibly nice…!!!
The outcome of my
session yesterday was, that I climbed up to the top again, tried the mantel… AAAAND
lost the hook and fell down. I’m very happy with this… it was pretty close and
could just as well work. It just showed me that it could happen every day. Want
to go back soooooon….!!!
Afterwards I went for
the mantel. The idea was, to do the whole mantel onto the slab and do the final
few meters too.
BUT hey… do not laugh
now!! ;)
I mantled up, stood
there with the slab in front of me and a
deep black void in my back, which threatened to suck me. FUUUUUCKED UP… I
just lost all my confidence and readiness in this moment, despite of a spotter.
It’s really crazy up there! The slab in front of you has NO holds. The position
there is definitive not the highest one (about 4 up to 5 meters). The big crux is
the unpredictable slab and the fact that the drop zone below you is pretty
small and behind of this drop zone (it’s like a podium) it goes down for
another 1 or 2 meters with following sloping terrain and some threes. Phuuuu… a
scary chicken I was!! I was just able to go back down.
First of all I need
to check out that moves up there on a rope. Really!!! Afterwards I will be able
to give it some more tires… but just then. ;)
cheers
...if i remember correctly you climb with rope from time to time..?! but you are right, ground up in the pitch dark night has def. more style - and style is everything these days, isn't it... ;) SEND and then go for the low with me in 2014... ;)
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