blog-pic

Alphane Moon 8A in Chironico,
pic by Aldo Tonazzi



Friday, April 25, 2014

"Scarface, 7A" - FA

Some days ago I cleaned and climbed a new boulder in the Entlinge-sector. It's a really really NICE faceclimb (shield), comparable to Fred Nicole's testpiece "L'ombre du vent, 8A+"... just a few grades lower. ;)
The line is pretty high... but luckily the tricky moves are the very first ones and the last moves up and with the topout are quite easy.
I called the line "Scarface, 7A". It's somewhere between 6C and 7A+... no idea.

Scarface, 7A

vid-screeshot of my FA... 
beautiful shield... before I cleaned the topout. ;)


cheers








Thursday, April 10, 2014

Growing Murgtal

I really like this area!! There is so much potential for new lines... it's just incredible!! Only a small part of the Murgtal-forests are known and there are still dozens if not hundreds of boulders in this valley. Sure... the ones close to the streets are mostly known. But even close to streets are still many undone problems... especially further down the valley. If someone - like me - is looking for new unclimbed rock, then he is right here! So keep your eyes open and find new challenges all around this wonderful area!!! ;)

In recent months the forestry workers have cutted down hundreds of trees. Now you suddenly can see boulders, which were previously hidden in the dense forest. Additionally, you can move much better through the former thicket now. This I do not want to miss... so I made my way through the jungle and what I found left me amazed...!!
I found several pristine boulders which offers some wonderful lines. These must be there for centuries and are just waiting for their discovery.

The first problem I found was certainly not an unknown. Right of "Happy Housewives, 7C+" is a massive overhanging little wall , which seemed to be impossible first. I tried this line already last year, but did not found a good solution. This time I realized that there is a little stone in the crack, which I just can pull out of it. Without this small stone I got an appropriate little hold, where I can take for the previously impossible sequence. I did not chipped it.. that's something I really hate and NEVER would do. It was more or less the same as you pull dirt out of a crack. ;)
Anyway... now it works well and the new line makes a lot of fun to climb. I called it "Poseidon, 7C+" (probably 7C). I choosed this name because of the fact that the wall has the shape of a wave and you're kind of surfing along the lip of it.

Have a look to the short movie and you know what I mean. ;)

Poseiden, 7C+

The next one I found was a completely new boulder in  the "Entlinge sector". This boulder was not visible before... thanks again to the forestry workers! :) ...and now you can see it already from the road. It's just about 30 meters away. This boulder offers a few new lines.

New boulder in Murgtal...

An already done line is "Dr. Frost, 7C" (yellow)... a beautiful line along the "edge". You start sitting at the obvious big hold, go right to the edge and then along it up to the top. It's quite high and the dropzone is everything else than flat... so be careful... even if the topout itself is quite easy.

 
the crux... bring the left hand to the edge too.




To be able to climb and topout the boulder we had to clean it for about four hours... a big part of it with a rope. The first day together with Aldo... the edge itself and all the holds below the topout... and the second day I cleaned the whole top of the boulder with the rope. Quite a lot of work and pretty tiring!!

The second line is called "Würger, 7A+/7B" (orange). This one starts standing... the left hand at the overhanging edge (undercling) and the right one on a pretty high little crimp. Then you go dynamicly to a sloper on the left und mantle up there. The mantle was a real fight.... hence comes the name. ;)
There you have to be even more careful! Have a look the the overhanging "nose" there... a big part of it is completely cracked and for the mantle you're hanging completely on this part. It has definitely a few hundred kilos weight... and if it breaks off, you'll have a coarser problem!!!

The third line is still a project (red)... a pretty hard one! I would say it is at least 8B. I tried it already... but without success. The holds are really small and you have almost no footholds. Most of the moves I can do but the middle-sequence is impossible so far, or I just did not found the right beta for it.
Feel free to try it...

 


So then... let's see what other boulders I will excavate in the next weeks/months. There is still so much to do!! ;)


cheers