King Kong

Next we went to Traversatta (7A+), a pretty long traverse with a couple of really small crimps close to the river. I first had my doubts about sending it because of its length and my lack of endurance, yet after struggling with the crimps for a bit, I was able to climb the whole problem, which definitely made my day :) It was already getting late, so we continued our drive to reach Brione in time for a good pizza. After sleeping in on Friday and watching a bit of the worldcup in Innsbruck online, we decided to go down to the river and climb on a traverse (about 7A+) I had already tried around Easter. It took me quite a while to figure out a good beta for the start. A few layers of skin later, I found myself at the top sloper and with my last bit of energy somehow managed to top out. Since our skin was pretty screwed up after that, we spent the rest of the day at the beautiful river enjoying the sunny weather. As I also spent the whole Saturday resting, I was ready for another day in Magic Wood on Sunday. This time I wanted to try something harder and ended up with Schrotti (7B), a rather powerful problem. I had to try the first move over and over again and when I didn’t actually believe I was able to do it at all, I finally stuck it but than annoyingly fell off getting my feet up. Trying the first move again for several more times, I was very happy to finish the whole problem at last. Later on, I flashed Supercrack (6C), probably one of the coolest features all over the woods and tried to figure out the moves on Supernova (7C) for the rest of the afternoon. All in all, I had a great weekend and can’t wait to get back on rock again as soon as possible!

After warming up and trying Marihuana Corner for a bit (unfortunately I wasn’t able to put all the moves together), we went on to Red Roses, a really cool looking 7A+. At first I couldn’t even stick the first move but after trying a few times, I was able to climb the whole line yet fell at the last long move. A couple more tries later, I completed the whole problem and was happy to find myself on top of the boulder :) After that, Remo and Bryan wanted to try an 8B and both got really close but unfortunately couldn’t link all the moves. Meanwhile, I got on Heb da Arsch 7A and suprised myself by sending it in a few tries. Since I felt rather weak over the last couple of days, I was glad to be back in shape after two rest days and climbing on rock again always feels great anyway! I realized once more how lucky we are having such awesome climbing areas so close and hope to make it back to Magic Wood next weekend, so many things I’m psyched on!

Last but not least, I wanna thank my mom for everything she does for me, not just cause it’s Mother’s Day but because she’s the best mom on the face of the planet, I love you! :)

Like last year, the first national boulder event took place in Geneva. Unlike last year, there is a new system in which there is an additional semi-final to the usual qualifiers and finals. The starters of the semi-finals are made up of the top 10 in qualifiers and the pre-qualified top 10 of the current overall ranking (for further information see the official SAC website). Since I didn’t climb well at the previous lead comp in St. Gallen, I had to take part in qualifiers and already travel to Geneva on Friday evening. Unfortunately I still didn’t get much sleep and was pretty tired on Saturday. Nevertheless, I started off with 3 tops in 4 attempts in the first round which made me placed 1^st out of qualifiers. In semi-finals, luck was definitely on my side and I unexpectedly managed to top out the 2^nd problem within the last 40 seconds as well as the 3^rd problem in my 3^rd attempt. I felt that I did pretty well yet was totally surprised to be the only one having topped out on number two. That set me 3^rd place going into finals! Happy about making finals in an adult competition for the 3^rd time, I was psyched for the next round although I already noticed my body was feeling quite tired. All the other final athletes were pre-qualified and had only climbed one round so far. I just tried to ignore my exhaustion as well as possible and was ready to give my best in finals. Yet the problems were reeeeally hard and I only reached one bonus hold out of four problems which made me fall back on 5^th place. I just couldn’t hold on to anything anymore and realized that I definitely need to work on my power endurance. Of course I was disappointed about my poor performance in the final round but I was still satisfied with my climbing in semi-finals and it showed me what is possible when I’m able to climb at my best and the boulders suit my style. Petra Klingler showed us once more that her incredible power, strong will and wide range of skills are making her stand out from the rest and she got well-deserved 1^st placed. Cédric Lachat dominated the men’s competition and was the only one reaching all four tops. Congratulations!

Complete result

I learned a lot yesterday and I hope these experiences will help me do better in the upcoming comps. I’m feeling quite strong (also thanks to my US-Trip) and I’m definitely in a better shape than a few weeks ago. I’m really looking forward to the EYC bouldering in Grindelwald in the beginning of June and will train hard to get even stronger! I just hope to recover quickly and get back to my training schedule, right now I still got really sore muscles, my whole body hurts and all I feel like doing is sleeping. Too bad school starts again tomorrow…

University of Colorado at Boulder

sprained ankle right after it happend...

It’s been my first time in Hueco and I was already stunned alone by the beautiful surroundings before even seeing the amazing climbs the next morning. We stayed in the really pretty campground inside the State Park cause besides the advantage of having  heated bathrooms and showers, it also made it a lot easier to get day passes since we had to reschedule due to my ankle and did no longer have reservations. First couple of days we spent on North Mountain, the only area with non-guided access. I’ve never seen such an amount of incredibly cool holds and features, already being impressed alone by the Martini Roof. It took me a while to get used to the rock but after that I sent McBain V8 (7B+) by using some feet-first-toehook-beta. My hardest boulder ascent so far :)) After another rest day we went on a tour for the first time together with Alex Puccio, Shauna Coxsey, Katharina Saurwein, Jorg Verhoeven and Bryan Boyko. Although I didn’t get to climb too much that day, it was inspiring to whatch all those strong climbers sending stuff I can only dream of, at least for the moment.. ;)

sunset in Hueco

McBain V8 (7B+)

Next day was my turn, we went on tour again and I sent New Religion V7 (7B) as well as That Hi-Pro Glow V6 (7A+) on my 3rd go, a really slopy and powerful problem. Remo did an impressive flash of Rumble in the Jungle V12 (8A+) and sent The Flame V12 (8A+) in a few tries. Two days later he did Li V13 (8B) which he had already tried earlier and flashed Liane V11 (8A) right next to it. That day we were joined by two other swiss climbers, Alex Devaux (our guide) and Martin Keller.

That High-Pro Glow V6 (7A+)

Remo trying Slashface V13 (8B)

The day after followed the ascent I’m probably most proud of, Mexican Chicken V6 (7A+), not because it was the hardest but because I totally suprised myself by sending it. I’ve tried it a bit on one of our first days and didn’t really think of being able to send it during our stay cause I couldn’t figure out one big move and even if I did, it was followed by a really high topout which I was already scared of by seeing other peolpe do it. However, the others wanted to try some problems next to it that day and instead of just watching them climb I decided to give it another try. After figuring out the big move by using a heelhook and going to an intermediate, I climbed down at the last more or less hard move because I was scared of the topout. Being angry at myself for acting like a chicken, I tried that move seperately and figured it wasn’t even as scary as I thought. So I did it again from the beginning and SENT :) Last but not least I could finish Daily Dick Dose V7 (7B) on one of our last climbing days. I’ve been trying this one during our whole stay and was glad to finally climb it.

Daily Dick Dose V7 (7B)

Remo flashing Power of Landjager V11 (8A) on our last day

After all I’m pretty satisfied looking at my tick list, especially cause I first thought I couldn’t climb at all with my ankle. Now I’m back in Switzerland and already miss warm and sunny Hueco, as well as all the other amazing places we’ve been to and of course all the nice people we met during our stay, thank you all for making this trip so much fun! I’m definitely gunna return to Hueco someday, hopefully stronger and hopefully soon! Next week I’m back to school, hope I get used to using my brain again soon.. ;)

Nicht anwesend aufgrund des Weltcups in Slowenien waren Tabea Schwab, Alexandra Eyer sowie letzjährige Schweizermeisterin Petra Klingler. Sie alle zeigten eine hervorragende Leistung am Weltcup, es reichte jedoch nicht ganz fürs Finale. Hoffentlich klappt es nächste Woche in Wien! :)

In zwei Wochen steht der erste Europacup der Saison in Edinburgh (GBR) an, für den ich mich im Speed qualifiziert habe. Deshalb werde ich mich, nebst den Vorbereitungen auf die Boulder SM in Grindelwald anfangs Juni, stark aufs Speedtraining konzentrieren.

Nun beginnen langsam auch wieder die Vorbereitungen auf Leadklettern und im Hinblick auf die kommenden Wettkämpfe werde ich mich im Training sicherlich auch vermehrt dem Speed widmen.

Letztes Wochenende wurden die Schweizermeisterschaften im Lead ausgetragen. Wie schon bei den letzten beiden Lead-Wettkämpfen erreichte ich den 3. Rang und sicherte mir somit die Bronze-Medallie!

Fotos (David Schweizer)