Ticino, France and the First Swiss Cup

Out of the last three weeks I spent two weeks in Fontainebleau, three days in Brione and I competed in the first Swiss Cup of the season. The only reason we went to Brione in the first place was because the weather didn’t look too good in Fontainebleau over Easter. Yet I didn’t regret that decision at all. Climbing on perfect rock in the beautiful Val Verzasca was a great way to start my Easter break. I made a little progress on Frogger (8A) and tried a few other climbs, some new, some already familiar. After that we were heading to Fontainebleau for a whole week. The endless amount of sandstone features offers climbing of any kind but it definitely took me some time to get used to the general style of climbing. Also I had to forget about grades here, otherwise projecting 7A’s can get quite frustrating. This place made me feel like a beginner and showed me that every climbing skill I’ve ever acquired is still way below perfection. I especially enjoyed climbing with my friend Alannah from Canada, it’s always motivating to have another strong girl around. On our first day of climbing we both managed to send Beatle Juice (7A+), not knowing this would stay our personal best for the rest of the week. At least to me it felt like some of the 6A’s we tried were a lot harder ;)

Foto: Alannah Yip
Remo completed the Big Five by doing Big Golden (7C+) and Tristesse (7C). I was a little relieved to also see him struggle on a few 7B’s, so maybe it wasn’t just me. The last day we were climbing in an area called Buthiers, where we discoverd my favorite climb of the week called Lady Big Claque/le Flipper (7A+), a perfect little compression problem with lots of heel hooks.

Foto: Alannah Yip
I got a little frustrated about not getting my heel in the right spot for several times but then Alannah reminded me to keep smiling since we’re supposed to be having fun and all of a sudden I found myself on top of the boulder as well. We had to leave with a lot of unfinished buisness but thankfully we knew we would be returning a week later.

Back in Zurich, I squeezed in a few days of University before the Swiss Cup in Pratteln on Saturday. I didn’t feel at my best since I had a lot of things going on the whole week and I didn’t get too much sleep. Qualifiers could’ve gone better but it was enough to make finals placing 5th, which had the positive side effect of being one of the first out to climb. All six girls making finals were from our team in Zurich and I knew that most of them were in good shape, so it wouldn’t be easy. I struggled a bit on the first problem but still managed to get it first try. After flashing the second problem as well I was really looking forward to the dyno on number three. Yet I underestimated how far the jump was and it took me five tries to get to the top. That turned out to be one try too many to stand on top of the podium and Petra won by just one try for a bonus hold. Rebekka was the only one to complete the last problem but since she couldn’t do number two she ended up placing 3rd.

Foto: B2 Boulders & Bar

Foto: David Schweizer

Of course I’m slightly disappointed because I got so close but I’m also very happy about being 2nd and I’m already looking forward to the Swiss Championships at my home gym Minimum in about two weeks, hopefully see you all there! More details: www.minimum.ch

Right after the competition I was on my way to Fontainebleau once more for a one week training camp with our local team from Zurich. This time we were guided by no other than the bouldering legend himself Fred Nicole. It was inspiring to see his calm approach to climbing and we could all profit from his knowledge of the area and the boulders. I was happy to finish my projects from the week before, including la Baleine (7A+) and la Rampe (7A). It’s been a great week with lots of strong and motivated young climbers, thanks to everybody who was part of it!

For more pictures go visit the Bächli Bergsport Facebook page.