Thursday, 12 February 2015
Sunday, 25 January 2015
Some thoughts about CLIMBING TRAINING
Hey guys!
Because it's a quite controversial topic, which I'm writing about here, I want to tell you first of all, that this is just MY personal opinion; my post is not based on scientific facts.
And since I want to show you another training-philosophy, I know that there will be a lot of people that do not agree with me.
Also I want to metion, that I'm writing these lines with a good intention....the intention to maybe be able to help somebody, getting a better climber.
But of course - and I don't deny that - I'm also doing so, because I wanna get peolpe - including myself - to think about their training habits.
Because it's a quite controversial topic, which I'm writing about here, I want to tell you first of all, that this is just MY personal opinion; my post is not based on scientific facts.
And since I want to show you another training-philosophy, I know that there will be a lot of people that do not agree with me.
Also I want to metion, that I'm writing these lines with a good intention....the intention to maybe be able to help somebody, getting a better climber.
But of course - and I don't deny that - I'm also doing so, because I wanna get peolpe - including myself - to think about their training habits.
So, today I want to write about a topic which bothers me already for quite a long time: (the right) TRAINING FOR CLIMBING
Nevertheless I wanted to react. I read/saw a lot of posts from people doing some hard training (campusing, hangboarding etc.) to build up more strenght, to finally climb harder than before.
I wouldn't complain about it, if it were some top-climbers doing so, as those guys are at such a high physical level that "normal climbing" simply wouldn't always have such a great effect anymore, though they for sure do a lot of climbing!!
But guys.....here I'm talking about climbers in the 9a and upwards range; probably not even about 8c-climbers, thought it's not possible to fix it at a certain grade, as peolpe (climbers) are different and therefore also have different reachable maximum-levels!
But surely I'm not talking about 8b, 8a or below-7b-climbers...
It seems to me that most of the people forget what's the best climbing-training.
Do you already know what I want to say????
The best training we can do to improve our climbing skills is....................!!!CLIMBING!!!
I don't do down all this campusing and hangboarding because I don't like it or something, I do so because it's my deepest conviction that you will have a larger and even faster improvemenet by climbing (best by bouldering or doing some bouldery routes)!
If you wanna finish your project, but you ain't strong enough yet, it might be a good idea to do some bouldering, or even better simply practice your PROJECT!
But here I would like to differentiate a bit:
If you know you won't be able to send it soon, though you have all the beta, go bouldering instead of trying your project over and over, to build up some more power and then return and send it.
And if you have already done all the moves and just have to link them, keep trying your project please! ;D
With every single day you will feel more comfortable doing the moves (though it's normal that your shape won't be the same everytime, so don't despair, if it's not working well one day....the next one will be better again)
There is nothing more satisfying than the steady process of getting closer and closer to finish your project.
For example...I'm trying a boulder these days....first time I could do 4 out of six moves. The next time it were already 5 and I was very close to also do the 6th one too....and next time I will maybe already try to link the moves (and send it).
The point is, that your body is recording the movements, so that next time your muscles will automatically do the right things in the right time..therefore it's so important to work on your certain project.
Of course it's also possible to simply do some other hard routes/boulders and then return stronger, but the faster way is, to simply let your body adjust to the moves.
Two things I have to add here:
If you read my previous posts you might already have noticed that I'm not an endurance climber. :)
Therefore I have to add, that I refer to routes where probably resistance is not the limiting factor, though I also think it's best to gain resistance in your resistance-project.....but I'm digressing, sorry....
The second thing is, that I'm talking in general terms.
But if you know for example that your limiting factor is mostly - as e.g. for me - body-tension and locking-strenght, then do some boulders where you need exactly these skills and afterwards add some separated exercises to your (boulder-)training, or also do specific exercises on an own training day (without climbing), but still you should do an appropiate amount of bouldering/climbing during such weeks.
Anyhow, I don't want you to misunderstand me. I don't say that you should never do campusing, hangboarding etc. etc., but the main focus and the vast part of your training should be climbing!!! That's it!
So please don't think that I'm kidding you, if you see me at the climbing gym doing one of those or another exercises. ;)
The can be quite important, but they are not the basics!
What I say is, that it doesn't make sense to mainly do such separated strenght-training, and afterwards return to your projects with high expectations, for sure much more power, but just very little (or not at all) improved climbing skills.
But it always depends on YOU! If you like the exercising (on its own), don't stop doing it, but keep in mind, that just from a climbing point of view, there might be a better trainíng.
Btw I just realized there is another thing you should mind....TAKE ENOUGH BREAKS!
Your body isn't building up strenght during your training, but afterwards when recovering.
When you do your next training unit too early, it will not help you to get better, it will throw you back!
For example: I don't consider myself being an 8b-climber, but I'm now somwhere around the 8b-level i guess (yeah, I know I haven't climbed any 8b yet), and I'm training (climbing) 4 times per week, sometimes 5.
Every couple of days I take a two-day-break (probably arround every 10 days).
During the last months I had to pause a lot, but still I could raise my level a lot.
It seems to me that the majority of people is training too much, though they have the feeling to not train enough>>>the result: injuries and stagnation, or at least not the best improvement they could get.
Nevertheless, you should challenge your body, but it's important too listen to its (warning) signs!
This is a quite complex topic, but the fact remains, that nobody gets an injury because of not training enough, but injuries and overtraining (sorry, I dont know if this word exists in english) are a serious problem when training too much.
And of course you should limit the factors for injuries to the smallest amount possible, because what really prevents you from getting better quickly, are those nasty injuries!!!!!!!
To sum it up: - do as much climbing as you can, but note that your body needs breaks to recover
- if your project is in reach, get better by practicing it
- you can do exercises for your strenght and to work on your limiting factors, but in comparison to climbing it shouldn't get too much
- nevertheless train (boulder) hard
I've seen many things past the last few months that I simply don't agree with, though they are not per se wrong.
Nevertheless I wanted to react. I read/saw a lot of posts from people doing some hard training (campusing, hangboarding etc.) to build up more strenght, to finally climb harder than before.
I wouldn't complain about it, if it were some top-climbers doing so, as those guys are at such a high physical level that "normal climbing" simply wouldn't always have such a great effect anymore, though they for sure do a lot of climbing!!
But guys.....here I'm talking about climbers in the 9a and upwards range; probably not even about 8c-climbers, thought it's not possible to fix it at a certain grade, as peolpe (climbers) are different and therefore also have different reachable maximum-levels!
But surely I'm not talking about 8b, 8a or below-7b-climbers...
It seems to me that most of the people forget what's the best climbing-training.
Do you already know what I want to say????
The best training we can do to improve our climbing skills is....................!!!CLIMBING!!!
I don't do down all this campusing and hangboarding because I don't like it or something, I do so because it's my deepest conviction that you will have a larger and even faster improvemenet by climbing (best by bouldering or doing some bouldery routes)!
If you wanna finish your project, but you ain't strong enough yet, it might be a good idea to do some bouldering, or even better simply practice your PROJECT!
But here I would like to differentiate a bit:
If you know you won't be able to send it soon, though you have all the beta, go bouldering instead of trying your project over and over, to build up some more power and then return and send it.
And if you have already done all the moves and just have to link them, keep trying your project please! ;D
With every single day you will feel more comfortable doing the moves (though it's normal that your shape won't be the same everytime, so don't despair, if it's not working well one day....the next one will be better again)
There is nothing more satisfying than the steady process of getting closer and closer to finish your project.
For example...I'm trying a boulder these days....first time I could do 4 out of six moves. The next time it were already 5 and I was very close to also do the 6th one too....and next time I will maybe already try to link the moves (and send it).
The point is, that your body is recording the movements, so that next time your muscles will automatically do the right things in the right time..therefore it's so important to work on your certain project.
Of course it's also possible to simply do some other hard routes/boulders and then return stronger, but the faster way is, to simply let your body adjust to the moves.
Two things I have to add here:
If you read my previous posts you might already have noticed that I'm not an endurance climber. :)
Therefore I have to add, that I refer to routes where probably resistance is not the limiting factor, though I also think it's best to gain resistance in your resistance-project.....but I'm digressing, sorry....
The second thing is, that I'm talking in general terms.
But if you know for example that your limiting factor is mostly - as e.g. for me - body-tension and locking-strenght, then do some boulders where you need exactly these skills and afterwards add some separated exercises to your (boulder-)training, or also do specific exercises on an own training day (without climbing), but still you should do an appropiate amount of bouldering/climbing during such weeks.
Anyhow, I don't want you to misunderstand me. I don't say that you should never do campusing, hangboarding etc. etc., but the main focus and the vast part of your training should be climbing!!! That's it!
So please don't think that I'm kidding you, if you see me at the climbing gym doing one of those or another exercises. ;)
The can be quite important, but they are not the basics!
What I say is, that it doesn't make sense to mainly do such separated strenght-training, and afterwards return to your projects with high expectations, for sure much more power, but just very little (or not at all) improved climbing skills.
But it always depends on YOU! If you like the exercising (on its own), don't stop doing it, but keep in mind, that just from a climbing point of view, there might be a better trainíng.
Btw I just realized there is another thing you should mind....TAKE ENOUGH BREAKS!
Your body isn't building up strenght during your training, but afterwards when recovering.
When you do your next training unit too early, it will not help you to get better, it will throw you back!
For example: I don't consider myself being an 8b-climber, but I'm now somwhere around the 8b-level i guess (yeah, I know I haven't climbed any 8b yet), and I'm training (climbing) 4 times per week, sometimes 5.
Every couple of days I take a two-day-break (probably arround every 10 days).
During the last months I had to pause a lot, but still I could raise my level a lot.
It seems to me that the majority of people is training too much, though they have the feeling to not train enough>>>the result: injuries and stagnation, or at least not the best improvement they could get.
Nevertheless, you should challenge your body, but it's important too listen to its (warning) signs!
This is a quite complex topic, but the fact remains, that nobody gets an injury because of not training enough, but injuries and overtraining (sorry, I dont know if this word exists in english) are a serious problem when training too much.
And of course you should limit the factors for injuries to the smallest amount possible, because what really prevents you from getting better quickly, are those nasty injuries!!!!!!!
To sum it up: - do as much climbing as you can, but note that your body needs breaks to recover
- if your project is in reach, get better by practicing it
- you can do exercises for your strenght and to work on your limiting factors, but in comparison to climbing it shouldn't get too much
- nevertheless train (boulder) hard
Friday, 16 January 2015
Back on the Blocs
Leaving Austria once more, wasn't easy for me. I had a really nice time at home and though I had to take a break from climbing due to a cold, I still had 6 climbing days during those two-weeks. It felt so good to be back; to see all those familiar faces and places!!
I couldn't send the "Rechte Traverse" at Rapunzelwand, as it had been my plan, but that's ok....I was quite close before I got sick.
Afterwards I came back to give it some more tries, but my hip hurt a lot everytime I placed the heelhook and because of this I couldn't build up any body-tension.
Some tries without tension, but lots of pain later, I cogitated how I could spend this day more usefully.
So I was in Peggau, but without my car - I left my car in Palma - and with not too much daylight left.
First I thought about simply trying "Pulp Friction", as I would have had to move my crashpad just about 50 cm, but after carefully watching the existing video, I knew that it wouldn't be a good idea, because you have to set the same heelhook. You are probably in a different body position and maybe it would not have hurt, but there was another reason to change the crag.
I wanted to send at least something.....my last send was back at the end of September...a looooong time ago.
There was only one more reachable crag: the Peggauer Höhle.
I didn't like this place a lot...I don't know why. Probably because I couldn't climb anything there, but the warm-ups on the left side.
I packed my stuff and hiked there, to try "Die stinkenden Römer".
When I arrived at the spot I couldn't wait to get onto it, aaaaaaaand..........nothing!
I was on my own and really afraid to climb that steep and dynamic boulder without a spotter, or more than just one small crashpad. Next one!! ;-)
"Höhlentraverse": seemed like a nice boulder, but there where two problems with it:
Problem 1: too hard for a send within 2 days
Problem 2: My solution contained a painful toehook and after some tries I didn't want to set it anymore...but without it I was simply chanceless.
As I've been quite tired already, I moved on to the "Fummelei - Damenvariante" a nice 7a, that I tried once or twice 2 years ago. Back then I couldn't find any solution to get to the good sloper-ledge (with the big pocket).
And also now it was utterly hard. I placed the toehook, I grabed a crimp with my left hand, another one with my right hand and baaam....one more time I was cuddling with the crashpad. :-)
I don't know when and why, but one time I didn't place the toehook and simply made a shoulder move to the right crimp, and it worked surprisingly well.
Though I fell on the next move, I was pretty happy, because now I had my solution!!!
No toehook on the "Damenvariante"!
I did some more tries, but that day I couldn't reach my highpoint anymore. Too tired...
The rest is not really hard to guess: I came back the next day - my last day in Austria - and I could send it easily, though it was quite scary to do it with just one crashpad and without any spotter again...
But, there exists one good solution for such cases: just don't fall! Hahaha :D
Happy and content I returned to Mallorca and kept bouldering.
I did some nice problems up to 7b, and I have some more to try (send) during the next weeks!
P.s. the two boulders in the following video where my first ones harder than 7a. ;-)
I'm so motivated now, and I think I will do a lot more bouldering this year than the ones before...but ok, that's not too hard, as I didn't do a single boulder in 2014...
I couldn't send the "Rechte Traverse" at Rapunzelwand, as it had been my plan, but that's ok....I was quite close before I got sick.
Afterwards I came back to give it some more tries, but my hip hurt a lot everytime I placed the heelhook and because of this I couldn't build up any body-tension.
Some tries without tension, but lots of pain later, I cogitated how I could spend this day more usefully.
So I was in Peggau, but without my car - I left my car in Palma - and with not too much daylight left.
First I thought about simply trying "Pulp Friction", as I would have had to move my crashpad just about 50 cm, but after carefully watching the existing video, I knew that it wouldn't be a good idea, because you have to set the same heelhook. You are probably in a different body position and maybe it would not have hurt, but there was another reason to change the crag.
I wanted to send at least something.....my last send was back at the end of September...a looooong time ago.
There was only one more reachable crag: the Peggauer Höhle.
I didn't like this place a lot...I don't know why. Probably because I couldn't climb anything there, but the warm-ups on the left side.
I packed my stuff and hiked there, to try "Die stinkenden Römer".
When I arrived at the spot I couldn't wait to get onto it, aaaaaaaand..........nothing!
I was on my own and really afraid to climb that steep and dynamic boulder without a spotter, or more than just one small crashpad. Next one!! ;-)
"Höhlentraverse": seemed like a nice boulder, but there where two problems with it:
Problem 1: too hard for a send within 2 days
Problem 2: My solution contained a painful toehook and after some tries I didn't want to set it anymore...but without it I was simply chanceless.
As I've been quite tired already, I moved on to the "Fummelei - Damenvariante" a nice 7a, that I tried once or twice 2 years ago. Back then I couldn't find any solution to get to the good sloper-ledge (with the big pocket).
And also now it was utterly hard. I placed the toehook, I grabed a crimp with my left hand, another one with my right hand and baaam....one more time I was cuddling with the crashpad. :-)
I don't know when and why, but one time I didn't place the toehook and simply made a shoulder move to the right crimp, and it worked surprisingly well.
Though I fell on the next move, I was pretty happy, because now I had my solution!!!
No toehook on the "Damenvariante"!
I did some more tries, but that day I couldn't reach my highpoint anymore. Too tired...
 |
| Here I'm testing the upper (and easier) moves of "Fummelei" |
The rest is not really hard to guess: I came back the next day - my last day in Austria - and I could send it easily, though it was quite scary to do it with just one crashpad and without any spotter again...
But, there exists one good solution for such cases: just don't fall! Hahaha :D
Happy and content I returned to Mallorca and kept bouldering.
I did some nice problems up to 7b, and I have some more to try (send) during the next weeks!
P.s. the two boulders in the following video where my first ones harder than 7a. ;-)
I'm so motivated now, and I think I will do a lot more bouldering this year than the ones before...but ok, that's not too hard, as I didn't do a single boulder in 2014...
Sunday, 28 December 2014
Obsessed
Two months have passed since my last entry and I can tell you: these last two months were emotionally intense!!
I had my best and my worst time in Mallorca; I was short before crying....from joy, but also from despair and anger!
But let's go back to the end of October, to my last post:
As I had planned, I took another break from climbing for recovering my rotten skin, to be able to do some hard climbing again.
After one week my skin seemed to be fine, but with my experiences from last time I decided not to go outside for one more week and just to train a bit in the climbing gym.
After these two weeks I was confident that it would work this time...and yes, it felt good.
I climed in Fraguel and my skin didn't get harmed...incredible, that was something new for me, here in Mallorca! There was nothing to be said against some more outdoor climbing.
The next day I wasn't so lucky...I got a sore on my left middle finger. I went back to indoor climbing for some days and decided to only climb outdoors on the weekends and to train in the gym during the week.
Nice plan again, but reality was something different..
I couldn't even recover my skin with just climbing indoors... probably now I can't show all the emotions I had back then, but I would have liked to drive home immediately and I hated Mallorca!!!!
I hated to be on this cursed island and I hated to be trapped there until February!!!
I knew it wouldn't make any sense to pause again - nothing would change...never! - so I speculated how I could best spent my time on Mallorca until Christmas, when I would go back to Austria for two weeks..
There I stood, a passionate - well, probably more an obsessed - climber, for whom climbing was suddenly no option anymore, though being motivated as hell....what a shit!
But also I didn't want to rest again....I had definitely rested enough.
At the start of this new "episode" I still tried to do some indoor bouldering, but my skin got worse and worse and in the end I was mentally broken. I'm really not exaggerating....I suffered a lot. :-(
After some more thinking I finally I decided that it would be best to work on my lock-off-strenght, as it is for sure one of my limiting factors, as well as body-tension.
In this way I could still work on my climbing skills, but without risking my skin anymore.
During this time of some unwanted distance to climbing, I somehow started to change my mind.
It all began more or less out of nowhere...well no, that's not completely true.
My two closest friends in Mallorca have both a very positive attitude towards life.
Until then I was completely captured in my own climbing world; full of projects....and nothing else!
But now my mind was free, climbing seemed so far away and I started to enjoy other things.
Every single day I learned a lot from these friends and also by myself, being that free...that open minded!
I mean, all my friends try to help me somehow, and I appreciate it, but nevertheless they try to change me, or at least they give me the feeling that they want to change me.
With Davis (one of the two friends mentioned above) I could talk about all the problems bothering me, but he never told me to do this or that, he just showed me that he understands me and this felt much much better than every good advice.
Just by seeing his totally different approach towards climbing and life made me learning and was what changed my point of view.
I still love projecting. It's such an important part of my life to climb hard routes, that give me the feeling of climbing near or at my personal limits...
...but I'm doing it with less obsession now! Even if I maybe have a bad climbing day, I still enjoy being outside with my friends, and enjoying nature and so on.
If I gave everything, but just had a bad day (bad conditions, whatever), why should I curse the whole day..why should I be angry with me and the whole world!?
I still have to learn a lot, but I'm so glad to have realized this mistake before leaving Mallorca and all my lovely friends there.
But as I've said...I was and I am still a climber....I was still looking forward to doing some nice projects.
I trained hard and I wanted to try something hard during my "holidays in Austria." :)
Until the day where I started enjoying my stay I was counting days (until I can go home), and sometimes it seemed that time wasn't passing at all, but from then on everthing went fast and easily....nearly to fast, because I knew Davis would leave Mallorca on the 23rd and go back to the States...
With the feeling that nothing will be the same anymore when returning to Mallorca in January I left Mallorca with a quite strange mindset...happy but sad at the same time.
After landing in Vienna my mind got clearer again and I tried to focus on my plans for the next two weeks.
I had already chosen a project for my holidays...after 1 1/2 years of sport climbing I felt the desire to do some bouldering again.
In July I was working on some boulders, but only for training...and then the Austrian "summer" began (!rain rain rain!)
But I digress! On of the boulders I tried back this summer was the "Right Traverse" at Rapunzelwand in Peggau, a really nice 7c fb problem, deserving a better name.
It consists of two parts: the boulder (itself) and some endurance climbing afterwards.
The second part was no problem after checking out the movements and is probably something around 6c (?) itself.
Already on Monday (I arrived in Vienna on Sunday) I was out on the rocks to try it....and it looked promising, though I couldn't send it.
The rest I can shorten: The second day was supernice, but I was very tired, because I had partied two days before. The following day was even worse.....I was soooo tired. My muscles hurt and all in all I felt really bad.
And just a day after I was already sick.... :-(
I hope to convalesce and give it some more tries before leaving Austria for another 1 1/2 months, but if not it will be ok too.
I'm glad to have the certainty now, that my skin problems will not continue after returning to Austria in February, because my skin was nice as always during these 3 boulder-days here, at home! ;-)
Here is a video of my best try so far....it would have been only one more hard move to the beginning of the second and easier part of the traverse:
Nothing more to say than: Happy new year!!! See you in 2015! ;)
I had my best and my worst time in Mallorca; I was short before crying....from joy, but also from despair and anger!
But let's go back to the end of October, to my last post:
As I had planned, I took another break from climbing for recovering my rotten skin, to be able to do some hard climbing again.
After one week my skin seemed to be fine, but with my experiences from last time I decided not to go outside for one more week and just to train a bit in the climbing gym.
After these two weeks I was confident that it would work this time...and yes, it felt good.
I climed in Fraguel and my skin didn't get harmed...incredible, that was something new for me, here in Mallorca! There was nothing to be said against some more outdoor climbing.
 |
| This was my "new" project...French Kiss (8b, Fraguel). One day I will come back (with good skin) to do this beautiful line... |
Nice plan again, but reality was something different..
I couldn't even recover my skin with just climbing indoors... probably now I can't show all the emotions I had back then, but I would have liked to drive home immediately and I hated Mallorca!!!!
I hated to be on this cursed island and I hated to be trapped there until February!!!
I knew it wouldn't make any sense to pause again - nothing would change...never! - so I speculated how I could best spent my time on Mallorca until Christmas, when I would go back to Austria for two weeks..
There I stood, a passionate - well, probably more an obsessed - climber, for whom climbing was suddenly no option anymore, though being motivated as hell....what a shit!
But also I didn't want to rest again....I had definitely rested enough.
At the start of this new "episode" I still tried to do some indoor bouldering, but my skin got worse and worse and in the end I was mentally broken. I'm really not exaggerating....I suffered a lot. :-(
After some more thinking I finally I decided that it would be best to work on my lock-off-strenght, as it is for sure one of my limiting factors, as well as body-tension.
In this way I could still work on my climbing skills, but without risking my skin anymore.
During this time of some unwanted distance to climbing, I somehow started to change my mind.
It all began more or less out of nowhere...well no, that's not completely true.
My two closest friends in Mallorca have both a very positive attitude towards life.
Until then I was completely captured in my own climbing world; full of projects....and nothing else!
But now my mind was free, climbing seemed so far away and I started to enjoy other things.
Every single day I learned a lot from these friends and also by myself, being that free...that open minded!
I mean, all my friends try to help me somehow, and I appreciate it, but nevertheless they try to change me, or at least they give me the feeling that they want to change me.
With Davis (one of the two friends mentioned above) I could talk about all the problems bothering me, but he never told me to do this or that, he just showed me that he understands me and this felt much much better than every good advice.
Just by seeing his totally different approach towards climbing and life made me learning and was what changed my point of view.
I still love projecting. It's such an important part of my life to climb hard routes, that give me the feeling of climbing near or at my personal limits...
...but I'm doing it with less obsession now! Even if I maybe have a bad climbing day, I still enjoy being outside with my friends, and enjoying nature and so on.
If I gave everything, but just had a bad day (bad conditions, whatever), why should I curse the whole day..why should I be angry with me and the whole world!?
I still have to learn a lot, but I'm so glad to have realized this mistake before leaving Mallorca and all my lovely friends there.
But as I've said...I was and I am still a climber....I was still looking forward to doing some nice projects.
I trained hard and I wanted to try something hard during my "holidays in Austria." :)
Until the day where I started enjoying my stay I was counting days (until I can go home), and sometimes it seemed that time wasn't passing at all, but from then on everthing went fast and easily....nearly to fast, because I knew Davis would leave Mallorca on the 23rd and go back to the States...
With the feeling that nothing will be the same anymore when returning to Mallorca in January I left Mallorca with a quite strange mindset...happy but sad at the same time.
After landing in Vienna my mind got clearer again and I tried to focus on my plans for the next two weeks.
I had already chosen a project for my holidays...after 1 1/2 years of sport climbing I felt the desire to do some bouldering again.
In July I was working on some boulders, but only for training...and then the Austrian "summer" began (!rain rain rain!)
But I digress! On of the boulders I tried back this summer was the "Right Traverse" at Rapunzelwand in Peggau, a really nice 7c fb problem, deserving a better name.
It consists of two parts: the boulder (itself) and some endurance climbing afterwards.
The second part was no problem after checking out the movements and is probably something around 6c (?) itself.
Already on Monday (I arrived in Vienna on Sunday) I was out on the rocks to try it....and it looked promising, though I couldn't send it.
The rest I can shorten: The second day was supernice, but I was very tired, because I had partied two days before. The following day was even worse.....I was soooo tired. My muscles hurt and all in all I felt really bad.
And just a day after I was already sick.... :-(
I hope to convalesce and give it some more tries before leaving Austria for another 1 1/2 months, but if not it will be ok too.
I'm glad to have the certainty now, that my skin problems will not continue after returning to Austria in February, because my skin was nice as always during these 3 boulder-days here, at home! ;-)
Here is a video of my best try so far....it would have been only one more hard move to the beginning of the second and easier part of the traverse:
Nothing more to say than: Happy new year!!! See you in 2015! ;)
Sunday, 26 October 2014
2 months of desperation
Most of the time it might seem that climbing is just a lot of fun, hanging out with nice people and so on......ehm and......yes this is right!!?!!!
Ok, what I want to write about today is, that also climbing has its "dark" sides.
As this is MY blog I will not write to generally, but focus on the problem I have to deal with nowadays:
I'm always complaining a bit about my soft and sweaty skin. I have to chalk a lot, I meen really a lot.
But as it's my body, and I have no other, I have to deal with it...and to be honest: I'm quite used to it now, although I'm still complaining about it and it's in my mind evertime I am climbing when there are not so good conditions.
You can see that this topic bothers me a lot, and no it's not just imagination. I have compared quite often how some holds in the climbing gym look like after I used them, in comparison to someone else and there is a (big) difference!!!! After I used some holds, they are used to get this awful sweaty brownish look. -.-
Buuuut, and that's why I'm writing a post about this here, it's not just this....it got worse...
You know I have been to this bouldering spot named "Can Boquet" near Barcelona, when I was on my journey down to Mallorca. I was there....at the 30th august, so quite a long time ago.
I think I also wrote that it was very hot back then, like 32° or something...not the best bouldering conditions.
But I don't want to complain about the conditions at this day, I want to complain that I have completely rotten my skin at this spot, two months ago.
And you might know, that if the first layer(s) of skin is missing, it sweats a lot.
But as I normally have no skin problems except the ones I was writing about some lines above, I did not decide to make a bigger break or something and after just one rest day I was climbing again, to get to know some locals to climb with for the next months.
My skin got worse and worse and someday I knew that I have to pause in order to recover my skin completely. You know: as I wrote before I always have a sweaty skin and therfore everything is a bit slippery, but now movements that normally would get just a little bit harder, were simply impossible for me! My hands weren't a bit sweaty anymore, they were fucking wet. :(
But still I was climbing a litlle bit more because I refused to believe that this will be the only way out of my troubles.
Also some two 3-day-breaks couldn't recover my rotten skin and I got really desperate. Maybe you might think that I'm just a little baby (p..sy) crying about his baby skin problems, but when I say desperate I really mean DESPERATE! Like, when you are in a bad situation and you don't know how to get out, without getting harmed, anymore. It's no good feeling when you aren't able to go to personal limits anymore, but just slip of all the time...
So finally I stopped climbing outwards for one week. I did some training at the climbing gym, as this doesn't hurt my skin any further.
After 7 days without climbing outdoors, and you have to know that I really don't like indoor climbing, my skin got much better again, but still it hasn't recovered completely.
Nevertheless I was dumb enough to think that I'm over it and started once again.
It's not too hard to guess what happened next: yes, my skin got rotten again, and here we go! I'm sitting in front of my laptop, typing this damn lines, completely desperated as I know what's the only possibilty now:
At least a two-weeks-break, what's pretty much time during a 6-months stay. :(
This week I still will be working on my project, because I have to wait for november to buy a monthly ticket for the climbing gym, to not waste too much money.
But then I will have to rest.....or not really rest. Because this is the only thing that keeps me motivated. I will train hard during this 2 (or 3....or 4!!!) indoor-weeks!! And hopefully I will come back to my beloved rocks even stronger than before!!!!
P.s.: I changed my project. The one before was super-supercool, but I found another one that suits my style better and for sure it's as cool as the other one! :)
Ok, what I want to write about today is, that also climbing has its "dark" sides.
As this is MY blog I will not write to generally, but focus on the problem I have to deal with nowadays:
I'm always complaining a bit about my soft and sweaty skin. I have to chalk a lot, I meen really a lot.
But as it's my body, and I have no other, I have to deal with it...and to be honest: I'm quite used to it now, although I'm still complaining about it and it's in my mind evertime I am climbing when there are not so good conditions.
You can see that this topic bothers me a lot, and no it's not just imagination. I have compared quite often how some holds in the climbing gym look like after I used them, in comparison to someone else and there is a (big) difference!!!! After I used some holds, they are used to get this awful sweaty brownish look. -.-
Buuuut, and that's why I'm writing a post about this here, it's not just this....it got worse...
You know I have been to this bouldering spot named "Can Boquet" near Barcelona, when I was on my journey down to Mallorca. I was there....at the 30th august, so quite a long time ago.
I think I also wrote that it was very hot back then, like 32° or something...not the best bouldering conditions.
But I don't want to complain about the conditions at this day, I want to complain that I have completely rotten my skin at this spot, two months ago.
And you might know, that if the first layer(s) of skin is missing, it sweats a lot.
But as I normally have no skin problems except the ones I was writing about some lines above, I did not decide to make a bigger break or something and after just one rest day I was climbing again, to get to know some locals to climb with for the next months.
My skin got worse and worse and someday I knew that I have to pause in order to recover my skin completely. You know: as I wrote before I always have a sweaty skin and therfore everything is a bit slippery, but now movements that normally would get just a little bit harder, were simply impossible for me! My hands weren't a bit sweaty anymore, they were fucking wet. :(
But still I was climbing a litlle bit more because I refused to believe that this will be the only way out of my troubles.
Also some two 3-day-breaks couldn't recover my rotten skin and I got really desperate. Maybe you might think that I'm just a little baby (p..sy) crying about his baby skin problems, but when I say desperate I really mean DESPERATE! Like, when you are in a bad situation and you don't know how to get out, without getting harmed, anymore. It's no good feeling when you aren't able to go to personal limits anymore, but just slip of all the time...
So finally I stopped climbing outwards for one week. I did some training at the climbing gym, as this doesn't hurt my skin any further.
After 7 days without climbing outdoors, and you have to know that I really don't like indoor climbing, my skin got much better again, but still it hasn't recovered completely.
Nevertheless I was dumb enough to think that I'm over it and started once again.
It's not too hard to guess what happened next: yes, my skin got rotten again, and here we go! I'm sitting in front of my laptop, typing this damn lines, completely desperated as I know what's the only possibilty now:
At least a two-weeks-break, what's pretty much time during a 6-months stay. :(
 |
| I should't have started climbing too early again, after my first (7 days-) break. |
This week I still will be working on my project, because I have to wait for november to buy a monthly ticket for the climbing gym, to not waste too much money.
But then I will have to rest.....or not really rest. Because this is the only thing that keeps me motivated. I will train hard during this 2 (or 3....or 4!!!) indoor-weeks!! And hopefully I will come back to my beloved rocks even stronger than before!!!!
P.s.: I changed my project. The one before was super-supercool, but I found another one that suits my style better and for sure it's as cool as the other one! :)
 |
| My new project...the central line. Guess it's worth training for it in the gym a little bit. :) |
Saturday, 27 September 2014
Project X
Sorry guys,but as I'm living in Mallorca now and things are getting more "international" I thought about continuing my blog in English, and here we go!! ;)
I know my English is quite good, but I also know it's not the very best. So please forgive me my mistakes and just try to read (and maybe enjoy :-P) my blog without being annoyed by them.
In my last post I said, that I haven't found THE (one and only) project yet. So, things might have changed....no they have changed for sure.
I'm here in Mallorca for one month now, so I have only five more to go.
The last month was a month of searching for a route, that motivates me as hell! Of course I've climbed a lot, tried different crags, different routes with different style and so on...but nevertheless I was always searching for the right one....sounds like I'm talking about girls now. XD
When someone "only" got 6 months to climb in one place, many people would consider him to just climb as much as possible....easier routes, at onsight/flash level or a little bit above.
Well, that's what I'm being told pretty every day, but it's only their way, and just one possible out of many ones.
What I like the most is projecting. I feel more like a boulderer, just that I enjoy it more to climb with a rope than with a crashpad...don't know why; it's just a fact....as some people prefer chocolate pudding and some prefer vanilla pudding! :-P
It's that I really love this process of getting better at something that first seemed or was impossible. In the beginning you maybe can't even do one of the crux-moves, but finally one day, after a long period of small progresses you redpoint this damn whole thing, and it is indescribably awesome!
(P.s.: I prefer vanilla pudding!) :D
Ok, back to my story: For me it was absolutely clear that I have to find a cool project to spend a lot of time in.
One day a friend wanted to show me a special climbing spot in Mallorca, a secret sector. He was telling me about the routes, that they require a lot of endurance and so on.
So first I thought: "Fuck, I don't wanna go there, I wanna do some short bouldery routes, that suite my style of climbing!"
But in the end he pursuaded me, just to have a look at the crag for one day, because it should be a supernice setting, simply a beautiful place that I "must" have seen.
So we went there....uh yeah, I have to tell you another thing: it's necessary to hike upwards for about 30 min. That was another reason, why I wasn't too motivated first, because as I've written in my last post, it had more than 30° C every day.
When we arrived I thought that it looks quite good, but that I've seen many places like this yet.
But the thing is, that you first can't see the whole size of the cave. And then out of nowhere it appears in its real dimension and it's fuuuuuuucking impressive!!!!! Mind totally blown! :)
I stood there and had to realize, that this is for sure one of the best climbing sites I've ever seen, if not the very best!
After warming up in a pumpy 6b+ (which I couldn't do onsight or flash) I wanted to test something hard..my friend recommended me an 8a that seemed to be very nice. But the first quickdraw was missing and also the route to the right - an 8a+ according to the topo - looked simply awesome and it was completely mounted, so that such lazy guys like me don't have to bring something with them.
No way...I got to try it.
And paah, what can I say: it's crazy, man. It's crazy awesome. Absolutely not my style..dynamic, tidy overhanging, sustained and last but not least it has pretty big distances between the bolts...to sum it up: PURE ANTISTYLE! ;)
But, I fell completely in love with it....and: I'm progressing. There is still the last move missing at the crux part, but I heard that there exists a special trick do to this move and that the harder ones are benath it....so I already did the hardest part! (as single moves)!
I hope I will have enough time to project another route afterwards, but I'm quite confident, although it's hard to estimate the time it will take me to redpoint this beauty...
I know my English is quite good, but I also know it's not the very best. So please forgive me my mistakes and just try to read (and maybe enjoy :-P) my blog without being annoyed by them.
In my last post I said, that I haven't found THE (one and only) project yet. So, things might have changed....no they have changed for sure.
I'm here in Mallorca for one month now, so I have only five more to go.
The last month was a month of searching for a route, that motivates me as hell! Of course I've climbed a lot, tried different crags, different routes with different style and so on...but nevertheless I was always searching for the right one....sounds like I'm talking about girls now. XD
When someone "only" got 6 months to climb in one place, many people would consider him to just climb as much as possible....easier routes, at onsight/flash level or a little bit above.
Well, that's what I'm being told pretty every day, but it's only their way, and just one possible out of many ones.
What I like the most is projecting. I feel more like a boulderer, just that I enjoy it more to climb with a rope than with a crashpad...don't know why; it's just a fact....as some people prefer chocolate pudding and some prefer vanilla pudding! :-P
It's that I really love this process of getting better at something that first seemed or was impossible. In the beginning you maybe can't even do one of the crux-moves, but finally one day, after a long period of small progresses you redpoint this damn whole thing, and it is indescribably awesome!
(P.s.: I prefer vanilla pudding!) :D
Ok, back to my story: For me it was absolutely clear that I have to find a cool project to spend a lot of time in.
One day a friend wanted to show me a special climbing spot in Mallorca, a secret sector. He was telling me about the routes, that they require a lot of endurance and so on.
So first I thought: "Fuck, I don't wanna go there, I wanna do some short bouldery routes, that suite my style of climbing!"
But in the end he pursuaded me, just to have a look at the crag for one day, because it should be a supernice setting, simply a beautiful place that I "must" have seen.
So we went there....uh yeah, I have to tell you another thing: it's necessary to hike upwards for about 30 min. That was another reason, why I wasn't too motivated first, because as I've written in my last post, it had more than 30° C every day.
When we arrived I thought that it looks quite good, but that I've seen many places like this yet.
But the thing is, that you first can't see the whole size of the cave. And then out of nowhere it appears in its real dimension and it's fuuuuuuucking impressive!!!!! Mind totally blown! :)
I stood there and had to realize, that this is for sure one of the best climbing sites I've ever seen, if not the very best!
After warming up in a pumpy 6b+ (which I couldn't do onsight or flash) I wanted to test something hard..my friend recommended me an 8a that seemed to be very nice. But the first quickdraw was missing and also the route to the right - an 8a+ according to the topo - looked simply awesome and it was completely mounted, so that such lazy guys like me don't have to bring something with them.
No way...I got to try it.
And paah, what can I say: it's crazy, man. It's crazy awesome. Absolutely not my style..dynamic, tidy overhanging, sustained and last but not least it has pretty big distances between the bolts...to sum it up: PURE ANTISTYLE! ;)
 |
| Bartek in front of "my" route. |
 |
| Quite overhanging...more than it seems on this photo |
 |
| View from inside the cave |
I hope I will have enough time to project another route afterwards, but I'm quite confident, although it's hard to estimate the time it will take me to redpoint this beauty...
Wednesday, 3 September 2014
Mallorca...one way! :)
Hallihallo. Ja es gibt mich noch. :)
Nur war diesen Sommer nicht gerade viel zu schreiben, bei diesem Sauwetter.
Aber nun kann es mir ja egal sein! Warum?!
Ganz einfach: weil ich mich bei täglich 30° C und Sonnenschein auf Mallorca befinde, und das nicht ohne Grund.
Diesmal ist es mal kein Klettertrip der mich ins Ausland verschlägt. Ich bin nämlich hier in Mallorca und mache ein Erasmus-Semester....wobei das Klettern sicher nicht zu kurz kommen wird und - ich geb's ja eh zu - bei der Platzwahl durchaus eine wichtige Rolle gespielt hat. ;)
Vor zweieinhalb Jahren (Februar 2012) war ich schon mal hier und verbrachte meinen ersten Klettertrip auf der Insel. Er war absolut genial und wird mir immer bestens in Erinnerung bleiben, auch weil ich hier meine erste 7a und 7a+ klettern konnte.
Aber zurück zum hier und jetzt!
Mallorca ist nun nicht allzu groß, aber doch groß genug, dass eine etwaige Anreise zu den Kletterspots mit Öffis doch ziemlich zäh bzw teilweise unmöglich wäre.
Deshalb war bald klar, dass ich mit dem Auto hinunterfahren würde, um auch während meines Erasmus-Aufenthalts mobil zu bleiben. Nun: gesagt, getan! Und hier bin ich nun. Seit mittlerweile drei Tagen auf Malle und ich war schon zwei komplette Tage am Fels! Deshalb muss ich heute leider Ruhetag machen und lasse meine Motivation eben hier in meinem Blog freien Lauf. :-P
Wovon ich aber eigentlich erzählen will, ist meine Reise "herunter". Nicht in allen Details natürlich, denn so spannend war es dann auch wieder nicht, aber zumindest einiges weniges. und zuguterletzt kommt natürlich auch etwas klettertechnisches ins Spiel...ist ja ein Kletter-Blog...gg..
Ok ich merke gerade, es ist wirklich nicht sonderlich interessant deswegen mach ichs mal ultrakurz:
Die Straßen in Österreich sind scheiße, in Italien sind sie gut. Ich finde das System mit kilometerbezogener Maut sehr gut, auch wenns natürlich teuer ist. Das italienische System finde ich ohnehin einfach insgesamt recht schlüssig. Ich habe mein Ticket kurz nach der Grenze gelöst und erst kurz vor der französischen Grenze, alles auf einmal bezahlt was sehr angenehm ist. Auch ist mir aufgefallen dass es nur ganz wenige Leute gibt , die richtig schnell fahren....wohl wegen der beträchtlichen Strafen. Aber das ist doch gut so!
Was natürlich echt brutal ist, sind die Benzinpreise in Italien. Unglaublich!
In Frankreich ist es sehr ähnlich, doch ist der Sprit deutlich billiger. Was mich allerdings störte und was mit der Zeit ziemlich anstrengend ist, sind die vielen Mautstationen. Im Gegensatz zu Italien zahlt man hier nämlich jeden Streckenabschnitt einzeln.. :/
Zu Spanien kann ich nicht viel sagen, weil es nur ca 170 km ab der französischen Grenze bis Barcelona sind, aber es ist ähnlich wie in Frankreich, allerdings deutlich weniger anstrengend mit den Mautstationen und der Spritpreis ist hier richtig okay...ca österreichisches Niveau würd ich sagen.
Oje, dass war jetzt ja doch sehr lange. Sorry!
Ohne Probleme in Barcelona angekommen, hatte ich einen Ruhetag, der als Reserve dienen sollte, falls irgendetwas schief lief.
Ich hatte mir schon zu Hause angesehen, dass es ganz in der Nähe ein gar nicht so kleines Urgesteins-Bouldergebiet namens "Can Boquet" gibt (weiß nicht ob es Granit ist..?).
Das wollte ich nun natürlich auschecken. Nach ein paar Problemen bei der Wegfindung befand ich mich endlich bei den Felsen und war begeistert. Coole Linien und für jeden was dabei...von leicht bis schwer.
Ich fragte gleich ein paar Einheimische nach coolen Bouldern nachdem ich zuvor an einem 6B+ Teil kläglich gescheiert war.
Alles in allem war es dann ein echt cooler Tag mit zwei netten Spaniern.
Allerdings wollte mir einfach nichts schwereres als 6A+ gelingen!! Bei einem 7A Sprungboulder war ich recht knapp dran, aber das war es auch schon.
Was solls, zum trainieren hat es allemal gereicht und es ist wohl normal dass man sich an eine so unbekannte Felsart erst gewöhnen müsste bzw waren natürlich auch die Verhältnisse mit ca 30° und nur Halbschatten sicherlich nicht optimal. Vielleicht schau ich ja bei der Heimreise nochmals vorbei. ;)
Ansonsten ist nicht mehr viel zu sagen. Von Barcelona ging es mit der Fähre nach Mallorca und wie gesagt hier bin ich nun!
Gestern hab ich mir ein Projekt ausgecheckt.....saugeil das Teil. Aber ich weiß noch nicht ob es DAS Projekt für meinen Aufenthalt wird, weil diese Wand im Winter meistens recht feucht sein soll und es dort ziemlich windig ist. Mal sehen.
Wenn es wieder was erzählenswertes gibt, schreib ichs hier nieder! ;D
Und ich werde hier noch ein, zwei Videos vom Bouldern hochladen...heute Abend oder morgen..
Nur war diesen Sommer nicht gerade viel zu schreiben, bei diesem Sauwetter.
Aber nun kann es mir ja egal sein! Warum?!
Ganz einfach: weil ich mich bei täglich 30° C und Sonnenschein auf Mallorca befinde, und das nicht ohne Grund.
Diesmal ist es mal kein Klettertrip der mich ins Ausland verschlägt. Ich bin nämlich hier in Mallorca und mache ein Erasmus-Semester....wobei das Klettern sicher nicht zu kurz kommen wird und - ich geb's ja eh zu - bei der Platzwahl durchaus eine wichtige Rolle gespielt hat. ;)
Vor zweieinhalb Jahren (Februar 2012) war ich schon mal hier und verbrachte meinen ersten Klettertrip auf der Insel. Er war absolut genial und wird mir immer bestens in Erinnerung bleiben, auch weil ich hier meine erste 7a und 7a+ klettern konnte.
Aber zurück zum hier und jetzt!
Mallorca ist nun nicht allzu groß, aber doch groß genug, dass eine etwaige Anreise zu den Kletterspots mit Öffis doch ziemlich zäh bzw teilweise unmöglich wäre.
Deshalb war bald klar, dass ich mit dem Auto hinunterfahren würde, um auch während meines Erasmus-Aufenthalts mobil zu bleiben. Nun: gesagt, getan! Und hier bin ich nun. Seit mittlerweile drei Tagen auf Malle und ich war schon zwei komplette Tage am Fels! Deshalb muss ich heute leider Ruhetag machen und lasse meine Motivation eben hier in meinem Blog freien Lauf. :-P
Wovon ich aber eigentlich erzählen will, ist meine Reise "herunter". Nicht in allen Details natürlich, denn so spannend war es dann auch wieder nicht, aber zumindest einiges weniges. und zuguterletzt kommt natürlich auch etwas klettertechnisches ins Spiel...ist ja ein Kletter-Blog...gg..
Ok ich merke gerade, es ist wirklich nicht sonderlich interessant deswegen mach ichs mal ultrakurz:
Die Straßen in Österreich sind scheiße, in Italien sind sie gut. Ich finde das System mit kilometerbezogener Maut sehr gut, auch wenns natürlich teuer ist. Das italienische System finde ich ohnehin einfach insgesamt recht schlüssig. Ich habe mein Ticket kurz nach der Grenze gelöst und erst kurz vor der französischen Grenze, alles auf einmal bezahlt was sehr angenehm ist. Auch ist mir aufgefallen dass es nur ganz wenige Leute gibt , die richtig schnell fahren....wohl wegen der beträchtlichen Strafen. Aber das ist doch gut so!
Was natürlich echt brutal ist, sind die Benzinpreise in Italien. Unglaublich!
In Frankreich ist es sehr ähnlich, doch ist der Sprit deutlich billiger. Was mich allerdings störte und was mit der Zeit ziemlich anstrengend ist, sind die vielen Mautstationen. Im Gegensatz zu Italien zahlt man hier nämlich jeden Streckenabschnitt einzeln.. :/
Zu Spanien kann ich nicht viel sagen, weil es nur ca 170 km ab der französischen Grenze bis Barcelona sind, aber es ist ähnlich wie in Frankreich, allerdings deutlich weniger anstrengend mit den Mautstationen und der Spritpreis ist hier richtig okay...ca österreichisches Niveau würd ich sagen.
Oje, dass war jetzt ja doch sehr lange. Sorry!
Ohne Probleme in Barcelona angekommen, hatte ich einen Ruhetag, der als Reserve dienen sollte, falls irgendetwas schief lief.
Ich hatte mir schon zu Hause angesehen, dass es ganz in der Nähe ein gar nicht so kleines Urgesteins-Bouldergebiet namens "Can Boquet" gibt (weiß nicht ob es Granit ist..?).
Das wollte ich nun natürlich auschecken. Nach ein paar Problemen bei der Wegfindung befand ich mich endlich bei den Felsen und war begeistert. Coole Linien und für jeden was dabei...von leicht bis schwer.
Ich fragte gleich ein paar Einheimische nach coolen Bouldern nachdem ich zuvor an einem 6B+ Teil kläglich gescheiert war.
Alles in allem war es dann ein echt cooler Tag mit zwei netten Spaniern.
Allerdings wollte mir einfach nichts schwereres als 6A+ gelingen!! Bei einem 7A Sprungboulder war ich recht knapp dran, aber das war es auch schon.
 |
| Coole 6A+ in Can Boquet |
Was solls, zum trainieren hat es allemal gereicht und es ist wohl normal dass man sich an eine so unbekannte Felsart erst gewöhnen müsste bzw waren natürlich auch die Verhältnisse mit ca 30° und nur Halbschatten sicherlich nicht optimal. Vielleicht schau ich ja bei der Heimreise nochmals vorbei. ;)
Ansonsten ist nicht mehr viel zu sagen. Von Barcelona ging es mit der Fähre nach Mallorca und wie gesagt hier bin ich nun!
 |
| Kurz vor dem Einparken |
 |
| Die Fähre nach Malle |
Gestern hab ich mir ein Projekt ausgecheckt.....saugeil das Teil. Aber ich weiß noch nicht ob es DAS Projekt für meinen Aufenthalt wird, weil diese Wand im Winter meistens recht feucht sein soll und es dort ziemlich windig ist. Mal sehen.
Wenn es wieder was erzählenswertes gibt, schreib ichs hier nieder! ;D
Und ich werde hier noch ein, zwei Videos vom Bouldern hochladen...heute Abend oder morgen..
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