Peak to Creek

As I often do, one evening I was staring up at the mountains contemplating, when my phone rang; it was Lukas 'Sir' Ennemoser.

"Stew!"

A short silence.

"Yes Lu, what's up?"

"What are you doing next Monday?" 

"Why?" 

"There is this event in Oetztal, Jan Ullrich will be there and loads of other famous athletes, we just need to climb a route, it'll be easy!"

I was obviously keen on taking part and checked out what Lu had got me into. It turned out to be a relay race from Soelden to Oetz involving most of the outdoor sports that Oetztal has to offer. Some big names in alpine skiing, mountain biking, mountain running, cycling, ski-touring, para-gliding and kayaking were involved and I felt privileged to be a part of it. We were split into 3 teams involving one athlete from every sport in the race. My team consisted of Guenter Mader (alpine skiing), Simon Scheiber (mountain biking), Markus kroell (mountain running), Jan Ullrich (cycling), Alexander Fasser (ski-touring), Thomas De Dorlodot (Paragliding) and Jakobus Stenglein (kayak). As the teams raced through the valley of Oetztal, locals were confused by the chaos and the deafening noise of the Red Bull helicopter following the athletes. The teams ended up in rafting boats in Oetz and we all paddled like mad men to the finishing line at Area47 to be greeted by a beach party with a Red Bull stunt plane flying over-head. A fantastic event.

Peak to Creek Video

BWC Vienna

This year's competitions are not going too well so far. I can't seem to get into the all-important mental zone at the moment. I feel stronger than I have in previous years but seem to have lost confidence. The field is, as always, very strong and one is unfortunately left no room for mistakes. I have just over two weeks before the next event where i'll be attempting to climb on the rock as much as possible and regaining the invaluable confidence an athlete needs in competitions. The competition season, however, is going very well for some climbers. Shauna climbed exceptionally well and finished in 4th. Dave Barrans just missed the semi-final and the Austrian Team are on fire. The next round is in Innsbruck. It's going to be a mega event.

BWC Log-Dragomer

The 2nd round of the 2012 Bouldering World Cup was held in the small Slovenian village of Log-Dragomer just outside of Ljubljana. Jacky Godoffe was the chief route setter so some interesting blocs/puzzles were to be expected.

I went into the event physically well prepared but just couldn’t get into the all important mental zone. The competition field is so strong at present and there’s literally no room for mistakes. I was having a bad day and that cost me a place into the semi-final. I finished 23rd.

Dave Barrans was climbing very well and made it into the semi-final on Sunday where he climbed 2 blocs finishing in 17th.

A real highlight of the event was watching Shauna Coxsey cruising through the qualification and semi-final into the final where she climbed incredibly well finishing 2nd after an awe-inspiring performance from Mina Markovic.

The next event is in Vienna starting this Friday. Tomasz Oleksy is the chief route setter, so powerful moves between crimps are to be expected! 

More info on the next event can be found here IFSC BWC Vienna

Austria-Cup Hallein

The second round of the Austrian Bouldering Cup was held in Hallein. It was a great comp to test how my training is going. I felt strong on some certain styles and less confident on others. I ended up in 4th behind Jakob, Kili and Lu. Lu and myself have some ideas for the next few weeks to finely tune our training ready for the 2012 Bouldering World Cup season. This year's training has gone incredibly quickly. I think it's due to trying a few new ideas throughout the different phases and doing lots of cross-training i.e. back country skiing.

The first round of the BWC is in Log-Dragomer (SLO) 21st April, but in the meantime we'll be heading up to Munich for a training weekend and over to Tessin for some granite bouldering.

Fontainebleau Trip

Back from a week in the magical forest of Fontainebleau. The weather was on our side as we moved from area to area climbing some of the most inspiring lines around. We worked our way through some incredible boulders such as Kheops, L'Apparemment, Partage, Hot Line, Lady Big Claque and many more. 

We spent one day at Jacky Godoffe's bouldering wall at the military station in the old town of Fontainebleau to train on some competition style blocs set by a group of route setters including my good friend Jamie Cassidy. 

I am looking forward to 2012, competing in the bouldering circuit and making inspiring trips like this one.

Here are a few images from the trip captured by Heiko Wilhelm.

Ski Touring

2011

2011 has been a great year full of highs and lows. I am looking forward to 2012, it's going to be an interesting year trying to live new adventures in my life. I'll be doing a few comps in Europe, trying projects at the local crags, dipping my toes into the World of alpine climbing but most of all making big changes in my career. I have big decisions to make to progress and this is the year to make them.

Have a good one guys.