UK Trip

Just got from England and had a brilliant but short trip. On Friday we went to Stanage and the conditions were amazing and I was loving climbing on the Grit. I warmed-up and climbed the Joker V11. I've wanted to do the Joker for ages but have never found the right conditions. It's really nice when you catch the last sloper perfectly and then just swing to the jug...classic problem...well pleased. On Saturday I went to the Climbing Works for Team Training and had a really good training day but it was so cold in the Works. We spent Sunday in Manchester and back to Stanage on Monday. It was really warm on Monday ad impossible to climb hard in the Sun, But climbed Not to be Taken Away and Sabby climbed Brad Pitt!

UK Trip Booked

The weather is perfect here at the moment. Last week I went to Niederthai and attempted 'Brandy Tarte' Fr8c, I quickly got all the moves done and climbed it in two halves. I had already tried the route 2 years ago but couldn't do the crux involving a crazy lock to a 3-finger pinch and a powerful move to a flat hold. It snowed last night, so the route could be wet now, but will hopefully try it on Thursday if the sun keeps shining...not long before Mordor is ready!! Feeling strong. Heading back to the Uk later this month..will probably try the Ace or Voyager sit. Hope the weather will be good!?!

Training and skiing

I have just 2 more weeks of my system training..it's going very well, but I'm looking forward to starting the next period of my training which will involve campus board, fingerboarding and hard boulders. On a skiing front, it hasn't snowed here for a few weeks....but we managed to go on an incredible ski tour. It took around 4 hours of climbing until we were on top of the mountain "High Wasserfall" Oetztaler Alpen. The view was incredible and the ski down was amazing with perfect powder snow. Hope it snows soon.....

Weekend in Cresciano and Chironico

I can't believe I've never been to these two amazing bouldering areas.....there's a crazy amount of stuff to do! We stayed with Gaz, Martin, Liam and Micky in Claro on Saturday night and they talked about so many good problems that I need to climb....I got crazily psyched and couldn't sleep that night because all i could think about was climbing. On Saturday, me and sabby made the 3.5hr trip from Laengenfeld to Cresciano. We warmed up and went up to the "La Pelle" bloc. I climbed the direct method of "La Pelle" V12 within 5 minutes and then spotted Sabby on the 7b+/7c to the right. It went dark pretty fast so i couldn't try anything else in cresciano. We wanted to go to Brione on Sunday but Martin didn't feel too well, so we headed to Chironico instead. I was quite psyched to try and flash "Schule des Lebens" V13. I had a go and got through to the move up to a sloper just before top and my foot popped...after a few more attempts I did it. I then went on "No Mystery" V12 and did it first go. Here is a pic of me climbing "No Mystery":

I spotted sabby on "That Goes Left" V10 and then went to "Miss Swiss" V11 and watched Gaz and Micky dispatch. The problem is really high but climbs amazingly involving big moves on positive crimps. I flashed the problem and didn't look down. Can't wait to go back.

Ski Instructor and Physio

For the last month and a half I have been taking part in a ski instructor course run by SnowSport Tirol. It was pretty intense because the whole thing was in German. Yesterday was the exam and I was pretty nervous. First was the theory section and I'd revised loads so it wasn't too bad and then came the practical part...I was so nervous but managed to ski ok and passed that too....phew. I really do believe that climbing has helped me through some of the hardest things that I have had to overcome in my life, for example in the ski instructing course, the first day I harldy understood anything and I felt like giving up but my inner drive just pushed and I basically learnt all the German around skiing everyday for 4 weeks. Climbing has taught me so much about self-belief and motivation...it really is a fantastic sport. Anyway, so now I'm a ski instructor in Tirol and I have a physio job in Imst starting soon but in the meantime I'll probably do some ski teaching to earn some money.

Belasten V12

We had to abondon a trip to Brione due to bad weather so I headed to Tumpen for a few hours to try my little proj there. The problem involves just 2 moves up a really steep face on the craziest crimps I've ever pulled on...normally i like crimps but these are just too small. Pulling on must be v10 alone and then you have to get into this weird eygptian and make a move up and left to this one finger crimp..when you have this you have to weight it and pop to a goodish hold and keep the tension to hold to the swing. The problem is called 'Belasten' meaning 'to weight it' and I've graded it hard v12.

Training

I have finished the first phase of my training plan last week and I am starting to feel very fit which means my body is ready to start training hard. The second phase will take me up to Christmas and once thats finished I am ready to start specific training for my 2008 goals. I am really looking foward to Jan'08 because I have some trips to Switzerland planned. It's going to be hard to keep disciplined during December because I am so psyched to get over to Brione to try "Vechia", because it is just 3 hours away! Maybe I'll head over for a weekend to give it a go.