2012

2012 began in the wild fisherman’s village of Whitby, contemplating the year ahead on long coastal walks, with the stormy sea blowing in the wind and in the historical White Horse and Griffin, where sailers from the past rested before their next adventures.

The rest of the Winter was spent training, snow shoveling, lots of ski-touring and free-riding on clouds of deep white dust.

A short trip to Fontainebleau prepared me for the competition season. In Fontainebleau we climbed some classics and some more classics, dreamt about climbing some other classics and so on...it was an awesome trip. However, the competition season started off slow for me. I felt physically prepared but was unable to find the right mental zone required in order to be able to compete well. I had a few lonely training sessions on my fingerboard and at the bouldering wall where I was able to find the balance again. At the following round of the Bouldering World Cup in Innsbruck I finished 6th in the final. I drove home knowing that the rest of my year would be a good one. I finished 6th at the final round of the Bouldering World Cup in Munich and it was a satisfying feeling turning my competition season into a good one.

The year has been full of different rock projects and with the totally unexpected finding of a new climbing area in Ötztal I was able to pick, bolt, clean and climb some new lines. Some major highlights of the year include making the first ascents of some older projects in Ötztal; ‘Ganesha’ and ‘Don Pedro’.  Another major highlight was climbing the classic ‘Wall Street’ in Frankenjura with my Dad and Sabby, it was just an awesome weekend desperately trying to stay warm during a fierce cold front.

The year finished free-riding through Polles Tal in Ötztal with some good friends and, as the winter sun set, I found myself in a new setting contemplating the new year ahead. 

Let’s see what 2013 brings!

Wall Street

In 1987 Wolfgang Güllich established the World's first 8c with 'Wall Street' in Frankenjura. 1987!
Sabby and I met my Dad in Frankenjura for a short climbing trip. We'd hoped for perfect conditions and to get loads of climbing done. What awaited us was quite the opposite. On Saturday it snowed and we ended up at the 'Fight Club' bouldering wall in Betzenstein. On Sunday we awoke to beautiful weather but freezing temperatures. We were optimistic and decided to head to the crag. After a really cold uninspiring warm-up, we got stuck into our routes on the Krottenseer Turm. I clipped up 'Wall Street' and worked out the moves again. It felt really cold and I was pretty close to giving up. I gave the route 2 attempts and fell both times on the last hard move due to freezing fingers. My skin wasn't looking good and I knew I had just one more go left. I gave it everything and clipped the chains in relief. My skin was destroyed. Sabby and my Dad battled it out on the Turm for a another few hours before we retired back to a warm gasthaus for some Weissbier and steak.

Don Pedro

Niederthai in Oetztal never seems to stop giving. Every year there is something new to climb. A few months ago I went up to Niederthai with Hansjörg Auer. He was trying a route, and I wasn't sure what to try. We started to talk about some projects in Niederthai and 'Don Pedro' became the obvious one to attempt. Local legend Markus Haid bolted and named the route after a speciality found in South Africa. Don Pedro started to build a reputation as this extremely hard short bouldery route next to Markus's classic Brandy Tarte. The route revolves around one really hard technical/powerful all-out dynamic move to a narrow pocket. I needed a good few attempts just to complete this move and realised that the route was possible. It took me many attempts to learn the strange body movement involved and after 6 days of effort this year I was able to make the first ascent of Don Pedro. I think the route is a hard 8c+. Hansjörg gave the route the nickname 'Hubble/Humble', it would be awesome if it became the Austrian equivalent of Ben Moon's classic Hubble. Time will tell. 

Here is a video of the ascent.

Don Pedro

Frankenjura Sep'12

A 3 week trip to France was planned but due to a busy practice the plan had to change. Living near Innsbruck is actually really good. One is pretty much in the best location for climbing in Europe with some of the best climbing areas just driving distance away. With Frankenjura just 3.5 hours away, Sabby and I decided to spend a week pulling on pockets. The first few days were really cold with our fingers freezing half way up the routes. After a day mountain biking on some of the best single trails I have ever experienced, the temperatures improved, and we started to really move on the rock. I climbed some awesome routes including Markus Bock's Paroli (8c), Morlock Shocker (8b) and Odins Tafel (8b). The climbing in Frankenjura requires a certain amount of control and there doesn't seem to be room for mistakes on the harder routes. I really like this style of climbing and I am going to work on a few weaknesses before returning for a long weekend at the end of October.  

BWC Munich

The final round of the 2012 bouldering Worldcup was held at the Olympic Stadium in Munich. The location of the event was incredible with a huge glass roof sheltering the blocs and crowd from the thunderstorms that hit Munich throughout the weekend. 

Since the Adidas Rockstars event I really focused on training.  I went running, mountain biked to the boulder room and worked on my core strength. I wanted to do well. I really wanted to be able to give everything and I felt really prepared going into the event. The qualification round went well and I qualified for the semi-final. 

The Semi-final was going to be hard. I knew that I had to just try and flash as many blocs as I could to stand a chance for a place in the final. The first bloc went ok, I managed to get the bonus 1st go but powered out higher up. The next 3 blocs suited me perfectly and I managed to flash them. I looked up at the results table and saw that I'd qualified for the final in 3rd place!

The final was unbelievable with the crowd pushing the athletes up the athletic boulders. I felt strong but on the very last boulder after a good flash attempt I found a flaw in my fitness and was unable to recover for another good go. I finished 6th.

Ganesha, Elefanten Wand

Some time back Hansjörg Auer and Heiko Wilhelm found a new wall in Ötztal and named it ‘Elephants Wall’. Hansjörg had bolted one particular line that slowly built up a grand reputation as one of the hardest routes in Ötztal. He eventually opened it for others to try in 2011. Lukas Ennemoser and I started to attempt the project towards the end of last year. We were both making good progress before the winter arrived. We often talked about the route on dark wintry training nights and deep down we both wanted to claim the first ascent.

A short break form the Bouldering World Cups allowed me to climb more on the rock and I worked my way through some routes and boulder problems that I’d planned to do. I wanted a challenge and I became really psyched for Hansjörg’s project again. I had a few sessions on my fingerboard to improve my open hand strength and a few sessions at the wall to improve my boulder strength. After a few days work, I was able to complete the project on Saturday 7th July and named it ‘Ganesha’ and estimated the grade to be around Fr8c/+. It certainly feels harder than the routes graded Fr8c that I have climbed.

There is an extension to Ganesha that I am going to start trying as soon as I am back from the UK.

Moria, Niederthai

It was 35°C in Längenfeld on Saturday. The only place to climb was Niederthai. We walked through the forest to the wall where cold air shoots up through the gaps between the boulders. Niederthai always feels special. It's a place that's filled with history and is often a good place to escape.

I had tried Moria (8b+/c) a few times but never found it in good conditions. The route was first climbed by Heiko Wilhelm in 2005 and was originally named 'Wilhelm's Platte'. The route was totally dry and after placing the quickdraws and refining my sequence, I climbed it. I have never climbed a route of this difficulty that is as technical as Moria.