Autumn Days

Went to Tumpen Bloc yesterday and climbed an amazing new problem 'Autumn Days' (V10). It starts standing and you pull off the ground on two crimps and place a right heel hook on a thin edge and slap all-out to a slopey edge, slap again and then rock over onto a slab. One of the best problems in Tumpen. Tumpen Bloc is getting some traffic now and it's great to see so many climbers enjoying the area.

I have been trad-climbing alot recently and went to a local crag today with Elias to climb some classic routes ohne bolts....It feels great to be getting used to placing gear and think we're going to climb a new route soon....it's going to be crazy. I think it's a good job that I'm not based in the UK at the moment...I KNOW I'd end up on some hard grit route. There is one route that I would love to climb: Equilibrium. Who knows...........................................

European Bouldering Championships

Location: Bercy, Paris
Position: =25th
Feeling: Satisfied
Due to a high number of competitors, the qualification round is now split, so there are 40 climbers in both groups climbing different problems. The top-10 from each group makes it into the semi-final. I finished 12th in my group missing the semi by an attempt. Ned climbed well in his group and made it into the semi-final where he continued to climb strong and finished 16th. The final was very inspiring.....I now know exactly what I'm missing and will get to work on it asap. A good finish to the season and I'm looking forward to next year. The 2009 World Cup is going to be mega...lots of travelling!

Tao 8c

On saturday morning I looked out my window and snow greeted me....the thought of getting back on this beautiful route this year vanished. I ended up in the bouldering wall training with Luki und Heiko and we made some amazing blocs with loads of crazy moves, Luki climbed one of the craziest dynos I have ever seen...to put it bluntly he is an absolute beast! Sunday arrived and I looked out at snow covered mountains and a crystal clear blue sky...I was psyched!

Piburger is another crag you can find in Oetztal. It's located above a beautiful lake surrounded by snow peaked mountains. The routes are steep and involve athletic moves between amazing granite holds. Tao starts on this little ledge high above the trees with some really aggressive shouldery moves on bad footholds, it then leads into continuous technical climbing with some really long moves on goodish holds to finish. The route is a proper PE type route and I'm well happy to have made the 5th ascent.

Pic: Kili climbing at Piburger (H.Wilhelm)