Posts Tagged ‘rocks’
Here is another video from a famous climber, this time it’s the cute girly climnber from the USA.
In March of 2012, 5 months after her historic ascent of “Pure Imagination” -Adidas team athlete- Sasha DiGiulian, traveled to Spain in search of her next level. After a month of searching for a route that suited her best, she once again climbed the grade of 9a (5.14d) with her ascent of “Era Vella” in Margalef.
Sasha remains the only American women to climb the grade of 5.14d (9a). Keith Ladzinski and Andy Mann(3 Strings Productions) were there to capture her efforts and tell the story.
Have fun watching this video!
Lately I haven’t spotted many climbing videos on the web. Fortunately I did find one cool video on the webpage of Petzl that is worth sharing. This dude and chick rocks. Have fun watching!
Wow I just saw a wicked climbing movie!
Put some super talented climbers together, with a filmcrew and you’ll have this nice video as a result. It’s nice to see how hard Adam needs to work in this route, nonetheless the camera point of views are great as well.
Check out this movie. You’ll love it!
Background information:
“Black Diamond athlete Adam Ondra made the first ascent of Chaxi Raxi, a massive 9b line at Oliana, Spain in late April. This is likely one of the hardest sport climb in the world. We had Bernardo Gimenez on the scene to document Adam’s efforts and he was fortunate enough to be there for the redpoint. Below is the outstanding video Bernardo edited together, as well as brief recap from Adam. Stunning. Impressive. Inspiring. Absolutely bad ass. Congratulations, Adam.”
Oliana is one of my favorite areas in the whole region of northern Spain. It’s a stunning 50-meter long wall of orange and blue limestone with complex climbing. The wall dries out rather quickly, so I had the opportunity to try out one of projects that Chris bolted called Chaxi Raxi already the first day after the period of rain. It felt very difficult at the beginning, especially the very first crux. I could do every single move, but to link two of them seemed incredibly difficult. The top part seemed more possible—I could link the moves without serious problems except two of them, where I found terrible extra-powerful beta skipping two holds, until Chris told me to try it differently, a much more crimpy and static way. Though crimps are what I excel at and Chris prefers big moves on reasonable holds, our initial betas had been completely the other way around.
Getting back to Chaxi Raxi, I stunned myself that I managed to send the easier variation, skipping the first bouldery section via a detour of 7b, which could be around 9a+ on its own right. There was the time now to work a lot on the lower boulder problem and then I might be able send. But that was hard. I didn’t go very well, but I steadily kept progressing, and the sixth day I manged to get through the first crux, which could a hard 8B+ boulder problem on its own. I took a rest on the tufa and continued. I made it through the crux sections, but in the end of the last difficult, being 100% confident of success, my left heel slipped. And I did not manage to get through the bottom again that day. I got through it once on my 7th day, I fell a few moves below my highpoint, as I didn’t hit the hold right while making dynamic move. I got pretty nervous, since I knew I was able to send it, but I had mere one day left and there are so many sections to make a tiny mistake which might ruin my attempt and also the day, because it is very hard to link the bottom twice in a day. On the first go of my last day, I made it through the first crux somehow, got to the rest and stayed there for a few minutes. This rest is actually enormously useful for the whole route, without the place to shake out it would be undoubtedly 9b+, but it is also a place where you can easily get nervous and think about potential failure. That is what happened to me. The way I continued climbing one can’t call efficient at all, but the route was tiny bit below my absolute limit after eight days of work, and despite getting pumped, I got somehow to the anchor and could enjoy the feeling of victory on the last day of the trip yet again. This is probably my hardest route I have ever done.
— Adam
After I’ve returned from Fontaine Bleau, all I wanted was to climb more on sandstone. My next weekend was already planned with another climbing trip.
A few days ago I contacted Jérôme again to make plans about Berdorf. It was my initiative to enjoy outdoors again in the forest. The advantage of Berdorf compared to Bleau is that the distance is somewhat shorter from Eindhoven. It’s about 3 hours of driving. Berdorf is a small village in Luxembourg and you can enjoy the sandstone structure in routes.
Friday afternoon we left Eindhoven. We expected to arrive about 3 in the P.M. in Luxembourg however we got stuck in traffic jam which took us another hour to get to Luxembourg.
Grotere kaart weergeven
Oh well, what’s an hour in a lifetime right? When we were halfway, we saw lots of nice landscapes. More hills, more green and yesss more rocks!
When we arrived in Berdorf, we grabbed our stuff and were eager to climb some rocks.
After a few warm up routes, I wanted to climb Bobby Brown. I heard many stories about this route. It was my opportunity to climb it. The quickdraws were already set which was really cool. I heard some information about the route before and witnessed a climber in it. I paid attention to the holds and received valuable information from Jérôme. The result was a 10 minute fight in the wall without letting go any holds! Yes, I managed to flash Bobby Brown. One of the nicest lines of Berdorf!
Jérôme started to try Hermann Buhl and I decided to join him. After a work out session, I must say that it’s pretty hard. There are 2 dynos for me. I find it difficult to climb on this wall. I have to climb very open which isn’t my style at all and there aren’t many footholds.
However when you’ve visited Fontaine Bleau, your confidence level will increase at least with 76% and you believe you can place your feet on the smallest footholds without zipping away. Meanwhile it got darker and we decided to call it a day.
The second day I woke up at 9 A.M. without alarm. A nice time to start right? We fixed a quick breakfast in the morning and arrived at 10 A.M. at the rocks to warmup.
After 3 routes we were planning to send Hermann Buhl. Just before us a Dutch guy Maarten sent the route. Now I was extra motivated to send the route as well!
Maarten was nice enough to switch the quickdraws. Thanks for that! After our first attempt (both on video) I felt a few raindrops! Oh nooooo, not now, I had the sequence printed in my head and had to climb this route today! Jérôme felt the pressure too. We had a lot of pressure and without much rest we were climbing too fast. Jérôme managed to climb the crux but just missed the dyno after the crux! My biceps felt sore and I needed a rest. I ate some baguette with cheese and cucumber and felt better again.
Time to give another go! When I arrived at the crux, I went all out and locked my arm in the left pocket. Surprisingly I managed to reach the crimp below the little roof! Yes, this means I can send it. I need to focus on the dyno! I rested a bit and went to the next hold. Baaam! A short powerful yell came out of me and I bet everyone heard me fighting!
Yes, my righthand was accurate enough to fix the sloper. After a few minutes I could clip the chain. I sent Hermann Buhl to heaven and it made me felt so good.
The routes I climbed this trip at Berdorf:
- Luftikus 6b
- Kaffisdous 7a+
- Willy 6c
- Heinz 6c
- Voleur de spits 7a+
- Bobby Brown 7c flash
- Schotte Bob 6b+
- Hermann Buhl 8a+
This was the end of my day. Later in the afternoon it started to rain. Talking about lucky eh? I have yet another competition to go on Sunday. I feel drained though. Hopefully I can recover for this competition. My motivation for routes has increased. Despite my energy level I feel like climbing this competition!
I’m back in The Netherlands!
2 Months ago I booked a ticket to Slovenia. I didn’t bother to check the weather conditions. My goal was to climb a lot of routes outdoor and visit some nice cities.
I had 12 climbing days and 2 times it was bad weather at Mišja Peč. I have been lucky with the weather.
As you know, the first week I climbed very little. I just explored some crags to see what it’s like. My goal was to climb 10 routes each day. Well I was too optimistic about my goal. It takes a lot of time to pick a route, check the rope, check the quickdraws etc. I changed my goal very soon. Each day I’ll just try to climb an 8-graded route. Well, not much later I managed to send my first 8b of this year. And 2 days later I repeated another 8b route.
- 8b, Mrtvaški ples
- 8b, Lahko noč Irena
Both routes are pretty fun. (you can read more about these routes in my previous posts.)
Last week I didn’t really try difficult routes. In my second week I mainly focused at popular routes. Below you’ll see a list of all the routes from last week.
- 8a+, Popaj
- 8a+, Sunce v očeh
- 8a, Čao bejbe
- 8a, Corto
- 8a, Giljotina
- 8a, Iglu
- 8a, Oktoberfest
- 8a, Samsara
In sum I managed to send ten 8-graded routes. It’s nice to add these routes on my ticklist. I also climbed lots of other routes to warm up. The best and nicest 8a routes were Iglu, Samsara and Giljotina. I like Iglu because Gabor set the quickdraws, worked it out and belayed me. Thanks to him I could flash the route. Samsara is the most popular 8a route of Mišja Peč, it is a nice and beautiful line.
And Giljotina is also located on the main wall, it contains one difficult move but it is really nice. I won’t go into details for the other routes because I’d like to share a brief story.
Climbing 2 weeks outdoors is enough for me. In the morning when I look outside the window and catch some sun shine it really motivates me to get up. Each climbing day I try to be at the rocks between 10.00h and 10.30h. In the afternoon I was surviving with bread and a jar of Nutella chocolate, some fruit and sometimes a Powerbar. In the evening I have dinner with Matjaz and Eline or I go out for dinner. It makes my day.
I can’t really imagine what it’s like to climb outdoors for a longer period. The most important thing about climbing outdoors is that you need to enjoy it at all times. I’m talking about enjoying the moment, enjoy being in the nature, enjoy the rocks, being injury free and believe in yourself. I believe in myself, without my motivation I couldn’t climb these routes. I enjoyed and learned a lot about my climbing moments.
Besides climbing I also visited Ljubljana which is the capital of Slovenia. It is about 120 kilometers from Piran.
And I visited Triest in Italy.
The other rest days I spent in Piran. I need to recover from my climbing moments.
I really had a fun climbing holiday and met lots of friendly and nice people. I hope to see everyone very soon again.
October is a good climbing month, just like last year. The conditions are good and it gives me the best climbing memories. I achieved my goal this holiday. I climbed a lot. Perhaps I’ll book another ticket to Slovenia again to climb at Mišja Peč. This climbing area is a must for every route climber.
It is almost November and I have 2 more lead competitions scheduled in my calendar. I just have 1,5 week to recover and prepare myself for the NC Lead at Arnhem. Wish me luck!
Lahko noč Irena, that’s the name of the 2nd 8b project which I was working out the other day. It means “Goodnight Irena”.
As I mentioned before, this project is 2 routes next to my other route. It contains 2 boulders. The first boulder starts after 5 meters. The second crux is just before the end of the route. The wall is slightly overhanging and quite huge. Yesterday the climbing conditions were pretty good. I managed to send this route on my 6th attempt. I believe that this route is much harder than Mrtvaški ples, it’s just not continuous. I was only 1 block removed from the send. And yesterday it was my moment to climb it.
I arrived at 11 o’clock in the morning at Mišja Peč. The parking lot was fully parked with cars. It’s weekend and the weather is good which means that it is crowded at the rocks. I’m lucky and found a spot to park my car. I grab my bags and run up to the rocks. I see people everywhere, they are even hanging in my nice warm up routes. Today the sun is shining again, just like any other day.
I’m going to explore the other side of the rocks. I see that it’s pretty crowded. My German and English friends whom I met earlier are here too. There are bags and ropes everywhere.
I’m trying to find a spot to put my bags. I’m putting on my harness to warm up. All easy routes are occupied, so I suppose I have to warm up in a 6c+. My fingers feel a bit warmed up. I take a look at my project. To stay flexible, I need to stretch my muscles. I discuss different methods with other people who are also trying to send this route.
It is time to go for an attempt. I’m getting ready for this route. My German friend is going to belay me.
I arrive at the first crux. I’m placing a lolotte with my feet and drop my right knee to grab a side hold. Then I grab a small aggressive hold with my left hand.
The difficult part starts here. I need to deadpoint to an undercling and place my feet super high on dirty black sloper holds. Then I have to jump to this big jug, one of the best holds of Mišja Peč. I succeeded to climb through the first crux.
Then I cruise my way up. There are lots of different holds, crimps, side holds, tuvas and finally arrive at the second crux.
With my left hand I have a small hold and cross over with my right hand to a pinch. Then with my left hand I need to go to another side pinch. I’m placing another lolotte with my feet and drop my right knee to grab this micro hold. Now I need to place my feet higher and go to a sloper edge. Unfortunately I couldn’t grab the left hold. I’m working out this part and know for sure that I’ll send this route in my next attempt. There is really nothing difficult about this part, it’s just a matter of figuring out the proper sequence, hold on and continue.
Meanwhile it was noon and the sun started to shine upon the route. My next attempt will be at 5 P.M. The sun won’t be that warm when climbing so late. In the afternoon there aren’t many people climbing in the sun. I’m going to take a long break and eat a Powerbar, some sweet bread buns, and drink lots of water.
One hour later it seems to get a bit cloudy. This is my opportunity! I could send the route now or later. I’m going for the send and get my orange Falcon shoes ready. This time an Italian is going to belay me. He says he’s going to encourage me when I’ll be climbing the route. I like this and I get very enthusiastic. People wishing me good luck and lots of fun and I know I will need it.
I arrive at the first crux again. I manage to jump to the big jug. Then I climb my way up to the second crux. I hear lots of people cheering and it feels like an adrenaline shot. During the second crux I’m holding on to the micro hold with my right hand and put my feet up high.
I’m looking at the sloper edge and I’m going for it! Yes, I got it! Quickly I match my right hand on a side pinch above my left hand. I know I can send this route. Just 10 more movements to go.
I try to relax and look behind me. It is the greatest view from this point. I’m looking down and people are sticking up their thumbs and smile to me. I smile in the route and focus again. I can’t make any more mistakes.
The 10 movements went well and I arrive at the anchor. I managed to send this route! What a nice feeling. I turn around and enjoy the amazing view.
On the floor I receive many compliments from Germans, Czechs, Hungarian, English and Polish people. They shake my hand. I feel like I’m a celebrity. I’m proud at my send, because it wasn’t easy.
This was my third climbing day in a row. I know my body and feel that I’m getting in shape. I think traversing at Monk Bouldergym and climbing routes at Amsterdam and other climbing gyms definitely made me achieve my goal. I still have time left to get in super shape. My holiday can’t get any better.
By the way, I’d like to thank the people who belayed me and encouraged me, without them it wasn’t possible for me to send these routes.
It is time to get some rest now. It is a good plan though, because Sunday will be just as crowded as Saturday at Mišja Peč. Alright, it’s time for me to end this story and enjoy my weekend.
Goodnight people. Ciao ciao.
Dutch
English
