Shirt R.I.P.

Recently, my climbing partner (sounds a bit gay though, which I am not, but – by the way – I fully respect. Gay is more a style than anything else…) Sven, informed me that his team shirt was gone. While working his shirt was ripped apart by some heavy machines. Yes, you need some heavy machines to rip the team shirt apart. The team is still alive though. Climbing less than ever on real rock.

Here is a video of the old days, where the shirt was still leading to extraordinary performances. Please watch the text on the shirt (do not know whether it is readable)! Off course the vid with Sven – the man – Verhoeven!

Only one left… (shirt)

Sven used to be the Dyno master, these days he can also climb well. Really well. His fingers get stronger by the day and his improvement  over the last year is astonishing. Keep on going! 

Signing out.

FA Le Pillier

No not the first ascent, but a female ascent of Le Pillier in Chironico which is graded Fb 8A. Anja did it and she is back on track. After becoming a mother, it is always hard to tell how woman get on top of this impact. Anja is doing fine and appears to be super strong again. Personally, I love the boulder she did. Le Pillier is a stunning line, with some cool holds on it. I especially like the slopy edge from which you have to do the final move to the good hold on top. Congrats to Anja! Curious what LeStef has been up to. 

In addition the following notes:

-          Cool movie of Frank having some (statement or he is just switching shirts often on the same day) attempts on a boulder Caroline in the Rocklands which weighs in around 7c+-ish, I guess. I must say, it looks like he got close in a certain try and then drifted away. The same boulder is shown on this video with some other cool lines in the Rocklands, SA.

-          So now and then I am amazed to read or see that a less known climber (to me) has done a really hard barely repeated testpiece. This time it is a French climber Anatole Bosio. He has done the PuntX which is graded 9a (before maybe 9a+) and has been tried by some really strong climbers. Here is a movie of him doing it. It amazes me, because it appears that the gap between some strong climbers and the ultra strong will known names is probably not very big. Perseverance of the strong folks can bridge that gap so now and then. That is at least how I see it and the way I try my best to send something hard also. Good effort of Anatole anyway.

-          Yes, I have ordered the movie from Keith, Between the trees! Very excited and curious how it will be. But I get more and more motivated to climb in Font again. Maybe only until the moment I actually climb there and again notice that the style does not suit me well and that it is always freaking hard. Also because the classics can be so hard. As Tyler Landmann has stated after his rampage in Font earlier this year: ‘Mind you, some of the hardest problems I did are in the 7th grade’. That is how it is. But, I am still psyched to head over there and do some bouldering.

-          As stated by me earlier, I was hoping on a Rock-vember. Unfortunately, this appears to remain an idea. An idea or an illusion?

Signing out.

Dreamtime – parallel

Today, I read that the big flake in the middle of Dreamtime, Cresciano has been ripped off. I did not surprise me, but it did not leave me unaffected. I did not surprise me, because it always looked like it would come off. Not a very stable hold/flake.

Why was I affected by it? Not because I was close to sending and it is now impossible (or at least harder). I have tried Dreamtime occasionally, but concluded that it would not suit my style very well. Not well enough to send a boulder at the top of my ability. Maybe if I would have more time, but not like I am living and approaching bouldering as I do.

Why the? Dreamtime is the boulder which – for me – made bouldering in Ticino famous. And it was there on the right time. The time when I started bouldering.

First some more hiroty: I started alpine climbing in mid 90’s. Then switched to route climbing, mainly because I wanted to prepare for alpine climbing also at home in the Netherlands where there are no mountains. So, the gym was the only option. The last two years in high school I was very motivated, but could only climb for maximum two times per week as there was no public gym in my hometown. The wall where we climbed was located in a gymnastic area, and was only limited accessible for climbers. That was somehow very frustrating, but my parents decided to give me a small wall. My father and me built a small (exactly 1.22m x 2.44m) vertical wall in my room. Vertical, no overhang, just a wall and some holds. I trained there almost every day making circles. alone, with some music in the background from my stereo. I can remember that I made sessions of 45 minutes of constant endurance climbing on my wall. 45 minutes on a wall which is 1.22mX2.44m? That is something I find very hard to believe these days. I must have been so motivated.

Then I went to University. There they had a wall at the campus where you could almost climb anytime. There was no bouldering there, just routes. It was a relief. In addition, Bjoeks was opened and I slowly switched from the campus wall to Bjoeks. It was very delightful to have the possibility to climb all the time and have so much routes you can do. Although, there was a nice steep bouldering wall in Bjoeks, I was mainly still focusing on route climbing and alpine climbing.

I finished University in January 2001, just some months after Dreamtime has been put up and was big news in all climbing media. I went to Amsterdam because of Tess and I was lucky enough to find a job there. I had climbed some 8^th graded routes and thought that this would be the highest possible thing to reach for me. Also, because I started working fulltime in a stressful environment, I was unsure whether I could still improve or keep the level I had gained. Because I did not want to commit myself to anyone, being dependant/obliged to anyone and because I did not know anyone to climb with, I decided to boulder. No routes, just bouldering. Until then I only knew Font for climbing, but Dreamtime and some articles about bouldering in Ticino made me curious how other area’s would be.

So, at the time Dreamtime made Ticino famous for bouldering, I committed myself to bouldering. Ironically enough, now that Dreamtime is broken, I have a kind of similar feeling for my climbing. Dreamtime may be possible, but will be harder. It will be possible for me to go out and climb, but it will be  harder. This calendar year I have maybe had 10 days of outdoor climbing. That is a low point. It appears to be even harder to go climbing outdoors again and also to get ready for climbing outdoors again. I have a son/family, I get more and more responsibilities at work, etc. All elements which do not contribute to making go climbing easier.

That is possibly the reason I was affected by Bjorns post about Dreamtime.

Signing out.

Fastest score ever

No, this time no post about climbing and the hardest boulder in the least time. It is about football, which I in general do not especially like (except when the Dutch team is playing). But I found this video very funny (what for?) and thought I share it with you:

Signing out.

Artistic attempts

Can not hold this from yuo. You either like it or you do not. See for yourself.

http://vimeo.com/7082256

In addition, the rage of Tyler Landmann through Font has been filmed and edited by Keith Bradbury. I have not seen the movie myself (yet), but for those who like Font, I would encourage them to buy the movie!

http://www.unclesomebody.com/blog/?page_id=342

Signing out.

Anja going international

Honored, I feel. Tsss, Dutch friends… How do you get rid of them… They do not even have some real solid rock…

I am curious how long she will continue in English. But perseverance is her middle name, I can tell you. Anja is an amazing climber and has a very dynamic and smooth style, which is rare under female climbers. In addition she is super strong. Can do more one arm pullups than some dozens of male fitness guys…  Good to see that she is in shape.

Anja, Olga and Le Stef are currently on a road trip. Now it is Font for a month and from this weekend on, it is Ticino for a month. Curious what Le Stef is up to. I hope to meet them during their trip in Ticino, but  - as stated – not sure yet whether I will make it and also whether I will not focus on some Wallis classics.

A pic I took from Le Stef in an inexplicable marvolous shape (Font this spring):

Signing out.

Wrestler is hustling

Yes, I received some footage from the Wrestler 7C-ish. Govert has done the send and is pretty psyched about it. He also had the time to put up some new boulders in the same area. Here is a small report he wrote about it (in Dutch) about his glorious masterpiece. The title is somehow confusing because it is not mentioned in the text below. Maybe the next boulder called the Hustler? 

A picture of Govert in the Wrestler made by Mister Mark James:

 

Here is a vid of the new boulders and Govert attempting the Wrestler in all kind of seasons.

On another note (about me): they already put the winter tires under my car. So, I am ready to go out to the mountain lands. My shape should be fine. Although I was pretty down climbing wise last Monday, I think my shape is still ok. Will be time to head out. Maybe somewhere soon. Real soon. I have some Nicole classics to do in Wallis and some more modern hards in Graubunden/Ticino. It may also be Font where the list has not become any shorter the last years… I will keep you updated.

Signing out.

Not the only one

After my good day on Monday, it appeared that it was not the only one who overcomes gravity fairly easy. Not specifically on Monday maybe, but anyway. No, the following things also happened:

- Govert aka ‘the Walrus’ (not because of his size…) did the FA of The Wrestler in Font. I have seen some footage a while back and I can ensure you, that you will have to wrestle some rock. I think he graded it 7c-ish, but it requires a very specific style which is Govert speciality. In Dutch it is called …. (sorry, I forgot how Govert always calls this technique, but it has something to do with ‘robben’ or ‘zeehonden’, in English I would translate it with Sealing (doing like a seal). I do not specifically train for this technique… I have seen Govert doing a boulder (rather low in Canche aux Merciers) in Font without using his feet or hands to climb it… I can tell you, it is amazing to watch! Govert, do you have some footage of that?

- Bart van Raaij did some boulders in Font which he had not done before despite trying. Apparently he was pretty psyched about it. I heard this from Remco in KHA and do not exactly know what boulders he has done. I am psyched to know, but he hes not yet updated his ’scorecard’. Maybe he still is in Font. What I heard is that he did some the 7c to the right of Mur de Lamentation in Isatis (Gnosienne), Vert Clair assis in Cuvier and Lucky Luck in Bois Rond both 7c+, which he tried for ages or at least some time. This info has not yet been confirmed though. Would be cool.

- Last, but for sure not least: Martin Keller has done an ascent of Supertussi in Brione. I do not know whether it is a FA or not, but it is a nice steep line with weird moves to the left of Atlantis in Brione, Switzerland. Martin is really good in physical moves in steep terrain on not too small holds. His tension and core strength is supergood. So, this boulder was one for him to do. It is a crack in a roof. I was there with Martin when we first saw the line. Apparently, it was tried/done before and should weigh in around 8B-ish. Martin told me that he always had trouble doing the first move, but last week he suddenly could do the move. Because he never expected himself to do the first move, he had not wired the rest of the boulder in to his system. So, he did need some time to figure it out. After he was close to the send (slipping of a big hold at the end…) he needed some rest days, and some additional attempts to do it. Nice to see him doing the send! And it is always amazing to find out that something is possible, although you first thought you could never do it. I guess also Martin surprised himself!

Congrats to all of them! Here are some pics I took back in March 2008 of Martin trying Supertussi:

Signing out.

Suprising yourself

How often does that happen? Suprising yourself.

In my case and what climbing is concerned, very rarely these days. The reason might be that the standard I have created for myself, is already high and living up to the standard is considered to be normal. How is that standard created. I guess that the intrinsic feeling that you should be able to do has an important role in this. Is the standard nature or nurture? To avoid any response from some expert on this area, I would say a bit of both. It is somehow given with the inheritance package from your parents. And in addition the development and direction would be more provided by the nurture part. Where does your own finding and own experiences come in? Is that also nurture? Strange, I thought that there should be something that you could set for yourself. Apparently not.

So, to surprise yourself you have to exceed your own standard and expectations. Not easy to do. To summarize: Today I surprised myself. I surprised myself by doing some really personal cutting edge boulders in one session. It was not only that it was also the ease. Smooth movements (do not laugh please) and technical climbing. Lots of tension and supreme powers.

What made the difference today? Some ideas:

- I made some mental progress;

- My technical skills enhanced miraculously;

- Low gravity day;

- Today, I did not go to my stressful job, but studied at home, so I was more rested than usual;

- Some new Mad Rock Contacts (climbing shoes). Yes, this session they climbed well;

- Just looking good;

- Feeling good after I had some quality time yesterday with Flo and Tess on the heather (see pics);

Signing out.

Rock-vember

As it will be no Rocktober for me, I am currently hoping on a Rock-vember… We will see, but I started my preparations taking into account a peak performace in Rock-vember.

Signing out.