Sunday, February 15, 2015

A summary of the last few months

Well, what to say about the new year. This 2015 has been quite busy for a while, I started to train as hard as I never done and the 2 sessions per day take me off a lot of time and a lot of energies. The rest of the time I work with my father and every evening I come back home soo tired.

First, back to a couple of months ago when I was climbing  in the amazing crags in Spain, under the warm temperatures that  feature this season. Actually this trip was not as I expected, of course I had a lot of fun because the crew was always the same but there was something different.

The fog above Uldemolins in the early morning

For the first time I wanted to try something harder, something that was at my limit even if the time to try something that hard is always too short, because if you think that in 10 days you have to get confidence with the type of rock and the style of climbing, be in a good shape and find out the right line, is not that much. 
This was a good challenge with my-self but everything went wrong, I mean that, a combination of lot of events didn't make this thing happen.

First of all, the weather has been a little bit crazy because the conditions, in the days before the new year, were insane for climbing in the sun, the friction was perfect, actually what a climber needs for good send tries.                   
                                                                          
At the beginning of my wishlist there was “El Membre 8C” in Siurana that I really wanted to try, at least once, to check if it was possible. I checked twice and I was able to get all single moves except one so I decided to move to the neighbor “Mr. Cheky 8B+”. 
I had good tries on it so I decided to take one more day in the new year for sending it.

Zona 30 El Laboratori Margalef


The conditions in the new year changed, so much so it was impossible to climb and the projects I had in a specific sector were blown away from sun’s heat so we had to move to the shadow for climbing.
In addiction of these temps my shape was crazy and uncontrollable, some days I was so strong since I was able to onsight my first 8A ever at Cova Boix sector in Margalef called “Doctor Feelgood” and some days I felt just so weak with terrible pain fingers.

When I understood that I had no more chances on the hard things I tried, I opted for some relax climbing days together with my dad, just climbing easy stuff for fun. We spent one of the last days at Esperò Primavera sector in Siurana where after a good warm up I onsighted 2 of the 3 7b+ on the main red wall, respectively called “Mandragora” and “Papagora”. These 2 classics 35 meters routes climb as better as they look, it’s just simply amazing to enjoy the moves with empty mind.
Mandragora, Siurana. Credit Andrea Zanone
Mandragora, Siurana. Credit Andrea Zanone
Despite all Spain never betrays expectations, see ya next year I guess.

When we came back to Italy I didn’t know if I was more psyched for bouldering or sport climbing, but also here the temps were crazy, It was winter but with spring temps because a hot wind, probably arrived from Afrika, made the climbing possible in crags where is usually impossible.
My brother and my self takes advantages of this to back on an old uncompleted proj where we were so closed in may/june.
We spent both Saturday and Sunday on it; the first day I brushed up the line and I gave some tries to refresh the moves but on the second day I wanted to try hard.        
The route is extremely powerful and intense since you can’t even chalk but thanks to the awesome friction this thing was not a problem because the hands and the rock were totally dry.
On my 2nd try of the day I gave all my energies but it was not enough because I fell off at the very last move to catch the jug where you can clip the chain. I did a heartbreaking drop off because the last bolt was a couple of meters lower  but when I realized that everything was okay and that I fell at the last move, the adrenaline and the tension disappeared leaving a sense of nausea, sickness and utter helplessness; I was just feeling empty as if the energies had left my body.

I had to take a very long rest and after a good lunch I recovered a bit and I felt ready for one last try.
I climbed loose and precise and this time I stuck the jug, I screamed out for the happiness cuz I ticked by far one of the hardest routes.

The line “13 Guerriero” was bolted by Alberto Gnerro, and even if it’s chipped, the route climbs well, the movements are nice and the climbing is really technical. I probably got one of the few ascents, maybe the 4th or 5th, an elite anyway.                                          
The grade is a separate story, It’s just 8B but I can definitely say that this thing is a solid 8B+ but this is the bolter’s rule “hard grade”. I’m not totally agree but  I respect it.
From these weekend I stopped with rope climbing to leave space for bouldering, because for me winter means cold, friction and Ticino and just these 3 words makes me syked.