venerdì 7 dicembre 2012

Last two months!!

Hello everybody!
Lately I've been really lazy and couldn't find the inspiration to write a good post...
Well you can easily find the inspiration when you have alot of free time but the main motive is that I don't have a single picure(except for Kalymnos) of this last two months and I felt so bad about that ...
But today I feel inspired and I don't care about pictures so I hope the words will be enough to entertain you for some minutes...

Let's start with Kalymnos a couple of months ago!
The North Face Kalymnos Climbing Festival has been a great event!
It was my first time on the island! I've always been a bit skeptical about Kalymnos,the climbing style,the grades and the "lifestyle and holiday nature" of the place... but eventually I really enjoyed it and I think I will return in the near future to check what else the island has to offer!
During the Festival there was a friendly competition for us Pros in a new crag intentionally developed for the event. The ambience was great and we had alot of fun! 
Unfortunately the climate was very warm and we were obliged to climb in the very early morning so we couldn't climb really hard stuffs. In the end five of us, Me,Alex Megos,Yuji Hirayama,Nico Favresse and Mike Fuselier finished off three of the four proposed routes! This three routes were 8a,8b and 8b/b+ and the hardest unclimbed one is actually still a project around 8c 8c+!
 I have to thank The North Face for the invitation and the sick event they organized!! Really looking forward to next year's edition...

 After Kalymnos I directly went to the Frankenjura! 
I was travelling togheter with my buddy Ema and we spent all october in an apartment by the Eichler Campground in the tiny village of Untertrubach! It was defenitely a climber's apartment and we had the chance to meet some great people from Germany,The Netherlands and Australia!
My climbing during this trip has not been the best... After Kalymnos I felt so weak and I needed a week or so to get back in shape...
Another weird thing was the weather... First very variable and unpredictable,then very good but cold and the last ten days bad and cold until it snowed out...
After I climbed some beautiful routes between 8b and 8c+ I decided to start trying something harder.
The choice was very vast and my idea at the beginning was to take a look at a 9a+ called Corona but then I decided to try The Elder Statesman 9a since I had already climbed the easier 8c+ left start version and I thought it would have been a quick work... Big mistake!!This route turned into a real nemesis... I had a few great attempts at the beginning just after I climbed the 8c+ version then real disaster... weather and skin conditions were completely against me and I've never finished it feeling so close that every attempt could have been the last even in glacial temps! But well... failure is a big part of climbing and every trip can't finish in the right way!...
Anyhow I managed to climb some great and hard routes:
- The last rites 8c+;Masters of the universe 8c/c+; Cringer 8c; Steinbock 8c; Powerplay 8c


In november I had the chance to spend the last possible weekend at Bus de Vela in Trento before the season ended! Conditions were perfect for me... Every other climber at the crag was complaining about how cold it was but personally it felt like the ultimate friction... Probably I got used to the cold in Frankenjura!
Last year I bolted a route just left to Il Frutto del Diavolo and named it No More Passion. The first part looked hard but climbable until a good hueco like hole. From here the route is still 7/8 more meters long. Last 4meters looked ok but the 3 meters in between the hueco and the last ok meters were really blank...
I remember I noticed a small edge,a tiny one finger pocket and a flat pinch in this part but absolutely no good feet...
Basically I had no clue if this part of wall could go until the day I climbed it.
After the bolting I didn't have the time to try it and finally this summer with heinous temps I decided to have a look at the route. As I thought the first 18/20 meters were climbable and very good! On the second part I couldn't move and it felt like...impossible! The edge was horrible,the mono was so small that I couldn't fit with my medium finger, the pinch was bad and so far away and the feet... only smears!!
That's why I thought about climbing the bottom part until the hueco and then link it up with the upper part of  the route just left resulting in a beautiful 8b called Terminegro!
I admit I also thought about chopping the bolts but finally this fall its day came again and I said to myself why not to take another look at the holds with the ultimate friction!?!?!
Crazy... the edge felt not too bad, the mono was still tiny but I could put my ring finger in and the pinch didn't look too far away anymore! Suddenly I could do the single moves and felt like the climb was possible!!
Next go I barely did the first 8a+/b part to the hueco again. Luckily here the rest is very good and you can recover and get ready for the real business. Without any ambitions I started the hard boulder and with a huge fight, one of the biggest I've ever done I would say, I managed to do the boulder and rested before the last yet hard but easier moves! Another battle and I was at the chain!!
What a great feeling and relief! First of all because the process is complete, I bolted it and now it went free and second because I had many doubts if this route could go or not and suddenly I climbed it with quickness...  climbing will never stop to surprise me!...
I really have no idea about the grade but I think it is in the 8c range!

A few weeks ago I decided to get back to try my last season nightmare 9a+ route Goldrake in Cornalba...
This time I didn't want to project it  and take it seriously like last time. I had less time(only a couple of weeks before leaving again) and I thought if it goes well I will do it and it would be great but If I won't do it it will not be a problem!
In the end I had the chance to try it only a few times... I couldn't always find belayers. But the times I tried it went well and I had some good attempts! Can't wait for next season on it!

Right now I'm packing for my next big trip in Spain!!
The plan is staying in Catalunya for a couple of months travelling with a campervan togheter with my friends Silvio Reffo and Mauro Giordani that will also film our climbs and experiences!
We will keep a blog updated(probably in italian) with photos and videos on the website www.nosiestaspaintrip.com(it will be online in a few days) so stay tuned!!

Until the next...






sabato 22 settembre 2012

Bus de Vela,Trento. List of the routes! UPDATED november 2012

Unfrortunately this year I could't spend much time in my favourite italian crag. I climbed here just a few days between march and september but I managed to make three great first to sends:

- Happy MILF 8c/c+ in May. Bolted by Valerio Ballardini. I think this route is one of the best 8c's in Italy and defenitely in my top 5 8c's ever... perfect rock and various moves. Still unrepeated.
- Terminegro 8b in August. Last year I bolted a route just left to "Il Frutto del Diavolo". The rig climbs very well until a big hole at 3/4 of the length at about 8a+. After the big hole there is a very blank part which I'm still not sure it will go or not. So I decided to move left after the big hole and climb the top part of the route Mezza Negra. The result is a great and kind of logic line! Repeated by Valerio Ballardini.
- Team Compression 8c in September(actually a few hours ago :-D). Bolted by Giovanni Cozzio(L1) and Nicola de Angelis(L2). This rig climbs all the 8b/b+ "Disaffection for Compression" that finishes at about 2/3 of the wall. After the chain there is a good rest and you can logically link the pitch with the top parts of "Belzebù Climbing Team" or "Il Frutto del Diavolo". This time I managed to link it up with the first but the exit on "Il Frutto del Diavolo" will definitely take a +!...

                                         Happy MILF 8c/c+ photos by Massimo Malpezzi


Here is the updated list of the routes!
from right to left:
1) Il Ladro di Vie 6c+
2) Polveri Sottili 7c (same start of 1 then left)
3) Erezioni Vulcaniche 8a+  (direct start of 2)
4) Bombo Balla 8b/b+
5) Iron Man PROJECT 8c+/9a? (same start of 4 then left)
6) Bassi Dream aka Colpi Bassi PROJECT 8c+?
7) Happy Milf  8c+
8) La Gabi 8c
9) Scoglio de Capri 8b+/c
10) Belzebù Climbing Team 8c (same first 15meters of 9 then left)
11) Disaffection for Compression 8b/b+
11')Team Compression 8c (all 11 and exit on 10)
11")Devil Compression PROJECT 8c+? (all 11 and exit on 12)
12) Il Frutto del Diavolo 8c+/9a (start on the RH side of the ledge)
13) No More Passion 8c (start in the middle of the ledge)
14) Terminegro 8b (start on 13 and finish on 15)
15) Mezza Negra PROJECT 8c? (start on the LH side of the ledge)
16) Siamo Squali nelle Reti 8b+ (same start of 9, traverse left on the holes and exit on 15)
17) Sleep But No Love PROJECT 8?
18) Le Tre Madonne PROJECT 8? (same first 15meters of 17 then left)
19) Gio's route 7c
20) Open Bar PROJECT 8c+?
20')Tigre contro Tigre PROJECT 9a? (first 4 bolts of 20 then right)
21) Kittatterra PROJECT 8c+?
22) Iggy Pop 7c+ (LH start of 21 from the top of the house)
23) Er Bus 8a/a+
24) L'insaziabile 8b
25) Lioness 8b/b+ (same start of 24)
26) It's mine 8a+ (same start of 24)
27) L'Abuso del Buso 8a (same start of 24)
28) Pollon 8a
29) Tajerino 8a
30) Dragon 7b+ (same start of 29)
31) Bastardi 7a+ (same start of 29)
32) Route 666 6c
33) Il Panettiere 7c
34) Bella Regis 8c/c+ (same start of 33 then right on the prow)
35) Re de Roma PROJECT 8b+?
36) Peter Panico 7b
37) People Have the Power 7b

venerdì 24 agosto 2012

Stuttgart and Frankenjura!

I just got back from a two weeks trip in Germany!
I've been travelling with my friend Ema.

First we drove to Stuttgart where I competed at the invitational Adidas Rockstars bouldering comp! It has been a great event perfectly organized! Every athlete had a hotel room in front of the Porsche Arena where the comp was held! Free dinners both nights, food and drinks vauchers and so on! We were finally treated like we should be!
And of course the competition was a big show with very nice walls,good route setting,lights,music bands playing etc!!
This has been the first real competition in a year or more so it was a bit hard to get used again but I was very psyched and I eventually got in the right mood!...
Qualification round was not so difficult, I climbed well and motivated and I've been very close to flash all the five boulders! Finally I flashed just four of them but I fell going for the top hold twice on the last boulder!... Of course it was enough to pass the round and I was going into semis in 7th place!
Semi finals were much harder! The problems were all doable but at the end I could top only two of the four problems in too many attempts and it was actually not enough to get in final!
I finished 11th!... not a great result but not so bad either since I had not climbed on a "comp style" boulder in a long time and my only training facility lately has been my fingerboard and sometimes the gym...
Result are here!
Big up to Sean Mc Coll and Alex Puccio for their victory!

After Stuttgart we drove a couple of hours NE to the Frankenjura for a ten days of climbing on some of the best rock in the world!
Weather has been good and sunny for all the time. At the beginning temps were very good for the season so without wasting time I started trying an 8c+ called Kawashuwu...
On my second try I pulled too much on a small mono and got my annular a bit tweaked! This means I had to avoid small monos and be careful!
After a couple of days the temps started to increase and climbing became more difficult... less friction and a big waste of tries!!But of course still climbable!
But the good thing was that I was feeling pretty fit!

In a bit more than a week I sent a few hard routes in less than ideal conditions:
- Odd Fellows 8c;  nice route with a technical and crimpy crux at the top.
- Father and Son 8c;  different style than the usual FJ's hard routes, some of the best holds and moves.
- Kompressor 8c;  bouldery route on a roof with a crux involving a slopey crack and a fist jam!
- Headcrash 8b+/c: hardest of the routes I did this trip in my opinion!One of the best lines in FJ!

Sorry no photos or videos this time...

martedì 7 agosto 2012

A long and hot july and a bright future!

Hey there!
Sorry again for the lack of updates but after Frankenjura in may I couldn't climb outside much due to other obligations...
In june I spent a week or so in Ceüse in order to start trying Biographie, one of my primary projects for the summer! I had really bad conditions in these days! First wet after a huge storm then super warm and greasy... so I could try it only for a few days but I felt not so bad on the route!
But I had to go back home for a while for some important stuffs before going back to my favourite crag and project!!...
During these days I got a big work offer for all july and after some thought I decided to accept the job! I've been pretty broke lately and this was the best decision I could make! That means bye bye Ceüse for this year!
So the last month has been all about working, training in the evenings and of course possibly climbing in the weekends!
Now the work is kind of over(only a couple more weeks in september), I'm free for all august and I don't regret anything about my decision since it was not so hard as I thought and I feel the training is starting to pay off!...

Last weekend I took part at an international bouldering invitational comp in L'Aquila(Italy) where I ended 2nd after Guigui Glairon Mondet! The event has been great and for a good cause! If you don't know it L'Aquila has been totally destroyed from a eartquake in 2009! The town has a big climbing tradition and organized many important climbing comps in the past... This event was the first organized after the earthquake and it was a good way to know climbing again in the town!
Finals were in the night in a big and packed square! 
I also climbed a couple of days in the local areas and I can't wait to return soon!
Here is the video of the event!





I'm looking forward to the next months! I have big plans for the near future so this means I will travel alot... 
Tomorrow I'm heading to Germany where I will compete at the Adidas Rockstars event! After this I will spend a week or so in my lovely Frankenjura praying for decent conditions!
Then I plan to go to Arco at the end of august/beginning of june. I still don't know if I will compete or not at the Rock Master but for sure I will be around!
September will be all about work and The North Face Climbing Festival in Kalymnos at the end of the month!
In October I will go to Frankenjura for a month!
November I still don't know but I'd like to finish my nemesis project Goldrake in Cornalba!
And probably I will go to Argentina for the Petzl RocTrip!


And finally I'm planning to spend some months in Spain this winter!...


The future looks bright!



venerdì 1 giugno 2012

Frankenjura spring 2012!

Hey everybody! I'm really sorry for the lack of writing in the last couple of months or so! I haven't really been so psyched on blogging and nothing worth an update happened!
Just some climbing,training,struggling again on my project in Cornalba and other not really important things...

But...
I just came back from the Frankenjura! I spent three weeks with good friends and great weather. First week was just perfect, cold and dry and on my second day there I could climb a small project I left last year: the route is called Pain makes me stronger,every day! and it is an 8c+ opened by Markus Bock!
This year already at my first try on the route I felt much stronger than last year and in a couple of goes I could clip the chain!


After this good start of the trip I wanted to find something harder to spend some more time on... So the next day we drove to Luisewande where I could try The Essential a Markus Bock's 9a repeated only once by Adam Ondra. I've already tried this route a couple of times in the past years so I knew what it was all about... a really hard slab start,some really small pockets and a smeary and technical part at the end!
First tries back on it were dedicated on finding a good beta for the first slab... This was the only part I couldn't resolve in the past years. I watched a few times the video of Adam Ondra on it but I really couldn't move with his beta... he basically uses a small piece of rock with his thumb and he climbs this part with a crazy shouldery sequence!... too weird and morphologic for me!
After a few tries I resolve the enigma by using the hold Adam uses with the thumb as an undercling with the other hand and going a bit right to get a bad slopey sidepull!! Yes now I can finally see the light and I might see me climbing this route to the top since I can climb all the second part without big problems!!
So after a day of rest I am back on The Essential with good skin and high syke!
I climbed three times in a day through the first part but every time something went wrong... on my last go with the last power I had I managed to climb until the last hold but I couldn't get the last pinch properly and I fell...next day I said to myself!
Next day was almost the same but the skin was more trashed... I fell at the last hard move a couple of times... I need some rest I said to myself!
After a rest day I'm back again but the weather totally changed... It was hot as hell and muggy in the forest... I knew I only had one good go and my skin would have been fucked again! So I gave everything I had A Muerte but at the same last stupid move I decided to change a foot beta and I fell!... and to finish the day in the perfect way I also splitted two tips... fuck off I said to myself!...

So I decided to take a week of break from the project so I could rest my skin,my head and wait for better conditions to come!
During this "warm" week I wanted to find an "easier" and faster project less fingery, more physical than The Essential and more skin friendly.
A friend of mine was trying Boiling Point a classic 8b in Krottensee Turm the big and famous crag with Wallstreet. The traverse extension of this 8b is called Zugzwang and graded 8c+(11-/11) in one guidebook and 9a(11) in the new one... also Adam Ondra said it could be a possible 9a...but his beta to do the crux is one more time totally crazy!!
After a couple of days of tries (4 tries) in not best conditions I clip the chain of this great route for its 3rd ascent!


After one more rest day I'm back at Luisewande again with a great crew! Ema and Steo my tripmates,Marcos Costa a good Brazilian friend I knew in China last year, Les Ducs Enzo Oddo and Gab Josseron and the photographer Francisco Taranto!
The syke was super high and I did the usual warm ups.
So I was on for the first try! Maybe I was still not warm enough and I climbed well but a bit shaky and once more I fell at the last hard move with the hand in the final slot jug!! WTF!!??!! It was the fifth time I fell there!

For the next half an hour or so I tried to stay relaxed and chill with the friends. After a while it was time for another go. It was saturday and in that weekend there was a climbing festival so the crag was pretty packed and I was under pressure. Plenty of people watching me... I'm kinda used but it is always difficult...
But this time everything went perfectly and suddenly I was clipping the chain! Great feeling as always when you climb a hard route under pressure!
After the ascent and some more routes it was time to celebrate with some beers and a great party at the Marmot Event in Betzenstein for the Frankenjura Kletter Festival!!! Perfect timing!...

until the next time!

martedì 6 marzo 2012

Catalunya!

Hey everybody!
Just a quick post about my last trip!

I just got back from a great trip in the beautiful Catalunya region of Spain. I spent two weeks touring and climbing in different areas such as Oliana(first time I visited this place),Siurana,Margalef and Tres Ponts for one day!
Before leaving to Spain the weather has been totally crap so I've been training a bit in various gyms of Northern Italy to get some endurance and fitness for my trips and projects close to home. I've been climbing mostly routes in the gym plus one or two power sessions every week.

                                            climbing in Siurana


I left for this trip without any goals or big ambitions but I took it as a kind of test of my form after the training period.
First week in Catalunya has been hard due to the fatigue of training but slowly I felt I was getting in a decent shape and started to climb well.
My big motivation for this trip has been the Oliana crag so we spent the second week mainly there... I had never been there before and the first day I was a bit intimidated... A huge wall, routes twice or three times longer than the usual routes I've used to climb on and many many strong climbers doing super hard stuffs! Average of the climbing level was 8c+ or 9a for the men and 8b+ or 8c for the women... crazy!

                                                Oliana!


After a couple of days at the crag I got into the climbing style and started to feel less pumped and less intimidated! I climbed some beautiful routes as well! Paper Mullat (8b+/c 45m),Los Humildes pa Casa (8b+ 50m) and Mind Control (8c+ 50m) are some of the best routes I've climbed in this style... My Anti Style I would say and personally they worth more than many 8c's or 8c+'s I climbed in other crags!!...

Now I'm back at home and the weather looks more stable so it's time to back to my unfinished business in Cornalba and see if the training will pay off!

Until the next!...



lunedì 30 gennaio 2012

New Year New Motivations!?!...

Hi everybody! Happy 2012!
First I am sorry for the lack of updates... I didn't write anything for the last month or so but nothing worth a blog post happened!
Well I have to say that in December I was in one of the best shapes I have ever been and after having climbed a few hard routes in a very small amount of tries I decided to move my focus and strenght on something harder...
I have been thinking alot about which could have been my next project and after a bit I realized that one of the hardest routes in Italy was not so far from home in a "new"(for me) crag. Perfect choice!
So I immediately started to try this route called Goldrake in Cornalba near Bergamo.
Goldrake is a 9a+ opened by Adam Ondra(who else?) a couple of years ago. This route is hard!
                                photo Diego Neonati

Defenitely one of the hardest I've ever tried and actually the hardest I've been close to climb.
And honestly I think it's in my top 5 of the best routes I've been on even though it has two chipped holds at the beginning in a very blank part...
Anyway after some hard days of work I felt I was ready for the send! But then bad luck started to hit me... colder temps, strong wind, holds breaking and so on... Two times I got to the last hard boulder problem and twice I fell with completely numb fingers... Shit!! My first 9a+ has still to wait... Hope to come back to it as soon as possible with warmer temps! Now it is just too cold for a 1000m above sea level crag!
                                photo Diego Neonati


A few days after falling at the end of Goldrake I left for Spain with high hopes of sending some hard routes... big mistake!! In a two weeks trip I couldn't climb even one of the projects I had in mind...
Biggest PUNT of the trip was on A Muerte my endless(3 years now) nemesis in Siurana(picture)!

Now I'm back at home since three weeks but I didn't climb so much.  It's pretty cold out and not very motivating so I've been working a as a route setter in a bouldering/ski comp called Power Powder Contest in Aosta Valley which was lots of fun(i was the route setter for bouldering of course).
I also started training a bit like every winter...
This year I'm very psyched for rope climbing so I plan to train in various gyms and try to work on my resistance which has always been one of my weak points. We will see what happens!

Here is the video of the event: