BWC Japan

On Tuesday the 07th of April the Austrian, Dutch and Italian team, Stew and I went to Japan. The competition took place in Kazo a small town an hour away from Tokyo. The qualification went pretty well for me and I managed to climb 3 of the 5 very hard problems. In the semi-final it did not turn out that good anymore, the problems were unusual hard and I had a hard time to get 3 bonuses. I finished in place 17.

Our extended team stayed a week longer in Japan to experience a bit more of the culture and to climb. We all dumped our bags in a climbing wall in Tokyo called pump2 which was our base for the week. Then we went for two days climbing, which was amazing. On the first day we went to a really tufary crack called Togiama and on the second day we went to a secret climbing area from Yugi. I got a lot of climbing done and was surprised of my decent stamina. Then it went back to our base and we spent another day sight seeing in Tokyo. The next two days we went bouldering in Shopera. Unfortunately it rain all day as soon as we arrived and I did not climb very much. However, the second day was beautiful and I enjoyed to climb with the girls. On the same night we went back to Tokyo and after waking up the next morning some of us had a training session in pump2. Sadly the next day it was time to fly back home. I was really amazed by the way the Japanese climbers took care of us. They organized everything for us, beginning from where to stay and climb, drove us around in their cars and helped us ordering our food.

...Finally sunshine....

After a long period of snow in Austria, Stew and I decided to drive to Chironico. The weather forecast was not lying, it was unbelievable warm and sunny, but very windy. Our first stop was in Chironico sector Boogalagga were we warmed up, than I went to Dr. Pinch 8a. After Stew demonstrated how easy it can be, I had do workout the right sequence for the top. Than I started to try the problem from the bottom which felt surprisingly okay, just after a few attempts I managed to keep my feet on when I went from the pinch to the sloper and I climbed the boulder on that go. Well happy. After that we moved on and Stew tried Boogalagga, unfortunately his tip split again and instate he climbed the 8a next to it with the same top-out. On the rest of the day we just messed around on some problems we passed.

Next morning we got up quite early and went to Chironico sector les doigts verts again we had an extended warm up and then i wanted to try les doigts verts because I am already so close of doing it but it was to hot so I decided to leave it and do lots of new problems instate. After an amazing day I climbed Auto pilot 7b+ (flash), Richiamino settimanale 7a+ (flash) and Karma Police 7a+.

Update

After the Worldcup in Moscow I took climbing a bit easier, by doing some stamina training. From 23-25 November the Austrian Climbing Team had a relaxation camp in Obergurgl, skiing, massages, spa, food and drink in a 4 star hotel...thats luxury. In December Stew and I went to Tessin, it had a lot of snow and just a few things were try. I climbed Hannibal Lecture 7c, La Boulette 7b (flash). After that trip our training started again, gym + specific strength training. Half way trough the training (01.01.09-06.01.09) Stew and I went to England to do some bouldering. Unfortunately the weather was not so good and we ended up going indoors, but it still was fun and it felt good to climb some set problems. On 15.01-16.01.09 the Oetztal Team had to organize a big children comp-a lot of work but always a success. End of january we started our new boulder training. 13.02.-15.02.09 we went in a big team to Cresciano to climb lots of funky problems. On 28. January there was a Mammut climbing party in Tivoli where the whole Oetztal Team attempted. That was a great night with lots of boulders (80 in total) free drinks and food, some pictures and many climbers. The rest of the time gets used for training, training, work and sleep....

WC Moscow

On Thursday I went with the Austrian Team (SIS Babsy, Anna, Katha, Killi and Coach Heiko) to the Boulder Worldcup in Moscow. On Friday we had the qualification round. I climbed all five problems in 8 tries and finished 12th on the day. The rest of our team climbed also well and we all made it through to the semi. On Saturday morning the semi-final took place. Unfortunatly the girls problems were to easy and to get through to the final all 4 problems had to be flashed. I climbed all 4 blocs in 5 goes and finished 8th. Katha was the only girl from our team to get through to the final and won it. Kili also made it into the final and finished 2 and won the overall Worldcup. Anna come 7th on the day and won the overall Worldcup too. Babsy finished 13th and was pleased about doing all the blocs in unbelieveable 11 tries. Following these good results the rest of the saturday was used for teammatters (party, party) ......

Qualified Climbing Instruktor...

The last few days I had the end exams from the Climbing Instructor Course. It was a marathon of exams but I passed them all and can call me now a "Qualified Climbing Instructor". Congratulations also goes to my friends from the course that made the time of learining and sitting around on beautiful weekend days bareable especially thanks goes to Fabi, Ivan, Leo and Ursu.

Fontainebleau

After the European Chanmpionship Babsy, Heiko, Anna, Jakob, Kili, Jorg, Stew and I went climbing to Fontainebleau. That was my first time in Font and I had the best time ever. Everyday we went to a different areas and just climbed all the problems that looked good to us. A game of football was also not missing on the big, sandy playgounds (that felt harder than climbing!). We had so much fun all the time and I enjoyed every second of the trip. Unfortunatly Stew and I had to leave on Thursday morning, a few days earlier than the rest, because I had to be back in Innsbruck to take the final exams of the climbing instructor course.

PARIS

On Tuesday we finally set off for our trip to Paris. On Wednesday it was time for the qualification rounds of male and female bouldering. Tue do the high number of competitors the groups were split into two. All the girls from the austrian team were in the same group ecept my sister Babsy, she had to start in the other group. The problems felt quite basic and I climbed all blocs (5) in 6 tries and finished 2nd in my group. For the girls the semi-final continued on Saturday therefore we had a two days rest, what I used for sight-seeing around Paris. I felt less nervous for the semis and was psyched to do well, but somehow I not seemed to get into the usuall fighting mode. I just managed to top one problem and fall of two other problems on the last move. The probelms were not mega hard but I just could not give everything on them. I finished 19 th and was dissapointed but on the other hand I also felt pleased to know that this was not my best effort and I could to better.