Back again to Ticino

Well, after my last trip in Switzerland, it did not take long before I could go again in Ticino. One week passed before I could go again.

This time I did not have much time to climb, only four days. I decided that this trip, I would focus on trying hard stuff, mainly 8b’s.

I did that pretty well, on my first day, I tried “Shadowfax” which I got close on but couldn’t finish.

The day after, I went to try again “Boogalagga” but this one is really hard for me and although I felt better than when I’d tried in October, I couldn’t do the move. However, I could witness Sean Mcoll’s quick ascent and getting close on Big Paw, which he would send next day, a huge achievement for sure and very impressive.

 On the way for an attempt in Shadowfax

On my third day, my friend Nico and I joined Daniel Woods and Chuck Fryberger (thanks for the ride hehe) who were going to magic wood to film some hard new stuff.

 I tried briefly “Mistic Stylez” the sitstart to “Muttertag” and it felt pretty good, although I still miss one move, the hardest one. I am pretty sure that if I come back and work the move for some sessions I can climb it so it is cool to feel in shape.

Later, I went to try “somewhere in between”, the only 8B I had never tried in the woods and even never seen. I fell three times at the big crux move after a few attempts, so again I was satisfied. I left the bloc whereas I still had enough power to try and maybe to send but I wanted to see Daniel in “La force tranquille”. One at la force, we noticed it was wet and I went with nico to spot him in Astronautenfieber, one of the nicest blocs in the forest.

For my last day and fourth day on, although I always do little days so I can save some skin, I felt pretty tired. However, I went again in the early afternoon to try Boogalagga and this time although I kind of warmed up too fast, which caused me some pain in my left forearm, I kept on trying despite the ache and I got really really close. Unfortunately, I had to stop trying as everybody around stopped trying.

Later I followed the crew (Paul Robinson, Andy Gullsten and Sean Mcoll) to sector 101 and after some struggle to find the sector we got to Delusion of grandeur, a really beautiful line with a scary top out.

Sean almost flashed but lost confidence after a tiny dab, he sent right after, followed by Paul. I tried also but I had troubles on the big sloppy traverse and as I was getting really pumped and tired I kind of let it go. I stopped, satisfied of myself as I knew there was no way I could have sent that day and I didn’t want to slow the guys down on their rampage…

 Getting ready...

So to sum up, this has been a zero ticks trip but one that I am really satisfied of, It felt like I could send many 8b’s, even some I could have sent in the day so for me this was really pleasant. I finally start to feel the level coming back to what it was when I sent New base.

Also, climbing with and watching world-class climbers is really inspiring and motivating to progress.

So I will keep on climbing more indoor to be in the right shape when I go outside. I must say that for the last 2 month I have been climbing more indoor than usual and I feel the benefits of it comparing to when I was only climbing twice a week in the gym…

Anyway I’ll see when I come back but I’m sure it’s gonna be a slaughter considering how many projects I’ve been really close on but could not finish… 

See you, some more pics will be added later on