Mallorca

After being in Kalymnos last year we were looking for a new destination for our short summer trip of 2012 and stumbled across Mallorca. From a climbers perspective, the island is mostly known for it's great Deep Water Soloing (DWS) opportunities. Not such a commonly known thing is the great amount of top sport climbing crags it has to offer. And besides all the climbing possibilities it simply is an extremely beautiful island with a wide variety of different landscapes and atmospheres, amazing beaches and mountains up to 1500 meters above the sea. So a ten day trip was booked, a perfect opportunity to get a glimpse of this amazing place and all it's treasures...

Having returned just a couple of days ago I can tell that our expectations were totally met! Great sunny weather (a bit too hot for hard climbing but whatever), great beaches and places, the cliffs were really impressive and we even just saw about a handful of them... and we also spent one day going to Cala Barques for a  DWS session, the first time I actually did DWS and I really really dig it! This free feeling of climbing high above the water without a rope or anything that's hindering you  is truly breathtaking... It's playful like bouldering but flowing like route climbing and you're doing it above deep blue water, the sun shining and a cool breeze from the ocean... Great experience and something I will get back to in the future.

Here are some pictures of our trip and a little video were I am climbing "Commando Madrid" 8b in Les Perxes. This route out of a horizontal cave is one of the best sportclimbs I set hands on so far... It has  different types of cruxes all the way up and a really hard last move!

If you haven't been, go there! Mallorca is rad!

Emi

Emi Moosburger on Commando Madrid 8b from Moon Climbing on Vimeo.

La Coka Nostra

Footage of sending "La Coka Nostra" 8A+, a quite new line in Tumpen, Ötztal. It's a great compression climb that reminded me a bit of Black Shadow and The Vice in Rocklands....

La Coka Nostra 8A+ from Moon Climbing on Vimeo.

Bouldering Nationals 2012

Yesterday, April 14th 2012, the Austrian Bouldering Nationals were held in Kitzbühel, Tirol.

This year I decided to take a break of the comp scene because I am doing my diploma at Uni besides working half time so there would not be much room and time flexability for comps and I'd rather spend my free time on the rock than on comp walls. But the nationals were one of the events I wanted to attend anyway so I was well excited when the day came and we drove to the comp site.

discussing beta

I trained a lot indoors the past months and felt in good shape, but had no clue what to expect, just that making finals would be a cool thing. With 44 starters in the male category, of which the best 8 would advance into the last round, it seemed like quite a challenge! The growing amount of strong comp boulderers and kids in the last years is just crazy!!

The quali went really well, I was able to top out 5 of the 8 problems and qualified for finals on 5th place, very pleased!

worst enemy

time check

A couple hours later the finalists got introduced on stage and shortly after the first climber was on the wall. The atmosphere was cool, there was a nice crowd watching and cheering, the DJ played some classic austrian country style music which sucked a bit I have to say, but nothing's perfect.... In the final round we had to climb 4 problems in onsight mode, meaning you have 5 minutes time to climb the first problem, 5 minutes rest, then 5 minutes time for the second one, etc.... This means that you better do problems fast or you'll get really pumped, 5 minutes rest is not much!

The first problem was a tricky slab I think only two climbers were able to do in the end, I wasn't one of them and got shut down there. On the second problem, an overhang with slappy, powerful compression moves of a style I prefer, I hustled arround on my first tries, got high up on my last try when the time run out and I endend up being totally pumped without making it to the top!






The third problem was amazing: a jump start on two opposing slopers, followed by some big compression (again!) moves to the top. Still tired I just couldn't crush it right away and tried hard my full 5 minutes falling after the bonus hold (a hold up half the climb that counts in the ranking), completely out of juice... No top still.

Volume wrestling on problem 4

The last problem was the hardest of them all. You had to make your way arround a huge corner to get to the bonus hold and then mantle your way up a chimney to the top. Yet again this bloc was super powerful!! On my best try I was in a good position to go arround the volume but missed a toe - hook that you were supposed to place in order to get to the bonus and fell. This cost me my 5th place I made in the qualifiers and I ended up 7th after finals. Kili (Fischhuber) once again showed his amazing skills and power, flashed the first three problems and won the title! 2nd, 3rd and 4th each did one top.

How do you do this one?! Curious looks after the last problem.

It was a really intense and fun day in Kitzbühel! I am having the harshest muscle-ache in quite a while as I type this... one hell of a compression work-out it was!! A good thing to make use of on some projects of the same style on rock that I have in mind, so stay tuned!

Just gotta do some streching now to hopefully get outa bed in a smoother manner tomorrow than I did today...

Emi

Pics by Flo Murnig, www.dynamo.at

La Proue

Just got back from a short trip to ticino right after new year. I hadn't been down there in quite a while so I was very excited to climb on good old swiss gneiss once again! As some snow dropped down at the higher spots the days before we arrived the desicion was made to climb at Cresciano. We got there in the afternoon and just climbed around randomly, enjoying the rock and the forest and meeting people I hadn't seen in a while...

The following day we went all the way over to the La Boule sector as I was keen to get on "La Proue". It's a short and powerful line established by Fred Nicole in the late 90's of the past century, classic and quite technical, around 8B. I had randomly tried it every once in a while over the past years but with little success... I kinda expected it to be the same this time but to my suprise I felt stronger on it. I stuck the crux move for the first time that day and fell off on the next one because I kinda had no clue what to do after... So the plan was to rest one day, return back, warm up, then first do the upper part isolated to get the beta and then start from the bottom again.

The crux Move, pic by Korni Obleitner

Being a lazy b**ch and full of confidence on my return two days later I thought it for sure will go without sticking to the plan. So again, I stuck the crux move perfectly and yes, again I punted somehow and fell off. I did try the upper moves after that, figured out the foot-moves which are the tricky part but the power was gone and I couldn't get up there anymore... Idiot.

The following day was my last chance. It was sunnier and warmer as the days before and the tries didn't feel good, I was pretty sore as well from the day before. I made a long rest until 30 minutes before it got dark and started my last set of tries, already making up plans in my mind of returning the next weekend because I didn't feel like it would go anymore today. So I set off with no expectations and everything clicked, some surprised and adrenalized roars later I stood atop of the boulder... happy and with a big smile on my face that didn't go away the whole drive back to Innsbruck.... 

Video below!

Emi