Ups and downs

I promised to write again when there's something to write about. There is - or rather has been - already a week ago. Within a day after the last rain and quite literaly in the first rays of sunlight I went back to Teuto on Thursday evening. Belayed by Matt I managed to climb 'Banane ohne Rampe' (7c+), after almost four weeks of waiting to get back on it. It was very satisfying and like often on a hard readpoint it didn't feel very hard anymore when I climbed it. It's easy to forget how often I've fallen off and discredit the accomplishment... I shouldn't though, this is my second route higher than 7c and another confirmation I've breached that ceiling!

I didn't film my ascent of Banane ohne Rampe (it was quite dark), but here's a screenshot of a video I made while working it on the previous session. The picture shows the onset of the final hard move.

Last weekend the weather forecasts were incredibly good for the Twente/NRW region and Matt and I ventured to Ith for another day of rock climbing. Matt convinced me to visit the Bisperoder Klippen, which offers lots of easy climbing and a few interesting butresses with a selection of high quality harder routes. It's a quiet area, probably because of the long approach walk: about an hour. We were told about a shorter (but tricky to find) way though and decided to give that a shot. It ended up taking us over 80 minutes of wandering, but on the way back we were much more efficient. Let's consider it an investment in future visits. And there will be a future visit: as it turned out, the weather in Ith wasn't quite as good as it was nearer to home. After a failed onsight attempt on the first serious route - 'Zingulum' 9- (7b+) - it started raining quite heavily. It didn't stop for the rest of the day and although it's overhanging, the route got very damp. I'd like to blame the conditions for not sending Zingulum, but in all honesty I felt weak the entire day. I may not have done it in good conditions either... On top of that it turned out that there is an easier sequence than the one we used. I'll go back later to give it a shot! I guess I can't expect to peak on every day outside...

But right now, I'll have to wait. My students have finished their final exams and I'm busy correcting their work for the next two weeks. I'd be surprised if there's much time left for climbing.