dinsdag 22 april 2014

The 7c ceiling

I've been held down by the 7c ceiling for quite a while now. My bouldering level suggests I should be able to climb harder routes and when I climb at 7c level I feel it's not the limit. But somehow it just doesn't happen. Two years ago I climbed my first 7c with 'Apocalypse', a short, bouldery roof climb in Berdorf. It was completely unexpected and just two days after climbing my first 7b. Now I think that Apocalypse is rather 7b+, which partly explains why I wasn't able to climb my next 7c for more than a year. Over ambitiously I tried to climbed 'Cima Ovest' 7c+ over two weekends in Berdorf, but logically failed to deliver. When I topped out three more 7c's last year, I tried something harder again: 'Traité de Deversification' 8a in Grotte du Brotsch. For 5 days I threw myself against it and came very close to an ascent, but ultimately I had to go home without success.

When I kicked off the present rope season a good month ago, I briefly tried 'Strontium 90' 7c+ in Ith. The friction of the sloper in the top crux turned out to be extremely conditions dependent, so I climbed (the eventually much more beautiful) 'Opium fürs Volk' instead. Closer to home in Teuto I quickly dispatched the direct start to 'Alien', yet another 7c. Last year I failed to climb it repeatedly, surprised by how much harder the two move crux felt after a slightly harder start without a resting position. Seeing Erik make quick progress in 'Banane ohne Rampe', I started trying it too. I expected it to be extremely hard as it gets 8a+ in the topo guide, but quickly discovered it was within my reach. It was given 7c+ by the first ascentionists (Peter and Jan Martin from Enschede) and provides just the challenge I need at this stage. I came back once on a brief evening session with Erik and fell twice on the last hard move. Last weekend I received a very last minute invitation from Matt to climb just two hours in the morning. After repeatedly falling of the last hard move again, I started arriving there progressively stronger and less fatigued. And then I stuck the move! Feeling a rush of anxiety, I grabbed the rope to clip the quickdraw between my knees only to find out that I somehow moved my leg between the rope and the draw. Confused, I let go and briefly considered skipping the clip altogether. Realising I'd risk a fatal fall to the ground then, I tried clipping again, this time awkwardly reaching underneath my leg and tangling the rope around it. Trying to get my leg out again, my feet cut loose. I still held on and readjusted my feet, but I felt all the strength flowing away. When I tried to reposition my hand to prepare for the final (easy) move, I finally fell...

Again I failed to break the 7c plateau. I know now that I am capable of doing it. It will happen soon. I'll get back on Banane ohne Rampe whenever I can and next week Koen and I will return to Grotte du Brotsch for two days and I will try Traité de Deversification once more. I'm scared to fail again and excited to get another chance to try it. It is a mental game and I love it. It simply isn't fun when it's easy!

So stay tuned for an update. Soon I might climb 7c+ or even 8a. In the meantime enjoy this video of my doing a chalkless (!) ascent of Alien direkt, 'just' another 7c:

zondag 13 april 2014

Old project down, new project added...

The day started with a disappointment: due to time constraints we didn't go to Ettringen as planned... But Erik and I did find the time to drive to the Teutoburger Wald and climb there. Now that we can circumvent the strict no-chalk policy with a can of 'Friction+', we can try the hard routes there without worrying about getting finger injuries snapping of slippery holds. We walked straight to sector Schinder, which offers the hardest climbing of the area. Last year I tried the direct start to 'Alien' (making it 7c) and fell of the crux moves at least 20 times without climbing it. Although I knew I could do the powerful dynamic move, I got mentally blocked on it and failed to commit over and over again. Today - about eight months later - I made quick work of it though. It's good to feel powerful!

A screenshot from a video of me in Alien, after executing the crux move (yes, there is a chalkbag on my harness, but it's closed and I did not use any chalk. I carried it up to have a brush for cleaning the holds)
In the meantime Erik started unlocking the sequence of 'Banane ohne Rampe', a logical eliminate of Banane leaving out a big block for the feet, forcing you to climb a much harder line about one meter higher up. According to the first ascentionists Peter and Jan Martin the grade is about 7c+. Erik made good progress while I checked out a crazy combination of Alien and Banane (which involves a very hard slightly down-climbing traverse right after the crux of Alien) and discovered it was a bit harder than I expected. When I noticed that I could do the impossible looking top moves of Banane ohne Rampe relatively easily, I joined Erik on his quest to climb the route. Taking turns, Erik started making serious redpoint attempts while I got completely shut down by a move on small edges before the supposed crux. Lacking the mutant finger strength of Erik, I needed many attempts to find a solution that worked for me: a tricky deadpoint to a crimper. It took all energy that I had left. Eriks dedication paid off though and on an impressive attempt forcing him to dig deep he climbed Banane Ohne Rampe, his hardest ascent in 8 years. Inspiring for sure and very motivating!

A screenshot from a video of Erik looking strong on Banane Ohne Rampe.

woensdag 9 april 2014

One down

Matt and I (and three dogs very happy dogs) went back to Elefantenbäuche determined to get something done this time. As it happened to be quite warm and particularly humid, we thought that holding on to the very friction dependent sloper on Strontium 90 would be impossible and we focussed on Opium fürs Volk instead. To be honest, I expected to do it in two, maybe three attempts. It took more. Moving into the big undercut was much harder than I remembered and I fell twice on that move. The top crux spit me off twice as well, one time literally with a half pad of my fingertips on the jug over the lip... In the meantime, Matt wasn't more successful and we both started to feel the redpoint pressure, contemplating the painful option of having to go home without ticking off Opium fürs Volk.

Finishing the crux of Opium fürs Volk: one more bump up to go to the redeeming jug. Photo taken by Erik during the previous session.
Fifth attempt. Watching my fingers dry after applying the canned magic named 'Friction+' seemed an eternity. With no positions to chalk up on the route, starting with perfectly dry skin makes a big difference. I started concentrated and climbed through the start and the weird, balancy moves on the edges. Moving up to the undercut, my body position was slightly off though and I struggled to catch the hold, but lost my focus in the process. Instead of moving my left foot up first to push myself closer to the undercling, I immediately moved up my other hand, putting myself in a very strenuous position. Wasting even more energy, I corrected my mistake and stepped up. Making the foot moves to prepare for the crux, suddenly 'the flow' returned: I forgot about my tired forearms and focussed on the moves ahead. Almost unconsciously I executed the crux, that suddenly felt awkwardly easy. With a yell of relief I clipped the chains (actually there are just single bolts without backup and no chains in Ith - no 'Deutsche Grundlichkeit' here - but you get the point, right?). Strange how easy hard redpoints often feel on the successful ascent...

Folding up and fiddling with edges halfway up Opium fürs Volk.
Another photo taken by Erik during the previous session.
My success put some additional redpoint pressure on Matt, who usually deals better with the anxiety than I do and wraps ups projects a bit quicker. Not today though and he kept things exciting until his very last attempt. Having nearly given up he reluctantly forced himself to go up one final time. Somewhere he found the perseverance to hold on and sent Opium fürs Volk as well. The first hard(ish) route of the season is down at last! According to plan, more will follow. In the past week though I already missed two opportunities to go back to my 8a project in northern France. I hope I'll have another one soon. In the meantime, I'll try to make some more meters in the upper 7th grade to prepare myself for the 8th grade...