Krudrozaver

ponedeljek, 23. maj 2016

There is still hope for the podium!

5 competitions, 5 semifinals and no finals for yet. After good training sessions and huge motivation, I was pretty sure I will do great this season. But unfortunately I never got the right flow in the semi final rounds. On my first comp in Meiringen I did few tries too much and also came really close on 3rd boulder, in Kazo also one try too much and also fell from the top on 3rd one, in Chongquing I also fell from one top, in Navi Mumbaj I honestly didn't find myself and here in Innsbruck fell again from 2 tops. I just can't believe same things are just repeating every time, but on the other hand I still feel fresh and strong, so I'll just keep my head up and do my best in Vail.

To keep a positive mind, I also went outdoor for some sport climbing. I visited places like Medveja, Baratro, Osp and also Maltatal. In Medveja I was able to on sight Criogenetica 8a+, Venga vecjo 8a and came really close to 8c flash. After warm up in Maltatal I on sighted Marsch mellow kind 8a, did Soulstrip 8b on my second go and also climbed the hardest route there, which in my opinion maybe isn't harder than 8b+(c), Walhalla also on my second go. After 3 visits to Baratro and around 7-8 tries in total, I managed to clip the first anchor of Atilla 8c/c+.

BWC Meiringen

BWC Kazo

BWC Chongquing

BWC Navi Mumbaj

India at it's best

BWC Innsbruck

Walhalla 8b+(c), Maltatal

ponedeljek, 4. april 2016

Bloc comp and block ascents

It was so good to be competing again and feeling very comfortable. In Pfungstadt, Germany there was an incredible competition called Blocmaters where I took second place. After ripping my rib muscle in qualification round I was still able to climb all 4 semi problems in very hard competition. By fleshing the first problem in finals I guaranteed my second place and unfortunately couldn't continue with my full force. This time Alexey Rubtsov was better than me, but I know I can change things to a bit better.

After my injury I had lots of therapies and soon I was able to touch some rock. For the first time it was in Maltatal for some sport climbing and the next time I was actually able to climb some hard things. In one day I sent Der Imperator 8a on my second go, Emotional landscapes stand 8a+ and Orgazmatron 8a.

Today I went to new block in Kamniška Bistrica where I climbed all the existing lines:

- ?? 6b,
- ?? 6c,
- ?? 7a,
- Če maš maš 7c flash,
- Če maš maš sit 7c+,
- Nimaš kej 8a second go,
- No surrender policy 8a flash,
- Bo že 7c flash,
- ?? 7b flash,
- Hiperborea 7c,
- ?? 7b

Here is a clip from Maltatal:

sreda, 16. marec 2016

Magic month

It's incredible how combining outdoor and indoor climbing effects on my strengths. I train with my team approx. 2-3 times per week, other days I try to spend on rocks. When I go outdoors the sessions are not so long, but I'm really trying to climb on very hard things. And because I don't train too much on plastic, my mind is very calm. This is why I had such an incredible month. After my last trip to Switzerland I focused more on a specific route in Mišja peč and after few working days on it I was able to do one of the rare ascent in specific route called Za staro kolo in majhnega psa 8c+.

After that I found some free days and I decided to go back to Ticino. My goal was to try Ninja skills 8b+ for max 2 days and if the weather stays good maybe some tries in some other hard stuff. So on my first day I warmed up in Ninja worrier 7c+ (flash) and I was able to do all the moves in Ninja skills. Even better! I climbed it from the second move. Unfortunately I had to leave it for the next day. Because I was trying very hard on it, my skin was very bad so I just couldn't do it my first go. Actually I spent few desperate tries and at the end put my self into a sending mode and crushed it.

With Klančnik we went down to Chironico and decided to spend the last hours of daylight. We occupied The crack line 8b. Even though we were both tired I did a very good try on it and slipped from the last hold. There was still daylight... "OK! Let's try Second life!". We moved there, Klančnik checked out the moves and I sent it on my first go (tried it few years ago). To me it felt like 7c or so, even though the grade is 8a+.

Here are the clips from Za star kolo and Ninja skills:

petek, 19. februar 2016

The shelter

According to all the nice stories that happened recently on our trip to Ticino, I think The shelter is the right title. A special story wasn't a climbing one, but it was the one when we actually met wonderful people in Bavona. So we slept in a great shelter under huge boulder in the forest and one day we were invited to one of those beautiful houses in Sonlerto. Very nice couple (Robi and Nadia - hope I writhe names correctly) invited us for a lunch (polenta) and some good wine. They heat up our hearts with their hospitality so we became even more motivated to climb. So in 2 days in Bavona I did first ascent of 2 very beautiful lines: The shelter 8b+ and Tektonik effect 8a. The first one is located just between Elyssium and The corridor, the other one you can find just behind Trigonometry. On the same block where Trigonometry is, there is another project I was trying on. I believe it could reach the grade of 8c and I almost did every single move. I'm so happy for my friends Klemen Kejžar and Jakob Bizjak for repeating Trigonometry and later for ascents in Chironico. And so we moved to Chironico. The weather was not on our side, but that didn't kill our spirit. We did a team send of La persistencia de la memoria 8a together with Samuel Ometz (who btw showed us the new line). We moved to Alphane moon 8a, but Bizi and I were to tired to send it. Klemen got insanely strong and flashed, but Bizi and I had to come back few days later to finish it. The other block that we occupied and brutalised was the one with Big kat line on it. On first session I did the stand start(8a+) of it and on next session I did the whole (8b+) line. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side again, so we had to finish our trip on a short stop in Cresciano.

It's also interesting that I can say I did some sport routes before my trip to Ticino. I was able to send 30 meters long Ledena doba 8b+ at Čreta and Fratres 8b in Zigeunerloch.

The shelter

the real shelter

Robi's horses

the best lunch

In the buble 6c, FA

Big kat

Tektonik effect

četrtek, 21. januar 2016

Some more granite around my hometown

Few years ago, a friend of mine took me to a new spot around Slovenska Bistrica. There was no lines open yet so I focussed on projects in other areas more. This winter the local guys did a great job with cleaning and opening new lines. So on Monday I went there to try the existing lines and maybe to try only project which was left there. It was really cold and very hard to warm up, but I luckily managed to flash one of the best lines in Slovenia. It is slopy 7c+ line on a perfect slopers, called Žabje kraljestvo. We moved to Mothership boulder, where I also flashed Enterprise for which I think it's more 7c(+). I really don't want to downgrade those things, but because it's fresh new it won't be too bad. Later I tried the whole line. It's a crazy roof traverse with some body turns, leading into Enterprise (2 hard moves). I tried the moves in between for some minutes and than did it from the start on my second go. Klančnik, who first tried this line named it Vulcan logic and I gave it 8a+ grade. Hope we find some more projects in this part of Pohorje.

I also happy to announce that I'm getting close on my Lanicor project in Golobove pečine. Yesterday I managed to do it in 2 prats. Let's hope for good weather and some luck as well.

Here is video of me from Bistriški vintgar:

četrtek, 7. januar 2016

Bolting expedition Dalmatia

It is always a question where to go for the new year's holidays. Like usually, the first plan was to go to Spain, but I just couldn't get a proper team together. Than I was thinking about Croatia. I was always dreaming about going there for few months, but never got chance to make it happen. Probably the problem was, that I wanted to go there for such a long time. So I just decided, why not to go there just for few weeks. I knew they have tons of rocks there, but nothing really hard to climb. So I decided to make a team of few friends who would like to go with me to bolt some new routes. So there was a first problem. How to get a proper team and where to get a proper equipment. Well with the equipment wasn't that bad, because Treking sport and Boris Čujić saved me with donating 200 bolts and anchors. With the team was not so hard, the only problem was to get them all together for the same dates. So we made a deal that I'll be there for 3 weeks and others will be coming and going.

Trip started a bit differently than you would expect. I went there with my father for first 3 days and bolted first 5 routes in Vrulja including project which I named Dugi rat (long war-I spent 2 days to bolt it). We were staying at Boris parents at Mimice, where I found a good potential for some hard routes. When my friend Luka Tambača came, we went up there just above their house and I started with bolting. I bolted 4 routes and later a local guy and now a good friend of mine Ivan Kuvačić came aroud and bolted 2 extra routes. The other crew arrived just before new year and it was time for me to stop bolting and start climbing a bit. I did 2 of my projects in Mimice (Gas gas and Gusjenica samoubojica, both 8a) and started climbing in Vrulja. While I did a first ascent of Zona radova 6b+, Ostri kot 7c+ and Sipar direkt 8a+ in upper cave, Bojan Hribernik - Alpi was bolting new routes in a lower big cave. He bolted 2 really nice routes and I got the chance to make a first ascent of his 40 meters beauty. We called it Slovenski san and I suggested a grade of 8a+. When Kejžar team went home, Gašper Pintar was joining us. Together with him and Alpi, we bolted ground up a new route, which unfortunately climbed only Pinti and I. Now it has a name Dimni signal and 7c+ grade. Than weather started to bothering us. I luckily had a chance to try my big project and do all the moves. It begins with a bouldery 8a+ route to quite good rest. After that you need to follow some longer moves until you reach a small rest. I would say it's about 8b+/c to that point, but it follows into a hard boulder section. With a bad rest follows another hard 2 moves crux and few more moves to matle this cave out. When the weather was a bit better, I took this advantage and bolted a new short route, on which Pinti did first and I second ascent. Now we call it Morska plošča za 2, 7b. Also tried a blank slab under the same anchor and almost did all moves. Got to be back to bolt it- it's going to be a hard short slab.

We also got a chance to try some bouldering around Split, where I did first repetition of Croatian's hardest boulder problem Ptičja gripa 8a+ and climbed Blade runner 8a and Poker face 7c+.

You can find a topi here: https://27crags.com/crags/vrulja

Thanks again to everybody who were responsible to make this trip possible:

Treking sport, Boris Čujić, Ivan Kuvačić, Luka Tambača, Bojan Hribernik, Gašper Pintar, Kejžar family, Eva Deban, Edi Kruder, Vedran Puljiz, Minja Čulić, Frane Čulić and all the other Croatian friends!

And for those who haven't seen my movie about Massacrate: Massacrate 9a+