Wednesday, 19.11.14 during training… Anna and I were just together transforming (fat into muscle) and the idea came to me to drive to Ticino for the weekend. Anna, are you up for it?! What a question! And so we got out of our beloved beds at 6 a.m. on Saturday to drive to the 15-degree-warm Ticino. Not sure where we would sleep, Anna, her friend Roman and I set off in a small Polo with FOUR pads, tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mats and of course lots of food (for every pad we had to carry, a reward bar) towards the beautiful Switzerland! Strengthened with a Leberkas-Semmel and coffee, the conditions for a good weekend were guaranteed! Through cut mountains we finally arrived around noon.
Unfortunately, Anna got a nasty migraine and therefore rested first. So Roman and I walked alone into the Crescianos forest. "Wooooh! Ouch.. and damn it!" you could hear us swearing as we walked or swam into the area. After the warm-up, we immediately continued to my "Backgammon" project, which I had already bolted out three weeks before. First, cleaning was scheduled. Then I got in completely without expectations – just get back in first and remember the movements; feel around the keyhold again. And Bam! First try and immediately cleared the key section! Completely surprising! Okay, okay… Stay cool and keep going clean. From one crack to the next, hook out, then breathe and shake briefly. The hardest part was over. Concentration, then continue. From edge to edge we continued to the undercling crack. Stand up, toe-hook and TOP! My very first 7c boulder! Annual goal achieved! Projecting for two days and then three weeks later simply easy-blocked it on the first try, really crazy!
It took a little longer until I came back down to earth, but then we did a little more bouldering and then went back to the car. Anna felt better again and so we got back into the packed Polo, looked for a nice accommodation, cooked, ate, played and slept. Quickly I fell into the land of beautiful 7c boulders, of course with a grin from one ear to the other.
The next day, unfortunately, poor Anna had a migraine again, so she and Roman set off on the way back again. Before that, they dropped me off in Chironico at the boulder duo Flo and Christoph. There I could then pick up a 7a flash and a 7b+. Flo got his sixth 8a in four days and Christoph a 7c+. Really strong performance! And so three tired and satisfied bouldering people set off on the way home from the beautiful Ticino back to Munich. It was beautiful! Thank you very much to Boulderwelt and Mantle, to my trainers who brought me this far, my parents who make all this possible and the people from the Bayernkader who supported me so strongly during projecting!
