After weeks of waiting for dry rock and good climbing conditions, I was fed up with waiting. I kept going to the climbing gym to train, just to be ready in case it stayed dry for a few days. That was pretty much how it went for almost the entire semester in Erlangen.
Then I decided to go to Ticino for 10 days. Since I had never been there before, my expectations were high and my motivation even higher. My injury to my right arm couldn't dampen my spirits either, even though it severely limited me during the trip.
Initially, Max Räuber and I planned to sleep outside for the first half of the trip. But after two nights, we decided to rent an apartment on Lake Maggiore, which made the evenings and rest days much more pleasant.
My main focus was to try some of the classics in Cresciano, Chironico, and Brione. On the very first day, I managed "La Pelle" (8a Fb- Bloc), and the next day I sent "Backgammon sit" (8a Fb- Bloc). Since I had been mostly rope climbing until recently and hadn't done that much bouldering yet, I was already very happy with this.
After a generous rest day, we headed to Brione. Unfortunately, the boulder I mainly wanted to try there was wet at the top, so now I have another reason to go back soon. However, during the two days in Brione, I managed "Molonk" and "Atlantis", both (7c Fb-Bloc).
After another day in Cresciano, my injury to my right arm finally started to bother me again. I had gotten it while practicing on the Beastmaker, which is why pulling on the edges has been painful ever since. Too bad that "Kirk Windstein" (8a Fb-Bloc) is basically all edges. But whatever. In the spirit of "my biceps can handle it", I flew off the standing start variant just before the top during my flash attempt. On the next try, the standing start worked, and on the next go, the sitting start. Next on the agenda was the mega-classic "Frank's wild years" (8a Fb- Bloc). After some initial difficulties and a pull in my arm, I managed that next 8a on the same day.
This forced me to take two days off, as my injury had flared up again. But it was worth it! However, I didn't want to be out for long, so I decided to take it easier from then on. To finish on the last day, I was able to put in a good attempt on "Reiswaffel Mutant" (7c+/8a Fb- Bloc) and thus send the last boulder of this trip.
Now it's time for a quick recovery. In a few weeks, we're finally heading to Fontainebleau ????
