After a long, hard phase of building a foundation and developing my strength, it was time to reduce my training volume a bit so that I could focus on a good maximum strength phase.
As part of this training phase, it seemed like a good idea to go on a short bouldering trip to the crags, combined with a few gym sessions. So it was a natural choice to explore the boulders in the Zillertal, as you can also quickly get to some good gyms from there.
But the weather conditions were not ideal, because after three days of good conditions it started to rain continuously. So in the first week I only had the first two days for the crags. However, since the boulders in the Zillergrundwald and Sundergrund were still buried under snow, the only option for day one was the slightly lower-lying "Magic Place". There, in addition to some 8a combinations, I managed to flash "Drischiebl" (8a+) and climb "The Riddler" (8a+/8b) on my third attempt.
The next day, after fruitlessly searching for a dry boulder with hard problems, I happened to notice a short, extremely steep wall with quickdraws near Ginzlingen. However, since I didn't have a guidebook for the area at the time, I decided to just try the routes on the spur of the moment.
I managed to send almost every line on my first try, except for one very short, extremely boulder-intensive route (6 hard moves), where I spent almost an hour on the last hard move of the boulder section, but in the end I still couldn't send it.
In hindsight, I found out that the route was actually a project and I didn't have to be frustrated that I couldn't send it on the first try. Otherwise, in addition to "Bachhexe" (8a+), I was able to onsight several other routes in the 8a range and "Land der Hämmer" (8b+).
In the following days, the weather finally completely deteriorated (0–5°C and heavy rain), so I had to settle for some hard training sessions at the Tivoli.
At the end of the week, however, I decided to drive on to Chironico in Ticino, where I had to prepare myself for another major change in weather: 20–25°C and more intense sunshine every day. Accordingly, it was really difficult to climb hard boulders, so I was only left with the early morning and late evening hours to do some hard bouldering.
During these three days at the boulders in Chironico, in addition to some 7cs, I managed to send "Deliverance" (8a+) on my third attempt and "The scent of snow" (8a) on my second attempt.
Finally, a hard session at the Milandia in Zurich was on the agenda, and then the journey home to make all the preparations for the England trip just two days later.
