After three wonderful weeks, marked by pure enjoyment bouldering in the stunning Grampians with world-famous boulders in every difficulty level, I was overcome by ambition to add something hard to my ticklist.
This was initiated with ‘Spanking the Monkeybars’ (V8), which I tried on rainy days. At the end of a bouldering session I was able to climb the moves pretty quickly, but on my first return I experienced probably the worst grip in three weeks and the sequence was not really efficient in terms of strength and energy. But next time I managed to top the athletic classic in the weather-resistant area ‘Kindergarten’ with kneebars, heel hooks, cut,.. Super cool boulder!
Next, I tried the next boulder on my ticklist: I had actually only tried it once for fun when I felt completely flat and one of the crew was working on the boulder. But then I found some great beta, so my buddy Simon topped and I was able to climb all the moves solidly. When I then returned to ‘Spanking the Monkeybars’ and fell off the last move after pumping it about five times, I decided that I probably should just come back fresh. Said and done. The next day I confidently walked over the start of the classic ‘Wimmel Friedhoff’ (V5), powered through the hard linking shoulder move and topped the exit of another classic ‘Rave Heart’ (V8). Daily flash in the cool linkup boulder ‘Ogre Thumb’ (V9). A rest day followed and in the evening my usually rather low meat consumption was finally made up for with ‘chicken and vegetable pie’ and a load of pork schnitzel!
In the morning I was overcome by the desire for Kaiserschmarren, so the forearms were warmed up by beating the egg whites stiff with two forks and the appetite stimulated by the smell of the boiling apples for the applesauce. Man, that was good! Well fed, I grabbed the crash pad and went out alone today, but in good weather, let's go.
Warm up below the ‘Taipan Wall’ in the ‘Snakepit’ area and then up to the slightly isolated three-star boulder ‘Lazy Mooneli’. Thanks to my friend Simon I even got up there at all, got on, and got some good beta. In the first session I immediately fell in love with this roof boulder! Super cool, unique moves. One of those boulders that are super hard to flash. Because your feet are thrown back and forth here, over five different heel hooks, the toe hook also comes into play. In addition, edges, cracks, slopers, slopers, pinches and jugs are all part of the action. On top of that, the view is also fantastic! So what more could you want?
In my second session I was able to figure out the sequences. But the power was not quite enough to link the approximately 20 moves together. Well, but today in my third session Kaiserschmarren was on the plan as an energy source.. once through-bouldering the crux for the tension and the cool head and then simply getting on from below. Man, that feels smooth! And what feels good usually also leads to success.. Tadaaaa daily flash in my first V10 and favorite boulder! Whoop whoop! Well, what else am I doing now? The day is only half over.. one project is still open, but on the completely other side… But the good Bavarian hiking legs will surely get me over there. So let's go!
From one roof to the next: back to ‘The Cave’, where I had already ticked ‘Ogre Thumb’. This time ‘Cave Girl’ (V9) was on the list. Still super happy about the success on ‘Lazy Mooneli’, I got on completely carefree in the middle of the huge roof after a quick re-warmup to see if I really am a Cave Girl or rather a chocolate-addicted mat-slapper. Because let me tell you – bouldering again in a pumpy twenty-move roof! Fortunately, I was allowed to borrow a crash pad from the other crew, so I could lay out the two tricky spots with pads. Not that you fall deep here, but for peace of mind it is always quite good to know you have a soft landing zone in case of a butt-slap. So let's see if beating egg whites by hand is good forearm training.. I would simply say: if it works, it works! The magic of a rest day, meat consumption and Kaiserschmarren are my personal drug! Another daily flash. V9 and V10 in a day???????? I think I can now confidently wear the title ‘Cave Girl’! Everyone pay attention: Lazy Cave Girl with a strong thumb spanks the Monkeybars..
In the following time I was also able to extend my list of unique, beautiful boulder lines between V3 and V8 again. What an unforgettable time here in the Grampians.. so over there, let's go! Kaiserschmarren and off to your project! That is the beta!
A big thank you to the Grampians Crew for the teamwork in bouldering, spotting, cooking and to the emotional and material support from back home! I would never have managed all this alone! Bouldering is definitely a team sport!
Photo credit: Nick Ducker (@five.ten.plus), Luca Parodi, Vu Le Photography
