breakin the law - check

yesterday was my last full day of climbing for my 09 spring break trip. I decided to check out this nice 14b at the black and tan wall called "Breakin the Law." put up by Dave Graham a while back. The line is about 70 feet tall but the crux is down low followed by a very involved slab at the top. I had a great flash go falling off of the last hard move before the final slab section and managed to do the line a few tries later! it was a very fun route besides the slippery feet through the crux bit!

Today it is off to the Gorilla cliffs again for a first attempt at "The Present" before heading to Vegas tonight and flying back to the snow covered Boulder, Colorado tomorrow morning. Sorry for the lack of climbing photos. Hopefully some will pop up int he next week or so and i will be able to post some up! Let's hope that the weather in Boulder gets good again soon!!

psychedelic - check!

So today was the first day that i can actually say that i have done a legit route! I nabbed the second ascent of "Psychedelic" 5.14d at the gorilla cliffs outside of St. George in Southern Utah! Though the route is only 60 feet tall i really had to give it everything i had to get this thing done. 60 feet is a heck of a lot for a boulderer!

After the send, i went to moe's and made a quick ascent of cloverland, V12. The day was great and i am very relieved to have finished my hardest route to date! from 13c to 14d! back to bouldering!?

St. George

I have made it and i am officially a rope climber for the next couple of days. I have to say my first day at the Gorilla Cliffs was a lot of fun. I warmed up on a nice 11b "adventure" climb i would like to call it. Then it was a few climbs to the right for my initial attempts at "Psychedelic." My first time up the climb i hardly climbed on the route but rather just went from draw to draw putting up those snatchlinks and chalking up the holds. It seems as if some time has passed since anyone has climbed on this amazing route.

After my initial scoping of the route I did the upper sequence on my first go and decided it was time to try the crux sequence. For my first day and it being quite warm i feel as if it went quite well! I figured out the moves and am very psyched to get back on it again! The crux boulder problem is hard! it is just past vertical and very technical on the feet. The holds are small and each one you have to hit exactly right. After the crux boulder problem it is maybe 13a to the top where you end up finishing about 60 feet off the ground. I just wish the weather would get a bit colder because the holds hurt when your skin is soft!

More to come!

Five Ten Treasure Hunt

Back from Hueco

This weekend was the second time I was able to boulder outside since injuring my left ankle back in mid October. It was amazing to be back in Hueco again and climbing at what felt like the best i have ever climbed before!

The weekend started off hot! but the day of the comp came and the temps were perfect!!! I started my day by doing Terre de Sienne and then Diaphanous Sea all with in the first hour of the comp. It was cool to get back onto a climb that had been so difficult for me in the past. After this it was on to what would end up being my hardest climb of the day, Algerita. I had done the climb the year before and booted up and quickly found myself about to finish the climb on the last move that is no harder than v5 and as i crossed over to the final jug i broke a crucial handhold with my left foot and found myself on the ground a split second later. I eventually was able to figure out how to send the line with the broken hold and in my opinion feel like it was the hardest thing i did of the day. Though i do not know if i would call it v14 it is for sure a solid v13 now (probably was soft v12 prior to my breaking of the hold).

Anyway, i then found myself at a nice roof called techo de los tres B. I did it first go and moved on to the last v13 on my list, Diabolique. This climb is one of my favorites in Hueco Tanks and was a pleasure to do again. I hooked it up in a few minutes and was psyched to only have one climb left!

By this point in the day my ankle was in a lot of pain and my tips were pretty much purple but i had to finish strong so it was on to loaded direct. After a few crappy tries falling on the second move, i stuck the crux right hand sloper and climbed it to the top.

It felt amazing to be climbing outside again. though i feel as strong as ever my ankle still seems to be holding me back a lot as i was in a considerable amount of pain through the day. Hopefully with in the next few months i will be able to get back to 100 percent again in my left ankle.



Besides that it was a great weekend with good friends and i am psyched for Spring Break... Psychedelic and Rastaman! Stay tuned!!!

Hueco Bound

I am fortunately heading to Hueco for a nice long weekend. Unfortunately we are sitting at the Denver Airport waiting for a plane that is now going to be over 3 hours delayed and won't get A.Kahn or I into El Paso until 2:00 AM, Friday morning... The weather is looking like it is going to be unbearably warm but I am hoping for some coller evening temperatures for another attempt at the Full Sit start to Esperanza. Though with highs in the 80's I am unsure as to how much luck I am going to get.

It has been over a year since i have been to Hueco and i am very excited to get back. Though i wish it were for longer, it will be nice to have weekend in the bouldering mecca of the United States.

wish us luck!

a long 4 months

Sorry for the lack of updates but here is a big one to make up for the past few weeks. My healing has been going great and I have decided to get the screw taken out as soon as I can find a spare minute in my schedule to do so! It has officially been 4 months since I injured myself. Other than that, my limp is pretty much gone, I am able to begin falling on my left foot again as long as it is a controlled fall, and the strength in my leg seems to be growing every single day!



ABS Nationals: Besides being sick (with either the plague or the flu, I have yet to determine) and extremely nervous, I am very happy with my performance. It helps knowing that people are truly cheering you on but it does not take away from the anxiety of wanting to win or at least to perform at your best. As I learned in a SLC comp, it does not matter how strong you are (or how much support you get from the crowd) if you do not read the problem correctly, it is a VERY LONG 5 minutes. I believe that my strength is 100% back, but I still need more time for my overall balance and strength in my leg to fully return. I have been going to a physical therapist twice a week and it has helped speed up the recovery tremendously. The problem setting at ABS was outstanding. I was very impressed with everyones climbing and dedication this year at ABS Nationals. I can definitely see some young guns who will be taking top positions in comps with in the next few years. I better keep training harder than ever!
Now that nationals are done and my ankle is nearly healed, I can start climbing outdoors again. I am going to the Hueco 2009 Rock Rodeo in less than 2 weeks. I will be putting all of my effort into a project. It is the sit start to Esperanza. It starts on on Right Martini and then finishes on Esperanza. It is about 18 or so power moves on a near roof. It is going to be a real test of endurance. I am still a little tentative of a high fall so this project is going to be perfect for my short trip.
After Hueco, I am heading to Saint George and Bishop on March 18th for 11 days (spring break). My main goal is to get the second ascent of DG’s Psychedelic. My tick list below:
Psychedelic, Saint George
Breakin the Law, Saint George
The Present, Saint George
I will then head to Bishop for the rest of this trip. Once again, I plan on working the sit start to Rastaman. This will be my third spring break trying this problem. I know a lot of other climbers have also put effort into this line. I am able to do every move and have come extremely close to linking it; however, the crux move is a long reach to an almost nothing crimp off of a pinch that is barely a hold. If I send it, I honestly think it will be my hardest send to date, and it will certainly be the hardest boulder problem in Bishop; although, I am not looking forward to the top out.
After Bishop, it will be back to school to finish off the semester before yet again embarking on some amazing climbing adventures.
Deadpoint magazine has also asked me for a monthly blog. Therefore, between these two sites I hope to continue to share my experiences. Again, I am very sorry for the lack of updates, time is truly flying! Count on more updates and photos soon!

B-town Stompin'

It has been almost a month since my last update and a lot has happened over that time.

First of all, I am officially “bootless”. The doc has given me permission to “officially” start therapy and training. The only decision I need to make is to keep or take out the screw. There are good and bad reasons for each. I am leaning toward taking it out because it hurts. If anyone has any experience on this issue, please let me know.

In reality, I never stopped training. I feel pretty strong. My overall balance is not back yet but I am sure it will be shortly. I have been climbing a ton with Carlo Traversi and Alex Puccio. we have been doing a lot of sport climbing and i am having a lot of fun with it. It is great to be training with those two and really pushing forward in trying to heal my ankle back to being healed. I have also been climbing at CATS to keep my finger strength in tact.

After 8 months of not being in school the first week was quite intense. I have officially completed my first week and am looking forward to a relaxing four day weekend. I am headed to Clear Creek with Carlo Today in hopes of sending this 14a called Primeval. I tried this route once or twice 2 years ago and look forward to giving it another try today!

Other than that, i am just going to continue to train for the months ahead and am on a crash course in attempts to be ready to compete at ABS Nationals in February! I will be updatin a lot more now that i am officially back home and finally settled in! So stay tuned!

Final Draft: 2009 Tick List

The final days of 2008 are among us and I am beyond PSYCHED to start the new year! I look forward to many amazing adventures and an all around awesome year. As always, check back throughout the year for exclusive blog posts regarding my travels and hopefully keeping on a steady pace of sending the craziest list i have ever come up with! Hopefully i will send all of these this year!!!

2009 list

9a

USA

Psychedelic, Saint George

Spain

Es Pontas, Mallorca

8c

Breakin the Law, Saint George

8b+

USA

The Present, Saint George

8C

USA

Rasta Man Vibration Sit (Project), buttermilks (all depending on ankle)

France

Satan I helvete assis, font-Long’s Vaux

Switzerland

From dirt grows the flowers, chironico
Brione “Bi polar Hi roller Project”, Brione

Italy

Gioia, Varazze

8B+

USA

Suspension of Disbelief, Eldo

France

Gecko assis, font-Les Beaux Quartiers
Kheop’s Assis, font

Switzerland

Never Ending Story, Magic Wood (must have revenge!)
Dreamtime, Cresciano
Confessions, Cresciano

Austria

Bugeleisen, malltatal
Emotional landscapes, malltatal

8B

France

Gecko, font-Les Beaux Quartiers
Fata morgana assis, font-Long’s Vaux
Satan I helvete, font-Long’s Vaux

Switzerland

Shadowfax, Chironico
La prue, Cresciano

Austria

Golden Gate, Silvretta

8A+

France

Total eclipse, font-Cul De Chien
Chaos, font-Rocher Gréau
Big Dragon, font-Petit Bois
Karma, Font
Partage, font

Switzerland

Kirk windstain, cresciano
Collateral, Chironico

But more than anything I look forward to going out and searching for projects around the world! I will continue to keep my eyes open for amazing new lines all over and see what i can find and hopefully climb!

Happy New Year! And good luck with all of your 2009 tick lists!

happy holidays

I have been walking now for a few mere weeks and my ankle seems to be responding super well. It has now been 2 months and 1 week since the injury occurred and it seems as if it shouldn’t be more than one more month before I will be able to wear both my climbing shoes again, on a rope of course.

I am unsure at the moment when I will be getting back to bouldering again but am hoping that with the physical therapy I am going to start in Boulder the healing should go by a lot faster. My psyche is very high and besides my endurance, I feel quite strong. I am really hoping that my return will yield some of the best climbing I have ever done.

I hope everyone has a great holiday season and an awesome 2009! Keep a look out for the final tick list for 2009 in the next week or so.

preliminary draft: 2009 ticklist

So here it is. Unfortunately as many of you know my trip to Europe was cut short because of an unfortunate left ankle break in the middle of my trip. But now i am on the healing course and very much looking forward to the year 2009!!! I have below the preliminary list of boulders and routes (:gasp!!!:) that i would like to climb this upcoming year. First off i am sure that i will not only add to this within the next few weeks and will post a final before the end of the year but of course will ass to the last throughout 2009 as boulders get my attention from area to area. As for plans for 2009, I will be doing a semester at CU this Spring and then one month long semester known as "maymester" before yet again embarking on a 7 month journey, with hopefully no injuries or set backs this time around! And for Spring break it seems as if it may be spent rope climbing in St. George, Utah in an attempt to go for the firs repeat of Dave Graham's "Psychedelic," and hopefully squeezed in there a few days in Bishop if my ankle is ready for outdoor bouldering by then. As you can see on the list there is no real summer destination included. I have yet to determine where exactly i would like to go this summer, though i know it will be somewhere in the southern hemisphere, maybe South Africa again or possibly even an adventure down to South America! Anyway, as always feel free to comment on my list and of course if there are any climbs i am seemingly missing, please let me know!

2009 list

9a

USA

Psychedelic, Saint George
Es Pontas, Mallorca (yes!!! so very psyched for Mallorca!!!)

8c

Breakin the Law, Saint George

8C

USA

Rasta Man Vibration Sit (Project), buttermilks (all depending on ankle)

France

Satan I helvete assis, font-Long’s Vaux

Switzerland

From dirt grows the flowers, chironico
Brione “Bi polar Hi roller Project”, Brione

8B+

USA

Suspension of Disbelief, Eldo

France

Gecko assis, font-Les Beaux Quartiers

Switzerland

Never Ending Story, Magic Wood (must have revenge!)
Dreamtime, Cresciano
Confessions, Cresciano

Austria

Bugeleisen, malltatal
Emotional landscapes, malltatal

8B

France

Gecko, font-Les Beaux Quartiers
Fata morgana assis, font-Long’s Vaux
Satan I helvete, font-Long’s Vaux

Switzerland

Shadowfax, Chironico
La prue, Cresciano

Austria

Golden Gate, Silvretta

8A+

France

Total eclipse, font-Cul De Chien
Chaos, font-Rocher Gréau
Big Dragon, font-Petit Bois
Karma, Font

Switzerland

Kirk windstain, cresciano
Collateral, Chironico


Rasta Man Sit, Bishop Photo: Jeff Sillcox

the docs

It has been getting harder and harder to sit through the beautiful fall/winter days that keep unfolding before me. But I know that with each passing day my ankle is slowly starting to make its way back to its previous state.

Today was my greatly anticipated doctor’s appointment. X-rays were taken and after what felt like days, the doctor came in to diagnose the healing effort. I was happy to hear that it has been healing very well and properly. I still am in my boot for one more month but am now able to weight the foot 100 percent all the time as well as begin some minor physical therapy exercises. It was a great feeling to be heading in the right direction again!

In one month I will be able to walk without the boot freely as I please and shortly after that I will be getting the screw removed from my ankle and I will be back climbing again in no time!!! The wait has definitely been very mind numbing and days have grown ever so long but it looks like I have gone over that final hump and the end is getting ever closer.

I head back to Boulder in little over one month to start up another semester at the University of Colorado. Until then I plan to continue the training I have been as well as start to gain the mobility and strength back into my left ankle.

training training training

The healing process is going well and a few days ago was the first time that I was able to “climb” in over four weeks. I headed to my local climbing gym, Elite Climbing, to do some one footed top roping. Doing my workouts on my hang board have really paid off! I was a bit apprehensive on how I was going to climb but when I got on the wall, even though I couldn’t use my left foot, I felt pretty good. My endurance was not terrible and I felt like my finger strength was not completely gone. I think with the following weeks ahead of me I will be able to really work a lot of my weaknesses and continue to train on my hang board and go to the climbing gym to top rope before I am able to climb with both my feet again.

A few people have inquired about what I do on the hang board for my workouts. It pretty simple considering there is not too many extreme workouts you can perform on a hang board; use the picture below for reference. So here is a single workout I do (sometimes times a day). I start each workout by hanging on the upper jugs of the hang board for maybe 10-15 seconds or so. To continue the warm up I do 10 pullups on the lowest of pinches (very positive and not tweaky on the fingers at all).

Next it is one arm lock offs on the same pinches. I start with both hands on the pinches do a pull up and let go with my right hand first holding with my left arm in a locked off position for 10 seconds. I then do this with the right hand for 10 second and then again with the left for 10 seconds and then one last time with the right for 10 seconds. Without coming off I campus to the upper jugs do a pullup and bring my knees up into an L hang. I hold that for 10 seconds and then lower my arms to a 90 degree angle and hold for another 10 seconds before finally dropping off.

Next it is more L hangs. I grab the slopers directly below the jugsm do a pull up, hold an L hang for 10 seconds, bring my arms to 90 degrees hold it for ten seconds, and then repeat this 3 more times without leaving the L hang position or letting go of the slopers.

Then it is 10 pull ups on the smallest two finger pockets followed by 10 pullups on the bad pinches on either side of the board. Then I go to my other board and do 10 pullups on the smallest crimps, 10 pull ups on the biggest crimps, and 10 pullups in the middle slopers.

After this it is back to the blue board again. This is the most difficult part to explain so bear with me. I start with both hands on the good pinches down low. I campus first with my right hand to the crimp rail on the middle of the board then with my left hand to the jug at the top. Then right hand to the jug. Hang, then bring left hand to same crimp rail, campus back down into the pinches with both hands and repeat this 3 more times switching which hand goes to the crimp rail first. And then finally I do 10 pullups on the first good pinch and then campus to the jug and do 10 more pullups and by that time am pretty exhausted and can barely crutch back into the house!

If you have any questions regarding this or are completely confused feel free to comment and ill try and answer you the best I can.

I feel like the healing process is going great! My foot has more and more movement every day and I am able to start to put small amounts of weight down with my left foot while crutching around. I am hoping that my next doctor’s appointment on December 5th will end with some great news. But until then I will continue to do my workouts and top rope at the local climbing gym!

continuation

The days have been going by and my ankle is feeling a great deal better. The pain has subsided greatly and the swelling has gone way down! I got my stitches out on Friday and have my next doctor's appointment in a few weeks.

The Garage has turned itself into a small training facility for myself. My dad put up another hangboard on the other side of the existing one. Its a huge one and made by Etch. I am now able to campus from one board to the other pretty easily and get in quite a good workout. The workouts have been pretty simple so far, just lots of pull ups on the crimps pockets and slopers that the boards have as well as L-hangs, one armed lock-offs, and of course a little bit of campusing from one board to the other.

I think that within the next few weeks i will be able to start top roping with one foot at the local climbing gym every once in a while. I need to make sure to not put any weight on my left leg during the beginning of the healing process. I am very much looking forward to the day that i will be able to lace up both of my climbing shoes again and enjoy a nice bouldering session with friends. Until then it is going to be a lot of training to hopefully make a comeback and be stronger than ever when that day eventually comes.

Thank you all again for all of the kind words and support, it is greatly appreciated!


The Riverbed from Garrett Koeppicus on Vimeo.

This was shot two days before i broke my ankle and two days afterward. crutching was so painful in the beginning. The riverbed is a phenomenal boulder in Magic wood and after having had fallen at the end of Never Ending Story the previous weeks, i thought it best to build ups some fitness on this before heading back to NES again. I hope you enjoy the film. Shot and edited by Garrett Koeppicus.

The Training Begins

After sitting in bed for about 1.5 weeks i could not take the lazy life anymore. Since i am not allowed to put a single ounce on my left ankle my set up has to be very simple for a while. My dad and I picked up a hang board and he constructed me (Thank you!) a nice low to the ground set up to train on in the garage until i can start putting some weight on my left foot again.

The set up is very simple but it should do the trick. I don't think that it has been up for 12 hours yet and I have already done 3 intense sessions on it as well as my daily push up and sit up routines. Push ups are a bit harder when you can only use one foot. I am excited to build up my workouts on my hang board and look forward to possibly adding a board above it to start working on once my ankle starts to heal a bit and maybe some screw on crimps around it to campus around on. As for endurance, i think that once i am able to put a small amount of weight on my ankle in a few weeks, i will start roping up and climbing 1 footed. I hope in the next few weeks as well i can start to campus at my local climbing gym.

Here is what i have so far! yes, verrrrry simple but am very psyched to be back training again!

Thank You All!

Hey everyone, thanks so much for the kind words at the end of my previous blog post. I am now currently back in New Jersey after a 9 hour plane ride from Hell. But the pain and suffering was definitely worth it to be back home with my family, in a comfortable, bed, and have home cooked meals all the time!

I am still unable to do any sort of physical activity due to my inability to move my leg what so ever without shooting pains coming directly from my ankle. I am hoping with in the next two weeks this may subside and i can start to do some push-ups, pull-ups, and maybe a small amount of campusing. But for now it is the bed for me :(. Lots of sitting around, sleeping, and just trying to pass the time until i will be able to start some physical activity again.

Unfortunately it has been quite an epic trying to find a foot specialist to see me after getting home. It has come to my attention that doctors don't really want to work on helping people get better if they did not originally do the surgery to begin with. It does make sense but unfortunately it has been quite a problem trying to get a good foot specialist to take over where the hospital in Switzerland left off. I believe that i may have an appointment tomorrow with one tomorrow in Philadelphia if the doctor ever ends up calling us back. I can only hope that they will!

Anyway, thanks again for all the kind words. they were greatly appreciated and have helped a ton! Hopefully my next post i will have done something besides laying in a bed all day. Until then, thanks for all the support out there!

bad news at the bruno bloc

It is quite crazy to think that you can be at the top of your game and in my case coming so very close to sending the never ending story and then only a few days later emerging from bed that I couldn’t physically get out of and not being able to make it to the door only 10 feet away on my crutches.

Let me recount the past couple of days. Tuesday October 14, 2008 I wake up at around the same time as any day in Claro and decide that I am psyched to climb in the Magic Wood today. Both my friends, Garrett and Ryan were psyched on a rest because their skin was shot from the day before. I was really psyched to get back on Never Ending Story having felt really good on it recently and with the power endurance up. We headed into Magic Wood and it was a bit warm so I just set up all the pads and waited for the cooler afternoon temps. When they arrived I was psyched! I warmed up quickly and gave my first attempt on my project for the day. First go was pretty crappy and I thought maybe today was not going to be the day since I didn’t get too much sleep the night before, unfortunately. But after a nice rest I felt good to give it another try, this try was different from my previous attempt, I did not feel tired, I fired through the crux and was staring at the finishing hold. Right as I was about to do the last v2 move to the final jug my heel hooked slipped out and I was on the ground in no more than a seconds time. I was bummed! I had just practically sent my project but for some reason was standing on the ground without any sense of accomplishment. So instead of getting all upset I told myself next go will be the one and continued to rest for 20 more minutes.

The time finally rolled around for another good go at the line. I chalked up and fired through the bottom and again, like my second go, made it through the whole crux not fatigued and was psyched that this could be the send go. As I neared the top again all felt great and I was psyched but again my foot slipped but this time it was fast and shot me down and to the right. The fall was much unexpected and as I hit the ground my left ankle rolled over top of itself and I knew at that moment something was wrong. I quickly tried to put weight on the injured foot and it just gave out with the weight. At that moment, it all hit me. The 3.5 month dream trip to Switzerland had come to its final halt and that would be that would be the last time I would be climbing for a while. I hobbled over to the river and dunked my ankle into the water while people quickly packed up my stuff and brought it out to the car for me. I would first like to thank an amazing Swedish couple, Micha and Carolina (I am so sorry if I spelled your names wrong! Please comment if I did) and two Englishmen whom I never caught their names. I was practically carried back to the car and from there Garrett, Ryan, and I drove to the closest hospital, Kantonsspital in Chur about 30 minutes away.

Once there it was straight to the ER. From there x-rays showed that yes I had broken my ankle (Tibia bone) and that I was going to need to go into surgery to put a screw into my ankle to connect the tibia and fibula bones together. I was knocked out for the surgery and woke up hours later in a hospital bed with a huge boot on my left foot in great pain. The next morning I woke up the doctor coming in and mentioning not only did I break my ankle but I also tore the ligaments in my ankle and that they had sewn them back together and that the healing was to begin now. After a few days in the hospital and an epic learning how to walk on crutches (They don’t use the armpit style ones here) I have been discharged and am beginning my recovery process! I have hopefully 6-8 weeks or so before my boot can come off and then the physical therapy will begin. It is unfortunate to have ended my trip this way but it is life and you just have to take the punches as they come even if it may be multiple in a single few days period. I know my blog won’t be as interesting as it was the past couple months but I will keep everyone informed with how the healing is going. I obviously don’t plan to stop training; I have never been a super powerful climber so I am psyched to start working on my campusing a lot, definitely very low to the ground of course! So for now I have a few months before ABS Nationals in February. My goal now is to be well enough to compete in this comp! I know my upper body will be ready with the tons of training I plan to be doing I can only hope my lower body will be able to pull through and let me compete on the tall walls of the Spot in February!

As for the healing process, I get my stitches out (10 on the inside and 6 on the outside of my ankle) in about 12 days. I am able to crutch what any healthy human being could walk in 30 seconds in about 10 minutes, and I am allowed to put about 15 pounds of weight on my ankle as I crutch along. I will be flying home within the next few days and have a couch at my parents house with my name written all over it!

Until the training begins, thanks to everyone that helped me out that day it was very greatly appreciated! If I ever see any of you four again I would love to buy you all dinner for the support that day. I look forward to the day I can hike back into Magic Wood using both my legs and show the “Never Ending Story” that I will not give up on it and that I will send it one day when I am all healed up!

Thanks so much to Ryan and Garrett for an awesome trip even though it was shorted!!

Goodbye Europe, the times have been great!

Project Day 2

Today was the true day one on my project. I made some really good progress from my few brief attempts earlier this week. The crux is a 3 move sequence that revolves around some really small crimps. I was able to stick the first of the 3 moves but the other two are so so so hard! I got kind of close to sticking both the other moves. They are both going to take a long time to do and to link them is going to be a whole different story! I am so psyched to keep working on this amazing line!

This project though quite amazing is very sharp! I think that after today’s effort I may have to take two rest days to heal my tips up before I am able to try the line again.

Projects

The past few days have been nice climbing in Brione. It seems as if the days in Magic Wood are going to end soon with the snow coming in. The lower down areas are starting to get good but still are quite warm. hopefully within the next few weeks the temps down here will start to cool down as i am getting very psyched to start working "From Dirt Grows the Flowers" in Chironico.

Other than that i am in the search of a project to leave my mark on swiss bouldering. I think i have found a line that is going to be amazing and also very very hard! For now i will say it is very steep, 9 moves, very crimpy and a crux sequence that upon my first attempts will be two moves of around 8a+/b back to back! This thing is phenomenal. Though i was not able to complete either of the two crux moevs on my first day of effort, i do feel like some progress was made and i cant wait to head back up to it with some fresh skin! For now i have named it the "bipolar hi roller project"

Keep updated for more updates in regards to this amazing project! i will upload photos soon!


"Vecchio Leone"

Romania and back

Just the other day I returned from my 5 day trip to Romania and the trip was a success. I competed in an annual bouldering competition in Bucharest, Romania known as Tottonne. The comp was in a park on 4 very nice recently made wooden walls. The walls were simple and the large features added a lot to the problems. This comp unlike ones in the United States, was a team competition. My team consisted of Matt Bosley, Charlotte Jouett, John Ene, and myself. The competition consisted of two rounds of 4 climbs. Each climb you were given twenty minutes on to work on as a team and then it was directly on to the next climb. I was the only one in the competition to finish all four problems in the qualifying round. After a few hours and some dinner it was on to finals at night. There were 17 teams that started the comp and 6 made it finals. Again, we had 4 climbs and our team killed it in finals! We came out of the competition in 1st place and it was a great time! This comp was definitely one of the best comps I have ever competed in! I loved the team concept as well as the comp setter was exceptional. The climbs were so well set and separated the field exceptionally.

Now I am back in Switzerland. Garrett and I picked up my good friend Ryan Sewell at the airport yesterday and today was our first day of climbing. Though it rained a good portion of the day we still got some good climbing in at Brione. I managed to get the 2nd? Ascent of “the cellar door,” a classic climb of Dave’s from Dosage 3. After that it continued to rain until night fell so not much more climbing went down. It seems as if it is going to continue to rain through tomorrow but then the next few days after Friday will be perfect!!!

Here are some pictures from my trip to Romania.

3.5 hours 73 points

Today was just one of those days where i felt on. I woke up late (the perfect start to a morning), ate some choco krispies (another amazing addition to the morning), and drove up to the Magic Wood. I arrived around 2:30 pm and hung out until around 3:30 until the sun left "New Base Line" 8B+ and i got very psyched to try it! I did the line first go today and just decided to continue on with a rampage "a muerte" as the cool people now-a-days seem to say. I strolled down to "Deep Throat" 8B, nearly flashed it and sent the line second go. After that i headed up to "Steppenwolf" 8B, ate some lunch and in a half hours time was battling with the final mantle and luckily pulled it off for a send! After that it was off to the classic 7c with my friend Garrett, we both dispatched quickly and then it was off to "the arete" 8A+. I had tried this one the other day but had been extremely tired when trying it and got shut down quickly and gave up for the day. I felt good on it today and finished it up in a few mins. Getting tired and with the light fading i opted for one more climb, "free 4 all" 8A/8A+. It is given 8A+ in the guidebook but at the end of the day seemed a bit easy for the difficult grade of 8A+ and opted to downgrade it beacuse of this reason. Though it is not the most inspiring line i found the moves to be quite awesome and sent the line quickly.

AH!!! what a crazy day today! lot's of running around in only a very short amount of time, and now back at home i am sore and my tips kill!

I am hoping to climb tomorrow in the Magic Wood again, maybe i will get back on "the never ending story" again! We shall see! I leave for Romania on Friday to compete in acompetition over the weekend and will be back in Ticino, Switzerland on Tuesday. My good friend Ryan Sewell flies in on Weds and from there we will surely be getting back to the boulders aka the money.

exploration day one

Today I went exploring two valleys to the west of where I am living in Claro. I had heard about the possible potential for amazing unclimbed boulders in this region and was psyched to head out. I woke up, ate some breakfast, and hopped in the Peugot and drove up there. The day started off quite nicely, huge boulder everywhere along the river. I could barely keep my eyes on the road driving up this very steep and windy valley. As the road ended I turned around and started my day from working from the top down.

At the top of the valley I stumbled across this boulder pictured below.



I checked it out and there seems to be two really amazing lines up this slightly overhung boulder. The first of which is on the left and the second is the prow just out of the frame. Both of these lines look phenomenal! Though I know the picture does not give it any justice, you will have to trust me on this one! I am definitely psyched to come back to this problem later on in the trip.

After that we headed down valley and started to scope out some of the biggest river boulder I have ever seen! From a distance they looked amazing but with a closer look, they all were featureless. It was quite a shame to see this, but they were still super cool to look at and be beneath.



With my acquired knowledge of the day I have come to the conclusion that finding this amazing five star line might be a little more difficult than I had imagined. I do know that it is not going be by the river because I looked at pretty much every climbable boulder and nothing was featured enough to climb it. I think that my next visit to this amazing valley will be spent in the forests above the river below. The boulders above the river seem to be a lot more featured and may yield themselves to a higher probability of climbable surfaces. From the road and through the trees I could see boulders up on the hillsides. I think that with Fall coming and the leaves about to fall from the trees it will be easier to scope the boulders enclosed by the forests. I think that this is where the five star line will be sitting. It is not going to be easy to find but I am hoping that with a few more trips up this untapped valley I will stumble across what could be one of the most pure amazing boulder problems in the world. Switzerland definitely has the rock quality, its just finding the boulders that is hard!

Tomorrow it is back to Magic Wood! I have still yet to try New Base Line and I am getting super psyched! Maybe if it is colder tomorrow I will make the trek up the hill and give it an effort! We shall see, but my true heart is still in that valley only 50 kilometers away! I can’t wait to get back there and continue on with the exploration!

in response to Anonymous Part 2

I just arrived home from a day of bouldering in the Magic Wood and was happy to see a bunch of comments on my blog as well as a very nice write up on 8a.nu about my blog. to clear a few things up really quickly, as i mentioned i have not tried story of two world but my first impressions was that the climb was not the most spectacular climb in the world. It seemed a bit dabby. no i am not taking this as a short cut out of trying it at all. i never have in my entire life made a short cut out of trying a boulder problem and never plan to ever do so. i truly do not think that this climb looks good at all... there are way too many climbs in ticino to climb on the ones that dont inspire you. plus why repeat when you can be finding some of the greatest FA's in the world!? I am heading up to ValleBavonne tommorrow and will take many pics on the hopefully amazing projects i stumble upon!!! Thanks for all the great comments!

well atleast its funny

as the game once said, " i aint afraid of no ghosts"

Thanks all for the supportive comments. I have decided why not bring my thoughts to 8a.nu as Jamie pointed out. I don't want to look scared because i want to get the highest score on 8a.nu. So i am bringing the down rating from my blog to 8a and onward. I will continue to give my reasons for my downrates on this site because 8a is just not he place for it. Thanks all for your support!!

Today was a fun day, did a few moderates and attempted the full "Never Ending Story." Today was my first real day on it and it felt really good. I fell off the scond part of "NES" and can't wait to hopefully finish it next time in it!

Oh and in regards to Magic Wood, i feel that the grades here have been a bit more on target. NES part 2 to me felt a good bit soft, but most things here to be about right, only a bit on the soft end. Though i do feel that Voigas could easily be 7c...




Photos: Garrett Koeppicus