Sharma lecture aftermath

Well, I guess among other things the main reason why you attend a professional climber´s slideshow is that you want to be inspired in some way. Maybe you want to get back in the game and just need a push, maybe you want to refocus, maybe you just want to see nice pictures and maybe, even though that seems a little bit stalker to me, you just want to be in the same room with the person. Due to the fact that I´m straight, the final option is out of commission in my case, at least as long as the slideshow is done by Chris Sharma (who didn´t bring his girlfriend). That leaves inspiration.

Well, I have to say that I´m very psyched on route climbing again after last night. I have also come to terms with 2008, a year I considered largely wasted in terms of climbing.

I was, and there´s not going to be any sugarcoating in this case, just plain overweight in 2008. Not on a general basis but as a climber. But I just wasn´t as psyched on climbing then as I am now. I had put up tons of problems in 2007 and felt drained. I just wanted some chocolate cake! I needed some time to refocus and actually learned a lot more about myself as a climber and about climbing itself that year. Sometimes, failure will teach you better lessons than a win might have, regardless of its size. I finally got my coaching license, refocused and came back psyched for 2009. 2009 brought the Valley, Bishop and the US. Psyche back on, more than ever before. I have grown as a person. For the first time in my life, I think that I have a clear picture of what I want to do this year...not only in terms of climbing.

Psyche is high on routes after last night. I still predominately boulder and train very little endurance. Bouldering always has been playful for me. Route climbing is training. Still, train I will. Route climb I will. It´s not that I´m actually starting to train according to a plan. I don´t want my climbing to be training. If climbing a lot correlates with training, well, that´s the way it is and I like that.
My focus this year is going to be route climbing. Gorges du Tarn, here I come! I have a project and after listening to Sharma talking about bolting I really want to bolt this year! I have been focusing on first ascents of boulder problems for some time...the process of doing first ascents is beyond doubt the most rad thing about climbing. Especially Chris´s Spain pictures got me really psyched on finding some rock and bolt it! There is an abundance of gritty, no-good-to-climb-on rock around, there needs to be some rock that deserves to be cleaned and bolted. Steinplatte is high on my list. A couple of years ago, me and Shorty bolted a pretty visionary line and then forgot about it. I´ll return as soon as the snow has melted!

The show bringing these realizations to the surface obviously made it a success! I guess that some people in the audience were a little disappointed, Chris Sharma is a shy guy and way behind the pros of self marketing like Alex Huber in terms of slide show management and plot scheming. You can almost sense that he still feels a little
awkward speaking in front of a 400 people crowd eying him with admiring eyes. But that´s just what he is. He´s a human being after all. If you listened carefully to what he had to say, there was so much to learn or to agree with.

Queued up like the rest of the bunch. Had my beanie signed. There´s just things you´re supposed to do, if you attend the world´s best climbers slide show...

Out to cure my sinusitis. Weather forecast for tomorrow doesn´t look as good as it looked yesterday any more, still there is hope.

Take care everybody!

Family visit and skiing!

Last weekend, my family, that is, a part of, came to see me and join me in some rad skiing. Loads of fun! My dad and my bro Shorty camped out at my flat for a couple of days and the action was on. We went to Fieberbrunn

www.schneedorado.at

for the first day, just to find out there was a Big Mountain contest going on. Sweet watching the pros do their thing!
We finally found a way into the couloirs, meaning that we have entered a whole new level in Fieberbrunn Big Mountain riding! So many powdery possibilities!
I can still ski! After almost two years of not skiing due to that heinous knee injury I contracted last year, things were pretty dope! I don´t have any stamina and my thighs are on fire after skiing for some 200 metres without taking a break (especially in powder, I last longer on track;) but it was some sick fun! Pics are to come, as soon as I´ve been mailed them.
Sunday wasn´t as good but still very nice. I just like Fieberbrunn a lot better than Steinplatte.
Totally done, Shorty and me headed to the gym to get some climbing on Monday. He crushes! Can´t wait for this spring, there´s gonna be some Frankenjura cragging and that´s gonna be amazing!
Sharma slideshow tonight! I´m very psyched to be able to see this lecture and I have been looking forward to it for days. Chris Sharma is the most influential and visionary sport climber right now (in my understanding) and I´m hoping that tonight is gonna be inspirational. My sinusitis is a lot better today, with enough hydration and some hot lime juice, things might get better right on time for the weekend.
Inspired by my friend Em, who is going to hike the Appalachian Trail this spring/summer I have also been thinking about crossing the Alps hiking the past days. It´s something my dad has been dreaming of for quite some time, so I might break this proposal to him and see how he takes it...

Out!

No US and possibilities...

There will be no US trip...that is, I postponed the trip. The reason is pretty obvious, still it shall remain a matter not made public. Decency is forbidding this, at least following my standards. In the end I asked my good friend Emily for advice and took it. Even though I was incredibly psyched to see her (she is an amazing and inspiring person, if only there were more like her) and her dog Belle, which I love as much as my own dog, it just didn´t make sense.
She will go on a hike of the Appalachian Trail and after checking out some pics, I gotta say, damn, that´s gonna be an amazing hike! Psyched for you Em!

I was also looking forward to seeing Damian and Jeffie (as much as I was looking forward to seeing Em) but things were not meant to be. Right now I have postponed the stay until Sept/Oct, that´s after my exams are over (partly), so this will be some reward for all the chores I´ll have to go through. I guess it will also be something that will cheer me up when I´m fed up with reading through developmental psychology books! I´m planning a roadtrip! Favorite kind of holiday, San Fran to Yosemite to Bishop to RMNP/Mt Evans to Boulder/Co and Amtrak back to San Fran...sounds good, heh?

Not going to the US, I´m already busy planning where to go this spring. Right now, things are looking Ticino, the Swiss/Italian boulder mecca of riverbed bouldering, sun and slopey problems on bomber granite...if the Lowell brothers, Dave Graham and Co go there on a regular basis, things can´t be bad:)

This weekend is gonna bring skiing! First time skiing after nearly two years of break, last year I couldn´t ski at all due to a knee injury inflicted during belaying...tomorrow morning I´ll find out if I can still ski...

Pics to come...