Bolting and establishing new lines...

Since 2007 I´ve increasingly been interested in etablishing new lines and routes. I´ve had my go at bolting a couple of times before, bolting a route here and there but things took on momentum when I moved to the foothills of the Alps. Not knowing anybody, nevertheless desperate to climb, I started looking for boulders since the established areas were out of reach since I couldn´t afford a car back then. I found a nice cluster of boulders, established an area so to speak, with problems within my limits or maybe a tad beyond that and had great times, great memories and a lot of fun. The same year, I also established a DWS in Southern France, horribly overgraded it out of fear, numerous falls and no top rope inspection and got really into the whole searching and finding thing. Things in my local boulderring spot took on more pace when I introduced one of my best friends these days to the area. New testpieces got cleaned and done and Tom made an amazing contribution to recleaning a lot of climbs, cleaned and scrubbed a ton of things himself and more thorough than I ever had. I did two of my hardest FAs in the area, Philipp Marlowe SD, only repeated by Tom and Yankee Bayonet, which in my mind still stands as prolly my hardest boulder and which is currently still to see a second ascent. Now things come and go, same goes for motivation. The past years I´ve been increasingly more psyched on routes, still bouldering of course but with changed focus. I talked a lot about getting back to bolting, ordered bolts, checked out walls and then finally got to the job together with a friend of mine. We´ll keep the place secret, the routes secret as of now but I have to say that I´m hooked. We bolted some amazing lines and I was fortunate enough to bolt a line that is on a par with classic enduro pitches in for instance Gorges du Tarn. I also bolted an amazing and hard little bastard of a steep project, 7 bolts and an anchor of a power pinch and pocket fest and am damn proud of it. It will for sure be one of my hardest climbs and the fact that it actually goes, completely fits my prefered style of climbing and is completely natural completes the picture. There will be more to come! We have to take pics, I have to get a Bosch drill, I have to continue...no, I actually don´t have to. I want. And that makes all the difference. Peace!

Couple of days to go...

So there only a couple of days left before I´ll make it into my first summer vacation break as a teacher...well deserved and most definately needed. I´ve had a major bill on my car, something on the engine had to be fixed and I´m quite desperate for chash as of now...with my salary, a close to 400 bucks bill is a punch hard to shake of. As of now, I have thus canceled my holiday trip to France and am gonna sit it out climbing locally, hanging out and getting my due rest. I have a fall break of ten days, which should be enough to wrap up my projects in France, so I guess it´s climbing all my local projects, makeing a couple of Frankenjura trips and so forth...I´m not ruling things out, it´s just that I´m quite psyched on my local stuff as of now and saving some money which I can spend when things get all nasty in here makes sense...why blow it when summer actually seems to have finally arrived? I´ve also ordered a substantial ammount of bolts, actually they have been delivered to me already, so I´m really looking forward to some bolting as well. School was a lot of fun...there´re always minor setbacks and disturbances, some frustration and some anxietey add to the mix as soon as you make it into a new job but on a whole, things were fun! This morning I said goodbye to my 7th graders and I´ll embark on a field trip with my Q 11 senior highs on Monday, sorta to properly finish the term. No photos...no climbing photos...hopefully there´ll be some, I ticked a couple of amazing routes the past weeks and definately need some pics! I also need a ton of sleep...and have a school party to attend in a couple of minutes. I somehow weaseled out of the teachers´ soccer team (smart move I guess) and am actually looking forward to watching the rest of the team get killed ;)

Wrapping up...

So I have to admit I´m tired...the tiredness I´m talking about is the one that makes you fall asleep on the train, drains your energy and generally puts you down...and there´s two ways of reacting: succumb or try to get as much done as possible while not overstraining yourself. I´ve chosen the latter...I have to fix my classes grades, my car´s engine has been ruined to some extent by a ferret (quite a bill coming my way...) and it´s just 3 three weeks before I finally will get some rest...if this is reading somewhat uninspired, I´m tired...I wish I could sleep in tomorrow...but I can´t...

Happy times...

Okay, so I got a car...named it Cartman...here we go! Finally I´m free to go where I want to go...climbing! YAY! No more gritty crimper crap, steep stuff, big boy climbing, here I come! So much to do...so many projects! All I gotta do is do well in an upcoming exam on Monday and then it´s seriously on... "RESPECT MY AUTHORITY"!

At the end of my rope...

There are things in life that will indeed follow strict mathematic rules, despite the fact that life in general is mysterious and by far not as calculable as some would like it to be...one of these universal patterns (simplified, I will admit to that) actually explains what is happening around me, what´s happening at the gym I´ve been working at for four years now and what´s increasingly taking it´s toll, even though I´ve been hesitant to admit that for quite some time...I´m a climbing coach and I´m at the end of my rope!
One of these days, someone is going to get hurt, there´s no way around that and any attempt to either shrug off that realization or dismiss it as maybe just a tad exaggerative in the end only contributes to the whole problem. Increase the number of people participating in a certain activity and the number of folks so blatantly ignorant of what they´re doing will increase as well, it´s simple mathmatics applied!
Soccer moms go for lead climbs in between Latte Macciatos and ignorant and numbskull boyfriends take their naive, admiring or alternativly just plain scared girlfriends to the gym. Toddlers mistake the bouldering area for a playgound and any complain will be dismissed as a manifesto of how narrowminded and impatient grown ups can be by super-moms and super-dads defending their bratish little monster and his/her friends. Not to mention the fact that these parents are actually relieved to have the kids torture someone else...As a coach, I have to talk to people in all these cases...there´re things such as the Good-Samaritan-Law and even though I won´t go into any more legal details, well, you guys shouldn´t be doing that. Take a class or at least consider it...
Topping this seems hard but, yes, it can be done! Not only has sportclimbing boomed to an extend that no one could expect, it has also sparked a need for more coaches...which means that pretty much everybody can become a coach nowadays. What´s making this especially worse is that a ton of people for some strange reason consider themselves competent enough for that. Now everybody needs to get started at some point but if you can get a license that easily, something is wrong. Recently I was present when one of my former teen teamers was prolly leadscared for a while while doing lead-fall-practice with another coach...after slamming into the wall, the poor kid sat on the couch for an hour, holding her ankle and holding back her tears. Fortunately I was around since that particular coach didn´t even realize what had happend-no ice, no comforting talks and no apology. Competence in action! This doesn´t mean that I don´t like these people on a personal basis, most of the coaches working for the gym are really nice...it´s just that being nice doesn´t qualify you in my opinion...you´ll have to add sound knowledge about training and injury prevention, excellent skill on all levels of climbing and a ton of experience for situations both already there and about to unfold, and yes, that calls for intuition!
With all this, someone is going to be seriously hurt these days...it´s inevitable and I´m not a cynic. I`m just really happy to make it into my real job as a teacher next week. Less days spent at the gym decrease the probability of being on the spot when the whole nastiness will unfold.
I recently told someone his rope was damaged and had to be replaced...and got told that he never takes a fall...Spinners anyone? Footslips? Questions anyone?
Now one could actually ask why all these people are let into the gym in the first place...but hey, we all know the answer, right?

Top 5...

Okay, making lists is fun...at times!
So here´s my Top 5 boulders and routes...doesn´t include projects...
Boulders:
Seven Spanish Angels, Bishop/Buttermilks
Circus Trick Right, Big Bend
Army of Darkness, Big Bend
The King, Yosemite
Essential Peabody, Bishop/Buttermilks

Routes:
Murati, Gorges du Tarn
Action Discrete, Gorges du Tarn
L´heure d´ete, Gorges du Tarn
Sennerin, Dietrichshorn
Supernase, Frankenjura

So in case you can get out there and try them...do so!

Some vids...low key stuff...

http://vimeo.com/33956543

http://vimeo.com/35217141