5th Eybl Bouldernightcup

Hey :-)

This post is about the 5th Bouldernightcup in the Cac gym which I already mentioned in my last post about the comp in Hallein. This competition is always great fun because it takes place in "our" gym and as it's just a fun comp nobody takes it too serious. Apart from that it's the first climbing event I've participated in. About 3 years ago I just tried my luck because I wanted to know how strong I am. At this comp there are always three categories: Hobby mixed, Profi female and Profi male. There are some problems which are only for the hobby climbers and some which are only for the pros, additionally there are always a couple of blue holds which make the boulders a bit easier for the hobby climbers. I think that's a great mode because the hobby climbers basically try the same problems like the stronger competitors, they simply may use some more holds, therefore it's a comp for everyone. However, back then I started in the hobby class and the problems challenged me quite a bit despite the blue holds. When I first started in the Profi class I finished with 2 or three bonuses after a 70 minutes battle :-D (there are always three groups that climb 3 times 20 minutes and once for 10 minutes). Ok I have to stop now before I get too nostalgic xD. The last two times I've participated I've always made finals, consequently it was my goal to at least qualify for the final round at 21:30. Apart from that I wanted to climb well after my poor performance in Hallein one week ago. My plan to climb confidently and quickly took off and I manged to get 5 tops out of 8 after the first twenty minutes :-).

Me in one of the tougher qualifiers

During the next 20 minutes I managed to do the 3 remaining problems so I finished the qualification round after 35 minutes with 8 tops in 13 tries which positioned me on 2nd place. I was very pleased with the result and confident for the final round.

Another problem of the qualification round

While the others were still climbing I took some rest. At 21:15 we had to go to Isolation. Then there was the presentation of the athletes. (8 for Profi male and 4 for Profi female, in the hobby class there are no finals...) Next, there was the inspection of the four final problems. The first problem was set in a 60° degree wall starting of on two neon pink jugs leading to a huge grey cornet followed by a purple jugy volume. The topout looked pretty standard. The second problem doesn't look any more complicated. Basically it was a traverse from the right to the left on a vertical wall, finishing with a long undercling section on a grey volume.

Inspecting the second final boulder

The third boulder was the only one which looked more tricky. It started on two volumes followed by two green slopy side pulls, leading to 2 similar volumes with several possibilities to hold on. The tophold was a round ball attached to the ceiling. The fourth problem looked straight forward again. It started on two big volumes. Leading into a roof with a top out on a slightly overhanging wall. I decided to start on the fourth boulder. We climbed alternately 4 guys, 4 girls, 4 guys... When it was my turn I went out chalked my hands and took off. I didn't take the time to check the moves once again. The first move was a dynamic lock off to a slopy undercling in the roof. When I reached the second hold I repositioned my feet and made the long cross move to the second hold in the roof, a green sloper which was attached to a grey spherical volume. From this position I jumped out to grab a multicolored crimp around the roof edge.

grabbing the multicolored hold around the roof edge

Then I put a heel hook on the green sloper on the grey volume to cross over to a yellow pinch.

Reaching for the yellow pinch

I matched hands on the pinch and repositioned my feet then I grabbed the second last hold with my left on its top. It was a slopy pinch. Until now I climbed fluently without thinking but then I got stuck. The top jug was on the left side of the wall and  neither I could cross nor match hands on the slopy pinch to make the last move to the left.

Hopeless position in the final

After hanging around for more that 1 minute at this positions I fell off the wall. I was quite fed up and pumped. Although there was enough remaining time I didn't manage to top the boulder. In the isolation zone I tried to encourage me for the next final problem. It was the boulder in the 60° overhanging wall. I was still a little bit pumped, nevertheless I managed to top that one after falling three times at the dynamic move from the cornet to the jug-shaped volume. 

The first long move on the spectacular final boulder

Preparing for the long reach to the purple feature

The next final was the traverse on the vertical wall. On my first try I fell at the cross move to the bonus hold.

squeezing the yellow pinch

In my second go I briefly matched the yellow pinch which made it a little bit easier to grab the bonus hold which was a bad crimp. Then I jumped to the undercling volume and placed my feet on the tiny footholds. I was really determined at that point. I managed to grab the grey volume on the top which gave me a little easing of tension. Next, I wanted to match hands on top of the volume. Unfortunately it was really slippery and I fell unexpectedly. Due to the length of the traverse (about 14 moves) I was quite pumped. So I didn't manage to top that one.

Very close to the top

The last final boulder was the only one which looked not that obvious. I tried it several times but I couldn't stick the second green slopy sidepull. I was simply to pumped and later it turned out that I used a wrong approach. 

Struggling with the last final boulder

So I finished on 6th position with 1 top in 4 tries and 3 bonuses in 6 tries (full results: http://www.wettklettern.org/index.php?Mode=ShowErgebnis&BewerbId=189&Detail=1&KlassenID=0) At first I was a little bit disappointed because I didn't manage to stay on my second place but then I was quite pleased with the result. After the competition I helped the routesetting team that did a great job by the way, to set some problems for the kids bouldering comp which took place the next morning.

Uhhps that post got a bit long ^^ I hope you still like it! Feel free to comment :-) 

Keep climbing :-)

Austria-Cup Hallein

Hey folks:-)

It has been quite a while ago that I wrote a post, althought there happened a lot in the last weeks. Maybe that's the reason why I didn't manage to find some time to write about all the recent happenings. Probably I simply was a little bit lazy concerning my blog ^^. However, this post concentrates on the bouldering Austria-Cup which took place on the 9th of March in Hallein (Salzburg). It was the first competition of the Austria-Cup series 2013. I've already participated twice in this comp and it was always great fun to try the hard problems and to watch the stars of the Austrian national team. Therefore I was psyched to be part of the event. Let me say right away that it was a black day for me and that my performance didn't even come close to my expectations. Nevertheless, it was nice to see some of my friends again and to watch the finals. 

We arrived in Hallein at half past 12 after 3 hours of drive and I started straight away to warm-up. At 1pm it was our turn to climb. The seniors and the juniors stardet in one category but there were different rankings afterwards. The 8 boulder problems looked pretty hard as well as interesting and rich in variety. As usually  one of the problems was much easier than the others. I started with that one. The starting hold was a decent edge, followed by a volume with two holds attached. From the volume I continued grabbing another good hold. The last move was a little bit longer than the others but due to the good holds still very easy. 

Me on the warm-up boulder

I felt a little bit shaky while I climbed this boulder but I was in cheerful spirits for the following problems. Next I tried a boulder which started on two edges. The third hold was a big round sloper which I knew from our gym in Graz. After the sloper there was a quite good-looking sloper followed by a big blue sloper and a neon green ball, marking the top. The first move felt easy so I grabbed the hold which I knew from my training sessions. Then I put my left foot high on one of the starting holds and catched the next sloper which turned out to be a quite good one. Next I repositioned my feet and tried to grab the big blue sloper. That one turned out to be even worse than expected. I couldn't hold it and fell. I tried the problem 4 more times and in my second try I managed to stick the big blue sloper. The last move was quite dynamic, so I jumped towards the neon green top hold but I couldn't stick that one. My next tries looked similar, I always touched the slopy top hold but I didn't manage to stick it.

desperately trying to get some grip on the blue sloper

Disappointed I went to another boulder problem. It basically involved one mantle on a huge orange hemisphere. Watching the stars of the national team it looked quite easy. Nevertheless, it turned out to be quite tough for me, as I hardly ever practice moves like that.

tackling the huge hemisphere volume

I tried it several times but I didn't manage to get on the top of the mega volume. I decided to go for another one. The next problem I tried was basically  a dyno from a decent edge to a big donut shaped volume with two slopers attached. I tried it quite often and I came really close to holding the donut but I couldn't stabilize my swing.

trying to stick the mega donut

From now on I was quite frustrated, additionally I cut my finger on the starting hold of the dyno. I tried one more boulder, then I went back to the slopy boulder and to the one with the orange hemisphere. I couldn't do any of them. I guess I was simply too fed up. So I finished with one Top and 3 bonuses on 39th position (full results: http://reini-sport.at/bou_ergebnis.php?idklasse=12&idbewerb=970&rgsort=1). Considering that there were 40 competitors that's really poor. I felt strong and I were psyched for this comp and I know that I could have achieved a by far better result but it simply wasn't my day and additionally I was a little bit unlucky. Of course I was upset after my performance but I still reminded myself that everyone can have a bad day and especially if it comes to competition it can happen quite easily that one messes things up. In the evening I watched the finals which were an impressive spectacle. In the men's category Jakob Schubert won and in the women's category Anna Stöhr took gold. I think these two don't need any further introduction :-D.

The next day I've already forgotten my disappointment and started to prepare myself for the 5th Bouldernight Cup which should take place in the CAC gym in my home town Graz in one week. I'll write about that one in my next post :-) 

Keep climbing :-)

Some more pics (taken by my father, thx by the way ;-))