Hey guys :-)
Two days ago the 6th Bouldernightcup took place in my homegym in Graz. I was very psyched for this comp, as it's always great fun to climb at home and the atmosphere usually is at best. Let's concentrate on the comp itself, in case you would like to get more information about the format and my personal relation to this competition series, just check out my blog about the last BNC in March (http://jakobgreistorfer.blogspot.co.at/2013_03_01_archive.html). The qualification round was great fun. I topped all the problems which were quite technically but not too hard.
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| Funny starting position with a BIG foothold |
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| CRIMPING in one of the most technical problems |
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| Pinching hard and getting in the ZONE ;-) |
Nevertheless, I needed 18 tries to get all the 8 boulders done. I made quite a lot of mistakes, which cost me roughly 6 tries, actually I was pretty nervous and felt a bit shaky. Anyway, I was 4th after the qualis and relatively pleased with the result. After a decent rest I felt physically fresh and strong but somehow I was not in the perfect mindset for the final round. When we were previewing the problems, they all looked pretty obvious, but things got a bit awkward for me. I began on the 4th final boulder which started in a stemming position leading to a some delicate moves on a vertical wall. The crucial point was matching a big purple hold which I knew pretty well from my training sessions. It's a challenging hold, as you can grab it in many different ways. I managed to match it at my first try but then I couldn't do the next long move to a small orange crimp. There was just one small foothold and I always slipped off the purple hold when I tried to carry on.
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| The purple hold which gave me a hard time |
I didn't even get the bonus at that one. A bit disappointed I went back to the iso. The next final boulder was set in a very steep wall. To keep it short, it was the hardest of all four problems and no one topped it. Again, no bonus for me, I fell one move before.
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| Compression moves on the second final boulder |
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| Not so easy, right away from the start |
Now I was frustrated. The first half of the final was over and I didn't get one single bonus. Nonetheless, I tried to concentrate on the next boulder, which started with kind of a mantle, leading to a stretchy move to finish with a jump from a bad crimp to a big jug. I touched the jug three times, once I even grabbed it, but I didn't hold on. To be honest, I don't really know why, probably I was simply lacking the last bit of motivation (Strangely enough, I did the problem at my first go when I tried it after the comp ^^).
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| Nooo I didn't stick that move although it was a BIG jug, such a shame! |
After that boulder I knew that I was on the last position so I didn't really care about the result any longer. I just wanted to climb well at the last problem. It was a very easy jump to a jug, followed by four moves which were not really hard. It was definitely the easiest one of the four final problems. I went out and flashed this boulder. Although I knew that I finished last out of the 8 finalists, I had a smile on my face.
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| The hardest move of the last boulder |
Of course, I was not so pleased ending up last in the finals (full results: http://www.wettklettern.org/index.php?BewerbId=203&Mode=ShowErgebnis&KlassenID=2&Detail=1) but I definitely enjoyed the comp and I learned a lot. Once again I realized how much I like competing :-) and that I need to work on my mental fitness, which is not always that easy, especially when things take an unexpected or unhappy course :-/ but hey, be thankful for the things you have and smile :-). By the way a HUGE thank you goes to my dad who took all the pics! I hope you like my recap of that event. Just one more remark: I added a new rubric called "climbing friends" to my blog. It's a link list, just check it out, I'm sure you'll find some interesting and inspiring stuff about climbing :-)
peace!
Jakob
