Hey people ;-)
Slowly, but steadily spring is finding its way
into the garden. The sun is getting stronger, the days are becoming longer and
in my home gym the traditional spring edition of the Bouldernightcup is taking
place. To be precise, it was last Friday when the 7th Sport Eybl Bouldernightcup was
hosted by the CAC climbing gym in Graz. 75 motivated folks headed to the CAC in
order to try hard on a well-designed set of problems, created by Flo Murnig,
Andi Matuska and Alex Pabst.
To start off I would like to share my thoughts
on the qualifying round (in case you’re not familiar with the format of the
comp and you would like to get a more detailed insight, just check out one of my
precedent posts; here is the link). As usually there were 8 problems for the
men. Although they turned out to be slightly too easy I really enjoyed climbing
on the diverse climbs which were set mainly with brand new holds. After 30
minutes (of 70) I had done all eight boulders. Unfortunately I slipped quite a
few times so it took me 16 tries over all. An average of 2 tries for each
boulder doesn’t sound too bad but as I already mentioned they were relatively
easy so I was forced to witness how I dropped in the live results, replaced by
guys who needed less than 16 tries to complete all the qualifiers. The
situation was a bit awkward because I couldn’t do anything besides waiting and
hoping that everyone else needs some extra tries, which I don’t like at all, as
I prefer to cheer on my mates. I’m
convinced that wishing another climber’s failure is one of the worst things
which sometimes occur in the world of comps. Most certainly it won’t bring out
the best of you. That’s why I attempt to avoid negative thoughts like these. So
I just relaxed and kept an eye on the live results. Eventually, I admittedly became pretty
restless when I realized that my name was at the 8th position,
knowing that 8 guys are going to be in finals. I was lucky and just barely
qualified for the final round ending up on 8th place after the qualification
round. Therefore, I was even more psyched when the observation started.
As usually there were 4 final problems, two
more power based boulders and two technical climbs on vertical walls. I had to start on
one of the more powerful climbs.
It began with a small double dyno followed
by some 3D moves in a roof with an unrewarding finish. The jump turned out to
be easy but the moves afterwards caused me some difficulties. I misread the
section in the roof and couldn’t stick the first hold of the final headwall. As
this hold was the bonus I finished the first problem without any scores.
Next, I attempted the second power based
boulder. It started again with a double dyno to a big So iLL jug. After the
jump there were some more So iLL holds in the wall, which I didn’t know from my
training sessions. To finish the boulder there was a crimp and a pinch
followed by a move around the corner to a slopy top hold. I managed to do the
dyno at my 4th go and got the bonus hold. Unfortunately I couldn’t
handle one of the big So iLL holds in the middle, so the bonus was all for that one. In the isolation zone I realized that there
were hardly any tops up to now so I knew that I still had good chances to
finish with a place on the podium and tried to focus on the challenges in front of me.
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| The dyno at the start of the second power boulder |
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| Pulling hard on one of the new So iLL holds...LOVE this stuff :D |
My next boulder was a technical traverse on a
vertical wall with a stemming finish. It took me two tries to figure out the
start. At my third go I fell shortly before the stemming moves, which was
pretty annoying because I knew that I could do that one but I was aware that
every try counted. So I pulled myself together and did the boulder at my next
go. Although it took me 4 tries I felt relief.
The last boulder turned out to be a very
technical slab with poor footholds and some high underclings which forced
the climbers to put a lot of weight on their feet. What a great combination :D. I
almost got to the top but sadly I slipped just before grabbing the last hold.
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| The hard starting move of the slab |
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| Unsteady balance moves on high underclings and bad footholds |
I ended up
on 4th place (complete result)
and was pleased with the result as I was able to improve my ranking versus the
placing of the qualifying round by 4 places, although I would have loved to be
on the podium. Maybe next time... :-)
All in all it was an awesome competition and I had a
great time. At this point I would like to thank two friends of mine, as they provided some of the pictures. They are running a webpage
on Facebook called ART of Photography.
Since I myself like to spend time, taking photographs I know how well they
operate. Feel free to check out their site on Facebook! My thanks also go to Stefan
Kleinhappl, the head of the gym, who kindly allowed me to use the pictures
which were taken within the framework of the action, by Rudolf Schwarzl &
Martin König.
Hope you
liked my recap on the comp!
Bye for now
Jakob
Some more impressions:
