Up to date!

A lot has happened since my last post!

I spend one weekend in Stockholm, together with Tierra Ambassador Katrine Vandet Salling, to be there for the Tierra Boulder Battle. We were lucky enough to get the chance to be co-commentators at the event. It was a great experience and a new way for me to watch a competition.
Afterwards we dropped by the Tierra Headquarters. There is some really nice people behind all this and it reminded me of how much I enjoy being a part of this company!

Watch the stream if you missed the event. Some very cool boulderproblems set by the participants!

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COPENHAGEN BOULDERS CUP pt. 1

In Copenhagen Boulders we held Copenhagen Boulders Cup part 1 out of 3. I was in charge of the routesetting and wanted to set something different. We all agreed in the team that we wanted to present some boulderproblems that would challenge the climbers in all aspects. But I also wanted to top the last competition.
What is really impressive is if a routesetter can match the level of the boulderproblems with the level of the climbers, give the crowd a cool show and have the climbers climb some very funny boulderproblems at the same time.
I think we did a good job. We risked a bit with some big swings, but I wanted to make sure we had a great show and that part went really well. Unfortunately we set the last female boulder a bit too hard. If there were just one top on the last female boulder the competition would have been almost perfect.

I think it is possible for us to have such a good indication of the level of the climbers, because we see what they can do in the gym on a daily basis. Without those informations it would be much more difficult to set the perfect level.

We had a qualification with 29 boulderproblems. I did not have so many volumes available, so we used around 30 volumes for the 6 final problems and set the whole qualification without a single volume. It was a great challenge and we were very satisfied with the result.

The video from the event is soon ready to be released, so watch out when it drops on the blog and on facebook!

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MAGIC WOOD

 Magic Wood

Foto: Katrine Vandet Salling

After the competition I got on a plane to Zürich. The climbing destination was set on Magic Wood. I had heard so much about the place, but never been there myself. So now it was time to chalk up and climb some of the best granite boulders in the world. 

When I first got to the forest I was very humble. The whole scenery was very overwhelming. I got so much energy just from being in the forest, breathing the fresh air and being close to the strong river. There is really something magical about this forest!

Jacks Broken Heart 8A+

Foto: Katrine Vandet Salling

After a couple of hours I slowly found out why this forest is magical! 

There is something in the air! The atmosphere, the nature and the people are so friendly. And it makes it so easy to enjoy the climbing even more. 

I wanted to relax and enjoy the nature so I did not have any expectations or specific lines I wanted to try. But after a couple of days it became clear which boulderproblems I had to climb! Some of the lines in the forest are the most beautiful pieces of rock I have ever seen. It is no wonder why the place is so popular. 

One thing that really surprised me was how beautiful the forest is. There is no trace of people, no trash. It is really good to see and it makes me enjoy the place much more. I have to return as fast as possible, to experience more natural magic. 

Sofa Surfer 8A+

Foto: Oliver Sahl- Madsen

I did climb some boulderproblems on the trip. As I wrote earlier; I wanted to relax and enjoy the forest, so I only tried things I cold do in a single session. So most of the boulders I did very quickly. 

One day though, I tried New Base Line 8B+. I did all the moves and linked the crux after 30 mins of play. I could do the line in 3 parts, but did not want to invest too much time in one boulder when the forest was full of beautiful lines!

After the trip I realized that I can probably do some of the really hard lines if I invest some more time. 

Super Nova 7C 

Foto: Mikkel Lima

Here is some of the beautiful lines I managed to climb: 

Intermezzo (flash) 7C

Samurai Tango (flash) 7C

The Gift (flash) 7C

Jack the Chipper (flash) 7C

Höhenzone (flash) 7C

Super Nova 7C+

Piranja 7C+

Muttertag 8A

Unendliche Geschichte pt 2 8A

Octopussy 8A

Intermezzo left 8A

Sofa Surfer 8A+

Jacks Broken Heart 8A+

I will hopefully return to Magic Wood again this year and maybe it is time for some harder tries ;)

Super Nova 7C

Foto: Mikkel Lima

Now I am back in Copenhagen and focused on preparing for the Boulder World Cup in Grindelwald 10-11 of May and Innsbruck 16-17 of May.

B.

Kjugekull 7-8 december

I just had what I would call the best day of my life on Kjugekull! Everything worked out, I played perfectly on the rock and had great people around me.

6 people, one Caravelle and only one place to go on a cold weekend day - Kjugekull! I have a long todo-list of boulderproblems that I need to do in order to feel like I am moving forward in my bouldering.
Some of the boulderproblems on the list were the targets for the day.

As we drove from Copenhagen we met very bad weather. Heavy snow and clouds. But 20 mins. before arriving at Kjugekull everything changed in our favor and the weather was perfect. Cold temps and clear blue sky with the sun warming these 6 diehard fools.

I warmed up on Store Bjørn 7B+. Felt very good, but the friction was not really great. I knew that I could do at least one of the problems on my list.

First up was the famous Lajfstajl 8A, put up by Carl-Ola Boström back in the old days. I knew what I had to do.. I went there alone with two pads and my camera. I chalked up the holds and went for a warm up try. I climbed to the final move easily and fell off the last, long move. I felt good, but the last crimp was so greasy. I chalked it up again.
This time I really crimped the hold. In the last second I changed my mind and went for another beta. Stupid idea that led to another fall.

Then something weird happened. I visualised my body climbing the problem, easily and with great confidence, in the next try. I was so convinced that I would do it next try that I felt almost relieved - it was like; "I have already done it so now I will just do one more try for fun!". I chalked up and climbed Lajfstajl 8A as predicted.

After the send I knew that I could do one more. So with two pads on my back and the camera ready I went to try Aerodynamite Low 8A. If I could do two 3 star boulderproblems, on Kjugekull, in this difficulty, in one day, I would be so happy!

I chalked up the holds. I remembered the moves from other tries. The boulder has one very awkward cross to a friction pinch followed by a lockoff to a crimp and then finishing off with Aerodynamite stand start.

I knew that I had to pinch as hard as possible to hold on. After two tries I found a small crystal for the right hand pinky. With that small detail I could squeeze super hard and suddenly the move felt easy. And after some controlled deadpoint catches on the top slopers I found myself on top of the second, hard boulderproblem that day!

So, now I started thinking.. What if I can continue this crush-mode through the rest of the forest?! What boulderproblem should be next?
On top of my todo-list is Huggsexa Sit Start 8B. It is super good moves on small crimps. Perfect compression testpiece.

My mind started to trick me.. I knew that I had tried the line with no luck before. I had fallen off the last move around 10-15 times. It is so mental for me. But I knew that this day would get even better with that tick. So once again I packed the pads and the camera. The whole group went to the boulder to climb Fin Areten, Sonic and Huggsexa Sit.
I got right on working the moves. Did some burns to remember the perfect sequence. I chalked up and tried from the sit. 3 tries later and 3 times rejected from the topout - falling of the last move.

I packed my stuff and accepted the fact that the battle should continue. I would be back the next morning to finish off this beautiful line.

The next morning we woke up to heavy snow. We went directly to Huggsexa, but the snow was everywhere and increased heavily every minute.. I warmed up on the first 5 moves, waisting no time. Rested a bit and knew that I would only have one good go before the snow would be too much. I started off. My skin was feeling sore from the day before - I did not want to let go, so I crimped a bit harder.

The try was almost perfect. Once again I fell off the lip. It was super wet.

The day ended in Copenhagen Boulders with a plastic session to "recover" from the snow.
I will return to Huggsexa Sit Start with regained psyche in the nearest future!

B.

Copenhagen Boulders Cup

Copenhagen Boulders Cuppen ruller derudad! Det er en af de få konkurrencer hvor jeg ikke selv deltager, men sætter alle problemerne. Jeg elsker denne position og mulighederne jeg har for at eksperimentere.
CB Cuppen er en god chance for mig for at få testet en masse ideer af som jeg senere kan evaluere og dermed udvikle mig som rutebygger.

 Foto: "El Papi Grande"

Ved denne 2. afdeling havde vi lidt ekstra godter gemt i ærmet. Jeg havde lagt en bestilling hos HRT Holds tidligere på året som ankom for et par måneder siden. Jeg havde bestilt 3 "wok" macroer i størrelserne 190x190, 150x150 og 110x110. De blev gemt indtil konkurrencen. Jeg er specielt glad for at vi har den store wok i hallen nu. Den kan skabe nogle balance situationer på væggen som almindelige kantede macroer ikke kan. Vi placerede den på vores 10 grader væg. Der udgør den en perfekt base for at sætte mantle og rockover problemer på let overhængende terræn. Den vigtigste effekt som macroen kan skabe er i en situation hvor man har startgreb under macroen, som senere skal bruges som fodtrin. Startgrebene forsvinder gradvist jo længere man kommer op. Det er en super effekt som burde være repræsenteret i alle sværhedsgrader. 

Foto: "Mojo"

Vores sæt bestod af 50 problemer på hallens konkurrencevægge. Vi havde som altid vægten på at sætte så alsidigt som muligt.

Jeg havde luret lidt på tilmeldingerne og forsøgt at spå hvem der ville dukke op på dagen for at sørge for at problemerne ville passe i niveau. Vi helgarderede os ved at sørge for at have tekniske røde problemer som ikke var lette at flashe. Et par af dem viste sig at volde så mange problemer at de ikke fik en top på dagen. 

Foto: "El Papi Grande"

Foto: Frank

Jeg har længe arbejdet på at sætte så mange boulder problemer som muligt uden greb. Til denne konkurrence satte jeg et problem på "rød arete" som kun bestod af macroer og lidt griptape. Jeg måtte tilføje meget griptape for at folk skulle kunne komme afsted fra startgrebene. Det var både en øvelse i at sætte udelukkende med macroer, og også en test af hvad der kan holdes på vores hældninger når man ikke giver klatreren en kant, sloper eller blot lidt friktion. 

Jeg er ved at få et ret godt indtryk af hvad der kan sættes i hallen og med den viden har jeg mulighed for at eksperimentere med alt det nye. For det er det nye og anderledes som skal gøre alle brugere i hallen bedre. Jeg kunne se på det sæt vi satte til denne konkurrence at folk generelt skulle kæmpe for at få toppe. Der var flere crimps end der plejer at være og det var de fleste ikke vant til. Det var et godt opråb til os rutebyggere om at vi skal huske alle grebstyper på væggene i vores daglige arbejde. 

Læg mærke til 1. 2. og 3. kasse. Jeg havde tre ens trekanter, skar 45grader smig og endte op med at de gabte ca. 10-15 cm. Det blev til en unik variant af den klassiske trekant som man ikke møder så tit. Det var fedt at kunne præsentere en ny form på væggen. Den er mere vanskelig at holde end den klassiske trekant og har nogle andre muligheder gemt i sig med den ekstra flade.
Kasserne udgør hallens nyeste sølv-problem. 

Alt i alt synes jeg lørdagen gik super godt og folk havde det sjovt på alle niveauer. Jeg nød at kunne sidde og få feedback på alle problemerne. 

Nu er det tilbage til tegnebrættet og tænke frem mod 3. afdeling hvor vi gerne skulle kunne lave et sæt der er endnu vildere end dette!