I was so lucky to try Forever Living's products for a couple of weeks. I have been drinking Aloe Vera every morning and Argi+ every evening. And after training I have tried their Heat Lotion.
The most positive effect is how much more energy I have in the morning right before my first training session of the day. And even more impressive - it's every morning the whole week.
For me it is very important to stay in shape and healthy. And with products like I just tried, it just got a whole lot easier!
I am looking forward to staying healthy and chasing my passion!
I just came home from a one month long trip to Spain. Spain is really something special for me and thats why I return every single winter to try super hard routes and hang out with my friends.
This trip we climbed mainly in Margalef.
I did not have any expectations. I went to Spain to enjoy climbing, and if I found something I wanted to dedicate my time to, I would allow myself that. But no goals set. Just the idea that, as a result of being way stronger than the previous winter, maybe I could climb something in the 8c- range.
In Margalef there are so many hard routes, so you just pick the one that works for you and try hard. Therefore I spent a lot of time trying different hard routes to try to find a project to dive into.
After a couple of weeks I found out that L'espiadimonis 8c was a good route for me.
The route can be divided into 3 parts. The first, lower part is climbing on small, sharp, 2-finger pockets. Even tough there was some hard moves I found out I could climb the first part very fast. In this way I could save a lot of energy for the hardest part.
After the first part comes the crux. It revolves around a series of four holds. Either you skip a small, sharp mono with right hand and go directly to a good hold. This beta makes you very stretched out and you have to do a kneedrop-smear on a very bad and slippery foothold. That did not work for me. Therefore I worked out this different beta. My new way of solving the crux involved going with the "wrong" hand to the first hold, so I ended up crossing to the mono pocket.
I found out that I could fit the back-2 fingers into the mono. So instead of trying to cross to a small mono I could suddenly put a lot more power onto the hold with two fingers.
I had to jump from the back-2 finger pocket and take the swing, but it did not feel as hard as I thought.
It took me some time to force the fingers into the small pocket. It meant that I had to be semi fresh in right arm to hold on until the fingers were in place. As a result I worked my way back down the route to find small transitions between holds where I could rest my right arm. It was essential to make sure that the right arm had as much power as possible for the lockoff.
After the crux you get two bummer jugs and after there is around 10 meters climbing left on good holds. On the paper the route is over, but some of the moves are a bit tricky so you could definitely make a mistake at the end.
I went to Spain with good power and bad endurance. So the big deal on L'espiadimonis was to climb the whole thing..
As the redpoint battle unfolded I got some bad cuts. So with tape on my fingers they got thicker and it became more tricky to fit two fingers into the crux pocket. My hope of succeeding with this beta disappeared a bit, but the fight continued. Unfortunately I did not manage to put it all together and send the route.
When climbing at your limit its important to get into the right mindset to be able to succeed on the route. On this trip I really struggled with my head. I could not find that will to climb my projects. And at the same time it felt right to just wake up every morning, no expectations, go climb, try hard and enjoy that rhythm. I felt like I was waiting until it felt right to climb the route, but it never felt just perfect.
When I sit back and think about it I tend to get a bit angry at myself. I was there, right in front of a beautiful route in the most beautiful setting. How could I not care about climbing this route? Well I know that I cared, but maybe I did not try 100% every time.. But why not?
I have told myself that I needed exactly what happened: I went climbing every day, tried hard and had fun. Thats a lifestyle and that is the lifestyle I am so closely related to.
Climbing can teach me so many things and on this trip I learned some important things that will make me evolve as a climber and as a person. I am very excited to have spend one more winter in the best sports climbing destination in Europe.
See what I think about the climbing in Margalef and some good burns on L'espiadimonis 8c right here:
I have left Spain with a lot of projects. I can see myself climbing them pretty fast if I get the opportunity. Now I am back to my daily routine with training and routesetting. The journey continues and I am looking forward to where it takes me next.
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!
