 |
| "Fake class" V12, Valle d'Aosta. Photo Andrea Zanone |
It’s sometime good to stop for a while, reflecting and realizing how lucky my hometown position is for bouldering. It's something that I usually underestimate, but in some moments I have the brilliant feeling to note how many good things I can do in a couple of hours driving. Beyond the ultra classic and nowadays very well known areas of Ticino, Valais and Varazze, there are also other little sectors where to go: Isolated locations, where the crowds fortunately don’t like to go and where a climbing day can often turns into a very pleasant day with only the wild around you. Last year I spent a full and very busy period in April in Aosta valley, on the back side of my home town, where these little sectors showed me hidden gems, scattered zones, good rock and possibilities to clean new good lines.
During the past year I only had 3 weeks to enjoy these beautiful
balance, in addition of a couple of cold and good weeks in
December. Last April, I was coming from 2 Months in Font and I was heading to
the Grampians in May, right 20 days after the trip in the Forest. I had short
time, my shape and motivations was extremely high, so I didn’t think about
training or other stuff and I spent loads of time in climbing and
exploring almost every day.
This season things rolled differently; I had two months between my usual
winter trip and the chasing winter of our summer, my shape wasn’t as good as 12
months ago and I hence needed to balance a bit of training with cleaning first
and climbing then. That has been for sure a good time, even if sometimes was
hard to manage both things giving 100% on both parts. Besides, I have been
also focused on other aspects like a partnership with a new sponsor,
editing new clips at home, shaping some climbing holds and make a plan for the upcoming
trip to New Zealand and Australia.
Today is the last day at home and I obviously think about the
experiences I had on these new boulders. I don’t want to dwell too much with
words, since I have uploaded several photos on my Instagram page when
something emotional came out. I wanted to share a little gallery here
below, especially for what concerns a very funny, and muddy, cave I have been
cleaning in the last couple of weeks.
It is now time to think about the next trip to Castle Hill and say hello
to these places until the next fall.
The new ones from this springtime:
The new ones from this springtime:
Doppia Fama V12 FA **
Boiler Arete V10 FA ****
78 % V11 FA ***
Ghia V12 FA *****
Riot in Hell V10 FA (Tinello) ****
Acqua di Gio V9 FA **
Fake Class V12 FA ****
Kinshasa V13 FA ***
Undercut V13 FA ***
 |
| Cave project, Valle d'Aosta |
 |
| Andrea Zanone trying "Raton Matado", Valle d'Aosta |
 |
| "Kinshasa" V13, Valle d'Aosta |
