Last sessions in Ticino

The good season is coming to an end. The winter is going to finish and the fall is a memory. A memory of few years ago, since the climate of the last period was strange and particularly hot: October and November were unfortunately warm and the fall had not the same taste of the previous years. I love winter and autumn, for the best bouldering conditions first and secondly for a personal preference. The arrival of spring usually gives me depression, the heat fades me and the motivation often goes down. Despite this, the weather is still good for some bouldering spots and the temperatures are high but not excessively warm. After US my mind started to imagine some boulders around and Val Bavona came quickly in my thoughts; a place where I seldom went to, but that always inspired me for different reasons.

Despite the slowness of the road to reach this valley, it is possible to go and back in a day like Ticino itself and I had occasion to get there 5 times, including the last one when I stopped for 4 days. Every time I go up in this valley the feelings are exceptional and the place never stops to hit me. The entrance in the valley is crazy, full of color contrast, perfect granite rock, big walls, big boulders, waterfalls, stone villages and an amazing wood which make my days great as well as the good lines there are under the soft moss.

The first day, together with Jimmy Webb, we tried a new big project which immediately seemed to be a great one with a stellar quality: An overhang with pinches and hard swing, followed by a combo ending wall that requires technical and physical skills. The climb on it looked to be amazing and really complete: a really intensive body tension and physical sequence to get into a totally different climbing like technical compression, small foot holds, mental climbing and an endurance finish before the easy top-out where you should be really focused coming from the bottom. The final wall was totally covered by the moss and we decided to remove only the necessary, letting the cleaned holds stand out like white chalk spots from the intensive green of the wall. On the second day on it, the problem seems to be even better. The holds didn't have the small dirty residues and they were really perfect to grab. That day we were able to complete all the moves on it, and to link few sequences. The processing of the full line gave us big motivation, in fact we pushed us both to discover new betas and to do small changes to get a better feeling. It was maybe out of my possibilities, but I came anyway back to try it since I would like to understand it better, in order to train harder and maybe reach the top in the future. The third day Jimmy was going really well, but the beginning of the technical part looked harder from the bottom. For me the crux was the 7th move, where from a good hole for the right hand, you have to do a big dynamic to a sloper. This is a really low per cent success move for me. During the 4th day on the proj I was alone to try it and even I was not capable to stick the sloper from the start, I repeated the single 5 times, climbing it in two parts. Sure I felt far from doing it but what was important is that I felt it possible. I know I could complete this one in the future if I will be able to be stronger than now and this fact is simply exciting. This project appeared to my eyes like a gem and I really would like to finish, would be it the first ascent or the 15th one. It was really long time that I didn't get such a deep motivation for a single line.

Noting the lower temperature, I decided to come back last week for more days with Nils. I decided to let the proj away for the first day and we went to "Heritage" 8B, a stunning line put up By Carlo Traversi two years ago. The first day on it, few weeks before, went good, but I had huge problems to get a the horizontal pinch in the middle of the sequence. I found a good way for my size, but it looked hard coming from the sit. The second day the temperature were really high, in fact my expectations were low. After 5 mins, I surprisingly discovered a tricky beta which suited me perfectly. Moreover, this easy way, let me able to stick the first gaston almost like I wanted, so I didn't need to be precise as before. I took it with the medium finger in the point I would have had the index, but the new beta let me avoid this details and I felt myself at the top. I was satisfied by the quality, as well as in the line climbed in the evening: "Elysium" 8A. Even this one is amazing, it appears like a stunning overhang prow, with incredible holds. The movements on it are magical, and when I climbed this line my feelings were at the top. I guess I can locate this line at the top of swiss boulders around this kind of grade, at least for my personal tastes.

 The day after, excited from the cold in the dark, we tried "King of Sonlerto" 8A+/B and, thanks to the colder temperatures, I was able to feel the holds differently and to top it out on the grass. The negative side was that I injured my finger trying the moves of its sit and for the moment I can climb just on few kind of holds, since many edges are impossible to grab without pain. Negative notice apart, the valley gave me great satisfaction and I can't wait to be there next fall to brush other moderates and try other awesome lines.

Wie im Urlaub 8A, Val Verzasca. Photo Marco Zanone

In two days I will be off To Aland (FIN), so the next story might be something about northern Europe Bouldering.

Some moments in Swiss

The training program I set at the beginning of November is almost finished. In two weeks I will be off to Vegas; I started to be really curious to add a new spot in my list and to climb in areas that I have dreamt for long. The sessions among the dust of my training room go on every week and I probably planned to much for my usual standard. Many weekly tables miss some kind of sessions but I am trying to finish them as much as I can to see how the program works while and after the goals. I had to sacrifice the climbing on the rock and this fact is harder than what it seemed. I anyway went to climb outdoor in order to don't lose the sensation that the rock can offer and Ticino was the most coveted destination for my desires.

I went twice to Cresciano where I got some improvement on the big rig of "the story of two worlds". The first session was totally dedicated to try "the dagger" (Upper part) again and try to take confidence as much as I could. At the end I was able to reclimb it in two part, but more important to remove two moves on my "head-first" beta. The second day on it I was with Gabri, who was able to make every single move on "the Dagger", a problems that he ticked few days after. My session went pretty well and I fell twice in the second part of "the dagger" where my arms and my body was basically dead after the big fight. The problem is physical, tricky, long and powerful and after a full day of attempts I felt my pectorals burnt. I think I will come back on this just once before leaving for US. The other swiss day was in company of Giulia and Rudy in Brione. Val Verzasca is definitely my favorite destination for bouldering in the ray of 200 km from my home. The rock is superb and the features it offers dazzle me every single time I go there. The holds are stunning to grab and the problems made by this valley are fantastic for every kind of difficulty you climb. Moreover, everything is situated in a pleasant contest, with not so much people around, cool wood, mountains, blue sky, green grass and perfect fine granite. That day I tried to figure out a possible beta on "the Kingdom", without any kind of success as well as "blinded by the light". Meanwhile, It went a bit better on right Vecchio leone's line, where I almost stuck the crux move and I felt it possible for my skills.

The following climbing day was again In Brione where I dedicated myself to other kind of boulders a bit more possible than the previous ones. The new path before the classic sector lead me to one of the best piece of rock in Brione, i.e "Brionesque". The rock seemed stellar as the moves I imaged, and it would have been the boulder of the day. After a good warm up on the boulder just after the hill we moved towards "blinded by the light" where Gabri took some sessions to try it. While I was with him, I quickly checked out the overhang just 10 meters ahead and I decided to brush it a bit and to put some chalk on. The sit start seemed to be too extreme for me, so I opted to try as low as I could from the first sidepull for the left and a good undercling for the right. The line looked to be really simple and powerful: Big move at the start, turn your feet to the left, matching the second hold and then going to the left lip to finish the problems into the last easy slab. The single moves were figured out in a session then I took a bit of rest since I understood to have some changes to complete this line. After some minutes I began the second session where I crushed it, happy for taking an unexpected ascent. It could be a first ascent since no kind of chalk signs were present and I never heard to talk about this.

Before the evening came, Giulia and I moved to "Brionesque", the line that stoked me in the morning and few days before. It has been  hard to figure out the beta with two pads, because you have to bind them on the stone on your back and they didn't cover a lot of surface. Fortunately Gabri came and with one more pad everything started to be more safe and the sequence was done. The line itself is awesome in my opinion, and I feel to advice it.

The motivation to come back to Brione is still high. I love this valley and I hope to come back soon to check other problems like "Black Pearl", "Humphrey Bogart", "forever more" and many other top quality boulders.

Last week the lower pressure came and the weather wasn't as good as in the period before. Tuesday my dad and I went to the zone of Valais, around the city of Martigny where the forecast said sunny. This location is not so much further than Ticino, but we didn't go there often because it is a bit more expensive. Especially the Aosta's highway and the price of the tunnel have high prices. This time I pay for a season ticket, hoping to have more occasions to go. The area is always cool as I remembered and when I got into the Swiss side I felt at ease and curios to see these bouldering spots. We opted to go to Vernayaz, a wintery area where I stayed last year together with Giulia. The rock here is a good quality granite, really compact, smooth and sometime geometric. After the warm up, Nils came and so we had the occasion to meet again after Rocklands. Thanks to him, I was able to send some nice problems that I wanted like "Satan" and "Sergient Garcia". The first one presents a body-tension sequence after an easy intro on a slopy rail. After the crux it develops on some good holds until the mantle. While "sergient Garcia" looked powerful as the first but different at the same. it is based on the compression style and its holds are stunning. Another line I was able to send was "le feu sans flamme", a line put up by Nils last year and present in his new film called "Blocz", a video that presents a lot of problems in this great region. In the evening, he showed me another cool line, Dagda, in a sector called "Graal". Since I saw his clip, I was inspired by this piece of compact rock. The path to reach it is crazy and funny, moreover the location is totally different than others. Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish this one and it is for sure a good reason to come back.

Now only two weeks missing before leaving. The first will be a week of rest, while the second will be dedicate to some single sessions of different kinds like PG, fingerboard, wall and rock.

Here s little video clip about these 3/4 days of rock in December.

Swiss - Dec 2013 from niky_ceria on Vimeo.

Training for summer

The first three months of this year have been set for training to get in a fine shape before my ten days in Sweden. The period of training worked well and in the middle of march I felt stronger than Dicember or January. I started to get in shape in the period of Gandalf il grigio and this feeling accompained me until the end of april. In Sweden, and during the few weeks later too, I felt good and agile as I wanted, in fact I was really glad for having climbed high quality stuff since this was my goal.

After april the 6^th I decided to take a month of rest or just climbing outdoor when it was possible. Rarely I had some fingerboard hangs.

The weather in the last weeks wasn’t so good. The first touch of spring seemed more like summer, in fact the medium season area in Aosta Valley were too hot, while the summer spots were still covered of snow.

I went once in Gaby with Rudy where we finished to brush a river arete.

I climbed it from the sit and he was close in the stand version. From the stand it has two moves on slopers which could be equal to 7A I though, while the sit adds two harder singles, really fun to do. The line remains on river sector, on the left of “Big Courier”.

Another time I was in Brione where Me,Marco and Aly tried to take the last freshness of the winter to grab the lovely Verzasca’s granite. In the morning I managed to do “the guilty of the hilti”, a Gaston line put up by Bernd Zangler. While in the afternoon I did the third ascent of “flash flood” on the river, just on the right of “ fake pamplemouse”. I climbed them both on second go from start, but in the first one I had to fight hard some tries to win the hard gaston move, which makes the hard part of the line. My back was destroyed the day after.

Marco showed me “Ballermaan” too, a stunning line with great rock. It deals of a compression boulder with a jump at the end where it is hard to keep the other hand on the slopy pinch. A really good line, probably one of the best in Brione around these grades, 7B/+.

Beyond these rock sessions, I climbed seldom until this week when I restarted training.

My next adventure will be in Rocklands this summer, from july the 7^th until August the 11^th.

My current aim is to get in a good shape before leaving, although I have just two month.

I have set a period of training where I would like to test some new stuff.

The first new thing in my program is Chris Webb Parsons hang advice, since his videos was on the web some weeks ago and it seemed really fun and useful. I think it could be worthy to try.

The second thing deals new exercises on PG, like some crossing moves or some changes on the previous exercises. As in the previous program, the first part will be all set in fingerboard, with three sessions per week (2 with hangs and one of Enchores). Over this, I will climb in the gym and on rock when it will be possible. While the second run the fingerboard will be linked on PG sessions. During All two months I also hope to get some rock climbing in Aosta valley and around, to climb new stuff for me and also to check how training works before SouthAfrica.

Flash Flood 8B, Brione. Photo: Alice Gariazzo