Me on 'Habe die Ehre'

Andy on the problem Micky Page found

Me on 'XP'

Andy cruising 'Boogala'

Normally I go pretty well prepared on a trip. This time, however, I wasn't prepared what so ever. Due to some minor injuries, I couldn't train as hard for this trip as I would of liked to (although Andy disagrees with me on this statement). Besides that I, somehow, didn't pack correctly for the cold Swiss climate (very silly).
The result of my 'lack of preparation' was that I didn't had any expectations of this trip climbing wise (and have been very cold during the trip). The only thing I hoped for was that we would be able to climb, and we did.
On our first day we woke up looking at a perfect clear blue Swiss sky. We decided to go to Cresciano, mainly because Chrionico still looked pretty snowed under.
It has been a while since I (seriously) climbed in Cresciano and there are still lots of problems for me to try and do. Andy, on the other hand has pretty much done all problems in the area. The only reason he wanted to go there was to try 'Confessions' (an amazing looking 60 degrees overhanging problem in the 'La Boule' area). Because I found it too cold to warm up on easy problems I warmed up on 'Heron', a problem I had seen, but never tried before. Most of the moves felt really hard to start with. I couldn't keep my feet on the slippy footholds and I didn't seem to find the right body position for the first couple of moves. After a bit I did most of the moves, but still didn't manage to link all the moves of the problem. We decided to move on to the La boule area, where Andy tried 'Confessions'. He, on the other hand, did manage to do all the moves very quick, but was unlucky and didn't send the problem that day. Probably partly because of the cold weather.
What I find a really frustrating aspect of cold weather is, that it makes it almost impossible to rest between attempts. Simply because you cool down so much if you rest for a longer period of time.This means that you therefore have to choose between 1. pulling back on while still tired but warm, or 2. pulling back on fully rested but cold. I always choose the first option, because I find it too hard to motivate myself when I'm cold. This means that, when it is cold outside, I can't work a problem as long as normal, purely because I get tired faster.
After a couple of hours in the cold we called it a day and went back to our gite opposite the hills of Chironico. A recommendation for people who like a big (cheap-ish) gite, don't mind driving uphill on a curvy road and mainly want to climb in Chrionico.

A glorious but freezing moring in Swiss

The next day, it was cloudy and even colder than the day before. We went back to Cres and I managed to climb 'Heron'. I was convinced Andy would send 'Confessions' that day because he looked strong on it, but his heel popped. Soon the cold started to dig in again. 'Even' Bernd Zangler, who was trying his project next to 'Confessions', was complaining about the cold and the lack of feeling in his fingers and feet. Surely it would get warmer soon, right? Wrong.

Me on 'Heron'

On day three of our trip, our Fiat Panda told us it was -8º C! I'm not sure why we decided to go to Chironico on the coldest day, but we did. I tried the moves on 'Teamwork', but with absolutely no feeling in any of my fingers or toes, my crimping skills were letting me down. Andy on the other hand, cruised 'Boogala' that morning. Very impressive to see him climb this problem and bloody scary to spot him on this high problem. Especially because both I and the crashpads were sliding around on the icy snow underneath the problem.

After our restday Steve Roberts and George Hayden arrived. They stayed with us for a couple of days. It was great having them around. Steve was sending problem after problem, looking strong. George could of done the same strenght-wise but his flexibility let him down. After 3 days they had to go home again, and it is fair to say that the gite felt a little empty when they left. I enjoyed having those two around.

Meanwhile Andy had done this new (hard looking) problem Micky Page found in a new area at Chironico and flashed 'Habe die Ehre', a deceptive 8a highball in the same area. I managed to climb a couple of 7b(+)/ 7c's in Cresciano, after which I started to feel really ill. I think the cold weather (and the lack of drinking during the day) started to wear me out. Fortunately I started to feel better again after being sick, a fair amount of rest and some love and caring of Andy. So I was up for more climbing.

Because Andy made 'Habe die Ehre' look very 'do-able' and because the problem involves a big rock over on a massive foothold, while holding a funny crimplike hold (one of my strenghts), I thought I would give it a go. It took me a while to commit to all the moves. Partly because the problem looks like a highball with a scary landing (while it is actually not really a highball, because you start climbing above another bloc halfway the problem. Meaning you are never really far from 'the ground'. So Andy could pick me out of the air at anytime). It was still very cold the day I tried 'Habe die Ehre', so I didn't had a lot of time working and trying the moves. Fortunatly it didn't take me long to do the problem. A nice send to finish the trip of with.
When I started work again yesterday, I realised that I do really love trips a lot. And I miss being away as soon as I'm back. Fortunately we are lucky to have the opportunity to plan another trip, so I always have something to look forward to. Bring on the next trip.....

'Hannibal Lector', one of the best problem I did this trip


Andy showing Steve how to do the classic 'Harry Spotter'