Swissyland
It’s been a while since my last blog. All I have been doing is climbing 24/7 , driving back and forth between Innsbruck and Ticino. Having been out of school for almost a year now, all responsibilities that I used to have are now finished and now the only focus is climbing and making sure the bills are paid (not to mention a few parking tickets and speeding tickets much to the dismay of my girlfriend).

The experience has been amazing. Traveling Europe and climbing at all these new areas makes me feel like a kid in a candy store. I recently took a long trip (about 11 days) to Ticino, where Laura and I met up with Jamie, Angie, Olsen, and Pinto. The weather has been getting warmer than previous trips as it is now March. We had some good days in Cresciano, with much wind and cool air.

Day 1 was a huge success. Laura and I warmed up on a classic 6B slab called The Never Ending Story. This might be one of the coolest slabs in Cresciano with perfect granite and no holds, only friction and balance. Later that day, I moved into the last sector of Cresciano, which holds the classic La Prue, Mithril, and La Boule. On a previous trip I had tried both La Prue and Mithril but failed miserably on both due to warm conditions. La Prue was first on the list. Conditions this time were brisk, the holds were very sticky and thanks to my feeble attempts at last minute stretching (which Laura helped me with laughing the entire time at my inflexibility) getting my foot in the incredibly high starting foot was possible. I pulled on and first try was able to get to the last move. After a few more failed attempts, I finally climbed through La Prue and was standing on the summit. It is funny how something at first feels really impossible, then with right conditions, it feels like a totally different game.