Sunday 3 May 2009

THE SEED IS PLANTED

Thursday night I entered the gym and was instantly caught by a heavy depression. I wanted to be elsewhere, possibly on my van, speeding north towards Ticino. It wasn't to be, so I tried not to whine too much and to send my problems. Well it wasn't to be either. The only satisfaction came from a few good tries and from the fingerboard, where I found out I can still crank a bit. I am very happy because in the past winter I managed to almost reduce to zero the difference between my left arm and right one., at least in terms of finger power. My shoulder feels fine and I can try and train one armers again I think.
Anyway, saturday I climbed in Sasso, all alone, in very good conditions. I had the boulders entirely for myself, and I had lots of fun. I started feeling lethargic and heavy, plus I found out I developed a bit of a strain in the back of both knees from extreme heel hooking, so naturally I chose to try two problem that include hard heel hooks. I repeated "Spigolo Calibani" third try, then I moved up the hill and repeated,third try, also "Fagiano Seduto", a nasty nasty problem that I seldom repeat. So, in this less than a hour of playing the crusher I did a 7c and another 7c/+. Happy, I drove home, where I lately found out, quite to my surprise, that my knee injuries had somehow misteriously gotten worse.
Yesterday I went to Amiata top, where, trying to fight the rain, I destroyed the traverse of last saturday, first go. Obviously I had to skip the heel hook that could have helped the final part, and sent it with the original drop knee. Success.
After that, a quick sandwich gave me the energy to finally embark in my next project. The boulder is beautiful, the holds small and the moves are brutal. It will be hard. I brushed just the excess dust away and tried the first move:it's hard but steady. Then it's darkness. A darkness of ghosts, of shadows who can lock off a small two finger pocket, swap feet on poor footholds, and cross through with the left hand to a crimp,then lock it and get another crimp right hand, to gain other long, powerful moves. Oh it's so beautiful, shame a bad landing makes it quite hard to try it on my own.
Soon I should post some footage of a few problems and of the potential of the place. Rest today, train monday.


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