The pilgrimage to Verdon

It all began a few weeks ago with a familiar popping sound, one that's never indicated any good. We were in Kotečnik and I was trying Botulin, rocking high up on a heelhook when suddenly it happened in my right knee. Burning pain and a sketchy feeling in the knee put me out of climbing for a while. I was feeling a bit lost. I was feeling in a great shape to climb on whatever and now any twisting of my right knee hurt bad. Maybe thirty years ago dropping knees was really considered a girl thing, but it's not so anymore (not that I'm a climber that would really excel at it - so I didn't lose all hope, I thought maybe just campus with one foot). A friend of mine had this happen some time ago and claimed climbing without dropknees was not possible. Anyway I was a bit gutted.
Two weeks later, the holiday was coming up and word on everyone's lips was where to go climbing. Weather looked bad all over Europe, our long-planned Verdon trip had failed and my leg still hurt anyway.
In a desperate wish to not stay at home, go somewhere new and still get some climbing done, I'd come upon this idealistic sounding idea.

all time inspiration: Patrick Edlinger on 'Take it or leave it'

Deep down inside my climbers soul I am a fan of the old-school: the golden age of French limestone, the birth of modern sport climbing. The time when overhanging roofs still looked futuristic and climbers wore lycra, all skinny and sleek like their guru Patrick Edlinger.  Old climbing mags make my imagination run wild and I've studied Jerry Moffat's 'Revelations' down to the very last detail. Let's hitchhike to Verdon!
Eva was the perfect partner in crime for this. 24 hours later we stood at the end of Tržaška beginning our pilgrimage. I wanted it to feel like back then, when there was no internet, information on climbing spots was scarce and only spread through the mags and word of mouth. Besides, I've always liked travelling via hitchhiking for I deeply believe in solidarity between people and how we need to work on keeping this spirit alive. So here's how we did it. 900 kilometres, plenty of un-planned detours and plan-B's but always with one goal in mind. I'd packed my climbing and camping equipment and I felt care-free, as long as I end up seeing that magnificent sight of the gorge opening up in front of you as you walk up 'La belvedere de La Carelle'.

the mission. Bologna was a bit of a detour, but we got to meet the horse dentist guy this way

The hitch there was happening steadily but at no significant speed. We had to change many rides as most people could only take us maybe a 100 kilometres. The language barrier is a real problem for me in Italy, even though I've now improved a 1000% since the last time hitching through Italy, I mostly rely on mimics and giving some French or English words an Italian-sounding accent and hoping it will work. Speaking the language is the key, this way the ride can be an experience instead of just travel. Usually though, you will get rides with people more interesting in particular and they will speak another language. We got one with a French guy living in Italy working as a dentist for horses (!) and had an intense debate on politics, economy and life in general. While this is generally a topic reserved for evening beers when everyone feels a little smarter than usual, it's just exciting to hear different opinions from different people. And he even changed his course so he could take us further down our path! Legend.

one of the most random meetings ever. Big ups you!

It was getting late though and we weren't advancing as we hoped for. In essence hitching is a game of lucky coincidences, while the hiker tries to increase the chance of it happening. Well, we could have expected this or something similar given the amount of Slovenian people heading to climb in Oltre Finale (Albenga). Somewhere around Alessandria in a petrol station, a car pulled over with the best crew of friends. A few hitches later and we ourselves made it to Albenga and thus ended up in an unexpectedly cosy night for a hitchhiker.

we are not wet, smelly and dirty! something wrong?

This then turned into a few days since the climbing here was that good. However, Tuesday afternoon we paced ourselves up again. After getting benighted and forced to camp somewhere in the French hillsides, only kilometres away from Verdon, we reached our destination on Wednesday morning and finally got to feel all that glorious air beneath!

the French countryside north of Nice

the 'falaise de l'Escales' - dreamt of seeing this for long enough

What we climbed, how I got scared while dangling above the void with vultures looking upon and how the infamous 'Verdon manouever' and prussik-climbing came in handy is another story. I also got to satisfy my 'climbing history-geek' side with trying one of the J-B Tribout classic from year 87' and I am so psyched on this. More on that some other time.

Finally, the trip back was memorable in its own right, too. We escaped the rain in Verdon and were travelling fast, until it all came to a stop in Antibes. One more benightment and our morale was low. Next morning we were saved by a Serbian truck driver who was going all the way to Sežana. It was a pleasant, whole day ride and we experienced that true Serbian hospitaility even despite being crammed with all our stuff into a cabin of a truck. Chit-chatting on everything from world war 2 history to Novak Đokovič and vegan diets the day melted into a swirl of passing cars and smelly, tourist filled Autogrills as we travelled along with 25 tons of other lemons. We made it back home! I ticked one of my climber's life goals: the pilgrimage to Verdon :)

life gave us lemons

Revolution in Bitnje

It's been almost a month since the last post here. I have been busy doing the uni work, some training, going out to climb on random days, night routesetting and family visits. Motivation for climbing has been high as usual but with no specific focus.

I'd got tired of Mišja Peč and getting stuck into projects that feel so desperately close to my limit and where potential success seems to have turned from a real possibilty to a somewhat abstract term one cannot really imagine. Hmmm... get to the chains without falling, well it's really that simple, except in our own minds.

The arrival of spring weather and summer daylight time freshened things up a bit. Afternoon, post-work sessions and warmer temps... Bitnje was a crag high on everybody's list. It is due time for it to get a mention in this blog. The good old Bitnje, the staple of hard climbing in the area, with its less-than-perfect, often dusty, "še-kr-goveja" endurance routes. They often also contain a considerable boulder section to bump the grade, with a typical characteristic being crimps, two-finger pockets and smearing on bad, often crumbly footholds in only a slightly overhanging wall. Reminsicent of the previous generation of climbers here is the ocassional chipped hold. However, they have also left us with a few unclimbed routes. Those who have completed the inauguration with climbing all the existant hard routes are now standing up to the challenge. Whatever, just to keep us psyched :)

my bro sporting the new Hirundos and enjoying the sun

I set to work on one of the projects. Yesterday was going to be my fourth day on it. I had already come painfully close on Wednesday. I could feel an amazing progression compared to last year. Awesome, something to make some sense of all those campus board sessions, after all. Yet, it seemed like the sending vibe has eluded me lately. I wondered how much longer it will take and cursed my lack of focus on attempts or holds crumbling off.

The route is about 30 meters long, after an easy start you climb a technical slab with cool moves for a 7a intro. It then steepens up and after 10 moves you get to a poor shake-out before another 15 moves that take you to the chain. The climbing is all long lock-offs on small holds and poor feet with one strikingly hard move that kept spitting me off.
Everything aligned yesterday. Weather was great, it was cold and there was some wind. We had a great crew and we all felt like this could be it. Janez climbed another project just earlier and other routes were going down, too

I remember exactly how it happened. I climbed up to the crux section casually like always, not struggling with any of the moves and thus having lots of spare focus to fight the mental battle and mantra-ing myself to power. Contrary to the previous try, this time I cared a bit less whether or not I was actually going to do it. I took the crux hold, started setting up for the move, then took an extra breath and spent an additional milisecond working my feet around. The world slowed down and I saw my hand hitting the next hold perfectly. A few more powerscreams and seconds later I was on top!

few days ago on the "Rigor mortis" project, i'm right up at the top of the wall

Sends of the day include (yes, conditions were truly amazing):
Rigor mortis 8c FA by me
Eleganca ježa 8b+ FA by Janez Miklavčič
Jera je bunka... 8a was done by Luki, Kern, Damjan
Che Guevara was done by Žiga Oražem and Mitja Predikaka

Johnny after completing his project. 3 years after first trying it, man you deserved it yesterday! "Eleganca ježa", a future endurance classic :)

Credits are due to Miha Kajzelj for bolting this route. Without the hard work of the equippers, none of this would be possible. I have yet to talk to him about naming the route but for now I've come up with this. 

Along with the new routes from Mitja Peternelj, Bitnje is turning into a big crag with many hard routes on offer that will keep even the new generations busy... for a season, maybe. But that's how it goes, the level keeps increasing and today's hardest route might be only a warm up for the prodigy kid of tomorrow. The thrill of clipping the chains, however, will always be there.

selfie with Ajda. the ex-gym kids turned rock climbers! more of this please!

Bouldering in the west

The short weekend trip to the west of the country was one of the best spontaneous ideas lately. Two days of sampling the bouldering in this region. The scene is small but lively, the locals active and enthusiastic.

Limestone bouldering is soo funny and different. Different friction, types of holds, holds everywhere actually - there's always something to grab, depending on your fingerstrength. Trnow with its river polished blocs is actually surprisingly smooth and monolythic and thus really, really cool.

Big thanks to Karin and Tjaša for being our guides and letting us stay at their place :)
also shoutout to fellow blogger Ajdbloc for the endless syke on developing and giving the scene a character. I've always been watching clips of new FA's, wondering a bit if I'll ever get to climb on them. Now it was so cool to touch and climb those rocks we've heard about :)
Boštjan Weingerl is the man-machine behind most of the hard FA's in Trnow land. In his blog there's also a topo containing the basic must-do list.

For the local record, let me comment on the grades - I've felt everything to be a grade easier than given. We probably chose the best days to climb there, most of the stuff was put up in the summer when I imagine friction must SUCK compared to today. Today was actually really good. Plus, the style suits me - lots of compression stuff. And I wore great shoes that made heelhooking feel great.

onwards amongst the trees. most of the boulders here appeared only after an earthquake about 10 yrs ago

Polog warm up slab

Bor on El Paso (7B?)

Tjaša on the small-but-tricky Sitko Nalič :)

Polog, frozen in time

Soča and its blocs

me on Sršenov ples 7B+?

rasta man on the attack. Črnica 6c, tricky one

Dave trying The Shield (7B+?)

Tjaša on The shield

Fear of forest, exposed and exciting

Grahu showing some hooking skills on Sladica 6B+

me on Neon forest 7C, pure gold

Boulders climbed:
Trnovo ob Soči
Javelina assis
The Shield
Neon forest
T-Bone overdose
Sršenov ples
Sladica
Črnica
Fear of forest

Polog
Maroko
Berlin
Tokio
El Paso
Tomi boy
+some others

percentage of time with no phone reception: 50%
average sleep statistics: 10 hrs per night
other activities: attempting playing hacky sack, using a hand-driven lift to cross the river
weather: always sunny
stress level: none

Ain't no better thing than some fresh bouldering to re-learn heelhooking, appreciate rock in all its subtle detail, have fun and enjoy life. We'll be back for sure *****

ghetto footage deserves a ghetto vid. actually it's my computer that won't take any more complex video editing :(

Medveja in full HD

The long anticipated return to rock has happened in grand style. After wrapping up the exams I teamed up with some friends and we hit some crags in Istria. There was a spell of good weather, no more real life things-and-thingies to worry about, endless psyche stemming simply out of the wish to move body over rock:

Climb difficult stuff, get challenged and give your best, engage fight mode and step into the zone of heightened awareness. Finally it was time to see and climb at some new places, attempt some new routes.

Scale steep terain, the more overhung the better. Screw "classics" in popular crags that everyone does, I'd almost forgotten how fun it is to onsight climb routes with NO chalk, no tickmarks. 

Crystal clear sky, a light breeze, hanging at the crag with no one but a few friends. What better place than Medveja.

The contrast with previous weeks is so strong. As if someone flicked the switch from black-and-white into colours. Life is now full HD.

the full hd :)

The Croatian super-crag has obviously impressed me the most. Criogenetica 8a+ is a masterpiece climb with a style I like so much, pumpy tufa climbing into the top crux where everything boils down to knife-edge precision footwork and crimping on small edges, barely recognizable amidst the blank white wall. Some classic testpieces of Siurana come to mind comparing to that top slab...

thin and delicate... don't screw up

tufa paradise. Mario on Criogenetica L1 7b+

Indeed I had to get on The Core. I had only one working session on the lower part before it got dark, but that was enough to justify its position on my tick-list (it's been there since always) and get me totally psyched on it.

in Kompanj, on "Grenouille" 8a, a beautiful mix of tufa pump and techy roof tackling

Juki on the return to rock!

Anja in the warmup slabs

Kompanj warz

After a last day in Kompanj we returned to Ljubljana. I was feeling super sore after 3 days on. Still, I couldn't say no to another two days. Saturday in Mišja was just great times. A well psyched crowd of friends, sending atmosphere and good vibes. There was no more soreness and I got stuck fully on working Človek ne jezi se, some less often climbed routes I haven't done yet (Godla 7c+) and finishing training laps on Mrtvaški ples. We ate a ton of pasta and pancakes and drank wine in hope of a good recovery for Sunday.
Sunday welcomed us with shitty rainy weather, but people were still motivated. Thank god Mišja Peč is so steep.

I don't think I've ever seen or even heard of anyone climbing Klobasa, 8a+. It's and old route by Tadej Slabe, apparently overlooked due to it's bouldery style and a much more prominent neighbour, Preobrazba 7c+. I suddenly realized I was really curious to try it. It really has a hard crux involving a horrible slopey crimp and some desperate stretches from undercut to undercut. Maybe a 7b+ route into 7A boulder problem? I did it on third try, not having worked it more than actually trying it, so it can't be any harder? Anyway, I was happy. This one is not about the grade, it's about the name :)
The complete low-down on sending in Mišja&around can be found @Climb Istria. Congrats to Jurica and Rok on finishing their projects! Yet we all know this satisfaction always lasts surprisingly short... onto the next!

Shout out to crew; Ana-Anja-Jure-Tilka and Jarm-Bizi-Petra-Mojca-Ajda-Grega, plus the international team in Mišja, it's so good to see friends from everywhere in a home crag. Also many thanks to Mario and Nino, the Medveja locals, for the belays, kindness, infectious psyche. And pomegranates :P

Nino on Venga Vecchio 8a. do it man, aLe!

BIRTHDAY!!! Thanks friends for the cake! ahh the sweet 12 yrs old!

The LIST

Hey all!
The blog is experiencing its usual winter-exam-period downtime and so am I, gutted to be inside studying with so many nice days offering great climbing everywhere. But hopefully things will work out and I'll be back to the rock in a few weeks.

Spain was awesome. I love how going on a trip gives you a fresh perspective on your life at home. Climbing all the time only thinking about projects you want to climb and having fun, enjoying the vibe at the crag - makes you reconsider what's really important. It comes down to simple things...

I've had a few moments of contemplation like that while in Siurana and despite returning home sore and lacking sleep, I felt energized and psyched to get some things going. New years resolutions seem a bit phony to me, but anyway I felt this time I'm too psyched on many things to just let them plain float around and wait for them to happen. I sat down and wrote a TICKLIST of routes I want to climb in 2015. This is my holy grail now, an important note to remember - just because I don't want to miss out on any of them. It holds some of my nemesis routes in local crags, old, new projects, big wall climbs... can't wait to get the first ticks in! I'm a daydreamer type of guy so I suspect it may prove too big to handle, but even ticking some of them would be great.

Pati noso, 8c in Siurana - one that would evade sending in a annoyingly stubborn way. It's getting to deserve an honourable mention on my ticklist!

GOALS are AMBITIONS and being too ambitious can lead to serious disappointments. The importance of an assertive approach towards your goals (in climbing or life in general) is something I think a lot about. Just speaking of it shows that there is a slight doubt, maybe I am aiming too high. But I feel calmed and think that I have matured enough (climbing and not-climbing wise) to take it on. I have an interesting topic to elaborate on here regarding how commitment in climbing can totally warp your world - a topic that's regularly brought up in this blog in different forms. I'll work on that post for now and hope you will enjoy it. Keeping this blog alive and going is also "on the ticklist" as it has become very dear to me, all thanks to the positive feedback I've received and that I am so psyched on! Thanks to anyone stopping by and ever taking a glance at it.

But I'm now facing some obstacles. I wanted to restart training (also in a more structured way than ever before - curious to see how this will work) but I needed to take a longer than expected rest. I'd tweaked a tendon pulling hard on a two-finger pocket in Siurana.
Right away when it happened, it hurt a bit but I could keep climbing as long as I avoided two-finger pockets.
As obsessive as this must sound, I think I actually have a favourite kind of hold and pocekts must be it. I'm pretty gutted about the injury especially since I don't really know what to do with it.
Now after 10 days of rest it seems to have healed up so to allow training as much as I want. I'd got the first sessions done following my "1-5-9 by 2020" programme and it's been all good. Yay! The A muerte syke for training is kicking in!

The other obstacle is passing the exams. This is an objective bigger than a short-term training plan and I am intent on doing it. It's a bit hard at first but one just needs to focus and channel the energy into different fields. Now I'm going to go hide under a rock with my books, only going out to PCL for the odd training session, so maybe see you there :)

Thanks to Iglu šport and Treking šport - Petzl who will keep supporting me in 2015. It means a lot to me and I think not having to worry about getting all the gear will make achieving my goals just a little easier...

soon it will be time to revisit this one! The last great project of Čreta, here captured by Luka Tambača

Greetings from the sunny side

 Siurana has been treating us well. Weather has been perfect, friends are all around and psyche for climbing has been high. I imagined I could climb 11 days in a row, fueled by the A muerte mode and pasta. Now it seems we're forced into some rest and the amount of projects left to do has gathered possibly beyond what is possible to be done in the last two days. Anyway, we'll keep coming back. Enjoy the photos, see you soon back in Ljubljana :)

Felix pulling on the last climb of 2014. We did this 7c in Siuranella in the evening light, feeling worked but ready for the NYE party. So cool!

Montsant vista. They never get old even though you're surrounded by sights like this everywhere you look. I will keep coming back to these places...

with Felix, Julien's brother. We had a great time climbing together. Hope to see you soon my friend!

Anej cranking down on a 7b+ in Siuranella sud

drugs. when you're sore, add more

big ups to the youth team members who made it out on the trip! This is Sudi in the big hard classic "Migranya" 8b

the tools of the trade - thanks Iglu šport and Treking šport - Petzl!

starting on an 8c in Margalef

pumpy steep madness. 30 metres of persuading yourself to resist! Pal este will wait until the next trip

we just can't get enough of this... life is a beach :)

sister the crusher, climbing stronger every day :)

here on a 6c+ in L'Olla

THE line of Siurana, the crack of Kalea borroka, 8b. After a few tries I'm saving it for the last day, the cherry on top of this awesome trip. I couldn't rotate the picture o.O

Dios nidor, 7c+. jaaa a muerte :)

The 8c+!

it's only rock, right?

Histerija happened too quickly. After trying it last year I imagined one day that I would get to work on it, it would still be a major challenge. Two weeks ago, on my third day of trying it, things were aligning up. It kept feeling better and better with every try and having entered a great "zone" mindset, I was able to finish it off. It took a while for it to set in fully. I am definitely riding the wave right now! Each new grade breakthrough is only good to remind you of how it's all relative, depending on your perception. Impossible can go to feeling incredibly doable in a matter of tries, changing weather, changing attitude...

 I thought my climbing has matured past seeing only the numbers. But sending it felt great also because it suddenly struck me - nevermind suited or non-suited style, conditions, grades being subjective, whatever - climbing a grade harder is possible. On top of it, this route has character, and it is one of my favourites in Mišja - a true wonder of nature.

 Like we always seem to follow some natural flow of things, I love it when a new surge of motivation for certain climbing appears. Mišja Peč felt like home during the last month. We've made many day trips, trying to go as often as possible, coming back late in the evening, riding my bike back home through the foggy Ljubljana, studying late in the night. During the week, the crag is populated only by the committed, everyone feels familiar and there's a sending atmosphere. "A muerte" is the mode of operation. The sun down by the seaside is like a resort from the real life in Ljubljana. It's a privilege to be able to go climbing.

entering the crux in Popolni mrk

I'm now working on a new project. I got stuck into Popolni mrk, 8c, right after I finished Histerija. The line has a notorious reputation and it hasn't had that many repeats. It's crimpy, nails, and right at the limit of my strength. Face climbing normally suits me, but not when holds get that small.
10 tries into working it, its becoming a mind battle, and I like it like that. It's going to taste that sweeter afterwards :)

 I've been thinking a lot about how a general attitude towards life is reflected in your climbing, especially your redpointing. When it gets really hard, believing it's possible is the key. Depending on your patience, ability to contemplate and rationalise failiure, you will adopt a certain redpointing tactics and a "bubble" of excuses and reasons why you still haven't done the project. I'm finding out that with most of my hard redpoints that also give me a mindfuck game, it's all about taking a step back, stopping wishing to do it so bad and then doing it in a moment of perfect, clear focus. As if the world wanted you to slow down, stop being so damn obsessed with whatever it is you're driven by, realise it's all a product of your mind and then things becoming so much clearer and sensible.


 However, the obsession is pretty strong with me right now. Spain countdown says 7 days. I don't want to jinx it, but I feel I could climb some pretty cool stuff :D

 I enjoyed hosting Felix and Maria last week. Felix is Julien's brother and it was great to have them over. I love sharing the psyche for our home crags and giving visiting people a tour. It was also great to see Lea and Quentin crushing big time in our and Istrian crags.

Felix and Maria sampling our classics

Thanks to all that made the last month in Mišja Peč feel so nice. Thanks to Luka Tambača for being there and taking pictures. Thanks for reading, keep the spirit alive y'all!