emi's blog

La Proue

2012-01-09T17:22:00.001+01:00

Just got back from a short trip to ticino right after new year. I hadn't been down there in quite a while so I was very excited to climb on good old swiss gneiss once again! As some snow dropped down at the higher spots the days before we arrived the desicion was made to climb at Cresciano. We got there in the afternoon and just climbed around randomly, enjoying the rock and the forest and meeting people I hadn't seen in a while...

The following day we went all the way over to the La Boule sector as I was keen to get on "La Proue". It's a short and powerful line established by Fred Nicole in the late 90's of the past century, classic and quite technical, around 8B. I had randomly tried it every once in a while over the past years but with little success... I kinda expected it to be the same this time but to my suprise I felt stronger on it. I stuck the crux move for the first time that day and fell off on the next one because I kinda had no clue what to do after... So the plan was to rest one day, return back, warm up, then first do the upper part isolated to get the beta and then start from the bottom again.

The crux Move, pic by Korni Obleitner

Being a lazy b**ch and full of confidence on my return two days later I thought it for sure will go without sticking to the plan. So again, I stuck the crux move perfectly and yes, again I punted somehow and fell off. I did try the upper moves after that, figured out the foot-moves which are the tricky part but the power was gone and I couldn't get up there anymore... Idiot.

The following day was my last chance. It was sunnier and warmer as the days before and the tries didn't feel good, I was pretty sore as well from the day before. I made a long rest until 30 minutes before it got dark and started my last set of tries, already making up plans in my mind of returning the next weekend because I didn't feel like it would go anymore today. So I set off with no expectations and everything clicked, some surprised and adrenalized roars later I stood atop of the boulder... happy and with a big smile on my face that didn't go away the whole drive back to Innsbruck....

Video below!

Emi

The Love(story) 2.0

2011-11-19T18:57:00.002+01:00

Love 2.0 is a sportroute located in the Zillertal Valley in Austria. It's background isn't the typical "found line-bolted it-climbed it" one, it has a different story to tell...

In the mid 80's of the past century, Gerhard Hörhager, austrian sportclimbing pioneer and living legend, bolted a line going through the middle of the north face of the "Wächter" bloc at a crag called Ewige Jagdgründe. As the wall was totally blank he drilled some holds, wich was a common thing to do back then, and climbed the route, calling it "Hounts of Love", 8a.
Years later in 2007 he returned to take out the bolts and close the holds with sika because he saw the potential for a natural line starting further left. New bolts were set, Kilian Fischhuber was called up to the set and he soon after did the FA of the new all natural climb, they called it "Love 2.0" and it's grade is 8c.

The route isn't just natural, it's simply amazing. A crimpy and bouldery beginning leads into steeper terrain, the holds get slightly better, the feet remain of their allmost non-existent character. This creates a series of brutal lock off gaston moves on full body tension, where at any time you feel like you will fall out of the wall within the next moment... It's pretty dam hard, even Adam (Ondra) needed like 3 tries! ;D

Pic by Norbert Lanzanasto

I started to try the route in spring 2011 and got fascinated by the challenge it offered me: small crimps with s**t footholds all the way isn't exactly what I would call my speciality! But for sure something I want to get better on so I got motivated to work on it.
As I had solved he individual moves quickly, dreams of a successful redpoint emerged on a very early stage... But every time I went back thinking I would sure do it this time I returned home empty handed... Spring didn't offer the best temps but still I thought it could go... Negative, greasy fingertips on redpoint links and constant falling convinced me to wait for fall.

Pic by Norbert Lanzanasto

By the end of September I was back. Temps were way cooler and I got psyched again! After some more sessions on it and redefining my beta on a crucial clipping position for like five times I finally made it through the first and hardest part on my last attempt of the day and found myself at the o.k. rest halfway up the route, defenitly more pumped then I expected to arrive there.... "keep cool, keep cool, don't you f**k it up now, you climbed out from here so many times, relax, keep cool, don't punt!" - I kept thinking. I climbed on, numb hands and a bit shaky but felt good on the moves and arrived at the big ledge almost at the top, just a couple more easy moves and it will be done! I took my time, warmed up my fingers and then went for the anchors.... Success!! My first 8c in the bag...

Pic by Norbert Lanzanasto

In the end all the work I had put in paid off and I learned a lot as a climber going through the process. For me, projecting a sportroute at my limit is defenitly different than doing the same on a boulderproblem... It's more about patience, optimizing beta over and over again and to not force things but stay positive and relaxed all the time... It makes you climb better.

Psyched for the next one!

Video of the ascent below, enjoy!

Emi

Kalymnian Summer

2011-09-07T20:28:00.048+02:00

The potential for climbing on the greek island of Kalymnos was discovered by the end of the past century and since then it rapidly turned into one of the best and original spots for sport climbing on the planet, with more than 2000 bolted routes to date. With many friends of mine having been there and telling me such great stories of how beautiful and unique their trip was, it was only a matter of time until I decided to have a look by myself.

Despite the best season for climbing in Kalymnos is either spring or fall, our decision was to go in summer. The conditions for climbing would be on the warmer (boiling) side, but chilling at the beach would be prime! More of a holiday and perfect to have a glance on the climbing there.

So my girl and I booked a two week trip and psyche was high, I got me a nice 80 meter rope, lots of quickdraws and extention-slings, sunscreen lotion - I was ready to do some kalymnian monster - routes!

We arrived at Masouri, the place to stay as a climber, and first got ourselves one of Eric`s scooters at Best Moto. His scooters will let you shine on every steep road and besides he and his wife Irma gave us so much information and tips for what to do and where to go on the island... not to forget "Best Moto beer-time" everyday at 8pm and the BBQ... thanks a lot guys!! Once mobile, we headed straight to one of the biggest cliffs of the island, the Grande Grotta.

Well... it's huge! Just looking at it I felt pumped already and looking up to the pitches first was really intimidating: all you see is a forest of tufas and stalactites and no ending... but the climbing looked more than fun! I had a good first day on sighting some classics there, such as the "Priapos", a 35 meter 7c with literally just jugs and good rests all the way but it's so steep and confusing with all the stalactites that I got pretty pumped. And taking out the quickdraws is even harder than climbing the route....

The Grande Grotta

After the first day we were infected. Our days consisted of getting up early in the morning for breakfast on the terrace with a beautiful view on the neighbouring island Telendos, climbing on a bad ass cliff afterwords and hanging out at a bad ass beach in the afternoon just to round up the day with some nice Greek food...

One of the more outstanding days we had at Sikati Cave. This incredible phenomenon of nature is a giant amphitheatre - like cave stamped into a hillside just above a beautiful beach. At first you have to hike there for about 40 minutes but your efforts will pay more than off: you lower down into this giant pot to find yourself surrounded by some of the craziest and longest routes I've ever seen!

Approaching Sikati Cave

At the highest point the walls are about 70 meters high and there are routes up to that point! Basically my 80m rope was worthless if I had wanted to go for the real deal, so I did the "shorter" ones: first warming up on a 30 meters 7b, "Mort aux Chevres", incredible, then moving on to on sight "Morgan Adam" 7c+, 35 meters, even better. After that I thought it was time to test myself on an on sight attempt of one of the bigger ones, the 45 meter route "Super Lolita" 8a.

It was more like an expedition! About 20 quickdraws, most of them doubled and two long slings to get control over the ropedrag. I started climbing and it seemed endless... Every time I climbed up around an overhang I was facing the next one. It took me 40 minutes to get that route done on sight and about 20 to get the gear out... I was worked. Completely out of steam. But satisfied!

We went down to the Sikati beach to chill and swim and then hiked out. A perfect day...

Sikati beach

Another epitome for climbing in Kalymnos is the 40 meter roof "Fun de Chichunne" 8a in the Grande Grotta. First eye contact was made on our very first climbing day and after gaining confidence at Sikati I felt ready to give it a on sight burn... The climbing on it is so much fun!! Just imagine 40 meters in a roof full of giant tufas, blobs and stalactites... the best tactic for me seemed to always eye for the next big stalactite that looked like I could sit on it and race to it. I worked my way through that endless roof and clipped the chains with a big smile on my face that stayed for quite long that day.

Back in Innsbruck now I can't wait to return. What I saw and climbed there was just the tip of the iceberg and if I imagine those cool and windy conditions at other times of the year... I will be back!

Check out the gallery below for more pics of our trip.

2011 - changing the game

2011-06-18T14:54:00.000+02:00

Regarding my climbing, this year so far has been completely different than the 7 or 8 years before.

Coming home from my trip to Hueco this winter and having had a really amazing and intense time bouldering once more, at the same time I felt like it was time for a change. After so many years of just bouldering and mostly leaving all other types of our sport, like routes, trad or alpine, out of my schedule I simply thought it would be a really interesting and fun challenge to change my game and do something different, not just blocs.

As it was winter I went to the gym and did routes. Lot's of routes, for weeks... My main goal doing that was to get fit for the rock in spring. The amount of great hard sport routes in the local Zillertal Valley is insane and, in terms of quality and quantity, lies above the bouldering there in my opinion. After getting better and better in the gym I decided to take part in a Lead National comp in my origin home town in western Austria. Visiting the parents and doing a comp with quiet the best fitness in years seemed like a good combination worth the effort!

The comp was real fun and went well, the next one of the series was at a close location too, so hey, why not go there as well?!? It turned out all of the four stations of the national Circus were pretty close to Innsbruck so in the end I took part in all of them!

The Austrian Cup circus basically is there to determine who enters the National Team besides the Pros (currently the two ballers Jakob Schubert and Mario Lechner who don't take part in it). And beeing such a busy bee doing all of them and with good results I ended up 3rd overall in the mens category, oh yeah :D

The rock climbing was a bit more epic since the mass of rainy or hot days this spring is messing up lots of redpoint tries on projects with long no-chalking-sections and small crimps. Guess what, it's raining as I write this. Oh well they won't run away and cooler temps will come sooner or later, until then it's good practise.

So the status of this crazy, all so different and fun year is, that I am nominated to enter the IFSC World Championships in Arco this July, starting in all Categories, bouldering, lead and speed! And that's because I got 3rd at the speed comp at the last station of the Nationals... off the couch...

What's next, 2011?????? Can't wait to find out!

The MOON Board is online!

2011-05-20T15:19:00.000+02:00

The Moon Board concept is a really simple but powerful idea that allows climbers all over the World to set identical problems and test themselves! Once your Moon Board is built, you can arrange the holds to replicate any number of problems listed on the Moon Board website. There are problems of all grades listed and you can also download a very easy description of how to build your own Moon Board.

So if you have a garage, a big porch or simply charge grandpa's garden hut then go for it, build your original Sheffield's school room inspired training facility!

MOON Board website

Hueco Flash Back - Movie by Flo Murnig

2011-04-06T22:50:00.003+02:00

It's on! Flo Murnig's Film of our Hueco Trip! Enjoy!

Climax.tv Issue #6 - Flash Back Hueco Tanks from Flo Murnig on Vimeo.

MOON Interviews

2011-04-05T08:25:00.001+02:00

Lots of inspiring short interviews of the whole new team can be found on the MOON website, check it out!

Hueco Flick

2011-04-01T09:50:00.002+02:00

Better late than never... :) here comes a little combo of some boulders I had the joy to climb on in Hueco Tanks at the beginning of this year. Filmed by my mates Flo Murnig (dynamo.at) and Ingo Filzwieser who were there with me. To watch it in HD you have to play it on vimeo. Flo filmed a shit ton of stuff and made a proper movie of it wich will be shown on the Climax release party on April 2nd 2011 in Vienna, Austria. I think he will be putting it onto vimeo as well after, I will let you know, should be a crazy movie!

Alright, singing off, been doing a lot of training since the trip, mostly routes and now I have to pack up my shit and get ready for a lead comp (thats right, l-e-a-d!!) tomorrow... sorry my dear forearms, but you are about to face enormous pain in the near future. :D

Enjoy climbing and take care,

Emi

hueco tanks 2010|2011 from emi-moosburger.blogspot.com on Vimeo.

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Hueco #3

2011-01-18T19:01:00.002+01:00

Well, it's over again and I am back in Austria as I write this. The last days of our trip have been really epic, lot's of bouldering here and there, snowstorms and icy temps at night... it's all there! Good times for sure.

The climbing days went past really fast and everybody of our crew had sort of a cold once at least so before we knew it the last two climbing days were on the schedule. Day number one was supposed to be our last day climbing on North Mountain. Time to get things done there. For me that ment to get on "Bleeding Brothers", a stiff V12 that climbs out of a cave. The climbing is desperate. Big ass moves, crazy toehooks and heelhooks and compression... Working on the problem on two sessions before it was fun to solve my own beta puzzle and try to link the sequences, wich is the hardest to do on this climb because on the link you have to hold a really slopy bad pocket for your right hand three moves in a row. Each move individually isn't too bad but when you ad them together... you better make sure you hit that hold hard!
I warmed up and felt good. First try I fell two moves before the end. Minutes later I got shut down on the very last hard move because that slopy right hand popped out in the last moment!! Damn! Not only I got super close I also sliced my left hand on the big undercling Hueco that try, blood everywhere... I got real pissed. And that for sure helped in this case. I taped the flapper as good as I could, rested and got really really psyched to take my revenge. I pulled on and forced my way out of the cave very confident and fast. Arriving at the last two crux moves this time I felt positioned well and was perfectly set up. My left hand went for the crimp on the lip, both the toehook and the heelhook stayed and I bounced again lefthand for the lip, stuck it and topped out. What a relief! It's one of those blocs that make this place really unique for me, the climbing is just so crazy!!

The next day was our last and we decided to go to West Mountain because we hadn't been there before and just wanted to climb a lot on boulders that are new to us. We had a nice crew, Me, Ingo, Ida and J-Fred from Norway, Joe and two spanish climbers, Kevin was our guide. We warmed up on some really good easy climbs and then went over to Best of the West V7, one of Hueco's most famous blocs. It really was what everyone promised it to be: fantastic. Crazy holds, big moves... perfect!
After that I set eyes on another mega classic: The Feather V11. I first saw a picture of this bloc in some french climbing mag when I was a kid and since then wanted to climb on it. As I was pretty low on energy resulting from 4 weeks of bouldering and sleeping in the cold I had to act a bit tactically in order to succeed. I started to try the upper part wich is a bit tricky with a brutal knee bar and a lot of possibilities for you feet. The start just looked physical and I thought I'd have the right motivation to do it once I solved the upper part. Wich happened pretty soon, I found my way to do the kneebar section, rested and sat down at the start. Kevin gave me some beta for the start and I pulled of the floor. You have to do a hard gaston move out of your left hand to get into the stand start and surprisingly I did that one right away! I hussled a bit after it because I didn't know how to walk my feet into the kneebar but kept it together and climbed to the top, realizing a bit of a childhood dream, unexpected, on the final day of our trip... I was more than happy!
Not enough yet we went back down and over to Best of the Best V9. It's a long climb (about 20 moves) and after I found my beta for the crux sequence I somehow ran through it, totally pumped, with my arms cramping on the last V2 moves and the mantle... Time to go home!

Looking back we had and amazing time with many many nice people and friends we made and we can't wait to return some day, hopefully soon!

Check out all the galleries for Fotos of our trip!! We also filmed pretty much everything on HD so stay tuned for some clips soon!!!

take care,

Emi

Hueco #2

2010-12-29T20:37:00.001+01:00

Life here in Hueco Tanks is getting more relaxing every day. We get up in the mornings and start off the days with a long breakfast in the sun, chilling on the pads, have some coffee... Then it's climbing all day long with burritos after it - perfect!

We checked out a lot of problems all over North Mountain and everybody kinda found his projects and favourite lines... One problem I really wanted to get on was Diaphanous Sea, V12. It's such a cool, pure line, the holds and moves are very very nice and hard to find on a rock climb just like that. I got on it once three years ago but couldn't do any of the moves back then. It's style of climbing is pretty basic: pulling on crimps in a roof. I kinda have a hard time on climbs of this character... coming back stronger and more confident this time I knew that it still will be challenging for sure. This time I first got on it at the end of day on North Mountain, tired and little skin left and to my surprise did all the moves on that first session! So I rested for two days, grew some skin and came back with high expectations on climbing the boulder. But no, I was to shaky that day and always fell on the big crux move where you throw your right hand to the big flake. Also my fingers and tendons started to hurt really bad after a few goes... frustrated I had to call it a day and leave. I was able to finish off the day by doing the amazing Dirty Martini on the Rocks V11 in a few goes wich was nice at least!
I decided to wait some days for when the weather forecast finally pronounced cooler temps (it still has been really really hot!) and climb on other stuff in the meantime. But I couldn't really stick to that plan and so I found myself back on Diaphanous Sea two days later at the end of a long day on North Mountain. But it was windy and overcast, temps were good and so I decided to give it a try or two.
After the burning sensation in my fingertips, caused by a horrible warm up go, disappeared I sat down again and pulled off the floor. And with no expectations or anything else on my mind I simply climbed better on it, stuck the big move perfectly and with surprising ease and moments later stood atop of the boulder... my skin was fried big time but I was just so psyched to have done this super classic line. Lifetime ticklist - check! :D

We are now in the second half of our trip and starting to feel better every day. Skin is getting thick and we are all psyched to get on tours now and explore more of the beautiful climbing this place has to offer.

Emi

Diaphanous Sea... pic by Flo

Dirti Martini... pic by Ingo

Flo sending Theater of the Absurd

Ingo

Joe enjoying some austrian Kaiserschmarren!

the dudes

Hueco

2010-12-18T21:19:00.001+01:00

I am in Hueco Tanks! Finally after a long long while back on the road, traveling, with all your focus and life revolving arround climbing... as it should be. I got here with two friends (Ingo and Flo) a week ago and we will be in the States for another 3 weeks, mainly here in Hueco.

Taking off in Munich, Germany, we left snowstorms and cold weather behind, just to arrive in El Paso twenty hours later, with nothing but blue skies all day long, every day... Psyched out of our minds we had three straight days of climbing on North Mountain right away. I have been here once before about three years ago so I already knew a lot of the problems and showed my mates arround. Still down from the jetlag (bouldering at like 4 o‘clock in the morning feels more than strange...) we kept it mellow, did a lot of moderate climbing, some classics like „Babyface“ or „See Spot Run“ and just enjoyed the mass of rock and climbs arround us. After months of gym-climbing or sessions outdoor with shit and cold weather it felt like paradise to move on those rocks...

After those first three days it was time to rest, get over the jetlag, grow some skin and enjoy the fabolous city of El Paso, Texas... :D

Two days later we where back on North Mountain. I had some unfinished business from the last trip, a problem called „Barefoot on sacred ground“ V12 didn‘t let me up back then and I was keen to get back on it. I goes up the Arete next to „See Spot Run“ and the climbing revolves arround compression moves on slopers and pockets. First though I wanted to get on „Dark Age“, a V11 that combines the two problems named above. I had figured out the moves before and so I decided to go straight from the start. I moved through the problem smooth and confident and the climbing felt amazing! Friction and skin where good and I got to the top feeling very comfortable all the time, finally the jetlag seemed to be over and I was starting to climb. Back down I did the final two crux moves of „Barefoot...“ again to get that tricky and high heel hook dialed, rested for a while and sat down at the start and set off. Feeling kinda nervous on the first moves I soon got my mind in the bubble and was up at the crux. I placed that high heelhook, pulled on, it stayed and before I knew I was at the big finishing Hueco. I made a big move to the right to get into „See Spot Run“ and toped out.

It felt really great to expirience progression over the years. Something that once felt hard for me just went down really controlled... Very satisfying!

The trip is on, psyched for more days of climbing and shooting fotos, tacos and burritos, meeting knew people, chilling and feeling the flow.

Emi

Ingo

Flo

Redneck

Dry rock!!!

Dry rock 2!!!

barefoot on sacred ground, pic by flo

New Photos

2010-11-18T11:02:00.005+01:00

Some new photos can be seen in the bouldering, people and randoms gallery. Fall has been ok, although the snow came a bit too early for my taste, causing some unfinished business... Looking forward for the US trip know!

Reini Fichtinger in the Zillertal, AT

Naturized Movie!

2010-09-11T11:20:00.002+02:00

Hi everbody, just wanted to state that the brand new naturized website has gone online. Its a local site here in Austria that focuses on climbing, slacklining, downhillbiking and everything else that's fun! Editor in chief Berni Kogler has put together a nice flick with some cool impressions of all those games, with some other funny stuff included, so check it out if you want!

Here is the direct link to the movie on their site.

seee ya, Emi

Zillertal Sessions

2010-08-24T21:04:00.000+02:00

The rain has stopped for some days again and we took our chance to find some dry blocs in our lovely home spot, the Zillertal. Lucky we were, stuff was dry and allthough conditions were moist and warm our crew (Katha, James, Ben, Ingo, Peter and I) had an amazing weekend outside, climbing new stuff and repeating old classics... Some pics in the galleries!

Emi in Drischiebl | Magic Place | Pic by Ingo

Val Daone

2010-08-06T16:32:00.002+02:00

We spent some time in Val Daone recently, amazing blocs in a beautiful setting! Check out the galleries for some photos. Some more on chalkjunkie (FRESH Gallery).

Emi

Fresh air

2010-07-09T15:18:00.002+02:00

Hi everybody, just wanted to say that there is a new gallery on my blog, one showing some of the random shots I have lying arround on my computer wich I thought would be cool and interesting to share! Also there is some more new pics in some of the other galleries so have a look if you want.

On another note, I just got my new camera the other day and I am totally psyched to go out and shoot. Wich I soon will have more time for again (along with climbing outside)! And, as the sweet toy also films on HD, we hopefully will have some crispy little flics in our bags in the near future, so stay tuned and above all: enjoy ya climbing!

Cheers, Emi

Randoms Gallery

2010-07-09T15:03:00.004+02:00

Everything, everywhere.

NATURIZED trailer

2010-06-28T18:31:00.001+02:00

Check out the trailer of Berni Kogler's upcoming movie for Naturized!

GET NATURIZED Teaser from Berni Kogler on Vimeo.

So long...

2010-06-08T21:48:00.004+02:00

...since the last post... sorry for that but things just have been really busy, not in climbing outdoors though unfortunatly! Since the semester is coming to an end things at Uni are spicing up really hard, lots of stuff to do, papers to write, presentations, and all this kinda stuff... And to top it all, there was a period of straigth rain in Austria for the last four weeks! So well, all there was left to do, in lack of spare time and because of the weather, was to go to the gym and train. It was fun but I truely miss the rock and all those cool sessions outside and simply can't wait for summer and more time for climbing! Anyways, enough of the whining, I found this video on my computer that I once made after the rocklands trip last summer and somehow we never put it online somewhere, so here it is! It's the footage of one of my best climbing days ever... Psyched for the rocks!! - Emi -

rocklands '09 the nice day from emi-moosburger.blogspot.com on Vimeo.

Swizzy update...

2010-04-05T19:39:00.004+02:00

We've once more been down in Ticino last week, originally planed to stay for a week at least but unfortunatly the weather wasn't nice to us (as mostly this winter...) and after four days we just couldn't stand the rain and even snowfall(!) anymore...

Anyways we had a good start with a sunny day in Chironico, Juri and Mario and Me and lots of cool Boulders in the 101 sector.
First stop was a roof called "Tricky", a really nice and weird 8A were you have to do some crazy double toehooking to solve the puzzle and climb out to the lip... Juri quickly found out the solution (thx!!) and so we soon all succeeded. Next we moved over to test our powerendurance skills on "The Arete with the Pocket", a sustained 8A with about 20 moves that each for itself aren't really hard but add up on the redpoint and create some nice spice in your forearms! Got my first proper pump this year... but luckily made it to the top though :) After a long long rest the pump finally dissappeared and I felt ready to go and try "Keinfisch Kleinfisch" again, a short Dave Graham 8B just a minute down the hill. It involves some nice compression climbing with a brutal kneebar into a kinda tricky mantle and a slab to top it out. I allready checked it out last time and this time got some nice beta-tips from my mate Martin who just did it a couple of days before... so allthough kinda sour allready, with the solution more technically than hard pulling, I somehow managed to sneak through the problem, didn't punt on the mantle, vibrated up the sandy slab and had it in my bag, end of a nice day!!

Below is a photo of Flo bouldering in "Atlantis" on the last rain free day before we gave up and bailed... At least the snow was good back at home :) some more shots in the bouldering gallery.

Happy easter everyone!

Emi

Powder days...

2010-03-18T17:21:00.005+01:00

We've been out in the snow recently and had some good days! Zlu has put up a new Gallery on his webpage called "white gold" where some shots of the action can be seen. Below is a clip of how I put an end to my snowboard by hitting some snow-covered rocks, those bastards!! Well what can I say... Allways wear a helmet :)

how i killed my board... from emi-moosburger.blogspot.com on Vimeo

Some days in Ticino

2010-03-03T14:22:00.003+01:00

Me, Korni and Katha spent the last days down in Ticino, giving it a try on the quest for dry boulders. After realising that there still is plenty of snow arround we first focused on climbing in Cresciano. Our first day there, a sunday, was sunny, dry and with perfect temps, psyche was high! We bouldered in Osogna on classic old lines like "Revê de Mario", the first 8A in Ticino established by Fred Nicole back in the day or the perfect slab "Mary Poppins"... It felt so good to touch the good old swiss granite after a long period of snow, rain and days in the gym...

The next two days were rainy and we ended up sitting and driving arround, basically getting really bored and hoping for the weather to clear up. Wednesday was sunny finally and we were back at Cresciano. We mainly tried "Mithril", a short and steep 8B established by Dave Graham. All the moves went down for both of us at the end of the day so motivation was high to come back and try the whole thing. Two days later we returned and started trying it from the start. I suddenly stuck the first move, did the second, the third,... and suddenly found myself on the tricky mantle! Kinda shaky and surprised what's going on I did't get a foothold the right way and when I tried to stand up allready, all of a sudden, my foot slipped and I dived down face first into the pads! Holy crap! I just fckd it up at the mantle!... Luckily nothing was hurt except some scratches and my heartbeat slowed down again... Whilst I took a long rest Korni managed to fight his way out the roof too and was at the mantle... Both of us knowing you easily can blow it up there we were kinda stressed, him climbing, me spotting. He kept it together though, stood on the slab, shaking like he had just drunken 20 Espresso shots in a row, greeeat success!! I put my boots back on again, ready to find out if I could climb the thing again and get another chance for the mantle... After struggling on the first move twice I stuck it and climbed up to the mantle again! This time I was better prepared, did everything exactly according to Beta-Plan and topped out, yessss :)

The following days we spent climbing in Chironico, on and off, with the rain between sunny days... I managed to climb a really amazing problem called "Conquistador", 8A+, compression climbing on a beautiful bloc lying in the riverbed at "Schattental".

Allthough the weather was pretty bad most of the time we had some nice days as well and can't wait to return soon! Some more shots in the bouldering and people galleries.

Conquistador - Pic by Katha Warming up in Cresciano

Boogalagga

2010-01-06T18:13:00.005+01:00

Last Saturday, the 2nd of January 2010, has been the first day of bouldering for me and Korni in 2010 and it started good! Good because we were able to climb a really amazing problem despite the absolutly freezing conditions that day. The year started cold! It was a windy day in Ticino's Chironico, wind at minus 5°C or more means that it actually felt like minus 20°! A "warm up" was pretty senseless. No way to get "warmed up". So this ment we started without one, trying "Boogalagga", an amazing line established by Bernd Zangerl, around 8B, technical, powerful and really cool holds and pockets. We've been working the porblem lately and made good progress but this day, because of the cold, our tries felt really bad! With a massive lack of cordination or feeling for the moves, we saw our chances of succeeding disappear. We kept trying though and all of a sudden I stuck the first (the crux) move for the very first time. Out of nowhere it seemed. Both, me and Korni, where confused, that was something totally new. After maybe two seconds I realized I stuck the hold and was still on so time to move on! I kept it together, stuck the last hard move to a crimp and topped out. Nice! Psyche was high, I came down, high five, Korni chalked, pulled on (I still had my shoes on) and sent it just right after me! We both where more than glad that the whole desition to not go to Cresciano but freeze our asses off here paid off and we got the candy in the end... Two more Photos in the bouldering Gallery.

pic by Korni

Snowfever

2009-12-30T18:56:00.004+01:00

Bouldering outdoors lately had been a hard time. It seems like there was no place where there wasn't any snow arround... We've been trying to boulder in the Zillertal and other places more southern like Cresciano or Chironico, but everywhere it's the same sane: snow all arround. We cancelled our latest one week trip to Ticino after 3 days because it was just a bit too much action walking arround in the snow all the time, shoes wet, clothes wet, pads wet, topouts wet... anyways, lets hope it gets better soon or that it starts to snow properly so we can all go ski/snowboard in some nice powder and go to the gym instead :D

Found a nice vid of our trip to Bishop this february that I thought would fit in perfectly speaking of the current bouldering situation... Enjoy!

I hope everyone had a good year 2009 and is psyched for a massive party time on new years eve!! Wish everyone a good 2010, with lots of time outside climbing, have fun and take care. See ya next year!

Emi

maze of death in the snow... from emi-moosburger.blogspot.com on Vimeo.

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Another clip...

2009-12-13T14:03:00.007+01:00

...from the Rocklands-trip. Enjoy!

rocklands '09 more stunners from emi-moosburger.blogspot.com on Vimeo.

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People Gallery

2009-11-28T20:48:00.002+01:00

Portraits and other funny stuff...

Landscapes Gallery

2009-11-28T20:07:00.002+01:00

Some framed nostalgy from all around mother earth...

American Gangster

2009-11-26T17:53:00.003+01:00

Yesterday, Daniel Woods did the FA of two of the best hard lines in the Zillertal, Austria. The lines are located in the Sundergrund Area and the first one is a steep 45° overhanging problem that he named "American Gangster" and graded 8B+. Its the straigth exit to the existing problem "Camorra" 8A+ that Korni and I opened a bit more than a year ago, the full line of the block. The standing start of the new line is a two-mover about 8A+ itself. It was amazing to watch and spot him fighting through the problem! But not enough, there was still the unclimbed sit start of a problem called "Torrero" that i opened a couple of years ago, just 20 meters up the hill... After Martin figured out some really nice beta and unluckily fell really close to the top, Daniel managed to sneak one in once more and topped it out, creating "Slapshot", an absolutly classy line with cool moves on smooth rock. Martin soon followed, finished off the job and snabbed the second ascent minutes later. Nice work! It was really inspiring to see these two lines being done, I found them about more than 4 years ago, but just never had the motivation to try them properly. I can't wait to go back up there...

Thats one cool thing about bouldering, if a motivated crew gets psyched, beta will be found and suddenly almost impossible looking things become reality!!

I've put some shots of "American Gangster" in the Bouldering Gallery. Enjoy!

Emi

The Super-Tera-O-Mega Project

2009-11-20T20:34:00.009+01:00

Today James, Martin and I were out in the Zillertal for a session at the Saustein, a nice wall with a grassy flat landing, close to the road, hosting some cool boulders and projects. The weather was nice and not too cold so we were all psyched to be outside and touch some rock. After a quick warmup we went over to the right side to try an old project that somehow didn't receive quiet a lot of attention in the past years but has been there from the very beginning of the crag and is actually quiet cool! Whilst I was struggling with one reachy move i couldn't do, Martin came pretty close to do it and James punted, falling off at the last tricky move... he kept it together though the next time he was up there and crushed it, nice job! After that James and I moved on leftwards to try Freezer, a fun one-mover-jump-thingy, around 8A. After not quiete hitting the jug you jump to right (kind of a pocket/slot), both of us finally stuck it and topped out. Meanwhile, Martin had a good, long rest for his final shot at the just opened "The Super-Tera-O-Mega Project". Pulling on again, he made it through all the hard part, finding himself on the last tricky move but made some mistake and his heel slipped out... Negative! Sure he'll piss it next time :) A pic of James on it can be seen in the bouldering Gallery just below. Nice day!

Bouldering Gallery

2009-11-17T17:02:00.012+01:00

Shots of bouldering action all over the place.

Between The Trees

2009-11-09T18:28:00.009+01:00

Between the Trees is a bouldering film about Tyler Landman and Keith Bradbury (Producer) and their trip to the boulderingmecca Fontainebleau, France, this spring. I just bought the DVD and the HD download and watched it and I am very very pleased! Nice and funny footage of Ty crushing everthing and Keith doing some amazing looking moderates :D

I just got really psyched to go out and climb. Perfect!

For purchasing the film click here, I can highly recommend it. Below is a teaser so you can have a look first. Here is a nice written review.

Teaser 3 - Between The Trees from unclesomebody on Vimeo.

Little clip from our Rocklands trip

2009-11-06T23:26:00.009+01:00

Here's a short flick of some bouldering action from our trip to the rocklands this summer, showing us climb some of the classics down there. Problems featured are Black Velvet and Hole in One (by me), Human Energy (by Korni) and Out of Balance and Caroline (by Zlu)! Music by GStone Recordings. Enjoy!

rocklands '09 classics from emi moosburger on Vimeo.

Bouldering in Ticino, Magic Wood and Ötztal

2009-11-03T20:50:00.025+01:00

Last week I spent a couple of days in Ticino and Magic Wood (both in Switzerland) with my mates James and David, followed by a really nice day in the tyrolean Ötztal. It has been a good time out there bouldering in beautifully colored forests, the weather was sunny and the temps good. I once more got reminded that fall is my favourite season of the year... Here's some Pics of it, enjoy!

James on Amber. Dave on Atlantis. My cat showing chilling-skills :)

Tom on Trust it. Dave on Trust it.

Rocklands 2009

2009-11-03T13:57:00.042+01:00

This summer me and some of my friends realized a big dream of ours and went on a bouldering vacation to the famous Rocklands, South Africa. Seven weeks of bouldering, amazing BBQs, beer and hanging out, enjoying south african nature and lifestyle. All i can say is that its been a freakin' good time! Stunning blocs in all grades in an almost overvelming mass, superbe rock, settled in a beautiful landscape... will be back for sure! Below are some photos i took and a little ticklist. For more photos visit Zlu Hallers website www.chalkjunkie.at!

A little story with cool pix from Zlu can be seen here. For more detailed stories on some of the sends check out the moonblog .

Here's a little list of Problems I was happy to do:

8B+
Mooiste Maise (FA since the hold broke, at night by headlamp :)

8B
Armed Response
The Vice
Black Shadow
Ray of Light
Green Mamba

8A+
Shosholoza
Oral Office
The Amphitheatre
Steak House
Nutsa
In Between Dreams

8A
Black Velvet
Royksopp
Pendragon
The Hatchling
Out of Balance
No late Benders
Deep Turtle
Gliding through waves like Dolphins
Wittness the Sickness
La Gloire des Papous

and many more...

Ticklist Boulders

2009-11-02T16:32:00.016+01:00

~ 8B+

Mooiste Maise | Rocklands, SA | FA after the break

~ 8B

~ 8A+

~ 8A