Matt getting ready to crank. |
Day 1 After travelling down, I jumped straight onto Twin Towers (M10) after a bit of warming up, I was keen to give it my best shot, but I soon found that there was a whole lot of ice choking the cracks and holds which needed a bit of gentle persuasion to move. Once that was cleared I managed to get it first red point - happy with that. I then spent a little bit of time looking at Matador (M11).
Day 2 Back on Matador and managed to send - psyched!
Day 3 Rest Day
Day 4 Onsighting mission - getting some competition psyche. Managed a rack of M7, M8 and M9's so felt more confident heading down to Saas Fee
Si, finally making it to the ice curtain of Pink Panther |
We arrived in Saas Fee and checked into our hotel in Saas Grund - all was looking good. Arrived at the competition venue to register only to find out our licences hadn't been sorted out, a few frantic phone calls later and with some help from the lovely people at the competition we were in, numbers issued and able to enjoy the free feed!
Oh dear, the beginning of the end! |
Maxim Tomilov wish I was as strong as him! |
As soon as I finished climbing it was like I had permission to pass out and had a few moments over the next couple of hours where I had to sit down before I fell down.
The next couple of days with the journey home were absolute torture, and I apologise to Matt and Si for being a less than fun travelling companion! Not only was I feeling awful but we then drove into loads of snow, took hours, snapped the snow chains, missed our ferry, got on another one (thank you P&O), drove through more snow to get home - epic by anyones standards!
I finally arrived home, fell through the front door and went to bed where I stayed for the next 3 days.
Looking back I am pretty happy with how I climbed and where I got too, I was not far from qualification to the semi finals which before I went I'd assumed was impossible. So despite the setback of illness this week I'm hoping that by Saturday I'll be back firing on all cylinders and ready to give it my best in Rabenstien.......http://eisklettern.it/?lang=en