David in Freccia tricolore (Fb 7C)/Cresciano
After David had finished his writing exams („Abitur“) in school he and Ruben had the vision to escape from city looking forward to stay in the nature – cooking, climbing and sleeping there.
Shortly after the Northern German Lead Championships David decided to stay one more week in Hannover having some driving lessons and time for training indoor. At the weekend he visited Alex Megos in the Frankenjura to climb with him on the rocks. It was pretty bad weather so that they unfortunately could just climb on “Der Student” because there it is always windy, sunny and the rock is not exposed no matter what happens. David topped out the classic “Simon” (8a+) on his first go that day (he tried it one or two months ago but it was horribly cold that day that he wasn’t able to climb it). Alex was and still is very very strong. He easily did “Nola” (8b+) twice in a row and this four times with little rest until he wasn’t excited anymore and was chilling in the sun. He said that he did it approximately 65 times by now. He is crazy and for David it makes always fun to climb with him.
Thereafter it was time to go to Zurich to visit Ruben and to go out into the nature for some bouldering in Cresciano.
We made our way through Zurich to the central station with our backpacks filled to the top and two crash pads extra. The best thing after travelling in the train was that we had to take the package up to the blocs of Cresciano from the ground of the valley. In those moments you understand how life becomes light and easy with all the spectrum of gadgets you are using in the city. But we have to say that we are searching for something like this where we feel free and challenged. When you are young you can face all those activities – so take your time and your freedom! It is very important and makes you feeling living your passion.
Out there you are standing up and going to bed with the sun. It is very simple: When it is going to be bright you are waking up because your eyes need the darkness to stay closed for sleeping and when it is changing to dawn you are not able anymore to climb without any light. We were enjoying watching together when the sun was hiding behind the peaks of the mountains and the sky was changing from blue into a mix of orange and red.
It is a matter of opinion but for us the weather was far too hot. Climbing on the granite of Cresciano in the sun streaming into the wood with 25 degrees makes you on the one hand feeling dull and on the other hand losing a lot of skin. In this case it is worthwhile to visit Cresciano in spring, fall or winter with cloudy weather and cold temperatures around 5 until 10 degrees. With those circumstances we decided to climb increasingly in the morning and in the evening. More or less it worked well!
Anyway, we had a lot of fun during these three days in the wood. As Ruben couldn´t do new personal projects because of his injury and pain on his wrist (http://www.firnenburgbrothers.com/2013/04/06/one-week-in-cataluna/#more-1087) he recommended David some of his best boulder problems he did before. Therefore have a look on David`s ticklist on his 8a.nu profile! One day later in the hospital the doctor diagnosed Ruben with a rip in the metacarpal bone. He is still training but not with his right hand. He tries to stay in shape for the next comps.
An interesting philosophical question we were talking about was the definition of freedom as a young climber. What makes you feel free? What is part of your freedom? What is your individual freedom and how do you personally define it? Does it make sense to have unlimited freedom? It was something where we first of all had to take our time to think about it. It is a complex and multifaceted topic and it is definitely not something which can be fastly responded. David and Ruben fully agree with the statement of Wofgang Güllich who once said “climbing means being free” to define something which can be described as individual freedom. David comments: “Not just climbing with its various and complex movements, its precision and power as well as its challenge is part of my individual freedom. There is a lot of more beside! It is also the place where you stay. The fresh air, the feeling moving at exposed places like on rocks or on mountains where it is windy and where you have to hold your body not to fall down on the ground. Clear and brief: the near contact with the rock and the nature. And it is a question which is asking about your attitude towards something. Being sensible, open-minded and careful with something you really like and with the people around you, having the independence and feeling the motivation for something, being inspired and being concentrated and focused on something which needs your attention. Finding the right words for it is hard or would lead to a long discussion. There is such a huge amount of things which have something to do with freedom but I think the core stays: Do what you like to do and feel good by doing it togehter with the people concerned!”
To sum up we realized that we are both good partners. Our interdependence helped us to save enough water in the wood, spotting each other, cooking together, finding the right trails and to return healthy.
To inform you more about our next plans: David will travel to Munich this week to visit his climbing friend Chris Hanke. They want to train together in the gym and climb maybe in Kochel in Southern Bavaria. Later on the 25th and 26th of May the European Youth Boulder Championship in Grindelwald (CH) next to the Eiger Northface will take place. Ruben isn’t participating due to his injury but will cheer David up the wall. David will compete in the Juniors category. After the comp David will be staying in Hanover for 2 more weeks celebrating his 18th birthday. In these two weeks he will also try to finish the driving school to be much more independent and mobile being allowed to drive a car. After the 10th of June where he will get his marks of the writing A-level-exams David will visit Alex Megos for collective rock climbing in the Frankenjura again. Ruben will stay in Zurich until mid of July being mainly concentrated on training in the gym and to have his last experiences in Switzerland. He will be able to climb again in 3 weeks. His first competition will be a senior`s national comp in Kempten/Germany.
Stay tuned and cheers,
David & Ruben 
