The Elder Statesman (9a) in Frankenjura

Today I was able to send „The Elder Statesman“ (9a) at Rotenstein in Northern Frankenjura which is just some footsteps away from „The Essential“ (9a) at Luisenwand.

The Elder Statesman is the direct version into „The Last Rites“ (8c+) I’ve sent some days ago when Ruben sent The Essential too. It is the boulder at the start which adds one grade. There is one tiny crimp for the left hand from where You have to catch a three finger pocket. This move is quite hard. The upper part is the same climbing.

The temps are cold right now (around 5 degrees C) and I had to struggle with numb fingers again. Besides this the climbing felt easy today. It could be a soft 9a.

If a project is ticked, the next one’s waiting! I am motivated.

Cheers David ;-)

Successful weekend in the Frankenjura

(c) Ben Ullmann

(c) Ben Ullmann

Last weekend Ruben went direction south to meet up with David and to try some projects which they couldn’t finish last fall holiday at the „Luisenwand“ and „Rotenstein“. Ruben had been already pretty close to send „The Essential“ (9a) and after one day of getting back into the route he did it. It’s his second 9a after „Era Vella“ in Spain and his first in the Frankenjura. The send was unexpected because of rainy and foggy weather but fortunately the rock was almost dry. Just the top-out was a little wet but still climbable. For Ruben the crux consists of a dead-point-move at the second bolt. He is really happy that he was finally able to climb this beautiful, short and bouldery line on pockets. Weiterlesen

German Champions in Lead Climbing

In the men's final route (c) Thomas Schermer (DAV)

David in the men’s final route (c) Thomas Schermer (DAV)

David has achieved the second place in the final German Lead Cup of this season in Berlin last weekend. The overall ranking (after Darmstadt and Neu-Ulm) corresponds to the German Championships for the seniors and the juniors at the same time. David has become the winner in both categories. The comparable applies to Ruben as the winner of the German Youth Lead Cup in Berlin and the overall ranking in the Youth A category. We both are very happy about it :-D Weiterlesen

The Essential (9a) in Frankenjura

The Essential (c) Louisa Firnenburg

The Essential (c) Louisa Firnenburg

Today I’ve sent „The Essential“ (9a) at Luisenwand in Frankenjura which was first climbed by Markus Bock in 2008. It’s a short bouldery route on small pockets and crimps. It actually comes down to approx. 8 meters of hard climbing.

Right at the 2nd bolt I took several gastons and thumb holds in weird angles. It is very special and definitely the hardest passage of the route for me. It finishes with a deadpoint move where I cross over into a two finger pocket while I’m really stretched with my body. When I figured out the moves I thought it is so hard just because of the bad holds but in the end I realized that it’s about the right body position. When I extruded my right leg it felt more in control and doable. Just a tiny difference makes it work. Weiterlesen

2nd German Lead Cup in Neu-Ulm

Ruben in the men final route (c) Marco Kost/DAV

Ruben in the men’s final route (c) Marco Kost/DAV

Video: Hoch hinaus – Regio TV Schwaben

After the first German Lead Cup in Darmstadt we both were staying at home in Hanover until the second cup in Neu-Ulm last weekend. For David it was time to rest and recover a little bit from all the traveling before. Since April he has been on the road. Ruben went to school dealing with a marathon of exams before the teachers let him go for a two weeks fall holiday. Weiterlesen

Increasing Haglöfs friends

Already working together a couple of months Haglöfs now officially issued a press release about our partnership.

Haglöfs is a Swedish brand to create outstanding products being in line with a 100 years history of manufacturing. Being one of the best outdoor brands in the world Haglöfs ideally meets our needs as ambitious climbers to highly perform under any weather conditions.

Another concern that we share is taking responsibility for the environment in which we are practicing our sport. The key word and one of the mayor goals of Haglöfs is sustainability. Weiterlesen

German Lead Cup in Darmstadt

David in the 1st qualification route - (c) Vertical Axis

David in the 1st qualification route – (c) Vertical Axis

The first German Lead Cup of this year has been a great event held in Darmstadt near Frankfurt. On last saturday there were the lead qualifs of the youth categories followed by the speed youth comp. On sunday it was the adults‘ turn (qualifs + finals) with the youth lead finals in between.

Ruben was preparing himself with intense lead training in Hanover and Hamburg besides working for several exams at school. It’s his last year in highschool. So it becomes time-consuming and of course stressful. David just came back from the Petzl Roctrip 2014 making its way from Romania to Turkey via Bulgaria, Mazedonia and Greece within 40 days with 10 different base camps (more news to come here!). So recently he has been climbing on the rocks. Weiterlesen

Alps Session Nr. 1

After Fontainebleau became too hot in the beginning of May I headed over into the Alps visiting some of its best bouldering areas such as Magic Wood in Switzerland and Silvretta in Austria. I was lucky that there always was someone to record my hard ascents. In this case thanks to Michael Paulus, Georg Grubner and Ilari Kelloniemi! Here is a short video clip with three top-class problems I’ve done in May and June. I hope you like it ;-)

Cheers David

European Boulder Champion in Arco

(c) Eddie Fowke, The Circuit

(c) Eddie Fowke, The Circuit

Last weekend, the European Youth Championships took place in Arco (Italy). In my last youth boulder competition, before I definitely will move to the men’s class by next year, I was able to win the European Junior Championship and to secure the European Junior Cup after a previous victory at the Boulder EYC in L’Argentière (France) and a second place in Längenfeld (Austria ). I feel happy and proud. It was so much fun to climb to the bet with my strong friends Michael Piccolruaz (Italy), Alex Khazonov (Israel), Elias Weiler (Austria) and Gregor Vezonik (Slovenia). Thanks to all who have supported me and cheered me up the wall. In Arco my time at the international youth competition circuit has begun in 2006 with a silver medal at the Rock Junior in Speed climbing and now a circle is completed by winning the Junior European Championship. A beautiful time with many international youth podiums now has come to an end. For the next two weeks I once again will be on the road with Ruben for some rock bouldering in South Tyrol before on September, 19-20th I will finish my this year’s boulder competition season at the Adidas Rockstars in Stuttgart (Germany).

Cu David

Official Report

4 x 8B in Font

This year’s April and May I’ve spent 3 weeks in Fontainebleau to try demanding boulder problems on my personal limit. It was super fun and motivating to see and feel how I was improving and I really enjoyed the challenge to go this specific step further in my personal bouldering, even if there were sometimes hard and frustrating moments. I also took my camera with me and recorded some ascents. Here is a short video clip featuring four 8B’s I’ve done in the forest. I hope You like it! Cheers David ;-)