Climbing in Greece

Beginning of winter holidays I spent with my family in Greece for 10 days. I did a lot of sightseeing of archeological monuments which quite impressed me. But most importantly,I was climbing on some of the best crags around Athens and on Peloponnese. Most of them have medium long routes of around 25-30 metres with many tufas, so endurance is a must have.
I was climbing in a more relaxed fashion, not going for some hard sends with many tries, so I was mostly sighting. I wanted to get some endurance so I can send something hard in Croatia when I get back.
Sectors are really good for climbing and sighting if you like tufas. Since I'm not fond of tufas, on some sectors I went to try some of more bouldery and less climbed routes with less tufas which turned out to be awesome. For example my favorite route which I climbed this trip, What 8b, which has maybe 3-4 ascents for now. I also climbed Sugar loaf which was put on 8b? in guidebook and is basically a 5 move boulder after really easy climb, but nevertheless it was cool for me as I'm in boulder shape. Since I couldn't get any data if it was climbed before it could also be a FA.
Beside this, I sighted Delirio 8a on sector Chaos that is actually a big sinkhole in the ground,
sighted 1 7c+, 7c and bunch of 7b+'s and easier.


This year was pretty successful for me both on rock where I did many sends to remember, and on competitions where I greatly improved in comparison to last year.
Next year is my last in juniors so I hope I will do really great on competitions, and I also want to push my lead grade limit.

Happy New year everyone, have a great year full of good health, great climbing and unforgettable moments !

Chaos, sick looking sector

8b What

Athen's acropola

Poseidon's temple

sunset at the Poseidon's temple

really good sector Hada

sighting 7c+

The Time !

Last week I missed 1 day in school to go climbing in new sector in Istria called Rock n Roč.
When I first went there, there were couple of projects and one caught my eye. For my dad it was the ugliest one, but for me the opposite. Short, bouldery overhang with hard power moves which are pretty attractive. At first I didn't even know if it's possible for me because I couldn't visualize moves at all. After projecting it for 2-3 days I got all moves and was ready to send it.
At the end there is one move where I need to let my legs go in the air, and usually I was falling there because I was too pumped to hold only on arms.

When we got there everything was covered in fog and I thought conditions won't be good for climbing, but it turned out it was good day.
I fell few times on move with legs in the air, but in the last try in day I sticked everything and sent my hardest FA! I wasn't sure how to grade it, but it felt hard even though I'm in really good form for such bouldery routes so I graded it as 8B+. It seems I didn't miss as Jakob Schubert sent it few days after me and said it's hard and grade can't be lower, and that maybe it could be 8c.
I named it ''The Time'' because under the route there is some old clock around starting tufas.
I'm really proud I did FA in this route. I think it is an amazing route.

Thanks Luka Tambaca for these awesome photos :)

Chironico 2015 2nd time

Boom!
I spent 9 days in Cresciano and Chironico with happy crew from Zagreb and Split : Luka Tambača, Karlo Čubrić, Ivan Pevec, Nikola Kramarić and Luka trumbić.

These were 9 days of perfect weather, much fun and a lot of hard boulders.
It was such nice mental rest and relaxation. Nature was beautiful, no snow yet and everything was in autumn colours. We had awesome house high on the hill and beautiful view.  I would easily stay there for a month or two without a problem.

 After first day of climbing in Chironico I knew I'm stronger than last time. I did pretty easily Souvenir 8a/a+ with which I struggled to do any moves earlier this year. I added Komilator 7C flash and cool jump start 7C Vanillasky.
Next day we went to Cresciano, it was my first true time bouldering there. I did 7C La grotte des soupirs and tried some 8a's.

Now when I got feeling for granite,I took rest on 3rd day in order to prepare for my main target of the trip. It was Einfisch Kleinfisch 8b in Chironico which I had unfinished business with from earlier trip this year.
I was really syked for this one and wanted to do it before my fingertips get bloody because this boulder is damaging skin pretty fast. At first it went okay, but I wasn't sure if I will be able to do it, and then suddenly I came up with some changes in beta which fit me better. After some tries with new beta, I managed to climb it. Woohoo! With it I have highest boulder grade climbed in Croatia, together with Boris Zokić. Now I could dedicate to other boulders without having to spare skin.

Until the end of the trip I sent 8a+ Kirk Windstein (Cresciano), Miss schweiz 8a (Chironico), Electric ant squat start 8a+ (Chironico) and a lot of 7C's and 7B's.
As a most beautiful boulder I did on the trip I have to point out Kirk Windstein, I really enjoyed it.

I wasn't the only one to raise personal record this trip though, Pevec did his first 8A+ Kirk Windstein, Karlo his first 7B+ Dr. med dent and Nikola 8a/a+ Souvenir

On our way home, we agreed this trip was sooo good and started forging plans for our next trip :)
 

Electric ant squat 8A+

La grotte des soupirs 7C

Einfisch Kleinfisch 8b

Village on top of the hill where we chilled on rest days

I like this one :D

Kirk Windstein 8A+

 All these photos are from Luka Tambača.
Other pics of the trip you can find on: http://lukatambaca.com/ticino15

Summary of recent events

I didn't write for some time now. Mostly forgot or didn't have time to write, so I'll put short summary of what happened since last post.


Firstly, there was European youth cup in Langenfeld where I managed to get into my first boulder finals and finished 5th.
Next, on European youth championship in L'Argentiere I got into finals and finished 5th again. This made me 4th overall in European youth cup. These 2 finals were sign of my big improvement from last year where I was mostly around 12. place.
I was on my first senior's boulder competition, World cup in Munich where I finished 63. out of 121 competitor.
At the end, I became national senior champion in boulder, lead and speed!


This year is 25 years from first croatian 8a, Cocomo in Costiera, climbed by my dad. At that time climbing 8a was a real deal. For the anniversary I went there with him as I never actually tried that route before. I was surprised how bouldery and short route my dad chose for first 8a, because now he likes only endurance and long routes. I sent it on 2nd go, and sighted one other 8a there.

Dad and me in Cocomo (pic was taken on same day)

Sending some projects

Now when school is over I had some time to finish some of my projects.

So last week I sent pumpy route Katakombe 8b+ in Kotečnik which I was trying some time last year. It felt really easy on sending try.

Few days later I went to Paklenica to do some bouldering, did 7c By the way in few tries which was hardest boulder in Paklenica until then. After it I went to try a long time boulder project at the entrance of park which always caught my eye when passing by because it's on the road so everyone notices it when going in canyon. I really wanted to see if it's possible for me. I realised it's actually beautiful boulder.  It has 2 power moves and easy top-out and is actually quite high, about 6 metres. After studying it that evening I managed to send it next morning with good friction and graded it 8a. I named it Corona because it is really nice and it kinda crowns all of the boulders in Paklenica. I'm glad I also did significant boulder achievement in Paklenica together with Maratoneta.

video link - https://www.facebook.com/zagrebclimbing/videos/1020878024624255/

Same week I went to Pokojec to finally do  Kill Bill 8b which is pretty tricky route with few moves which are kind of lucky because you need to hit a pocket nicely. First time ever I managed to do the crux, and I was really happy I'm gonna send the route and then big foothold broke under my foot and I slipped off. Next try I didn't do it and my fingers began to hurt me because of the pocket, but as usual in last try of the day I sent it. It's 3rd ascent of this route for now.

Pokojec

Soon boulder competitions are starting for me, hoping to be strong.

European championship Innsbruck

Last week I was on my first seniors european bouldering competition.
I went with Ivan Pevec, Krešo Morić and Luka Kivela and I was happy I have some company at last.
I had no expectations, I went to gather experience. I didn't know how hard boulders are on such competitions, and now I know.
I got 1 top and 3 zones from 5 boulders. Not too good, but okay for first time. Most often the problem was I couldn't hold on such small holds. I need more finger power for hard boulders like that.
I ended 69th out of 86 competitors, Kivela on same place and Morić and Pevec sharing 77th place.

On same day after competition Pevec and I went bouldering on some nearby spot and I sent 2 7c's, one of them on flash, and a 7b+ on flash.

Despite the results we had nice trip and a lot of fun and I look forward to more such trips.

/I have no photos of me climbing because noone could photograph as we were all in the same time in isolation/

Il Maratoneta

Today I fulfilled my dream of sending Il Maratoneta, the legendary 8b+ in Paklenica!
It was bolted by Maurizio "Manolo" Zanolla in 1987, and in 28 years this is 6th send of this route, and 2nd croatian send after Ivan Lisica.

The name origin: Manolo was running a lot and on one run from Trieste to Paklenica he bolted the route and made few tries. He took rest and ran to Split and back, and after coming back he sent the Maratoneta. What a story!

It is amazing how he caught eye on this perfect piece of rock. Since I was a kid I have passed by Maratoneta many times and I always thought it has no holds, that only some superhuman could do it. When I was closer to climbing that grade I went in it once and I liked her from start.
The route is just perfect, 15 metres long, located on the back side of a fallen block and isolated from other routes. It's overhanging and seeks precise and sometimes long moves on really small crimps. All of the holds are on such perfect places like it's some artist's work. Every move is beautiful and I really enjoyed climbing it every time.
The only problem is it is extremely sharp, and I could do max 4 tries per day as my fingers would scream after that. But that gives some sort of charm to it, you come and you give it your everything if you want to do it. I often had to ignore the sharpness and do every move with max power, which was hard sometimes. Although Maratoneta is graded 8b+, it's very old grade and I'd say it could be harder, but anyway Maratoneta isn't climbed for it's grade but for it's status.

I wanted to do it before my 18th birthday and this was probably the last weekend to achieve that. Yesterday route was a bit wet but I still had few good tries. Today my first try resulted in falling at the very end of the hard moves. After that try my fingers were really damaged so I wanted to stop for that day because the pain was big. But thanks to Pevec, Čorko, Škalec and my father persuading me, I gave it one more try.
And that was the try I needed! Real battle with pain and pump, resulting in a send.
Now that I sent it I'm really happy to finally accomplish one of my dreams, but at the same time I'm a bit sad because I won't be trying Maratoneta anymore and I enjoyed every move in it. It's just the best route I know.

Chironico 2015

Just came back from awesome trip in Chironico.
The trip was great. Best group of people and nice weather. We hit 5 days of perfect weather for climbing with rain starting just as we were going home.
I was excited to be on a boulder trip again. To put crash pad on the back and head into the forest, then seeing granite boulders with magnesium on it, just priceless.

I had in mind to try and send something harder than 8a.
First day I was getting used to rock and sent one-mover 7c Doctor brusch and some easier boulders. I tried grande classic Boogalagga, which is really awesome but I couldn't do first move. Later I saw videos but we didn't come back there to try new beta.

Second day sent 7c Kiss me, also with one hard move. At the end of the day we went to try Doctor Pinch 8a+ in guidebook. I sent it after some tries but it seems most people downgrade it to 7c+, though it didn't feel easy for me.

Third day we were in US 101 sector, the best in my opinion. Lots of harder boulders, but there is quite a bit walking from one boulder to the other. There I sent classic 8a Arete with the pocket in few tries which felt easy for me. It's longer boulder on endurance, really really beautiful.
Just as we were watching 8b Kleinfisch kleinfisch and figuring out how it should be climbed, some guy came to us and showed us good beta for it. I tried it and I felt it is possible for me. I adapted beta a bit, and next 2 climbing days spent mostly trying that 8b. I had few close tries, but in the end lack of skin on fingers and scratched knee resulted in no send.
So I ended trip with not so many ascents, but I'm not really sad as I think I have that 8b next time I come there, and I proved to myself it is possible for me to do 8b boulder.

On rest day we visited Cresciano just to check it out because we didn't have guidebook for it. We agreed it looks great because there are a lot more boulders on smaller space and we said we are definitely coming back there.

At the end,I gotta say I was suprised how light but still not so small is the new crash pad MiniDo from Cassin that I took to try it out.


Summary of ascents in Chironico:
day 1: 6b+ mp3 *flash*,  6b+ Offene ture ,  7c Doctor brusch *flash*, 7a Los cursos *flash*
day 2: 6b+ Pansen *flash*, 7a+ Palma tina,  7c Kiss me,   6c+ Opus day *flash*,  7c+ Doctor pinch
day3:  7a+ Nanosecondo sit *flash*,  8a Arete with the pocket
day4: rest
day5: 7b Walking in the desert *flash*,  / trying 8b
day6:  /trying 8b /
          

Doctor pinch 7c+

big crazy tree

Arete with the pocket 8a

Walking in the desert 7b

Opus day 6c+

BLOK League finals

Yesterdays I was on last round of BLOK league in Zagreb. I feel really strong after power trainings. Six best climbers were in finals, and I was the only one to flash all 3 problems and placed 1st. That made me overall winner of this season.

Today I'm going for Chironico with awesome crew from Zagreb, and I'm hoping for successful trip with some hard boulder sendings.

NLP League #1 Ljubljana

This weekend Krešo Morić, Tomislav Šproh, Eduard Tudor ( the best driver ) and I visited NLP boulder league in Slovenia.

There were 36 boulder problems in boulder center Stena, and 8 of them were qualifying boulders for the finals. It was boulder jam system with 8 hours to climb boulders. I really liked the qualifying boulders, and I did them all. Among 8 finalists were Krešo and me.
Finals were climbed on a new system for me, elimination. 3 problems and everyone has 3 tries for every problem and you can look each other. After each problem 2 last climbers were eliminated. I really like the thrill of that system. In first boulder after 2 tries I was the last because I couldn't pass the crux, and I was a bit worried. But in last try I changed my beta and made it to the top. Oh what excitement! Finally, I made it to last 4 climbers on last boulder and placed 3rd at the end, and Krešo was 7th.
After the competition we went on a dinner, ordering venison goulash. It was really fantastic after almost all day of climbing. We are looking forward for next NLP competition.

Winter holidays

So these winter holidays I spent mostly climbing as usual, and some skiing after long time.
I was on a 9 day climbing trip in Spain with my dad, Filip Pečenec, Jani Zoraj and her mom.

We had in plan to escape cold weather in Croatia and go on some sunny and warm place like Spain. But weather wasn't as we expected. Most of the time it was cold, around 2 degrees, with foggy weather in the valley where most of the best crags were located. We didn't even climb in Oliana, the best crag there, because when we came whole rock was covered in fog and it was really cold.
But the climbing spot that delighted us was Santa Linya. A big open cave where it was so warm that we could climb in short sleeves, and that was the reason we came to Spain.

I climbed mostly on sight and 2nd go. I sent few 8a+'s 2nd go, few 7c+'s and 7c's on sight and some more easier routes on sight. I have to mention that Jani sent her first 8a on the trip, and now she is the youngest Croatian climber with that grade.
I wasn't really satisfied with the trip, as I didnt expect such cold weather.

After the trip I took around 12 days rest, and few days spent skiing with friends. And I have to say it was warmer on skiing than in Spain climbing.