Peak of the career - Youth World Champion

In November 2016., I reached the pinnacle of my climbing career when I became World Youth Champion in Bouldering, at the world championship that took place in Guangzhou, China.

Quo Vadis, rare repeat!

There is one crag really close to my house, like 15 min away, which I haven't visited often.
But there is one harder route, Quo Vadis 8b/b+. It is really short (4 bolts) and powerful bouldery route. It has some hard crimping and clipping, and ends with nice dynamic move to good sloper.
 I tried it before a year or two, and couldn't really hold those small crimps good enough. But now it is just perfect for my current bouldery shape.

So I finally caught some time yesterday and decided to go give it a try.
I entered to figure out beta, and after I went down I wasn't even sure if I will be able to do it the way I imagined, because I didn't put much effort to finding proper foot position. In the meantime it got really cold, but at least friction was wonderful!

So I went for a try, and at one moment just let my legs swing while holding 2 small crimps, and it turned out to be viable beta for me! I fell a bit after because I didn't know where to clip from.
Then, next try, I just walked through it with that new fun beta. That was actually only 3rd repeat of this route!
It was set up by Marko Rožman in 2001, and repeated once more in 2003.
Now, 13 years later I added another repeat.
Sweet achievement :)


pics are from Luka Tambača

leg swing, I like it!

last hard move

Jurgovo and Angry birds

I wanted to visit boulder spot Jurgovo in Slovenia so Karlo and me invited some climbers from Zagreb, and I got surprised when we managed to gather 9 people to go there this weekend. My goal was to try and do Angry birds for which I heard lot of praises.

Jurgovo is small but offers some good boulders. 

First we went on Mona Liza  block where I did Čreva na plot 7B which at first didn't seem really nice, but it turned out to be quite interesting and fine boulder, but a bit hard for it's grade. I also did classic Mona Liza 7B+ there.

After that I did Johnny Cash 7B and very nice dyno Explosion time 7B.

I entered Reduktor 7C+ and Le belanca 8A which are both quite highbally so I didn't dare trying them with 3 small pads we had there.

At the end of the day on our way down we all went to Angry birds 7C+ so I can try it with enough crashpads. It is a slab leading into technical jump on the top edge of the boulder. I sent it after some jumping, and I must say this is one of the best boulders I climbed!

Real diamond.

Here's a short video of Angry birds, thanks Matija Baotić for filming and montage 

Summer full of competitions

It's been quite some time since last post, and in the meantime I was on a lot of competitions. In fact, most of this season is over for me,  only what's left is World youth championship in China in November and maybe WC Paris next month.

So big part of summer I spent around on competitions. I'd go to competition, return home for few days and then head for another one. I really like competitions, but in the end it left me quite tired now.

Oh, and I enrolled on college, University of Business and Economics in Zagreb :)

EYC Soure

First competition was in Portugal, which I was happy to visit as I was never there before. It was in May, and it was good to see where im standing at the moment after all the trainings. I did get into finals, but I didn't do well there and ended 7th. I was happy with finals for first competition though.

 WC Innsbruck

Next stop in May was Innsbruck, with whole croatian senior team going there. I absolutely love when we all go, it is always great fun and good mood when we are together.

 Boulders for my group were quite easy, which surprised me. I did 3 tops, and could easily have 4, but not even 5 was enough to get into finals, small number of tries was crucial. I ended in the middle, 63rd, which I was satisfied with, knowing I could do better easily. After the comp we went to Maltatal 1 day for bouldering, and I was reallyyyy close to do Wrestling with an aligator 8B, but rain started after 20 min of trying so we had to go. I'm just waiting to come back and do it.

EYC Graz

Graz was in the middle of June, and I had pretty high expectiations for this competition, as we trained in that gym alot and I knew almost all holds, which is always good. I started good, but there was one weird plate with top in the level of the feet which I just couldn't figure out how to do, so this time I ended outside the finals.

This one I couldnt top

EYC Warsaw

Start of July, and its turn for Poland. I was excited to go there as it's new place for me. I went there with coach Lisica, and we had really nice experience in Warsaw. We had no car so we used public transport and we've seen a lot of the city, which I really like.
In the gym it was quite hot, luckily I'm used to it as it's the same in my home gym in the summer. Here it was interesting, 20 minutes before the end, there were 2 boulder in which I both did 3 tries already, everytime with different beta so I didn't know which one to use in next attempt. So I chose one for each problem, and managed to do them both in next try which put me into finals.
In the finals I slipped from 1 top, and placed 6th.

Warsaw is beautiful city

from the finals

handling the beta

European university games

Now this was amazing experience! 5 of us from University of Zagreb were stationed with all other athletes in ''competition village'' and it was so much fun. Competition lasted for 3 days, with boulder, lead and speed. Fun thing is that on the day of bouldering competition I also had to sign up for university. So I woke up early, and went to sign up which was at 9.00, finished with it around 11.00 and then headed to competition which started at 13.30. I arrived to competition as freshman of Economics.    :D

I had no idea how strong the competition will be, and I was surprised when I saw some of the well-known faces, such as Dmitry Sharafutdinov. It was easy to get into finals, but the finals were sooo exciting and close.  I did my best, managing to secure podium on the very last boulder, finishing 3rd! Only 1 attempt short of Dmitry who was 2nd, while Slovenian Zupan was first. As it was hot and lasted quite long, I ended up with pretty bad skin for next part of competition.
Next day, lead and speed. As I didn't train lead at all I wasn't surprised to end up withouth the finals, I think I was 14th. The problem was also that I had almost no skin on fingertips so I couldnt do more than 5 minutes of warmup on wall :(

And then speed, in which I decided to perfom despite my trainer telling me not to. But good thing that I did!
I had to tape almost all my fingertips, but it didn't matter that much in speed. I was surprised how I was decreasing my time with each run, which led me to another 3rd place in the end!
Unluckily, I missed taster in the battle for 2nd place, but that came back when I managed to win in battle for 3rd against Russian who had fastest time of the competition, as he slipped. That speed was really a blast!  When everything finished I was so broken, no skin, everything hurt me, but it was all worth it.
I didn't even think I will be able to compete for the podium, but ended with 2 medals. Great time here, looking forward to climbing on next games :)

Zagreb university team 

EYC Argentierre

After University games, I came home, had 2 hours to pack up , went to sleep, and in the morning I was already heading for France. I only hoped my skin will be back normal for this comp, and it was, but I could feel fatigue in muscles which was result of giving my best on University games. I had really bad start, got a bit nervous, and then rain stopped the competition. I relaxed in the meantime, and when we continued I was doing great. Sadly, I was 1 try short of the finals, finishing 11th.

junior team

EYCH Langenfeld

Came home for 2 days, and went to my last european youth competition. Familiar place, was here 2 times already and last year I did really good so I expected something similiar. But, boulders were really hard and I was climbing so strange, I don't even know what happened. I was only 30th, which left me disappointed, especially as it was my last such competition and I wanted to remember it as good one. Maybe I fell out of shape a bit, as my home gym is closed during summer so I had to patch my trainings in different ways. Now it's good thing there is some time before next competition, to calm down and get back in shape.

After competition I went with my familty to Zillertal where I had chance to boulder for 1 day only, as it started raining afterwards.
It was cool day tho, I didn't climb quite some time on granite and I was happy to feel it again.
I did 7B+,  7B+ on flash, 7C and 7C+/8A.




Soon the gym will open, and I'll be back to hardcore trainings again,
and I hope I'll be able to go on few boulder trips also

Another lead 8c and bouldering in Swiss

2 Weeks ago I was in Mišja peč after quite long time, and as I didn't have any project there to climb I went to try Talk is cheap! 8c. Slovenian youth team was climbing it and route seemed quite hard, I wasn't sure if I would be able to do the moves at all. They showed me beta and I was surprised how fast I did everything, in first try of the route I got all the moves. Route is hard first 4 bolts, then big rest and easier to the top, which I like. I did few tries in it that day but didn't send it.
When I returned few days later I did it in my first try of the day, all together in 5 tries! I didn't expect to do 8c that fast. Same day I sent Missing link 8b+ which I tried last year and didn't climb it for some time now.    That is my best score for now -  8b+ and 8c in a day.

Talk is cheap!

 This is now my 3rd 8c, because after doing this route I had finally something to compare The Time to, which I FA'd and now I think it is also 8c. They are both similiar in the way that they have short hard sequence, and both fit me well. Still, I'm waiting for some repeats on The Time to confirm the grade.
2 days after and I was already on the way to Cresciano and Chironico to do some bouldering!

Chironico and Cresciano 2016.

 This time Split (Nikola Kramarić and Luka Kivela) and Zagreb ( Karlo Čubrić and me) teamed up for the trip. We had 5 bouldering days.
As always when going bouldering, I was happy to feel the granite and send some classics!
We started searching accomodation too late, and as a result we didn't have comfy stay as before. Rooms didn't have kitchen and dishes, but we quickly adapted and bought paper plates, forks and knives and cooked on gas. It was cool to find solutions for what we needed. Also I was happy that my bad Deutsch finally served me in communication, I managed to ask : Ist this Preis nur fur Schlaffen oder mit Fruhstuck? :D
Weather was kind of too warm, we expected much colder weather. Still, climbing was on the level and I'm happy with my sends.
 I took new Ocun Oxi climbing shoes with me to try them,  and they showed extremely good on boulders so I climbed whole trip in them.

First day Chironico, started off with 7B+ flash and then sending roof beast Willenberg dach 8A. A roof with big holds, but it needs quite some power. For the end of the day went to flash Vitruvian man 7C, but I accidentally did it with chipped hold for foot, so I went for 2nd go.

Second day we went to Cresciano and headed for La Boule 8A, a real classic. There I flashed La boulette 7B which is really nice, and started trying La Boule. It seemed quite hard, a lot of tension and small crimps which hurt for skin. But I liked it very much. After trying the moves I went for the try, I didn't expect to climb it in that try as I barely managed to pull off moves alone, but in a big fight I managed to do it. I was sooo happy, my dearest send ever.

La boule 8A

 On 3rd day I took rest to prepare for last 3 days.

Fourth day we were shortly in Cresciano where I did XP 7C, and then to Chironico where I finally did Worthless everything 7C+ thanks to the new beta from Nikola. This boulder I was trying last 2 trips and couldn't do it. After it I also did Tricky 8A, which now seemed pretty easy with right beta.

XP 7C and new Ocun Oxi

Day 5 going to new sector in Chironico where I flashed The pocket problem 7C+ , which is my hardest flash for now.  Congratulations to Karlo who also did it and pushed his limit!
A long beauty Second life 8A+ caught my eye and I went to try it. It looks so good, alone on the block, and has some more than 15 moves. Sadly, I fell few times at the end because it just squeezed power from my arms. This will probably be first thing to send next time. Next I wanted to try Boogalaga 8B, but I still wasn't strong enough for it. :(

Last day was real rampage for me. First I did Serre moi fort 8A which I like really much, so good moves. Shortly after it I sent Le vent nous portera 8A, reachy dynamic line with move which takes away feet quite high, exciting to climb. Then I flashed The real shield 7C, one hard move for start then easy to the top. Next I flashed Brechstange 7C,  which has 2 moves on crimps. I felt so solid in it. After it, when night already fell and we climbed with 2 headlamps, I did Salut a toit 7C+ on second go.

Le vent nous portera 8A

Almost all of the routes I did are real classics and amazing lines. I could climb them over and over again.  I'm satisfied with my score, 5 8A's in 5 days and enough 7C's, mostly on flash.

Now training for competitions, and perhaps another boulder trip if I will have time.

All the boulders I did in those 5 days :
7B+ Party boosten (flash)
8A Willenberg dach
7C Vitruvian man
8A La boule
7B La boulette (flash)
7B+ Voci dalla cantina (flash)
7C   XP
7C+ Worthless everything
8A Tricky
7C+ The pocket problem (flash)
8A Serre moi fort
8A Le vent nous portera
7C The real shield (flash)
7C Brechstange (flash)
7C+ Salut a toit

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+