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.

Prilep(ic)

Last week I was in Macedonia on a boulder trip in Prilep. I climbed 4 days in total, and I mostly sent 7b+ and 7c's on flash. I really like flashing boulders, it feels really good to do all the moves first time you try them.
Weather in Prilep was way colder than I expected, I had to wear jacket all the time while not climbing, but on the other hand the grip was extremely good.

First day, when we came pretty late, I climbed some 6c's and 7a's and I wasn' really amazed by Prilep, but next day after flashing Žolta zmija 7c  I was really thrilled and after each new boulder I liked Prilep more. I was prepared for the fact that Prilep has really sharp and skin-eating boulders, and first 2 days I was okay with skin, but 3rd day when I tried Velika Smetka 8a few times, it started to be painful. I realized I won't be able to do it with fingers in that condition, so I took 1 day rest to regenerate some skin, and it did pay off next day when I sent it ! I was happy I still have some skin after it so I went to climb a classic, Predator 7c+, and Zagrebački 7c just because it is Filip Pečenec's boulder. That was the most successful bouldering day for me.

Velika Smetka 8a

Predator 7c+

Zagrebacki 7c

All in all, I really liked Prilep, the scenery is wonderful while climbing, sleeping and food are really cheap and bouldering is awesome while you have skin. But even you don't, just tape and continue.
If I compare Magic Wood and Prilep, I'd say Magic Wood has better pure bouldering, but Prilep is better as a trip. You can be sure you won't have as much raining days as in Magic, and even if you have few, you don't need to sit in tent and wait for it to stop. You also don't need to cook your own food :D That's a real relief for me.
I will come back for sure, and I want to make new sector as there is a lot of potential still.

 Summary:
Day 1: easier routes up to 7a+
Day 2: Žolta zmija 7c (flash), Lost in paradise 7b+ (flash), Tup tup 7b+ (flash), Gladiator sit 7c+,
           Es tut mir gleich 7a+ (flash)
Day 3: Gotham city 7c (flash), some easier routes
Day 4: rest
Day 5: Velika Smetka 8a, Cocoon 7a (flash), Predator 7c+, Zagrebacki 7c, Dilajla 7b+

Animal transport in Macedonia

Split crew

Tobacoo fields around Prilep

Chess for relaxing

Fothia Boulder Open

This weekend was the long awaited opening of new Fothia boulder gym, in which I train. Now it is more than 2 times bigger than before and it has many new holds and shapes. I'm syked to train there now :D

There was a competition to celebrate the opening, and we invited few Slovenians so it was pretty interesting. There were nice but pretty hard boulders in qualification. I was the only Croatian guy in the finals, together with Kruder, Bizjak, Pintar, Hribar and Zan Sudar, strong guys. When it became darker, spotlights were turned on and our DJ Sanjin was playing music, and everybody gathered to watch finals.

Slovenians told me to climb without a shirt like they did, but I rarely do that so I didn't want to, and they joked me about that. But after the first boulder, I was actually the only one to do it, so I told them it was because of shirt. I was surprised I was leading after first 3 boulders, it was really tense, but I didn't do last boulder and Kruder did, so I took 2nd place after Kruder, and Bizjak was 3rd.
After the competition we went into some nightlife and had good fun.

 I was really happy I can compete with such strong guys, and now I'm ready for new trainings in new gym.

Magic Wood and EYC Langenfeld

Hello everyone !
Welcome to the first post on my new blog.
I decided to open a blog so I can keep tracks of my climbing trips and competitions.

MAGIC WOOD

 Before EYC in Langenfeld I had plan to visit Magic Wood to make good training for boulder competitions. Group formed pretty quick, in which were Salih Mulaosmanovic, Arman Kovacevic, Stasa Gejo and her mother Vesna Pavlovic, Barbara Gilic and Frane Culic from Split, Vito Muzevic and me. We departed on 6.8. and it was pretty cool and fun drive, and we arrived to Magic at around 11 p.m. The camp was almost full, and we found last 4 places for our tents. 

Next morning when I got out of tent I realised where I actually am, in Magic Wood, bouldering heaven. I was really syked to go climb some boulders. When we went into the forest, I just wanted to climb climb and climb. We warmed up in Madame Etoile 6b+, really nice traverse. Then I sent some 7a, and after that we went to beach to climb Grit de luxe 7b which I flashed. That route is awesome! 

Frane in Grit de luxe

After it, I flashed Dropzone 7a and sent 7c Hohenzone in first try, but I climbed Dropzone which is part of it so its not real flash. Both are nice crimpy boulders. Salih told me that there is one 7c nearby which is on crimps and I should try flashing it. And so we went to Schneebrett , Barbara explained me the beta and I was syked for the flash. It has one long move that I made and after that 3 small crimps but I didn't want to fall on them, so I crimped them hard and there I was, mantling out my first 7c flash before I realised it. It was really nice end of the first day in Magic :)

Flashing Schneebrett 7c

2. day I flashed Wildfire 6c, and sent Smeagol 7b which felt pretty hard. I was trying Supernova 7c which I felt 10 days after in my left leg and left arm because of constant heel hook and compression. I also tried some 8a's, and Foxy dyno where I was really close to do it.

Foxy dyno

Supernova 7c

 3. day it was raining all day. It's so boring in camp when it is raining, so most of the day we were eating or in the village on the wi-fi. I wanted to have rest day anyway because my biceps hurted a lot after Supernova.

4. day rain again :( But it stopped around noon and we went into the forest to find some dry boulders. I sent Dinos dont dyno's 7b/+ and flashed Intermezzo 7b+ (in guidebook 7c but everyone say it isn't). 
5. day raaain again, so we went to Chur for indoor boulder training.

Last day it was raining half of the day , and when it stopped I was trying Octopussy 8a , it went pretty good and I believe I have it next time I come there.

Wood chopping in camp, or at least trying to...

Magic Wood really fulfilled my expectations. I would like to come back any time.

In the evening we packed up and went to Zillertal. I don't know why, but probably to escape the bad weather and find some drier boulders.

SLEEPING IN THE BARN

We had in mind we will sleep in some free camp in Ginzling we heard of, but we came in the village at 12p.m. and we couldn't find the camp in the night, so we didnt know what to do now. My father sent me address of climbing legend Gerhard Hörhager, who bolted Moskito 8b in Paklenica, which I sent last summer and is one of my favorite routes I've climbed. He has some sort of climbing farm where you can sleep, so we wanted to sleep there. At around 1 a.m. we came to his house and called him on phone but he was probably sleeping so he didn't answer. We tried to find doorbell on his house, but he didn't have any. Oh man I can imagine how we looked like some burglars going around the house in the middle of the night with headlamps haha. As we couldn't contact him and it was already really late, we decided to put few tents in front of his barn and sleep there.

Imagine his face when he saw tents in front of his house next morning :P  But he understood us and offered us to train on his boulder because it was raining everywhere. What a legend!

Yeah, the boulder is in the barn

For the next night he also offered us to sleep in the barn, there were some matress in there and it was the most comfortable night on the trip.

EYC LANGENFELD

 

After that night I have left the group and my father came to pick me up to go to EYC. I have came 1 day before to see groups who were competing on first day. On last EYC in Argentiere I didn't climb good and I was 30th but now when I saw the boulder problems I was really excited to climb on them because they looked just as I like, and I knew it will be better. And it was good indeed, I climbed pretty good and got 6 tops out of 8,  and was really close to have 7. I ended 12. and with one more top I would be 6th and go to finals. Anyways, I was satisfied, but now I know I can do better! Next time I hope for finals.

 MY FIRST 8A

On the way home I stopped at Felbertauern to climb some more boulders as they were on our way.
I wanted to try some 8a because I didn't have enough time in Magic to sent one, so I warmed up in some easier boulders and found Schluck du Bruder 8a that I liked. It's nice traverse on slopy holds, looking similiar to Supernova, which I tried in Magic so I got the feeling for that style of boulders. It was going really good, and I sent it in about 45 minutes of trying. My hardest boulder for now :)
 

Schluck du Bruder 8a

   
 This was a really good trip for me,  experienced Magic Wood at last, and pushed my bouldering limits.

Until next time, bye :D