We have received some very nice picture from Dan Patitucci. Here is the link to his website www.patitucciphoto.com

Chamonix	Tommy Caldwell

		Chris Sharma

"It would be nice if you could put many pictures to the interview. It makes it more readerfriendly." Foto Giulio Malfer

Last night, we got the Boulder World Cup results stating that Kilian Fischhuber had won the Cup in 2005. I picked up his personal card, which he gave me at the worlds in Munich, where he got the boulder silver, and this is our three hours correspondance through eight e-mails. 

The questions in reverse order as I guess it is the most interesting to get the boulder champ's power secret first. Whether it is a joke or not I can not tell. It is up to you to decide!

How do you train power on the campus board? Any programme?
Last year in spring I did a lot on the campus board but then I got injured (inflamation near the ringband on two fingers) and I think it might be from that. This year I trained a little bit on the campus board and it was not good for my fingers again. I think one has to be really careful if one choses that kind of training! My usual programme consisted mainly of short up or downs (not more than 6 moves). I also trained negative dynamic and intramuscular coordination with twice my weight. One of my exercises works as follows: I hang on the board, armes half bent, my girlfriend Verena on my back. I go slowly down until my armes are almost stretched and then I say: "go", she lets go abbruptly and I try to speed up as fast as possible and as high as possible.

What is your best tip for climbers who want to get stronger?
I think the key to success is to keep your motivation high. You have to learn to see the positive aspects of drawbacks and to make the best out of triumphs. Don't train with the same system too long and try to go on the rock as often as possible. Climbing a route or a boulder on rock is always different and it will never get boring. Set yourself reachable goals and be
happy with your achievements. I know that this statement doesn't go into detail very much but it is not easy or useful to make a comment on how someone can improve when I don't know him or her. For better tips I should talk to the climber personally. You find my e-mail address on my homepage. Don't hesitate to ask!

Who is your trainer and how do you decide your training program?

Underground, 8c+ Foto: Reini Fichtinger

Bouldern Ailefroide - Frankreich 2003 (Foto: Reini Fichtinger)

Afrika 2002 (Foto: Hermann Erber)

I used to have a trainer for two years but I am training alone again since more than 3 years. I also don't really have a plan for my training but I try to follow a certain pattern which is good for me. I study sports and know enough about the aspects of training to train successfully.

What do you like most in the two disciplines?
This is a tough question and sometimes I find myself in a situation where I can't find an answer because I would prefer to do both at the same time. However, I'll try: In bouldering I like the simplicity and the flexibility. When you come to a boulder area you just walk to the first block you would like to climb, put down your crash pad and go full throttle. When you've had enough (done or not) you just move on to another nice line. In route climbing I like the air under me and the fact that you have to keep cool after you have done, let's say 20 moves and the crux is still ahead of you. Both are a combination of physical and mental strength and lots of fun.

What is your next goal?
I am somehow sorry that the boulder comps are over for this year but I am also happy to have enough time now to climb on rock. Throughout the summer I climbed a lot on rock and it was not so easy for me to go back to the gym in September to prepare for Firminy. I definitely want to try some hard routes this fall but I have no real plans or wishes so I just let it come.


Which is the best crag in the world and Austria?
For me there doesn't exist a best area. Every crag is somehow different from the other and that's what makes it interesting to travel and enjoy all the styles there are. Among some nice areas I would name: Ceüse, Frankenjura, Zillertal and Ötztal. For bouldering my favourites are: , Hueco and Cresciano


Why do you think there are so many top climbers from Innsbruck?
I think Innsbruck is just perfect for climbers! There is a good gym and Imst just 40 min away and within two hours you can be in some of the top climbing areas in . Besides that there is a huge climbing community which makes climbing really fun!


How is it to be the best boulderer in the world?
I would never consider myself to be the best boulderer of the World. Nevertheless, you can say that I had a good season on rock (routes) and in boulder competitions and my title of the overall winner in bouldering shows that I was the most consistant competition climber this season. Last year I won two events, got injured later and could finish "only" with the second place. This year's payback feels great!

So do you you want to be an 8a member
I have to think about that... ;)

Redpoint tactics - A chapter from the future book The 8ABC of Rock Climbing

Dedicated redpoint climbers may spend years trying to send a chosen route. The way to get there often includes specific physical training, diets, stretching, visualization and the search for perfect friction and patient belayers. Most people don't bother struggling with optimization like this. Here are 10 quick tactical tips for the lazier climbing population.

1. Avoid getting pumped during warm-up/training
Start your training session on very easy routes. Make sure to always keep a good blood circulation in your forearms even though this means resting every 5th meter in the beginning.

2. Recruit specific strength needed for the crux
The more you train on the crux moves the stronger you will get. The muscle fibers will adapt to the specific move strived for. If the contact time for your fingers is longer than 10 seconds you should divide the crux into two or three parts. Rest at least 30 seconds between every hard effort.

3. Link and train on the last part of the route
Prioritize training on the last part of the route, this way you will fell comfortable and confident on your way to the anchor.

4. Tick marks/prolonged quickdraws/brushing of holds
Mark your hand and foot holds with chalk where needed. If it's a complicated sequence you might even want to use L and R ti indicate which hand to use. Decide the best position to clip from, even if this means prolonging the quickdraw. If the clip still is hard decide whether the gate should be to the left or right. Brushing the holds will make you take a thorough look at them and perhaps discover a better gripping position. Don't forget to also brush your Picasso drawing after your climb.

5. Describe the crux and your plan to get through it for your belayer, don't forget your feet
By describing and discussing your plan with the belayer you will get prepared to tackle the hard parts of the route. IF you are thorough you include where to clip and chalk. Don't forget to go through the safety!

6. Cheering (-breathe, good, crimp, come on)
Most people perform better with some cheering. Get your friends to cheer and remind you of e.g. gripping positions or your breathing.

7. Wait, rest and get the urge to climb
If you don't feel 100 % ready, wait a bit longer. Eventually you will get restless and totally focused on challenging the route and yourself with adrenaline.

8. Chalk up, breathe and start without tension
Make sure you have enough chalk and that your shoes are clean. Get rid of every indication of anxiety or tension, focus on your breating and visualize the moves during a minute or two before starting your redpoint attempt.

9. Climb offensive and take chances
The faster you get through a hard sequence the less time you spend accumulating lactic acid which may give you a couple of extra attempts the same day. Note that faster should be interpreted as efficient and without hesitation, we are not talking about speed climbing. You should also challenge yourself to take chances or climb with very small margins to save strength for the hardest parts of the route. If you have beaten your personal record by climbing in a passive and careful way you set the goal to low.

10. Go for a new personal record and an adrenaline rush
The worst thoughts for a climber are the negative ones like - I climbed badly in the beginning, and - As tired as I am now this is never going to happen... Try to see every climb as good training where the reward is a good dose of adrenalin and maybe also a new personal best.

Hueco Tanks: World wide famous boulder area in Texas Anna Gatta Gorgne

Areas
Hueco Tanks is a big area divided into different parts. North Mountain is the only area that is accessible without a guide. There you will find, among many other classic boulders, The Mushroom. There is really enough on-sight climbing for a week on North Mountain, and even more if you start working on projects. You can climb with rope as well and the routes are kind of for the brave hearted. With a guide you will have access to all the other areas and then you can easily stay a month if you are one of those fanatics.

Guide etc
Guide to one of the most important bouldering area in North America, Hueco Tanks, Texas, by John Sherman. ISBN: 0934641870. 30$. Here you will find all areas in Hueco Tanks. For an internet guide over North Mountain i PDF format:The best season to go is October to Mars. Bring sun screen even in winter time since the sun is strong here in the desert. Summer is VERY warm. The weather is more or less always dry. The closest airport is El Paso, TX. AND - bring many crash pads! The problems usually end high up...


Registration and fees
Unfortunately Hueco Tanks has been vandalized during many years (people spraying tags all over the historic paintings on the rocks) and there are some restrictions. The daily fee is 4$. Usually you can only register for three days at the time. But - fear not - there is also the so called "Walk-in" which means that if you go there early (7.00-8.00 AM) you can be one of the lucky ten people that will be let in without a pre-registration. Also, if the people that pre-registered don't show up before 12.00 AM you will be able to take there place.

During high-season (October-Mars) it is clever to register many months ahead to be sure to get one of the attractive places. There are only 70 people per day including the 10 "walk-in", that get access to North Mountain and a total of 230 people in the park's all areas. To register, call Austin reservation service (+1 512-389-8900 1, 2), for information, call Hueco Tanks State Park (+1 915-857-1135). The first time visitors have to watch a video of 20 minutes. (Instructions on how to behave in a historical environment).

Restdays...?
- Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico. Huge cave ca 3 hours north-east of Hueco Tanks. Bring your passport since there is a border police just east of Hueco Tanks. - Guadalupe Mountains National Park with white sand dunes ca 2 hours east. - El Paso ca 30 minutes west of Hueco Tanks. - Cross the border to the city Juarez in Mexico on the other side of Rio Grande, El Paso. It is not the most beautiful of places but...

Accomodation 10 minutes from all climbing areas. Camping, but also rooms to rent in the house.
Information on internet A lot of useful info (but not always up-dated) regarding access, fees etc.

Enjoy dude!

• Anchor    - A fixed lower-off/belay at the top of a route
• Ape-index - Arm-range minus height
• Arétè - A corner pointing outwards (the opposite to a dihedral)
• Ascent - A successful climb
• Beta-flash - A flash with detailed information on how to climb the route
• Bloc
• Campus board - Wooden rungs that are used for open-hand and fingertraining
• Clip - Securing the rope in the quickdraw
• Crux - The most difficult parts of the route
• Clip stick - A stick used to pre-clip the first bolt
• Crash pad - A pad/matress used by for landing when bouldering
• Compartment syndrome - Chronically "pumped" forearms
• Chipping - Artificial holds (not recomended)
• Closed crimp - Grip-technique for small grips using extremely bent fingers, often with thum on the pointer finger
• Dead-hang : Static hang for finger-training
• Dihedrals - An open corner (dieder)
• Doubble-hand
• Dynamic - A powerful move where you let go of one or several holds/feet to reach the next hold
• Endurance - A measurment of how long you can climb without getting "pumped out"
• Figure-four - The opposite leg over the hand
• Frog - A green reptile that live in moist areas. Mating season varies.
• FA - First Ascender, meaning the person who did the climb first
• Flash - Ascending a route for the first time after having watched somebody else climb it
• Flopping - When fingers slip (glide) off holds
• Friction - The adherence of the rock-surface
• Gri-Gri
• Gripping position
• Hang-dog: Using quick-draws to climb
• Heal-hook: Putting and locking the heal on a hold
• Heater
• High-point
• Hyper ventilation
• Hanger: Screwed onto the bolt. Where you clip the quick-draw
• Knee-lock: To put the knee against big holds
• Isolation: where the competitors are placed before the onsight
  ICC: The International council for competition climbing
• Inside-flag: Crossing legs inside
• Jam: A technique used in cracks
• Jug: A very big hold
• Knee-push: Using the hand above the knee to get stronger
• Knee-bar
• Lock-off
• Lactid acid
• Mantle
• Matching
• Motor
  Move
  Nat
  No-Hands
  Onsight
  Open-crimp
  Open-hand
  Orientering
• Out-side flag
  Periodisering
• Pinch
• Pull-ups
• Pof
• 
  Power
  Power-endurance
• Pree-clip
  Pull-ups
  Pumped
• Rapell
• Rapid majong
• Run-out
• Slack!
  Slappa
  Slinga
  Solo
  Swing
• Smearing
• Stemming
• Spotta
• Sequence: A number of moves
• Slab: Less step than vertical
• Stand
• System board: A very steep wooden board with identical holds
• Ticklist 
  Topo: A guide describing the climbs
  Tweaka
  UIAA: ?? Even in their homepage it does not say what it stands for
• 2:nd go
• 8a.nu

All pitures but one from Dai Chen - Shanye magazine

Picture Mike Doyle

Korea Team

Magnus Midtbö & David Lama - Gold

Jakob Schubert - Silver

Charlotte Durif - Interview is coming up

Sorry for the delay in publishing this report but I had to go climbing in Thailand for a few days after the event (I know... priorities, priorities). This was my sixth World Junior Climbing Championships that I have attended (one as a competitor, five as a coach) and while I spent most of my time in isolation I hope to be able to provide some insight into what happened at this event. I appologize for any mistakes in this report as some of the data is heresay since I could not witness the whole event.

This was the first time the World Youth Climbing Championships were held outside of Europe and as a result there was a much larger than usual Asian participation but many of the European countries that are not used to the travel did not send a full team. This meant that there were more countries (37) than last year but around the same number of competitors (347 speed and difficulty). The competition venue was located outdoors on a spectacular structure situated in LonTan park, Beijing.

The competition ran from August 25-28 with the two qualifiers, semis and finals all run on separate days. The speed climbing qualifiers were held in the evening of the 27th and the finals in the afternoon of the 28th.

With the sun, heat and humidity proving to be the enemies of the climbers most of the competition was resheduled for the climbing to take place in the morning prior to the sun reaching the wall.

The first day of qualifiers was very difficult for all the categories. None of the forerunners made it to the top of the routes without falling or having to rest on the rope. In all only 4 or 5 climbers topped out their first qualifier routes with favorites David Lama and Charlotte Durif leading the way. The second day of qualfiers featured a few changes in the routes and some more flashes. As well, many of the routes were reused from the day before so the climbers had more insight and could talk to teammates who had been on the route the day before. None of the qualifier routes even went to the top of the wall!! Both days of qualifiers went very smoothly and only the last few climbers were forced to climb in the sun.

The semi-final routes were again very stiff with some top climbers not advancing to finals. Of note crowd favorite Ja-In Kim (winner of the 2004 Asian Championships) fell low in the semi-finals and finished in 22nd.

The day of the finals would prove to be the most humid and smoggy of the four competition days. Many competitors were feeling the heat in isolation while trying to stretch out and warm up their muscles. Heading into the finals only David Lama and Charlotte Durif had not fallen in the competition. Adding some suspense to the finals, young Austrian Jakob Schubert flashed the final route setting the bar very high for David Lama. Unfortunately for Schubert the route appeared to be quite easy for Lama as he barely paused to rest anywhere on the route as he hiked to the final anchor.

All the female competitors were to be run on the same route and none of them flashed it with France's Caroline Janual setting the high point to win the Female Youth A category and Slovenia's Mina Markovic making it quite far as well to win the Female Junior category.

The Male Youth A and Male Junior categories were also run on the same route, one that went up the steepest part of the wall. Only a few climbers made it to the lip and even fewer climbers could power past the lip moves. 16 year old Magnus Midtboe of Norway proved to be the strongest male competitor, despite being in the bottom year of his category, and fell right near the top of the route. Daniel Winkler put in a very strong performance on the way to winning the Male junior category.

Once again though the French dominated the difficulty podium with two first place, two second place and a third place finish. Russia had three podium finishes with Germany, Japan and Austria each finishing with two.

Russia dominated the speed climbing with 9 of the 18 podium spots including all three in the Male Junior category, with Ukraine taking 4 spots.

Special mention should be made of Russian Yana Chereshneva who placed second in the Female Youth A category for difficulty and won the speed event.

Final results - Diffuculty:
Male Youth B
1) David Lama (AUT)
2) Jakob Schubert (AUT)
3) Yuriy Dzybyak (UKR)

Female Youth B
1) Charlotte Durif (FRA)
2) Alexandra Malysheva (RUS)
3) Juliane Wurm (GER)

Male Youth A
1) Magnus Midtboe (NOR)
2) Felix Neumarker (GER)
3) Sachi Anma (JPN)

Female Youth A
1) Caroline Januel (FRA)
2) Yana Chereshneva (RUS)
3) Akiyo Noguchi (JPN)

Male Junior
1) Daniel Winkler (SUI)
2) Nicolas Badia (FRA)
3) Ivan Kaourov (RUS)

Female Junior
1) Mina Markovic (SLO)
2) Florence Pinet (FRA)
3) Fanny Conan (FRA)

Full results can be found at the ICC website .

Klemen Becan is #2 in the 8a onsight world ranking including 26 onsights 8a+ and harder, only in the last year. His hardest onsight is 8b+ and his hardest redpoint is 8c! In 1997,  he won the Junior World championship and in 2004 he was #4 in Marabella WC and won the most prestigues outdoor comp. Our new Slovenian editor, Uros Baumgartner, has interviewed another superclimber from the country with only 2 million inhabitants.

Why this obsession for onsights? Why don't you go for 9a's?

Because I love climbing and I don't like working routes. If I don't send a route in let's say five tries, I get bored because the
moves start repeating themselves. However, when you climb on-sight, every move is something new and you have to solve the problems as you go. If you climb only one route, you loose motivation a lot faster when falling at the last crux. While climbing on-sight you try many more different routes and new combinations of moves. For the better part of the season I train for the competitions. We climb on-sight there, and that is one of the reasons I pay so much attention to this way of climbing.

How many times a week do you train and How?
I train 3-5 times a week. It depends on the difficulty of the sessions and on the competitions schedule.  If possible I train outside. I climb on-sight, mostly stuff that is more difficult than what I can normally climb. I train inside only when it is not possible to go outside 
 
What do you pay most attention to in training?
Climbing on-sight and giving my best at every go.

 

Have you ever had injury problems?
Not yet, luckily.

 

Do you take care of what you eat (before, during and after climbing)?
No. I eat what I like and as much as I like, mainly pasta when camping.  J

 

What do you think is important for climbers?
The head! If your mind is not ready than nothing can help you.

 

Have you got a trainer?
No.

How many pull-ups can you do?
Ten years ago I could do 40.

 

Any other speciality?
I tried to campus at the beginning of this year, but after a couple of sessions one of my fingers started to hurt, so I stopped and went climbing outside in the nature.

 

You also took part at the Petzl Rock Trip 2004 and won the ultimate route competition. (Sharma, Pouvreau, Brenna, Mclure, Andrada, Dulac, Pons etc)
In the Ultimate route contest (about 9a difficulty), we studied the route for about 30 minutes each, and on the third day of the event we climbed in the manner of difficulty climbing but with more attempts. I won because I reached the highest point in my first (onsight) attempt. Unfortunately, the route remained unclimbed, I'll be back! The whole event took place in a relaxed atmosphere, with everyone enjoying climbing and not even noticing there was competing involved. And that's what I liked most.

 

Sponsors?
Vrh, Beal.

 

What is your goal for the future?
To climb as long as possible and enoy every minute of it, and to equal onsight and redpoint.

I guess that Charlotte Durif could make the cover on Sport Illustrated

How, why and when did you start climbing?
When I was nine years old, in a club, after my brother and father had taken me mountaineering a few times. My first climbs were in the high mountains: many routes and "bivouac's" on ice walls. Then I started to practiced harder sport climbs.

Who is your trainer? Do you have a training program?
My father is my trainer. I have never had a specific training or weight lifting training program. My experience is from completing many significant climbs, enough to effectively develop skills necessary and effective at getting me to the level I am at today. In my training, I learn to judge the effort that the climb requires while always increasing the difficulty and complexity of the climbs. I practice on some of the best European climbs. I often varie the type of rock I climb on (sandstone, limestone, granite...) and the types of climbs (steep, pockets, small holds, overhanging, flat..).I climb as regularely as possible. Two times during the week and on the weekend. I can adapt my resources to meet the medium I am climbing.  However, I keep track, by my training-log, my cycle of progression from the fall to the following summer.

How would you describe your climbing style?
I am able to supervise a route.  I am more like in a never ending corrider. The routes that I enjoy the most are long routes, 40 to 70 meters in length. They are journey's without end. They give me a chance to balance my rhythm, to enjoy the climb and to recover my strength. I have always climbed near or at my level and I prefer "Onsights". They require more experience and are choices that I give much more priority to then climbing at my maximum level. Having to work a climb, requires little creativity.  A cliff isn't a block. They aren't a simple technical exercise with "rules". Each section, each route is a discovery.  I love to trying to solve a climb and imagine its solution. I am also a victime of my sport. There are areas that I feel I am "the king of my kingdom" or near that: Tarn, Geuse, La Balme. Yet, I regret that I have grown out of these areas.

Lactid Acid - The route climber's enemy!

The best approach to avoid lactid acid and to improve your endurance is to train pulsating gripping technique and relaxation. This is the easiest and quickest way for most climbers to improve the endurance. Physical endurance training is for the experts who already have a relaxed climbing technique and style - OPEN ARTICLE

Climbing separates from other sports by the high amount of lactid acid which is created and preserved in our forearm muscles. For most of us, it takes some 45 minutes rest in between attempts on endurance routes to get completely fresh. Some are not that lucky, in fact the highest frequency of compartment syndrome, which means a permanent condition of the pumped feeling, is found among climbers.

Lactid acid breaks down the muscle tissue. If you train hard and end your session with a high level of acid you will most likely loose strength while you are sleeping. In the short run, the muscles will learn how to work with acid as fuel instead of pure blood and you will have a short peak but this will be followed by a longer and deeper down period.

Warming-up and capillarity blood flow

The warming-up is more important for climbers than to other athletes as the forearms muscles are not used in the daily life as compared to leg muscles etc. Jogging will start the circulation but it doesn't get the forearms fully prepared with increased blood flow in the capillaries and it's really boring.

In order to do a proper climbing warming-up, it is important to very slowly increase the blood flow in the capillaries. Most climbers begin with a load (grade) that is too high, increasing the risk for a tsunami in the veins. As you keep on climbing with your arms above your head, the blood flow seems to be perfect but as soon you stop and your arms hang at the side, the capillaries can get flooded.

Start up with the lowest possible load (difficulty). Climb 5 to 10 moves, depending on load, rest, shake and squeeze your hand gently and climb again and feel how your blood slowly starts to circulate in your veins and the forearm muscles get warm and prepared for the session. This means that you should not climb that ten meters vertical wall directly in a row, if you are not really fit. The best thing is off course to start off at a slab.

Practical tips during training sessions

·        In the beginning, stop tries when high levels of acid is at risk

·        Increase the rest in between tries

·        Lift and lower your hands to increase blood flow

·        If performance go down, stop the session

·        Finnish with a warming-down to transport possible acid

Endurance training without lactid acid

Your endurance ability depends to a large extent on your technical capacity to climb carefully and find good rests and your mental capacity to stay relaxed and to rest. The physical aspect of endurance relies on your forearm muscles blood flow performance and to a less extent how they deal and work with acid.

To practice your physical part of endurance one should focus on training that builds capillarity, in order to increase the possible blood flow in your forearms. To create more stamina, you should climb as many metres as possible without getting any lactid acid. By doing so, you will automatically strengthen your technical and mental part of the game and you will create a motor that will give you more fun taking you higher up on long onsight attempts on your next climbing trip. Good luck!

style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Why, When and How did you start climbing?

The first time I got in touch with climbing was, when my brother took me to the climbing hall in Flirsch. That was at the age of 14. I enjoyed it from the very beginning and nothing else I tried could compare with the feelings I got when I climb. In 2002 I met Bernd Zangerl and he showed me the boulders in and in . I am often with him in different boulder areas (he is a very good friend). I can learn a lot when I go bouldering with him.

Describe a perfect climbing day?

Cold weather, good friction, good skin and good power. Having fun and a good time together with my friends.

When will you try some World Cups?

As soon as possible ;-) I competed in two regional competitions last year. But at the moment bouldering on real rock is more important for me, and it's more fun.

How much do you train, any special program?

I would like to go climbing every day. But normally I train or climb 3 or 4 times a week. I often train on a campus board, but my special program is: Get out there and climb on the rocks!!!!!!!!!!

Which is the most beautiful climbing place?

I haven't visited all the places which I would like to see. But till now I enjoy a hot spot in the Tyrolian alps most, because it's a very special place. I also like Magic Wood and Ticino.

Which is the best boulder you have done?
Krieger des lichts, 8A.

Where do you find the best boulder problems?

... I've found good boulder problems in every area, I visited in the past. I like different rock, different styles in climbing and therefore I like to travel around to see new things and search the best boulder problems. I like car driving!!!

What kind of boulder suites you the best?
Normally I want to climb a boulderproblem, if it looks really cool, has nice movements?..if the line itself motivates me: I WANT TO CLIMB IT. I don't go to areas and look for boulders which possibly suits me. But I think I am good at crimpy problems?

What is your strength?
I have fun! Motivation!

Do you have any goals or dreams?
My dream is Rocklands ;-) Climbing and travelling as much as possible, to find a sponsor who is paying for that ;-) Get no injuries and get more power. Having fun and keep that feeling deep inside me.