Tamara´s summer time

Climbing World Championship, together with Paraclimbing World Championship was held in the beautiful city of Arco, close to Lago di Garda. So I was very happy, when I heard that the Croatian Olympic Committee is sending Croatian climbing team to represent the country. We competed in both boulder and lead, unfortunately our results were far from satisfying. Nothing what we would not expected. As for international competitions and cups, our team is almost inexperienced. The fact that the number of our national competitions has been reduced to one per year in each discipline does not benefit us much.  Well on the other hand, we all have to work and stop complaining. We kept our positive attitude and I found my comfort in local crag Massone. We tried to climb as much as possible and the only criteria to choose the right routes was: nothing under 25 meters. I managed to onsight a couple of very nice ones:  Only locals 7b+, Il cattivo ist überall 7c and Meglio un giallo 7c. For others I needed few more trials: Troppo Leicht 7b+, Twingo 7b+, Disneyland 7c, Super attico 7c+ and La cucina d´inferno 7c+. And all in all, it was wonderful to be a part of such a huge and important event, which lasted 10 days and gathered climbers from more than 50 countries all over the world. I was amazed by the number of disabled competitors, who competed in Arco - a big respect to them!

We competed in both boulder and lead, unfortunately our results were far from satisfying. Nothing what we would not expected. As for international competitions and cups, our team is almost inexperienced. The fact that the number of our national competitions has been reduced to one per year in each discipline does not benefit us much.  Well on the other hand, we all have to work and stop complaining. We kept our positive attitude and I found my comfort in local crag Massone. We tried to climb as much as possible and the only criteria to choose the right routes was: nothing under 25 meters. I managed to onsight a couple of very nice ones:  Only locals 7b+, Il cattivo ist überall 7c and Meglio un giallo 7c, Troppo Leicht 7b+, Twingo 7b+, Disneyland 7c, Super attico 7c+ and La cucina d´inferno 7c+. And all in all, it was wonderful to be a part of such a huge and important event, which lasted 10 days and gathered climbers from more than 50 countries all over the world. I was amazed by the number of disabled competitors, who competed in Arco ? a big respect to them!

Monday morning, after Sunday evening final party, we packed our bags, sat in our car and drove to Switzerland - magical Magic Wood. The trip from Arco to Avers could be summarized as ´travelling without moving´. To save money, we decided to not to use the highway.  Our drive through Italy was non-stop rush.  Anyway, everything was fine again after building up our tents in the camp. We changed our sunscreen, ropes and quickdraws for winter jackets and crash pads and set out bouldering.

I concentrated myself on trying as much as possible - new and easier, instead of working on harder boulder problems. All kinds of weather conditions changed during the day - sun, rain, fog, wet and dry holds, well.... but no offense. I did at least a couple of 7As, 7A+s and 7B and then back to summer and sunny Croatia. I am definitely planning I will return back to Magic Wood, but next time more prepared.

Tamara