Innsbrooklyn

A nice starting picture for this post of Ned, Keith and I freezing our bollocks off after a swin under Dolby Digital in the Zillertal!

Me and Ned headed to Innsbruck at the end of September to see Keith. I will keep it brief but Innsbruck is a sweet place to reside! Keith and James apartment is PIMP, the city seems lively and there is lots of good climbing and skiing close by. Perfect! We spent 5 days there mainly eating pizza and sampling some fine ice cream but squeezed in a bit of climbing to at Zillertal and Silvretta.

At zillertal we met up with my friend Emi who had just returned from South Africa. We warmed up and then got straight onto the main event, Incubator. This is an old Jerry project which unfortaunately if often wet. However we lucked out and although it was warm a cool breeze was blowing right by, drying the holds out to a holdable state! I quickly sussed the moves and started some attempts from the bottom, the first move is the hardest move in my opinion but it relies on timing rather than brutal strength. After a few attempts I stuck the move and proceeded to climb the bloc to the top. A very occasion for me to not be a punt and drop the top, although I nearly did as I hadnt been on it!! Very pleased indeed as it was a climb I had always wanted to do.

Incubator, 8B.

Taken by Emi Moosburger

Our next climbing was a day trip to Silvretta, a very beautiful alpine bouldering venue at about 2000 metres. The rock quality here though is not so good, it is sharp and leaves you in tears. However I had one of my best days out climbing, we met up with Stew Watson, Luki and Elias. I managed to climb 3 problems that were graded 8a (one was even a flash) but realistically British Airways and Niviuk are 7c/+ and the Shining more like 7c+/8a. I was made up though especially as the Shining is sooooooo crimpy! We saw Memento and had a brief play but my skin was burning, Stew went back the week after and sent it packing, good effort!! Just as we were packing up the clouds that had started to look menacing decided to unload hale all over us! Nevermind back to Innsbruck for Pizza ans ice cream!

Ned on the Shining, 8A.

Taken by Elias Holzkencht

It was now off to the Frankenjura for Ned and I and back into late night editing mode for Keith.