Conditions

There is always something that gets in the way of a well thought out plan.  I carried out the planning and the training schedule perfectly.  The research into the climb was all complete, and on arrival the weather was looking conducive to pulling on the rocks.  And then the inevitable - humidity and rain...

On Monday, I awoke to pristine skies, a cold wind from the north and reasonably cold temperatures (around 2 degrees).   This was by no means perfect, but at least I could session the moves properly for the first time in seven days.  It was amazing, the friction on the otherwise sugary smooth granite had become apparent, and all but two of the moves where sent.  At last - a modicum of success!!  I was also very close indeed to the two crux moves, which link all of this together.

I'm pretty optimistic as a person, and in my mind had already now convinced myself that the climb was now on.  Sat in my tent on the mountainside later on that evening, running through the moves and the possibilities, I was pretty psyched - this was very much on, and if the trip turned out to be successful, I would have indeed climbed one of the worlds hardest problems in a single trip;  and then the rain...

I've never been on such a trip where the weather has played such a bad hand.  The clouds and the mist had rolled in (you are normally above all of this at 2000m here), and the temp' was now at an all time high of 15 degrees - impossible now.  The usual colour of the rock here is an off white/light grey.  It had now all blacked out.  I went for a walk up into forest to have as look at the damage, and as expected the boulder problem was totally blown out.  I tried the moves, just incase, but where there had been friction enough to just about function earlier there was now no chance at all that this was going to go.

Last time I visited this area, to try another boulder (The Power of Goodbye, V13) it was -9 during the day and -26 at night.  I was successful here, and got the first British ascent of this one (one of just five in total over 10 years including Slovenian, American and Austrian ascents).  At the end of the trip, I tried Emotional Landscapes briefly, and was amazed by how possible it all felt.  Unfortunately when you add around 20 degrees, the probability drops off in spades.  I waited for another day and a half for the weather to turn around, contemplating the success and the failure of the trip.  During this time, I had a conversation with a team of Italians within which it emerged that a very strong American (Daniel Woods), had arrived last year in perfect conditions, and had failed on the two crux moves also.  Daniel has climbed the same grade in other countries in one day, and put forward that in his estimation, that Emotional Landscapes was by far the hardest.

Looking at failing is a difficult thing.  I chose to be slightly more objective, and look at how close I was to succeeding.  Basically, in one session I had achieved more than a climber that I class at a level higher than my current form.  I climbed better and harder.  If I could have had the same conditions that I had on the one day it all came together (or even colder), then my chances of success where relatively high.  I was pleased that I hadn't convinced myself of my own capabilities and I will travel back next January when I know it will be cold enough to send the thing.  It is very apparent why Klem Loskot named the climb as he did:  the rollercoaster experiences when you are pushing yourself to your physical limits day in and day out is unreal, and to keep going back when everything is against you takes determination and patience.  Driving back home, a 25 hour, 1200 mile journey.  To keep the chain of thought, to keep the drive and maintain psyche is very difficult, but I will go back and I will succeed.

I had the same issue with a problem in Cresciano some years back, and travelled back and forth in my trusty Volvo V40 four times.  That's over 8000 miles to climb four moves on a piece of granite.  I knew I could do it and I did.  So the moral of the story: 

Don't give up - ever.  If you want to do something, just do it - you can.