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the shizzle => the blog pile => Topic started by: comPiler on April 08, 2010, 01:00:14 pm

Title: TOTOLORE
Post by: comPiler on April 08, 2010, 01:00:14 pm

UNTITLED (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/04/this-is-definitely-strange-moment.html)
8 April 2010, 9:30 am

This is definitely a strange moment. I am really fighting to gain back a decent state of form, but I seem unable to really comprehend the causes.

I was thinking that two weeks off would sort things out, but it looks like I was wrong. Ok, I have a tweaked finger, but that's not enough. I think that one of the most important aspects is that I really really don't want to be in the gym these days. The feeling of depression I get every time I step in, is hard to describe, but it manages to completely make my psyche disappear, and I have to say that I am well psyched to go and train every day I can. Magically, all this good will vanishes as I open the green door. Maybe it's the presence of kids screaming all around, maybe the fact that there are no new problems, maybe the new volume on the 45° that made my project unclimbable, sitting in the smack middle of the crux move.

Anyway I don't let these minimal reasons hold me back. I just keep going there until I puke.

One other reason I am trying to analyze is my new fingerboard routine, taken from the Beasts (http://www.beastmaker.co.uk/). It is hard, maybe too hard for me at the moment, or maybe it just packs in too much volume: the consequence, anyway, is the same, I am unable to climb shit after it. Seeing how the said Beasts do more or less the double than I do, is mindblowing.

It's good to change though, and I am positive that it will pay alot, as soon as I get familiar with it. Probably reducing the number of series and raising the intensity could do for me, after all I don't really need to perform seven series of seven hangs for each type of hold, yesterday my forearms were pumped and swollen for at least another hour after finishing the routine.

One last consideration is about food. I am thinking that I am eating not enough, or not well enough. Maybe an email to a friend of mine who is a specialist in nutrition could be useful.

Then: I finally bought a Beastmaker. I am really excited, to say the least. I am looking forward new sessions, right in the comfort of my home, with my music and perfect, smooth and beasty holds. The idea is to cancel from my mind the thought that I can't hang a hold. Hanging onto pencil lines drawn on the wall is my mid term goal. The long term goal is one arming them lines.

Finally, something climbing related. Despite being pumped silly and tired for the whole session, yesterday I gave a true will power display. After doing a couple of easier problems in horrible style on the 10° wall (I didn't know they could make walls only 10° overhanging), I was pointed at a project on the 45°. On more familiar ground I set off for the flash, and I failed, being unable to swing out left to a very good foothold from two crimps that you hold with your arms crossed. I gave it another go, but this time even the first two moves proved to be too hard for me. Sadness. Before putting in more useless efforts, I wanted to know whether the swing move was doable, so I reached the far away foothold, then using ohter holds tried to get into the cross crimps positions: nearly impossible even from jugs. I was just about to let the shitty project rot in hell when I saw the light, under the form of a huge dyno, with the crimps switched: YYFY, it was doable. Now I only had to do it.

Again this was the hardest bit. I fell twice on the starting moves, exhausted. Then I missed the dyno, then I got the dyno but ripped from the left hand crimp. I kicked the chalkbag and rested. I wanted to get it done, more as a mind effort than a physical one. And I did. I sat under the starting holds, closed my eyes and started thinking to every move, to the millimeter, to every hold, to the sensation of power I wanted to recall from my squeezed muscles. I dispatched it. The first moves went as smooth as a drill in a concrete wall, pure power, then the dyno didn't even feel hard. Just the time to slightly fuck the feet sequence and I was eyeing the final jug, trying to put my body in balance to stick it, but before I was able to compose my rational thoughts, my non conscious mind had already taken over, and I found myself falling on the hold, latching it, swinging out on one arm while letting go a power scream and a horrible swear.

Cristiano smiled and I was happy.

It's all in the mind. And in the muscles.

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Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: PEOPLE!!!
Post by: comPiler on April 15, 2010, 01:00:15 am

PEOPLE!!! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/04/people.html)
14 April 2010, 7:34 pm

I climbed in Ticino this past weekend! Nothing hard went down, but I finally made it to Brione. During the walk back from that amazing, peaceful and surprisingly chilly setting, I couldn't help but think how good it will feel when I will do that walk after climbing "Amber". I will. I don't know the day, I don't know if I will struggle or if I will crush it, I don't know if I will be alone or surrounded by friends, the only thing that I know is that one day, in the future, I will be walking in that valley after climbing "Amber".

The fact that I didn't even see "Amber" is marginal.

Anyway, the amazing surprise of this mini trip is that I met loads of cool people. I met two nice guys from Sweden who also happen to read this blog (and that was shocking); I met a guy I had only chatted with on the Net, who showed me around and made me feel safe when I was climbing "Arabald"; I finally managed to climb with a friend with which I had only shared the plastic holds of the gym; I met a group of young german powerhouses, and one of them also gave me a precious piece of gear that I had been searching around for weeks; I met some Brits who impressed me with their energy and coolness and I also met Italian bouldering guru Marzio Nardi. All these people were nice with me, giving me beta, or a spot, or simply being nice. So guys thank you, you made me feel good and that is the only thing that is important.

Then: today I went sport climbing. "Top roping" would be more appropriate, but I had fun, so nothing else matters.

Finally: I had a good session at the gym yesterday, and despite feeling a bag of shit, perhaps it still hasn't come the day I will hang the shoes to the proverbial nail. To be honest, I didn't feel bad at all, I felt strong and sparky, but since I had been feeling shit during the last weeks, I was probably feeling strong but being shit.

Anyway, in this very moment, a Beastmaker is traveling towards my house. I am excited to embrace again the most basing cult of power; when, this summer, the gym will be an oven, I will be training as a headless chicken and this thought already makes me feel good, because climbing is like this: the more you put into it, the more it gives back to you.

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Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: THE MAKING OF A BEAST
Post by: comPiler on April 17, 2010, 01:00:23 am

THE MAKING OF A BEAST (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/04/making-of-beast.html)
16 April 2010, 10:08 pm

My life as a climber can now change: the Beastmaker was indeed traveling towards my house when I last posted here. It came friday morning, finding me, quite unusually, at home, ready to give it the first kiss. I am truly excited and am ready to dedicate myself to the cause, to be honest I really can't wait to start training on it. I still have to completely recover my finger, but the antiinflammatories are doing their mean task.

Other session today, nothing really noticeable again, apart feeling not too bad: I did a few things on the 45°, then I set and tried a new problem on the 60° and finished with some footless bouldering on said walls. At the end of the session I was overall tired, but could still feel some power, so I tested the fingerboard and I found out that I can still one arm a slopey edge at the end of a session, and that is very promising.

What pleases me the most about the Beastmaker, is that, far from being magical, it gave new psyche to get back to some serious fingerboarding, and that it opened new visions and new desires. Who sees, desires, and who desires, want.

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Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: GODDAMMIT
Post by: comPiler on April 20, 2010, 07:00:12 pm

GODDAMMIT (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/04/goddammit.html)
20 April 2010, 1:50 pm

Fucking hell, I am so fucking pissed.

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Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SOMETIMES...
Post by: comPiler on April 27, 2010, 07:00:19 pm

SOMETIMES... (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/04/sometimes.html)
27 April 2010, 12:40 pm

Sometimes, the clarity of my vision terrifies me.

In this vision a see a man, whose only care is climbing. It's the thing he loves the most, and climbing and preparing himself to climb stronger, are the two things that make him happiest. In this vision, this man is sad and depressed when he can't climb, whatever the cause: a relationship, work, family issues, bad weather or an injury. Anything putting his desire to a stop is a enemy, an obstacle to a bigger happiness. Far from being obsessed, this man only strives to fully appreciate his love for climbing, to dedicate all the time he can to being happy, simply happy in doing what he loves the most. When his climbing doesn't go well, this man is also sad, but this sadness quickly turns into a new desire to get better and stronger.

This man is fully himself when he's climbing, and only in climbing he's fully himself: in this he is also fully free, because his climbing is for him absolutely useless in the terms of "normal" people. It doesn't give him money or fame, it's completely and purely useless, therefore, completely free.

When the vision gets deeper, I see and understand that this man is ready, at any given moment, to give up and abandon anything he's doing to go climbing, and if he doesn't do it, it's just because he pauses and reflects over the cosenquences of his behaviour. But he knows he's ready. He often regrets his past decisions, when he was young and had nothing and noone to tie him down to his responsibilities: he didn't take advantage of good chances, and those are now gone and forever. So every time this man has to drive for hours on his own to get some climbing done, he regrets all his past decisions, that could have made his life better. He knows his life would be better, because he knows what he wants now. This regrets, though, aren't enough to stop him from desiring ever more, or from driving that extra distance, or from training once more.

In my vision, this man wants to tell all the young climbers to never let go of a good opportunity to be happier, in whatever way they want, because there's always time to be responsible.

So I'm sure you can understand why, when I see myself in that man, the clarity of my vision terrifies me.

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Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: REALITY CHECK
Post by: comPiler on May 01, 2010, 01:00:13 pm

REALITY CHECK (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/05/reality-check.html)
1 May 2010, 9:05 am

So far, 2010 has been rather disappointing in terms of climbing achievements. It's not that I haven't climbed shit, but for sure I haven't climbed as much and as hard as I had figured before. That's the difference between desires and reality. As you may or may not remember, 2009 ended with a bang, when I went to Cresciano and did "Frank's Wild Years", a problem I fell in love with many years ago, during my first trip to the place with my friend Eric. That ascent is one of my career highlights, because it was fast and solid, I tried it for half an hour the first day, then did it first go on the second day; but also because it's been a dream come true, and doing that problem pushed me back in the past to that trip with Eric, when everything was different, in my life, in my climbing, and connected me again with those days and those memories, bringing them closer to the present, making me able to relive them, in this send. This year has been different. I took a few days off after Cresciano, then went back to training for Font. I had many projects and I was sure I was going to be strong. Unluckily, I immediately started with the wrong foot, being forced to suspend the training for a couple of weeks for a physical problem, but I kept my mind together, I kept thinking that those two weeks weren't going to be crucial in years of training, and I was right. Font, on the other hand, proved itself to be shy of success for me: I was actually in good shape, at least physically. The fact that my girlfriend didn't come with me, as it was supposed to be, left me a bit on the down side, but luckily friend Filo took her place and helped me alot. Snow, rain, damp boulders were what the forest had prepared for us, and despite climbing to exhaustion every day, I was unable to try even just one of my many projects. So it was back to Italy, with a fairly depressed mood and a tired body. One day, I felt my middle right finger a bit stiff and swollen, but I didn't care too much about it. Well, since then, two months ago, it's gotten worse due to my continuous training, hindering my climbing alot and generally being a pain in the ass. Despite this, I had a few good climbing days especially at Amiata, where I repeated a few old problems in good style, and put up a few new ones, the best being for sure "Petting" a nasty traverse with a cool sequence. I was hoping it to be very hard, but unluckily I think it's not.

Spring came. High temps caused low psyche in the gym. I kept training in no specific way, just bouldering as hard as I could, and after a few weeks I started feeling better again, but still with an injured finger. I needed something to push me forward, to give me new psyche, and when I pictured myself trying to train in the summer months, with temps in the gym in the high 30's, 80% humidity, the solution appeared in the form of a "Beastmaker 2000" fingerboard. In the previous weeks I had already gone back to fingerboarding, this time using the beasts' advices, and got good feelings from that, despite clearly having to tune it down to my needs. I was overdoing it a bit, but I could feel it was good. Then, just from nowhere, a sting in my right elbow. I thought it was going to disappear with a couple of days off, and it did, but it kept coming back after every bouldering session. And it's still here. It only allowed me one single Beastmaker session. A great session, to be honest.

So, these are the facts. The boring facts, you want to add. Yes, as boring as I am bored. I am absolutely pissed off by my injuries, and I know that I should have addressed them earlier, but fuck off, I want to train and get strong, not sit on the sofa massaging my elbows. Clearly this hardman way of thinking doesn't pay off that much, and now I am sitting on the sofa, massaging an even worse elbow.

"Think long term" is what I tell me. The summer is long and I won't get much climbing, especially because of work. A few weekends in the Dolomites, that's what I long for, but they are still far away. So I am trying to recover my finger and elbow, and in this dark moment, the light came in the form of a polished bit of limestone in the British climbing mecca that Raven's Tor is. This hold represents an entire world for me, a world of training, dedication, myth and modesty. It gave me new energy to keep going to the gym, it allows me to rest my right arm, and it's a long term goal of mine, sitting perfectly in another long term plan, that is taking one month off during next fall to be spent in UK.

I don't care if I will take this month off (oh fucking hell I do care!), and I don't care if I will one arm that hold (oh fucking hell I will!). As long as it helps me keeping my psyche up during an injury, anything goes.

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Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: RESPECT
Post by: comPiler on May 08, 2010, 01:00:09 pm

RESPECT (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/05/respect.html)
8 May 2010, 9:20 am

Respect is one lost attitute nowadays, but it has great importance for me. It says alot about a person, and I want to be a respectful person, also at the rocks.

Years ago, I was watching a tennis match at the telly; well, more than a tennis match, was a tennis lesson: one of the players (whose names now are lost in the dust of my brain) was so superior, so inspired, that his poor opponent was being destroyed; it was something on the lines of the infamous final of Roland Garros back in 1988, when Steffi Graf won 6-0 6-0 in 32 minutes, tennis' shortest final ever.

Anyway, on the commentators' mouths the word "humiliation" appeared often, and it seemed well put at the moment. Everyone was thinking "Please, let him win at least this point!" and was considering kind of "unfair" to destroy an opponent with such energy and dedication: it seemed that the player wanted to put the other player's career to an end.

At some point though, they gave the mic to another commentator, a former tennis champion of the '70s, and he said one of the most inspiring things I have ever heard on sports. He said that it was just the opposite: far from being a humiliation, the stronger player was paying his best respect to the other one, putting all his energy into defeating him. This is the only way to demonstrate respect: giving everything you have to destroy your opponent. What most consider a sign of respect, doing just enough to win, like cat and mouse, is a horrible lack of respect and a true sign of presumptuousness.

When you destroy an opponent, although it may seem "unfair", you are telling him "listen man, I believe you are a strong opponent, I fear you and I respect you, so I won't risk anything with you, and I will cancel you from the Earth's face". On the other hand, if we don't put ourselves 100% into something, we want to say that we are superior to that task or opponent, we don't need to apply seriously.

So, I want to keep this attitude also in my climbing. If someone shows me a problem and I know I can flash it, I want to flash it, and to flash it so hard that it becomes another problem. In this I am not humiliating my friend, I am only paying my respect to the problem, especially if it's on plastic, because it has probably been conceived to be hard, especially for the setter.

Briefly, I want to apply all myself to a task, because I think that this is the only way to be respectful, so if this involves destroying a friend's problem, well so be it. I put too much of myself into climbing to let it become something not entirely serious. So, if I will ever get to the Tor, and if I will ever do that infamous one armer, be sure that I will try to do two; and if I will do two, I will try to do three, and so on, endlessly. Because Malc is a legend, and because he'd do the same, I am sure.

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Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: ALL QUIET ON THE LEFT HAND FRONT
Post by: comPiler on May 15, 2010, 07:00:06 pm

ALL QUIET ON THE LEFT HAND FRONT (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/05/all-quiet-on-left-hand-front.html)
14 May 2010, 8:50 am

My right elbow hasn't recoverd yet.

I try to keep my chin up, my head down and my eyes fixed on one step ahead of me, my mind on the long term goal.

It's very very hard for me, now, not to get really angry and depressed about my climbing. Ironically enough, I am realizing right now that in the previous weeks, when I was feeling weak, I wasn't THAT weak, and most of all I was climbing well, if not strong. So, to have to interrupt this kind of flow, really makes me sad. It would have been perfect to keep the good climbing style and then match it with some serious training, weights and fingerboarding. Oh well, I have to cope.

I keep doing my left arm training, and I see some progress. I am able to lock off on a slopey edge now, something that I could easily do on my right arm but not on the left one: at least this injury gives me the chance to really address my weak left arm, to regain some balance between the two arms. The other day I also tried to one arm that hold, nearly doing it. I went up with power, but then was unable to complete the pull, stopping a bit shy. Strange, given that the first part of the pull is generally the hardest to perform. I also did some other tests, finding that I can dead hang and one arm that hold very comfortably with just 3-5 kilos off. The hold I train on right now, I am sure, is nowhere close to being as hard as the hold of "Malc's One Armer", and this makes me shiver when I am alone in bed at night. Sometimes the goal seems getting closer, sometimes it seems so far away, becoming so distant in the fog, as if I was lost in a desert and could not reach the oasis that is at the line of the horizon. This really scares me, not because I am scared to fail, but because it will show how weak I am in comparison to other climbers. It's something completely different than, for example, being unable to climb a problem: here, there are so many different aspects thare relevant, while on that hold, you can only be strong and one arm it, or weak and not one arm it. So, it's a benchmark, completely separated from climbing, but also so closely related with it: if one is able to perform a single hand move at Font 8a, the road to something good gets wider, straighter, and faster, and I want to race down that road as fast as I can.

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Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SOME OTHER TIMES...
Post by: comPiler on May 19, 2010, 07:00:21 pm

SOME OTHER TIMES... (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/05/some-other-times.html)
19 May 2010, 1:15 pm

... some other times I think back to a few years ago, to the first years my girlfriend and I were together. Back in those days everything was so easy. We were living in a big house, we were free from bigger troubles and worries, and any given weekend was good to go climbing for a few days.

Meschia, Magic Wood, Cresciano, Annot; surfing in Corsica, or in Sardinia. Anything would do. Life was simple and straightforward. Climbing was so straightforward: get to the boulders, throw the pad under a rock and climb it. No name, no grade, no beta, nothing. I trained on my own, on my small fingerboard, with random trips to the old gym in Florence, maybe once a week, to get my ass kicked by punters here and there.

Everything is so different now. Work is my main concern, because, for the first time in my life, I really love what I do. Sadly I don't earn alot, but it's enough, and now that my girlfriend is working too, our lives are taking a completely new path. There's alot of time dedicated to training, still, although now I train in a big gym three or four times a week, with psyched climbers, that, anyway, still kick my ass, but that's another matter.

There's sadly little time dedicated to climbing on rock. And when I get that precious time, it's so different now: gone are the days of 30 problems climbed in a weekend. Sometimes I laugh "The less I climb, the better". My goal now is to get to a place, to seek my specific project, to crush it as quickly as possible, then move on to the next. I need a name, a grade, and often I would gladly appreciate some beta, to save me alot of wasted tries!!! While years back I wanted to get an overall good level during the whole season, now I train more specifically, with more dedication and responsibility. Sometimes I have come back from a trip without a single problem climbed. Some other times I have come back with a total amount of climbing of a couple of minutes, just enough to send a project. But every time, I have come back proud of what I put into my climbing.

So, what's the point? The point is that we never know what's next, until we make something to make it happen. As long as we lie in our lives, avoiding choices that could prove us to be wrong, everything comes cheap or even for free, but tasteless. When we make things happen, we expose ourselves to success or failure, to a sweet taste or to a bitter taste. My trick is to seek the bitterness into a sweet taste, and to seek the sweetness in a bitter taste.

One thing didn't change in these last years: I really miss my friends and I really miss spending more time with them.

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Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: grimer on May 19, 2010, 10:35:50 pm

Really enjoying your stuff, nibs :)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 20, 2010, 12:11:08 pm

hey grazie!!!

Title: THE ROAD TO THE TOR
Post by: comPiler on May 20, 2010, 07:00:08 pm

THE ROAD TO THE TOR (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/05/road-to-tor.html)
20 May 2010, 2:04 pm

The road to The Tor is very long and very hard. I feel I have just left.

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Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: PITCH BLACK
Post by: comPiler on May 30, 2010, 01:00:08 pm

PITCH BLACK (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/05/pitch-black.html)
30 May 2010, 9:41 am

Night vision. I have to get it. I have to learn it, and then I have to master it, and then I have to follow it through this moment.

In the last week I had been fooled that my elbow injury, maybe, was really healing: tuesday I had a poweful session with weights, in which I had no pain or discomfort, and I didn't even need to ice the elbow, afterwards, nor to use anti-inflammatory patches. I was happy and I started picturing myself cranking.

After a couple of days off, I had another session on friday, and despite some discomfort I was still feeling good, maybe I started picturing myself not cranking, but definitely enjoying climbing.

Yesterday I went climbnig. No, wait, I went bouldering. My goodness. I felt as weak as a man can feel, and after a while my elbow was fucking sore. I did nothing hard, I tried to slowly get into the moves, but as soon as something harder than climbing with a straight arm was needed, I felt a sharp pain that stayed with me for the rest of the (brief) session.

It felt horrible. I don't even know if I enjoyed the climbing I did. I am scared to say that I didn't. My friend Bengio was on fire (pretty much as usual), and not being able to take his energy and to climb at full power has been very very depressing. Sad but true, I don't enjoy doing easy stuff. Whatever the grade may be, I enjoy being at my limit, but not for an injury. I may have fun, and I did many times, doing a delicate traverse on a featureless slab, and I have fun fighting my way up powerful overhangs, but only because this is what I WANT to do, rather than what I HAVE to do because I'm injured.

So, how poor my condition is? Not only I can't climb, but when I get to climb I don't even enjoy it. Wow, to even write it, it sounds horrible.

"You have to be very disciplined" says Ben in "Stonelove". He also says "I don't like being weak".

Looking back at it, it's really been a hard day out. There were rays of light sometimes, but they were cancelled by an acheing elbow. I really really don't know what to do. I was hoping to enjoy climbing. I had waited for this day since weeks. I had planned a weekend in the Dolomites. I had dreams to fulfill, I had problems to crush and routes to try.

As some of you may have understood, I am sad. It's not uncommon, you know it if you are a regular here, to read sad lines. But one thing is being sad because you failed on something you should have done, one other very different thing is being sad because you couldn't even try.

My hope is time. Time and weather. It's already +30° here. 22° yesterday night at 10. Not exactly crushing conditions... and the summer hasn't even officially started. I have long boiling weeks ahead, alot of work and different things to do, that I will talk about sooner or later.

The climbing gym is going to be closed in a few weeks. The owners are going to split and noone knows when and where a new gym will open, if it will. I feel at Ground Zero again. Maybe even lower, because I still can't start over again until properly recovered. In this pitch black night I will center my vision on weights and fingerboarding. I need to move. I need to do something. I need to become strong. I need to crush hard things. I need a mental asylum.

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Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: DOLOMITES
Post by: comPiler on June 07, 2010, 07:00:09 pm

DOLOMITES (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/06/dolomites.html)
7 June 2010, 12:45 pm

The heavy approach.

The imposing Catinaccio.

Andrea leading the third pitch.

Yours truly at the top.

I spent the weekend in the Dolomites, and as usual it's been gorgeous. With a nice group of friends, also. With my friend Andrea I climbed the "Spigolo Maestro" VI, at the Catinaccio group, a nice short multipitch (six pitches), very exposed (it's a ridge) and both physical on the overhanging bits and technical, on grey wonderful slabs, where you always find the hold you need to progress right when you need it. Well protected on pitons, I only put one friend, before realizing I hadn't noticed a nearby piton. I am very proud of having led the crux pitch. I had a moment of tension when a fast party, led by an alpine guide, as we found out later, joined us at the third pitch belay: I was leading the delicate slab above, and I started hearing some muttering from below, clearly the fast party was complaining about us being slow. In fact, Andrea later told me, the guy got to the belay where he was, and quickly said "Oh, shit we have to wait now!"; Andrea, my very best friend, quickly answered: "Exactly, you should have gotten up earlier, as we did." End of story. Silence again, and I completed the pitch in glory.

I spent the following day all alone at Città dei Sassi, getting back in touch with bouldering. I tried "Dolomitenmann" 8a+, a left to right traverse out from "Mecca" 7c. I had pictures of James trying it last november, almost doing it in a few tries: well, came out that his sequence skipped at least three good holds and was plain brutal. I spent a long time finding my own sequence and managed to do all the moves quickly, but I hadn't enough in my tank to complete the whole long problem (20ish moves). I did it in two halves and in the doing also repeated "Mecca"; sadly, baby soft skin, temps in the high 20° and general lack of climbing fitness all together were too powerful enemies for me to defeat.

I had moments of rage and disappointment, but then realized I was in an amazing place, doing what I love, and my elbow was also feeling quite good. I kept on climbing on the problem until I couldn't do more than one move in a row, then with a monster grin of satisfaction, packed and left.

As the last mountains disappeared in the rearviewmirror, and I had only flatlands in front of me, I started reliving all the moments of these two days, and suddenly I found myself there in the mountains again, with the rough grey and orange rock under my fingers. And this is just magic.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-5864201407295488470?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: RIGOR MORTIS
Post by: comPiler on June 16, 2010, 01:00:25 am

RIGOR MORTIS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/06/rigor-mortis.html)
15 June 2010, 7:30 pm

Today I finally made it back under the Beastmaker. I think the video says it all.

... and a rather happy Totolore after a particularly satisfying set.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-501536512693989944?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: EYE CANDY
Post by: comPiler on June 18, 2010, 07:00:18 pm

EYE CANDY (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/06/eye-candy.html)
18 June 2010, 1:18 pm

Images courtesy of Filippo Galluzzi (http://www.filippogalluzzi.it/).

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2463183987080939588?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: ONE YEAR, ONE MONTH, WEIGHTS, A MISSION
Post by: comPiler on June 21, 2010, 07:00:15 pm

ONE YEAR, ONE MONTH, WEIGHTS, A MISSION (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/06/two-months-ago-i-did-my-first-serious.html)
21 June 2010, 12:43 pm

Two months ago I did my first serious Beastmaker session. Then I decided to call it quits for a while, to recover my elbow, and dedicated myself to moving weights around in a dusty, dark and stinky gym. I have been doing this for the last month, three or four times a week, and I think I got some result. I immediately noticed that somehow, during the winter, I had retained the power I had put up in past summer's cycle. So I started again from there.

I have trimmed the session in this month, cutting off useless exercises (useless in terms of climbing training) and adding some others. In particular, I started training my back, and recently my triceps, with super sets.

So I first do parallel dips and then cable extensions for the triceps, and I do bicep curls with a dumbbell followed by one armed pulley machine or one armed lat machine. It's strenuous but effective. I hadn't felt my biceps and back this worked in a lot of time. I still am very very cautious with my right arm, I try to pull down but avoid the fully locked position due to my elbow, which, despite the repeated beatings I give it, is getting slowly better. The combined one armed sessions at the fingerboard I did all April, also gave some results. My left arm is definitely overally stronger and more stable, and my bicep has changed its shape, which is a clearly good sign.

Yesterday I did my second Beastmaker session of the past week. Progress. I am currently training with 6 sets of 10" hangs for each chosen hold and grip. Still refining the session to obtain the most from power and skin, yesterday was a good one. I did:

warm up; big rungs; 20°; 30°; middle two; slopey monos; front two on small ones; back two; back two on small ones; small rungs; back three small rungs; small rungs again. Felt good and satisfied at the end, with a decent volume of 11 clean minutes of deadhangs, and also a quite high intensity, working two fingers at a time is hard for me, almost never done it before. It's good to train this way because you can go at the limit without having to add weight or go one armed, two things that I don't want to do anymore (the frist one), and for the moment (the latter).

One other good (or bad, depending on your opinion) thing about the Beastmaker, is that it's widely popular among strong climbers, this allowing everyone to share data. Speaking with Tom the other day I realized (once more), how weak my fingers are. Seeing footage of Ned campusing between the 30° and the small monos in the Climbing Works video tour (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw60euceU_k), made me realize how weak I am. Reading the Beasts' feats (http://www.beastmaker.co.uk/Hold%20RECORDS.htm), made me realize how weak I am. The road is so long, steep and difficult, and it's so easy to get overwhelmed by other people's power. But, despite being so depressing, playing with the big boys is the only way to grow up stronger. I don't want to be the king of the gym, I want to go around and touch many different kinds of rock and climb many different, hard problems. I go to the gym to fail, to be shit and to feel shit. Not to succeed. Or not mainly.

Sometimes I am a bit sad because I feel the need to put more effor into my climbing: recently I feel like I've been a bit slack, not traininfgproperly or seriously, even though I know that this wouldn't be fair to say. I have trained as hard as I could with my injury, but this thought lets me not satisfied. I would like to dedicate my entire day to climbing and training, doing more and more, but sadly it's not possible.

Even having the time needed, I don't know if my body would allow me, but for sure I would try.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-7070513618042991958?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: HOT ROCK, BUT STILL ROCK
Post by: comPiler on June 30, 2010, 01:01:12 am

HOT ROCK, BUT STILL ROCK (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/06/hot-rock-but-still-rock.html)
29 June 2010, 7:55 pm

I spent the last weekend at Amiata, in a super posh B&B that my girlfriend chose. The plan was to bake in the sun and chill in the swimming pool, for her; to destroy hard boulders, for me.

Predictably, she had more success, but despite a months long layoff due to the elbow, the lack of specific training, baby skin and hot, aggressive rock, I definitely pulled.

At first, I was feeling very nervous; it was as if everything was new. I felt unsure about doing moves that didn't seem that hard; I felt unsure to be able to actually complete a problem without screwing something; I felt unsure if it was a good idea to really give it a serious try, or if it could have been better for me to hide in the shadow of my elbow injury and step back from stage.

Predictably again, I decided to give it a go. On the first problem, I was very tense. The move off the pinch seemed hard and as I tried the topout I immediately started to have problems, until I found a sequence to the right side of the boulder. So I took my chances, stepped under the small overhang and concentrated. Then I pulled on, and I felt everything easy as it once was. Despite this, I did manage to screw it on the topout, due to not being used anymore to climbing. I was tempted to take the tick nonetheless, the move that I fumbled is easy and I was scared to try again the bottom move, the slap to the sloper. Then I thought that I had to get used again to the pressure, that I had to get confident again, to see myself doing every move and to believe. So I did it again and crushed it.

This brought great joy and satisfaction. I had previously cleaned another line to the right, dynamic slaps and compressions between the arete and some pinches, but the rock had already taken its toll from my fingertips and my body was tired, I didn't have much core tension and could barely figure out the bottom moves. The top ones will be hard, but I will do them and it will be a great problem.

I walked back down to another small overhang.

Months ago I had been there, and I had done the problem, but I couldn't complete the sitter I wanted to add. So I set to work, but every hold was too painful, and despite getting the last crimp twice, I had to admit defeat.

It was time to get back to the pool.

Sunday, with my already acheing tips, I found myself again there. I warmed up, and felt comfortable under the pressure of wanting to do the sitter first go. It wasn't a flash, in my mind it was even harder than a flash attempt. On a flash, you can blame everything for blowing it: a wrong sequence, a suddenly greasy hold, or whatever. I couldn't. I knew exactly what I had to do, how every move and every hold would feel, how hard. So it was with great joy that I did it first go, cutting loose even if I didn't want to, but climbing it well.

I went back to the problem of the saturday, and added a sitter to that also.

Finally, I went back to another sector to give a try to another project of mine, a traverse on slopey holds. I made progress and I felt happy and grateful. I felt grateful to myself, because I never let go and kept my faith in a better future, even when I was feeling sad and I found everything unfair.

So I came home with new problems done, and, which is even better, new projects to bash my head against.

My elbow was tired but fine, so maybe that better future has finally arrived and I am ready to welcome it.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-6916760810335356191?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on June 30, 2010, 01:41:10 pm

excuse me,
could someone tell me if the video on the blog post works properly? I checked it out but it seemed to stop at around 1.50
thanks.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: slackline on June 30, 2010, 02:03:32 pm

Nice short vid Nibs.

Streams the full 3m54secs here ok.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on June 30, 2010, 05:40:08 pm

ok thank you!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Richie Crouch on June 30, 2010, 06:06:14 pm

Worked fine Lore.

I love the slap move on the first problem :thumbsup:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on July 01, 2010, 12:46:19 pm

thanks rich!!!
I'll watch you static that move when you come south!!!

Title: GUILTY
Post by: comPiler on July 06, 2010, 07:00:16 pm

GUILTY (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/07/guilty.html)
5 July 2010, 8:16 pm

I feel very guilty for not training as hard as I want. After an easier week, now I would really like to train very hard and very specifically, also.

I can more or less do the first thing, at least with the weights, but I can't really do the second, or at least I can't do anything else than the Beastmaker (which is, anyway, a great thing).

The wall closed last weekend, and now they are dismantling everything. Noone really knows when and where they will reopen; rumors are that they will build a mega wall and everything, but also that they will move away from town: given that the wall was two minutes on bike from my house, that's no wonder.

I keep moving weights in the sweaty, filthy gym and can see some progress. After a short week, with one day dedicated to weights, one to toproping and the rest to drinking with my friends for the Palio, yesterday I hit the weights again and found myself in good power regime. On the bench press, I jumped from 6 to 10 reps of my previously usual weight, then I added 5 more kilos and could still do 2 reps, after just a 3 minutes rest.

I think I have refined my session. Bench press, then 2 exercises to work the triceps in super sets, then back and biceps with various techniques. Yesterday I did the pulley machine one handed, four sets, and then 7 sets of bicep curls, using two different grips. Unluckily my elbow is still achey if I do the normal curl, with palms pointing up. Finally, shoulder and abs.

Today the menu offers back again, probably lat machine one handed and biceps again, still don't know whether in super sets or not.

Then, I am trying to get into better eating habits, this meaning I'm trying to eat a bit less. Not to lose weight, that is one thing that I don't want to do, but to feel better, and not like a T-Rex after eating 1/4 of his bodyweight in one meal.

My sunday Beastmaker session was very good. I am still doing sets of 10" for 6 times for many different holds; currently:

- big rungs;

- 20°;

- 30°;

- mid two, good;

- slopey mono;

- front two, small;

- back two;

- mid two, small;

- small rung;

- back three, small rung;

- small rung.

Last sunday I changed things a bit, to fight a climbing-deprived weekend. On the bigger holds and on those on which I'm stronger, instead of deadhanging 10" I do 5 pull ups, going up and down by the second. On harder holds, I do one set deadhanging and one pulling, and on the hardest ones (monos and back two) I just try to do as many pulls as I can and then I deadhang to complete the 10".

I liked this session and will keep it; it's both fingery and physical (d'oh! could you guess it?) and left me pleasantly worked. It was nice, on monday, to feel my back a bit achey.

So, everything is NOT lost. The summer is long, the gym is closed and I am super eager to step it up. I wonder how the others will survive the period without the gym, then I think that mostly they won't care. The idea of training as hell to boulder 8b is not shared by many, or simply they have less mind issues than me.

My goal is to get out of this summer stronger than ever. The lack of training facilities only makes my will stronger. Strong mind and strong body. Is there anything else?

No.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2116742106231667140?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: OMPHALOS
Post by: comPiler on July 11, 2010, 01:00:24 am

OMPHALOS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/07/omphalos.html)
10 July 2010, 7:10 pm

When I am at the bar, I am the center of the universe. I stand there and I watch people pass by. I observe every glance of the barman, I listen to every word every customer pronounces. And I judge humanity upon what I see when at the bar.

So I can see someone asking for a coffee at 8 pm, which is a legitimate thing, but then I can see the same person eating tons of peanuts, chips and everything's on the bar. And that is NOT legitimate. No finger food with coffee. We are civilized people.

Or I can see the fat girl who, after three dishes full of sandwiches, omelette and pasta, is shy to have another drink, because "cocktails contain too much sugar". But I can also see nice couples, or beautiful ladies, well dressed and polite.

So, my friends, go to your local bar, and don't be shy to ask for something a bit particular (maybe not a Singapore Sling when the barman is busy with dozens of customers, or he will hate you forever. The Singapore Sling, however, should only be sipped while in Singapore, with a perfectly shaped 18 year old prostitute to your side), because your barman will be happy to make you your favourite cocktail, will be happy to be doing not the usual gin-and-vodka-and-amaretto-shit, or whatever the tosser wants, to reach unconsciousness as fast as possible.

Remember, when at the bar, be cool, be stilish and be polite, because I could be there, right elbow on the bar, judging humanity.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-4290700953368207929?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: CENSORSHIP
Post by: comPiler on July 14, 2010, 07:00:10 pm

CENSORSHIP (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/07/censorship.html)
14 July 2010, 2:56 pm

Many of you, my reader friends, who daily wait to receive the Truth from Totolore, may have noticed that now the comments, before being published, are going to be moderated, i.e. I will read them before they will appear.

This is obviously not to discourage them, but only to avoid the spamming that I was receiving recently.

So please my friends, feel free to comment more than ever. Thank you.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-9153825778866279992?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: THOUGHTS OF SAD DAYS
Post by: comPiler on July 19, 2010, 07:00:18 pm

THOUGHTS OF SAD DAYS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/07/thoughts-of-sad-days.html)
19 July 2010, 12:47 pm

After reading the entry title, at this moment you still can close the page and read something else. What will come is not fun at all.

You sure? Ok, so here you go.

I am both sad and angry. My relationship is falling apart, and despite all the efforts I put in, nothing seems to work. Every argument, whatever its origin, ends up the same way: climbing is the enemy and it has to be slaughtered and sacrificet on the altar of love.

Simply, this will never, never, never fucking never happen. I will sacrifice everythying to my climbing, because, as I have said one million times, I AM MY CLIMBING.

The roots of this situation are lost in time, and despite our efforts to find a fil rouge that could help us understand things better, things are really at the end right now. I have found myself in the same situation before, and with the same girl, but now hope escapes me, I feel I am being forced to renounce to things I love, and I simply don't want it anymore.

Obviously, this is my point of view. If you want to hear her version to be fair, ask her to write a blog.

And now fuck off you all.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-8476329510078306094?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: robertostallioni on July 19, 2010, 07:26:08 pm

John Terry, Wayne Bridge and I are all on

(http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac353/robertostallioni/getCreationPreviewImageaspx.png?t=1279563927)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on July 19, 2010, 08:50:38 pm

;D
thank you, that was a good laugh and I needed it!
but beware, I may need a home soon.
hey, jokes apart,
grazie.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Dr T on July 19, 2010, 09:32:43 pm

Come to England
Just don't come to Surrey
Believe me, Surrey sucks
Basically go North from London and don't stop 'til you hit rock
That's what I'd do if it wasn't for things like jobs and morgages etc etc
:furious:

Title: GRAZIE
Post by: comPiler on July 22, 2010, 01:00:05 pm

GRAZIE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/07/grazie.html)
22 July 2010, 11:05 am

I really want to thank you all guys. Tom, Rich, Lagers, Unai, Filo, and all the others who didn't comment but spent a thought on this.

I was thinking that maybe it's been a very bad idea to write about such private issues, maybe a true gentleman would have sacked it and kept going. Maybe.

For sure I was feeling very bad when I wrote the entry, and I was feeling very very lonely. After all, I think that it was just a way to be hugged by friends. I think I have stolen you your time, do I really have the right to whine on here, and to make poor Unai waste his time in NZ thinking about me? No, I don't have this right, but I'm a very selfish person and when I need something I try to get it.

I needed attention and support, and I got them both, and also a bit of a crack in the back of my head (thanks Unai!).

Things didn't change much in the last week, but some tension released for sure. I won't give up easily, my relationship is fundamental for me: I was with my girlfriend when I topped out on my Font 8a, and this means something.

Over and out for the moment, but really thenk you all.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-8315945643127580591?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?
Post by: comPiler on July 31, 2010, 01:00:20 am

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/07/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go.html)
30 July 2010, 9:20 pm

I feel happy. I don't know if I am happy, but I feel happy.

I again got home from work smashed, and again I didn't have enough in me to train seriously, so I didn't, and I feel sorry for that.

My weekend plans are for Amiata top tomorrow and wasting time on sunday, it will be going to a pool to be more precise, but still a waste of time to me.

So, with a long part of the summer still to go, poor skin and feeling weak, my evening has not been very nice. After dinner, though, I took my laptop, put on my headphones and listened to a couple of dozens songs from The Clash and The Who, and I have to say that now I feel happy.

Because while listening to that beats, I still felt the same energy inside, the same bomb going off, the same gigantic "Fuck off you all!" that I had inside when I was 17, and I understood, once again, that I won't change for fuck, I will always be the same asshole despite age and work and everything, and that noone will ever make me do something I don't want to do.

I know they'll never catch me, and I am free again.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2597706066980589146?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: A SMILE, FINALLY!
Post by: comPiler on August 01, 2010, 07:00:08 pm

A SMILE, FINALLY! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/08/smile-finally.html)
1 August 2010, 1:28 pm

I had a good day yesterday on rock at Amiata top with my good friend Fabio. I did the usual problems, put up the 13th eliminate on "Il Motorino di Mario" (it's worth mentioning that there are four holds in total on the block), then proceeded to repeat "Il Manfano", a problem that I had done last summer, but that I also wanted to repeat, probably because a foothold crumbled and made the move a bit more exigent in precision, if not power. Anyway I did it third go, and three goes were enough to shred my skin, but the problem is so good. I felt solid, chose a higher foothold that made the first move a bit harder but saved a foot movement, and that made all the difference. I stuck the pocket, adjusted, and went on to the top. I let go a yell that bounced down the valley for hours and for a moment I felt satisfied again.

As soon as I sat down again and took off my shoes, I thought about how much I was missing my girlfriend in that moment.

Then it was time to climb more, but my skin was hurting, so I decided to skip the volume and just try the eliminate that Tom had created and left for me to try, last september when he came here. I had given it a few tried without sticking the third move, to a bad crimp, so when I didn't even stick the first move I was a bit shocked. Instead of crying, I took my time to analyze the hold carefully to understand the perfect finger placement: it's an index finger mono with a little bit for middle and ring finger on some kind of slopey dish. Nasty.

The study worked and I did the move next try, going on to the crimp and almost latching the final move to the jug. I fell on the last move another two or three times, but at that point my skin was too poor and I was very tired. The problem, despite being very short, squeezes quite a lot of core tension from your body and I was done.

So, finally a good day out and some smiles on my face and on Fabio's face, who ticked his first 6c+/7a.

Tom, you'll never have your pants back, they're cool, they're comfy and they're stylish, so now they're also mine.

Here's a small video, sadly from phone camera. Keep the faith.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-8817054777748062129?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: STAY SANE INSIDE INSANITY
Post by: comPiler on August 07, 2010, 01:00:04 pm

STAY SANE INSIDE INSANITY (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/08/stay-sane-inside-insanity.html)
7 August 2010, 8:31 am

Lines from songs I love keep resounding in my ears, recently. This time it's not punk or hardcore or metal, it's the lines from "Eddie's Teddy" and "Don't Dream It, Be It", both from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".

I am so deeply tied to this movie and its soundtrack: two years ago, when I made the move of moving to the sea to keep my Public Notary career, a move that later proved itself to be a humoungus error, that move meant also saying goodbye to the wall, the campusboard and all the gym's crew, to start training again all alone on a small fingerboard. At the time, I still hadn't seen the light under the form of a Beastmaker, so everything was even more difficult, but that fingerboard helped me to stay sane inside insanity. In the rainiest spring of the century, as both Tom and Rich, who later came to visit me, can testify, every night I would come home at 8.30 pm after 11 hours working, I would change into shorts and tanktop, would put on that soundtrack and would pull wooden edges or plastic slopers until failure, something that would happen sooner in my fingers and muscles than in my mind.

Now I have a Beastmaker, and again I often find myself breathing under it, eyes glued on the stopwatch, curious to see if I'll manage to see another set of hangs or pulls. I try to stay sane inside insanity again, but now I want to do more.

I want to stop dreaming it, I want to be it.

If I want to climb my projects, and I want to, I think I have to put in more effort. That's what makes me going now. The more I struggle, the happier I am.

I was reading Dave MacLeod's book the other day, and I stumbled on these lines "The best athletes often have something that 99% of everyone else doesn't. They love the 'grind'. They love the long, repetitive, drawn out and seemingly unrewarding years between the excitement of the novice and the success of being at the pinnacle of performance".

That's true, at least for me. Of course I am not a top athlete as far as objective performances go, but I feel I am a true athlete in my mind. I love to train. I love to fail and to feel weak because it pushes me on. I love being challenged and feeling everyone is against me (bear in mind, it's not true at all, I have many people around who love me), I love feeling alone (which sometimes is all true).

So at the venerable age of 38 and half, I am certain that I am still far from reaching my true potential, and I am certain that sooner or later I will clip that chain and I will top out on that boulder.

So my friends, dont' dream it, be it. I wish you to succeed easily on your projects. I wish you to find yourselves on top of that boulder, or clipping that chain, as if you'd done nothing, easily, with no training or suffering.

But I still wish myself to succeed after a long and hard fight, because I know that if I do so, I'll never stop.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-5310756163123509958?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: TO MALC, OR NOT TO MALC, THAT IS THE QUESTION
Post by: comPiler on August 15, 2010, 07:00:07 pm

TO MALC, OR NOT TO MALC, THAT IS THE QUESTION (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/08/to-malc-or-not-to-malc-that-is-question.html)
14 August 2010, 9:29 am

As you may or may not know, I have recently ticked a couple of lines; one was a repeat, but with a broken foothold and a different exit, and one was "I Mulini", Tom's project for me from last year.

These two problems, that together pack in the mindblowing amount of nine moves, are snatchy and painful, and overall hard. I have some grades in my mind, but due to the particular nature of the problems, I will keep them in my mind for a while.

They don't count anyway: they could also be Font 6a, the fact is that I found them hard, I tried them without doing them for a while, and then I did them. That's a personal progress with no doubt.

So, what's the point?

As you do know, I am a bit obsessed by the power aspect of climbing. I know I'm not exactly weak, but for sure I don't feel strong, when I compare myself to the true strong ones.

So, right now, I am in a precarious situation: I feel weak but I know I have ticked. Hmm... should I resist the call of the sirens flattering my ego, chanting that I am a strong one, and inducing me to go straight to my projects; or shouldn't I?

You already know. I will resist.

Between "to Malc" or "not to Malc" I will always choose "to Malc". Because Malc not only is a beast and a lifetime hero of mine, but because he is always ticking, also.

So, he embodies the two aspects. Not only he's the creator of "Malc's One Armer", a footless one armer on a non existant hold - a feat that some may dismiss as trivial - but he's also the one that tore Cresciano apart. He's the one who chalked up mid-crux on "Hubble". He's the one. Full stop.

As for the one armer, it's a matter of potential: being able to perform one single move at Font 8a, opens up a new world of opportunities, and if you don't understand this, close this blog and don't come back, because you won't find anything for you here.

The world has a limited number of problems. The current grading scale stops at around Font 8c. But our own possibilities, in our minds, are endless. So, I don't want to simply climb the hardest boulder on Earth (Keith, you bastard made me change my mind, do you still remember our conversation in Font?), I want to endlessly progress. And progress can be infinite if we understand it as a goal in itself, rather than a mean to reach a certain grade. That’s why, despite being happy, very happy for the last lines I climbed, I want to concentrate on how weak I feel, on how bad I climb, and on how far away from my goals I am. Because my goals are very hard. But my goals push me forward, bring me under the fingerboard, or in the gym, or doing laps on a toprope. My goals drive me to progress, and my progresses, physical or even just mental ones, take me closer and closer to my goals: so close that at a given point my progresses will cross their path with the path of my goals and I will reach those goals. Luckily, at that moment, my breathing will slow down again, my yells will disappear, and I will picture in my mind a new target, a new goal. This new goal will be the same as ever, the only true goal that I have: progressing.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-299691135932045770?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: THE DOLOMITES MAN
Post by: comPiler on August 23, 2010, 07:00:08 pm

THE DOLOMITES MAN (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/08/dolomites-man.html)
23 August 2010, 11:25 am

The air was fresh and the sun was rising from behind the Piz Ciavazes mountain. The first rays of light cut the valley in slices, through the mist of the early morning. It was 7 am, we were already at the base of the route and my head was exploding. I could barely concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other, my brain was a cloud of obsessive thoughts, and I was in real pain.

When the alarm went off at 5 am, I felt sure I was going to make it, and I got up ready for the task. How far from reality I was. The offer of the day was the "Dimai Route" on the Punta Grohman, 3156 meters. Two hours approach on a 45° slope and ridge; then a 150 easy terrain to be climbed unroped (a climber died here in July); then 13 pitches; then 7 abseils, with downclimbing up to III; then another hour down the talus.

My mind was producing images of the long horrible way down, and they were terrifying images. I knew I wasn't going to make it, and I told my friends. They looked at me and understood. No one complained, although they could have, because now they were a party of three, so slower and less enjoyable. But my friends are real friends, and the first thing they asked me was: "can you make it to the car on your own?". I said yes, and sat down. I cheered them as they disappeared on the exposed ridge and, taking all the concentration I was capable of, I started the way down. On the grassy slope, after the ridge, I lay down, and with the sun now fully out of the mountain, I fell asleep. There wasn't a single sound in the whole valley, and I started to compose myself.

I knew the epic was nearly over, but I also knew that another epic was just about to start: I wanted to go bouldering now, but the few hours of sleep, and the effort of the walk in had left me knackered. I knew that despite it being only 8.30 am, my day was already over.

I got to the car park and tried to sleep in the car. It was too hot already and too noisy, the first trekkers arriving. So I pulled my finger out and went to the hut. I ordered a double, long coffee in a big cup and a slice of Strudel. I gulped everything down then had another long coffee. I packed my shit and went to the boulders, prepared to have a nap on the crashpads and then play my cards on my project, the famous traverse that I have been wanting to do since last year, when I also watched James try it.

I had tried it in early June, but was unable to put together its 18 moves. You first have to do "Mecca" a hard 7c, then keep going right on far apart edges. Brilliant climbing.

I got there and my first thought wasn't about sleeping, but about cleaning the holds and drying out the many wet ones. My head still a bit of a haze, I touched the rock and felt a strange, pleasant sensation. I found a better sequence on two movements and soon after all I could think about was giving it a go. I tried to sleep a bit, but I felt a urge to climb it. I just couldn't rest, and it wasnt' because of the coffee, because my heart was slow and I was relaxed. I was feeling something. Minutes later, after a couple of fumbled attempts and finally finding the right footholds for the lower part, I had crushed it. Easily. Well not easily, but I had climbed very well, aggressively and precisely. It was over. Another one.

Now I have climbed all the problems I wanted to do there, and this incredible feeling has been with me for the whole Sunday, the day originally planned for the assault. A mixture of satisfaction, joy and emptyness.

Despite feeling very bad in the morning, I went there, I kept the fucking faith and I got it. Needless to say, I couldn't sleep for the rest of the day, and my head really started to hurt, I think the pressure released and my body finally allowed itself to be sick.

My friends had an 11 hours marathon on the route, with a 5 hours long descent. The route was dangerous with rockfall, and Andrea had a close one exploding right to his side.

Just as I was starting to worry, I saw them sliding down the talus. Minutes later we were at the hut, gulping down beers and Radler. Miraculously, the alcohol released my excruciating headhache, and I finally felt good.

At night I slept like a baby.

I have so many thoughts in my mind right now. I wanted to do the problem, but maybe I wasn't ready to do it so quickly. I wasn't prepared. Now I think about what I've done, and cannot fit in the bigger picture, unless I think back to all the time I've dedicated to it in one way or another. I have done hundreds of pullups, hours of deadhangs, and even the odd route. I haven't stopped thinking about the goal for a second. Progressing, progressing, progressing.

My progression had crossed again the path of my projects and I have ticked. Now it's time to move on, even though I have to say that I feel very very empty now.

The problem is given 8a+. Is it? Before doing it, it was. Now, I dont' know. Did it seem easy? I don't know. I just did it: it's transformed now, it became just a thing that I wanted to do and I have done.

So in my personal grading scale, it gets the "F" grade: "fatto" - "done". Again, I want to think in terms of progression instead of in terms of reaching a specific goal: I was impressed, a few weeks back, when I found myself reading these same words on Dave MacLeod's book (page 119, just in case you want to check).

Fuck me, I really really don't understand this all: it's got no sense at all. I shouldn't have done it this way. It's a nonsense.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1620120842720508026?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SILENT STRIKE, LOUD THOUGHTS
Post by: comPiler on August 25, 2010, 07:00:16 pm

SILENT STRIKE, LOUD THOUGHTS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/08/silent-strike-loud-thoughts.html)
25 August 2010, 1:01 pm

When one is not able to understand, I think the best solution is to pause, and to let things settle, before getting to wrong assumptions. I don't try to force myself into finding an answer, I don't push myself into a deep self-analysis: I let my feelings, rather than my brain, guide me.

As you know, I came back from the Dolomites with a mixture of satisfaction, surprise and emptyness. In my mind, I have a whole lot of quite obsessive thoughts, the main one being that the problem I have climbed cannot be 8a+. I don't know why I bother, but I simply think that I can't climb that grade that way, because it's bloody hard, and on that problem I didn't have such a hard time. I was alone, also, as I am when I train. I don't know anyone who's climbed the problem and the only other reference that I have is that James didn't flash it. This being alone, leaves a lot of room, in my mind, the mind of a man who's never sure about himself, for many doubts. Sometimes these doubts must leave room to facts: for instance, when I can hang a hold that a friend can't. I know I am not weak, but one thing is to hang a hold and a completely different thing is getting a problem done.

I say it again, I don't even understand why I bother. I think it could be that I don't want to be too happy for something that could be not worth it. Again, happiness is happiness and it's always worth it. I found the answer, this time, in thinking that that problem was something I liked, something I wanted to climb, and that I did it, while previously I couldn't. The grade should lose importance, under this perspective; sadly it does not. Grades are important for me because they are a measure of improvement: I am happy to add a rung to my campusing; I am happy to add 5 seconds to a deadhang; but I am far happier to climb a problem that everyone else find hard, or to jump up a grade in the Font scale.

In all this process of self questioning, suddenly something put me on the right path to make some progress into this labyrinth of my mind: in the last few days, I've been feeling completely spent, empty. The sense of satisfaction is still there, but emptyness is much more.

I must have done something really important and big for myself, if now I feel so empty, I could almost say depressed.

Again, this is a very incomplete answer. I think the only useful answer is to move on to the next goal. This time, maybe, it coud be smart to be ready to accept success. Because success is what I'll have.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-7447478010435438034?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: FRIENDS AND BULLS
Post by: comPiler on September 12, 2010, 07:00:07 pm

FRIENDS AND BULLS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/09/friends-and-bulls.html)
12 September 2010, 2:40 pm

The lack of posts, as of late, is due to one simple fact. I had nothing interesting to say. With this, I don't want to say that everytime I post here I say something worth reading, but simply that I have something that it's interesting for me.

I have trained. That's as interesting as it is boring to read about.

I have sport climbed. That's interesting, because I enjoyed it alot again and also got good results, in terms of a nice 7c+ done second go.

Then I have trained more.

The reason I am posting now, is because, not finding a partner to go sport climbing today, I am here at home, reflecting over what happened yesterday.

Briefly, I climbed to new problems that I had spotted months ago. The first one is a powerful arete under a 50° overhang, that I called "Islero".

The other one is a cool eliminate traverse on slopey crimps that I called "Love and Peace da Isa B.".

I am sad I don't have video footage of "Islero" because it's one of the best problems I've ever done. The wind was blowing from NE, and despite the wood being humid, I couldn't complain about conditions. Success, once again, happened because of the presence of friend Giulio, who had already spotted me on "Tailgunner" in march, giving me the needed confidence to slap for the jug, with the rocks below menacing my ass in case of a miss.

It's hard to describe the happiness I felt after the ascent. I woke up knowing I was going to do it, but as usual when I actually tried the moves, reality kicked in. I kept the fucking faith and kept myself at it, and before I could reflect over it, it was done and I was screaming on top of the boulder. It's a drug. But much more powerful.

I named the problem after the 495 kilos Miura bull that killed Manolete, Spain's greatest torero of all time. With this name I don't want to celebrate the death of a man, but simply pay my respects to the huge display of power and agility that Islero was.

Still high from this much awaited success, I took my time to reflect, and to reap the reward for my dedication. A few sips of Bowmore 8 Years Old from the flask my girlfriend gave me a few weeks ago - just when I was thinking about buying one, shocking indeed - launched me instantly into the stratosphere. Then I packed and left.

Not much later I had done also the traverse, and all I could think about was the great day I had just had.

Those two problems may not be hard, but they meant something for me. The first time I tried the traverse I was shouting at every move. Yesterday I almost flashed it and did it second go, a perfect silent strike.

I realizied that, despite being at a deserted crag, I was not alone. My girlfriend was there, with the flask. My friend Andrea had given me the whisky for Xmas. I had my number 8 arm band from Tom and Rich, and in my mind "it tastes like victory" from Keith was resounding loudly.

I was on top. I was so fucking proud of myself. I gave everything I had in terms of commitment, and I got the prize.

The more I put into climbing, the more I get from it.

Now I could tell you about the routes I want to do, the route I wanted to be doing today, and the boulders that live in my mind and in my dreams. But I don't want to make this blog too interesting.

Oh yes, I've grown a beard.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2252824877813967666?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: a dense loner on September 12, 2010, 07:38:59 pm

nice. i've got a german pr0n beard

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on September 12, 2010, 07:53:06 pm

excellent: it allows you to keep your socks and adidas on, when making love!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Jim on September 12, 2010, 08:01:08 pm

I'm too old now for making love, but I also have a beard and I also got into sport climbing and am enjoying it.
Lore, you need to get your arse over to the UK again. The cave is calling you. I will be there on wednesday

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on September 13, 2010, 02:05:46 pm

Jim my friend,
I am constantly thinking about coming back. I hope my boss will give me a couple of weeks off, my plan is to come over the first two weeks of november. I want to make it this year, last year I didn't plan it well enough and now I highly regret it.

Title: PICS FROM SWIZZY
Post by: comPiler on October 03, 2010, 01:00:06 pm

PICS FROM SWIZZY (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/10/pics-from-swizzy.html)
3 October 2010, 9:52 am

Satisfaction at the end of the weekend.

Testing testing 1,2,3...

A new problem on "Souvenir" boulder.

"Souvenir". I decided to skip the mono, a move far too precarious for a problem so far away from home. Hold the sloper and dyno to the jug, it will be.

An excellent 7a and an excellent pic from Fede.Filo spotting.

So, Chironico came and went. My strongest memory is a deep feeling of happiness, for sharing perfect boulders and good times with some very good friends, after too long. Just at the beginning of the first day, I immediately understood I wasn't going to be able to stick to a project: we were a buch of psyched beasts, and the desire to climb as much as possible was too strong even for me.

I didn't try anything for more than 5 minutes, despite feeling very strong especially the saturday morning, before skin loss and lactic acid made a strong couple. In hindsight I think I sould have tried "Komilator" because it was early morning and cool, and I fondled the holds and felt really really strong. It's all in the mind, so I think I could have followed the call. Anyway.

Everyone ticked for two days, with an impressively fast ascent of "Birds" from Filo. I got home smashed with a big bunch of 7's flashed. It's been good and relaxing to release the pressure of projects for once, and just enjoy the volume, which luckily always teamed with quality.

This pressure will come back for sure very soon, and I will be comfortable with it.

So after this trip I took four days off to recover skin and muscle fibers, and went back to the Beast for some quick recruitment.

It was a long time since the last time, especially the one arm dead hangs, so I was eager to test my strength loss.

Surprise surprise: I found strength gains. I held the 45° slopers three times, even if for just two or three seconds and with a slight nestle, but it's been a huge huge step forward. Then I managed to hang the back two pockets for what seemed an eternity, easily in the 30 seconds range. I held the 35° slopers one armed with some ease and also the small three finger pockets. The way is clearly this one.

I went on rock yesterday, in humid, terrible conditions, but again with good friends Mark and Bengio, pullers of Amiata rock. Spirits were high, fingers were strong and despite not being able to repeat the sitter of "Mind the Gap" (7c?), I beasted into submission the proper sitter to "Islero". The original problem started from a rock, because I wanted to get it done and because it's logical, but it's also logical not to sit on the rock and grab the lowest holds. At the end of the day, frustrated (nomen omen? surely not) from the other problem, I thought "let's try it" and magically did all the moves, quickly linking them from the sitter to the last third of the problem. Now I cant' wait to get back on it to give it full birth. "Islero" will become a perfect sitter and probably an easy 8a.

Next weekend I will go to Rome for "U2" in concert, then probably Amiata sunday for some bullfighting.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1374327148200105658?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: FRIENDS WHO HELP
Post by: comPiler on October 09, 2010, 01:00:18 pm

FRIENDS WHO HELP (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/10/friends-who-help.html)
9 October 2010, 7:57 am

Thanks to Toni from Toscoclimb (http://www.toscoclimb.it), my shoe fetish has just been renewed and feeded.

(http://ukbouldering.com/board/file:/C%3A/DOCUME~1/utente/IMPOST~1/Temp/moz-screenshot.png)(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-8261414175038138821?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: THE PLAN
Post by: comPiler on October 10, 2010, 01:00:07 pm

THE PLAN (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/10/plan.html)
10 October 2010, 7:28 am

My friend is once again late, so maybe I can use this spare time to collect a few thoughts.

I have a plan.

Today I go to Amiata new sector, where I climb "Islero sit start".

Tomorrow I will leave everything else in terms of climbing behind, and I will only be thinking, breathing, eating, dreaming my two projects.

I think this is the first time I speak so openly about them, and somehow it's liberating. The fact that my projects could be a strong climber's warmup is of no importance: those are projects for me, so I have to prepare for them as they require. The other fact, that I no longer have a wall to train and climb at, is again of no importance: I will do the best that I can with what I have, and that must do. How can I tell? It's very simple: because I will keep doing it until it will do.

I have a bouldering project, which is climbing Font 8b.

And for the first time in a decade, I have a sport climbing project, which is climbing an 8c.

These two dreams will come into reality under the gentle forms of "Amber" in Brione, and "Sanjski Par" in Misja Pec.

There are many reasons for my choice of these two fine pieces of climbing. For "Amber", it's because it's beautiful, and although maybe a bit complex on the logistics, it's perfect for me because I can climb it on my own, without having to search for a spotter, a thing that I require very often and for sure I will need for my other projects that are close to where I live. It may sound as a paradox, but it's easier for me to drive 400 kms on my own only to go and do "Amber", than to find two spotters for a boulder that is one hour away. I know there are friends who would come, but climbing Font 8b will be hard on its own, I don't need the extra pressure of always finding a partner.

Then, "Sanjski Par". Another project that is hours and hours away. I don't care. I spent one of my best climbing weekends there with Tadej this past winter, and I just fell in love with the route. It's everything I search in a route: short, powerful, low to the ground and historical.

Now it's time. Oh yeah it's time.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2523996678822230154?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: THE ACTION
Post by: comPiler on October 12, 2010, 01:00:39 am

THE ACTION (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/10/action.html)
11 October 2010, 6:06 pm

Yesterday I went to Amiata new sector, where I climbed "Islero sit start". I had a plan, and that was the result.

It's been no gimmie. I was sure I was going to do it, but I must admit that at times doubt creeped into my fragile mind.

I also made a few schoolboy errors. I decided to warm up on easy problems, and that's what I did, but that warm up turned to be many problems long. I also managed to get me a microscopic but incredibly deep slice in my right ring finger; the idea of having to tape it up wasn't very appealing, given that "Islero" only offers slopers to be compressed, but I had to. Then, somehow in Chironico I managed to lose both my brushes, and I didn't have my brush stick. My friend neither, so I didn't know how to brush the holds from the patina of humidity first, and from the excess chalk later. I resolved firstly to brush them using a chestnut shell but it proved to be painful, so I used my metal brushes with all the needed delicacy. I can be delicate at times.

Anyway, it was time. I had the sequence in my mind, and I executed. I felt strong on all the moves up to the last tricky move, where I missed the hold and fell. Then I fell again on the following try, but on the fucking second move. I had gone from almost doing the problem first go, to being unable to stick two moves in a row. "This shit is hard!" I thought.

In just two goes the problem had take its toll out of me. I tried again the second move and was able to do it in isolation, but not on every go. Shocking. Doubts. Fear. I wanted to get it done on that session.

I found out a slightly different option for my left foot, and there I went again. And again I fell on the high move of the first try. "This shit is definitely hard".

This move is a bit precarious: you have a good hold on the arete for your right hand, and a decent pinch for the left hand; you have a left drop knee, right foot on a bad foothold, and you have to bump again your left hand to a higher pinch, but you have to get into it, precisely, you can't overshoot and fall onto it.

I decided to see if I could skip this tricky move, moving out from a hold that is easily 20 cm below with a harder but less tricky move. It worked. It was on, but the phantom of the second move was hanging around.

I set off, and the moves started coming. I flew past the second move not without a serious effort, and I found myself at the higher part; I had my new sequence and despite feeling a bit of grease on a hold (I can't even recall which one), I kept going and found myself with my right hand on the jug. I matched, and then I decided to cut loose: for a nanosecond I though about the possibility of falling off, but when I realized my though I was already good on the jug, and at that moment, I don't know why instead of heelhooking again on the arete with my right foot, I just campused to the final jugs and toped out.

My friend told me that when I held the (minimal, to be honest) swing, a huge smile appeared on my face, and I believe him.

I let go a scream of joy and a horrible swear, then I got down. It was done. I had a plan and I had stuck to it.

On the way home, we found a terrible queue to get into Florence, so I got a bit angry on the phone with the girl, and she told me "Hey don't spoil your great day, think about the problem!" and time passed easily while I was reliving those moments.

Minutes later, I saw a beautiful girl at the wheel of a car to our right in the queue. I smiled at her when we moved forward, and when they caught us I was surprised to see her smile back to me. So this nice flirt went on for a few times as we moved forward and then she followed, until we got to the motorway and she disappeared. It's been very very nice.

Today I stuck to the second part of the plan, with a good Beastmaker session on one armed dead hangs.

KEEEP THAT FUCKING FAITH.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1352833923560759166?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: BEAST MAKING!
Post by: comPiler on October 19, 2010, 07:00:10 pm

BEAST MAKING! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/10/beast-making.html)
19 October 2010, 2:01 pm

Years ago, during a dinner with climbing friends, I said that "some training session have given me more pleasure than some fucks". It's note a phrase I'm particularly proud of; for sure I'm very proud of the session in which I did this.

35 degrees (http://vimeo.com/15778858) from lorenzo frusteri (http://vimeo.com/user4458134) on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com).

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-8559118404672531320?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: BACK TO THE FUTURE
Post by: comPiler on November 07, 2010, 06:00:14 pm

BACK TO THE FUTURE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/11/back-to-future.html)
7 November 2010, 11:54 am

Time stopped and then started going backwards. From the 21st century I find myself catapulted back into the early '90s again.

At the time, all I could do to move up in the sport climbing scale, was to hang and pull small bits of wood in my parents' house cellar, surrounded by spiderwebs covering old and precious wine bottles, while listening to heavy metal audio tapes.

On friday, when at the phone with my climbing friends to arrange the weekend, each one of us would ask the others the same question: "did you train this week?" and each one of us, each time, would give the same answer: "not at all. I was too busy.".

The following day, you could see people lock down small crimps to the hips with a huge grin.

This went on for 8 years. 8 years of fingerboarding in a cellar. Then came the campus board, and it felt like having the greatest training facility in the world. Then, three years ago, I finally knew what's like to have a climbing wall in your own town, when I moved to Florence.

Now I am back to 1993.

The wall is no longer there and what is available for the moment is not enough to satisfy my Wille Zur Macht. Slightly overhanging walls with big holds are NOT the way forward.

So it's back to the future for me: back to the fingerboard to get to the future of my climbing. And I fucking love it. I really do love this shit. The harder it gets to move forward, the harder I push, the stronger I get, both physically and mentally. The more I put into it, the more I get back. So, each one of you, please, take a look into yourselves, see your future and do everything you can to get there. You'll love it.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-7399376334268332356?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: PREPARATION
Post by: comPiler on November 14, 2010, 06:00:11 pm

PREPARATION (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/11/preparation.html)
14 November 2010, 3:46 pm

"Success is no accident" you may have read somewhere (I hope you did).

Today, after thinking about it and talking about it far too much, I finally pulled the proverbial finger out, and with fellow crusher Nicco I went to Sasso, just to start building a decent landing under the infamous overhang project.

This is a stellar line, found many years ago, when the idea of the perfect bouldering day was still to climb as many problems as possible. Another era.

Now the idea is to climb the hardest problems. This is one of those. The breakage of a crucial hold moved the grade up that little bit that can make all the difference.

Unluckily it has, or should I say "it had", a terrible landing of jagged rocks. One of these little bastards, together with my idiocy, manged to snap my right ankle two weeks ago, and I wasn't even climbing... Today I tried to beast that small rock into submission only to find out that it's a very big rock whose top only is visible. Despite managing to shift it a little bit I wasn't able to turn it on its flat side, so I decided to fill it all around with logs: one must know when to change his mind.

Then we patioed most of the rest of the landing, and we reckon that with another visit it will be done.

So, after fixing the landing, I will start working the problem and then I will do it. As simple as it gets.

Is this interesting to read? No, but it's important. Ciao.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1017445375157912302?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: BIG NUMBERS!
Post by: comPiler on November 16, 2010, 12:00:08 pm

BIG NUMBERS! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/11/big-numbers.html)
16 November 2010, 10:37 am

I must have eaten well yesterday, because despite working alot as usual as of late (I had been told that as a teacher you'd work little and climb much... Andrea you bastard!), I had an excellent Beastmaker session with some PB's.

I hadn't climbed on Sunday, as said I just started fixing the landing on the project, and knowing that I would not climb today, I decided to go for a little bit of power AND volume: pull ups, that is.

I did my routine of 5 pull ups in 10 seconds for 6 sets for each hold type. I did the first three sets with my legs in an L-seat, to give my belly a good beasting.

Then I started working my way through the harder holds, and with some surprise I found myself completing all the pull ups on holds I previously found very hard, like the back 2 and the mid 2 on the small pockets. I also completed again all the hangs on the small monos, and started working them on index fingers also.

I finished the session (and my muscle fibers) with a generous set on the small rungs: 10 seconds hang back 3 immediately followed by 5 pull ups with a normal 4 fingers half crimp.

By the end of that last set my forearms were sweating lactic acid and I was the strongest man on Earth (in my mind), with a total of 240 pull ups. Not much, if compared to the true monsters, but hey, you have to start somewhere.

So I'm happy, especially for the back 2, but also for the volume, which, on the moment, I handled quite well; now, though, I feel the bastard evil monsters called DOMS creep up my back and arms. Aminoacid pills and some huge sandwiches should address them right, waiting for dinner.

Now I will start splitting these sessions into pulling sessions and hanging sessions: this way I should be able to start working other grip types without having to take a day off from work to have the necessary time. Yesterday it all took more than two hours.

The future will see adding some weights to both my Beast sessions and on the wall, because I bought a weight vest (thanks to Paul's suggestions (http://thecrippledclimber.blogspot.com/2010/11/weight.html)); then I will start doing maximal hangs, two armed, on the holds I find the hardest to manage, like small monos (middle and index fingers), 45°, slopey pockets front 2, small rungs back 3 and front 3.

This should keep me busy for a while. The sky's the limit, and the aim is to tick my first Font 8b ON THE BEASTMAKER, following the Beasts' charts (http://www.beastmaker.co.uk/Hold%20RECORDS.htm)(I accept suggestions for short, 2/3 moves routines of that overall grade to be done footless - and yes, I am DEAD SERIOUS and also completely nuts).

So now I have some good sessions quite refined: volume sessions, two armed maximal hangs sessions and one armed maximal hangs sessions. It feels as some kind of training pr0n.

What else? Oh, yes, these next weeks should see the birth of the first hard core, old school wall in town: courtesy of fellow crusher, one arm 90° lock off record holder (55 seconds, blimey!) Cristiano, "The Wailing Wall" is nearly there, in his garage.

This will bring new psyche and power, beyond the imaginable. According to Jerrys's suggestions and inspiration, we chose the holds so that "for the first month we must not be able to link more than one move". The plan is to complete the first problem five months from now.

And that's entertainment.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2059041601679892598?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: ISSUES
Post by: comPiler on November 21, 2010, 06:00:07 pm

ISSUES (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/11/issues.html)
21 November 2010, 2:42 pm

Rant alert.

I've got mixed feelings about climbing and climbers as of late. I'm losing interest for most things related to climbing, and when I happen to read something, it pisses me off.

One of the things that makes me furious, is the hypocrisy that permeates the climbing environment, especially at the high levels of those who are the hot shots of the moment. When the shit hits the fan, the shit is often provided by climbers, but the fan is often provided by 8a.idiots.nu. I hate them, sad, poor people who try to cause a stir between climbers whenever they can, I can't think about sadder people.

The hypocrisy I talk about, often involves grading. I hate how those who declare to care the less about grades, in reality show their obsession about grades.

I hate the way they try to make grades universal, the way they try to get a general consensus: in this, they show the desire to incapsulate climbing into precise boundaries and classifications, and I hate them both.

In nature, there is nothing such a rock climb, or a boulder problem, or a marble statue: there is only rock, boulders, and marble. The climb, the problem and the statue are just human creations. So, there are no grades in themselves, there are only climbers, and each climber is an individual who can only experience one experience at a time, therefore, even inside each climber's experience, everything is subjective.

One thing that almost makes me want to get hold of an axe and start swinging it around, is their cry: "ohhh, my god, where will our sport go, with this foolish grading inflation?". Fucking idiots. They should thank their god or who the fuck they believe in, because they are talented and can go around and just climb the whole time. "ohhh, my god where is our fucking WORLD going?" should be the only question for each one of us.

In his book "I Promessi Sposi", Alessandro Manzoni uses the metaphor of two cocks that are tied together and are being brought to the market to be sold, killed and cooked, and still they fight and they hurt each other. This is what I see happening now: individuals that try to prevail on each other, despite having no future in the long run. Climbing is one of the most individualistic activities a man can perform. A man is always alone on the wall, even when roped up: I like to use the image of the tail gunner on the old IIWW bombers. Unluckily, this individualism, can team, sometimes, with selfishness and egotism. Fair enough. But for fucks sake, man up and take the courage to show your true nature.

You think you're the strongest? Well, do like Jerry and tell it to everyone. He had the balls and that's why he'll be always remembered as one of the great ones.

But not many ones want to show some meat, so they adopt this false modest attitude and they say: "ohh, I can't climb that grade that fast, so it must be alot easier". Fuck off. Man up and take the courage to say "I destroyed that shit, that's why it's soft".

I hate this yoga-driven, hugs and kisses, xmas feelings filled climbing.

You think that grade is soft? Who the fuck cares. You think an entire area is under-graded? Who the fuck cares. You are pissed because by calling a 7c 8b+ someone got a sponsorship? Who the fuck cares. Did he steal that from you? Who the fuck cares. Didn't he? Even better, who the fuck cares.

You can either: shut the fuck up and keep it to yourself (always the best idead); or take the courage to be honest.

One thing is for sure. If I were one of the strong ones, I'd be the baddest motherfucker around. I'd make kids cry and climbers go away. Then I'd crush the hardest thing around and fucking leave. Why? because it'd be fun.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-6463351206192536825?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: chris05 on November 22, 2010, 09:19:11 am

Quote from: comPiler on November 21, 2010, 06:00:07 pm

ISSUES (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/11/issues.html)
21 November 2010, 2:42 pm

I hate this yoga-driven, hugs and kisses, xmas feelings filled climbing.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-6463351206192536825?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Excellent stuff, get it off your chest, cheered me up no end. By the way having never used 8a.nu couldn't you just boycott it and ignore the fuckers?

As someone once said "KEEP THE FUCKING FAITH".

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on November 23, 2010, 11:20:53 am

;) fucking keep it!

Title: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
Post by: comPiler on November 28, 2010, 12:00:06 pm

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/11/questions-and-answers.html)
28 November 2010, 8:25 am

Am I a bad motherfucker? Maybe.

Am I a complete fool? Fo' sho'.

Why?

Because friday night I drove five hours on my own to go to Brione and try "Amber"; because saturday, midway in the valley, it was already -6°; because I wandered in the snow for two and half hours to find that little motherfucker of a problem; because the bottom of my trousers froze; because in putting on a shoe, my skin was so cold that I ripped a 2x2 cm hole in my right heel; and finally because I failed on the problem in the most spectacular way. To really give the idea of how epically I failed, one single language is not enough: I should use all the four languages I know, to give you all a pale idea of my failure, but now don't have enough time. In a few weeks I wil start a Chinese language course, maybe a fifth language will help.

And you know what? I don't fucking care. It's been great.

I have learnt so much from this story, but now I don't want to tell anything more. I just want to glow in the blinding light of my failure.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-8030215634049816104?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: JonI on December 02, 2010, 05:45:35 pm

Reminds me of this, a bit cheesy, but I hope you'll forgive it...

Michael Jordan "Failure" Nike Commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc#)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on December 03, 2010, 10:06:51 am

;D
I'd like to fail like Mike.

Title: Re: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
Post by: cheque on December 03, 2010, 11:28:39 am

Quote from: comPiler on November 28, 2010, 12:00:06 pm

in putting on a shoe, my skin was so cold that I ripped a 2x2 cm hole in my right heel

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on December 06, 2010, 02:46:59 pm

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5089/5237618711_5528001fb0.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70381658@N00/5237618711/)
IMG_0032 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70381658@N00/5237618711/#) by Nibile (http://www.flickr.com/people/70381658@N00/), on Flickr
I just couldn't believe it when I heard it rip.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Richie Crouch on December 07, 2010, 07:58:42 am

Ouch! I imagine it's going to hurt trying to get into those super tight solutions anytime in the next week :o

Title: THE TRUE BEAST OF THE FAMILY
Post by: comPiler on December 10, 2010, 06:00:07 pm

THE TRUE BEAST OF THE FAMILY (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/12/true-beast-of-family.html)
10 December 2010, 3:13 pm

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2092884776803148482?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: IT'S ALL BEEN SAID AND DONE
Post by: comPiler on December 24, 2010, 06:00:11 pm

IT'S ALL BEEN SAID AND DONE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/12/its-all-been-said-and-done.html)
24 December 2010, 2:33 pm

Today, with the rain hitting the windows and my body worked from yesterday's session at Area51 (http://www.area51climb.it/), the new wall that opened at the sea, minutes away from Tartana (http://www.tartana.com/) in the summer, and Sox Club (http://www.facebook.com/pages/SOX/135498483969) in the winter, seemed like a perfect day to say something worth reading here.

Then, I don't know why, some old reminiscence from my high school studies came to my mind, and I realized that the best thing to do is to simply point you at a couple of classics for you enjoy.

Fragment 58 from Alcmane, the so called "Nocturnal":

"They sleep, the mountain crags and gullies,

headlands and brooks, and the whole race

of footed creatures and black earth pulls from

mountain beasts and the republic of bees,

and vast fish looming in hollows

of purple sea: they sleep,

too, birds with wide, cloud-tipped wings..."

Sappho, fragment 182:

"I have a beautiful child who looks like golden flowers, my darling Cleis, for whom I would not take all Lydia or lovely..."Alcaeus of Mytilene:

"Now we must get drunk and drink whether we want to or not. Myrsilus is dead."

It's all been said and done.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-8429988759903407718?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: HAPPY NEW YEAR BEASTS!
Post by: comPiler on December 31, 2010, 06:00:13 pm

HAPPY NEW YEAR BEASTS! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/12/happy-new-year-beasts.html)
31 December 2010, 4:19 pm

I will be brief. Today I went to one of the small bouldering areas at Amiata, and ticked the crag, bar one problem that at the end of the session was far too painful for my baby fingers, just used to the smoothness of my Beastmaker or the occasional plastic feelings. It's been so good. Despite the warm, humid climate, it's been very very good. Not for one single instant I desired to be somewhere else, or doing something else. This is me. I have so much to tell you my friends, but now there's only time to wish you all the best and only the best for 2011. You know me, you know who I mean: I miss you my friends, a whole fucking lot. It's time. (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1804593058624497943?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: HAPPY NEW YEAR BEASTS!
Post by: soapy on January 01, 2011, 07:26:04 pm

Quote from: comPiler on December 31, 2010, 06:00:13 pm

HAPPY NEW YEAR BEASTS! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/12/happy-new-year-beasts.html)
31 December 2010, 4:19 pm

I will be brief... It's time. Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

*bolts door

*takes phone off hook

*applies sealing wax to anus

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on January 04, 2011, 09:48:03 am

Title:
Post by: comPiler on January 04, 2011, 12:00:08 pm

(http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/01/its-so-difficult-to-try-and-give-idea.html)
4 January 2011, 10:20 am

It's so difficult to try and give the idea of the chaos that's in my mind. Once again I had a real emotional rollercoaster during the holidays, and once again I had the confirmation of how deeply and strongly climbing dominates my life. Plagued by bad weather, the last two weeks had been a struggle, that led me to drive more than one hour just to go to the gym, and this twice a week. Obsessed by the lack of other training facilities, when the gym was closed I simply couldn't help but mount back up my old fingerboard that I had at the sea years ago. Just a couple of sessions on it reminded me why the Beastmaker is the best fingerboard in the world.

Naturally, this tension didn't do any good to my relationship.

In my thoughts, I was growing weaker and weaker by the minute.

Then, moreover, I couldn't make up my mind about my Cresciano trip, that evolved from a 10 days stay, to a 5 days one, to 4, to 2, to nothing.

I got a phone call from work on Sunday night, and I am already back at school.

But...

There's always a "but".

But yesterday I went climbing, with the bluest sky ever seen and the hottest January sun. And it's been magic, to soak up all this beauty all alone as ever.

I fucking crushed.

KEEP THE FUCKING FAITH.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3656224561011765054?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: BUT...
Post by: comPiler on January 04, 2011, 06:00:06 pm

BUT... (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/01/its-so-difficult-to-try-and-give-idea.html)
4 January 2011, 10:20 am

It's so difficult to try and give the idea of the chaos that's in my mind. Once again I had a real emotional rollercoaster during the holidays, and once again I had the confirmation of how deeply and strongly climbing dominates my life. Plagued by bad weather, the last two weeks had been a struggle, that led me to drive more than one hour just to go to the gym, and this twice a week. Obsessed by the lack of other training facilities, when the gym was closed I simply couldn't help but mount back up my old fingerboard that I had at the sea years ago. Just a couple of sessions on it reminded me why the Beastmaker is the best fingerboard in the world.

Naturally, this tension didn't do any good to my relationship.

In my thoughts, I was growing weaker and weaker by the minute.

Then, moreover, I couldn't make up my mind about my Cresciano trip, that evolved from a 10 days stay, to a 5 days one, to 4, to 2, to nothing.

I got a phone call from work on Sunday night, and I am already back at school.

But...

There's always a "but".

But yesterday I went climbing, with the bluest sky ever seen and the hottest January sun. And it's been magic, to soak up all this beauty all alone as ever.

I fucking crushed.

KEEP THE FUCKING FAITH.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3656224561011765054?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: IMAGES AND REFLECTIONS
Post by: comPiler on January 17, 2011, 06:00:05 pm

IMAGES AND REFLECTIONS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/01/images-and-reflections.html)
17 January 2011, 2:18 pm

These are the images: the first move and the dyno of "Mind the Gap Sitstart"; the lower moves of "Islero". Yesterday I retroflashed the first one but wasn't able to repeat the second. Good.

Now the reflections.

The thought of going to "Amber" on a single day trip, with an idea that wasn't just finding it, that is the idea of actually climbing the problem, was one of the fooliest thoughts I've ever had.

Simply, Font 8b is not my league. This doesn't mean that I won't climb that particular grade, it simply means that I have to try many, many different problems of that grade, until I find one that is particularly suited for me. The classic problem with my name on it. I just can't choose one problem because it's beautiful or because I won't need a spotter. I have to search and search.

I considered my "Amber Saga" an epic failure, in terms of the climbing itself, just because I didn't climb the problem. Reality is that it's just absolutely normal. But I am so stupid that I almost - almost - gave up on the idea of Font 8b, after that. It took my friend Filo's good sense to make me understand how much out of reality I was: he asked me "How many problems of that grade have you tried?" and I replied "One". He asked again "For how long?" and I replied "30 minutes". And it all became clear. I was out of reality, thinking that it was going to be possible that way. No, it will involve much more tears and toil than just driving 1000 kms and wandering in the snow for a few hours. That would have been simple.

So, the quest is on.

Then, the actual climbing. I feel good. I am still glowing in the bright light of triumph, that triumph that marked the beginning of the year, my glorious day at Chiesina. What a day. Perfect. There are not many days like that one in a year: the form, the conditions, the mind, the idea. I am glad I spent it there.

What I did in reality is not much. Just two moves. Naturellemont, these two small moves, just as the butterfly of the Chaos Theory, spun out enormous consequences.

Driving to the boulders, in that perfect light, I found myself wondering which was the best way to spend the day: after all, I had already done everything I wanted to, and the project that is still there, is far beyond my chances, for many reasons. Suddenly, clear as the sky, the idea appeared: I am going to repeat the roof direct, adding the first two moves (they had been skipped by the first ascensionist, who didn't like that crouched start). Boom.

The first ascent was made starting from the ramp, with three easy moves to the jug that marks the start of the difficulties. All subsequent ascents, to my knowledge, had been done starting from the jug itself, avoiding the greasy ramp. But the first two moves remained intact.

So, as you see, nothing special. Two "easy" moves into three easy moves. But it's not the moves, it's the form. In my mind, I took it back. Like a long lost son.

Finally, to make that day even more perfect, I conceived a new project.There's a hard line somewhere, and a possible different start. An eliminate for sure, given that I decided to ban a really good feature that would be perfect for the feet, but I don't care. The moves are great. The full problem will gain 5-6 moves, going up to 15-16 moves. Power endurance, innit? More power than endurance: yesterday I had my third session there, and I still haven't climbed the new start in a oner!!!

Sometimes I get a bit bored by all the difficulties of climbing: the spare time, the driving, the solitude. Now I know: a bored boulderer is a boulderer with no fantasy. There's always a new move to imagine.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-7502489171139378270?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on January 31, 2011, 08:56:31 pm

I think ComPiler lost me... ;)
http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/01/last-sunday-while-driving-towards.html (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/01/last-sunday-while-driving-towards.html)

Title: ON HOW TO SAVE A CLIMBING DAY AND TICK A TEN YEARS OLD PROJECT
Post by: comPiler on February 01, 2011, 12:00:16 am

ON HOW TO SAVE A CLIMBING DAY AND TICK A TEN YEARS OLD PROJECT (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/01/last-sunday-while-driving-towards.html)
29 January 2011, 5:30 pm

Last Sunday, while driving towards Amiata, at some point I started noticing snow at the side of the roads, then some more, then even some more. When I arrived closer, there was half a meter of snow blocking the roads. At that very moment I thought that they day before, when I had phoned a friend who lives there to get some first hand informations about the snow, and when he had told me that there was half a meter of snow blocking the roads, probably some crucial part of that communication must have gone lost.

A quick phone call to the restaurant in Sassofortino made me know that there wasn't snow there, and down went the gas pedal. To be honest, there was some snow on the boulders, making the top outs impossible, but in a small range of five minutes walking, I had plenty of problems to throw myself at. I had done them all already, but some mileage on moderate 7's is always welcome to save a climbing day. It was sunny and freezing, and also very beautiful.

After a while I decided to have a go at an old problem opened by Keith during his visit here many years ago: "Giorni Scuri". I had done it with Keith, and haven't tried it again ever since, so I was very happy to repeat it quickly. Memories invaded my mind, filling it with images of a long lost period of freedom and irresponsibility; everything has changed now, and my approach to bouldering is less naive, less spontaneous and somehow less punterish. Then Nicco and Cristiano arrived, they warmed up and we started climbing together, with spirits super high. Nicco managed to also repeat Keith's problem, and to my surprise I finally freed an old project, ten years old to be honest, that I had cleaned ages ago with a German friend of mine. Clearly that small boulder has a feeling for foreign climbers! This nasty sequence is the left hand start to "Giorni Scuri", and packs in a few strong moves, very open and with an abs-wrenching heel hook. This problem was named "Commandos Tigre" and I am very happy to have done it. Time passes, and I am still here, progressing.

Some pics from my phone: Sasso in the snow.

Nicco repeating "Giorni Scuri".

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-7830992821592625706?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: TALES FROM THE (NETHER) EDGE
Post by: comPiler on February 10, 2011, 06:00:12 pm

TALES FROM THE (NETHER) EDGE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/02/tales-from-nether-edge.html)
10 February 2011, 2:51 pm

Typing from a couch in Sheffield, in the living room of someone you've met only hours ago for the first time in your life, gives much food for thoughts.

First of all: why is everyone here so kind? Do they want my money? I hope for them they don't 'cos I have none.

Looking back - a thing that comes natural to me - maybe I can find some answers to similar questions: what made me invite Tom and Rich down to Italy? Why did I open my house to Keith, to Marc (back in tha day, innit?) and to others in times long past? I don't know, but at the moment it seemed the right thing to do. Because it was the right thing to do. Because it made me feel good and happy. So I reckon it's just this that ties us together and make people let a stinky Italian climber into their houses.

I feel sorry.

I wish I was a better and stronger climber, to reward all these people with the best gift: hard and epic sends. Sadly I'm just an average punter, so no flash on "Brad Pit" for me. No tick yet, also. I haven't climbed "Low Rider" in a matter of tries, despite wanting to do it, and I haven't soloed any great, spectacular, stunning, jaw-dropping arete.

I can't payback what I'm receiving here. Because, bear it in mind, I am receiving a whole lotta love.

It's becoming hard to collect thoughts. I lie in bed at night - for 40 seconds before falling asleep for nine or ten hours straight - and I picture and feel the moves of the problems I want to do. Some of them, I want to do since the day I started. I found myself on top of "Zippy's Traverse" at Plantation, the other day, third try. I saw Rich at "Green Traverse" and he smiled at me, while a guy climbing on a nearby boulder said "Well done mate!". I live for these moments. They form part of a heritage of feelings that keeps me together. Because I shared them with others.

So, before becoming pedantic and redundant - another trademark of mine - I want to tell you how happy I am, despite being unable to fully understand what I'm doing here and living here. It'll take time. For the moment, I put everything I have into every single move, trying to give something back to those who are around me. I need them. I need company. I don't mind to drive, and walk, and climb, and walk back, and drive back on my own, if that's what I'm required to, for getting a climb done. But I am a social animal, and an animal tout court: I may hunt alone, but when I hunt with others I am happier and stronger.

So, while awaiting for amazing performances and tales, to entertain you all, for the moment you have to be satisfied with the one armers I pulled on "Brad Pit" starting hold.

That's my way of saying "Thank you, this is the best!".

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-6850366455410625479?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on February 11, 2011, 08:31:53 am

Very eloquent Nibs. Some people on here who type like they are barely sentient beings, and struggle even with capital letters, should take a lesson from the Italian.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: andy popp on February 11, 2011, 08:43:14 am

Seconded; really great post.

Title: Re: TALES FROM THE (NETHER) EDGE
Post by: duncan on February 11, 2011, 09:28:35 am

Quote from: comPiler on February 10, 2011, 06:00:12 pm

TALES FROM THE (NETHER) EDGE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/02/tales-from-nether-edge.html)
First of all: why is everyone here so kind?

This post is a good illustration why.

Title: FOOD... FOR THOUGHTS?
Post by: comPiler on February 23, 2011, 06:00:07 pm

FOOD... FOR THOUGHTS? (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/02/food-for-thoughts.html)
23 February 2011, 1:44 pm

To be honest, I don't know where to start from; I don't know what to tell, I don't even know what I want to tell.

Not a single night has passed, in which I haven't fallen asleep reliving the feeling of the rock under my skin, the pressure of a hold, the addicting sensasion of sticking a move and feeling solid and in control. From the very first day, each night I had something to dream about, and every day brought more.

This has been a very successful trip for me. Of course it's no P-Rob ticklist, it's my ticklist, but I feel it's a good ticklist for an old fart.

I am sure it will take me more than just one post to go through the many, infinite moments that made this trip special.

One can see something and think it's beautiful; then he starts thinking that he wants to be closer to that beautiful thing; then he starts dreaming about that thing, and finally he wants to make that thing his thing also, at least for a brief moment. Few times in my life I experienced what I did experience when my right hand fell onto the good hold of "Brad Pit". Matching it, and exiting the problem, unlike many other times, I didn't feel like letting go my traditional almighty roar. This time, instead, I felt something surging inside my chest, that tightened my stomach and made my eyes wet. Commotion for a boulder problem? Apparently yes. I don't know why, but that's what happened. The previous day I wanted to quit climbing - seriously, I even phoned my girlfriend to tell her - the following day all the pressure was gone, and all I was having from the climbing was joy and fullfillment.

The key should be being able to find that same joy and that same fullfillment just in the simple act of climbing something, not a particular problem, but this is not possible. It would be like trying to fall in love with any girl. Doing something unexpected brings joy, one kind of joy that I also experienced in this trip, during my second week, when I climbed some problems that weren't in my dream list; but before, in the first week, all I wanted was to bear the pressure that I had put myself under: dreaming to climb some specific problems, and building a trip around these targets, was a great risk. Just as one day before I wanted to throw the proverbial towel, now I could be here, writing that the weather had been poor and stopped me from ticking my projects; or simply that I hadn't been good enough to climb them, therefore quitting.

I could be, but I am not. For some reason, that I don't know precisely, things worked out; they clicked. The pressure, released, morphed into some special fuel that propelled me up a few other problems, desired or simply found along the way.

I haven't tried everything I wanted, and obviously I haven't climbed everything I tried, but I feel accomplished.

Everything has been on the razor edge of uncertainity: I was sure I could do certain moves or problems, while I was sure I was going to struggle on others, and at moments I have also been unsure about the result. As happened before, I am pondering what would have been my reactions, had I not climbed something that I felt worth. Again, looking back, all the many times that this has happened, that I have been confronted by failure, after the initial dismay and sadness, I have always worked my way back up to the erect position, and as soon as I had something back, I have always put it on the table again. The chase is better than the catch? No, at least not always. As I've said many times, it's a matter of dedication. It all becomes worthwile when it costs us time, effort, and dedication. I could have spent my holiday climbing dozens of easy problems, but I chose to play it differently, because that's like me. Have I been lucky? Yes and no. Lucky in having some days of good weather. But I don't remember one single move, in the problems I did, that I stuck because of luck. I stuck the moves because I am a motherfucker. Because I spent double digit minutes hanging from the Beastmaker alone in my living room; because I spent hours setting and trying my own problems in the gym; because I spent ages driving to the rocks, to maintain the "feel" for the real thing, the addiction to the move, the desire to finish a line. Because, after all, it's all just an enormous, continuous exercise of testing our will. "Warren Harding is not coming down" writes "Largo" in his book. I am not going down, and if I do, I'll cry, I'll swear, I'll find all the excuses I can, I'll blame everyone else, myself, and everything that I feel was against me. But then at some point I'll want to see again a man in me, and I'll go back up again.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-357425356363935572?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Dr T on February 23, 2011, 06:17:40 pm

Quote from: comPiler on February 23, 2011, 06:00:07 pm

FOOD... FOR THOUGHTS? (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/02/food-for-thoughts.html)
23 February 2011, 1:44 pm

Lore, you write about the emotions of the climbing life so eloquently (and in your second language no less) I am amazed no-one has offered you a by-line in a climbing publication. Until that day comes please keep sharing with those of us who cannot hope to write so truthfully and so well in any language...

Title: BACK TO REALITY
Post by: comPiler on March 01, 2011, 06:00:08 pm

BACK TO REALITY (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/03/back-to-reality.html)
1 March 2011, 1:04 pm

More than a week has passed since my return. Luckily, or unluckily depending on your point of view, I didn't manage to get the week of complete rest that I had planned: after a long but interesting journey back (bus from Sheffield to London, chill out a few hours, overnight bus from London to Paris, spend the day in Paris, overnight train from Paris to Florence), I found blue skies and cool winds. After all, I had rested in the buses and train!

So, a quick trip to Amiata was the perfect wake up call, to remind me that I was back to my reality of familiar places and usual projects.

Recently I have been blessed by the unexpected: climbing very old projects or even adding the odd move to established problems; a few weeks before leaving for UK, I had tried to add a longer start to a problem I climbed a couple of years ago, that I called "Happy Days". These few moves (a match on a crimp and a lock off to the left) proved to be too hard for me at the moment, or the hold too painful for my skin, or the conditions too hot for both. I don't know why, but Thursday, when I gave it a go as the end of my warm up, I did the new moves three times over three tries, only to fall on easy ground at the end of the traverse before the arete, due to slipping off a flat foothold. On my third try, though, I found myself on top, having destroyed the moves and climbed what became "Piccolo Fottuto Bastardo". I'd be interested in some opinions about the grade. I think 7b+ could be it.

Obviously, after cheering my friends Filo, Mark and Giulio who had come there to meet me during their rest day, I went to the roof. Or under the roof, as I should say.

This was my project for this time of the season, and still is: despite my efforts, and clearly being in good climbing - if not physical - form, I still could not complete the new start. It's like that. I still haven't linked the full first part. Then I will have to do the Font 8a/+. Ah ah, that's brilliant innit? What a great project: 15 moves. Ten moves to get to the jug, then a five moves powerfest. Fantastic.

I am trying to picture in my mind the difficulty of the first part, and what could be the overall grade of the link. Could it reach the number of numbers, the number of greatness? We will see.

Then, the weekend: it was baltic. Maybe too cold to even get good friction. Anyway I went to Sasso with a nice bunch of sport climbers on a bouldering trip, and had a great day, despite being unable to properly try my other project. A couple of nasty falls (I even managed to fall down a rock pulling one spotter down with me) meant that I wasn't confident enough to try the final dynamic moves to the lip; add to this that one of the top jugs literally fell apart while I was brushing it, it's easy to understant that this project will remain such for a while. The day was a good one though, I did a bit of volume on problems around the 7a/+ mark. I learnt that it's always good to wear top and bottom thermals, and that I didn't eat enough in the morning to ensure good power during the whole day despite some cookies and tea. Schoolboy error.

So after this long, excellent rock oriented period of the last few weeks, it's back to training for me. I wanted to take the pressure off somehow, but I discovered that I can't: I need to train and I want to train. So I will train.

I still have to develop a right plan to climb the project, in terms of specific training: I still don't know whether it will be best to focus on Power Endurance or, as usual, on pure power. I will need both for sure. A meeting with The Guru should solve my doubts.

Finally, I started training in the morning, on the busy days, before going to work. I am alone at home in Florence, so I can do whatever I want whenever I want, and that's brilliant. I'm not a morning guy, at least not always. Sometimes, in the weekends, when I could have a lie in, I find myself fully loaded at 7,30 am, ready to pull on some grippy rocks; needless to say, when the alarm goes off at 8 am during work days, I can't find the energy to get out of bed, if not in my coffee bucket.

Anyway, this morning, not without difficulty, I managed to fit a Beastmaker session before work. It's great. Despite being a harsh way to wake up your mind and body, it puts you in the correct mood for the rest of the day: the motherfucker's mood.

After almost a month off the magic board, I haven't lost much. Climbing is a great training for fingerboarding after all. The biggest issue was skin: my skin now is perfect for climbing on rock, tough and dry. I dryfired off the slopey pockets twice today, landing perfectly on my knees. Ouch.

Another thing that I learned, is that I have been sandbagged big way by the Beastmaker guys. I think my board is the toughest I have ever tried: every other one I have used felt soft in comparison, and I have tested a few now. It's a well known phenomenon, soft and hard fingerboards of the same type: it's in the website as well. Anyway today I didn't feel bad at all: some kinds of grips felt strangely solid, like the front3 full crimp, and even the slopey pockets full crimp. The 45° are still desperate. I managed over 30 seconds on the 45° at the Depot Gym in Liverpool... maybe they need a new laser level?

But at night, when I am in bed, I don't think to those seconds during which gravity seemed suspended; I still dream about the rocks I touch and climb.

Those >30 seconds felt pretty damn good though!

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-4817024604298042309?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Dolly on March 01, 2011, 10:33:26 pm

[it puts you in the correct mood for the rest of the day: the motherfucker's mood. [/quote]
Great line. Have some warfare

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Dolly on March 01, 2011, 10:36:13 pm

Sorry bloody iPad.
Didn't quote or preview properly and auto corrected waddage to warfare

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: erm, sam on March 01, 2011, 10:43:29 pm

I thought it was some obscure quote from a Stanley Kubrick film. "Have some warefare motherfucker!".

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: slackline on March 02, 2011, 07:37:33 am

Quote from: Dolly on March 01, 2011, 10:33:26 pm

[it puts you in the correct mood for the rest of the day: the motherfucker's mood.

Great line. Have some warfare
[/quote]

You realise you're wadding a script/program (http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=4711) that sucks in RSS/blogs rather than wadding da man (http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=827)?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Dolly on March 02, 2011, 09:40:44 am

:-[

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on March 02, 2011, 12:18:47 pm

Title: PICCOLO FOTTUTO BASTARDO
Post by: comPiler on March 08, 2011, 12:00:21 am

PICCOLO FOTTUTO BASTARDO (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/03/piccolo-fottuto-bastardo.html)
7 March 2011, 7:35 pm

In this small video, the problem I did last week. I think it's very cool.

On a side note, another trip under the roof saw me unable to link the extension bit in a oner, I keep falling on the move to join the start of the "normal" line of the roof direct.

Numbers keep spinning in my mind.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-6103813475705495775?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW
Post by: comPiler on March 15, 2011, 06:00:06 pm

YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/03/you-reap-what-you-sow.html)
15 March 2011, 2:27 pm

In the pic, my forearms crying for help and oxygen. I don't look happy, do I?

This project is going to drive me mad, and to make me sweat blood.

I don't know why, but it seems like I'm unable to avoid getting into troubles. Years ago, after doing the deed with "Out of Service", with the effort it required, I had nothing better to do than adding a sit start to it. Weeks and weeks of toil, tears and frustration, with the final happy ending at last.

On established problems, I always want to add more moves or climb harder variations: it's happened many times, and it keeps happening. Not every time it's as smooth and straightforward as when I did the "Roof Direct" with the original lower start.

That very same day, january the 3rd, I conceived my actual nightmare. (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/01/images-and-reflections.html)

It's been a strange session, my last one, on that thing. 5th session, and I finally climbed the extension start in one bit. In the morning, despite not feeling very sparky, I thought that now it's time to pull the finger out, and to seriously embark in trying to climb it, rather than trying to try it. So from now on, every go will be a redpoint go. I have to suss out a few question marks, that may sound trivial, but to me they are not: first one, given the current state of my climbing shoes, I have to figure out which model will do the job best. Solutions have a better heel, but they are less sensitive and precise on the toes than Jet7's, whose toes, now, are pretty worn out and a bit rounded out. The Wild Climb have taken me on top of the "old" problem already, so maybe it's another option. Then, on the micro-beta subject, I still have to decide one last crucial foot placement for the final, precarious and tricky move, the dyno to the jug. Before doing this, I want to try another different sequence, going to the jug left hand, not right hand, and see what it feels like. I don't know which one will feel harder, after 15 moves in a roof: a low percentage dyno or a powerful lock off?

And so here we are to the main issue: am I crazy to get me into a 15+ moves marathon? I've been there before, with "OOS Sit Start", but the hardest move of that problem is the average move on this one...

To solve this problem, I have gotten into some PE training, going to the gym and alternating power sessions and PE sessions. In these ones, I do laps on problems, climbing down to the starting holds and then starting again; or trying to repeat harder problems at the end of the session. It's horrible and it makes me want to puke. On power sessions, I redpoint the hardest problems, or I repeat others with my weightvest on, with 4 kilos.

Yesterday I did something new on the Beast: instead of the usual deadhanging session, I did 1 minute hangs on the 20° and on the big rungs, like this: 20 seconds hang, 5 pull ups, 20 seconds hang, 5 pull ups, for a total of 60 seconds. 4 sets on the 20°, 2 on the rungs, I nearly puked.

So, here I am.

Last saturday I climbed the easy part of the project, only to find myself at the start of the real difficulties with numb fingers, unable to keep going. It's been frustrating. I was going to go for it but simply couldn't, and it hurt me. It took forever to warm my fingers up again, and afterwards they were in pain for an hour. Another go saw me again getting the "starting" jug, but I came off the left toe hook and it was over.

I think higher temps could do the job here, as Martin says about his project (http://martinkeller.blogspot.com/2011/03/perfect-day-tricked-carrot.html).

I don't know why I couldn't feel really and deeply happy about this progress: from not doing the section to doing it twice in a session; something in my mind was not in the right mindset. Maybe wrong expectations or simply being not 100% in it, or maybe simply being disappointed for not playing the day professionally enough: I climbed too much before going to the roof, but I was with friends and that's what I felt I wanted to do, so I did it.

I ended the day repeating a few 7b's, so after all another "big volume" day for my standards.

It's on, it's really on.

It's time and I am a fool.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1170698395224439844?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: YOU GOTTA FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTY
Post by: comPiler on March 22, 2011, 06:00:12 pm

YOU GOTTA FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTY (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/03/you-gotta-fight-for-your-right-to-party.html)
22 March 2011, 8:26 am

In the pics here, a few moves from the extension. I think they show how physical it gets: long moves, body tension, perfect problem.

On another note, you gotta fight for your right to climb.

I know people who can dedicate all the time they want to climbing. Sincerely, I don't envy them. I've never been able to do so, I have always had to struggle to fit my climbing into my life: it could be university (not that much but still...), it could be partying (a fucking lot of it...), it could be girls (never enough of that...), the fact is that I have always fought for my climbing.

This is very good, and I'll tell you why: because it strengthens your will, not only your muscles, and with a stronger will you also climb harder problems, because the struggle is just the same. The other day, speaking with a good friend, he said he wouldn't drive 4 hours to go to Ticino for the weekend, it's too long a drive for just two climbing days. Result: missed opportunities to climb. You don't move unless you have longer vacations, and that happens more seldom than every weekend.

Some people I know would not even drive one hour on their own to go to the crag. That's unreal for me. I don't care, I just want to do the business.

Moreover, struggling to get some climbing, prepares you to... struggle to get some climbing. If you can't dedicate anymore all your time to climbing, as soon as the first difficulties will appear, you won't be prepared. I've seen this happen so many times: you are unable to fit small bits of climbing into your schedule, you are unable to train while short on time, or tired, you get basically lazy, because everything gets... harder.

Well, I like when things get harder. Harder, mind, not impossible. Hard is good. When I do a problem, if it's not a project, I want to do it as hard as I can: if I use it for training, I want the hardest beta I can manage. But back on topic.

It's all to easy to get to the crag when you've trained for 4 months without a single other concern in your life, when you have eaten well, slept a lot, and you don't have issues moving around and making noise in your head, like the rent, the bills, the girl, the stuff that makes our lives what they are.

The trick is learning to do the deed when poorly rested because of work, or after an argument or a bad day. Why is this so important? Because it broadens the chances to get some climbing, obviously.

This doesn't mean that I couldn't do with a full time climbing life: of fucking yes I could. Simply, I don't want to get soft. I want to get old and still be cranking. I don't want to stop climbing at the first difficulties, I don't want to become another Stuart Cameron. I don't blame him and I don't judge him, nor all the others that simply decide to quit, to "knock it on the head" as he puts in an old interview (http://www.planetfear.com/articles/What_Happened_to_the_Young_Ones_Stuart_Cameron_104.html). Simply, I don't want to do it.

Why? Because I love climbing.

Because after a climbing day in which I have given my best, regardless of success or failure, I feel complete and fullfilled for at least a minute, before diving into the struggle again.

But that minute is worth a thousand years.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-4779745297178143853?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: ONE OF MANY FIGHTS
Post by: comPiler on March 24, 2011, 06:00:16 pm

ONE OF MANY FIGHTS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/03/one-of-many-fights.html)
24 March 2011, 2:26 pm

In the pic, warming up during a previous visit years ago.

I am on the train. Phone calls have been made, text messages have been exchanged, and the plan is unfolding nicely.

I can't cancel the smile from my face.

My pad is wet, it's raining, and from the window I see nothing but wet lands.

And I still can't cancel the smile from my face.

All of a sudden, I feel the pressure of what I am going to do, and gone is the smile. My mind is strong, I have climbed this problem so many times, in bed, at school while waiting for the students to finish their tests, at the gym while resting between attempts, in the shower. Now I am going there do climb it only one more time, but the only time that matters, the one that's for real.

I get down at the station, I feel good and happy, I am home again, despite having moved again: home is where friends are?

I see Tom as I go down the stairs. Long time no see my friend.

In the car there is Tom's friend, a true beast, and again through rain, mist and some more kilometers, I finally see the see, the Pier and The Orme.

It seems doable, then it seems not. How low will those clouds be? How wet will the holds be? How small will they feel?

As it happened many times in the past, when I lay in the tent in the grass surrounded by the Dolomites, mixed feelings fill my thoughts: I want to get it done, but would pay so much to have a simple, valid, small excuse to call me out of the fight. "I hope it rains outside". How many times I recited this mantra to avoid another 15 pitches on 50 years old rotting pitons. Some of these times, my prayer became reality, and with all the pressure disappearing in a split second, we raced down into town to dive ourselves into coffee, strudel and krapfens. Some other times, the sun reminded us that we were there to do some business, and our will made the rest. Make coffee, eat some cookies, dress up, gear up and do the job. Despite all the toil and torture, I do not wonder why I remember all the times that we climbed and not the times that we could rest and go to the bar...

"I hope The Cave is dripping" I find myself muttering. This thought lasts no time. I don't hope it's dripping, I feel it will be ok, and I don't care how it is in fact, because I am going there and climbing the problem.

"It's not looking good".

"It's dripping".

"It's wet".

IT'S A FUCKING STICKY DAMP.

The guys take everything out of the car and I understand that we are truly here for business. No exitation, it's time and when I hear Tom asking me to do the "Acid Test" for conditions, I am already one arming the pocket, with even my down jacket on. Tom is happy.

With a giant packet of tissues we all dry the holds, and it's really time.

Pressure kicks in. I am not afraid, because I know that I perform at my best under pressure. The first move is fine, and the second one feels good despite feeling a little longer than I expected. I know where to place my feet and I get the flake good and I am solid. I flag my right leg behind and I match, then I throw out right and I miss the hold. I am back on Earth.

It's been a good go, given the conditions (I wonder if it really was a sticky damp or if it simply was a total, complete and utter swimming pool...) and given the fact that I smartly chose to came here on my 8th consecutive day of climbing or training. I am knackered but confident. Maybe just too confident, almost naive.

I rehearse the move, and now I know where to take it and how to take it. It's time again and this time I don't miss it, but I miss the heel hook because I haven't checked where it is, and I fall going again to the good drilled pocket. Now I really am under pressure, this move feels very precarious, you can't see the hold, and I am perplexed.

Adam pops up to say hello, and I am happy to meet him. I am even happier when he points out that I am heelhooking the wrong bit. He shows me where to do it, and on the previously precarious move now I can shake out for how long I want. Thank you.

Releif, I rest and go again. I am confident.

I push with my left foot and I hear Tom saying "Nice and smooth Lore, nice and smooth": he's so close yet I feel the words so distant and I think if it could really be, that I am nice and smooth in my climbing. All of a sudden I am at the flake, I match, and while kicking with my right foot I cut loose and swing out, it should not happen, I think, but I am still there, on. I kick in, and go on. I get the hold out right, I heel hook prefectly and I get the pocket. I am there, so close. And so fucked up. I struggle and I fall on the last move. No. The nightmare. Falling on the last move. And feeling completely thrashed. Pressure pressure pressure. I perform at my best under pressure.

After what I judge a good rest, which it's not, because in these conditions a good rest for me should be a three days rest, I gulp down some supplements: aminoacids and glutamine, and I hope they do something good.

Will they? I'd better do my part.

This is the go. At the flake again, I almost forget to match, and that's not a good sign, because my mind is not focused, and so my body cannot be either. I kick, I cut loose and I don't hold the swing. It's over. It's fucking over. I am fucking done.

Tom's friend brings the pads under his project, and I start packing my stuff. Tomorrow it will be soaked by humidity, and the tissues won't do. It's over. I could have done it, but it didn't happen. I gave my whole self and it wasn't enough.

No.

I am packing my stuff only because I know that I will remain here until I have climbed the problem, and I don't want to lose my stuff in the dark. I have all the time in the world.

I am there again, at the starting hold. Nice and smooth. I do the first move and I feel a particular pressure on my right foot, unlike previous tries. I think "This will make all the difference". I get the right hand pocket and its lip feels grainy and sticky, and this makes me strong. I get the flake, I flag, I match and I kick. I cut loose. It shouldn't happen. It shouldn't have happened. While I swing out, not arguing with gravity, much more exchanging fists with her, I feel the indecision, the uncertainity of the future in my whole body: when this chaos will be over, will I still be on here, or on the ground?

Here.

Left foot in the pocket, right foot in the smear, dyno out right. There. Thumb on. Heel hook and shake out, because I am so strong. I get the good hold, "remember all the one armers you've done" and I let go of the flake with the left hand. I stop the swing on the rail and I reach out and high, then I engage auto pilot and pull through and I am on the finishing hold. I only have to tap the back of my hand to complete the problem.

And I can't. And I FUCKING CAN'T. The rail was dripping and my left hand got soaked. I am sliding off the hold, I cannot match and I cannot finish the problem. What should I do? Jump down and take the tick? Try to adjust my right toe? Get a heel in? I don't know and anyway I can't do it. I just do not let go. Everyone is screaming at me, I say "Spot me well" to I don't know who, I just hear shouts from all around, I try to raise my body, I push with my right foot and squeeze something with my left, finding some sort of friction in a toe hook. Chaos. Shouts. Grease. Fatigue. Pride. Honour. Will. Delusion. Frustration. Sweat. Everything condensates here and now, in this fractions of a second during which I somehow tap the back of my left hand with my right and come down.

I scream, everyone screams, and the echoes get lost in the sea.

I hug my friends, I yell and the world is a perfect place. I take out the flask and down goes my 15 years old Laphroaig.

I have done "Rock Atrocity" and I am God.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3214726760857041861?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: andy popp on March 24, 2011, 06:44:47 pm

Last couple of posts have been really top stuff. Cheers.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Duma on March 24, 2011, 07:28:43 pm

Lore, you write incredibly well.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: shark on March 24, 2011, 10:59:36 pm

Love it :bounce:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on March 25, 2011, 07:10:20 am

thanks guys, I really appreciate!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Grubes on March 25, 2011, 07:31:10 am

Fucking epic dude. AWESOME!!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: chris05 on March 25, 2011, 09:07:19 am

Great post. Best blog about a boulder problem I have ever read :thumbsup:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Jaspersharpe on March 28, 2011, 12:25:34 pm

How can it be that some of the best writing on here is done by an Italian!?

Two awesome posts Lore. :bow:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on March 28, 2011, 12:40:24 pm

;D
guys, thank you really!!!

Title: THE FUTURE
Post by: comPiler on April 23, 2011, 07:00:13 pm

THE FUTURE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/04/in-pics-devastation-i-left-behind.html)
23 April 2011, 3:10 pm

In the pics, the devastation I left behind.

Where once the chilren's laughter used to resonate, and Mother Nature shone in all its beauty and grace for the climbers to rejoyce and appreciate, now there is only a desolated wasteland, after my passage.

What a day.

And I didn't even climb my project. I didn't really have to, I almost don't need to, I know it's just a matter of time, but on days like today everything goes into perspective. I was strong. I have been for a little while now, and it feels so good. In the last sessions I have never fallen from the usual roof direct and I have never missed the first dyno. I am almost doing it every time from the extension start, and soon will come the day that "almost" disappears.

Cold fingers are still an issue, but again I feel confident. A slight adjustement in the heel hooks sequence proved to be crucial, despite the fact that I had already tried it but to no avail. Something has changed. Many things have.

Today, while doing another lap on the direct, I got the pinch and I knew I wasn't coming off. Every time I do it, I do it more slowly and in a more controlled way. Today even the last crimp felt good, it almost made me drop from the surprise. I love climbing because climbing always shocks me with new things, and because despite the fact that I am just a punter close to his fourties, climbing still makes me happy, happier than I had ever thought on that mid-March day of 1993, when I first put on an oversized pair of climbing boots, touched the rock, and broke forever that invisible veil that separeted me from a better reality. I will never thank myself enough for that choice. It was in me, and this all is like me.

A few of the things that are starting to make a huge difference:

doing short, intense sessions instead of long tiring days;

buying new shoes with fresh rubber, especially on the heels;

buying Antihydral, getting to the problem with hard skin for the nasty holds;

being confident and taking a few more rest days;

and most of all, never, never ever losing the fucking faith.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-662474806481287864?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: rodma on April 24, 2011, 10:22:05 am

Fuck Yeah!!!!!

Title: ONE GOOD GO
Post by: comPiler on April 28, 2011, 01:00:29 am

ONE GOOD GO (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/04/one-good-go.html)
26 April 2011, 3:42 pm

In the video, one very decent go on the project: hitting the hold of the hardest move, unfortunately with my heel peeling off the placement; humid rock (it was raining and very still, almost suffocating despite not being too hot) and probably not a strong enough core are to blame I reckon.

The important thing is that these good goes happen with increasing ease and frequency. From there the problem is still hard but I am confident.

On a related note, I am struggling not to train: I really want to, but a wrongly timed session or too much volume could easily have terrible effects on the project, and given that I can't climb on it every time that I'd like, I'd better keep my infamous calm. I am surely strong enough to climb it, so training is off for the moment. I have to say that last Thursday, when I got there with three days off before, I felt definitely strong: after all, I didn't lose 19 years of training in those three days.

That's all for the moment, see you in the future...

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-6694247427396964563?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: WRONG MINDSET
Post by: comPiler on April 30, 2011, 07:00:08 pm

WRONG MINDSET (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/04/wrong-mindset.html)
30 April 2011, 5:25 pm

In the video stills, two important moments: sticking the move to the "rest", and sticking the precarious dyno to the only good hold of the hard section. I am analyzing the video frame by frame, to try and unlock even the slightest detail that could help.

Today, for example, I went back to using my old Jet7 for my left foot, because the new Team, with their padded toe box, create too much friction when I drag my foot on the underside of the lower part of the roof while I dyno. I need to shave every gram.

I am happy. As I have said many times, minimal changes have a butterfly effect and nothing is what it may appear at first glance: how missing a hold can be better than sticking it? It's simple: because last week I was hitting the hold properly but my heel was peeling off; today I was hitting the hold in the wrong bit but my heel always stayed put. On the dyno, it's not hard to cover the distance to the hold, you can jump to that hold, but you won't hold the swing. It's hard to cover the distance without cutting loose. That's why sometimes missing a hold can be better than sticking it.

On a side note, in my last post I clearly showed my wrong mindset when I wrote I badly timed session could spoil the project. That's not what I want to think.

All I have to do is get back on training, doing good and well timed session. There are many ways to do things wrong, but often only one to do them right, and I only want to think about that single right one.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-202081890104348130?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: THE FUTURE IS HERE
Post by: comPiler on May 07, 2011, 07:00:08 pm

THE FUTURE IS HERE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/05/future-is-here.html)
7 May 2011, 11:09 am

Today I just went there and did it, first go of the day. I don't think I'll ever forget waking up this morning and seeing 6.09 in the clock. I tried to get asleep again but in 0,1 second all I could think about was the extension, so I went there and I did it. Today everything was different and I will try to talk about it sooner or later.

I called my line "Futurismo". As you may know, Futurism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurism) was a strong cultural, political and artistic movement of the early years of 1900.

As you may also know, this movement is very controversial, due to its militarist ideas and relationships with Fascism, so I feel the need to clarify why I chose this name.

Obviously it's not a tribute to Futurism; I simply chose this name because I think that my problem shares with Futurism the same characteristics: it's violent; it's completely self centered and, most of all, it's deeply wrong!!!

I would like to address you all to a couple of tunes whose words keep bouncing in my mind since this morning. Here you go.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-4946491706692670025?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: andy popp on May 09, 2011, 08:03:21 am

Stop hiding your light under a bushel. Video?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 09, 2011, 09:06:31 am

;D
obviously on the D-Day I managed to forget my camera, which is a luck because it will spare the you the show of watching me jumping around in the grass, arms in the air, like a complete fool.
I went back yesterday and did it again in two halves but couldn't repeat it. at that point I was very sad and disappointed, luckily one friend reminded me that you are not supposed to repeat the hardest climb of your life every time you try it, which seemed a fairly simple concept that alas had eluded my mind before.
my friend has quite a lot of footage of the day, he'll edit it soon and I'm very curious because he won't show it to me bofore finishing.

anyway the plan is to keep going there during the summer season to train on the roof, because it's very close, in terms of climbing style and length, to another project of mine. as I tought before, higher temps definitely helped me maintain my finger with enough sensibility to squeeze the fuck out of the pinch, at this was definitely crucial, so I'm confident that sooner or later I will manage to film and entire climb with no cuts.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Jaspersharpe on May 09, 2011, 01:00:08 pm

:beer2:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 09, 2011, 03:25:48 pm

today I finally realized that my ascent of the problem is not valid.
I lied to myself and to you all.
I am very sorry, will try to explain on the blog.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 09, 2011, 03:28:15 pm

moderators please remove any +ve karma I had because of the roof, because I don't deserve it.
I think I need a serious psycotherapy.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: andy popp on May 09, 2011, 04:03:48 pm

You can keep mine, just for ongoing psyche.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 09, 2011, 04:45:59 pm

if any of you wants a trip into madness, it's on the blog now.
thank you all and please excuse me.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Falling Down on May 09, 2011, 05:02:57 pm

You deserve wadding for fessing up to yourself and the world when it would have been easier not to - you'll sleep better tonight I'm sure. :thumbsup:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Jaspersharpe on May 09, 2011, 05:08:12 pm

What FD said.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 09, 2011, 05:12:28 pm

yes I'm sure I'll sleep better in the mental asylum. peace, silence, my comfy soundproof little room...

Title: THE FUTURE IS NOT HERE YET: ONLY MADNESS IS HERE.
Post by: comPiler on May 09, 2011, 07:00:10 pm

THE FUTURE IS NOT HERE YET: ONLY MADNESS IS HERE. (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/05/future-is-not-here-yet-only-madness-is.html)
9 May 2011, 2:29 pm

My ascent of the roof extension is not valid. I did not complete the problem.

I was wondering why I woke up at 6 am on Sunday morning, instead of having a lie in in the glory of my success: because I had not succeeded, I had failed. My body knew what my mind refused to accept: despite doing all the hard part, I failed on a move and fell. I had never fallen there before, and when I found myself on the ground, my joy for having done the moves I had never done before took over and I found myself running around screaming, arms up in the air. I mistook the joy of progression with the joy of success. This rush of emotion and adrenalin kept pumping and before I could realize it I was already at the market buying a bottle of Champagne to celebrate.

I needed to succeed to take the pressure off. I fooled myself into thinking that because I never fall on those moves, I could take the tick; well, I can't.

Sometimes in the past I have been a bit self indulgent, not caring about dabs or not toping out on problems on which I was scared or simply lazy.

This time is different. This is one of the greatest challenges of my climbing career, and I want to do it properly.

What shocks me, is how fragile my mind is on this matter, and how I managed to convince myself that I had done it. It took me two days to realize it, it happened finally this afternoon while I was driving home. I could not be happy anymore, my desire was still there, unfulfilled, and the beast was still hungry.

It's shocking really.

I think one of the factors of this foolishness is that I knew I needed to detach myself from the problem, to finally climb it, and I think that my mind took this great chance to release the pressure, and behave just AS IF I had done it, to make me relax and do it properly in a close future. In this process I lost myself, something went wrong and I completely deluded myself, and my closest friends and loves. The process of acting AS IF, to detach from the problem and finally climb it, has worked fine for me in the past, but this time it took over. I lied to myself for one split second, and then it all crumbled down. Unluckily, saturday I also had forgotten - on purpose? - my camera, and being on my own, no one could prove me wrong. Luckily, I finally proved myself wrong, and I am so happy.

I wanted to make this gift to my girlfriend, also. Coming back home, for once, with a great success to dedicate to her devotion for me and my obsessions.

It's so simple when I think about it: you either got to the top or you didn't. How could it be possible to get lost between these two simple alternatives, still is a mistery for me.

But the joy was true. Only, it was a joy for progress, not for success.

This is really a journey inside myself, my mind, my obsessions, my weaknesses and my worst demons. I learnt something new about myself, and what I found out is a monster.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-6727155216027387989?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: robertostallioni on May 09, 2011, 09:47:33 pm

Quote from: Nibile on May 09, 2011, 03:28:15 pm

moderators please remove any +ve karma I had because of the roof,

Fuck the karma, what am I supposed to do with the tattoo, Nibs?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: GCW on May 09, 2011, 09:57:17 pm

I think it suits you, Pest.

(http://www.weirdworm.com/img/misc/10-bizarre-tattoos/cow-tattoo.jpg)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: GCW on May 09, 2011, 09:59:48 pm

Oh, and Nibs- at the end of the day there is only one person that needs to be sure af the ascent. Nobody else's opinion really matters when judgement comes, if you are/aren't happy with your achievements that is all that really matters.

The Roof awaits you- when you complete the problem in a way you are happy with, your excitement will be all the greater.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: account_inactive on May 10, 2011, 10:05:31 pm

Keep the faith beast

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 11, 2011, 12:21:28 pm

THANK YOU ALL.

Title: BACK TO THE PROGRAM!
Post by: comPiler on May 14, 2011, 01:00:09 pm

BACK TO THE PROGRAM! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/05/back-to-program.html)
13 May 2011, 4:52 pm

In these small videos, courtesy of Ru and John (thank you guys), some great moments on British rock. In the first one, Llanberis Pass. A nice arete on the roadside boulder, and my flash attempt on "Bus Stop". I am very proud of that last one. I was tired, and I chose it because it's shorter than "Jerry's Roof", for which I clearly felt I had no power endurance. It went fine, at first I didn't feel secure on the top out, and on one go I bailed on the move to reach the lip. Neither Ru nor Jim understood why, and to be honest I didn't as well. Ru, wisely, suggested me to climb the top on its own to get comfy on it, but suddenly, before even having a decent rest, I felt that urge growing up inside me, the urge to cut the crap and do the problem.

And so did I. I am very happy because the guys were happy that I had done it properly, and when in being happy you make someone else happy as well, it's just the best feeling in the world.

In the second one Burbage, and "The Terrace": what a nice little gem of a problem!!! It really climbs brilliantly. Another great day, so typical. We got to The Peak only to find mist and fog, but when we went back to check the rocks, the skies cleared up and we were given our chances!!! I really had to dig deep, the previous day I had had a monster session at The Hangar with Tom and Rich, and the final tests on the gym's Beastmaker left me super psyched but also a bit spent!!!

I can still recall the rollercoaster of emotions, after missing the good hold on my best go. Happy for icing the move, and devastated by my punter's mistake. Was I going to be given another chance?

On another note, after my crazy last weekend, I decided that I had to work more seriously for the project. Despite doing again the moves on last Sunday and climbing the problem in two halves, the first hard move of the original line is still very hard. OK, before I wasn't even close to doing it, and now I have done it three times, but I need to do it again to finally get to the top, so, breifly, I want to get there as strong as I can be. This means only one thing: training.

I went back to the Beastmaker, doing two very close sessions on Tuesday evening (two handed max dead hangs) and Wednesday morning before work (one hand max dead hangs, short session); then on Wednesday afternoon I went sport climbing (led a short juggy 7a+ four or five times). Today I still feel worked, but not as I was expecting; with two days off to fully recover, tomorrow morning I'll have a very early start and I'll go there and finish it off.

I dont' know if you've noticed it, but before I wrote I led a route. It's not a typo, I really led it, I mean putting the rope in the quickdraws and all that. It felt great. I was super relaxed, maybe because on a 10 meters route there are 100 bolts, but really, it was great. I know I am still a pussy if I have the bolt below my feet, but I don't care about it that much: sport climbing is just a fun way to stay fit for the moment, and on my project routes I know I'll do fine because they are super bolted.

I want to finish this entry with something important, the only important thing: my joy when I almost did the project. It's been incredible. No wonder it took my whole person, body and mind, and it deposited it in another dimension. I was screaming, jumping around arms in the air, and I was the greatest. So I want to keep the joy of the moment, above all the other important things that I have learnt from the following days.

It's all about the joy.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-4319560667126383685?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SATISFACTION
Post by: comPiler on May 18, 2011, 07:00:24 pm

SATISFACTION (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/05/satisfaction.html)
18 May 2011, 1:35 pm

In the pic, the sunset from my little green room.

I wonder which kind of person I really am. It seems to me that I am a calm and patient guy, I don't like stress and I am not aggressive.

Despite all the above, instead of simply taking the joy of having reclimbed the roof in all its length, adding the first two moves at the beginning of this year, and leaving it in peace forever, I put myself into situations like this one, in which I get very stressed, I am under pressure and I become very aggressive. I always raise the level of my committment, and this, apparently, collides with what I think my true nature is.

So, in one of these excalations in tension, Monday afternoon I got home at 4 pm, I took the van and drove to the project. I got there very late due to a traffic jam, which didn't help my relax, and started warming up with just some light left. I was tired, but kept going, it wasn't too hot because now the trees have leaves on, and they shelter the problem from the sun, creating a nice little green ceiling. I dubbed this athmosphere "The Little Green Room of Madness", and in it I am as comfortable as a man can be. I am at home.

Soon enough I had to take out my head lamp, because it was getting very dark, but despite everything I managed two good goes, in one my right foot slipped off due to lack of core tension, in the second my left one gave up due to an even bigger lack of said tension.

I slept in the van and the following morning, or to be honest just a few hours later, I was there again. I felt very tired. When the alarm went off, all I could think about was to keep on sleeping, and this should have told me something. To be honest, I felt shocked in realizing I was so tired, I shouldn't have been, in my plan. My plan didn't contemplate the fact that it was my third consecutive day on the problem: Sunday morning (another very early start), Monday night, Tuesday morning. My fingers were feeling stiff and my skin ached a bit. I don't want to think what it would have been without Antihydral...

Having some light helped alot, and I went through my usual warm up, that I finish by doing the moves of the problem from the last one to the hard dyno. As of late, on many many attempts, my right heel has peeled off. The placement is awkward, downsloping and polished; when I get there strong, it stays put, but the slightest weakness in my body means I can't keep the tension.

I pressed on and had another very good go: I did the move very well, then I got to the pinch... and my entire body gave up. I was projected down and out, and it was over. My fingers were in pain, and even with good skin, I clearly was so tired that I couldn't move. I packed my stuff, drove like a madman for two and half hours and was at the school on time for my 11 am class.

This problem is hard on your whole body, it squeezes out every drop of core tension you have, all the strength you have in your body. When I fall, I chalk up and go back on, usually being able to complete the sequence: just a small rest on the ground seems to do magic, but doing the whole thing in a oner is a completely different thing. It's a dream come true, being able to perform the dyno after the first ten moves, something that only some weeks ago was still the unridden realm. That's why I am satisfied.

So, I almost did it, but didn't do it.

Now it's very hot, and I really need to give my body some rest. I started having some niggles in my lats, my back is very tired, and last Monday I also managed to compress my sciatic nerve, so despite the antiinflammatories taken, I still have my left calf, heel and back of the thigh a bit numb. 'nuff said.

So I want to take a couple of weeks to cood down, then I will go back on a serious training plan. I want to keep going regularly to the roof during the whole summer, because it's be the best way to keep the feeling, and the closest possible way of training for it, given the dramatic lack of climbing walls here.

So this is it. I am happy, I have improved and I have given my best.

In this video, the images from what you've just read.

Thank you all for the support in the past weeks.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-6805771336255812543?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: CLIMBING IS FUN!!!
Post by: comPiler on May 25, 2011, 07:00:04 pm

CLIMBING IS FUN!!! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/05/climbing-is-fun.html)
25 May 2011, 5:28 pm

Last Saturday I went climbing. Climbing is fun!!! It's so different than waking up at 6 am then spending hours trying a project. When simply climbing, I felt free again. I didn't know perfectly every move, I didn't know how exactly every move should feel: how hard, how painful; every move, even on problems I have done hundreds of times, felt new and I was curious again. I was even free to fall, free to forget my coffee, free not to drink accordingly to the nutritionist's advise, free to be amatorial. Not that I did it, I behaved as professionally as I could, but I was free not to.

Still, I miss the battle. I enjoy the battle.

On Monday afternoon I was so charged that I wanted to pop up at the wall and check out the 45° wall that they have built. Luckily I phoned The Guru (http://www.climbingtraining.it/) before, and he informed me that the new wall is very smartly kept with no holds on. After knowing this I still wanted to go to the wall, but since I didn't manage to find neither a flame thrower nor an axe, I didn't go. I ended up in a dark garage, with a small 45° board peppered with holds that all face the wrong direction and a Beastmaker.

You don't need much more to have a great session.

Despite climbing well on rock, I don't feel very strong as of late, and some water retemption from my - very light to be honest - creatine supplementation, contributes to make me feel a bit fatty and weak. Not all is true, and although I'd like to be ripped and to lose some fat, I still want to concentrate on training at the highest possible intensity. We will see.

At the end of the session I tried a couple of tests on the Beast: one success and one failure, as the videos below show.

I will visit Amiata in the weekend, with hopefully a new sitter added to an old problem. The idea for the summer is: get strong and climb hard (d'oh!), not necessarily in this order.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2342791970285500373?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: LOOKING WITH NEW EYES
Post by: comPiler on June 05, 2011, 07:00:07 pm

LOOKING WITH NEW EYES (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/05/looking-with-new-eyes.html)
30 May 2011, 10:40 am

WARNING: this entry is long. The short version is: I found out some of my old problems are hard; I found a new connection under The Roof (my own private Parisella's) and I started training again. On the other hand if you feel confident enough to challenge my writing obsession, prepare yourself a big cup of tea, take a big bag of cookies and dive in my mind. Thank you anyway.

One of the (many, I know, and I'm a bit sorry for that) things that I complain about on this blog, is the lack of reference in terms of the difficulty of what I try or climb. This is the problem of climbing on one's own and opening new problems in areas that are seldom visited. Everyone has experienced this, I'm sure, even the big names. There's a line from this video (http://www.vimeo.com/23682218) that keeps resounding in my mind: just because something feels hard, it doesn't mean it is hard. Blimey, if James says so, I'd better believe it.

So, I drive a couple of hours, I brush a problem, I struggle on it, then after x tries or days of effort I do it, and I am clueless. I mean, I can probably tell if it's in the 6th grade or in the 7th, but not much more.

So, when my problems get some attention, I'm always glad and afraid at the same time: glad because it's like being a proud father when something yours is appreciated, and scared because if something is easy and felt hard that's not good. The much feared downgrading is always behind the corner, and sometimes it's used to establish a hierarcy between the persons, not between bits of rock. I already blogged about this here (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2008/11/three-forms-of-idiocy.html).

These past two weekends, the Amiata blocs have seen the appearence of a strong team of pullers, tearing the problems apart. I am very glad because my lines are appealing, as it seems by the number of repetitions they get, and because what felt hard is not really easy.

The problems I've put up in the various sectors in the last two years are in the Font 7b/7c+ range and that's not bad after all.

One other thing that is sometimes hard to accept is being crap at finding beta. I never seem to be able to pick the easy sequence, and this clearly makes a chaos. But when a problem gets five repeats and none with your sequence, you're an idiot, but a proud one. The battle is my battle against myself: there's no one else in it. It's an endless battle, I cannot win and I cannot lose unless I give up: a thing that I just don't do. The battle in itself is the aim.

Finally, I have to take some serious rest. My sciatic nerve is still causing problems, my calf is painful and my thigh and heel are still a bit numb: not good. I have climbed a lot on this injury, and despite being happy about it, I clearly asked too much from my body. I need to recover before starting the summer training. This is being postponed because I kept climbing, but I also kept spending far too much time in my car, driving. In some of the past weeks I have been to Amiata three or four times a week, and each time means almost 300 km of Tuscan roads. It's tiring and very costly also. I can't do it anymore, I have to select few, good climbing days: just like past Sunday with my visiting friends. I climbed for a full day (a rarity nowadays!!!) repeating many problems, included some harder ones.

The amount of energy I can obtain for a group of nice, happy and psyched friends is enormous. It's incredible.

I have to thank my friends for this: they came and they appreciated my problems, even if short, lowball, or eliminates. One of my closest friends commented that one problem was "a new world", and he defined me "a purist with a British vision"!!!

So, I can look back at things I have done years ago with new eyes: our past is not a prison of things set in stone; it can be understood under new perspectives; it can be interpretated and reshaped. It cannot be cancelled of course, but we can learn and we can get rid of the bad bits of it.

Then: after one week off and a period generally focused on climbing with no structured training in it, I am back to the program. I have a short term goal and a long term one. Plus another one in the middle.

I need to build up some serious power endurance, to climb my two projects, that are in the 15/20 moves range. I have another project, a short one of just 5/6 moves, but I think that it will benefit from this kind of training, because there's a good amount of pure power training in, as you ma see if you analyze closely the picture.

So yesterday I found myself under the roof again, this time to do laps on the easier lines. I took the chance to refine my sequence for the project, finding a way to avoid the cut loose and subsequent swing out left once gotten to the jug that marks the start of the hard bit. Promising.

Anyway yesterday I had the worst conditions I've ever found there in 10 years: it was literally suffocating. The previous days' rain had completely saturated the air and the total lack of an ventilation forced me to go down the final step of madness, taping my battery powered fan to the roof to cool down a crucial pinch, as the picture shows. It worked. Madness pays off.

Anyway it was a hard session: I started sweating from the first lap and didn't stop even during the long rests. I had to do 4 laps of a chosen line, for 4 sets. I decided to try the 7b+/c sequence that Keith (http://www.unclesomebody.com/) put up years ago, but then found something new: I found out it's possible to connect the new project's start with all the hard part of the 7c!!! YES COME ON ANOTHER LITTLE PROJECT!!! It's something around 7c/+ into 7b+/c. I have no idea of what it translates into, but it's cool and hard. Paranoically I thought I was going to do it first go, but I was so far from the mark!!! Just the project's start felt very hard and I could not climb the new line, but I decided to use this new problem as the first lap of the 4. Wow, what an error!!! It's too hard for even one go, and this left me very tired for the following three goes on the 7c. Obviously I could not complete any of these goes, but I stepped back on immediately after falling and kept going to the top.

A 30 minutes rest passed in a breathe and I had to go again. This time I nearly completed the new line, only to slide off from the crucial heel placement (having my heel still a bit numb from the sciatica didn't help): it's hard, I reckon 7c+/8a. Whatever.

This second set passed again and it felt better, despite my aching skin (Antihydral next time!!!) and my forearms the size of a Zeppelin. Again I did not complete any of the goes in a oner but I think that's exactly the point here: going beyond complete failure and fatigue.

Another 35 minutes, another cup of coffee, supplements, and heavy heavy breathing. A rain storm was loudly approaching.

This time I decided to stick to the chosen problem from the first go, without trying the new project and it paid off: despite being at the 9th go I crushed it, then I almost did it again on the following go, but didn't managed to get to the top of the problem on my third go. It was clearly time to go home!!!

What did I learn from this session? Firstly that I enjoy so much this shit that I probably am REALLY nuts; secondly that for my projects four goes on this line are too much. The problem I used is 12 moves long; 4 laps make 48 moves, more than twice my projects; I know that now I rest when I jump off the top of the problem and I crawl back under the roof to start again, but I am afraid that it's too much volume that hinders the power aspect in the hard moves of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th go; moreover, I was totally empty after the 3rd of the 4 originally planned sets. So, from next session I will do three laps for four sets: that will pack up still 36 moves, with hopefully still a high emphasis on power. A quick talk with The Guru tomorrow will be necessary.

So this is it. On a final note: I found a nightmare on the road back, a hell of a storm, to which this small video doesn't do justice.

Well, if you've made it to this point, without throwing the pc out of the window or cursing the author, give yourself a pat on the back, accept my thanks and gratitute and enjoy the rest of your life until the next time I'll steal your time from it.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-6024332402530618988?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: ENDURING POWER
Post by: comPiler on June 11, 2011, 07:00:17 pm

ENDURING POWER (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/06/enduring-power.html)
11 June 2011, 3:31 pm

In this video, one set from the recent power endurance sessions: 15 consecutive maximal dead hangs and pull ups, with as little rest as possible, all for six sets. I fear my next session as hell.

More than four minutes of suffering boiled down to just over 60 seconds for your sadic voyeuristic pleasure.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3055865374793908338?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on June 12, 2011, 02:56:39 pm

sorry, I obviously meant "sadistic".

Title: MORE ENDURING POWER
Post by: comPiler on June 14, 2011, 07:00:06 pm

MORE ENDURING POWER (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/06/more-enduring-power.html)
14 June 2011, 2:00 pm

A few things changed recently, but I kept sticking to the plan. I should have gone sport climbing to start trying a certain route before the full Summer, but I find myself going bouldering instead, and doing not one but two competitions.

You all know how much I dislike competitions, how poorly I climb on plastic and the likes; despite this all, I am happy to be going to do these two. One is the first one ever hosted in my hometown, on our recently built wall; the other is organized in the central square of Lerici, a wonderful city at the sea in Liguria, by my friend Toni from Toscoclimb (http://www.toscoclimb.it/), who also happens to be one of the main developers of Wild Climb climbing shoes (http://www.wildclimb.it/). He gave me many pairs of shoes, and also sponsored the new wall. The least I can do to thank him is to go and show off at the comps.

The current training regime revolves around power endurance. I always thought I was only good at power climbing, I have no idea about my power endurance level, and I know I am shit at endurance climbing. It would be very interesting to do the guinea pig and go under scrutiny like Stu (http://thesphericalcow.blogspot.com/2011/06/we-can-rebuild-him.html) did (but he onsights 8a and climbs 8c...).

In time, though, I have put up some longer problem and traverses, and I have often found myself setting 10 moves long problems at the wall. That isn't pure power for sure.

Anyway this kind of training is a change from usual sessions, and I am very confident that it will pay off not only on my specific projects but also on "normal" bouldering; only, I have to tailor it to fit in a longer training plan, given that it was originally meant as a three weeks long period, a brief introduction to the anaerobic-lactic world, to make me a bit fitter in order to at least get to the route and put the clips to the top in one day!!! I want to keep this training for the summer, probably putting in a bit more power sessions as I did last week with a session of assisted one armers on the Beastmaker.

Last Sunday I went back to my own private Parisella's Cave, the Chiesina roof. I am spending there all my outdoor climbing time and it makes me happy. It's the best I can do right here and now. Especially when I also tick a new problem, like I did last time.

It's the variation I dismissed as "too easy to even bother" when I first started trying the big project. One friend of mine told me to do that one first, but I thought it could have distracted me from the main target. For sure its difficulty is not even remotely close to the project's one, but still it took me two sessions to do it. It's twelve moves long and quite burly to be honest, especially in this heat wave. Great fun though, I am psyched I did it!

After the reliefing success, it was time to do some homework: laps on the classic line. As I said before, I cut down the reps, from 4 to 3, to keep power levels high; it's a very hard training for me, because I am not light and because my forearms stick to their task quite well for a certain amount of time, but then they suddenly explode and they take forever to recover. I think it's due to my style of climbing (I always squeeze too much, but hey it's a roof), also.

The first two sets of three laps are in this video: it's a bit boring to watch someone repeat the same moves for minutes, but to me it's very motivating. I can recall the feelings of each lap, the growing fatigue, the bulk in my back muscles, my forearms as heavy as iron, the moves growing in difficulty with each lap. I can still hear the voice telling me "Let go. Give up. Go home. Take a rest." and to be honest I don't know how or why I didn't listen to her.

I only know that when I got back home I was happy and proud of myself, and that I can't wait to go back there again.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3973213307327959214?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: STALLING POWER
Post by: comPiler on July 03, 2011, 07:00:07 pm

STALLING POWER (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/07/stalling-power.html)
3 July 2011, 12:33 pm

In the picture, one moment from a recent Palio, with my contrada crushing the race and going for victory.

The comp came and went, and I had great fun. After all, more than a comp it's been a nice chance to climb again with my friends in Siena, on the new wall we all fought hard to obtain, and about which we are very proud and happy.

I climbed relaxed and chilled, did a few of the 18 qualifiers, my hardest tick being something in the 6b range. The girls were competing too, and I spent a good amount of time showing (off) sequences on demand. It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.

Somehow I managed to find myself in the finals, so while everyone else was drinking iced beer (it was 35°), I and the other finalists were green with envy. I spent all the time trying to get some blood flow again in my bulging forearms, then it was time to go. I failed in trying to convince the route setter to do the finals on a fingerboard, therefore I marked a nice zero, with the second problem, a gently overhanging dihedral-chimney, smashing my shoulders and lower back. Anyway I finished 4th on a field of 22 competitors: the fifth had been climbing for six months at the moment of the comp, and the other ones even less. I am great. This brilliant performance pushed me in 296th place in the overall national ranking, over 339 competitors. I really am great.

The following day I was thrashed, my back was stiff, I had a tweaky finger and my right forearm was hurting because in a fall I hit it on a friend's knee. This sadly forced me to cancel the usual roof session at Chiesina. Not good.

I went back to Florence, and I had my recovery week.

I needed it at the end.

Despite my dodgy shoulders and back I put in a strong PE session on the Beast, with my 15x6 routine. Wow, it works. I found myself able to complete more series than before and no need to alternate them with easier ones. Sadly, this session woke my left elbow up, and it was pissed...

With this session I got to my long weekend, originally planned to go and try a certain route, that instead I spent with fellow Fabio between Sasso and Amiata.

In three days I managed to do a good volume, quickly repeating my old problems, up to 7c/+. I failed in doing a harder variation of "I Mulini (http://vimeo.com/14396628)", the problem I did last year courtesy of Mr. Thomas Mills himself. This variation links the first half of the traverse of "Fame di Stelle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM1pIZR9RiU)" into "I Mulini". I was a bit tired when I got there and being also hot I never got the crimp well enough to propel me to the jug. Got close but no cigar. One to go back to.

So this long weekend of pulling led me to the week that's just passed, in which I only tried to nurse my elbow. I started again doing rotators cuff exercises, because I am sure my shoulder problems after the comp have something to do with the elbow, and the boring forearms curls. I am tempted to subscribe to the gym to move some iron in July and August. The problem is that I am using some supplements as of late and I don't want to look in the mirror in September and find a linebacker instead of a Font 8c+ beast. We will see, IIRC last year the gym did well for my other elbow, so maybe it's an option to fight the urge to climb and train. This urge led me again under the Beast last thursday: with all the attention I am capable of (*cough*), I did a recruitment session with sub maximal hangs, 10 seconds for 6 sets, on good holds: 20°, big rungs, 30°, back2, mid2 (medium), front2 (small), back3 (small rung), front3 (small rung). After that some ice and it's not too bad. Still I am scared to do pull ups, and this is bad.

This weekend saw me chill out in Siena for the Palio, I spent friday drinking whiskey and soda and flirting with girls, and I spent saturday recovering. Today I wanted to climb but a late start and some friends coming home for a visit kept me quiet. Physically at least.

Tomorrow I want to go climbing, despite having no quickdraws I got back my old rope and so it will be fine for toproping in boiling heat.

I found out a crucial tufa broke three years ago on my route, so now it's even harder. This terryfied me, and made me feel guilty for not putting in double daily session every fucking day.

I really would like to do more, to train more, more wisely and more intensely. I really would like to give more.

KEEP THE FUCKING FAITH.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-4347825790371924521?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SUMMER IS HERE
Post by: comPiler on July 13, 2011, 07:00:10 pm

SUMMER IS HERE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/07/summer-is-here.html)
13 July 2011, 3:26 pm

Summer is definitely here. As you can see in the pic, chances of big numbers are not high, when it's over 28° in your house at 9 AM.

With daytime temps reaching the magic 40° barrier, there was only one thing to do: pull out the tiniest tank top I have, and hit the weights!!!

Entering the gym has always that magical aura made of dirty lockers, filthy showers and smell of piss; but when you enter the weights room, you can't help but feel like a god. It's dark because electricity is expensive, you know, and the air conditioning has still to be invented. There are a few fans, and with no windows all they can do is move the sweat stink around. It really is bliss.

Doing weights is so easy compared to climbing: you just have to pick them up, move them in a simple way, then throw them down. Remember, even if you are using weights so light that the 40 kilos girl next to you uses them as the warmup, at the end of the set you HAVE to throw them down, you don't put them down, you throw them down because you are hard core and you know what super high intensity body building is.

Another thing you have to do is to make sure you take a couple of loud, deep breaths before starting the set, so that everyone around hears you: because you are hard core again, and this set will be so fucking hard that you are almost scared to start it. God only knows what could happen: the sky could split open, so tough is this set.

Anyway, doing weights is the only thing I can do know besides fingerboarding, so I do weights and I do them as hard as I can. I have done weights every summer in the last four years and they have fixed a couple of elbow problems, pumped my biceps and made me generally fit. It's a win-win situation.

Finally, a small video that will make the start of this video (http://www.vimeo.com/25256908) more clear: it's about myself doing "Powerstrips" in Chironico. I didn't flash it, and I didn't do it until I found the right beta: campusing. On the top out, though, my left hand pinky got stuck (or it gave me this impression) in the crack, it scared me and I jumped down in agony, pronouncing the famous phrase.

I hope you like it as much as I liked being there, at the boulders, with my friends, doing what I love.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2562398368581132447?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: INJURY IS HERE
Post by: comPiler on July 18, 2011, 07:00:06 pm

INJURY IS HERE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/07/injury-is-here.html)
18 July 2011, 2:24 pm

I think, I almost sure that I am really injured. My left elbow had been on and off in the last weeks, but after Saturday night it's quite sore.

I am trying to understand what went wrong, not to repeat the error in the future (ahah, if only that could be possible!!!): I think that the first sign of serious fatigue was after an assisted one armers session on the Beastmaker. I simply did too much: two one armers for each arm on various types of holds. At that point everything was under control really, and the first bad hit came from a PE session: I felt it achey before even starting, nonetheless I went through the sets, one after the other. Is the mind stronger than the body? Yes and no...

Anyway, the Siena comp also played its role, the overhanging holdless dihedrals smashed my shoulders and for sure compressed again my elbows.

So up to this point I was still confident: pulling up on the Beast was out of question, but on the rock I felt at ease and the post session icing was doing its little miracle each time. I have woken up a couple of times thinking that it had passed really.

Then came Saturday night, and its fever. The program for the night was a party at the gym at the sea, then straight to Tartana Club (http://www.tartana.com/), Marco Bresciani spinning and mixing for us.

The night involved a large amount of the following ingredients: pulling on plastic holds; alcohol consumpion; loud music; barely dressed girls in high heels.

As you can imagine, it's been absolutely fantastic, but my elbow was fried yesterday and is still sore. I will do weights today, let's see how it goes under the lat machine...

In case you don't believe that I had great fun the other night, these small videos from my phone could convince you.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2383538376906365521?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: MORNINGS, WOOD AND IRON
Post by: comPiler on July 25, 2011, 01:00:08 pm

MORNINGS, WOOD AND IRON (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/07/mornings-wood-and-iron.html)
24 July 2011, 9:44 am

We all know that sometimes what others think about us is not true: for instance, and that's strange and probably the only case in climbing history, I have discovered more than once that people say that I have climbed routes or problems that in fact I haven't done. How this happens is impossible to understand to me, but given that life imitates art, it does happen.

What I found out recently, on the other hand, is much more important: I found out that some other times what we think about ourselves is not true. And I found it from nowhere.

I am lazy. I like to sleep a lot, and to concentrate all my energies in just what I like. If I could get a taxi right to the boulders, I would. This is what I thought, and it's not true. I found out that I like the walk to the blocs. What I dislike is, in reality, having to do that walk after hours driving on my own, and carrying four pads. Anyway, I'm digressing.

I don't like mornings and early starts. I have had to get up early in the past to go to work, when I was living in Rome, or in the Notary firm in Grosseto, and I hated it. Wrong again. I didn't hate the early start, I hated all that came afer that, the traffic, the jobs, the people. I hated getting back home so late that I ended my training session at 10,45 PM and I hated never having the time for anything.

It's not when you get up, it's what you get up for, that really matters.

A month ago, my girlfriend started her 5 years residency at Siena hospital, and one day, all of a sudden, I found myself wondering "What am I doing here in Florence?".

The answer was simple, I am here for work, I work here therefore I live here. Hmm, that's right but maybe a little bit too rational. What do I have in my life, beside a job that I love? I have my best friends. Most of them are in Siena, and the ones that live in Florence, I seldom meet them. Then I have my climbing. Is it easy to get to climb in Florence? No. Do I like the gyms in Florence? No. Hmmm... Reflect. Then I obviously have my girlfriend. Do I like seeing here just in the weekends? No. Do I like having to fit love and rock all in the small time of a weekend? Not at all.

What do I do in Florence, so? I wake up. I have breakfast, and I go to school. I work, I get back home and I do some kind of training. Then I have dinner, I watch some TV or kill it on the Net, then it's bed time.

Wow, what a life. It's really unbelievable, I know, but right now that I only do weights and fingerboarding, if I don't go sport climbing with someone, I can spend an entire week without talking to anyone, except my students or collegues. My human relationships are at an all time low.

So probably until now I hadn't ever felt the need to give my life a change, but the other day it dawned to me: I have to move back to Siena and to start commuting to work every morning.

WHAT? An early start. Yes, an early start. But this time for a job I love, not hate. For spending more time with my girlfriend. For building my own board, and starting again teaching climbing classes. For being able to meet a friend in the afternoon if I like. For being closer to the boulders.

I feel this is the right thing to do, because it goes against every logic: it will make things more difficult and less comfy, but I know that I have to try.

So with this idea in my mind, I have started the early wake up in the past week, while still leaving in Florence, to get used to it. I didn't even think that 6,30 exist also in the AM, but I found out not only this hour does exist in the mornings also, it can actually be a nice moment.

There is definitely something strange in the air when you start your first dead hang set and the clock says 6,59. I had never done it before, but I thought that the best use of these freshly gained hours in the morning, before using them to commute, was to put in some Beastmaker sessions. It felt great to be honest, it's a shame my left elbow does not allow me to push as I'd like.

Going to bed very early has been crucial. I never had to take a nap in the afternoon in the whole week, despite packing in quite a lot of hours of hours of work too: I have trained at will, following the program with no problems and also managing a couple of double sessions, Beast in the morning, weights in the afternoon. On this matter, I am currently doing weights twice a week, short sessions of 15x4 to sort my elbow out and staying fit. Kilograms keep adding up and I am satisfied. It's not how long you are in the gym, it's what you do in the gym, and I want to do it right. I hope to recover from my elbow problems and to start moving big piles of iron plates soon.

On rock I feel as weak as a kitten. I can't lock off, I can't pull and my body tension is non existant.

I have taken many wrong decisions in my life. This one can be just another wrong one, and in this case it won't make any difference, or the right one, making all the difference. We will see.

Everything is very confused and very simple: keep the fucking faith up and the fucking head down.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-666431478274240713?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: A LIGHT
Post by: comPiler on July 29, 2011, 07:00:10 pm

A LIGHT (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/07/light.html)
29 July 2011, 3:07 pm

Sometimes I find myself wondering, à la Chatwin, "What am I doing here?". I mean, how can we find in ourselves the truth that our path is the right one? We can try to, but sometimes we just cannot be sure. Sometimes we realize that our path is not the right one, but obviously this is of little help: there is often only one way to do a thing right, and many ways to do it wrong.

"Notre vie est un voyage dans l'hiver et dans la nuit, nous cherchons notre passage dans le ciel où rien ne luit" is the epigraph at the beginning of the famous novel "Voyage au bout de la nuit", and it is something I deeply believe in.

Today the light in the sky, to help me find my way, and to help me know I'm on the right path, came under the form of a picture, shot by one of my students, a very bright one, a week ago. On the back, she thanked me for what I'd taught her: "something I'd have never learnt otherwise".

It's a light, and now I can put my head down and start walking again with renewed enthusiasm and energy.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1130246951248894642?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: ON THE DEATH OF AMY WINEHOUSE AND OTHER THINGS NOT RELATED TO DEATH
Post by: comPiler on August 02, 2011, 07:00:07 pm

ON THE DEATH OF AMY WINEHOUSE AND OTHER THINGS NOT RELATED TO DEATH (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-death-of-amy-winehouse-and-other.html)
2 August 2011, 3:16 pm

Amy Winehouse's death is one of the closest things to an ancient Greek tragedy I've ever seen. It could have been written by Sophocles, really.

You have the Hero, and it's a tragic hero, because she obviously dies, and you know she's going to die from the very first moment, from when you hear her sing "No no no" to rehab. The tragic hero is completely alone, yet surrounded by many people: it's the Chorus. In the Greek tragedy the Chorus speaks the voice of wisdom: he knows it all, and is close to the Gods. Everyone knew what she was doing, and sometimes they've tried to help her, but the Hero's will is stronger than anyone else and she keeps her track, believing that she can escape her Fate. She can't, because she's left alone by all her closest ones. How can I tell? Because otherwise she wouldn't be dead. Watch her performance at "Shepherd's Bush Empire" in London in 2007: have you ever seen a star searching for friends, relatives and boyfriend in the public so often? She does it all the time. She feels alone on stage, you know it and you cannot do anything to help her.

Why not every single star's death can resemble a Greek tragedy? Because often the big stars commit the terrible sin of Hubris, the sin against the Gods, the arrogance of the human being refusing to be human and wanting to be god-like. She never seemed, to me, like that. She seemed a little girl, all alone, in desperate search of some joy, unable to keep anyone close, or maybe to little and too fragile to have someone really close. Many other stars live unreal lives. No one can really empathize with them: when they die, it's the death of a myth, maybe, but of an unknow person nonetheless. Someone you'd never get to know really. With Amy I think it's been the opposite: she apparently had a normal life of normal problems. She did not live in a 56 rooms mansion in Santa Monica. She didn't marry five or six multi millionaires. She didn't have secret sons around, and she's never been found buying boats or expensive jewels. In its tragedy, her life was more real than any other star's life. That's why she died. Because in real life, if you have an addiction to drugs and alcohol, you die. In the stars' life, you do go to rehab, you detox, you also get the chance to fix a few imperfections with botox and surgery, and there you go, ready for next year's world tour.

So, if the public didn't empathize with the Hero, if the spectator did not view himself in the hero, the overall aim and reason of the tragedy was lost: this aim was the "kàtharsin ton toioùton pathemàthon" the purification of the viewer's emotions through the act of living those emotions and dying because of those emotions in the person of the Hero. That's why Amy Winehouse's death, in my opinion, is a Greek tragedy. Because everyone could empathize with her. She could be one friend of yours. One friend you cannot help enough. Or a friend's daughter, or yours. You want to help her, you try to, you think you've made it, then you turn around (by accident or willingly?) for a second and she's gone.

I think her only sin has been to sometimes waste her enormous talent. But that's typical of a tragic hero.

On another subject, I keep beasting my elbow as much as I can. I keep moving weights in the gym and I keep dangling from the Beastmaker and I keep going to the boulders despite the +30°.

I made progresses on the Beast, hanging for the first time the small monos with my ring fingers, and doing front levers on back two on the deep pockets. On the real thing I repeated my very own "La Stanzina Verde... (http://www.vimeo.com/25035127)", which to me is hard.

Keep the faith and hug the big monkey man.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-6251879565340760779?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: tomtom on August 02, 2011, 07:40:08 pm

Superb war cry :)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Eddies on August 02, 2011, 09:18:12 pm

Fuck the war cry, that shit about Winehouse was inspired! Bravo Nibile :bow:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fultonius on August 02, 2011, 09:36:14 pm

Quote from: Eddies on August 02, 2011, 09:18:12 pm

Fuck the war cry, that shit about Winehouse was inspired! Bravo Nibile :bow:

I nearly wrote the same thing earlier - more insightful than anything I read in the press!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: csurfleet on August 04, 2011, 08:57:40 am

Some superb writing there dude :great:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: markmcgowan01 on August 04, 2011, 03:37:58 pm

:great:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Jaspersharpe on August 04, 2011, 03:49:55 pm

I've said it before but it's worth repeating. For someone like me who struggles with basic French (and even more basic Spanish) it's pretty fucking stunning that you write like that in a second language Lore.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 04, 2011, 03:52:19 pm

grazie ragazzi!

Title: THERE'S A RIGHT TIME FOR EVERYTHING
Post by: comPiler on August 16, 2011, 07:00:05 pm

THERE'S A RIGHT TIME FOR EVERYTHING (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/08/in-pic-showing-whos-real-beast.html)
16 August 2011, 2:23 pm

In the pic, showing who's the real beast.

I am here at home, waiting to go out and join my friends to see the Palio.

I remember that years ago, these days didn't bring anything except tiring days spent together having fun and doing silly things, and endless, sleepless nights of partying.

Now everything is different, I get sick with two drinks, and climbing never leaves my mind: after a night out, the following morning I think about recovering soon and well enough for my next session, and I know that I should be more disciplined, especially when I have so little time to go out. So the other day I got up early and went bouldering. The night before had been very relaxed, and I had a beasty day out. Despite the high temps The Roof was in good nick and a scientific preparation with Antihydral the previous days provided the necessary grip.

I was with my girlfriend and with the dog, and I've had a wonderful time. I repeated the roof direct twice on two attempts, then I repeated "The Green Room..." again twice on three attempts.

Those feelings, especially on the direct, will remain with me for a very long time: feeling the holds as different holds from ever before is a great sensation, and even greater being able to detach and watch oneself going to the next hold in a previous unimagined and unimagnable control.

So, while the nights on the whiskey leave a trace of hangovers, tiredness and waste, the hours on the boulders, sometimes, leave a heritage of joy and power forever.

I don't regret the many nights wasted, because I have great memories, I have met amazing girls and laughed just too much, but now I can't feel completely free when I'm out, I know that my goals are so hard that I have to be serious, disciplined and completely focused.

It's been good until it lasted, but now I'm up for something else, that I feel much more important.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1722577754227136578?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: DOLOMITES REPRISE
Post by: comPiler on August 23, 2011, 07:00:07 pm

DOLOMITES REPRISE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/08/dolomites-reprise.html)
23 August 2011, 3:05 pm

In the pics, some great moves on great rock in a great setting. They only lack a great climber.

Every time I turn right, at the end of that private road that comes from my friend Filippo's house, I can't help but think that I am going in the wrong direction.

Down right, there is the valley, then the plain, the motorway, work, bills, rent.

Up left, at the end of the road, there are the mountains. A lot of rock.

When I turn right, I keep telling me that there are also a work that I enjoy a lot, and a girl I love (most of the time anyway). That makes the journey home more bearable, but there is always another bastard of a thought that comes in: "Why can't I have a nice job and my girlfriend up here?".

Anyway, after one year (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2010/08/dolomites-man.html) I went back to the Dolomites, this time just for bouldering. It's been great, sunny and hot, really hot, but chilly in the nights, so that I had to sleep in my sleeping bag, in the van. Bliss. I mean, really bliss. What's better than crushing (kind of...) all day long in the sun, then eat as much as you want, then get into your van in a nice grass field just beside a house where all your climbing friends are, and sleep for 9 straight hours?

The weather was superb, not even the slightest of afternoon showers. I climbed a lot, a fucking lot, a whole lotta love, too much simply.

DOMS and sunburnt made my back and shoulders painful during the second day, but hey, that's a small price to pay.

I did a few new problems and I repeated a few old ones, adding a super low start to a problem I did years ago: three more moves, now Keith and James (http://www.unclesomebody.com/blog/?p=377) have to come back and flash it again ah ah!

I also managed to repeat "Dolomitenmann", a problem that is so evident yet completely unknow to the climbing world. You cannot find anything about it on the Net, except my own blog entry. It's really a brilliant problem, and not easy also: this time I did it at the end of my second day, but I had to fight hard!!! I am doing some comparisons with other problems of mine with confirmed grades, I hope to get a better idea over the weekend.

Checking some guy's guide, I found out that none of the problems I had done had a sitstart, before I did them. I don't really know how people judge lines: they were the most evident sitstarts ever. Kind of...

Finally, a small video of one of the many overhangs I visited in these two days.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1671301040998970545?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: TWO FINGERS FOR YOU ALL AND FOR ME
Post by: comPiler on August 27, 2011, 07:00:11 pm

TWO FINGERS FOR YOU ALL AND FOR ME (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/08/two-fingers-for-you-all-and-for-me.html)
27 August 2011, 12:11 pm

From the 7 AM sessions, a few pics I'm quite proud of: they are about progressing. It's all about progressing. If you progress, you are on the right path, and I always want to be on that path.

The different expressions on my face tell a lot.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-941308722467990268?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: THE THIN RED LINE
Post by: comPiler on August 30, 2011, 07:00:15 pm

THE THIN RED LINE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/08/thin-red-line.html)
30 August 2011, 1:13 pm

The thin red line which separates enthusiasm from idiocy, psyche from obsession, has been crossed again last Sunday.

The previous week had been the hottest of the whole summer, and of the last three decaded, with temps constantly in the 40's: it was quite incredible to read 26° when I got out at 7 AM each morning.

This climate made me feel incredibly weak and lethargic, I could not escape a nap in the afternoon, but miraculously I always found the mental energy to go to the small, cozy gym to push and pull tons of iron: I mean literally tons. Not in one time of course, but if you pause to reflect on it, it's amazing what those small little muscle fibers can do. In my pulley sets, I move more than 2.400 kilos.

Anyway, this was still ok.

Then came the weekend, and a drop in the temps; an increase was very unlikely to be honest. So, I don't know why, I felt incredibly strong all of a sudden, and on Saturday evening I thought that the following day, with the new fresh temps, was going to be the right one to put my project in its place.

I woke up at 8 and drove to the boulders. I got there and failed. I felt weak. I didn't manage to repeat one single problem, despite doing again the first part of the roof direct. But I was dryfiring off holds, and I had to squeeze the shit out of those holds in order to stay put; despite one good go I obviously did not complete my project.

Incredibly disappointed, and close to hang the shoes to the proverbial nail, I drove back home, only to be saved by the sight of a thermometer measuring 34°.

What I had taken for excellent conditions, was just a "normal" August temperature for central Italy, ten degrees less than the previous week, but maybe, only maybe, a little bit too much to climb your hardest problem to date.

So, after the wonderful Dolomites weekend and a boiling week, I am here with my mind completely absorbed by the wall I want to make: I would like to make it fast, but still I have to work everyday, and I can't decide what's best. I have taken the first half of October off, direction Swizzy. So I have five weeks to go. Should I take advantage of these weeks and focus only on weights and fingerboarding to get to the holiday with some juice and build the wall after my return, or should I try to build the wall super fast to try and train on it for at least three weeks, or else should I do half and half, training regularly and fitting in some wall building sessions?

Please advise.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-783657104849243017?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on September 10, 2011, 05:11:36 pm

I think I've been forgotten somewhere in the web!!!
http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/09/53-degrees.html (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/09/53-degrees.html)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Duma on September 10, 2011, 05:26:11 pm

same thing that happened to Nat and Robbies blogs? think shark fixed it yesterday so maybe pm him to have a look at yours?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: chris05 on September 10, 2011, 06:29:48 pm

Looks amazing Nibs :o, just imagine how beastly you'll be when you can do those moves :2thumbsup:

Keep the fucking faith!

Title: 53 degrees.
Post by: comPiler on September 11, 2011, 06:49:13 am

53 degrees. (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/09/53-degrees.html)
9 September 2011, 4:45 pm

In the pics, the Beastmaker on again, the system monster and a phase of the building.

No, it's not the temperature, although it's still over 30°.

53 degrees is how much my board overhangs.

The very day of my last post, after pressing "publish", I went and bought the beams to build the frame, after nights and nights spent sleeplessly obsessed by the thought of the construction details.

The walls of the room cannot bear any weight, they are super thin. So I thought the best way was to take advantage of the little geometry I know and build the frame from the angle formed by the wall and the floor, and the angle formed by the opposite wall and the ceiling: the hypothenuse of a rectangle triangle. I measured the height and the length and found out the beams had to be 5 meters long. So, I thought, I go there, I buy them, then I stuff them in and I'm golden. Hmmm... how do I carry them? All right, I'll spend a few Euros more and I'll get them delivered to my door. Luckily, before doing this, I thought "How do I get them into the room?". A quick round of measuring showed it impossible. Panic. The dream was dead even before starting. So, thinking about all the money I will save from not paying the rent in Florence anymore, I decided to have someone build it. I sent a few emails, but when I got the answers, with prices going from 1.600 Euros up, I had already seen the light. I bought 2,5 meters long beams, with other 2,5 meters long beams to join them together via 10 mm bolts. And that's exactly what I did. After a few more sleepless nights and some long drives to and from Florence spent thinking about what I was going to need and so on, I couldn't resist the tension anymore and went for it.

When I got home with the beams, I drilled and joined together the first three, and I put them in place and they fit, I felt like a god.

In just three afternoons the frame was done, and then I went to buy the panels.

I drilled them, but sadly here, in this remote country abandoned by God and civilization, it's impossible to find T-nuts. After hours of driving around, I found a hardware shop which had... 33 T-nuts. I only needed 327 more. So I have to wait, I can't put the panels up until they are T-nutted. Naturally, I couldn't resist the desire again, so I thought "fuck it" and put two panels on nonetheless, one third of the all board. The rest of the frame is still open, so I will place the T-nuts from behind, without dismounting the panels. I know it will be a pain in the ass but I don't care. I have my 1/3 of board on.

Then I made some holds from small (they seemed big to be honest, when sitting on the chair) wooden beams, I made them as precise and smooth as I could; then I made footholds, from a 1 cm thick beam ("You can't slip off 1 cm footholds!" Unclesomebody once told me), I drew some lines on the panels and screwed everything in place, system like.

The result is a monster.

I just can't stay on.

To put together two moves in a row, I had to TOEHOOK the edge of the panel!!! As the video here clearly shows, there's room for improvement!!!

So, while I wait for the holds to arrive, I have my Beastmaker on again, and the hardest system wall I ever touched.

The future is here.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-8981923971592442722?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: robertostallioni on September 11, 2011, 07:16:41 am

Well done building the thing Nibs. I'd probably do the t-nutting outside though as it will be a)noisy as fuck and b) vibrate your own brains/walls to dust. Look forward to seeing more pics........

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on September 11, 2011, 08:40:58 am

thanks guys.
I'm very proud of what I did, really. a youth dream come true.

Title: 1080 LITTLE SCREWS
Post by: comPiler on September 15, 2011, 07:00:08 pm

1080 LITTLE SCREWS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/09/1080-little-screws.html)
15 September 2011, 5:21 am

The board is almost finished. Yesterday, in an endless afternoon, I put the T-nuts on, with 1080 little screws. I had 360 T-nuts, and each one has three small holes for three little screws. That's why I drove 1080 little screws in, yesterday.

When buying the stuff, a few people, included the guy I bought everything from, told me not to buy and place three screws for each T-nut: after all, it's not going to be reset as often as a public wall, and being private it will suffer less abuse (ahah, they wish...). They said two screws were more than enough.

I refused and bought and put three little screws for each T-nut, because I am sure of few things in my life, but I'm sure that I want to do this job just one time, and the best way to do so, is to do it RIGHT the first time.

I don't want to be driving more little screws anytime soon or not: that's why I wanted all the screws in.

Whatever the task, there are only two ways to complete it: the right one and the wrong one.

I can't be sure that any of the T-nuts won't break or any of the little screws won't move or who knows what.

But the only way to do my best to do it right was to put THREE FUCKING LITTLE SCREWS FOR EACH T-NUT.

And that's what I did.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-61463751317881846?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SOME PICS
Post by: comPiler on September 19, 2011, 07:00:14 pm

SOME PICS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/09/some-pics.html)
19 September 2011, 3:49 pm

Here you are a few pictures from a finally cold Amiata top, from the Dolomites, from a day at school, and the first moves on the completed board at home. They pretty much cover the majority of my life.

I rarely have been so happy about the arrival of the fall. I know that when I'll get up in the next months and it will be cold, dark and wet, I'll probably change my mind, but for the moment I enjoy the freshness in the air, that yesterday made me cling to the rock effortlessly.

It's addicting.(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1110021793573130339?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: grimer on September 19, 2011, 11:44:35 pm

Dear Nibile,

When me friend Donie and me talk about your blog we say your name different. He says it with a silent 'e', as in 'nibble'. I accentuate the 'e' as in 'nibbly'.

Which one of us is right?

Niall

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: r-man on September 20, 2011, 01:05:19 am

Dammit Grimer, you've gone and spoilt it by making me look at the word properly. I was quite happy to keep reading about Nubile action...

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on September 20, 2011, 06:24:55 am

grimer, to be precise none of you is right. the pronounce of the 'e' is like in the words 'pervert' 'permission' 'exciting'. of course you can keep calling me 'my man' as ever.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: grimer on September 20, 2011, 08:05:57 am

Do you mean Nubile as in 'nubbily' Robin?

Thanks Nibile, I'll think about that e. And where we're from we prefer the phrase 'your man'.

We likes your blog :)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on September 20, 2011, 03:12:24 pm

thanks Niall. may I remember that the final phrase of one of your articles on Climbing Magazine back in the day really really impressed me and is well printed in my mind still after all these years, so I thank you again.

Title: PLASTIC SOUL
Post by: comPiler on September 30, 2011, 01:00:28 am

PLASTIC SOUL (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/09/plastic-soul.html)
29 September 2011, 6:09 pm

I am mad for my board. It's mine and it's the best. Most of all, being mine, it has my rules. If you come here, and you want to touch it, you have to follow my rules, you can't do anything about it.

I am training regularly since completing it, the last weeks have seen three sessions on plastic, one easy day on rock mid week, and one "serious" day on rock in the weekend. I have put the Beastmaker aside for the moment, the last sessions on it had been very hard and my back 2 were a bick achey.

My training on the board consists in setting an easy problem, a harder problem to be completed in the session, and a project for the following session; to the present this has worked fine, I stuck to the program and pulled as hard as I could: the texture of the holds is still pretty rough, they have excellent friction but sessions can't last long because of skin. Anyway I can't last long either but I keep intensity quite high.

I keep focusing on core tension as usual, and I alternate shorter snatchy moves and long pulls.

I am satisfied, even not entirely, by the holds selection: I could not see them before, so I had to trust the manufacturer when I gave him the board details, and to be honest he sent me really nice holds, maybe a little bit too good for my likes, but the plan is to soon place 1 cm thick foot jibs and to ban the use of the holds as foot holds. This should sort things out, 1 cm is small, especially if they are perpendicular to a 53° board.

I've been having a project from the last four sessions now and it's hard. Want to climb it tomorrow, today it was simply too hard.

And there you go a little video.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3070605346500145347?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: KNOW YOUR ENEMY
Post by: comPiler on October 07, 2011, 01:00:10 pm

KNOW YOUR ENEMY (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/10/know-your-enemy.html)
7 October 2011, 10:08 am

In the pics, some moments of rediscovered joy in the storm of my emotions.

The enemy is insensitiveness.

There I was, in Chironico, seemengly unaffected. I could not understand, at moments, whether I really wanted to be there or not, and I had been waiting for these two weeks off for ages. Why? The excuses I gave myself were many: temps in the high 30° being the first one.

But there's much more. There's what Stu blogs about here (http://thesphericalcow.blogspot.com/2011/10/operation-grade-chase.html), there's the grade chase, and there's my enormous ego, which teamed to a baby, naive mind, generate monsters: one monster, me.

The idea was to go to Swizzy for two weeks to climb an 8b. I had a few ones marked and I wanted to take my time to find the best suited for me.

But then again, something was deeply wrong with me: being there all alone, with boiling temps simply was too much to bear, and I sheltered myself in insensitiveness, acting as if the place was packed with psyched climbers and conditions were pristine.

As you can imagine, the clash between mind and reality has only one possible winner.

At moments I really felt it's time to quit. I'm tired. I feel lonely and I am lonely. I can't bear anymore to be climbing on my own all the time, unable to soak other people's energy and happiness. It's not worth it, if I go to Swizzy and I don't want to be there.

Then something changed. I don't know what. Maybe finally toping out on a problem that had spit me off in previous visits. Maybe finally finding again the joy in the simple fact of being there, doing what I love, in the chase rather than the catch. Because if it's true that not every chase ends with a catch, it's also true that every catch has a chase before. Enjoy the battle.

I really don't know. I really don't understand. The only thing I'm sure of, is that I need others as I need air, and I need emotions in everything that I do. I have to desire a problem to climb it, I can't simply climb it because it's dry or in the shade: I have to somehow see it and get an instant crush for it. Maybe it's going to be a one night stand, or a love story, or a disaster, but emotions have to be in the game. Otherwise it's not a game worth playing.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3095690485859210148?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: STILL BEING THERE, BEING STILL
Post by: comPiler on October 09, 2011, 07:00:07 pm

STILL BEING THERE, BEING STILL (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/10/still-being-there-being-still.html)
9 October 2011, 4:03 pm

Some video stills from the latest trips to the project. Analyze. Repeat. Get perfect.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1388437405993726842?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: TIME
Post by: comPiler on October 13, 2011, 01:00:07 pm

TIME (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/10/time.html)
13 October 2011, 8:00 am

I came back from Swzzy with a mixture of disappointment and fullfillment. A strange way to feel, for sure. Then I found out, in retrospective, that probably I've had a rather successful trip.

After a day off, I went to my project and hiked it to the last move, twice. I climbed as I had never climbed before, I felt like a beast, calm, relaxed, precise.

So I'm thinking a lot, in these days, about time.

Years ago, the future was represented by the first half of the roof line. And that future one day became reality, a reality named "Il Primo dei Moicani". So the line of the horizon shifted further, and another future, this one barely visible, or maybe just imaginable, came along.

One other day in March, with grey clouds hovering, my girlfriend spotting, and the first warm breeze of spring getting closer, I made that future a reality. Again.

So, things settled down for a while, while I imagined other possible futures. Meanwhile, what had previously been a PB became routine: it was time to move on.

When I first started trying the project I was barely able to link two moves in a row. Then I got the first section and got to the crux completely wasted. Then I stuck the move once, then twice, still being unable to move from that.

Now I can get the move, I can cruise further, and I feel strong.

This is the present, not the future.

I don't remember exactly what I did this past summer, but whatever I did, it worked.

In this process of constantly turning future into present, dream into reality, I found myself with something really unexpected: I had never, never imagined that one day, close to my 40s, I would have found myself under my home board, with my friend Andrea, pulling holds as hard as we can, after all these years still psyched, no that's wrong: much more psyched than ever.

It's like turning young again.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-8018075179586626996?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: JohnM on October 13, 2011, 01:14:23 pm

Great post :2thumbsup:

Title: BLEEDIN' BIVI LEDGES!
Post by: comPiler on October 19, 2011, 07:00:07 pm

BLEEDIN' BIVI LEDGES! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/10/bleedin-bivi-ledges.html)
19 October 2011, 1:44 pm

In the pic, some bleedin' bivi ledges (http://www.rockfax.com/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/bivi_ledges.pdf).

I came out from these two weeks of holidays with a nice feeling of success, but also seriously worked. My last session on the wall, while providing still failure on the plastic project, left me with a very painful right ring finger.

I managed to gently (cough!) climb on it on Saturday, then I followed my previous plan of taking two weeks off, something that my entire body seemed to need.

Unfortunately, my mind needs fun, and as you all know "climbing is fun". So until now I rested but am planning to have a very gentle, introductory Beastmaker session tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I carved some nice (in my opinion) holds to spice up the wall, and provide some crimps that load the fingers evenly, a crucial requisite to keep injuries at bay. I also made a lot of small footholds: they don't make the handholds any smaller, but they make them harder to hang and the problems obviously harder.

The plan is to rest, get gently into training, then start training again in one or two weeks, eyes firmly planted on the prizes.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-6236713707474342458?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: 7:13 AM
Post by: comPiler on October 27, 2011, 01:00:13 pm

7:13 AM (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/10/713-am.html)
27 October 2011, 9:37 am

I really really like to train in the morning. That's something that I'd never thought possible. As the pics show, skin is a little bit of an issue as of late, that caused me some hard times on rock, but nothing special. This should have been my second week of complete rest, but I didn't even do the first one. I did a session on the board yesterday, finally managing, on my 7th session on it, to climb my project IN TWO HALVES. Success is closer. I hope it's hard, because it's giving me a hell of a time. I did a couple of easy morning sessions on the Beast, getting back into it as gently as possible, still trying to keep my right ring finger quiet: I found out that it's safer to push it on the fingerboard than on the wall, on which you can't control how you'll catch a hold on a hard move, and that's dangerous. The overall feeling is OK, and I managed to set a personal best on the back2 pockets, with some nice 32 seconds. Beastmaker and home board. Is it the formula for greatness?

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2041965015663996983?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SYSTEM TRAINING
Post by: comPiler on October 29, 2011, 01:00:08 pm

SYSTEM TRAINING (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/10/system-training.html)
29 October 2011, 10:58 am

I decided to think a bit more seriously about my training. Bouldering on my board is fantastic, but there's much more I can do on it, as the video shows.

Despite being in decent form as of late, this system session on underclings and crimps (these second ones not in the video) left my biceps and back seriously worked, a clear sign that bouldering isn't enough.

I got back to teaching climbing classes (it seems like that this "teaching" thing appeals me really - maybe some low self esteem problems?) and it's great. It always shocks me when someone tells me "You made it looks easy" because they seem to forget (or they just don't know) that I've been climbing and training for almost nineteen years now, so I don't know what to say.

Rest today, rock and roll tomorrow.

Here's the vid.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-12784263526690765?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: A STORY
Post by: comPiler on November 03, 2011, 06:01:16 pm

A STORY (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/10/story.html)
27 October 2011, 5:56 pm

Under the grey sky, a man and a woman were sitting on the church stairs, holding each other tight, hand in hand, gently kissing.

They seemed not to care about the wind that was blowing a light rain right against them, or more probably they simply did not notice it, as they probably did not notice that every passer by in the small, ancient square, stopped or slightly slowed his pace down, to have a look at them; because there, in that square and in that moment, they were the image of love and romanticism.

The way the man was rubbing her cold hands, and the kisses she was giving on his right cheek, pictured a happy couple in love, all tenderness, far from every vulgarity.

They were sharing their last moments together.

In a matter of minutes, that very afternoon, they were going to bid farewell.

This separeted them even more from everyone else in the square, in the ancient town and in the vast world: they were feeling as the last survivors, deprived of all hope.

"How are you?" asked the man, moving her hair from her face and discovering her eyes.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. And how are you?"

"I'm sad. I'm very sad. I did not want this to happen. It wasn't my intention."

"Oh, so we can be sincere now? - a quick smile crossed her face, colliding with her expression - So, no, I'm not fine. I don't deserve this. Not again."

His heart sank.

"I am sorry - he tried to say - I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want to play with you."

"You started it all. Why?"

"I was trying to be happy. I always wanted something to happen between us, only, I didn't expect it to be so out of my control."

He paused, and they became silent for a while. She put her head on his right shoulder, pulling the coat neck tight under her chin, it was very cold, then she put her frozen hands between his thighs, so naturally that it was impossible to consider it sexual or even less, gross. They were perfect.

Three days before, when everything had just begun, the sun shone on their first, innocent date. To be honest, it was innocent only for one of them. The small restaurant remained empty, after the last customer paid and went out in the early afternoon, while they, again unaware of anything else but them, kept talking as if they'd been friends for ages, but at the same time discovering each other as two complete strangers. The owner let them alone. Life was still beautiful when the first sign of the close future made its appearence under the form of a simple, plain, honest question.

"Do you live on your own or with someone?" she asked.

"On my own." he quickly replied.

The sun kept shining, but worriedly now.

Now, under the rain, worry was all that was left.

The square was becoming crowded, despite the bad weather; kids were going to come out of the nearby kindergarten in a few minutes, and parents gathered around the entrance with umbrellas and hats. No one had imagined, that morning, that it would have rained; no one but him. He knew it was going to rain, he always checks the weather forecast.

They still were in the same position, hugging. Not a single person managed to pass in front of them without observing what they were showing. Showing.

A man simply stopped to watch them for a few seconds, shamelessly, but then he smiled. An old couple seemed to have a judging look, but when they passed the old man put his arm around his wife's shoulder.

Then the children came out, yells all around. The man and the woman turned towards the noise and all they could see was a sea of colours, chaotically moving everywhere: red, yellow, brown, black, white, under the forms of jackets, raincoats, light hair, dark hair, eyes, faces. Colours, colours everywhere, moving and screaming. Screaming colours. This time it was their time to look and smile, and they became even more perfect.

The parents started taking the kids home, some by car, some by bike, some by foot. One kid was running on the edge of the church stairs, closely followed by his younger brother; as soon as he noticed the couple, he ran towards them and looking at them directly in the eyes, he asked the man: "What's your name?". In the meanwhile, his mother called him, telling not to disturb. "My name is Francesco." the man replied. "And what's your second name?" "Luca! - the mother yelled - do not disturb them!" "My second name is Lorenzi." "And what's your name?" the kid asked to the woman. "Luca! Stop it". "My name is Veronica." "And your second name?" "Bassi." and she laughed. "My name is Luca Doretti." the kid said. "And my name is Andrea Do-ret-ti." spelled the younger brother. "He is my brother." "And what are you doing here?" he managed to ask, just before his mother took his hand and pulled him away. "Let them, do not disturb! I'm sorry guys, he's shameless!".

"There's no problem, really!" they both said. "Ciao."

Then they remained alone.

"That's an interesting question the boy made. What are we doing here?" she asked.

"I am trying to be happy. As happy as I can, for as long I can, with you."

She did not bear his direct stare, and bent her head down on her knees, her black hair covering her face.

He thought about the previous days.

Despite the initial lie, he didn't manage to keep it to himself, and on their next date he told her everything: he was in a relationship he did not like anymore, yet he didn't know what to do. He knew there was still something between him and his girlfriend, but he feared it was something more like a brother like love, than a consuming passion and desire, as in the first years.

He was desperately searching for some feelings, he was trying to find the prove that he wasn't dead inside. He needed to be happy again, and now he had her, to try to.

He was feeling trapped, and the worst thing was that his indecision was hindering his happiness now, the happiness he knew he could live with her, even there, on those stairs, under that rain.

After the shock, she did not run away. She simply said "So it's over". And then she kissed and hugged him. Then they kissed again and again and they both understood that nothing was over, that nothing could ever be over untill they would have been free to live they happiness together completely.

Above all, he was thinking about the day before, when they met to say goodbye, and they ended up in a nice bar, on a sofa, drinking red wine and staying very close. They'd been talking about their situation for hours, she knew she had to run away from him because she was very fragile in that moment, and he knew he had started something that had escaped his control, and also he had lied to her in the beginning. Still, he didn't manage to keep his lie.

They were calm and sad, and they had agreed not to meet anymore.

They went to the bar to warm up a little bit, they relaxed, and they started a new conversation, not about their problems, but about their lives, cinema, art, music.

All of a sudden everything else disappeared. Homes, relationships, everything vanished in front of their current happiness. They forgot their promise and they kissed again.

Then she brought her legs on the sofa, she put her head on his shoulder, and quietly fell asleep for a few minutes in the bar, hugging him. He caressed her back and not a single thing in the world was wrong. They were the world and they were beautiful and right.

Today, they were almost in the same position, but under a cold windy rain.

Incredibly enough, he still felt they were the world, and they still were beautiful and right.

"You moved something in me, that I thought I had lost." she said. "I'm sorry, I can't stop thinking about you. I can't stop thinking that once we'd say goodbye, you'll get back home and you won't be alone."

"You're right. I won't be alone, but I'll feel alone".

"I will try to forget you if you ask me to."

"I don't know anything anymore. I only know that I feel good and happy with you. The moments we've shared are my belongings now. I will never lose them."

"I don't know if I can forget you."

"I don't want to forget you."

"I would like to just be free to live our story. I don't care for how long, and I don't care about how it could go. I only want to be free to live you."

"I'm sorry - he said - it's my fault. I haven't been fair. I knew I was in a relationship when I first called you. But that seemed right at the moment, and I always wanted something to happen between us. I really really like you."

"Don't say you're sorry. You only lied to me for one afternoon. The following day I knew everything and it did not stop me to call you again and to look for you again."

Now it was almost dark, and the street lights started giving everything an orange tone.

"There's no place for me." she said.

In that moment, he felt as if he'd remained the last man on Earth. He felt all the burden of his behaviour, and he asked himself whether he'd only searched some ego gratification, at her expense. "This is the price to pay for me - he thought - and I'll never be able to fully pay it."

"Let's go away. Go away." she said.

They stood up, trying to loosen their frozen bodies, but still hugging tight.

"Can you belive - she reflected loudly - that we are in this mess, and we've been togheter for only four afternoons? And we didn' even make love! We really didn't do anything wrong!"

"We didn't do anything wrong, no. We had a happy time together, didn't we? I was thinking that it's all or nothing now. I want to stay with you completely and free from everything else, or not at all. I don't want anymore to turn my phone off, for fear of an undesired call from home."

"All or nothing. That's the same for me. Sadly for me it's nothing, as it seems."

He wanted to cry, so he hugged her even tighter.

Then they went down the stairs towards their bikes.

"Isn't this romantic? We meet at the bikes racks!"

She smiled, with her broad smile and her dark eyes. Her light skin, her red lips and her black hair created a contrast so beautiful that she seemed to be constantly changing. Transforming from beauty to a different beauty.

Time seemed to slow down.

Words lacked.

"So..." she said, looking down.

"So..." he said.

Their last hug lasted an eternity and an instant at the same time.

With wet eyes they finally detached: first their heads, then their bodies, then finally their hands.

"So, what's our place in the bigger picture? What's our meaning in the world's history?" she asked.

"Tough one - he paused. Then he asked - have you seen how everyone looked at us?"

"Yes, they seemed nice to us, they seemed to like us."

"That's our place in the bigger picture. That's our meaning. We've been here in these days to make people believe that true love exists."

"Is ours a true love now?" she laughed, maybe a bit bitterly.

"It doesn't matter. But people look at us, and see a true love."

"And that's enough." she ended.

She offered her hand to him. He took it and caressed it. They looked deeply into each other's eyes.

"Ciao Francesco".

"Ciao Ve."

Then they went, and never turned back.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1712612155495914405?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: THREE MONTHS IN TWO DAYS
Post by: comPiler on November 10, 2011, 06:00:05 pm

THREE MONTHS IN TWO DAYS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/11/three-months-in-two-days.html)
10 November 2011, 3:40 pm

Last week I mutated.

After months of unstructured training, unexpected results came. Nothing in terms of climbing projects - this mutation dates back to mid October - but in terms of pure power levels.

First, I dominated the 45° on my Beastmaker, setting my PB at 15" (with my previous one being 3"... so five times...); I know that I have done 35" (twice) at The Hangar in Liverpool in February, but on my Beast my PB was 3". Now it's 15".

OK, I had cleaned the holds.

OK, I hadn't gone to work.

Ok, my hands had the perfect mixture of dry and sweaty skin to remain attached to those terrible holds.

Still... I don't get it. Five times better than my previous best attempts is a lot.

Mutation.

Then, just five days later, and on my second day on, I went to Area 51 gym to pass a rainy Sunday. My skin was very thin and I could not boulder everything I wanted, but in the end I had great fun for around 2,5 hours. When I had already stopped climbing, I found myself fondling a flat, 2nd joint wooden edge on the fingerboard. The wooden surface felt fresh and grippy and I gave it a go.

I did the strongest one arm pull up I've ever done. I went up as if I'd been pulled by a giant magnet; I fully locked off in shock for some seconds, then I jumped off.

The world was different then, and I felt it was the right time to get serious. So, with no longer rest than the time to chalk up a little bit (there was no need really but you never know...) I got the hold again and did five one armers. Two on my left arm.

I know that five is not that much compared to the many more of the strong ones (Keith, Paul, Ru, Riccardo are just a few names that come to my mind right now, not to tell about Malc, Rich, Stuart), but I have never been this strong before, not even on a pull up bar, let alone on a flat edge. Plus, in the last years I have trained one armers for one month in total, in August, so a total of 8 sessions in August plus one in spring that fucked my left elbow up.

I wonder where these feats come from. I for sure want to keep them coming. If only I'd trained with a plan, maybe they could be repeatable, but I haven't. I trained each time doing what I felt like doing. Maybe that's the key.

Anyway, for all the OCD maniacs like myself out there, this is, day by day, the training I've done in the last three months, that took me here.

Notes:

- weights were done with low reps, high loads, max 4 sets (more about it here (http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,18571.0.html)) for back (3 different exercises), shoulders (2 exercises), biceps, triceps;

- easy Beastmaker means going through the main grips doing 6 sets of 10" hangs (two arms) with no extreme pushing (20°, 35°, big rung, mid two small, front two small, back two, middle monos, small rung back three, small rung front three);

- board is my home wall, on which I boulder at max intensity for as long as my skin allows me (1,5 hour generally).

Having said this (boring) all, I go training now.

August: just weights and bouldering outdoor.

September:

3 Beast (easy)

4 system wall (max int. little vol.)

5 weights

7 Sassofortino (weak)

8 weights

10 Chiesina (weak)

11 Amiata Top (strong)

12 System (max int. little vol.)

13 Beast (easy)

15 Beast (easy)

17 board (easy)

18 Amiata Top

19 board

21 board

22 Sassofortino

23 board

25 board

26 board

28 Sassofortino

29 board

30 board

Octobrer

3-14 boulder trip: just rock almost every day

20 Beast (easy) (30" back 2)

22 Sassofortino (weak)

23 Sassofortino (weak)

26 board (strong)

27 AM Beast (easy), PM system (underclings and lock offs)

30 Sassofortino

31 system (as above: strong)

November

1 Beast max int. (15" on 45°, 10" on slopey pockets)

2 gym super session (max int. max vol.)

5 board (strong)

6 gym mutation (5 one armers on 2nd joint flat edge).(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3588072157266045880?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: csurfleet on November 11, 2011, 08:41:42 am

:bow: :strongbench: :clap2:

Title: THANK YOU ALL!!!
Post by: comPiler on November 18, 2011, 06:00:08 pm

THANK YOU ALL!!! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/11/thank-you-all.html)
18 November 2011, 1:58 pm

I have many other things to write, but for the moment I would like to just thank all those desperate souls that came on this blog, lost in space, for more than 20.000 times, eager to know what's inside an insane mind.

Thank you.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1878433504190576088?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: INSTANTS AND MEMORIES
Post by: comPiler on November 28, 2011, 06:00:08 pm

INSTANTS AND MEMORIES (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/11/instants-and-memories.html)
28 November 2011, 1:57 pm

Today would be my sixth day on. With two double sessions on Thursday and Friday, my mind screams "Go training!" and my body refuses to. Then my body screams "Go training!" and my mind tells not to. It's like being Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, only with also an insane Dr. Jeckyll.

The weekend before this last one I went climbing in an area I had visited only once, one year ago. It's been very nice to meet friends and finally climb again with Filo, after his spring and summer spent ticking away 8b+'s on a string. Living the dream.

While driving home, a memory from a recent past surfaced again from nowhere, and has been staying with me ever since.

It's a picture I have of myself, sitting on the pavement ouside a Curry shop in Sheffield, eating my chicken curry with my hands, while waiting to be picked up by Dylan at The Works. People stared at me.

During the day I had come back to Sheffield from Liverpool, after realizing a couple of dream projects there, to climb again on gritstone. I had come back with some old and new friends, and again I had ticked my project.

So, there, still chalked up, cold, a bit dizzy from the pints and with the climb in my hands and mind, with no pressure on Earth, no money, no watch, no family, no work, no woman, just me the curry and the climb, I felt truly complete.

In those few minutes, I lived the dream. A small dream for most, not made of 8b's or epic flashes. But it was my dream and now it was reality. I keep going back to this memory, or the memory keeps coming back to me. Maybe it feels alone in my brain and want some company. Why, I wonder, that little one is so powerful? Why is it more powerful than the others, other ones of harder problems, for example? I don't know. It's just the way it is. Maybe in that day I had put something special in my climbing, and my climbing in reward gave me even more than usual.

I live for those moments. I'm sure if anyone could know how happy I am in those moments, how fullfilled, no one would even dare or think about giving me a hard time about my climbing.

Moments.

Moments come and go at their pleasure.

I have many memories closely tied to insignificant moments. For example, there is a particular smell of industrial floor cleaning liquid that, each time I smell it, wherever I am, brings me immediately back to 1984, to the first summer I spent in college, studying English in London. Each morning I would wake up, and go downstairs to the canteen for breakfast, and each morning there would be this smell, of freshly cleaned linoleum floors. I was twelve and did know nothing about nothing. Less than now.

Still, I can hear my steps on the stairs with that smell even now.

And while I'm on this delicate subject, I would like to tell you about the memories of climbing with my best friends: some are long gone, some others are closer. Yet, the most addicting memory is the most recent, as I've said before.

My friend Andrea and I, together again after all these years, under my board, pulling edges as if it were the only thing to do on Earth.

Which, to me, incidentally is.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3159514626458155430?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: TOTOLORE
Post by: Oldmanmatt on November 28, 2011, 07:03:57 pm

Spot on Lore!

Title: NOTHING SPECIAL?
Post by: comPiler on December 24, 2011, 12:00:19 pm

NOTHING SPECIAL? (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/12/nothing-special.html)
24 December 2011, 9:24 am

I woke up this morning wanting to take advantage of the bad weather to finally catch up with the blogging, then I read the recent entries on Doylo's (http://www.doylosblog.blogspot.com/) and Lu's (http://darkhorseclimbing.co.uk/) blogs, and I realized that I had nothing worth reading, and I could somehow detract something from them by writing useless shit. Like I am doing right now.

Anyway, stupid thoughts aside, I also felt that I should at least give a decent reason for the absence.

The reason is the one mentioned above, the lack of anything notable.

In the last month, I have been doing nothing special. And that's the important thing. I have worked this past month, in transforming the extraordinary into routine.

My - once - best and rare efforts on my project now are the norm, happening many times each visit, and really something is fading in terms of pure and brutal desire. It's not challenging as it was before, and I am less excited. I am far from my physical limits in terms of power and that's important. It's still very difficult to get it done, but it's not really hard anymore. It's complicated more than hard. I have to have good, hard skin to bear the pain of the sharp holds, but if it's too hard I dryfire off. It's got to be fresh, but not cold, otherwise I get numb fingers and so on with many other variables. Oh well, that's the routine, as routinary became my repeats of the direct line under the roof. I can't remember the last time I fell off that thing. It's mindblowing to me.

Then, on the home front, I reset my Beastmaker on the door frame, and found out that it's not too bad despite my recent finger injury. Despite not being able to really pull on my right ring finger, it's fine while openhanded. I can still one arm dead hang the small pockets front two, I can still hold a front lever on the small monos and also on the small pockets mid two. Medal. Yawn.

I went back to Varazze, home of the world's hardest problem. I found out that in Varazze it's very important to always ask a local, if present, before trying a problem, despite having it all clear in the guide. The pattern on many problems is this: Christian Core cleaned and climbed a problem, giving it a grade which was probably lower than the real one, and that's the one you have in the guide; then the problem loses three or four holds and a few footholds; Christian Core reclimbs the problem, declaring the grade not changed; then the problem remains unrepeated.

So, before spending a day on a problem, get the lowdown.

I treated myself with this beauty:

And this is all.

Extraordinay, isn't it?

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-4312571834934932586?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL!
Post by: comPiler on December 28, 2011, 06:00:04 pm

SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/12/something-very-special.html)
28 December 2011, 3:35 pm

Yesterday was a special day, made of friends that are more like brothers, with me even if far away; a day made of perfection. Today was a normal day again, but nothing will ever be the same, I won't ever be the same: once we've been special, although for a brief moment, we won't turn normal ever again. Once we've loved, in a special way; once we've been loved, in a special way; or in this case once we've climbed, in a special way, we are changed forever. It may sound stupid to give such an importance to a climb, but it's not about the climb, it's about what you do to get that climb; it's about what you go through; it's about what you inflict to yourself and to your close ones; but most of all it's about understanding our deepest recesses; it's about discovering the most horrendous and the most beautiful aspects of ourselves.

Footage from today:

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-7382788686915909496?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!
Post by: comPiler on January 01, 2012, 12:00:11 am

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2011/12/happy-new-year-to-all.html)
31 December 2011, 5:38 pm

In the pics, the beasts during a pause. Yes, it was gorgeous.

Today I went there again, and I felt great. Everything was special again, myself included: I have never been so close.

I am happy because I understood why I keep going there: because each time I go there, I have another opportunity to improve and most of all, like today, I have another opportunity to feel happier.

I am happy. I am happy because I believe in myself, and because I want to be pure. As pure as my little dog Phoebe, who knew shit about what was going on around her - me, climbing at my best, like never before -, but who stayed close and calm, never barking, never crying, always ready to give me a lick on my face. I want to be as pure as a shark, or as a crocodile: the two creatures that changed the least during evolution. They are timeless animals: they do what they do since their appearence on Earth, and they do it because it's the only thing they know.

I wonder why I felt so good today.

I was alone, I was full of love.

I had all the sun in me, all the trees, all the air. I was in peace, I was even with the whole planet, nothing more to give, nothing more to have. The act of being there, completely there, was enough: whatever I gave, I had it back in some other form. I wonder what would I be writing, had I had a bad climbing day, but it doesn't matter. As long as I'm happy now, I don't care.

I am ready.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-51040405789184795?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: 6 A.M.
Post by: comPiler on January 09, 2012, 12:00:13 am

6 A.M. (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/01/6-am.html)
8 January 2012, 5:00 pm

In the pics, the new sequence. Powerful but steady.

In the pics, the final move stuck with the old sequence, on one of my best goes. Ouch!

Tomorrow is Monday, and my alarm will go off at 6.

My holidays are over and they've been great: I climbed nearly every day (nearly every day on the same problem, I must add) and I am happy.

Yesterday I finally decided to change the final sequence: I am bored of smashing my fingers over the hold, under the hold, to the right of the hold, or getting flappers due to its sharp and painful lip. This new sequence adds one move, and it's more physical than the old one, but it's also more secure.

The real problem, though, is that I am not enjoying this anymore. I am happy with every good go, but as I've said I feel it's over, and every go that doesn't see me to the last hold is perceived as a failure and a step back from my best efforts. Some days I didn't want to be there really, and only the company of friends or the simple presence of my dog gave me the necessary happiness to give my best.

I found out it's about happiness.

So, today I went there to finish the business with the new sequence. Well, I couldn't even do the moves in isolation. OK, it was very hot (spring is here definitely, mount Amiata has not seen a snowflake), humid and still, and I was on my fourth day on, but it was too perfect not to give it a try: a siege of months, progressing from not doing the moves, to doing bits of the whole problem, to getting close, to losing my mental sanity, to recovering it, to keeping going there during the summer, to finally finding myself with the final hold in my hand and letting go, to finding a new sequence and, in my mind, to finally doing it on my last day before going back to work and real life.

Wow, that would have been perfect.

It wasn't to be. I gave 110%, trying to find every possible faggotry to climb it, from liquid chalk, to putting my clothes on the holds to cool them down, to sheltering the sun with a pad (obviously falling exactly on the move that at that point was uprotected, a move I haven't fallen off from in months...), but simply I could not do it. As I said, I didn't even do the single moves.

Could I give more? Fuck no. Not today, not in the last two weeks.

I will go back to work and for sure I'll be thinking about the problem. I'll be asking myself if this new sequence is cheating. I'll be asking myself if it's simply the time to let it go. The fact is that I want to be happy while trying it, and this sequence makes me happy.

Now it's time to focus on work and training, hopefully I won't have a tight schedule right from the start, so the plan is to rest tomorrow, have a session on Tuesday morning, rest Wednesday then deliver on Thursday if I am free from school.

I am not exactly sure I became weak(er) while concentrating only on this project. Maybe I haven't broadened my skills, but for sure I perfected what I can do. Proof is that the other day, at the end of the session, I managed a new 7c that Michele had just opened (and hiked as a warm down five times in a row to get footage...); what once would have been a seasonal success, is now an end of session tick. Cool.

Right now, just before going to bed, and with work ahead again, I really am proud of myself. Years ago, when I had the other jobs, in the bank, or at the Public Notary firm, Suday evenings were a nightmare. As soon as I packed the car, with crashpads or my longboard, all the happiness of the day was gone, because in front of me I only had a job that I hated, and that gave me nothing except money: no joy, no self esteem, no commitment, nothing but money, dirty, soulless money. My jobs stole not only my happiness, but also my time, because they cancelled the good moments I'd had. I desired something else, and I never stopped searching the balance. I did not quit. I upset and disappointed many people, but finally I found what I like and what makes me happy. I don't need money, I need people. I need humans. I need good relationships, my best friends close to me. I need to see smiles when I'm at work, and I need to be thanked.

I won back an entire part of my life: I have my Sunday evenings again. And most of all I have my entire self back. The good and the evil self, but I have it all and I am, for once, proud of what I do.

Keep the fucking faith, love and destroy.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-7091022860595756342?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: andy popp on January 09, 2012, 06:34:32 am

This blog just gets better and better.

Title: Re: 6 A.M.
Post by: csurfleet on January 09, 2012, 09:15:09 am

Quote from: comPiler on January 09, 2012, 12:00:13 am

Keep the fucking faith

Awesome stuff :boxing:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on January 09, 2012, 02:35:55 pm

thanks guys, really. I really appreciate.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Red on January 09, 2012, 03:42:43 pm

Quote from: comPiler on January 09, 2012, 12:00:13 am

6 A.M. (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/01/6-am.html)
8 January 2012, 5:00 pm

I don't need money, I need people. I need humans. I need good relationships, my best friends close to me. I need to see smiles when I'm at work, and I need to be thanked.

Keep the fucking faith, love and destroy.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-7091022860595756342?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

true dat :2thumbsup:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Jaspersharpe on January 09, 2012, 05:17:28 pm

So true. If every Sunday evening fills you with dread for the the week ahead then you really should be looking for another job.

Great stuff as per Lore.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: shark on January 09, 2012, 05:22:28 pm

Shit. I wasn't going to train today..

Title: TWO DAYS
Post by: comPiler on January 11, 2012, 06:00:09 pm

TWO DAYS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/01/two-days.html)
11 January 2012, 2:47 pm

In the pics, the original sequence from another point of view, a point you can read about below.

Two days, that's how long the new final sequence for my project lasted.

Yesterday I realized I cannot and I don't really want to use it, and for many reasons I want to stick to the old sequence, the original and the only one.

First of all, the original sequence is the original, and that's enough.

Second, I have climbed the original problem using the original sequence at least 20 times.

Third, I have climbed the project with the original sequence twice already, without managing to top it out.

More precisely, I cannot use the new sequence, because I rationally put myself into finding it, to cut off a low percentage move. Well, that's finding a shortcut; in reality not, because as I've said the new sequence added a move and was really more physical, but it was also, for me, a lot more steady (although I never got the chance to try how that last deep lock would feel, coming from the start); so, being more physical and more steady for me, it's also easier. And that's not fair.

Moreover, the first line to be climbed on that roof, was a problem I put up to start practicing the direct line: it featured its first hard moves, then abruptedly cut right to big holds and the top, in a sequence whose final move was the same of my new sequence of the project.

So, that is really dirty. If I go right at the top, why not going right lower? How could I justify, to a climber who attempts the problem in the future, that he or she cannot go right low, but only at the top? How could I explain that he or she cannot get the jug because it's out? How could I tell him or her that it's unfair to directly dyno to the good pinch skipping the nasty crimp?

You see, what a mess from a simple move.

Then, most importantly, what about myself? The new sequence, having already succeeded with the original one, is for sure a step back, both in terms of climbing ability and mental strength. If something feels easier, in a situation like this one, it equals cheating. It's not like using all the holds while others skip them, it's using holds that neither I, have never used. If I climb the problem with the new sequence, there could be only two possibilities: I never try it again, never fully appreciating how the original one would feel after topping it out, and having doubts forever about my ascent and never getting the chance to get better; or I keep trying it to repeat it with the old sequence. Both are useless.

The first one for the above reasons, the second one because it's just pointless.

So, in the brief space of two days I changed again my mind. I wonder if, last Sunday, when I was so weak, it was also because I had been searching that shortcut; I had cheated; I had admitted defeat. I'll never know.

What I know, is that one of my resolutions for this year was, and still is, to be pure. Especially to myself, which is my most severe judge.

So tomorrow I will go there, and again I will try to destroy that motherfucker that is ruining my life. If I can't, I'll pull out of my bag my weight vest, I'll wear it, and I will start lapping the motherfucker with 2 kg on, as a start. Then I will go on, and on, and on, until I'll feel satisfied.

When will I be satisfied? I don't know, but crushing the project in fine style without breaking a sweat could bring me some kind of joy, I reckon.

Chalking up before the final move, could.

Getting the jug so easily that Velasquez could have portrayed me in the meanwhile, could.

You got the idea, I'm sure.

Many years ago, when I was 14, one night I went with some friends to steal bengal lights from the train depot, to use them the following day at a football match. And I never liked football!!! We had to cut the barb wire, to crawl under the lights, and all that stuff. We nearly got caught. I wonder why I put myself in that situation.

I wonder why I put myself in this situation: this problem plays to all my weaknesses. It's long, 15 moves; the hard part is the last 4 moves; the hard moves are dynamic, something I'm very bad at, and reachy. Plus, it has small, painful holds, mostly pinches, a prehension I have never ever trained until recently. The enemies we choose qualify us more than our friends. Enemies are chosen by hate, friends by love, and hate is always more pure and more sincere than love. I wish I hadn't seen that line. Or do I?

But now it's too late. I'm stuck in it. I've done all the hard part, I only have to bear the pain and top it out, then I'll go home and I'll watch my face in the mirror for a long time. And what I'll see will be the true me.

Keep the fucking faith, love and destroy.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-9070966846996833618?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Dolly on January 11, 2012, 08:44:07 pm

You've got a true gift for writing this stuff Nibs.
Do you write, rewrite and edit until its just right or is it all just a stream of consciousness approach ?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on January 12, 2012, 07:22:47 am

thank you very much Dolly.
whatever I write, blog entries, letters, short stories, I generally start from a simple idea. then during the writing, other ideas follow and so on. for this one in particular I just had the simple thought that it was cheating!!!
once finished I read the whole thing, trying to correct grammar errors and to check it's comprehensible, and I fit in new ideas or ones that I forgot about. I rarely change things.
then it's done.
bear in mind that often for a blog post that I publish, there are many more that I dislike. Before I tried to write often, often about (more) stupid things; now I want to write when I have something to say, and that's why I write much less!!! if I struggle to find ideas, I drop it.
anyway, thank you very much for all the positive reactions, it's really a good feeling.
:beer2:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: ShortRound on January 12, 2012, 08:46:08 am

Quote from: shark on January 09, 2012, 05:22:28 pm

Shit. I wasn't going to train today..

Exactly! This blog is such a strong source of psyche.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Duma on January 12, 2012, 11:52:53 pm

I'm glad you've abandoned the new sequence Lore - didn't want to say anything before for fear of sounding like a cunt, but my first thought about the new sequence was "but now it's just an eliminate"
As you say, keep the fucking faith.

Title: TWO DAYS AND TWO KILOS
Post by: comPiler on January 13, 2012, 12:00:17 am

TWO DAYS AND TWO KILOS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/01/two-days-and-two-kilos.html)
12 January 2012, 5:03 pm

I'll try to be brief this time.

Two days is not only how long the new final sequence lasted, it's also how long the bouldering season lasted.

I went today, and it was boiling. My fingertips are shredded and painful, and I could not have a decent go.

Luckily I had finally remembered, this morning, to bring the weightbelt with me, so I took the opportunity to start training, given that climbing the project was out of question.

What a difference two kilos made!

I don't think I've done more than three moves in a row! Skin was a problem for sure, it was painful without that extra weight, imagine how painful it was with it, but I don't care.

I am out of my (tiny little) mind with happiness. Trying so hard, failing so hard, feeling every move so hard, filled my heart with joy and my mind with psyche. I was stuck, I kept going there to repeat what I've already done basically, and as I've said, I had lost focus. Now, with a simple weightbelt on, my world is full of energy again.

It's clear that I love this shit. I love the struggle. I love the process of putting myself under pressure. I love to train, and to suffer when doing it. It's been like starting it all again: the enthusiasm, the dreaming, everything was there again, despite the boiling sun, my shredded tips and my aching muscles. My mind has never been so strong. I see a goal in front of myself, a new one. I needed it. If only I'd known it before.

After getting home and having a shower, I went for a walk with the dog. On the way home, I stopped by Trombicche, my favourite place in Siena, for a glass of red wine. Walking back home, I found myself so happy; I was thinking that I could relax, have a nice meal and go to bed without worries, because tomorrow I won't neither train nor climb, I will only have to work.

Imagine this, a life that works at the opposite. I can relax because I don't train. Ahah!!! That's mental, innit.

It's beautiful to have a new path in front of me and to know that with each step I will improve. The battle is the aim, enjoy the battle.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1670417125808414677?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on January 13, 2012, 10:34:11 am

Quote from: Duma on January 12, 2012, 11:52:53 pm

I'm glad you've abandoned the new sequence Lore - didn't want to say anything before for fear of sounding like a cunt, but my first thought about the new sequence was "but now it's just an eliminate"
As you say, keep the fucking faith.

I think you could have said it!!! sometimes it's hard for me to have a clear mind and a different opinion, although painful, must be always welcome.
anyway thank you for your sincerity and tact.

I think what gave more problems was that I was stuck and I felt was stagnating. now that I feel I'm moving again towards something new I feel better!!!
I have to say writing the blog has been helpful, sometimes only when I write I can see the truth.
thank you all, you're spoiling me.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: iain on January 13, 2012, 12:02:07 pm

Spoiling would imply it isn't deserved when it very much is. :clap2:

Title: LIGHTWEIGHT, BABY!
Post by: comPiler on January 21, 2012, 12:00:11 pm

LIGHTWEIGHT, BABY! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/01/in-pic-my-dog-phoebe-checking-i-respect.html)
20 January 2012, 12:41 pm

In the pic, my dog Phoebe checking I respect the speed limit.

Yesterday I didn't work at the school, but at the roof.

The weather was quite bad, it was cloudy and a strange mixture of cold and warm, dry and humid, alternating.

I had a go at my project, but my skin start sweating from the second move on, so I immediately understood that it was time to bring the weightbelt out.

On my first session, climbing with 2 kilos on made me really struggle, as you see in this video (http://vimeo.com/35023221); three days later, my second session went better and I started linking a few more moves; last Tuesday I put in a really good training session: first some front levers on the Beastmaker, as you see in this video (http://vimeo.com/35257131), then some bouldering on my wall, setting a nice problem and trying it until climbing it in two halves, and finally I climbed four easier problems with 5 kilos on, trying to focus on precision, core tension and footwork; this all seemed to pay dividends yesterday, because I nearly did the classic line under the roof twice with 2 kilos on, and managed to repeat "La stanzina verde della follia" with the extra weight. This great session is featured in this other video (http://vimeo.com/35334204) for you all to enjoy.

These sessions with 2 and 5 kilos really worked my back and core: it's the way to go in my opinion; especially on the roof, all the move are dynamic and snatchy, and keeping the feet on despite the extra weight right at waist level, where it's most influential over body tension, is really important. The most important thing, then, is that it's fun as fuck; I mean, it's really really fun, interesting, challenging and physically exhausting.

I feel very tired today and am looking forward tomorrow's session; would be nice to go there again with my girlfriend and the dog: puts me in a good mood for pulling and always reminds me that my girlfriend has no clue about what's going on when I climb; last Saturday, while I was struggling under the roof, with poor holds in my sweaty hands, trying to stay on, she thought the best advice she could give me was "Relax, keep calm"...

I am eager to test my condition elsewhere, to see how much this kind of training applies to general skills and other problems: I will start discovering this from next month, hopefully; I want to climb tomorrow and train on my wall on Sunday, then for the next week the plan is still the same, Tuesday fingerboarding and bouldering, Thursday bouldering at the roof, then I want to go back to Varazze in the weekend.

I've been really surprised by the front levers session, because it's been a strong one, I front levered holds that I find very hard just to hang generally, like back2 in medium pockets and index monos, and I haven't done any fingerboarding in a long time.

I think it could be that a fingerboarding cycle really tears your fingers, it really works them to exhaustion, and progresses take a while to set in. Or maybe I don't know, or maybe it's climbing on the wall, or maybe the simple act of sleeping close to the Beastmaker.

It's nice to be on the move again, after stagnation. Makes me happy.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-5211259437410953188?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: I GOT HERE, I START AGAIN FROM HERE
Post by: comPiler on January 27, 2012, 12:00:20 am

I GOT HERE, I START AGAIN FROM HERE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/01/i-got-here-i-start-again-from-here.html)
26 January 2012, 8:21 pm

I think that after today I really need to end a very long period of intense training and climbing: I went to the roof, and I couldn't even do the warm ups. Not the roof warm ups, the real warm ups, the 5+, the 6a.

I barely put my shoes on.

My mind was elsewhere, and my body wanted to be elsewhere, so I cut my losses, packed everything and went for a walk in the new-old sectors. Many years ago we found a new sector, full of boulders, but for a number of reasons we never developed it, except for a few small areas; recently Michele Caminati, during his stay, went there and checked things out with the eye of a professional, and was immediately hooked. Yes, the place is amazing and the boulders are hundreds.

I will try to fight my selfish attitude and spend some time cleaning new problems despite the little spare time I have to dedicate to climbing on rock.

So, the 17th of September I did my first session on my board, and from then on I trained very intensely and climbed with equal attitude.

Now I have really reached my present physical limit and I need some rest.

I spent the last weekend training both days, then last Tuesday I put in a very powerful session of max one arm dead hangs that really surprised me, then I set, worked and climbed three new problems, all quite close to my limit, and finally the usual 4 problems with 5 kilos on.

I think it's quite normal that today I was so spent.

I want to check my training of the last 6/8 weeks to assess things and see how I did in terms of progression and performance. Today was an all time low so from here I can move on.

I have four weeks with no work in front of me, all I want to do is relax and take advantage of this chance in as many ways as possible. I definitely want to surf again after one year without getting wet, and for sure I need to direct my energy in another direction from climbing on the roof. I want to go climbing in UK. We will see.

I am sipping the last drops of my Laphroaig 10 bottle, and this is the perfect conclusion.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-977354883277407640?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SAY WHAT YOU MEAN...
Post by: comPiler on January 31, 2012, 12:00:27 am

SAY WHAT YOU MEAN... (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/01/say-what-you-mean.html)
30 January 2012, 5:04 pm

... but more importantly mean what you say.

I discovered it today: it's far easier to say things than to really mean things. It's easy to say "keep the fucking faith", it's cool, makes you feel hard core, it earns you other climbers' respect, and if you play it well it could even get you a one night stand at some climbing destination.

What is hard, I found out, is to follow that mantra deeply, to really keep that fucking faith.

Last post was about hitting the bottom; this one is about being on top again. Maybe not an all time top, but oh so close.

Turns out I really kept the fucking faith.

Last Thursday was hard. I did not want to think it was over, my form. It's natural to have highs and lows - only mediocre athletes are always at top form, once Gullich said - but I wasn't prepared for such a deep low.

What did I do? I got depressed, you can be sure about it. And then? Then I went to the gym on Friday to have a light session, then out for a kilo of pizza. Saturday morning I woke up and thought that I did not want to let it go. So I starved myself the whole day and trained in the afternoon on my board: it wasn't the most powerful of sessions, but it broke the spell; I kept throwing myself at the problems no matter what, until my fingers gave up. Then I climbed with 5 kilos on and I finally skipped dinner. There you go, pizza.

Next morning I was feeling a bit better and I went to the gym again for a very easy session, only two problems climbed and a few holds mounted. Lots of chatting, they all make me feel happy.

Today I went back to the roof.

I wasn't sure this morning about what to do, if it was a bad idea or not, to go back there so early after my epic defeat: only four days ago. But I went and I was rewarded.

Despite being a bit tired, I had the power. I had the mental and the physical power, and there, under that roof, with my weightbelt on, I found my faith, really.

I found out that I really had kept it. I had kept it there. When I went there it was there, where I'd left it.

Today really marked another step forward.

I had lost badly. I had gained something back and I gambled it all again. What I won with this bet is the faith. It's like when I watch those boxers that keep getting knocked down and keep getting up again. Do they know that they're going down again in a matter of seconds? I don't care. They don't care. They have the faith. They keep the faith. Why do they keep getting up? It's very simple: because they can.

Of course it doesn't escape me that I'm writing now after a very powerful day, with my naive mind full of happiness and testosterone.

Where was my faith Thursday? Have I ever lost it, even if for just a split second? Perhaps, but probably not. Only, I hadn't fully realized what a simple sentence really implies. If you say "keep the fucking faith", it means that you have to fucking keep the fucking faith, when things go well, and, especially, when they go bad, because only in this second case you are really challenged.

This is a lesson I learned today: we can say things and we can mean things. The first behaviour earns us other people's respect; the second one earns us our own respect.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3769839941301711592?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: chris05 on January 31, 2012, 08:23:38 am

Another great post. What a final sentence! :2thumbsup:

Title: TOTOLORE
Post by: Oldmanmatt on January 31, 2012, 09:29:08 am

Thanks Lore.
You are right.
That was exactly what I needed to hear, right now.
And,
I'm not talking about climbing...

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on January 31, 2012, 09:43:15 am

I thank YOU Matt.

Title: FEET ON THE GROUND!
Post by: comPiler on February 10, 2012, 06:00:14 pm

FEET ON THE GROUND! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/02/feet-on-ground.html)
10 February 2012, 2:13 pm

In the pics my new bass and some wonderful moments, pre and post party.

I think that my latest entries were too serious and presumptuous, but I am a presumptuous bastard, so I guess that's normal.

Anyway, I am two weeks into my holidays and things have been a bit hectic, at least in my mind.

I have been trying to arrange a trip up to UK, but until yesterday it was very unlikely; this drove me crazy because I felt absolutely useless. Then it snowed, and snowed, and snowed.

I found myself buried at home: temps ranging from -3° to -11°, closed roads and boulders covered in snow didn't help me in maintaining my self control and Italian aplomb. At moments I almost went crazy. After a few days of forced rest, and just before throwing furniture out of the window, I decided to break the spell and found myself under the Beastmaker, with my weightvest on. What a glorious decision!!! A great session, my first one with 5 kilos on, and it literally made me happy.

I still don't know how the Beastmaker works, after a layoff it seems like that one is still progressing, and it takes very little to regain a personal high even after a long time off it. Anyway I completed all the 6 prescribed sets on the 10 chosen holds; I surprised myself by hanging the 45°, the index monos, the slopey pockets and all the other ones, a real big step forward.

A good Beastmaker session for sure is miles better than Prozac.

This session left my forearms a bit worked, and after a rest day I decided do lift some weights, so I went to the gym and found out that I haven't lost much from August, when I worked out for the last time. Oh well!!! I went back home in a freezing wind, trying not to kill myself on the iced snow, only thinking about a big chicken meal and my comfy bed. It wasn't to be: from the road all the lights in the house seemed off, and when I opened the door I saw the shadows of many people singing "Happy Birthday" for me. My girlfriend had spent the last two weeks organizing a surprise party!!! I was truly shocked and for a good quarter of an hour was unable to really comprehend what was going on!!! It's been a great night with lots of friends, food, alcohol and presents!!!

In the following days I did some cross training under the form of shoveling tons of snow from my road to warrant me some mobility (to where I didn't know).

As I found out that climbing was out of question, with short one day windows of good weather between snowstorms, it was time to train again.

I still hadn't completely recovered so I knew I didn't have much volume, and I opted for one arm max hangs.

I did some tests and found out good improvements: I set a PB on the big rung with both the left and right arm (10 seconds with 14 kilos with the right, twice); and I also managed two very good right hand hangs of the small pockets with front2 (that's 7c+ in the charts bitch!); I did many other sets especially on front2 and mid2, to finish off with some max hangs on the incut jug (whose depht I reduced putting in some cardboard); then I was too tired to do anything else, but today I don't feel much tired, so maybe it could be possible to do another session.

As you can tell, this post is quite meaningless, if you A) don't have a Beastmaker (I pity the fool); and B) you don't like training; and even if you tick both boxes, it still does not say much.

What I can tell is that I really enjoyed these last sessions, and I'm sure I'll reap what I'm sowing. And I'm not sowing the seeds of love, mind.

Finally, some glorious moments in full video galore.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-4976237900095479028?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: UK AND SECOND CHANCES
Post by: comPiler on February 24, 2012, 12:00:15 pm

UK AND SECOND CHANCES (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/02/uk-and-second-chances.html)
24 February 2012, 10:30 am

Once again at a friend's house, once again at Stanage, once again at Parisella's cave, once again at the pubs, everything is apparently the same, yet it's completely different. I wasn't sure I could be doing this trip until the last days before leaving, due to a physical problem that gave me a real bad time and stopped my training for the first three weeks of February. But I made it, in the end. I came over with some other friends apart Michele this time, and when we dropped our pads at Plantation, I felt not only at home again, but also something very very new and different, whose origin I found in last year's successful trip: I was feeling happy. I didn't want to try anything in particular, I was just happy to show my friends around and watch their smiles. This has been priceless. I wanted to do Brad Pit again and I couldn't, to be honest at first I didn't even manage to heel hook and this left me shocked; my usual thought "It's time to quit" appeared again. Then I tried it again after carefully watching others try - or lap - it, and I realized that five months of face-on bouldering on my wall couldn't be translated into this problem. I carefully chose my position and did the heel hook and the cross easily. Maybe I won't quit yet. On that occasion I realized also that I made a big schoolboy error this time: I only brought new shoes. My Solutions are so tight that I can't wear them without a plastic bag, and the heel rubber is still so new that in the cold of Stanage didn't ever stick to the sloper. I had similar problems at Parisella's cave, whose strange placements I could not feel with new, stiff shoes. But that's another story. So yes, I was happy. I was happy also the following day, when a soaked hold hindered me - but not Rich - from doing Lou Ferrino. A true crusher would have crushed it anyway. I did it into the third move, fell, dried the hold then went to the end . One to come back for. Yesterday was a gorgeous day, I walked around Liverpool, had a haircut, chilled out, ate a lot, and I also visited the Cathedral's tower. Last year I found the tower closed for works, and I was very disappointed; I thought "When will I have another chance to see it?". Well, I don't believe much in second chances, I believe that one can simply try again. This is a very stupid thing to say, but I think there's a great difference between thinking in terms of "chances" and in terms of "trying again": in the first case we wait for something to happen, in the second case we want to make it happen. What do I want to make happen again? I still want to climb Brad Pit again, but I also want to finish Lou Ferrino and Jerry's Traverse at Stanage. I want to keep visiting my friends and I want to make them come to Italy. I want to keep training and believing that I am not the shittest climber I've ever seen. I want to keep the faith in my projects and become a better teacher. I also want to start deadlifting. I am close to the end of five weeks off work, and again I cannot help but think about how hard I fought to find myself in this position. Many people around me supported my decision, and thanks to them and to that little bit of foolishness and luck, I never had to ask for a second chance.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3069182228288271329?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Doylo on February 24, 2012, 12:04:44 pm

you probably would have done Lou Ferrino if you'd used all the holds. Don't copy those trying to milk extra grades out of established classics by missing holds out :jab:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on February 24, 2012, 12:28:19 pm

Fair enough Reverend, fair enough!
I did miss a few ones, didn't I?
Not on purpose though!!!
:wall:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Richie Crouch on February 24, 2012, 02:08:26 pm

Nice Post Lore and :whistle: @ Doylo's comment

Title: REALITY BITES!
Post by: comPiler on March 01, 2012, 06:00:15 pm

REALITY BITES! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/03/reality-bites.html)
1 March 2012, 10:49 am

In the pics, something to keep me warm, and the beast at work in the torture chamber.

"Fuck Italy" pretty much sums up my recent thoughts.

I went to the roof yesterday with my friend Filo, who was with me in UK as well, and it's been a good day, but only because of his company. I missed being at Stanage, pounded by a cold wind, and I missed being at Parisella's Cave, drying up holds.

I did not expect to come back home and find temps already in the 20° range.

The season is over.

I had one go on "Futurismo", and it felt good, but pain was really too much: shame because despite being tired, after more than ten days of climbing or training with only one day off, my forearms were responding well, and I didn't feel pumped.

Subsequent goes on the other problems with my weightbelt on proved impossible, I needed to squeeze too much on the hot rock to stay put, and pain was really unbearable. Whatever I want to do on rock in the close furure, must start very early in the morning.

I came home from UK really, really tired. My last day spent in Font was amazing, the clue is to be guided, without focusing on climbing hard on your first - and only - day in the forest in a year. I met a good bunch of Brits, some of them I had previously met under the roof of Parisella's Cave, and I had a very very good day.

I felt happy and in peace.

Now then, I need to change something.

I ache. I really ache. My fingers are OK, and my elbows also (touch wood), but my back, lower back, lats and knees are sore. The knees especially worry me: in the morning I barely can walk out of bed, and can't sit down without leaning on something. My body is not telling me something, it's yelling it.

So, I think I can still manage a new problem in an old area, the original version of what years ago became "Tailgunner". I could not climb it how I had imagined and resolved to use a few toe hooks that now I want to eliminate: this area is still under the snow, being in the deep shade, so that's still on the go.

Apart from that, I'm sure - at the moment - that this year I don't want to face another summer like the last one. Going to the boulders in boiling temps, falling on easy problems and getting angry is not for me. I want to keep training and go climbing in specific, good occasions. We will see if I can manage to keep the promise.

Moreover, last summer I had the project in my mind. Now I don't have this stimulus anymore. The line is there, I have done it many times and only need to top it out. It will happen sooner or later, and if it doesn't happen, the only thing that matters is that this project propelled me towards the best climbing form I've ever had. The progression is the only thing that matters to me, because it's certain. Once it levels out, it's time to move.

I want to go surfing again.

More than one year and half has passed since my last time in the water, and it's time to get wet again. Unluckily, surf spots now are super crowded, and gone are the good old times when I shared perfect sets only with my buddy Jac.

I have to time perfectly my reentry, because I don't want to spoil it with bad vibes and idiots. To start the ball rolling, today I used a birthday gift card to buy a new thermal rashguard to wear under my wetsuit, and also new gloves. I always hated to surf all rubbered up, and often paddled in with no booties even in full winter, but this time I want to be as comfy as I can get, because I surf for the joy, and because I'm fucking old and creaky.

Which leads me to another subject.

The other day it occurred to me that, besides a few occasions that I can count on a hand's fingers, I normally boulder with guys that are at least 8-10 years younger than me.

I never think about this, because I really don't care much about my age, but the fact is that I have that age, and my body does. I have come to the conclusion that my project of an endless progression throughout my entire life, with maybe a little plateau around the 90 years old mark, could be a bit optimistic. I think that at the current moment I am at the peak of my overall climbing capacity in terms of power, technique and skills on the rock; I know that even if this doesn't translate into amazing performances, with some more time to dedicate to the rock I could still do well in different areas. This last trip to UK and Font proved it, especially Font: I know I can do well in Parisella's, but having good goes on vertical 7b's in Font after few tries is a very good progress.

This age issue leads us back, in a perfect ringkomposition, to the fact that I ache and I need to change something right now. I have trained and climbed hard since mid September, and if I want to keep moving on I need to vary.

Hence the surfing.

But I also want to focus on dead lifting. I am thinking about a possible training schedule for the late spring-summer-early autumn, revolving around two weekly session in the gym (one session doing my usual weights routine and the other doing just dead lifts), two weekly sessions on my wall (adjusting the session to the feeling), and one weekly session on the Beastmaker; then forget about the rock until it gets cool again, and surf in the weekends when waves roll in.

This plan revitalized my mojo and gave me a decent psyche.

Last but not least, I want to thank once again all the friendly faces that I met during this trip. I always felt at home wherever I went, and this is why I keep coming.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3257267191723654431?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on March 02, 2012, 09:05:35 am

Scottish breaks never get crowded!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on March 02, 2012, 09:35:37 am

;)
Who knows, maybe one day I'll pack my van with bouldering mats and my longboard!!!
Dumbarton, then surfing, that can't be bad at all!!!
The problem here is that people watched too many times Point Break... They all think they're bad ass locals. They don't respect priorities, they drop you in, they shout, shortboarders stay in the bowl of lonboard spots, and so on. It really spoils my joy. That's why I always choose smaller spots, maybe with bad waves, but a good athmosphere and relaxed people.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on March 02, 2012, 10:51:42 am

It's an almost univeral problem. I think localism is more a case of territorial pissings and people who feel like they have to uphold a non-existent reputation that exists only in their own mind. It still amazes me that people have a herd mentality and hang around the best peak on the beach and duke it out over who gets priority, when there is an almost as good peak 100m away with hardly anyone on it.

I could show you some spots that would blow your mind. No need for Dumbarton, bouldering right on the beach!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on March 02, 2012, 11:36:48 am

exactly, I agree.
I have surfed many localized spost, especially in Sardegna, where it can get really nasty, in the water and out.
what I've noticed is that the "real" locals, never drop you in, never shout or hassle. they simply put themselves in the perfect point where the wave breaks, they take their priority right.
those who scream and drop you in, from what I've seen, are never the best surfers in the water. they are often the most frustrated by their own rides and by the waves' quality.
I once spoke to a guy who told me "I only paddle in when it's at least 2 meters". well my friend you rarely surf, I thought. then he went away saying "let's go and do some localism". what? I thought I wanted to surf.
this guy is always sad and angry, and he's hated by his friends also. he dropped me in a few times, and I finally had to tell him.
gladly it all went well, no problems and no accidents, but you know, it's tricky.
now that I'm writing I remembered that he had applied to Rip Curl for a sponsorship... he could barely hang ten.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on March 02, 2012, 01:32:40 pm

Quote from: Nibile on March 02, 2012, 11:36:48 am

now that I'm writing I remembered that he had applied to Rip Curl for a sponsorship... he could barely hang ten.

Quote

non-existent reputation that exists only in their own mind

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on March 02, 2012, 01:44:05 pm

precisely.

Title: INVOLUTION
Post by: comPiler on March 18, 2012, 12:00:58 am

INVOLUTION (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/03/involution.html)
17 March 2012, 8:57 pm

I haven't done much after getting back home.

I went one day bouldering, refusing for once to go to the roof. I went to try an old testpiece from my friend Luca, a compression roof that I go back to every few years, after forgetting that it's too wide for my span. Well, not really. My problem is that I'm too short for a crucial toehook. Not really again. My problem is that I am not strong enough to do it with the sequence that I have to use. I try to use the official sequence but can't, so each time I think "Well it's hard but I can give it another go" and each time I come back home thinking "I'll never do it". We will see. On the plus side, I managed to do the moves of the original traverse, that is without toehooking. I know that unless you are a moron you can't ban toehooks (or heelhooks...), but I originally conceived the problem as a lip trip, then resolved to the toehooks because I couldn't do it otherwise.

I found that with some squeezing and cheating (over the head heelhooks and lame tricks like that) it will go. I only need to find a spotter because on my own I could not committ.

Then I wanted to rest. Well, I couldn't.

I am still very excited by deadlifting, but don't want to play this card at the wrong moment. I can still climb for a few more weeks, despite temps in the 20's already by daytime, so I want to wait for the really hot temps to make a big change and start going to the gym.

I haven't lifted but I have pulled. I've had a couple of very good sessions on my wall, with one system only session that left me really worked, especially my biceps. Note to self: it's not smart to spend 3/4 of a three hours session on underclings, "Hubble" is NOT on the ticklist (for the moment).

I found the pinches particularly hard, maybe for the friction, but finally reached an old goal of mine, wich I haven't particularly trained for, to be honest, but that finally came: deadhanging the small pockets on the Beastmaker, back2. My ring fingers have sustained many injuries in the years, and probably the respective lengths of my back2 aren't perfect for making them strong, but spending a few minutes to find a correct placement, I managed to do 3 hangs with 6 kg on!!!

Success!!! I was feeling tired after the warmup on the wall that day, so after a couple of problems I sacked it and went under the BM, putting in this very rewarding session, doing three sets on each hold type with my weightvest on. I also did 25" on the small pockets front2 half crimped, still with the vest.

Now I am very tired, and I think I have to be smart and take it a bit easier next week.

On a side note, I found out that it's very important to keep records of the training, and also to make videos. In one system session, I did some lock offs, the same exercise I've done so many times, but this time it felt strangely hard and precarious. It took me another session to perform it with satisfaction, but still with some serious effort. Later one day, I watched one of my training videos, about that very same exercise, and I found out that I was using the same starting holds, but I was reaching different holds, that were more than 20 cm further apart. That's why if felt hard!!! Because it was!!!

Lesson: before cry and despair take some time and reflect. And always, always keep records of the training.

All right.

Finally, coming to the post's title.

I am undergoing an involution. One day, it occurred to me that climbing is getting more and more deeply personal for me. It's getting so intimate that somehow my climbing attitude has taken a distance from normal climbing. I realized that often I don't care much about getting a problem done, I care about doing something that I thought I couldn't do, or that seemed that way. I think this is why I am so addicted to deadhanging. It's very simple, and it's easy to set goals and to fight for them. It's less complicated than driving to a boulder for sure!!!

On rock also, I understood that I am addicted to doing something that I want to do, REGARDLESS of climbing a problem. If I am attracted by a move, the move is the goal, and not the boulder it's attached to. I can do the move, and drop the problem, and it's perfectly fine for me. It's hard to explain it, this is what made me want to blog today, but in my mind this thought was much clearer.

I don't know when this involution started, but I'm feeling it. For example, I should be very excited by reclimbing the traverse without the toehooks, because that was my goal years ago: well, I am excited, but not as much as to make me want to drive there at any moment. The other day I did all the moves at the end of the session, and this gave me joy. This was the goal, and not specifically the problem. The goal was doing moves that I could not do a few years ago. So now I have to transfer the specific, real goal, to another goal, the problem. Completing the problem is something to be done, something that I want to do, but more for completeness than for myself.

It's exactly what happened with the roof. Once I found myself on the last hold, my goal was reached. Climbing the direct line coming from my start. I didn't believe I could do it when I saw that line. Now I have. I haven't toped out the problem, but this is completely different from my goal. I will keep going there for sure, for completeness, and for training, but I am fine.

I noticed this involution in other aspects of my climbing. After Michele's videos about Amiata, those areas, and the roof especially, have seen many visits from strong and famous climbers. Well, the more others come, the less I want to be there. I think that they are coming only because they know that now there's a very hard problem there, Michele's 8b+. I seriously doubt that they come for different reasons: after all, in the same boulder there was already an 8a/+. Why noone came for all these years? Because 8b+ attracts more than 8a/+. As simple as that.

So I have spent the greatest part of one climbing year under that roof now, going more and more deeply into myself. I shook hands with the monster in me, and with the hero. I met the fool and the sage. I laughed and I swore there. That is one sacred place for me, it's the place of madness and cure.

I don't want to share it with someone who's there for one number on the internet.

I don't know where this path will lead me. I don't even know if in two days I'll write another entry laughing about this one.

But really, I feel that I am climbing and training more and more for just myself, and so I am very very close to freedom.

In the video, below, back2 on the small pockets, with 6 kg on. Another small, useless goal that made all the difference. For me.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1835078580936901873?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: INVOLUTION
Post by: miso soup on March 18, 2012, 11:57:10 pm

Nibile, I started dipping into your blog around the time of the Amy Winehouse post. Since then I've had it permanently open in a browser window and have been working my way through from the start. I'm now up to date and it is seriously among the best writing about climbing I've ever read. Writing about climbing in any sort of emotive, poetic way is incredibly difficult to pull off and very few people manage it in my opinion. Bravo.

"I am climbing and training more and more for just myself, and so I am very very close to freedom."

:thumbsup:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on March 19, 2012, 06:14:44 am

From the start???!!! ...and I thouht I was mad!!! ;)
Serously, thank you. I really appreciate it.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: grimer on March 19, 2012, 09:25:38 am

The time when you had a knackered arm then you wanted to do Malc's One Armer then you were waiting for the Bestmaker to arrive then it arrived then you trained one arm then you knackered that one was golden. And the one about the naked shit.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: ShortRound on March 19, 2012, 09:29:48 am

Quote from: Nibile on March 19, 2012, 06:14:44 am

I shook hands with the monster in me, and with the hero. I met the fool and the sage. I laughed and I swore there. That is one sacred place for me, it's the place of madness and cure.

Excellent writing.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on March 19, 2012, 12:47:09 pm

Thanks again guys.
Mr. Grimer, you appear to be quite good at connecting together unrelated, random facts. Cough.
Ps. Which "naked shit" though?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: grimer on March 19, 2012, 02:12:50 pm

Where you were coming home busting for a shit then you got home but went for delayed gratification of the defecation to the nation.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on March 19, 2012, 03:12:30 pm

;D
guilty.

Title: LEARNING
Post by: comPiler on April 01, 2012, 01:00:51 am

LEARNING (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/03/learning.html)
30 March 2012, 7:49 pm

In the pics, my new problem at Amiata.

I'm learning a lot as of late.

I'm learning a lot about training, and about how my body reacts to training.

But I'm learning a lot about myself, mostly. Yesterday, for example, I understood that I am a completely different climber than I thought I was, or at least I have become that in the last months? Years? I don't think so, I think I've always been this way, only I was hiding it, behind a mask from the others and behind a different attitude from myself.

I found out that I am obsessed by grades, basically.

The pleasure of moving effortlessy and gracefully on rock? Bullshit.

Being in contact with mother nature and my soul? Bullshit.

Having fun? Meeting people? Bull. Shit.

I climb for the grades.

Not really, I climb to progress and to always push my limits further, but in climbing, grades are the consequence.

I found out I've always been this way.

When I was a child, in the Summer one of my favourite pastimes was trying to traverse all around my parents' house, without falling off. Whenever I fell, I had to step a few meters back from the wall, then run towards the wall and jump from a line I had previously drawn, to catch the external windowsill of a window and resume the traverse from there.

When I grew up, I used to play basketball, because I already was so tall. Well, I thought "If I'm short I can try and jump more" and I started training in the gym. At 15 I could leg press 135 kg, and I kept training my legs for my entire career, because all I wanted was to become able to slam dunk. I never managed it, but until my ankles and knees gave up, I kept trying.

I used to ski. Getting the first chairlift at 8.00 in the morning, my desire was to draw the first lines in the pristine snow. But they had to be straight lines. I'm a very calm driver, but I was a mental skier, completely addicted to speed. After a bad crash, I came to a different view.

Shall we talk about cycling? I basically grew up on a roadbike. Going around for sure wasn't enough, I had to go to the sea, 110 kms of Tuscan hills, if you please. I was 16 the first time I did it, with just a 0,5 liters flask of water and a phone coin in case of troubles. Then I started wanting to go fast. I started training and training until I could sprint the 2 kms of straight road in front of my parents' house at the sea, and average at least 50 km/hour.

I think you start getting the idea...

I don't like to take it easy.

Then I started climbing.

After a few years, with my best friend Andrea we decided that there was no reason for us not to try the harder routes of our local crag. They weren't for Gods. Their bolts weren't golden. We put ourselves to it and we did them all, up to the magic grade.

Before, my life had been already ruined by Patrick Edlinger and his book "Grimper", which at the end featured a few charts trying to put together training feats and climbed grade. One of the tests was on a 1 cm edge. Patrick said that 28 pull ups on it, meant sport 8a on rock. The fact that he was climbing full time didn't occur to me, and I never rested until I did those damn 28 pull ups.

Then it was one armers, then lock offs: did I ever think that fully locking off for 1 minute on a 1 cm edge could be a bit useless? Never. That was the idea, the aim, and all that mattered. The fact that at that moment I was climbing 6b+ never seemed a contradiction to me.

I think you definitely got the idea. My worst fears are now reality, climbing is not the aim in itself anymore, it's just a way I push my physical - and somehow mental - limits. This saddens me a bit. All poetry is lost. The magic is lost. All that remains is the battle. I can try and make poetry out of the battle, but it seems hard to do...

This is why I am so intrigued by trivial (no offense) challenges, like fingerboarding, or campusing, or deadlifting. Oh, deadlifting. I am so eager to start it. These activities are very simple and very easy to be pushed to the limits. Training has become a goal in itself, and it's not a coincidence that in the last weeks I put so much effort not only in the physical part of training, but also in the mental part. Standing under the Beastmaker, trying to feel the hold before touching it. Or sitting under the board with my weightvest, eyes closed, visualizing my body gliding between holds that in the previous set I was barely able to link together without the vest on. I love this shit.

I have been trying for a lot of time to understand my feelings towards my ex-project. I was very puzzled because I clearly felt no interest in it anymore, after getting a few times to the last holds but not topping it out. Why didn't I care about completing the problem? Because, I know now, the project wasn't the aim; the aim was to try and do something light years beyond my ability. Climbing the problem should have been the consequence and the result of my real goal. I found myself in a Limbo, in a no-man's land. Getting all the hard part done, and not climbing the problem. I got stuck in between, and I still am, because I want to climb the problem, but I don't desire it as I desired it before, because I have already reached my goal, that was to perform at another level, both physically and mentally. The pure will power that I lack now, makes it very hard to keep going there again and again, also because it's still very hard for me. I lack the mental edge.

I keep going there, though. I went today, and I had fun, also because I nearly did it again despite 23°, but that's exactly the difference: I was having fun. I want to be clear: having fun is OK. But battles are not won by having fun. Personal records are not beaten by having fun.

This is also why I lose interest when I quickly do the moves on a problem and then for one reason or the other, can't put it together. I move out from my target and I get lost. I confuse the aim and the climbing and I am clueless.

I really don't know if a single word that I've written makes some sense, or if it's just another self-delusion. I really don't know. I know that I am feeling more and more free, by letting go and accepting to be a prisoner of my own self.

I don't think writing this makes me happy, but I feel that doing what I do makes me happy.

Of course not everything is just black and white as I've put it. I have fun while climbing; I enjoy getting to the top of problems; I love to take it easy and spend a day doing easy things. But then again, just before packing my stuff and heading to the car, a small thought appears in the back of my mind and tells me to go and try something hard. Because it's what I like.

I feel really lucky that I have my small board, the Beastmaker, and all the strange ideas that keep me going and struggling.

Today, for example, I went to Amiata and opened a new problem, that I called "Lore's One Armer". I'm sure you understand...

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1619591443565838?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Dr T on April 01, 2012, 07:45:50 am

I understand... it all makes sense (unfortunately ;D)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Grubes on April 01, 2012, 08:20:24 am

did you manage to film Lores one armer?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on April 01, 2012, 01:42:55 pm

Quote from: Grubes on April 01, 2012, 08:20:24 am

did you manage to film Lores one armer?

Sadly not, but I want to.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Sasquatch on April 02, 2012, 06:00:13 pm

Quote from: Dr T on April 01, 2012, 07:45:50 am

I understand... it all makes sense (unfortunately ;D)

:agree:

I still can't decide if this is a good thing or not. The only place I differ at the moment is that my new challenge is to conquer the mental aspect and master finding that perfect balance between absolute focus and relaxation.

Title: ABOVE AND BEYOND
Post by: comPiler on April 19, 2012, 01:00:55 am

ABOVE AND BEYOND (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/04/above-and-beyond.html)
18 April 2012, 5:28 pm

In the pic, the new game.

As I texted today to my brother Tom, I am beyond climbing.

In the last weeks, following a totally new (for me) idea of less volume in each session, suggested by The Guru himself, I have trained or climbed nearly everyday. Sometimes with double sessions.

I also had my fire baptism with deadlifting. I am loving all the training, and despite the effort, both mental and physical that it requires, I am having a hell of fun.

My lifting session was a bit strange though, because I didn't manage to do what I preached the others beginner lifters should do: play it safe, master the technique first, technique is everything. Naturally, as I stepped in all I could think in my naive little mind was "I want to lift 100 kg". Going through the sets I adjusted my position to a stance more similar to the Romanian lifts, than to the conventional ones. Hips quite high. It felt better and I got to 110 kg first try, but then I felt the sirens chanting "Go for double bodyweight!". That is for me 130 kg, and despite feeling close, I forced myself into resisting, like Ulysses.

The following day my legs were fine, but my lower back was very very stiff.

Then, on another matter (or training tool, if you prefer), I noticed some unexpected improvement on the Beastmaker. I know that the concept of "unexpected improvement" doesn't go along well with the concept of training almost every day to obtain that improvement, but the last gains have been huge, for me.

To cut a long story short, I suddenly found myself able to hang:

- small pockets, back2, with 6 kg on;

- 45° with 6 kg on;

- one pad monos, ring finger, with 6 kg on;

- one arm dead hang (RH) the 35° and the right eye with 6 kg on;

- one arm dead hang (RH) the 45° with a slight nestle.

I think this is all.

I am very pleased about the back2 (a feat that is still unrepeated) and the ring monos (repeated) a notoriously weak link for me. Also, I noticed big gains in my left arm, being able to dead hang the 35°, and the right eye with some ease.

I've had also a couple of good, enjoyable climbing sessions on my new project, that is close to being climbed. Two years ago I could not do any of the crux moves...

Another source of great fun, has been system training.

Finally, I dedicate a lot of energy to the mental aspect of training, both when simply bouldering and system bouldering.

A few system training videos below.

Finally, I would like to really thank the new followers, and again all the madmen that dedicate part of their time to this blog.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1681299032304965716?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: TO HEAVEN AND BACK?
Post by: comPiler on May 03, 2012, 07:00:16 pm

TO HEAVEN AND BACK? (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/05/to-heaven-and-back.html)
3 May 2012, 4:29 pm

In the pic, the reward: roast chicken and potatoes!!!

The above picture shows where I spent the morning: in heaven. Or was it hell?

Today I had no school, so despite being on my fourth day on, I went bouldering. I had the entire day to my desires, so I took the chance to go and check out a new problem, in an area I already know a bit, that could be fresher despite the boiling temps. Sitting in a small pit there's this slightly overhanging face, with underclings and a small crack. I had seen a video, I know the opener and the only repeater of this problem, and I knew that I couldn't trust either of the two. Strong and tall guys: I was calling for troubles. And I got them.

The morning was really fresh and the boulder stays in the shade all day, so I felt relaxed about this; also, the wet streak in the starting hold seemed to magically unaffect the bit of rock that you have to squeeze. I warmed up and started trying the moves - Ouch!!! So this is how real rock feels on your fingers? It's a sharp, painful motherfucker, especially with my plastic-filed fingertips. It wanted blood and it got it. Mine.

Anyway, the central moves went well, so I sat down and tried the first one: no way. Miles away. Good footholds are useless if you are not in contact with them. I found a solution under the form of an undercling that you get above your head from the sitter. I pulled on and everything clicked. I got the crack with my left hand and... I realized I was stuck. Completely stretched, I was unable to swap feet and move my left one on the salvation foothold. I tried this move again and again, but to no avail.

Then hell came.

After thinking "That's OK, I did what I could", I wanted to go and try my other project; instead, I don't know how, I found myself trying to connect every imaginable hold on that face in every possible combination, to manage that crucial move. I tried the most painful finger jams in gnarly, jagged seams that cut my fingers behind the fingernails everytime I pushed them in and twisted. Blood pouring everywhere, I seemed to have a sequence. This involved four foot movements from the same holds, and also a very hard move to get a higher undercling from which I could get the crack high enough to use the good foothold. To do this move I had to heelhook so hard on a bulge, as if it were to save the planet. This whole sequence was brutal and completely exhausted me, especially my right bicep, that was completely empty.

This whole process had taken easily two hours, and by the time I went for the redpoint, I could not do the hard move anymore. For sure it felt hard but I felt proud having managed to skip the reach problem, and the obvious increase in the difficulty only added more pleasure and joy.

When I was ready to go home, I don't know why, I thought I could try the old sequence, moving my left foot 5 cm to the left, on a worse but higher foothold. I stepped on... and I did the moves first go.

After hours of toil and blood, a simple foot adjustment had done the deed. I am a complete idiot. I managed to spend half a day putting together a very hard sequence, instead of trying all the different footholds first. Punter. Idiot.

I took a long rest, ate my cereals and joghurt, drank my supplements, and went. I knew what to do, and I did it, but when I came to the hard bit, the foot swap, first I did it but my left calf cramped and I couldn't get the good foothold, then I was too tired to get the right body tension, and had to call it quit.

So, have I been in heaven or in hell?

Both.

Obviously it was heaven, because I made quick work of a hard problem, and despite not toping it out, it's been very satisfying. Obviously again it was hell, because I basically threw success in the recesses of my mind and lost it. This is the price to pay for rejoicing in solitude.

If this morning I've been in heaven, now I'm back in hell, a hell made of daily training sessions, plastic holds, fingerboarding, stopwatch, and a lot of effort.

But if this morning I've been in hell, now I'm back in heaven, a heaven made of pure power problems, pure efforts, untouched by skin grating, or by short reach. A heaven made of simple tasks: can you one arm that hold? Can you get from there to there? Can you keep your feet on?

I like to think that this morning I've been in heaven, and now I'm back in heaven. I loved every second of my foolish struggle of today. I am proud that I found a dumb sequence, I did it, and I discovered that it was useless.

What's more satisfying than useless pleasures?

I am happy because once again I chose a problem that plays to my weaknesses, and I did my best to overcome them. I can't blame the rock. I can't blame the guys who cleaned and climbed it. I'd had done the same.

I am happy because I stuck my head out of my board, out of my Beastmaker, and I found a world in which I can do nice things.

But I am also happy because I know that on my board I've done things a lot harder than the one I saw today, and because once again I've received more than I'd put in.

I hurt now. My fingers are cut and swollen. My back is stiff and my right bicep is useless. And I didn't even top out! I'm happy. I don't need to top a problem out to be happy: I only need to know that doing what I like to do is right.

I'd have so many more things to say.

Right now I'm thinking that I deserve a few days off, and I wonder: will I make it, or will the desire to train and get stronger prevail?

It's been a great day.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-4081025274679480981?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: LEARNING
Post by: rich d on May 07, 2012, 09:51:42 am

Quote from: comPiler on April 01, 2012, 01:00:51 am

LEARNING (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/03/learning.html)
30 March 2012, 7:49 the pics, my new problem

Before, my life had been already ruined by Patrick Edlinger and his book "Grimper", which at the end featured a few charts trying to put together training feats and climbed grade. One of the tests was on a 1 cm edge. Patrick said that 28 pull ups on it, meant sport 8a on rock. The fact that he was climbing full time didn't occur to me, and I never rested until I did those damn 28 pull ups.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1619591443565838?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

So go on post up the full list of grades vs training feats, I love that shit

Title: THE ANSWER
Post by: comPiler on May 07, 2012, 07:00:18 pm

THE ANSWER (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/05/answer.html)
7 May 2012, 1:15 pm

In the picture, how I snapped my right wrist a few years ago. Now I made it even with my left one. (Courtesy of Rich Hession)

Yesterday I found the answer to the question I asked myself in the last entry. I will take a week off, because yesterday I snapped my left wrist while doing routes in the gym. This is what jugs in a roof do to you. Dammit.

I think that I could have another stress fracture like I had a few years ago on my right wrist; I have limited mobility and one bone in particular - the capitate, exactly like the other time - is very painful. Also, like the other time, I probably hurt it while pulling on it while it was slightly bent. I am quite sure that it's not as bad as the other time, but still it's painful and quite useless.

I am very pissed but not as I could be.

In hindsight, for sure I have trained a whole fucking lot as of late, almost daily sessions and sometimes double daily sessions for more than one month now. For sure this plan of cutting volume and increasing - if possible! - intensity paid off. Despite being tired, I saw constant progresses on the Beastmaker and on my board. I did a few tests and I managed to hang very easily the 35° with 14 kg on. The 45° are still very tricky and perfect physical form and conditions are crucial.

I am still very happy about my performance on rock of last Thursday, lanky moves apart.

I am slightly reviewing my Summer plans. I am not sure about doing weights anymore. I am still very psyched about deadlifting, but in the only session I had I might have slighly pulled an inner muscle in my groin, and despite it being fully healed now, it stayed with me - and in my mind especially - for a while. For sure, I have to take it easy. Regarding the weights, we will see. I think I put up one kg as of late, and it seems to be lean muscle, because my caliper says my body fat percentage is the same as before.

Of course this doesn't seem to hinder me, but at the wall yesterday a few people found me bigger than they remembered, and I don't exactly like it. I'll be pleased about in when I'll drop climbing for body building and lifting, but for the moment I don't want it. So I want to be careful, but I'll also have to deal with the usual Summer temps. Last Summer I didn't have my board, so maybe this Summer I'll be able to keep climbing instead of doing weights. Still, a weekly lifting session is almost certain, maybe it could be a nice Saturday morning substitute for boiling rocks.

Anyway, this is all on the charts for the moment. Let's see how things go wrist wise, then we'll adjust.

Heal heal heal. Crush crush crush.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-583024587757970972?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: WHY?
Post by: comPiler on May 11, 2012, 01:00:08 pm

WHY? (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/05/why.html)
10 May 2012, 12:03 pm

As I sat down on the pad and started untying my climbing shoes, I heard a strange noise. It resembled a crying. Puzzled and almost scared, because I knew I was alone there, I focused on where it seemed to come from.

It was coming from the rock, and it was a crying, in fact.

"Why? the problem asked me between sighs, whining.

"Why what?" I asked back in response.

"Why did you do that to me?"

"Why did I do you what?" I asked again, shocked.

"Why did you treat me that badly. Why did you crush me into atoms?" then it burst into tears again. "Aren't you supposed to climb gracefully, moving on the rock as a dancer?" it went on, after a few seconds.

"Well, yes, I guess so..." I answered, sincerely.

"So why, why didn't you do just that. Why did you crush me?"

I paused, trying to find an answer to this seemingly impossible question.

"WHY?" it yelled, losing composure.

And then I found the answer.

"Why? - I said - Because I fucking can."

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-5926346640055019541?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: ShortRound on May 11, 2012, 01:23:58 pm

Quote from: comPiler on May 11, 2012, 01:00:08 pm

"Why? - I said - Because I fucking can."

Ha! Ace.

:strongbench:

Title: THURSDAYS
Post by: comPiler on May 20, 2012, 01:00:30 am

THURSDAYS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/05/thursdays.html)
19 May 2012, 8:22 pm

I don't feel like writing anything today, but I want to be here, I want to be in touch. So here are a few pics I took some time ago. Nothing special but important moments.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-4873395970029290636?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: LEARNING
Post by: Nibile on May 22, 2012, 06:51:45 am

Quote from: rich d on May 07, 2012, 09:51:42 am

Quote from: comPiler on April 01, 2012, 01:00:51 am
LEARNING (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/03/learning.html)
30 March 2012, 7:49 the pics, my new problem

Before, my life had been already ruined by Patrick Edlinger and his book "Grimper", which at the end featured a few charts trying to put together training feats and climbed grade. One of the tests was on a 1 cm edge. Patrick said that 28 pull ups on it, meant sport 8a on rock. The fact that he was climbing full time didn't occur to me, and I never rested until I did those damn 28 pull ups.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1619591443565838?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)
So go on post up the full list of grades vs training feats, I love that shit

Sorry Rich, saw your post just today.
Sadly can't find the book anymore, will try to get hold of a copy from a friend of mine. Pure gold from the 80's.

Title: BECAUSE I WANT
Post by: comPiler on May 26, 2012, 07:00:25 pm

BECAUSE I WANT (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/05/because-i-want.html)
26 May 2012, 11:49 am

In the images, a pretty small hold and a pretty big number.

When you read those numbers while driving to the boulders, many doubts surface, and you try to rationalize, to look for pros and cons.

You're going to try and climb a project, that you could not do in better conditions one week ago, when you also had the added benefit of a spotter to make you feel safer on a couple of tricky moves.

You also woke up at six in the morning, you drove one hour to school, you taught your classes for six straight hours, then you drove two hours to the boulders. At the end of the day the kilometers will add up to exactly 298.

Is it worth? No.

Wouldn't it be better to go home, have some rest, some tea and cookies and then put in a good board session? Yes.

So why going?

Obviously, because I want. Because it's the wrong thing to do, and because it's a mental task. Because I want to rejoice in a completely useless task.

And moreover, because I want to climb my project.

The French philosopher Blaise Pascal, used to say that one must not approach faith in a rational way. In his opinion, faith was not exactly a gift, it could be also a conquest: he said that in order to become faithful, one must act like a faithful person in every moment of life, and this behaviour "vous abetira", "will make you like beasts".

Pascal wasn't meaning the beastly ability to crush small holds to atoms, he meant that by the mindless repetition one can achieve something that by the reason he can not. It's like turning into robots.

I am neither a Christian nor a believer, but I have faith. I have faith in myself, for example, and in few others. But mainly in myself. And I want to act like a beast, without thinking and rationalizing: it's boiling, the project is hard, I'll drive three hours, I am on my own. Fuck all, I'm going.

If I get on the car, if I drive, if I get there and if I do my best, without thinking, it could also be that somehow I find myself on the final holds.

Sometimes things just happen. We have the responsibility of being there right when they happen.

This is a strange spring I'm living: full of highs and lows, full of emotions.

So my friends, keep the fucking faith, and find the fucking faith in behaving as beasts do.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-782043353909191023?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: a dense loner on May 26, 2012, 09:15:16 pm

Every day lore, every day

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on June 10, 2012, 04:07:47 pm

Quote from: Grubes on April 01, 2012, 08:20:24 am

did you manage to film Lores one armer?

https://vimeo.com/43765704
the best I could do today with 23°...

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: rodma on June 10, 2012, 05:34:30 pm

Fucking Awesome :punk: :clap2:

Title: HATERS GONNA HATE
Post by: comPiler on June 25, 2012, 07:00:06 pm

HATERS GONNA HATE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/06/haters-gonna-hate.html)
25 June 2012, 12:09 pm

Here is something I wrote to a friend of mine a few days ago. It's neither fun nor educated; it's very biased, it's quite violent and could sound offensive to many. I want to post it here because I believe in what I wrote, and because it's part of what I am.

I hate all the climbing that takes place outside of myself. I don't hate the people, I hate the scene (and a few people); I hate listening to the idiotic climbing lingo of the "I downgrade this route", "climbing is freedom", "this route is a gift from God" and the likes. I hate those who smoke joints and then complain they can't pull hard; I hate those who complain about being weak but don't want to train. I hate those who see a strong climber and marvel, saying "oh I wonder why he's so good?"; guess what? He fucking works hard! I hate the slash grades, I hate 8a.nu, the scandals, the gossip, the "morpho", the "nobody saw him"; I hate those who always talk about "the old school" and put themselves into it. I hate fully branded climbers under 8b. I hate those who think it's better to be good on every terrain than excellent on just one (would you choose a decathlon Olympic gold, or a 100 meters sprint one?). I hate all those who give less than 110% and then complain. I hate the hypocrisy of the false modesty "ohh, no, I'm not stronger than you. I am just more experienced!" I'd prefer to hear "ohh, no, don't try to think HOW stronger than you I am, because you just can't imagine it!" I hate undisciplined dogs let loose at the rocks, and I hate ultra-light quickdraws, and those who think they can make them jump from 7b to 8a.

I hate the "I can get you discounts there, tell them you know me". Yes, I'll tell them "I know him, and he's an asshole". Maybe this will get me a discount.

I hate rich, spoiled kids that pretend to be hard core because they sleep in the car before doing some ice climbing.

I hate those who ask for "last generation rubber" for resoles, pretending they can tell the difference: "ohh, the XSGrip is waaaay better than the XGrip, the XS sticks to everything, while the X always slides off".

I hate everything.

I am a monad.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-4245191133992805050?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Duma on June 25, 2012, 08:21:44 pm

I hate the use of 110%

;)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: andy_e on June 25, 2012, 09:30:10 pm

I'm behind Lore 110% on this one. That way, I can backtrack 10% and still be 100% behind him.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: JohnM on June 25, 2012, 11:19:32 pm

Quote

I hate rich

Yeah the lanky, ginger scouse get :tease:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Richie Crouch on June 26, 2012, 12:37:56 am

Charmed, Jon!

good rant lore :thumbsup:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on June 26, 2012, 06:24:52 am

Quote from: Duma on June 25, 2012, 08:21:44 pm

I hate the use of 110%

;)

Good point Duma. I don't hate it, but I don't love it either. It's a useful stereotype, but you made me think.
Thanks!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on June 26, 2012, 06:25:29 am

Quote from: JohnM on June 25, 2012, 11:19:32 pm

Quote
I hate rich

Yeah the lanky, ginger scouse get :tease:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Sasquatch on June 26, 2012, 07:43:37 am

I hate climbing somewhere where on the nicest day of the year there are only 6 climbers out in an area the size of Yosemite, but I love that there is no scene. ;)

Quote from: comPiler on June 25, 2012, 07:00:06 pm

HATERS GONNA HATE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/06/haters-gonna-hate.html)
25 June 2012, 12:09 pm

I hate the "I can get you discounts there, tell them you know me". Yes, I'll tell them "I know him, and he's an asshole". Maybe this will get me a discount.

I hate rich, spoiled kids that pretend to be hard core because they sleep in the car before doing some ice climbing.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-4245191133992805050?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

And these made me laugh! Because I know exactly what you mean.
Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on June 26, 2012, 07:50:54 am

anyway, don't get me wrong.
everyone is obviously free to give 1%, 5% or everything they've got. I just don't like when people ask for cheap gains. just "wanting" to be good without putting in any serious efforts.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: ShortRound on June 26, 2012, 08:25:38 am

Quote from: Duma on June 25, 2012, 08:21:44 pm

I hate the use of 110%

;)

Yep that's one of my major bug bears. Using a percentage greater than the absolute maximum to suggest that you're giving MORE than is mathematically possible is the same as saying "infinity plus 1" and opens the way for the x-factor style exageration of "giving it a million %".

Aside from that, strong rant lore.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on June 26, 2012, 10:44:11 am

;D
Eheheheh! I have a classic studies formation, latin, greek, Philosophy and the likes, and I'm perfectly comfortable with the idea of a part that's greater than the maximum, used out of context, obviously!
For a scientific mind I understand that it must really be annoying!!! Especially since it's so common.
Won't be using it again, was about to edit it, but finally left it there.
:sorry:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: andy_e on June 26, 2012, 11:05:03 am

I've a scientific mind and I don't mind 110%. It's a perfectly rational number as 110% of £1 is £1.10, that works for me. People who hate 110% are just pendants (sic).

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fultonius on June 26, 2012, 11:24:44 am

Quote from: andi_e on June 26, 2012, 11:05:03 am

I've a scientific mind and I don't mind 110%. It's a perfectly rational number as 110% of £1 is £1.10, that works for me. People who hate 110% are just pendants (sic).

I guess it depends if you reference maximum (100%) refers to your absolute maximum or your typical maximum.

I.e. if you normally can punt out 8B but one day, from somewhere, you manage to scrape your sorry ass up a 8B+ then, just the can you maybe claim to have put in 110% effort (or some other percentage >100%)

Whereas, if your 100% is an absolute reference, then it's physically not possible to put in 110% effort. End of. :smartass:

Personally, I think it sounds daft in the context of how much effort you put in. :tease:

For the record, I rarely put in more than about 70% effort. Don't really train. Don;t send much and am quite happy in my punterdom. I don't expect to be able to crush 8A though... :weakbench:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on June 26, 2012, 12:01:52 pm

Quote from: Fultonius on June 26, 2012, 11:24:44 am

and am quite happy

That's exactly the important thing. You don't complain or don't think that anyone stronger than you is stronger because of natural talent or luck.
I know many that think exactly this. I've heard people belittling other climbers' achievements by saying "but they trained for it", as if it were a crime or unfair.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: galpinos on June 26, 2012, 12:03:48 pm

Quote from: andi_e on June 26, 2012, 11:05:03 am

I've a scientific mind .....

I thought you were a Geologist?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: slackline on June 26, 2012, 12:12:40 pm

Quote from: galpinos on June 26, 2012, 12:03:48 pm

Quote from: andi_e on June 26, 2012, 11:05:03 am
I've a scientific mind .....
I thought you were a Geologist?

:lol:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: andy_e on June 26, 2012, 12:47:17 pm

Yeah, geology's nothing to do with science is it :-\

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: slackline on June 26, 2012, 01:09:05 pm

Quote from: andi_e on June 26, 2012, 12:47:17 pm

Yeah, geology's nothing to do with science is it :-\

Its a field of science, but I'd imagine the scope for experiments where the investigator controls certain factors and manipulates others is more limited than other areas of science.

Besides which a statistical mindset is of more use than a scientific one when dealing with numbers, and many scientists struggle with statistics. This isn't far from what I deal with regularly....

Biostatistics vs. Lab Research (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbODigCZqL8#)

The worst bit is "my grant is due tomorrow" :spank:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: galpinos on June 26, 2012, 01:15:36 pm

Quote from: andi_e on June 26, 2012, 12:47:17 pm

Yeah, geology's nothing to do with science is it :-\

I was teasing. Maybe I should have added a winking smiley. At least Slackers got it!

(I'm an engineer so I can't talk)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Stubbs on June 26, 2012, 02:20:50 pm

Quote from: andi_e on June 26, 2012, 11:05:03 am

I've a scientific mind and I don't mind 110%.

http://youtu.be/XuzpsO4ErOQ (http://youtu.be/XuzpsO4ErOQ)

Title: TOTOLORE
Post by: Oldmanmatt on June 26, 2012, 08:07:46 pm

Quote from: slack---line on June 26, 2012, 01:09:05 pm

The worst bit is "my grant is due tomorrow" :spank:

The best bit is...

"Please go away!"

Though as an Engineer, the only relevant question is...
"Does it work?"

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: fried on June 26, 2012, 08:41:54 pm

Just a minor point for your English studies, the use of '110%' has to be preceded by 'the fabled' or else. :whistle:

Title: STICKING AT IT!
Post by: comPiler on July 09, 2012, 07:00:15 pm

STICKING AT IT! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/07/sticking-at-it.html)
9 July 2012, 3:35 pm

Not much climbing done as of late, mainly due to boiling temps and to my left wrist which, despite getting better, is not healed.

I'm back to basics, as the video shows. A nice evening in the garage, here in the hood.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-5630628323332481141?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: STILL STICKING AT IT
Post by: comPiler on July 17, 2012, 07:00:06 pm

STILL STICKING AT IT (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/07/still-sticking-at-it.html)
17 July 2012, 12:20 pm

In the last two weeks I've done a good amount of training, mostly in terms of quality, rather than volume. I've gained a lot of psyche - the most precious thing - from testing myself. Despite not being satisfied with some of the results, especially the one armed 90° lock off, I think I am at a good point. These testing sessions have been very short and very very intense, but they surely spiced me up. With a small drop in the temperatures, finally below 35° for the first time in weeks, I managed to sack the system training and do some bouldering, which to my surprise felt quite good. Despite not doing anything hard, I found myself with good core and good feet: something that had been a real negative shocker in the last sessions of a few weeks ago. For sure filing down the edges of the footholds changed my board radically. As you know, following Unclesomebody's theory, that he revealed to me in Font a few years back, that "You cannot slip off 1 cm footholds", the only footholds available on my board are 1 cm; their surface is flat, square to the board, that is 53° overhanging, so they are quite nasty. Some time ago, I had a great session, I was bolted to the board, and my core felt amazing, as much as my feet. In awe for my progress and while dreaming about my first 8c+ boulder problem, I checked my shoes. The holds edges had dug into the rubber, creating a sort of hook in the sole, that obviously made them - and me - capable of sticking to the footholds as magic. It's not fair!!! I yelled, and proceeded to file down the gap in the sole to make them flat again. Then everything felt as hard as usual. I kept filing down the shoes at regular intervals, because the hook kept reappearing, when finally I decided to stop filing the rubber and file down the edges instead, making them a bit rounded... On my first session, I could not repeat even the first two problems that I climbed on the very fisrt day of my board. Shock horror. It's all good, I thought, but when success on anything kept eluding me, I thought I'd been too keen, and had transformed my board in a useless thing. I want it to be hard, but if you can't do a single move, it's not training anymore. Anyway, now I am a bit more confident, after having three pairs of shoes resoled. With good edges the fooholds are hard but enough to be used. So these last sessions brought some psyche back, and a renewed obsession for undercling moves, as the video below clearly shows: Puffing! (http://vimeo.com/45757258)

Then, yesterday. Yesterday I had a great session at the gym. While trying to take a power nap after getting back home from school, I starded thinking about the training for the day. I didn't feel like doing the tests, and climbing didn't appeal much also, with thin skin. As soon as the thought of deadlifting appeared, I jumped out of bed, took my supplements, packed and left. I got there super early and had the gym all for myself. I started my warm up, and then the lifting warm up. I had also brought my i-Pad to tape myself for the correct technique. While I started pushing things a bit more, suddenly the gym got packed. I mean, packed. People had to alternate at the machines. A guy started talking with me about lifting, asking me a lot of questions, and my replies "I don't know, it's only my third time" did not help him, but he was friendly so no problem. The problem was that he stood there, watching every single lift that I did. When I went for the last two sets, I started feeling very uncomfortable. Each time every single person in there, would stop and watch me, while I was in front of the bar, trying to get some concentration. It was really hard, because it made everything harder, and I didn't need it. On top of that, my sick ego wanted to pull out a strong show, and my mind felt that this was a potentially dangerous situation. The best thing of this all, is that I did it: I managed to block them out of my mind. I stopped thinking about what they'd think, I did my thing. I relaxed, I dried the bar and my hands, and I stepped to the bar. Feet under. Then I closed my eyes and did the pull in my mind, once, twice, feeling the grip on the bar, feeling the effort on my abs, back, arms. Then I checked my position in the left mirror, then head up and pulled. I was alone. There was only me in the gym. I still feel as if the music stopped and everyone left. The next thing that I remember is locking my gluteus muscles and seeing myself in the mirror in front of me with the bar up. I immediately dropped it and everything zoomed in again: the noise, the chatting, the glances, the music, my heartbeat, the pain in my muscles and the usual thought: "I am the greatest". I did it. I mean not the pull, that felt fantastic of course, but I got a full, complete concentration in a chaotic setting. This is truly a great gain that I am proud of.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2213233158936149407?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: PEDAL TO THE METAL
Post by: comPiler on August 03, 2012, 01:00:31 am

PEDAL TO THE METAL (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/08/pedal-to-metal.html)
2 August 2012, 5:26 pm

In the pics, one tiny little girl. But in the eyes?

Finally I see the end of this week approaching. It will bring another change in the working schedule, for better this time, with less hours, and this should make me more able to keep training in the current temps: 38° today at 17,30.

I came out of the last week pretty thrashed, the presence of Mr. Mills himself (and his beautiful girlfriend) on these shores made it very easy to train and keep the fucking faith, so I overdid it a little bit, with a final full day on the rocks that really ate me alive.

I decided to take one week off.

Bad idea.

I found out that as soon as I lift the accelerator, I sink. I work well when I am at full speed, traveling towards unknown destination but traveling. I have spent this week agonizing in my bed from 18 to dinner time, then a shower and goodnight. I know this is also due to the boiling temps with their consequences, but still I hate it. I hate to feel sleepy and weak.

Today I wanted to do something, but I got sucked in by the Olympics.

Of course, few things can get my attention as an Olympic gymnastic final, so I watched the girls.

Everything seems unreal. The kind of stuff they do defies every logic. I don't think that in any other sport lies such a great amount of technique and courage as in gymnastic.

They also make everything seem pretty easy, so that if they make a little mistake, the odd small step forward after coming out of a 3 meters high jump with twists and turns, you find yourself screaming with horror and disbelief "What a punter!".

But also, sometimes you just see them perform perfectly, and with a smile also: that's so easy. Plus, they all weigh 100 grams, no wonder they fly.

Well, during the next final, I really advise you to watch the dead moments of the comps with as much attention as the specific excercises. You'll see amazing things. You'll see these 16 year old girls, with their eyes lost in space, in search of a concentration that none of us will ever be capable of. If you look closely into those eyes, you'll see a life whose letters are spelt "T.R.A.I.N.". You'll see eyes of grown women, of professional athletes hidden behind those tiny bodies, and you'll tremble at the thought of the pressure they have to bear at their age. It would make any of us shit himself.

Those eyes tell everything. They are of course the eyes of young small girls that are at the very top of the world, and they know it. They know how hard they have worked for it: no cheap gains here. Talk about 0% inspiration and 100% perspiration.

Look at them while they rehearse before a routine, and try to get into their world: you won't, because that's a world made of perfection, in which the most impossible is thought and conceived, to be transferred into the real world a few minutes later; a world without gravity I believe, and of perfect movement in space.

I really get a fantastic feeling from these little girls, but then again if I think about those eyes, I cannot help but tremble at the thought that only one of them will be first. For all the other ones, there's nothing. Because if you play at those heights, you don't play to be second, you play to be first. AUT CAESAR AUT NIHIL, as my ancestors used to say. Second is last for them.

So, it's with those eyes still in my mind that I want to start again trying to take the best out of myself.

Finally, one last thought for the overall female gymnastic gold medalist Douglas's parents, that didn't want their daughter to keep doing sports, and that didn't want to let her go and live and train in another state: fuck off you bastards. Where's your god now? Watch that gold medal and weep in shame, assholes.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2305843484373103987?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: 63 KG
Post by: comPiler on August 05, 2012, 01:00:27 am

63 KG (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/08/63-kg.html)
4 August 2012, 9:01 pm

In the picture, approaching the full tank.

Today I definitely wanted to do something, being Saturday, after the hard week of rest, African temps and depression. So I started it out with a nice lie in. Then I went out to buy some books, then I practiced with my bass for a couple of hours. What else can you do to spend time before training?

Sadly with the Summer in full bloom, my options are not as I'd like: for a starter the gym is closed and I can't lift; then at the board it's always more than 30° and it's really hard to train well, everything feels nails without being nails. Plus, skin is an issue. I decided to do some weights at home, something that I don't particularly love, because I am a lazy bastard and I like to have all the barbells ready for my likes, instead of spending time mounting and dismounting them to adjust the weight for each excercise and set. Moreover, I can't do all the routines that I can do at the gym and this sucks.

A few weeks ago I had a great moment of psyche doing a few tests. I really enjoyed it and soon they became, as usual, a goal in themselves, with my mind completely centered on improving the hangs by a few seconds, each time.

One test I really cared about, but sadly I couldn't perform it properly. It's the maximum added weight you can hang for five seconds on a 1,5 cm flat edge. I had tried it at a friend's place, but the fingerboard is crappy, and mounted over a step, and I didn't feel like pushing it, so I got to 40 kg and called it quits. Today, with an entire evening at my will, I took the car, loaded the trunk with iron plates and drove around the building to the garage. There I started my journey into madness again.

It's been great. By putting together all the weights I have at home and the weightvest I managed to really get to the limit.

I did all ten seconds hangs up to 55 kg, then I did eight seconds with 60, then a final 5 seconds with 63, that incidentally are all the weights I have.

To be honest, this did not surprise me, because the day I tried the test, after not completing it, I was feeling very angry and I tried a few one arm hangs on the same edge, and I managed them; so it was quite clear to me that I could do much more than 40 kg, but still I had to do it to be satisfied.

I still don't know - and if someone does, please help me - how one arm hangs and two arm hangs relate. In my case things are quite coherent, I weigh 65 kg and managed to add 63. My right arm is a lot stronger than my left one, though, and this clearly shows in the one arm hangs.

It's been a good test.

It's very time consuming, though: I went on by 5 kg increases, so I did quite a few hangs with full rests in between; it's also quite hard on your body. I ended up attaching 50 kg at my waist with an old harness, and 13 more in a back pack. Just walking 20 cm under the hold was painful.

So, I don't think I'll be doing it again anytime soon, but it's been a good test.

I haven't trained with heavy added weights in years. I used to, when I only had a fingerboard and a campusboard - oh, another question: why did I wait ten years before mounting a board in my house? - and I did it for quite a long time. I managed to add 47,5 kg for one pull up on a 0,9 cm edge.

Now I'm stronger, and I haven't attached more than 10 kg to my body when fingerboarding, in the last six or seven years, maybe more. The Beastmaker paid out, for sure. Isolating fingers clearly worked and this is all that matters.

Just after a few hours, I feel my body pretty tired. All the weight it took surely takes its toll.

In a moment of great personal turmoil, this stupid test - to which I already knew the answer, also! - provided a small oasis of calm and self confidence.

It's a window on the future and also the confirmation of good work in the past.

Now all I have to do is keeping the fucking faith.

Finally, I want to thank Tom and Hayley for their visit: another oasis in the storm; and Eva Lopez (http://eva-lopez.blogspot.it/) for giving me the inspiration and the answers.

And here. We. Go.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-7903126462096366554?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: RISE OF THE MACHINES
Post by: comPiler on August 10, 2012, 07:00:09 pm

RISE OF THE MACHINES (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/08/rise-of-machines.html)
10 August 2012, 2:08 pm

As you surely have experienced, sometimes to be able to post a comment on a website, you encounter the window that's in the above picture, asking you to "prove that you're not a robot".

This request really makes me cringe each time, because in almost every moment of my life, but in my climbing especially, all I care about and all I want to prove is the exact opposite.

I want to prove that I AM A ROBOT.

What does a robot do? It acts.

What do I do? I act.

If I paused and reflected over the reality of my climbing, it'd be it: I would call it quits on the very second. And I don't want to do it, because I like climbing.

If, before a session, I try and figure out when I will finally be able to go and try my projects, I'll never do that session, because it will seem pointless in current circumstances.

I am a robot. I stick at it because it's the only right thing to do, regardless. If I'll ever get a chance to get some climbing, I want to get there at my best. When will it be? I don't know, so I take it could even be tomorrow, you never know.

Some say "don't train if you're tired"; "don't train if you're injured"; "don't train if you're stressed". Fuck me, I am 40 years old, I have two jobs and a girlfriend that gives me hell: I am always tired, stressed and angry.

The key to me is to simply NEVER NEVER QUIT. If I skip a session because I'm very tired, I feel even worse, and I curse myself even more, not only for being so fucking shit, but also for being a soft, lazy bastard with a weak mind.

I want to be a robot and I train BECAUSE I AM TIRED. There's always something you can do: it won't put your body up to full power, but for sure it will put your mind up to its full power.

If our mind doesn't pull us out from the couch, what will? Nothing. The mind comes first and last, and in the middle there's the body. And it must obey.

So the robot mind tells me "go train, because no matter what, someday you'll get your chance and then you'd better do your best".

What else could one do? I rectify: what else could an obsessive, fanatic, ego-driven one do? Nothing else. What will push me towards my much deserved prize if not my will? And in climbing, could I really get a prize that I don't deserve? No. Could I climb a project without deserving it? No. So, to deserve something is the first step to get it, to me. This doesn't mean that you'll end up getting it, but for sure you won't get it if you don't deserve it. Why? Because no one else can give that prize to you.

It's a win-win situation.

You can either think "it's not worth the effort", or "it's worth the effort". The key to me is to not even think. To just go there and do my thing, whatever it could be: fingerboarding, bouldering, lifting, what the fucking ever. Because by doing so, I am 100% sure that I am moving towards what I want, and this is the only thing that matters.

In my opinion, there's only one way to get something done without deserving it, and that is UNDERPERFORMING.

I have already blogged about Blaise Pascal's "vous abetira": this is exactly the same thing, only with other words.

I don't know if this is wrong or right, I only know that it must be right because it feels wrong. It must be right, because it feels hard.

I mean, it's just fucking bouldering, goddammit. We're not saving lives. But why can't we treat climbing as if it were saving lives? Why can't someone put the same dedication in saving lives and in climbing? I think he can. There is never a reason, to me, to not give 100%, whatever the task. We can chose not to, but we must know that the outcome wno't be 100%. It could resemble 100%, but it won't be. It could feel 100%, but it won't be.

There's a kind of success that happens in the real world, and a kind that happens inside us. The first one can be related to others, but only the second one completely belongs to ourselves. Only we know whether the public success is deserved or not: if we think that it's not, it's not a success anymore. It's something that happened to us, and that could be given to, or taken away from, us. We are out of the game in this case.

But nothing of what we have, because we deserved it, can be taken away from us: because no one can touch it. No one can even see it.

Maybe I write all this shit because I basically live in a one-man climbing scene. But really, even if someone came at my house everyday and watched me train, could he really understand how I feel? How tired I am? Or how happy and super fit? No.

The only thing to do, to me, is to make it all happen inside me.

I could go on forever on this matter, and I don't want to.

Thanks for getting to the end, but finally, tell me: are you a robot? Prove that you're a robot.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-1703582488804126854?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: shark on August 10, 2012, 10:20:51 pm

Great posts :bow:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: erm, sam on August 10, 2012, 10:46:27 pm

I trained tonight, and now I'm drinking beer and eating chocolate digestives. Does that count?

Title: WELCOME TO BITTERLAND
Post by: comPiler on August 17, 2012, 07:00:12 pm

WELCOME TO BITTERLAND (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/08/welcome-to-bitterland.html)
17 August 2012, 1:11 pm

I wrote down this entry a few weeks ago, after reading a particular blog that I won't name. I wrote it in a rush of anger, disgust and envy. When finally the writing was on the wall, I decided not to publish it. Today, though, I read something that made me change my mind. So here it goes, as bitter as I made it.

A few days ago, when the alarm went off, I immediately felt something different: a sudden drop in the temps had made me look for a light blanket during the night and outside the wind was blowing loudly.My first thought was to remain in bed for another 40 minutes, then to have a perfect breakfast and pack my stuff to go and crush some rock for the first time in weeks.Unfortunately, being a Monday, I got on my bike and proceeded towards a normal day of work.Like millions of people.Unlike millions of people, there are some that can transform my morning thought into reality. Some of these happen to have a blog, and sometimes I read some of these blogs.A few of them are truly inspiring, yet barely known to the multitude of climbers that proudly adorn 8a.nu: shame for those who don't know them.Others are simple chronicles, and others are just numbers. And that's fine.But when I read about a pro complaining about the lack of decent sponsorships; or about having to leave soon for a foreign destination and having no time for current home projects; or about three consecutive days of rain on a two months roadtrip; or about grades inflation; or about the difficulties of having a normal life because of constant travels; or about having bad skin; in all these occasions I'd like to get an axe and destroy everything around me.In a moment in which there is hardly any job opportunity, people struggle to buy food, or to pay university taxes, the lack of sponsorships or good climbing conditions seems marginal.Cry me a fucking river.

How can I be so presumptuous to say so? Because they are the crushers, not I. They are the role models, not I. They have to inspire me, that's what their talent is for. I am a bitter bastard, I have and I have never had talent, so I want them to show me that they deserve their talent, and that they put it to the best use: this for me, means being able to share something that's not just numbers or chronicles. I could name climbers that leave me in awe and full of admiration when I hear them speaking or when I read them, but I won't. This is nothing personal, and I have nothing against anyone. What I know, is that from their blogs, and videos, some of the strong ones seem to have the same human depht of an aluminium foil.

In the modern era, really you can speak your mind without saying a word: make a nice video; take nice pics. An image can move a mountain. When I read something that's been written only to fill the page, that's boring or whiny, from a pro, I become a raging beast.

The bottom line is: for fuck's sake, if you have to, run your blog with the same dedication that you put into your climbing and please, start every entry with this line: "Oh my - insert preferred divinity here - thank you so much for the talent you gave me, and for letting me live a dream life made of rock and crushing big numbers".

Finally, and I'm curious about this, I don't know if I'll ever publish this entry. For sure was good to try and search for these words in my fucking mind.

A trip into madness. (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3062756365456731280?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Dr T on August 17, 2012, 07:09:21 pm

:clap2:
:thumbsup:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Sasquatch on August 17, 2012, 07:41:49 pm

I'm glad you posted it, and put so many of the same thoughts I have down on Paper(or pixels as the case may be).

Keep it up. Call 'em out on their BS

Title: TOTOLORE
Post by: Oldmanmatt on August 17, 2012, 09:20:53 pm

I hear you Lore...

Title: TOTOLORE
Post by: Stu Littlefair on August 18, 2012, 12:52:21 am

That post made me laugh. We've all been there...

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 18, 2012, 06:46:55 pm

Since someone asked, I want to make it clear that my blog entry and the comment I left on Alex Barrow's blog, are completely non related.
For sure his blog isn't one of those who I'm talking about.
Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Title: LESS IS MORE, MORE IS MORE
Post by: comPiler on August 24, 2012, 07:00:06 pm

LESS IS MORE, MORE IS MORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/08/less-is-more-more-is-more.html)
22 August 2012, 4:53 pm

It took me almost twenty years to get it, but yes, it looks like I made it.

Being 40, I am certain that I am at the peak of both my physical and mental form.

I have never been so strong in my life: I can do more one armers, I can hang worse holds, or with more added weight, than never before. Also, my core tension is at its best.

I can concentrate so well, I can block out of my mind all that surrounds me and put all my body and mind just to climb something.

Shame I'm getting bald.

Less is more. For years and years I've tried to pack in as much training as I could in every session, both in terms of intensity AND volume. Whoever knows the simplest basics of training can tell that mine was a wrong approach. This happened because I had too much time and I could dedicate hours to training every day. While younger, and without a climbing wall, it was hundreds of pull ups on 1 cm edges or less, and tons of weights in the gym, that propelled me up to weighing 10 kilos more than now. It took a lot to ditch this for a more specific training, made of... campusboarding. When finally I moved to another town and had a wall, 4 hours daily sessions were the norm. The problem is that this kind of training pays, but not as much as it should. You sow 10 and reap 5. When I found myself with more work, more commitments and less time, the situation became tricky. I had to start compressing my sessions. And here. We. Go. I really started progressing. When I cut by half my fingerboard routines, my finger strength went through the roof. When I stopped doing 14 excercises in the gym and stuck to 6 or 7, barbells and dumbbells really started to get heavy. The same happened at the board: serious pulling for one hour and half is more than enough to push your power and deliver some serious testosterone to your family jewels. Less is more. Shorter, very specific sessions, allow you to train more often, while being fresh each time because each session can be different, being more specific. In the past, I could get to some point at which I would need four days off to recover from two sessions, and then I'd plummet. Now I train 22 or 25 days a month, sometimes with double sessions, and often I have to impose myself a rest day even though I'd like to train.

More is more. More power is more power. No matter how you get it, more power is more power. Beware, I'm talking power, not muscle. There's a big difference. Especially for bouldering, power is a must: not everyone has Paul Robinson's fingers... So we have to cope, with a bonus: put me and P-Rob on a beach, and look who gets the senoritas. This is very personal. I am sure that if I wanted, I could drop a lot of kilos by losing muscle mass, gaining a new level or RELATIVE finger strength. I don't want to, though, not only because it's not healthy, but also because I want to look at myself and at least HAVE AN IDEA OF POWER, not an idea of P.O.W. Moreover, I want to be able to give my girl a strong hug in the love. So, power. I found particularly important, as of late, to have a full body power. Not just the ability to pull down, but the ability to pull down without cutting loose, for example, or to cheat a move by squeezing the rock, and so on. This kind of training gives big gains to any other training that you do, it maximize its effects. Sadly I live in a place in which gyms close for the whole August month, so real heavy lifts are out of question, but surfing the net I found some good ideas, like the two excercises that are shown in the video below.

Alternative Power (http://vimeo.com/48139818) from lorenzo frusteri (http://vimeo.com/user4458134) on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com).

Just a few sets of those lifts and pulls, gave me a proper bashing: legs, hamstrings, gluteos, lower back, upper back, shoulders and abs. The following days all muscles ached. Only my triceps and biceps were quite fresh, but that issue was easily soveld with ten sets of pushing and curling. As usual, nihil sub sole novum, Big Malc could dead lift 200 kg and clean 100 twenty years ago... I really like this transversal approach to power training. The normal approach is far too specific for the many issues of climbing, and given that one excercise trains only itself, being able to pull vertically on a bar or fingerboard, doesn't transfer perfectly onto the rock. So, the more power we have in many different ways, the better. Moreover, having all these different possibilities broadens the training opportunities.

Less is more. For years I have followed many different training plans, some bad ones, some crazy ones and some very good ones. I am still very proud that I managed to boulder 8a by training with only a fingerboard and a campus board. In all these years I progressively learnt to understand my body and be ready to change. Now I go with my feelings, and although I am not quite able to peak in a specific moment (a roadtrip for example), my average form is at its highest, and if I push it for three weeks I know that after one or two days off I can crush (relatively to my level, obviously). Being free from plans makes for less stress, more fun and again better training.

For the moment, as I've written before, I keep training and training with no specific deadline, because it's the only thing to do.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2786507176566115774?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: THE ULTIMATE GRADE CHASER
Post by: comPiler on September 20, 2012, 07:00:09 pm

THE ULTIMATE GRADE CHASER (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-ultimate-grade-chaser.html)
20 September 2012, 5:37 pm

I am the ultimate grade chaser, and the grade that I chase is "+1".

As I've said before, climbing problems is really important, but it's not all that matters: doing moves that I could not do before, matters. It's rare to find a problem on which you can't do any of the moves, mostly because of the lack of new rock in the surroundings of where I live. There are new projects, of course, but each one is plagued by some minor or major issue that make them unappealing or unfeasible for me, especially bad landings. On one of these boulders I already smashed an ankle two years ago and I can't see myself getting on it very soon or very easily.

Anyway, The paradise in which every performed move is a new PB, is my board. Man, that's better than Prozac and cocaine together. There are no bad landings there, and nothing is morpho. I can pull or I can't.

Which leads to the next topic.

Despite a current wave of thought, all kindness and good will, that considers it a bad thing, I live on ego.

But it's my ego. It's not my ego versus someone else's one. It's just me, because in the climbing world that I know, there's only me. So, my ego satisfies myself without the need of confrontations with others, mainly because to me other climbers do not exist. If they do, I don't care what they do. This solves a lot of problems.

On my board, there are sequences, and you are supposed to do what's written on the notebook. If it says "match", you must match. If it says "LH cross" you must cross with your left hand, and you can only use the footholds that are allowed.

The key is not getting to the top, the key is screaming on every move. And I do.

I want it to be as hard as it can be, while not being impossible.

On rock, this attitude is not possible, unless you find yourself at Raven Tor, Minus Ten or the likes (and if you do, you have all my respect and a gentle kind of livid envy, because they are places in which history was made), and of course you can't complain if a new sequence is discovered, you can't call it cheating and it's all legit. But even so, I'll never switch to a new sequence if I planned to use another that feels harder.

I really can't see the point of trying to discover a new sequence: is it just to find yourself on top? If so, the easiest way is to walk on top of the boulder from the descent. I'm sure you get what I mean.

Last May, I repeated a problem with a sequence that allowed me to start one hold lower, but this also skipped a long first move off a nasty two finger jam in a crack. I don't know whether this sequence is harder or easier - for sure it's not morpho and everyone can do it -, fact is that the original move that I couldn't do remained in my mind.

That's why, applying my philosophy, I found myself under that piece of rock last Sunday. I did the move second go, cut loose - something I generally don't like, but on that occasion it felt so good - put my right foot back on, dropped into the undercling and stepped off.

I had done the move and that is all that matters, more than the problem. Will I go back to repeat it with this move? Probably, but with another completely different attitude and mindset.

On the day I did the problem, I had also tried another sequence of which I could not do the moves in isolation. Sunday I crushed this as well, just to be sure.

So, what's harder? Dynoing from a slot or getting an undercling above your head and locking it off? To me, now, it doesn't matter anymore. It mattered before because I only had done one sequence, but now, that I have done them all, it doesn't matter anymore. Which grade did I climb on Sunday? I climbed "+1". And that's why I pulled out my flask and sipped some Jura - thanks Paul.

I think that I am quite presumptuous, I've always been. But my ego was weak, and I was constantly thinking about others: what they were climbing, how much, where, how often, and sometimes I've been green with envy, feeling bitter and defrauded of something that I felt I had the right to have. It's a bad way of feeling. It's horrible.

Now, luckily, I am blessed by an enormous ego. So big that in my mind there's no room for anyone else.

And this is great.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-158452955125792869?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: COMFORTABLE IN THE POWER
Post by: comPiler on September 27, 2012, 01:02:09 am

COMFORTABLE IN THE POWER (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/09/comfortable-in-power.html)
26 September 2012, 7:09 pm

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ly9t2GyOf58/UGNNaoI_0YI/AAAAAAAAAiM/pWyNicmZNvE/s320/standing+tube.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ly9t2GyOf58/UGNNaoI_0YI/AAAAAAAAAiM/pWyNicmZNvE/s1600/standing+tube.jpg)

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1t6ukQ2IC08/UGNNc4QFgNI/AAAAAAAAAiU/LwaknW7D-R8/s320/slater+standing+tube.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1t6ukQ2IC08/UGNNc4QFgNI/AAAAAAAAAiU/LwaknW7D-R8/s1600/slater+standing+tube.jpg)In the pictures, the meaning of the title. I definitely feel something happening, as of late. It's that strange feeling that you get when you know that you're lacking something, but you can't exactly identify what.

This often happens in the morning, when I get out and I feel the fresh air, and I wonder how the conditions could be at the boulders.

But it's not that I simple want to go climbing, because this isn't completely true. I do, of course, but it's a bit complicated.

I don't need very much to get psyched, in fact I need very little. It can be a gorgeous line or simply repeating an old problem with an eliminate sequence, but in this moment I find it hard to get on the car and drive to the rocks.

I often found myself, in the last weeks, browsing my pictures folders on my laptop. There is a lot of rock in those pictures, but mostly there are lots of good friends. Some of them, I consider brothers.

I remember some of those trips, some of those days, as some of the best days of my life, not because I climbed something hard for me, but for the feeling of fulfillment.

The feeling that tells you that you don't need anything more, or different.

I really miss the company of my good friends, both for my real life and for my climbing life. Those friends who call you to go out for a beer and save your evening, or those who push you under the board when you don't feel like putting in yet another session.

In Céline's "Voyage", Molly tells to Bardamu that the lonesome traveller is the one that gets further. I feel that this is true for me, especially for my climbing. I am positive that, had my best friends been around, still climbing with me, I wouldn't have gotten as strong as I'm now.

The obsessive compulsive behaviour doesn'l like the good company of friends; the obsession doesn't want to have fun. The obsession wants to be fed with your obsessive behaviour.

Unfortunately, a few hours spent under wooden edges isn't all one's life.

One must be also happy, sometimes.

Maybe, lately, I lack this feeling of happiness, of "here's your prize". For sure I climbed what I wanted to. And it's not a coincidence that I write these thoughts right now: I can tell how good I did by how depressed I get after doing it.

I'm not exactly depressed right now, but I'm empty, and despite a strong desire, I can see it when I train. It's hard to put together body and mind. One day one is there and the other one isn't, and vice versa.

There are many many changes going on around me at the moment, and I feel the urge to change something myself.

I need to feel that everything can change if I want, that there still can be some improvisation in life. Maybe I just need a vacation.

Yesterday I found myself thinking about going climbing, and that's a thing I normally don't do, I just pack and go. The air was warm and humid, and I could not picture myself, in my mind, packing and driving. So I stayed home, I crushed the strings of my bass, I put in a great Beastmaker session, and most of all I spent a few hours sending around CV's and job requests. I did not speak to anyone for the entire day.

I can't change my climbing if first I don't change my life. We will see.

I've been here in the past, in this situation, but with a great difference. Now I know what I can do to be happier and more fulfilled, and although this could seem a paradox, the key to open the box is my job.

It's a powerful tool, because no matter what, I love it. With this tool I can do new things, I can use it to try and build me a new story. And if I don't succeed... Well for the present it doesn't matter.

This post could sound a bit enigmatic, it is for sure to a certain degree, but if we remember not to judge a book by the cover, everything can be clearer. Sometimes, what we see is just a fake. It's hard to run a life that is 100% true, to others and mostly to ourselves. It's like poker: you bluff and others fold.

But comes a moment for the showdown as well, because when I bluff, I bluff to myself. And I'm tired of it.So the aim now is: be comfortable in the power; keep the head up in front of chaos and don't fear changes. I feel different. (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-3984869801789278547?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: COMFORTABLE IN THE POWER
Post by: andy_e on September 27, 2012, 10:53:55 am

Quote from: comPiler on September 27, 2012, 01:02:09 am

in this moment I find it hard to get on the car and drive to the rocks.

You should try getting in it then, works much better.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on September 27, 2012, 11:45:46 am

;D
Will try!!!

Title: Re: COMFORTABLE IN THE POWER
Post by: Sasquatch on September 27, 2012, 04:34:29 pm

Quote from: comPiler on September 27, 2012, 01:02:09 am

I can tell how good I did by how depressed I get after doing it.

I'm not exactly depressed right now, but I'm empty,

This.....

I know this feeling too well.

I've found lately that I only truly feel th joy of success if I can mange to push myself to a new level without sacrificing the balance of family, friends, work, and climbing. If any one of these swings out of balance the success is bitter, and too often to push through to a new level you have to let the pendulum swing too far.

BTW - I also find it difficult to get to the rocks "on " the car, "In" is much much easier.... ;D

Title: CIAO, GRAZIE
Post by: comPiler on October 01, 2012, 01:00:06 am

CIAO, GRAZIE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/09/in-pictures-just-another-project.html)
30 September 2012, 7:56 pm

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fF2jGlGPe9A/UGhlcaNXfzI/AAAAAAAAAik/2eKx58aVIwc/s320/underclings1.JPG) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fF2jGlGPe9A/UGhlcaNXfzI/AAAAAAAAAik/2eKx58aVIwc/s1600/underclings1.JPG)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Mlkq89fajK0/UGhlguZ--iI/AAAAAAAAAis/tN8isx-N2GA/s320/underclings2.JPG) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Mlkq89fajK0/UGhlguZ--iI/AAAAAAAAAis/tN8isx-N2GA/s1600/underclings2.JPG)In the pictures, just another project.

Typing with my hands still white from chalk and a big smile on my face, today I found an answer. In the last days I was asking myself whether I am still a climber or just a trainer who loves climbing. I struggled a lot to find the answer. I came to the conclusion that I am a trainer, because, despite climbing almost every day, pulling plastic is not my idea of climbing. My idea of climbing is climbing on rock, but also some kind of rock climbing doesn't fit in that idea. I like to think about climbing as new areas, new problems, and not as having to drive hours to test myself on yet another variation or on a classic problem with a weightbelt on. So yes, I came to the conclusion that I am a trainer, because I approach my training as a medium, but the medium has, over time, replaced the aim, almost becoming the aim. Not that this answer changed anything in my mind, it's been more a realization than a surprise. It doesn't make me sad or pissed, it's just the way things are at the moment. If you haven't watched the film or read the book, I highly recommend you to watch or read "The Tartar Steppe": it talks about me. It talks about preparing oneself for something that never comes. I prepare myself for amazing climbs in amazing locations on amazing travels that for some reasons, never come. Or very rarely come, and never as I want. Time. Time is the most precious thing that I have. Everything takes time, and most of all, perfection takes time. I don't have this time at the moment, therefore I don't have perfection. But I still fight for perfection. Anyway, today was special. All alone at home, I had the privilege of taking my time. I slept a lot, I played my bass, I ate properly and while it was starting to lash down with rain, I begun my warm up. Still a bit stiff from the lifting and pressing session of last Friday (more on that soon), I gently pushed it until I felt quite good. I decided to try a long standing project, and on my second go I had my best redpoint go so far, doing the frist four moves and getting to the... crux. The following moves are still beyond my redpoint level, they still feel hard in isolation, but today I did the first four moves in a row for the second time since Spring. Sadly, just after a couple more tries, my skin started to give in, so I changed problem. Again, I had an excellent go, my core was feeling strong and I was confident about success, but unfortunately my skin was sweaty and my forearms pumped, so I fell. On this project, I've done better only once, doing the last crux move and falling on the following one, that is much easier but still not a path. I was feeling tired, so I took some time to rest, thinking about how I could go on a little bit more. Of course I had to switch to problems with positive holds on which skin wouldn't make a lot of difference, and I decided to try one that I set some weeks ago, with a crux move that I had only done once, in isolation. It felt it like an inspiration. From the first move I felt strong, and with each following move I could notice my body moving differently, shifting its weight in another way than on previous attempts, and I found myself at the start of the crux: I got the undercling that I always feared and set my feet, then went to the small pinch; I was still there, on. Going on without thinking I stuck the crux move for the first time from the start, and despite not hitting it perfectly, I dug deep, setting my feet for the last tricky move. At that point, abruptly, reality set back again and I realized that I was there, pulling hard, with my right hand slightly slipping off, and for a brief moment I tought that I had nothing left. That moment lasted just an instant and it disappeared with its thought: I got the next hold, then the following one, then the following one, then the top. I jumped down and swore. No wet eyes this time. Noone at home but me. Just me and my success. All for myself. This problem felt very special. I really pulled it out from nowhere. And I felt strong on it, too. When I set it, I gave it a particular name: "Ciao, grazie". After trying it for a while and realizing it was hard, I started feeling a bit sad, because I did not want such a problem to remain a project. Climbing it was to be some sort of tribute to the person which it is dedicated to. So today I completed it, and completed the plan, and the tribute. It's not newsworthy, it's not a new 8c in Font. But it's my problem, my project and my personal tribute. With this, I also reminded myself that I love this shit. The happiness is there, and maybe it's a hard and rare find because I like to push myself to my absolute limits. Setting easier problems wouldn't warrant the same emotions. There's so much more than this, that I just can't fully express at the moment. With this renewed feeling of happiness, success and fullfillment, I also forgot about the initial question. I don't care what I am. I don't care whether I am a trainer or a climber. And I understand why it's been so difficult to find an answer to that question: because it's a stupid question, and stupid questions never have right answers. Thanks for sharing.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-859798127332587849?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SPEAKING THE TRUTH
Post by: comPiler on October 11, 2012, 07:00:20 pm

SPEAKING THE TRUTH (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/10/speaking-truth_11.html)
11 October 2012, 3:18 pm

I learn a lot from other blogs. I learn how others live their lives, how hard they climb, how close they are to the mental asylum. I also learn what I don't like to read, and I take this as a reminder of what I don't want to write. I've been reading a blog recently, in which the Author speaks about very personal issues, without saying anything clear about them. So basically I read a sequence of words, that I logically understand, but whose true meaning escapes me. This is perfectly fine, this kind of self dialogue put into words, no one has to say anything more than what they want to say. And I have no right of asking to know more. Despite this, reading about things that I could not understand made me feel uncomfortable and also a bit pissed, because I could not empathize at all with the Author, because he (or she) was basically cutting me off from the beginning. If I don't empathize, I can't learn: everything works as in the ancient Greek tragedies, as I've said before. I think I made this mistake in a few entries in the past, referring to facts that I did not clarify. So, this post is to make things clear for everyone. Even for myself.

Two of the most important moments of my life are still very close: the first one, in chronological order, is the death of my uncle Massimo, my father's brother, the 18th of May, after a five years long fight against cancer. He taught me a lot, humanly, in a very special and personal way, and he showed an incredible strength during his illness, always smiling, never scared. He was a tiny little man, fifty kilos of nerves, but as it showed he was made of steel. I miss him a lot. The second one is the end of my relationship with Valentina, after two very hard years. Things change, people change, and sometimes life gets in the way of feelings. Some other times feelings just end, that's natural if you starve them. She got a new house and moved out in the weekend. Things are relaxed between the two of us, so hopefully it'll be for the best. I have been in two solid relationships, living together, for the last 13 years. A long time. Yesterday night I was at home alone, it had happened before, but now there were empty drawers, missing pictures, no dog. And I thought "Wow! What's this?" Of course I lived these moments in my climbing as well. I had been climbing the day my uncle went to the hospital; I had been climbing one week later, the day he died; and I went climbing on the same day the following week. This is what lies behind my post "Thursdays (http://www.totolore.blogspot.it/2012/05/thursdays.html)". Three Thursdays, three days, one life. I lived my relationship's crisis through climbing as well. "Anger is an energy" sang John Lydon with PiL. It's true. For quite a long time I fueled my obsession with the frustration of a collapsing relationship, with anger, with regrets. It worked, for the climbing. Now I am left without this fuel, I have no dirty energy to convert into somethig green and I wonder if I'll make it. I wonder if I'll find some kind of pure pleasure to propel me. Not something that I want to get rid of, that I need to purify. Something that's already pure. You can read this story behind many posts, but especially this (http://www.totolore.blogspot.it/2012/09/in-pictures-just-another-project.html) and this (http://www.totolore.blogspot.it/2012/09/comfortable-in-power.html). So, here you are. This is it. This is me. I hope this post will help you understand more things that I've written in the past, for sure it helped me. (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-2623131479038422982?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: GLOBETROTTERS
Post by: comPiler on October 27, 2012, 07:00:10 pm

GLOBETROTTERS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/10/globetrotters.html)
27 October 2012, 12:51 pm

For once I won't say - almost - anything, and I will let someone else speak for me. I only want to thank Caroline and James for their fantastic surprise, for their usual joy, kindness and crushing. Bon voyage! What follows is taken from Caroline's website (http://www.carolineciavaldini.com/new.html).Thanks again.

Amiata, du bloc pour changer, sud de Sienna

Pour une fois, je laisse la parole a James, je me contenterai de traduire...

"La dernière fois que j'ai vu Lorenzo,c' était en 2010, à un petit site de bloc au centre des Dolomites. Il avait conduit 5 heures depuis Sienne pour essayer 1 de ses projets, qui au cours du week-end continuerait a malheureusement lui échapper, mais au moins il avait pu essayer ... Deux week-ends auparavant, il avait fait le même trajet, pour s'ouvrir un pouce sur son premier essai, et rentrer à la maison! Cela devrait vous donner une petite idée de la motivation dont Lorenzo est capable!

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cqDudp3Itwg/UIvRg4dDmXI/AAAAAAAAAi8/FAd3xtApAVQ/s320/CameraZOOM-20121021130704251.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cqDudp3Itwg/UIvRg4dDmXI/AAAAAAAAAi8/FAd3xtApAVQ/s1600/CameraZOOM-20121021130704251.jpg)

Lorenzo a l'echauff, comme dab…

Nous avons rejoint Lorenzo près du sommet du Monte Amiata, au moment où il revenait à sa voiture après une longue journée dans les rochers.Toujours motivé, il a abandonné ses pads et nous a traînées en haut de la colline pour une tournée de tous les blocs, et bien qu'il en soit a son 3e jour de suite, Lorenzo a insisté à pour se joindre à nous le lendemain matin pour une visite personnelle d'un autre domaine.

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YaAc055yWlM/UIvR0zxR4DI/AAAAAAAAAjE/TapheI3cI0E/s320/CameraZOOM-20121021103705550.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YaAc055yWlM/UIvR0zxR4DI/AAAAAAAAAjE/TapheI3cI0E/s1600/CameraZOOM-20121021103705550.jpg)

Castel del Piano

Monte Amiata est un endroit incroyablement paisible. Les blocs sont parsemés dans une forêt de châtaigniers ombragée, et les seules personnes de passage habitants occasionnels à la recherche de champignons et de noix. En raison de son altitude, les conditions sont bien meilleuresque dans la ville voisine de Castel del Piano - quelque chose que vous apprécierez au moment de mettre de grandes claques sur les plats a gros grains.

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KcHS_0ywtko/UIvSCwfhTHI/AAAAAAAAAjM/9TdklfQUJtQ/s320/CameraZOOM-20121021131847711.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KcHS_0ywtko/UIvSCwfhTHI/AAAAAAAAAjM/9TdklfQUJtQ/s1600/CameraZOOM-20121021131847711.jpg)

la foret

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ecuNjpHlN3s/UIvVFdTI8PI/AAAAAAAAAjc/7GCw4HeVVNw/s320/CameraZOOM-20121021144234622.jpg) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ecuNjpHlN3s/UIvVFdTI8PI/AAAAAAAAAjc/7GCw4HeVVNw/s1600/CameraZOOM-20121021144234622.jpg)

Cette arête de compression est un des plus beaux blocs que j'ai jamais fait!

Tout au long de la journée Lorenzo nous a montré ses problèmes classiques, dont l'un tient son rang parmi les meilleurs rochers que j'ai jamais fait. Nous avons également pu essayer quelques-uns de ses projets et même réussir à ajouter la première ascension d'un Fb7B+ : «Un Italien Très anglais».

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PJCTr7ps1Cg/UIvVaTOvOiI/AAAAAAAAAjk/s9Cv5IXdD34/s320/CameraZOOM-20121021135959996.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PJCTr7ps1Cg/UIvVaTOvOiI/AAAAAAAAAjk/s9Cv5IXdD34/s1600/CameraZOOM-20121021135959996.jpg)

A Very English Italian! Fb7B+

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CJkpDGobWEw/UIvV2gSfngI/AAAAAAAAAjs/P9IVVLHVZy4/s320/CameraZOOM-20121021155040574.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CJkpDGobWEw/UIvV2gSfngI/AAAAAAAAAjs/P9IVVLHVZy4/s1600/CameraZOOM-20121021155040574.jpg)

Un autre problème classe, quelque part autour de Fb8A

Notre peau partait en lambeaux en fin de journee, et même Lorenzo (4e jour maintenant) a admis que, demain devrait probablement être un jour de repos. Toutefois, avant de dire au revoir et de commencer son trajet de retour à Sienne, Lorenzo a insisté pour nous montrer une autre surprise locale ...

Pizza Cèpes et truffes! Oui, c'est aussi bon que ça sonne!

(http://jpclimbing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/truffle-porcini.jpg) (http://jpclimbing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/truffle-porcini.jpg)

Alors ... Pour résumer Monte Amiata! Un grand espace, avec des blocs cool d'essayer, répartis entre plusieurs zones plus petites, dispersées autour de la montagne. Très calme, très calme, et très beau. La cuisine est fantastique, et plutôt pas cher!

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PxkXKMN8Rg8/UIvWb6pSTTI/AAAAAAAAAj0/VN0esWmhZmk/s320/CameraZOOM-20121021165826444.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PxkXKMN8Rg8/UIvWb6pSTTI/AAAAAAAAAj0/VN0esWmhZmk/s1600/CameraZOOM-20121021165826444.jpg)

Caroline dans un superbe Fb7B+

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-8343567889711481653?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fultonius on November 02, 2012, 11:18:04 am

That's was beyond my French skills...must practise more!

Sounds like a nice area though...

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on November 02, 2012, 01:07:36 pm

I'll translate it.
As for the area, come here and check by yourself!!!
;D

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on November 02, 2012, 03:41:56 pm

Amiata, some bouldering for a change, South of Siena.
For once, I let James speak (omissis).

The last time I saw Lorenzo was in 2010, in a small bouldering are in the middle of the Dolomites. He had driven for five hours from Siena to try one of his projects, that, during the weekend, unfortunately kept eluding him, but at least he could try it... Two weeks before he had done exactly the same trip, only to slice a finger on his first go, and drive back home! This should give you a little idea about the motivation Lorenzo is capable of.
We met Lorenzo near the top of Mount Amiata, while he was getting back to his car after a long day at the boulders. Always psyched, he dropped all his pads and he took back up to the top to give us the tour of the problems, and despite that having been his third day on, he insisted he would join us the following day for a visit to another sector.
Mount Amiata is an incredibly peaceful place. The boulders are spread in a shady chestnut trees forest, and the only passers by are locals searching for mushrooms or chestnuts. Given the altitude, conditions are far better than in the close town of Castel del Piano: this is something you'll appreciate at the moment of slapping big, grainy slopers.
During the day, Lorenzo showed us his (and other climbers') classic problems, one of which ranks as one of the best boulders that I've ever climbed (too kind James!!!). We also managed to try a few of his projects, and we opened a new 7b+: "A Very English Italian".
At the end of the day, our skin was shredded, and even Lorenzo (fourth day on) had to admit that the following day would probably be a rest day.
Anyway, before saying goodbye and driving back to Siena, Lorenzo insisted to show us another local surprise... Pizza with boletus and truffle! Yes, it's as good as it sounds!
So... to sum it up. Mount Amiata, a big area with many cool boulders to try, located in many smaller areas all around the mountain. Very, very peaceful, and very beautiful. The food is fantastic, and quite cheap!

I hope this helps. Not a very good translation, but the best I could do with little time.
James has been really kind with his words, as usual. He obviously crushed the fuck out of everything I threw at him, and Caroline did quite the same.
Beasts. Great day.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Monolith on November 02, 2012, 11:26:40 pm

I wish I'd have been there team. I feel there is much left to do for the future Lore...

Title: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WANT, THEY SAY
Post by: comPiler on November 20, 2012, 12:00:07 pm

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WANT, THEY SAY (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/11/be-careful-what-you-want-they-say.html)
20 November 2012, 9:39 am

Because you could get it. I wanted to be free. I wanted to climb. I wanted to end a relationship that wasn't satisfying me anymore. Now I am free. Now I can climb. Now I've ended that relationship.

And I am not happy. I wanted to get more climbing, and now I don't even feel like climbing (almost). I am scared, I fear that I won't fall in love again. Everything I made during the hard times with my girlfriend, seems to be mistakes. I woulda, I coulda, I shoulda. Too late.

But while I'm here at home, translating a new book, I hear the voice of the old couple living upstairs. She's vacuuming the floor, as she does every morning. She's talking with the cleaning lady that helps her clean the house, every day. Her husband is downstairs in the garage, putting the car in, then taking it out, putting things in the car, then taking them out. As he does every day. They complain about the neighbours, they complain about the parking spots, they complain about the dog, the cat, about everything. They are perfect. We, the rest of the world, are not. But maybe we are truly alive. We suffer, but we also laugh. We find ourselves alone, but we know that at least we've really been together for some time. One of my biggest fears, during the hard days, was to find myself and my girlfriend, in ten or twenty years, still the same; still unsatisfied, still in a crisis, but still together, used to that all. Turned insensible. I remember the buzz I got when I fell in love. It was more a hammer in the head, to be honest. I think that being with her without that buzz, without that hammer hitting my head, wasn't worth it. I think that splitting up was the only thing we could do to save our other relatioship, as two humans that shared a lot of love. It's something that we owed to our story, in some sense.

It hurts like hell. We fight the pain. We speak. I train. I try not to think too much about this all. It's life. I keep the fucking faith. The blind faith. (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-4821871133164315136?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: shark on November 20, 2012, 12:28:10 pm

Bummer

:'(

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: robertostallioni on November 20, 2012, 12:45:37 pm

don't bummer.

Title: MOVING ON
Post by: comPiler on November 26, 2012, 06:00:07 pm

MOVING ON (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/11/moving-on.html)
26 November 2012, 4:07 pm

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7liwH-bZlbo/ULOQRiDThZI/AAAAAAAAAkI/9jd1uy92HD8/s320/CameraZOOM-20121021135956141.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7liwH-bZlbo/ULOQRiDThZI/AAAAAAAAAkI/9jd1uy92HD8/s1600/CameraZOOM-20121021135956141.jpg)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_WH-rVwrj2o/ULORcW_n3YI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/VK_zpiUq7QU/s320/CameraZOOM-20121021153220273.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_WH-rVwrj2o/ULORcW_n3YI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/VK_zpiUq7QU/s1600/CameraZOOM-20121021153220273.jpg)

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b6UCRk9axP8/ULORomlaBwI/AAAAAAAAAkY/KeVggfTvpfo/s320/CameraZOOM-20121021123838609.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b6UCRk9axP8/ULORomlaBwI/AAAAAAAAAkY/KeVggfTvpfo/s1600/CameraZOOM-20121021123838609.jpg)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U9ehALJu4HQ/ULOR4pq0iLI/AAAAAAAAAkg/XXw0P3lec6k/s320/il+gioco+della+bottiglia.JPG) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U9ehALJu4HQ/ULOR4pq0iLI/AAAAAAAAAkg/XXw0P3lec6k/s1600/il+gioco+della+bottiglia.JPG) Some good moments with good friends, for once no need to use a timer on the camera.

Pictures courtesy of James Pearson, Caroline Ciavaldini, Tommy Ferri.

I don't want that last post to stay there, on the front spot for too long, so I'll tell you something new. I decided to go back to school. Recently I've been a bit disappointed by the teaching, not in terms of human relationships or students' results (I know that by teaching to students now I pay the price of my past being a terrible student and making teachers go mad... talk about Karma...), but in terms of personal research. I am a bit stuck under that point of view. So, with the precious help of a few beloved ones, notably Valentina (always present despite our separation), Andrea (my brother, friend and first climbing teacher and mentor) and Domenico I found the mental energy to enter a Master in Research Techniques, Security and Criminology at one of Rome universities. It's a year long course, and I will follow it via e-learning, with a few seminars that I'll be more than happy to attend. Criminology was the subject of my second degree, Forensic Medicine being the subject of my first degree. I really want to give a push to my neurons, and to put the basis for something different in the future. I am not thinking to any kind of job in particular - it's not easy to work as a criminologist - but I'm sure that this new formation will open new possibilities; I would really like to collaborate with some specialized magazine, or maybe to get involved with some research institute that I've found out here in Siena. Still the last days, I thought about starting again, next year, my lawyer's practice period, this time completing it, unlike twelve years ago... The long term goal is to finally try and pass the exam that enables to the lawyer's profession. Penal law is what is in the target.

Climbing wise, I also took a few important decisions. I realized that I went a little bit too far, things got complicated, and I lost some of the pleasure. I found again this pleasure in the company of good people, and I decided that I don't want to go anymore on my own. I will go climbing when I will find a good bunch of psyched people, or just a good friend. Gone will be the days of long drives on my own to go and train at the roof. I basically did everything I wanted to, close to here, and I can't try new things on my own because I need spotters and pads, so I will keep training here at home, driving only to go to new places or problems with someone I like to spend time with. I've been climbing a couple of times recently in a good company, and it's been simply great. I spent a very nice day in Amiata, still on problems that I've done many times, but this time having a lot more fun. Many of these problems are not very well known, so showing them to people and seeing their good reactions is a real gift to me; plus, I gather some magic energy from others, and I feel a beast. I probably just like to show off. I managed to steal a couple of days in Chironico, also. I went with a friend from Siena, and I really enjoyed myself. The last time I'd been there it was October 2011, my life was very different ant I got 34°... This time temps were much cooler and despite - again - mostly climbing at usual sectors and repeating old things, I managed to finally try "Souvenir", a problem that I've always liked. On my first go I found myself at the sloper under the pocket, not knowing what to do. With some other climbers I tried their sequence and quickly climbed it in two halves. Miracle. Then I didn't have enough left to put it together and on the second day we didn't go there. I will climb it next time. I also finally tried "Dr. Med Dent", another problem that I've been wanting to do for ages. I messed up the sequence a little bit, then with the help of a nice couple from Sheffield and my friend, a new foot placement came out and I quickly got to the left hand rail, the one that lies 30 cm under the top; there I got suddenly scared and bailed. Yes, I jumped down. Ahah, can you believe it? I can't believe it myself. I am happy because I felt I have a very big margin on the problem, but disappointed by the fear of falling and getting injured. These things are the result of a) past injuries and b) too much solitary climbing. I'll go there again to finish it. Later on the second day I climbed "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" falling on the last move on the flash and doing it second go, and then linked it starting from "Arabald" and moving right. It's a nice link and it adds a few burly moves, namely two very long, shoulder-wrenching lock offs to gain the big holds of the original problem. Back home now, back to work, with its bitter taste. I have many things to keep me busy and sometimes I feel recovered. I know that I am not alone. I keep the blind faith. (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-8318294035008767773?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: MOVING ON
Post by: andy_e on November 26, 2012, 07:21:59 pm

Quote from: comPiler on November 26, 2012, 06:00:07 pm

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7liwH-bZlbo/ULOQRiDThZI/AAAAAAAAAkI/9jd1uy92HD8/s320/CameraZOOM-20121021135956141.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7liwH-bZlbo/ULOQRiDThZI/AAAAAAAAAkI/9jd1uy92HD8/s1600/CameraZOOM-20121021135956141.jpg)

Is this what Lowrider looks like after a diet?

Good words beast. Keep strong.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Monolith on November 27, 2012, 11:29:07 am

Lo, I'm really pleased to hear of these trips. Make the next trip northwards! ;)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on November 27, 2012, 11:40:18 am

Yup, a looooong way northwards! Good luck with the plans.

Nib, if you don't mind me asking, I've often wondered how old you are?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on November 27, 2012, 11:49:45 am

Thanks guys, it's a daily fight.
I am close to 41.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on November 27, 2012, 12:42:18 pm

A mere youth then! :)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on November 27, 2012, 01:06:22 pm

Ah, thanks!!! I wish I were!!!
The age I perceive fluctuates between 16 and 95 these days... ;)

Title: SWISS SWEETNESS
Post by: comPiler on December 06, 2012, 06:00:17 pm

SWISS SWEETNESS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2012/12/swiss-sweetness.html)
6 December 2012, 2:40 pm

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J30gHvMumI4/UL-fg70N3hI/AAAAAAAAAk0/VORiHthZebE/s320/komilator3.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J30gHvMumI4/UL-fg70N3hI/AAAAAAAAAk0/VORiHthZebE/s1600/komilator3.jpg)

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ifFNqy3-_Qo/UL-flIs20NI/AAAAAAAAAk8/c00FZI9CacE/s320/komilator.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ifFNqy3-_Qo/UL-flIs20NI/AAAAAAAAAk8/c00FZI9CacE/s1600/komilator.jpg)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jM6ItzQUtaI/UL-fpak59LI/AAAAAAAAAlE/VXKU1E0DE7w/s320/komilator2.jpg) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jM6ItzQUtaI/UL-fpak59LI/AAAAAAAAAlE/VXKU1E0DE7w/s1600/komilator2.jpg)

Pictures courtesy of Filo.

I went back to Chironico during the past weekend, with my friend Filo. It's been good, finally with cool weather for a change!!! One of the sectors I always go back to is "Paese", with the "Souvenir" boulder always in my sights. This time, though, despite quickly doing "Souvenir" in two halves with the new sequence, I found myself under a nearby problem that I had always looked with reverence and never tried: "Komilator". It's amazing, why did I wait so long to try it? It's very simple: because it's hard, it's very crimpy, it's not exactly a short man's problem and finally because of its final dyno with the incredible swing out from the pads and down in the wood (if you don't slam into the tree). Moreover, to try hard things on my own while with other climbers is not something that I love to do, so when Filo showed interest for this five moves beauty, I quickly forgot about the other problem and was more than happy to try this other Fred Nicole's testpiece. The moves went without too hassle, but not without some good commitment. The second move, the one to the left hand crimp, is long for someone like me, and it took me a few goes to sort out a good sequence after trying matching on the rail and various feet placements. The heel hook sequence was immediately fine, and even better when I found a small but higher placement for my left foot. Then I didn't know what to do. The jump to the jug was out of question for me, too scary and too dynamic for my ability. I tried to squeeze harder - something that often pays dividends - and get the good hold further left; but then what? Still the jump? Right hand to the gaston arete? Finally, I don't even remember how, I found myself cutting loose on those two holds, holding the swing, placing the left heel next to the left hand, and getting easily the top. Success. Now it was only time to put it together, but the second move was still a very low percentage one, like a 0% one. The snow was falling, we were trying hard and everything was fine, apart from not climbing the problem. Filo, despite having spent the last months climbing 8a and 8b routes from Spain to Italy, left me completely speechless by getting immediately close to this boulder problem. Really really impressive, I got scared thinking about him climbing the problem and leaving me all alone there, thinking that I was the boulderer!!! Anyway we (he) got close, but we also got tired, cold and had to walk back to the car by headlamps. Great day. The following morning, despite some good sleep preceded by a ton of food in a Sicilian fast food/take away in Biasca, we were thrashed. Aching aching aching. That's what boudering in good, cold conditions does to you! We warmed up with therabands in the sun at the campsite, then we set off. I was tired and insecure about what I should do. We weren't even sure if we were going to try again the problem, despite Antihydral our fingers were very worked! With a relaxed athmosphere we warmed up gently, then we moved to "Komilator": at that point, while going for a pee, I suddenly felt different. My hands were warm, my skin was hard and dry, and my body felt powerful and ready. It was time. I was sure I was going to do it. I sat down and I rehearsed. I climbed it in my mind and then moved. I fell on the second move. Damn. I didn't get distracted by this fact, and I forgot about it in a second. I went again. The right hand hold, the good rail, was still a bit black and didn't feel good, but I did not care. Left heel, then fire to the crimp. I got it not perfectly, but I kept moving on. Right toe, left toe, squeeze, right heel. I was bolted to the holds. The right had crimp seemed a lot closer than the previous day and I was super solid. I heard Filo saying something like "Forte, forte!" and I got the left hand hold on the left, then I cut loose. "Merda!" I shouted, when my right foot brushed the pad, because it distracted me and I thought I was going to fall. Nope. I stayed there, Filo said something that I did not understand nor hear, then I heel hooked and toped out. I watched down, and Filo smiled. Then I stood there for a while, with my legs trembling. I could barely walk down. It was done. Despite the brushed pad, I had no doubts about my ascent. I really have to thank my friend Filo. I could climb the problem because he was firstly super psyched to go to Chironico, and secondly super psyched to try it and to give everything in order to do it. For many, this problem could be something trivial. Something just worth a flash go. For me it was not. It was a change, for a start. A change from plastic pulling and for the usual style of problems that I climb or try. A surprise. Now I feel that I need to have more of these surprises in my life. Surprises in my climbing and surprises in the rest of my life, a big part that has been overlooked for too long. I need to focus on my profession, to make it better; I need to focus on relationships, because the solitary life isn't fun; I need to be complete again.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1787714666374188667-6084303054771661750?l=totolore.blogspot.com)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Doylo on December 06, 2012, 08:50:14 pm

Nice one Beastio. Classic Nicole tick!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Monolith on December 06, 2012, 08:59:08 pm

Excellent work beast! I bet you locked each of those holds to your toes as always. Keep it coming!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Sasquatch on December 06, 2012, 09:14:08 pm

Awesome Work! Looks a beauty.

Quote

It was a change, for a start. A change from plastic pulling and for the usual style of problems that I climb or try. A surprise. Now I feel that I need to have more of these surprises in my life. Surprises in my climbing and surprises in the rest of my life, a big part that has been overlooked for too long. I need to focus on my profession, to make it better; I need to focus on relationships, because the solitary life isn't fun; I need to be complete again.

Change is good :)

Title: A LOT OF...
Post by: comPiler on January 11, 2013, 06:00:17 pm

A LOT OF... (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-lot-of.html)
11 January 2013, 3:21 pm

A lot of time passed since my last entry, and a lot of things happened, mostly inside my mind. After finding myself in a completely new situation, I found out I needed change. The first change is that I quit climbing. It's over. The second change is that I started seeing a nice girl. The third change is that I started looking for new a new job.

So, I think I sould give you more details. The climbing. The climbing is simply over. My obsession for it had a big part during my recently finished relationship, and I had to readdress my priorities. Climbing wasn't giving my anymore the joy it used to, it had morphed into a selfish, obsessive/compulsive behaviour that clearly emerges in many posts like this one (http://totolore.blogspot.it/2012/08/rise-of-machines.html). I wanted to get rid of this beast, and I did. I didn't really quit climbing, as you can imagine. But I did get rid of the compulsiveness of it. I stopped going training on rock despite being alone and despite conditions; I stopped the circular thinking that made me think about the evening session as my first thought in the morning (for real). I reduced the amount of training and most of all, I reduced the space that climbing and training occupied in my mind. Sometimes, I force myself and I do not train, despite wanting to. Because it feels like a form of... masturbation. For some time, it had all the distinguishing traits of real masturbation, like the isolation, the uselessness, the compulsivity and the self-satisfaction. I didn't want any more of that all. Now I still train, in small sessions, with no pressure, and almost everytime with someone else. Many times, if I'm alone, I just do some fingerboarding while doing other things. Strangely enough, in the last weeks the hardest projects on my board got climbed, some of them even retroflashed, and some others just hiked. Moreover, in one session I finally managed to climb all the sequence of my system wall on pinches, a feat that had been my goal for one year and half. Ten moves, from 1-1 matching every hold to 6-6 with bad feet. Each move feels as hard as they come. On another session I found myself easily dangling from the slopey pockets of my Beastmaker, front2, with 6 kg on. Before, I could barely hang them for a few seconds. This particular performance left me in shock and I quickly went to the bathroom to weigh myself: I was still the same as ever, I hadn't lost weight. Maybe that day my skin was particular wood-friendly, who knows.

So, I see a nice girl. And that's all you need to know, really.

And finally, the job. Many things changed. I realized that this kind of teaching isn't enough for me anymore, the human relation with the studens is still great but the subject isn't so broad that it allows a personal growth and research. So, with the help of a few beloved ones, during the holidays I started sending CV's around, searching for courses to increase my preparation as a teacher, and I finally decided to get back to my roots and start again the legal practice to become a lawyer. From next monday, I will be at school in Florence the mornings, then I'll get back home in Siena, change into a suit and go to a lawyer's firm to get my practice done. When not at school, I'll go in Court with my lawyer mentor to attend the trials and to learn how to stand in Court. Days will be long.

So, I have two parallel roads and I want to make the most of them: while completing the legal practice I will try and improve my teaching job; then, after completing the practice I'll be able to sustain the exam to become a lawyer; after passing the exam, I'll draw my conclusions and I'll see what I'll do.

This is the plan. Now I need a coffee, before going to the gym for some system training and for my climbing class. Because I quit, I told you.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Sasquatch on January 11, 2013, 07:41:26 pm

I find that life ebbs and flows for all of us. Like you, I am an obsessive type. Something gets stuck in my brain and I have a compulsion to do it, regardless of enjoyment. Thankfully I have an amazing and understanding partner who is able to bring me back from the edge before I fall, even when I don't see it. It's not always easy, and not always nice, but we grow stronger each time.

Good luck with the new view of life/climbing/job/etc!

And congrats on the Beastliness :)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: iain on January 13, 2013, 09:09:58 am

Quote from: Sasquatch on January 11, 2013, 07:41:26 pm

Good luck with the new view of life/climbing/job/etc!

And congrats on the Beastliness :)

:agree:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on January 16, 2013, 04:46:10 pm

I didn't write everything in the blog, for a reason that I'll explain. Being quite easy to link the blog to my person, for anyone with basic Internet knowledge, I didn't feel like putting it there.
So, here's what I did not tell for fear of getting into troubles.

One of the main reasons of my recent change regarding my teaching job, is that my boss turned out to be completely out of his mind.
To cut a long story short, these are the facts.
He had a brief flirt with the girl I'm seeing now, during the summer. I only know that it went very bad and that he treated her very rudely, to the point of basically stalking ther with text messages and so on.
These bad vibes quickly got into the school, because she works there as well, and I started being very uncomfortable in the school when they were there, but didn't know anything.
Then my relationship ended and we started going out, just chatting or dining out, without any other implications.
Despite the boss's promises of stopping it, he continued harassing her with messages and very rude jokes in the school, even in front of me and other colleagues. She started feeling very bad and nearly left the job.
Soon enough, seeing that we used to talk together, go for a coffee and so on, he started thinking that we had a relationship - and at the time it wasn't true - becoming more and more obsessed with it.
Finally he acted: I was in the hall, and I had put my phone in charge on the desk. I had never left my phone before, but being present I thought it was sure. But... at some point I went into a nearby room to play some notes on the bass that's at school, and left the phone in charge. I played only for two or three minutes, then I went back and took my phone. I found it open on the text messages folder. It's an old phone and has no PIN code. I quickly understood that, being sure that I could not see him because he could hear me play in the other room, he searched to find whether she and I had something together from our messages. When I suddenly stopped playing he didn't have the time to put the phone back into the first screen.
He started grinning and immediately went out without a word. I went out as well, not wanting to believe what I had thought.
I phoned the girl explaining my suspects, and she was in tears. He had just sent her a message stripping her of one of her classes and therefore drastically reducing her income. He also menaced to fire her.
We tried to stay calm, and I was about to quit the job on the moment, but we hung tight. Over the holidays the stalking with messages - even at 4 am - continued, and she was close to call the police.
Now, apparently, things have settled and the madman is quite, but I am always hyper aware.
Of course the coward never spoke a word with me and is always - externally - super friendly.
That's why I want to quit the school. I can't wait to finally let him know that I know everything, and what I think about him.
Can you believe it?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: robertostallioni on January 16, 2013, 04:58:59 pm

I'd have logged the stalking with the police, just so its on record, and had a chat with the head of the school explaining all the goings on.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on January 16, 2013, 05:06:08 pm

Quote from: robertostallioni on January 16, 2013, 04:58:59 pm

I'd have logged the stalking with the police, just so its on record, and had a chat with the head of the school explaining all the goings on.

We will inform the police after finding another school. He is the head of the school and the contrats we both have do not give us enough protection. We need to keep our jobs now. Moreover, if he goes under trial all our colleagues could lose the job because he is the head and only owner of the school, which would probably have to just close.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Sasquatch on January 16, 2013, 05:42:04 pm

Quote from: Nibile on January 16, 2013, 05:06:08 pm

Quote from: robertostallioni on January 16, 2013, 04:58:59 pm
I'd have logged the stalking with the police, just so its on record, and had a chat with the head of the school explaining all the goings on.

We will inform the police after finding another school. He is the head of the school and the contrats we both have do not give us enough protection. We need to keep our jobs now. Moreover, if he goes under trial all our colleagues could lose the job because he is the head and only owner of the school, which would probably have to just close.

Fuck, that's a bad situation... I hope it works out.

Don't know the law in Italy, but in the US you can log the stalking with the police without the person being notified. That way if anything escalates, it's already on record. and the police know where to look first. Stalking is a bad situation.

Title: GOING ON
Post by: comPiler on February 17, 2013, 06:00:11 pm

GOING ON (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/02/going-on.html)
17 February 2013, 12:15 pm

Again a lot of time since the last post. Even now, I don't know exactly what to write here: is this still a climbing related blog? I don't know. For sure climbing has taken the backseat in this moment of my life, after being at the wheel for the last few years. I am understanding a lot. I realize that I could have used part of the energy I put into climbing to secure, for example, a better job. But I didn't do it, so I have to do it now. The main change, climbing wise, is that I don't force myself anymore. I am not a robot anymore. In the last weeks I've been going to school in the mornings and to the law firm in the afternoons, often until 8 p.m.; I had dropped my climbing classes, and my life revolved around work. I had become a robot once again. This time it was a working robot, but a robot nonetheless. So I decided that I needed to take the climbing classes back, and to fit a little bit of everything into my life. At the moment I am still focusing mainly on work, anyway, and many things are getting close to the crux: I have started thinking about the final thesis of my Criminology Master, I hopefully will get another book to translate into Italian (fingers crossed!), I have to attend a couple of courses to become an official examiner for those foreign students that need the official certificate of Italian as L2, and finally I'll have to teach how the Italian Penal Procedure works to a class of Mexican law students. All these different things often keeps me awake for a while at night, but it's all for good. Finally, I touched some wood and some rock. The wood was under the form of nice, medium sized campus rungs. At last we have decent rungs at the gym!!! The ones we had before were terrible, they were too slopey and downturned, with no catch at all, so doing big moves - for me - was close to impossible because I would always slip. Now, with the new ones, you can really pull down as a bastard. A thing that I did last Friday while coaching the girls on the system wall, doing a fantastic 1-5-8 that, with 23 cm spaced rungs, represents my absolute personal best. Yesterday, on the other hand, I shared a perfect day with a really good friend of mine and his girlfriend. Obviously we were at Chiesina, where I found myself really strong - courtesy of excellent conditions and excellent company - and nearly repeated my old project.

As you can imagine, all my climbing trips have been postponed, and the initial idea of another invasion of Britain this February will have to wait. I could be spending a few days in Swizzy with my good friend Filo, before he casts off to go and tech for a few months at a University in Sweden, but it's not sure. Anyway, I understood that if I follow my friends, everything is fine.

Finally, and this is really good news, especially for the few fortunate ones that had the chance to try it, the mighty "Trombicche" - my favourite tavern - closed. Why good news, you may ask. Because they sold and they reopened in a bigger place, that is absolutely fantastic. Come and see!

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SiZep9qHlM4/USDJg9zpLDI/AAAAAAAAAlc/FXzSrF6dPp8/s320/vinaio1.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SiZep9qHlM4/USDJg9zpLDI/AAAAAAAAAlc/FXzSrF6dPp8/s1600/vinaio1.jpg)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S6F8Sf5Abjs/USDJjFBL04I/AAAAAAAAAlk/JSt8Gn24XIs/s320/vinaio2.jpg) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S6F8Sf5Abjs/USDJjFBL04I/AAAAAAAAAlk/JSt8Gn24XIs/s1600/vinaio2.jpg)

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8-nKWQwWqFw/USDJkm4K_fI/AAAAAAAAAls/ht4s3bKm-T4/s320/vinaio3.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8-nKWQwWqFw/USDJkm4K_fI/AAAAAAAAAls/ht4s3bKm-T4/s1600/vinaio3.jpg)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: BUS THOUGHTS
Post by: comPiler on March 04, 2013, 12:00:14 am

BUS THOUGHTS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/03/bus-thoughts.html)
3 March 2013, 6:46 pm

I am sitting on the late bus to Florence, to sleep at The Guru's place and avoid waking up at six tomorrow morning. I went bouldering today, for the second day in a row, as usual at the Chiesina sector. I wasn't psyched at all, I wanted to go somewhere else and a friend of mine didn't, so I sacked it and we went there. Still feeling a bit disappointed by the balmy conditions and by my lack of skin, lack of training and lack of time, now, on the bus, it suddenly dawned to me that today I climbed the usual problems, but still I climbed 7a+, 7b, 7b+, 8a/+, 7c+/8a. I am really really puzzled.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: a dense loner on March 04, 2013, 02:22:44 am

Nibs I'm a great believer that after you've done a problem a couple of times the grade becomes meaningless. I would say these problems are no longer the given grade for you they're just things you can climb cos your bodies used to them. For instance after doing say green traverse for the first couple of times you may say it doesn't feel hard any more, it doesn't cos you've spent x amount of time working it and your body remembers the nuances, even years later. Obviously time between getting back on the problem will vary the ease factor massively.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on March 04, 2013, 12:59:37 pm

That's absolutely true! Despite that, those grades are a bit strange in this moment of my life! Would be nice to test my condition somewhere else, on new problems, to see how differently I perform.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: a dense loner on March 04, 2013, 01:07:57 pm

Ure too strong for your own good nibs, accept it. Maybe the forced, I won't call it rest cos I know what ure like, easing off for a bit has done you some good strength wise

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on March 04, 2013, 01:58:19 pm

Or maybe the given grades are just wrong! :devangel:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 12, 2013, 11:52:20 am

One that went away.
http://totolore.blogspot.it/2013/05/dos-and-donts_10.html (http://totolore.blogspot.it/2013/05/dos-and-donts_10.html)

Title: DO'S AND DON'TS
Post by: comPiler on May 12, 2013, 03:52:38 pm

DO'S AND DON'TS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/05/dos-and-donts_10.html)
10 May 2013, 2:54 pm

The cliche is that after a long time with no entries, the blogger starts explaining the reasons that forced him or her to deprive the world of his or her absolutely necessary thoughts. I am no exception, so here you go: basically very little climbing, very little training and a lot work did the job, in my case.

After my idiotic last entry about the bus thoughts, I decided that such crap should be avoided, mostly as a sign of respect for the reader. The fact is this: I have, and always had, a very average level; only in very specific areas I could climb a bit harder, and only in two places I can climb a bit more harder. These last two are the Chiesina Roof and my board. So, basically, it's a very stupid thing to go around on here boosting my ego, while on any other crag or gym in the world I am barely able to climb in the low or mid 7's.

Enough.

One thing is sure, climbing aside: I am retaining some kind of power despite not training anymore. I tested some deadlifts and I was less than 10 per cent below my PB (then I could not walk properly for four days); on the board it's OK but as I said it does not count; on the BM some tests showed that my fingers can still hold something; finally I can still do one one armer with 7kg added (they were 9/10 before) and a few ones in a row with bodyweight.

These fantastic feats are equal to zero on the rocks. And on plastic that is not my board.

Anyway, to the main subject.

Living and working around Siena and Florence, two of the most beautiful and touristic cities in the world, I happen to see a lot of tourists, visitors, foreign students, and the likes. I'd like to explain here, for everyone, how a foreigner should behave here, and why.

Let's start from the "Why".

It's very simple. We don't like foreigners, visitors, tourists, groups, students. At best, we don't like them: we can easily hate them. They don't deserve Italy. We like their money. Dollars, Euros, Yens, Pounds, the more the better. And that's all. Some times we like their women, but not always. Our idea of a perfect visitor is this: someone who gets off the bus or train, kneels down and thanks his god for being in Italy, the only place in the world that's worth seeing. Then, he proceeds to spend shitloads of money in shoes, food, bags, jewelry, clothing, cars and hotels; finally he gives us his beautiful wife so that she can have good sex at least once in her life, then they leave, swearing their god for not living here. End of story.

So, in order to avoid being hated and treated like some kind of troglodite, please hear me.

These count especially for women:

- don't go out in the morning with wet hair. I don't know why you do this, but we don't like it. Get the fuck up earlier, and take the time to dry your hair. When you'll see Isabella Rossellini out with wet hair... well you can't either;

- don't dress all the same. We already think that you are a tasteless prey for the modern playboy, so please try not to look like a herd, especially if the style in case is track shorts and tank, flip-flops.

These are for everyone:

- don't walk around with a cardboard cup of God-only-knows what type of disgusting shit remotely containing caffeine. Double mokaccino with soya milk my ass. Get a fucking caffè or a cappuccino and drink it at the bar, as humans do;

- never, ever ask for an "espresso". It took ages to get to this stage of perfection for us, so we know that if we ask for a coffee in a bar, the barman is not going to take out his grandad's moka from under the counter. Just ask for "caffè" in a bar, and you'll get what you want without being seen as an idiot. After all, what would you think about someone asking for some "distilled malt" in a pub?

- don't wear beach-shorts. They are called that way, because they relate to the beach. Don't be silly, would you wear a wetsuit in the dolomites when it's cold?

- don't ask for a well done Fiorentina Steak. If you can't have it "al sangue", you don't deserve to taste it;

- never try to pick up a girl saying "Ciao bella!" because it doens't work and makes a fool of you.

Finally, for anything else, please refer to "Vacanze Romane", with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. They were pretty cool.

I hope this helps, without being (too) offensive. But let's be honest, we all know I'm right.

Inviato da iPad

Inviato da iPad

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: crimp on May 12, 2013, 04:11:28 pm

well. Lots to think about there.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: a dense loner on May 13, 2013, 03:45:38 pm

Thank god nibs, thank god

Title: THINGS CHANGE...
Post by: comPiler on June 15, 2013, 07:00:16 pm

THINGS CHANGE... (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/06/things-change.html)
15 June 2013, 3:30 pm

I have started trying some old problems on my board, problems I set and climbed one or two years ago. I also bought a new pair of shoes for the board as well. The connection between these two facts can be explained by the following pictures.

Before:

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PbobJUv8oa4/UbyIXc2f_AI/AAAAAAAAAmQ/wP66fiv6llE/s320/glory.jpeg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PbobJUv8oa4/UbyIXc2f_AI/AAAAAAAAAmQ/wP66fiv6llE/s1600/glory.jpeg)Now:

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RJo8Hggk0j8/UbyISAUDwyI/AAAAAAAAAmI/WzBx1t6cWMs/s320/weak.JPG) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RJo8Hggk0j8/UbyISAUDwyI/AAAAAAAAAmI/WzBx1t6cWMs/s1600/weak.JPG)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: HOLD THE FRONT PAGE!
Post by: comPiler on July 01, 2013, 01:00:25 pm

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/07/hold-front-page.html)
1 July 2013, 9:19 am

What do you get if you take an ageing ex-wannabe and a young ex-bodybuilder sport climbing? I don't know what you get, I can tell you they'll get a lot of fun! Big numbers baby. (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sii3gL1jPT0/UdFJQjWTmTI/AAAAAAAAAmk/TSe5HnpiZUg/s320/amiata+corda+io+pietro.jpeg) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sii3gL1jPT0/UdFJQjWTmTI/AAAAAAAAAmk/TSe5HnpiZUg/s1280/amiata+corda+io+pietro.jpeg)More to come!

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: DO'S AND DON'TS
Post by: Muenchener on July 01, 2013, 01:10:59 pm

Quote from: comPiler on May 12, 2013, 03:52:38 pm

DO'S AND DON'TS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/05/dos-and-donts_10.html)
Then, he proceeds to spend shitloads of money in shoes
Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

I never set foot in Arco without going to the La Sportiva shop.

(Don't recall seeing one in Siena tho)

Title: Re: DO'S AND DON'TS
Post by: Nibile on July 01, 2013, 01:19:16 pm

Quote from: Muenchener on July 01, 2013, 01:10:59 pm

Quote from: comPiler on May 12, 2013, 03:52:38 pm
DO'S AND DON'TS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/05/dos-and-donts_10.html)
Then, he proceeds to spend shitloads of money in shoes
Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

I never set foot in Arco without going to the La Sportiva shop.

(Don't recall seeing one in Siena tho)

;D
Well, let's say that if you need a pair of climbing shoes in Siena, you can definitely have a look at the pairs I still have in the box!

Title: AMIATA SPORT CLIMBING
Post by: comPiler on July 02, 2013, 01:00:13 pm

AMIATA SPORT CLIMBING (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/07/amiata-sport-climbing.html)
2 July 2013, 9:17 am

As promised, a few pics from my sport climbing experience, to give proof that I actually used my harness... Courtesy of Pietro Mittica.

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bo98fEpr5l4/UdKXZVT1paI/AAAAAAAAAm0/E5iPFtFdBk4/s320/_MG_5839.jpeg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bo98fEpr5l4/UdKXZVT1paI/AAAAAAAAAm0/E5iPFtFdBk4/s1280/_MG_5839.jpeg)The "easy" first moves: the first bolt is easily at 3 meters, with a nice rock at the bottom of the route. Why that? Had to leave the first bolts preclipped and it was a pain to climb the first part of the route that way, but there was no way I was going to risk a dangerous fall.

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--CSqX0JH614/UdKXcFXEIRI/AAAAAAAAAm8/XIj8a90mNek/s320/_MG_5842.jpeg) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--CSqX0JH614/UdKXcFXEIRI/AAAAAAAAAm8/XIj8a90mNek/s1280/_MG_5842.jpeg)Aiming at the target for the dyno. It's a long pull.

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pv0UHkwrRUc/UdKXfISse8I/AAAAAAAAAnE/VPyJyP_ebVY/s320/_MG_5852.jpeg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pv0UHkwrRUc/UdKXfISse8I/AAAAAAAAAnE/VPyJyP_ebVY/s1280/_MG_5852.jpeg)Undercling and long reach to good holds!

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3rWLy4p8qXI/UdKXit5YDPI/AAAAAAAAAnM/9dcuIVqzZfk/s320/_MG_5857.jpeg) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3rWLy4p8qXI/UdKXit5YDPI/AAAAAAAAAnM/9dcuIVqzZfk/s1280/_MG_5857.jpeg)Strenuous clip due to being terrified about doing the move and then easily clipping from a jug. Great pic.

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jWa-93a8P40/UdKXkzyNglI/AAAAAAAAAnU/pec1vi09fAQ/s320/_MG_5863.jpeg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jWa-93a8P40/UdKXkzyNglI/AAAAAAAAAnU/pec1vi09fAQ/s1280/_MG_5863.jpeg)At this point I was needing oxygen, having climbed at least 15 moves for a total of at least 8 meters. Bloody multipitch. What a great day!

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Luke Owens on July 02, 2013, 01:24:11 pm

The look of fear in the second photo is brilliant! Good effort Nibs, what route was it?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on July 02, 2013, 01:33:39 pm

It's called "Ben Cotto" and it's here in Tuscany, at Mount Amiata. It's one of the few routes that I've been wanting to climb in the last years, an overhaning prow with good holds. Brilliant! Very bouldery.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on July 02, 2013, 02:23:40 pm

Pics 2 and 3 look like scenes from ~~Walking~~ Climbing Dead.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on July 02, 2013, 02:40:48 pm

Quote from: SA Chris on July 02, 2013, 02:23:40 pm

Pics 2 and 3 look like scenes from ~~Walking~~ Climbing Dead.

I don't get it. Sorry! :oops:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Grubes on July 02, 2013, 02:43:34 pm

Quote from: Nibile on July 02, 2013, 02:40:48 pm

Quote from: SA Chris on July 02, 2013, 02:23:40 pm
Pics 2 and 3 look like scenes from ~~Walking~~ Climbing Dead.
I don't get it. Sorry! :oops:

Zombie
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--CSqX0JH614/UdKXcFXEIRI/AAAAAAAAAm8/XIj8a90mNek/s320/_MG_5842.jpeg)
italian lawyers
(http://hardcorefansonly.com/thewalkingdead/files/2012/11/how-to-be-on-the-walking-dead.jpg)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on July 02, 2013, 02:53:11 pm

I'll take it as a compliment, somehow!
;)

Title: LET'S FUCKING GO!
Post by: comPiler on July 19, 2013, 01:00:14 am

LET'S FUCKING GO! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/07/let-fucking-go.html)
18 July 2013, 7:16 am

(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-59dp4j4F6MU/Ueau3j4ER6I/AAAAAAAAAnk/ZlcJE57wxts/s640/blogger-image--1037890493.jpg) (https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-59dp4j4F6MU/Ueau3j4ER6I/AAAAAAAAAnk/ZlcJE57wxts/s640/blogger-image--1037890493.jpg)

The above image reflects my recent thoughts. It could seem a stupid idea to buy 50 new holds for a wall that I barely use, but it's not. At least not for me. Given the recent changes in my life, my two jobs and the lack of time to dedicate to training, everything needs to be closer to perfection than before. Before, I could decide easily what to do, how to train, for how long, at which intensity, because I had all the time in the world. Now, not anymore. I have bits of spare time here and there, half hours every x days, and therefore I need to extract the most out of that little time I have. That's why I made my board even better. Because it will help me: the fact that I have little time to train doesn't mean that I'm prepared to become shit. Or shitter, anyway. It's not fucking over.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: LET'S FUCKING GO!
Post by: Luke Owens on July 24, 2013, 12:17:36 pm

Quote from: comPiler on July 19, 2013, 01:00:14 am

the fact that I have little time to train doesn't mean that I'm prepared to become shit.

I love how psyched you are Nibs! It's damn inspiring!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on July 24, 2013, 12:38:57 pm

Hey thanks Luke!
Things are very strange, to be honest. I recently added 4 kg to all my fingerboarding PB's and I keep adding plates to the bar when I go to the gym. During the weekend I did two problems that I could not do when I was fully trained and with lots of spare time.
If it goes on like this I'll peak at around 71 years old.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Luke Owens on July 24, 2013, 01:17:47 pm

Quote from: Nibile on July 24, 2013, 12:38:57 pm

Hey thanks Luke!
Things are very strange, to be honest. I recently added 4 kg to all my fingerboarding PB's and I keep adding plates to the bar when I go to the gym. During the weekend I did two problems that I could not do when I was fully trained and with lots of spare time.
If it goes on like this I'll peak at around 71 years old.

That's awesome, maybe getting more than rest than you used to is actually helping?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on July 24, 2013, 06:37:06 pm

Yes that could easily be, even though before I was far more consistent, while now I have big highs and lows. I think it could be easier to keep the pace on the BM than on the board or rock. Movement is important.
Once sorted a few things job wise, I think I could get a better training regime going. Let's see in a few months!

Title: SUMMER
Post by: comPiler on August 01, 2013, 01:01:26 am

SUMMER (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/07/summer.html)
31 July 2013, 9:28 pm

Nothing can challenge your training motivation like a hot Summer. In winter, the bad weather does nothing but push you under the fingerboard, or to the gym, or to the wall to spend three hours on four moves, as I've done plenty of times. In Summer, training with over 30 degrees is really really hard for me: just a few dead hangs leave me worked, the holds on my board are rough and warm and they grate even the Antihydral sort of elephant skin. I do find some kind of fun with the weights. I don't do much, but I keep doing something: usually some climbing orientated work, like one armers (in various forms, with a pause between reps, or with some added weight, or trying to be as fast as possible, and so on), and then some core with front lever pulls (that made a freak of me in the gym, with a group of shameless guys that gather around to see and comment - I don't care much, it's somehow a sort of gratification, but I don't want to be showing off and it's generally quite embarassing, but I want to train as I want to train, no matter what happens around), and finally some snatch pulls (I love this excercise!). Then often there's not much time left, so I do some shoulders, triceps and biceps in sequence to try and burn some of the belly I've put up, then it's shower time. I am adding weights regularly and this is always good. I still haven't found the courage to properly test my one armers (last year in this period I was at my best level) but sooner or later I will. On the Beastmaker, I added 4 kilos to all my dead hangs, and this made me happy especially for ring monos. I sadly found out that my pinkies are incredibly weak, probably due to their length they don't get much activation unless crimped, and this makes the pinky monos front lever a very tough challenge. Also, they are so small that I can't keep them from sliding out of the holes, they get no friction or edge whatsoever. Hmm... We'll see. I removed the small bit of wood that I had put in the incut rung to make it smaller, because I found that it was too small to train half crimped and I always ended up almost openhanding: so now it's the normal rung but properly half crimped (or even a bit more than half). The major success came last Saturday, in the form of a repeated one armer on the small pocket, front2. I had one armed that hang years ago, for the essential 7c+ tick, but the one armer proved to be elusive. Saturday I just felt the hold bigger than ever and I just pulled. I checked if I had taken the wrong one but no. Being in the year with the least training, each progress is quite strange. I think that I just come from two ten years long cycles of training, and maybe I'll be overcompensating for a few years to come. I stroke my chin though. Rock. Rock. What was that? I finally put my hands on a route I'd been wanting to do for a few years, and I started thinking back to my projects. Rock climbing is very far from dangling from a wooden hold (not that I dangle at all, when I dead hang, I am solid as a motherfucker), so I fear the rock. Speaking about more important things, I am still deep into my two jobs schedule, with mornings in Florence and evenings in Siena. Being full Summer though, I can take it more easily. I have lots to study and two very big exams in Autumn: soon enough the long days will be here again! I have become so politically correct, in this blog, that it's nauseating. Bah.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 01, 2013, 03:42:11 pm

Just to put things into perspective, 47 degrees now in the sun in Florence.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on August 01, 2013, 03:44:57 pm

Betty Swollocks in town for a long stay! It's high teens and drizzle here. Lovely.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 01, 2013, 03:58:50 pm

Title: IT'S RAD DUDE, I'M PSYCHED!!!
Post by: comPiler on August 19, 2013, 01:01:45 am

IT'S RAD DUDE, I'M PSYCHED!!! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/08/its-rad-dude-im-psyched.html)
18 August 2013, 6:23 pm

I am probably nothing more than an angry bastard at this stage, but since seeing it I've got to take this out. This is the reason to have a blog. Anyway, by "it" I mean the "Psicobloc Master Series in Utah" video. What utter bullshit. Ahh. Feeling better now. It's not epic. It's not defining the future of comps. It's not the greatest comp ever. It's just another American obsession for big things. What's the point? An 8a+ route for the girls and an 8c for the boyz (in da hood, da crew, my bruthaz): are you kidding me? They are the best in the world and to make them fall off all it takes is to raise a big board over a pool? Jesus fucking Christ: if you want to show your cajones, go to Pamplona the 7th of July and run with the bulls. I have to watch a modern climbing video from "big" productions or for "big" events, that I liked. I'd rather watch "Splinter" in a loop for every future session of my life, than watch the "Psicobloc" one another time. I didn't even manage to watch it full, I skipped through it. How, I ask, how can't they produce anythig better than that? Please, make some video of someone working hard on something, not just going for a dive in a pool: make it to show they're worth the sponsors, the money (not much I'm sure, but it's money for fucking climbing dammit!), the fame. Release a fucking video about Sasha on "Bellavista"! And please, please, please, tell them to try and speak as humans. There are many more, words in any language, than "epic", "rad", "a muerte", "venga", and the likes. There is an entire world of emotions that they must learn to express. I want to understand them as persons, more than just watch them as climbers. This is also why I can't read, for instance, Dave MacLeod's blog. It feels cold and distant to me. Then I bumped after a long time on Paul Robinson's blog. It was a long time since the last visit and will be even longer before a new one. Fuck me. Twenty words long posts, with half of the words being "psyched", "rad" and "crew". I get mad. Even more when they complain about bad weather on a trip. It never fucking rains under my board, you know? They are transparent. You can see through them. Now I tell you what is really rad. It's the fucking 6 one armers I can still crank on my right arm, at 41 and half. It's not fucking over. God damn.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: IT'S RAD DUDE, I'M PSYCHED!!!
Post by: Luke Owens on August 19, 2013, 02:02:05 am

Quote from: comPiler on August 19, 2013, 01:01:45 am

Now I tell you what is really rad. It's the fucking 6 one armers I can still crank on my right arm, at 41 and half. It's not fucking over. God damn.

:bow:

Good post Nibs! I know where you're coming from. There's no passion in the blogs!

Title: TOTOLORE
Post by: tomtom on August 19, 2013, 11:22:19 pm

Its exposure man...

Sponsors require their 'athletes' to maintain a dynamic profile - thats regularly being updated - so I suspect they feel obliged to write regularly when they probably don't want to...

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on August 20, 2013, 12:06:43 pm

What irks me as well is that they are making out it's something new, radical and exciting, while competitions like this have been going on for years, and have been fun low key events.

Plus side is now the pariah Ivan Greene has been shunned they now don't have the most annoying commentator in the world ever involved.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 20, 2013, 03:49:32 pm

I don't like how the image of the climber is sold, rather than the person. I know this is utterly utopic.
So, I basically think that there are two options: you let the images speak, and that's all; or, you include some interviews and words from the climbers, but in this case I'd like to hear a bit more than a few adjectives in a row, or "We're here in ... and now we're going climbing".
Both things are very difficult.
But it's possible to obtain both! There are some very good videos out there!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on August 20, 2013, 04:09:34 pm

Turning them from person into product. It's easier to make money out of a product.

Images can speak, but only to a certain extent. People need to be able to express themselves to sell themselves, and this is where many of them fall down, as they are barely capable of an original thought, let alone stringing together a sentence to express that thought.

Some are capable, however, and they are the ones who set themselves apart.

Even if Dave Macleod's wrting may be a bit ponderous at times I would take it over the "wahoo it woz rad" writing any day.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 20, 2013, 04:21:00 pm

Quote from: SA Chris on August 20, 2013, 04:09:34 pm

Even if Dave Macleod's wrting may be a bit ponderous at times I would take it over the "wahoo it woz rad" writing any day.

Oh yes, absolutely.
I don't find it ponderous, to be honest. Or, at least, it's not that, that I dislike. I just find it a bit too rational, not letting emotions come out. But I understand that people are different and maybe not everyone wants to write in an emotional way.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on August 20, 2013, 04:25:58 pm

He's a bit clinical I'll admit.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Boredboy on August 20, 2013, 07:12:47 pm

I totally agree, good for you stepping up and saying it. Most climbing blogs and videos are as dull as dishwater, lacking any 'real' emotional content I fail to make any significant connection with the majority of stuff being said. The endless lists of routes interspersed with psyche and rad descriptions is enough to make me switch of before even finishing most blogs / videos. Surely this can't be representative of the actual experience but a failure to transfer experiences meaningfully or with the necessary skill. I'd imagine it's pretty hard to write an engaging blog or make a great climbing vid. A good combination seems to be slick footage and editing, depth of character and a bit of raw content, with emphasis on personal connection with whatever it's about e.g. Splinter.

Title: TOTOLORE
Post by: tomtom on August 20, 2013, 07:43:24 pm

Maybe we expect too much? After all, not everyone can write well - and express their feelings interestingly.. ie not everyones a novellist! So I guess theres only going to be a small percentage who write engagingly and well...

But (as I gabbered on above earlier) theres pressure for those at the top of their game to keep posting and writing about it - when really it might just not be what they are interested in or any good at!

Back in the day - some would have been people of few words - letting their achievements speak for themselves.. but now sponsors, media, websites, the public etc.. expect tweets, blogs and lecture talks...

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fiend on August 22, 2013, 11:40:11 am

Fucking 'ell you're a moody cunt Nibbles :2thumbsup:

Are you sure you're not secretly British??

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: peewee on August 22, 2013, 12:22:52 pm

Quote from: Fiend on August 22, 2013, 11:40:11 am

Are you sure you're not secretly British??

Depends whether he secretly like queuing or not :coffee:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on August 22, 2013, 01:35:25 pm

Well he secretly wishes he was Malcom Smith so halfway there.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 22, 2013, 01:50:23 pm

Not secretly at all. Let me show you my tattoo...
;D

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 22, 2013, 03:43:53 pm

And while we are on this subject (Malc), as I said some time ago on here, there is a small bit of footage on "Stone Love", with a close up on Malc after he'd done La Pelle Direct or La Proue (I can't remember the problem, sorry). His eyes are lost God knows where, and to me that's the single best climbing take ever, for a number of reasons that I won't repeat.
It doesn't take much technology to film that, but it takes a lot of "eye", of timing, of love for the moment. Now it's dead easy to film even the smallest particulars of something, so - I think - they've lost the athmosphere, the glance, the moment. It's just documenting, not filming, to me.
For example: why there isn't a good surfing film on the Net with the live sound of the waves? I've seen a Tehaupoo bomb go off many many times, but I've never heard its roar. So I miss something out of the whole experience.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on August 22, 2013, 04:17:06 pm

Powers of Three..... on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/5486704)

Not Tehaupoo, something much much more. Get your headphones on.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on August 22, 2013, 04:20:03 pm

http://www.relentlessenergy.com/film/dark-side-of-the-lens.html (http://www.relentlessenergy.com/film/dark-side-of-the-lens.html)

I never really liked Ben howard before this.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 22, 2013, 04:28:22 pm

Quote from: SA Chris on August 22, 2013, 04:17:06 pm

Not Tehaupoo, something much much more. Get your headphones on.

Jesuschrist. Where does this come from???
Cheers Chris.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Falling Down on August 22, 2013, 07:20:14 pm

Clue.... You drink Guinness afterwards.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 22, 2013, 07:46:26 pm

Quote from: Falling Down on August 22, 2013, 07:20:14 pm

Clue.... You drink Guinness afterwards.

Cheers Ben.
The titles saying "The West coast of Ireland" had given me a bit of a hint... ;)
I was meaning that I was surprised by not having seen or heard about that video before, because it's extremely well done and quite deep, in many ways.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on August 22, 2013, 08:45:42 pm

I'm sure links were posted in the OFTS thread when they were released.

Relentless have produced (comissioned?) a few great films, most are worth a watch;

In spite of hating energy drinks they (like over-caffeinated sugary drink company) do have budgets available for great things to happen.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Falling Down on August 22, 2013, 09:33:37 pm

:-[

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: gme on August 23, 2013, 08:27:59 am

Hers another you might like

Uncommon Ideals. on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/28143591)

There are quite a few out there of this type but you just have to find them.

The Mickey Smith stuff from Ireland was a real breath of fresh air when it came out, as was his writing in the magazines, but as with everything it became the norm to the point when i ended up thinking oh here we go again another navel gazing introspective by Mickey Smith as it was just the same as the last one. Just goes to show that even quality stuff becomes boring when it becomes the norm, and also it is hard to make something truly great.

The piscobloc/over-caffeinated sugary drink company/epic TV stuff is all to the same formula, a formula i didn't really like in the first place. Its also made to attract people from outside the sport, not us and for a different demographic to the 40+ bracket i and many of you are presently berthed in. I suggest most of the targeted audience would not hold splinter in as high regard as we do.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: T_B on August 23, 2013, 08:44:07 am

Quote from: SA Chris on August 22, 2013, 04:20:03 pm

http://www.relentlessenergy.com/film/dark-side-of-the-lens.html (http://www.relentlessenergy.com/film/dark-side-of-the-lens.html)

I never really liked Ben howard before this.

God, that almost makes me want to try surfing. Epic.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on August 23, 2013, 08:52:36 am

"Change your life forever, swear to god" :)

Oh yeah, and the Irish crew, at Teahupoo.

Relentless Energy Drink presents Lives Of The Artists I (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz-72BHtwd4#ws)

With some great Xavier Le Rue footage too. And Burial. I'm really not into their music but you have to respect their ethos.

Sorry for highjacking your blogstream Nibile!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Falling Down on August 23, 2013, 12:09:16 pm

Burial? Gallows... ?? Bit different :)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on August 23, 2013, 12:17:04 pm

D'oh. Thought it sounded wrong when I wrote it! Something to do with dying anyway.

Title: DOLOMITES' BITES
Post by: comPiler on September 23, 2013, 07:00:13 pm

DOLOMITES' BITES (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/09/dolomites-bites_23.html)
23 September 2013, 1:54 pm

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5_N8xyc1Pcw/UkBBn2rwcBI/AAAAAAAAAn0/pggdVk_uV0I/s320/altro.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5_N8xyc1Pcw/UkBBn2rwcBI/AAAAAAAAAn0/pggdVk_uV0I/s1600/altro.jpg) The rock bites the heavy climber.

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WjSR_4DW4LQ/UkBBxbnSDBI/AAAAAAAAAoE/-0VFeEdZBTk/s320/kaiser.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WjSR_4DW4LQ/UkBBxbnSDBI/AAAAAAAAAoE/-0VFeEdZBTk/s1600/kaiser.jpg)The heavy climber eats Kaiserschmarrn.

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NriOWozfhQA/UkBBq15qIoI/AAAAAAAAAn8/W3T677REwwk/s320/prati.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NriOWozfhQA/UkBBq15qIoI/AAAAAAAAAn8/W3T677REwwk/s1600/prati.jpg)The heavy climber sees this landscape and he's happy.

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKvq0tBFSug/UkBB7E0arbI/AAAAAAAAAoM/KAZPL8YDeEQ/s320/sassolungo.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FKvq0tBFSug/UkBB7E0arbI/AAAAAAAAAoM/KAZPL8YDeEQ/s1600/sassolungo.jpg)The heavy climber is glad he doesn't have to climb that mountain.

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLk5I8eHbJw/UkBB8npKW6I/AAAAAAAAAoU/YgfQbyEls14/s320/uova.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLk5I8eHbJw/UkBB8npKW6I/AAAAAAAAAoU/YgfQbyEls14/s1600/uova.jpg)The heavy climber gets heavier with eggs, speck and potatoes. They go in the biceps surely.

Basically, I didn't do much in the last weekend, apart what the captions describe. The last time I'd seen those mountains was two years ago, and my life was completely different. I was about to leave Florence for Siena, to get back to my house, and to start commuting to work. This went on for two years, and is now over. I don't want to commute anymore, and luckily with the law practice going on and some other stuff, I can say a big "Fuck you" to the buses. My climbing was completely different also. I was a singleminded, obsessed punter with delusions of grandeur, who was easliy capable of going to Swiss for a basically one day round trip, or of going and putting laps on roofs with 37° in a Mediterran Summer. I was living mostly in isolation. Well, when I read back many of the posts here, I am ashamed by the amount of shit I've written in the past. The ego, the hypocrisy, the self-reference. But, I can see a thin line going through all this: I never never forgot that the only true joy is in sharing. Sharing everything. This weekend, as the last previous one in the Dolomites, was about sharing. Sharing the coffee that I usually drink on my own; sharing the boulders; sharing the thoughts; sharing the drive, the beer, the eggs. Sharing, sharing all. Spending hours with my friends trying to climb their first 6a. Then asking them to wait for me for a last go on something too hard. Then thanking them for their patience. A lot of time ago, I had a project. I climbed it in any possible condition, and despite reaching the final hold, I never toped it out. I think I've climbed it. I feel I've climbed it. My sponsors wouldn't be happy to hear about my indulgence towards myself, but given that I have no sponsors, it's all right. Why is it all right? First, because I say so. I climb for myself only, I am free at last, and if I feel that I've done something, I don't need to top out if I don't want to. Second, because when I first touched that final hold, I wasn't alone. I was with Andrea, my best friend, my brother and my climbing mentor. We were there, climbing together for the first time in years, and it seemed as if time had gone back to when we were in our 20's. It's not a coincidence that I climbed at my best that day. I was pushed forward by Andrea's presence, by the infinite power of brotherhood. Sharing. That's why, for me, I climbed the problem that day. Because I was with him and nothing can beat this, not even toping out on my own. There are moments that are uniques in our lives, and that was one of those: I eventually did my best effort on the project and that's enough. So, while I keep adding kilos to my deadhangs, and while my grades on real rock drop at a lightning fast rate, I say: share.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: finbarrr on September 23, 2013, 11:08:56 pm

:2thumbsup:

:hug: (okay, so the description to that emoticon is "hug", but visually it seems appropriate)

Title: WOOD, PLASTIC AND PAPER
Post by: comPiler on November 06, 2013, 06:00:11 pm

WOOD, PLASTIC AND PAPER (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/11/wood-plastic-and-paper.html)
6 November 2013, 12:28 pm

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uSWRTuzxPJA/Uno0rLfrZwI/AAAAAAAAAok/t5E0Su9ocPM/s320/tazzine.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uSWRTuzxPJA/Uno0rLfrZwI/AAAAAAAAAok/t5E0Su9ocPM/s1600/tazzine.jpg) Can one live just on caffeine? Yes.

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q9X01MmN2W0/Uno02PzvS-I/AAAAAAAAAos/l58WAtmSop4/s320/nebbia.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q9X01MmN2W0/Uno02PzvS-I/AAAAAAAAAos/l58WAtmSop4/s1600/nebbia.jpg) As long as I'm climbing with friends, even these conditions are fine.

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pTt005AJB3Y/Uno03QWJGEI/AAAAAAAAAo0/yrWYJV3NMtA/s320/scarpette.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pTt005AJB3Y/Uno03QWJGEI/AAAAAAAAAo0/yrWYJV3NMtA/s1600/scarpette.jpg)

Are just five pairs of toe-downs enough? No. The Hornets make me feel super pr0n.

Wood, plastic and paper are the current media on which my life revolvs at the moment. Wood, in the best form that wood can assume: a Beastmaker. Plastic, holds on my board. Paper: the amount of documents I'm writing and books I'm reading. This last months have been dedicated to improve both my brain and my climbing, and - the jury still being out on the first subject - the second aspect has improved indeed. First of all, I decided to get back to basics, and to dust off the mighty incut rung of my BM: set after set I managed to deadhang it with 14 kilos with right hand, and with 9 with left hand. I also managed to hang it back3 for both arms. I finally deadhung the monos with my pinkies - obviously with both arms in this case - very briefly, but still it's a progress. Anyway it was a friend's Beastmaker so it doesn't count until I do it on mine. Yay. Plastic. Plastic and rock are (very) different. I'm trying to build up some power endurance to climb the route of my life, so my board sessions are divided into power sessions, power endurance ones, and tests on a 30 moves circuit on my board. Funny. The power endurance and the tests make me literally sick. Rock is another thing. A three dimensional thing. I have been out bouldering a couple of times as of late, and despite feeling OK, if only a bit tired (I'm seven weeks into my training cycle now), climbing on rock involves a lot more than bearing down on a two directional scheme. D'oh.The real joy of climbing on rock is wearing some cool rock shoes. Anyway the training is paying off, last Sunday I managed to repeat a couple of problems without getting pumped. Then, Adam Ondra. He went to Uni, and entered a competition, which incidentally wasn't the local Alpine Club gathering, but a Lead World Cup event. He just won. Why, one could ask, should the guy go to university, while he could easily travel the world and climb full time and live just on sponsors? Because he is a smart guy. My Roman ancestors used to say "MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO". Climbing form comes and goes, mental form comes and stays. I can't see why not asking 100% from our minds, more than just from our fingers (and arms and lats and shoulders and gonads): one year ago my life changed, and all I found in my hands was climbing. I started hating climbing, and with some help from close people I found the energy to make a move. Then to make another move. I entered a first degree Master in Criminology, and then went back to practicing in a law firm. I left Florence and commuting and settled back in Siena. I slowly started to find some kind of pleasure in climbing and in dressing up in a suite and combing what remains of my hair. My neurons started connecting again. Not only "How much weight should I use for this set?", but also "What will I write in my Master's thesis?", "Which books do I have to study to pass my lawyer exam?", "Do you give me your number, darling?" Every day in Court, I meet guys and girls, ten years younger than me, that are super smart, already officially lawyers, earning their livings with pride. I've done other things, I know, but BM feats of strength aren't a great subject for a nice conversation, aren't they. And they don'r pay the bills, unless you get paid to show off in a gym. Which I'd like to do, by the way. So, no one wants to be the ex-wad that works a shitty job. I think Ondra made a great move. He has already done every hard route in the world, and will win a few World Cups. In the meanwhile he'll get a degree and will somehow partially secure his future: when he'll grow up, and then become old, he'll finally struggle to onsight 9a's and at that moment, I'm sure he'll thank his formation, culture, and well functioning brain. I've met climbers who literally can't talk about anything else than climbing. I get bored. Have I been like that? I hope I haven't.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: A SHITTY WEEKEND
Post by: comPiler on November 18, 2013, 06:00:16 pm

A SHITTY WEEKEND (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-shitty-weekend.html)
18 November 2013, 4:13 pm

This past weekend should have been another great opportunity to train on my Beastmaker and on my board, in my endless quest for the physical limits. I still wonder why I keep buying climbing shoes. Unfortunately, the Gods had something else in plan for me. On Saturday, I had planned to go to the Chiesina roof, because I wanted to put on (and use) my new climbing shoes, and given that I don't use them on plastic, the only chance left was to go on rock, but I was confident: the weather forecast was terrible, maybe it was the right chance to have an excuse and use the Hornets on my board!!! Unfortunately I woke up to perfect blue skies and a gentle breeze, so instead of having another coffee and going back to bed, I had another two coffees and waited for my friend (who is also the father of Italian 8c crusher Michele Caminati, and crusher himself) to come over and pick me up. Damn good conditions. Just the time to drive there and a quick stop for some coffee (because I had only brought a flask of it for the whole day) and we were ready to rock. Even with those perfect conditions, not everything was lost, and maybe there was still some chance to escape the dry rock and perform some sort of rewarding training; because the current state of mind is as follows: - rock climbing counts as a rest day activity (because it's still better than sitting in front of the tv; but not as good as going to the cinema); - board climbing on other boards counts as testing the form;- board climbing on my board prepares me to be strong on the fingerboard; - fingerboarding on other people's Beastmakers counts just if I smash their PB's, but it doesn't count for my own PB's;- fingerboarding on my Beastmaker is where it's at. The fucking real thing. Anyway. On Friday evening, between deadhangs, I took the time to build a small portable fingerboard, to help me warm up for those rare occasions in which I'd face some real rock.

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gDlMk6PWmEU/UoonwlV0IqI/AAAAAAAAApE/1bEDDmZM2nU/s320/portable+board.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gDlMk6PWmEU/UoonwlV0IqI/AAAAAAAAApE/1bEDDmZM2nU/s1600/portable+board.jpg)There you go! That's how to put Mother Nature to good use! Spare the rock! Protect it! Hang the small board to a branch, and put some serious training in! Hell yes! After a good half an hour spent dangling from wooden edges, my partner decided that he wanted to actually climb. "Why?" I told him. "That'll ruin your skin! How will you fingerboard tomorrow?" He was not redeemable. I had to spot him. During a couple of attempts, while moving the pads for him, I tripped on my climbing shoes; I had taken my sneakers off because they false all the parameters of the deadhangs, so in tripping my feet accidentally slipped into a very tight pair of brand new Five Ten Team. Somehow, falling down, I also tightened the velcros. Hmm... "How can I take them off now?" I thought. "If I use my hands, I'll be tired for the next set of hangs... Oh Yes! I can slip them off in a strong double heel hook. Right on!" In the roof there's a strong heel hook for the left foot, but I needed one for the right one. I started searching. Almost completely covered by rocks and fallen leaves from ages, in the depth of the roof I spotted a seam. So I took a broom and started digging. Rocks, turf, leaves, all went out in a cloud of dust, and now I had a beautiful right heel hook to take my shoe off. I chalked up, and went. Did the first new moves, got to the heel hook, and unfortunately the shoe stayed on. Dammit! At least I could try with the left one, so I carried on. Fuckin hell! It stayed on as well. At that point I was so high (more than 80 cm from the ground) that jumping down was impossible. I needed to top out and get down from the tree. And that's what I did. This mishap completely ruined my fingerboarding session, and the day was consequently over. I took my shoes off and stared disappointed at the roof, with its new five moves and almost two meters of climbing that I had dug out.

Now I have to repeat all the problems from the new start. Damn: how am I supposed to train properly if climbing on rock gets in the way? I'll never get really strong. Sad but true. Sunday. After a tripes and liver based dinner on Saturday night, Sunday dawned cloudy and rainy. Yes! Brush the Beastmaker, quick! Sadly this time another friend of mine wanted to climb, so again I had no escape: before, he used to simply email me; then he started to phone me in the morning; now he simply comes over and rings the bell until I wake up and let him in. Crashpads, shoes, coffee flask, chocolate. Car. Rain on the road! Yes! Fucking yes! "Wait a second. If it rains I can't hang the small board outside!" Frantic and immediate search for a nearby gym. I had trimmed my nutrition, energy drinks and Antihydral to be performing on the fingerboard between 14:00 and 15:00 and we couldn't drive back home and play as amateurs.We found a gym. We went. Ahhh! It was open. Noooooooo! There was a competition! Fucking hell. Dozens of happy people climbing, smiles all around, fuck them. What was worse, there was no Beastmaker. I could have mounted my portable one, but everyone was already using liquid chalk! No one will touch my wood with liquid chalked hands (you see what I did there). Fuck me. Again. Two days in a row, I had to climb. Not only I climbed, I was also allowed in the final. How? I ask. I had given back my card empty! Dammit, someone must have seen me climb something. Never, never climb anything. Anyway, I was agonizing to go home and do at least one set of one armers on the incut rung, so when the final started I wanted it to be over as soon as possible. I was so angry that somehow I lost my concentration and started climbing well: powerful and precise. When I focused back again, I found myself eyeing the final hold of the problem, at roughly 3,5 meters from the ground. I looked down between my legs, on poor footholds, with the abyss below. I calmly downclimbed and felt safe on the mats.

No one toped the problem out, so I won the Veterans' category of the competition, in which I was the only competitor. What a shitty weekend.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: keefe on November 18, 2013, 07:41:26 pm

Brilliant. :clap2:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Sasquatch on November 18, 2013, 07:45:21 pm

Man, I'm sorry you had such a crappy weekend. Sounds like it was horrible and a total waste of time. You really need to set your prioirities and stick to them.....

:icon_beerchug:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fiend on November 18, 2013, 07:52:57 pm

That sucks man :2thumbsup:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Monolith on November 18, 2013, 08:03:04 pm

Absolutely joyous post Lore!

Title: TOTOLORE
Post by: Stu Littlefair on November 18, 2013, 11:18:13 pm

Genius

Title: TOTOLORE
Post by: Oldmanmatt on November 18, 2013, 11:42:07 pm

Love it Lore!

have just shared that with my sponsored lads.
Might get them out of the gym and onto some rock...

Maybe not.

They're all resting and saving their skin for the Barn comp on Saturday.

Last week it was the TCA comp...

All rest and no play,

makes Jack a Competition Climber.

Title: CLIMBING, GRADES, FIRST ASCENTS AND PICTURES
Post by: comPiler on December 07, 2013, 06:00:10 pm

CLIMBING, GRADES, FIRST ASCENTS AND PICTURES (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/12/climbing-grades-first-ascents-and.html)
7 December 2013, 12:56 pm

For the third weekend in a row, I went climbing. I mean, real climbing, with real rock, crash pads, coffe flask, down jacket and cold. Despite the fact that climbing keeps getting in the way of training (for climbing...) I have to say it's been fun. I went back to Sassofortino after ages, and managed to open a new exit to a very old problem, the very first 7th grade problem in Sasso, to be fair, and probably in Tuscany, the good old "Shelter". Years ago I wrote a beautiful - or so I thought at that moment - story about the first ascent, revolving around how and why the first ascent was mine and not a previous one from a friend. Sadly I can't find this story anymore in my pc and therefore I don't even remember why the first ascent had to be mine. Anyway, the new line takes the upper lip of the boulder and goes left instead of straight up. It was late and humid when I did it, so probably my impression of it being Font 8b could be biased. 8a+? Yesterday, on the other hand, I went to Vivo d'Orcia, where with a good bunch of friends, I easily and quickly did nearly all the moves on a 7c+/8a problem by Michele Caminati, and that was really nice. After a couple of goes on the singles, I did it from the sitter dropping at two moves from the top. Unfortunately for me, those two moves are the ones that give the problem the grade, but I can still say that I've climbed the 6c+ part of an 8a. The important thing is that the 8th grade be mentioned. Because I climb for the beauty of the rock. Ha.All pictures copyright and courtesy of Carlo Chechi at www.carlochechi.com (http://www.carlochechi.com/)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xvhueEGoGcU/UqMZyxZT43I/AAAAAAAAAp0/rHOA4qBF7Xk/s320/IMG_9545.JPG) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xvhueEGoGcU/UqMZyxZT43I/AAAAAAAAAp0/rHOA4qBF7Xk/s1600/IMG_9545.JPG)

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WzrTcyq48Vc/UqMZrbtxGRI/AAAAAAAAApU/9B11okPM_Oo/s320/IMG_9631.JPG) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WzrTcyq48Vc/UqMZrbtxGRI/AAAAAAAAApU/9B11okPM_Oo/s1600/IMG_9631.JPG)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xtuSZ5v3HBI/UqMZuAO7XSI/AAAAAAAAApc/IpaVleEb-Ug/s320/IMG_9683.JPG) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xtuSZ5v3HBI/UqMZuAO7XSI/AAAAAAAAApc/IpaVleEb-Ug/s1600/IMG_9683.JPG)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Mu37WIDU7FI/UqMZuj59q0I/AAAAAAAAApg/lHYeJ_pmYJo/s320/IMG_9693.JPG) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Mu37WIDU7FI/UqMZuj59q0I/AAAAAAAAApg/lHYeJ_pmYJo/s1600/IMG_9693.JPG)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WnRwftSejV4/UqMZxvsN9cI/AAAAAAAAAps/2wBomYKGgF4/s320/IMG_9699.JPG) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WnRwftSejV4/UqMZxvsN9cI/AAAAAAAAAps/2wBomYKGgF4/s1600/IMG_9699.JPG)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-etGGtasn_6I/UqMZzVSzpJI/AAAAAAAAAp4/ZVFhn0L90fo/s320/IMG_9702.JPG) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-etGGtasn_6I/UqMZzVSzpJI/AAAAAAAAAp4/ZVFhn0L90fo/s1600/IMG_9702.JPG)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ejjiiFvYMJs/UqMZ1YSIt-I/AAAAAAAAAqE/rpnFEMNn8hQ/s320/IMG_9703.JPG) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ejjiiFvYMJs/UqMZ1YSIt-I/AAAAAAAAAqE/rpnFEMNn8hQ/s1600/IMG_9703.JPG)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: tomtom on December 07, 2013, 09:34:20 pm

Nice pics Lore.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on December 09, 2013, 01:58:25 pm

Cheers beast, I contributed very marginally to them!
Carlo had injured his hamstring indoors and so he just came along for the pics, with tripods, lights and all that malarky. I have to say that he did a great job, and I'm very very happy to have something nice to show, for once, instead of myself training on my board or BM...

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fultonius on December 09, 2013, 02:29:23 pm

Surely you should get him round with the lights/tripos etc. for a BM photoshoot, no?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on December 09, 2013, 06:54:01 pm

Title: BACK TO NUMBERS
Post by: comPiler on December 21, 2013, 06:00:12 pm

BACK TO NUMBERS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2013/12/back-to-numbers.html)
21 December 2013, 5:25 pm

Finally the weather crapped out...Conditions so far have been absolutely perfect and I have taken advantage of them at my best! In the last weeks the weather has been gorgeous: perfectly cold, sunny, dry winter days. Every morning I would walk to work in the morning breeze, fully clad in my suit, my right hand powerfully clenched to the handle of my leather briefcase full of papers and documents. After the small uphill, a quick match with my left hand on the handle, and then it was full left hand training until the Court of Justice building. So dry, so sticky, no need for chalk. Up and down a few flights of stairs to raise my pulse and then it was time to go out for a goregous coffee in the sun before going back to the office. Fantastic. In the late evening, the temperature was perfect for a good session on my board, or on the Beast. Not a single chance has been left behind! Fortunately, these perfect conditions magically kept disappearing during the weekend, leaving room to foggy, humid, horrible days: no need to drive to the rocks, let's spend five hours on a single sheet of plywood of my board! In doing so, of course many projects went down. Many, like one. But I also did a single move that I had been training for a couple of months. I did it, then I kept going but fell on the following moves: I quickly realized it was due to old shoes, so I promptly sent four pairs to the resoler on the following day. I also completed my power endurance setup and found great joy in making my forearms and fingers explode in another way than simply repeating problems. The video shows how great this was:

Then finally, I put my hands on the beast after (too) many weeks, with decent results. 6 kg left hand and 8 kg right hand on the three fingers slot; 12 kg and 16 kg on the incut rung, half crimped. I pity those poor bastards who are always climbing on rock: how can they thell whether they're on form or not? Climbing an 8b is clearly not enough, it could be simply due to good conditions and a bit of luck, or even - the horror, the horror - to simply climbing well a perfect sequence. The horror. How boring must it be, to simply go around in a forest, spot a problem with already chalked holds, drop the pads down and climb? Far better is having to connect holds on plastic, having to imagine incredible sequences never found on rock, contrived moves that would make the most eliminate problem look straightforward. Feet on the screw-ons only; no dropknees; compulsory matches and prehensions (no, not that side of the hold, that is out); horrible sitstarts: this is what I like. And more than this, numbers, numbers, numbers. Objective numbers: number of one armers; number of seconds on a hold; number of kilos added to a hang; number of laps on a problem. All within the domestic walls of my house. I wonder how one could do without this all. Perfect boulders and scenery? Dry rock? Good vibes of cameraderie and partnership? Ha! I don't believe it anymore. In the world of "soft 5 mins", "syked with da crew", "thanks to my sponsors" and driving scenes in videos, poetry in global climbing is dead. So why pretend otherwise? Làthe biòsas.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Richie Crouch on December 21, 2013, 11:51:21 pm

Brilliant post yet again lore. I must confess... I hope to be one of those punters who soon climbs something outside in the perfect sequence, to avoid having to get strong! (Sorry) ;)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on December 22, 2013, 01:53:22 am

I understand Richie: it's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it.

Title: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Post by: comPiler on January 08, 2014, 06:00:16 pm

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/01/happy-new-year.html)
8 January 2014, 12:25 pm

As trivial as they sound, some things are to be said.

Happy 2014 to you all is one of these.

Other trivial habit is the one that wants the blogger to give a detailed account of the past holidays: how many dinners, how many girls, how many new problems climbed and new areas visited, how many kilos put on.

I like being trivial, so the answers are: many; one; zero; zero; zero.

Sticking at what you're good at, on the other hand, may not be considered trivial and it's one of the things I like to do the most.

I am good at fingerboarding and at being an idiot, and this video proves it:

http://vimeo.com/83423906

Ciao.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fiend on January 08, 2014, 06:11:45 pm

LOL Nibble, that video really cracked me up. I was wondering why you weren't looking as :strongbench: on the Beastmaker as usual...

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Richie Crouch on January 08, 2014, 06:16:15 pm

Mama Mia! :strongbench:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: tomtom on January 08, 2014, 06:31:50 pm

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Monolith on January 08, 2014, 07:58:24 pm

You know you belong with the British idiots Lo! Come north and keep crushing!!

Title: POST HOLIDAYS REST AND REALIZATION
Post by: comPiler on January 29, 2014, 12:00:13 pm

POST HOLIDAYS REST AND REALIZATION (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/01/post-holidays-rest-and-realization.html)
29 January 2014, 10:47 am

After the holidays, I felt I really needed some rest, and planned a week off after some good training: a friend of mine have built a board in his garage, and I took great pleasure in going there with some friends to pull down hard; those sessions have been really great, not only thanks to the good company and vibes, but also because we were on holidays, and each session saw someone bringing over cakes, Prosecco wine, and the likes. I also had a Champagne fuelled session on my board in which I crushed a project. Yay! All it takes to climb hard is: no work, lots of sleep, food and Champagne. As easy as it gets. Unlike my board, my friend's one have normal footholds, and it's allowed to step on the handholds. Despite making things - apparently - easier, I found out that the better footholds allowed for some crazy upper body action and positioning, working my arms, back and fingers in a completely different way than my board. Both overhang 54 degrees. So, my week off started quite well: I had climbed on Monday, the last day of the holidays, and spent Tuesday and Wednesday resting. Then I trained or climbed four days in a row. Dammit. Friends are Evil. Now I really needed some rest. This time this was better done thanks to my bread-cutting ability. While preparing a sandwich for the day's climbing, on Sunday I cut through a good 3 mm of my left thumb. I taped it and went climbing, but got home with the tape soaked in blood. It took a while to finally heal, but still now after a serious session, some blood can be seen under the skin. Letting go of the training for a few days, made my mind strong to start again, but my body had given in. I did some excellent fingerboarding to ease myself back in, with a very good session. I tested myself on the monos and pockets, and found good improvements despite not training them for a couple of months if not more, which led me to questioning the misteries of training. I also added 2 kg to my one armed hangs on the incut rung of the Beastmaker: +14 for left hand, +18 for right hand. This session was heavy. The following day my arms and back were thrashed, and when I stepped on the board for some bouldering - after a few weeks dedicated to system training - I wad shocked by how hard my problems felt. Like, I couldn't do the moves in isolations: I either was strong when I did them, or weak now. Or both. A rude awakening. Very rude. Right now things are going better, and I also retained some Power Endurance. Here are some images that sum it all up.

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qXnykBIQGYc/UuedCfJ69BI/AAAAAAAAAqY/tniOV07gft0/s1600/collevergari.JPG) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qXnykBIQGYc/UuedCfJ69BI/AAAAAAAAAqY/tniOV07gft0/s1600/collevergari.JPG)A good problem that gave my left thumb a hell.

Some compression on pinches, but no thumbs.

Some deadhangs on wide slopey pinch/edges.

A good go on the circuit, getting to hold number 23, with only 7 more moves - the hardest part - to do!

These last months have been very important on many aspects, climbing included: once I realized that I can't project hard things on rock, for the usual reasons that I ignored for the last ten years - filling this blog with utter bullshit, idiotic thoughts and envious ramblings that now make me very ashamed - I started having some fun again. My projects are on my board and on the Beastmaker, and they just represent the climbing spin off of the only project I've ever had: being strong. As strong as I can be in that specific moment of life. Until now it's been climbing, but it could be weights, or something else. This is a clarifying vision and a realization.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: tomtom on January 29, 2014, 09:09:09 pm

Lore - have you been pulling too hard? ;)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/giant-boulder-crashes-through-house-owned-by-catholic-church-9092989.html

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on January 29, 2014, 11:28:26 pm

;D
If I can't climb them, I throw them away.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: a dense loner on January 30, 2014, 04:03:22 am

Yep training's a dark art lore. I found the other week, after not climbing on the board or finger boarding for a long time, 12-18 mths and very little climbing at all last year due to work I could still hang a mono (one armed) with index and ring finger with same side foot on small foothold on the 45 board. Previous to this moment of madness I thought I wouldn't be strong enough to climb on the 45 since the little attention I'd given to climbing was trying to use the comp wall more, work being physical but fingers becoming weak. The day after shocking myself I had probably the best session I've had on the board using the smallest crimps which I'd previously written off as too small for me. This must have been because I was in that strange mindset where I just thought fuck it I'm a monster how can I not hold them!??? Bizarre

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on February 25, 2014, 10:45:56 am

The one that went away. Nothing special though.
http://totolore.blogspot.it/2014/02/busy.html (http://totolore.blogspot.it/2014/02/busy.html)

Title: BUSY?
Post by: comPiler on March 01, 2014, 10:09:23 pm

BUSY? (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/02/busy.html)
24 February 2014, 11:59 am

Since the last entry, not much has changed climbing wise, except the fact that I have even less time now, having started accepting work - mainly teaching - also during weekends.

I do this because despite working full time every day, still I can't have enough to pay the bills. Not that teaching weekends will give me enough, but I have to get a little bit from whatever is possible. My work at the law firm is done gratis et amore, because this is how it works in Italy: you have to practice with a lawyer for one year and half, and this is compulsory, you work for him or her, you go in Court, you write papers, contracts and acts, you study the cases, and you don't get a single Euro for it. Nada. Zero. Niente.

So, this leaves me with two other jobs: teaching and translating.

Teaching is poor at the moment, winter means less students and this means working weekends to get some money; translating is kind of right, I'm currently doing a new book, for which I'll be paid probably in 2015.

I don't regret any of my decisions, this is just how things are at the moment.

One thing really pisses me off though: when I hear people complaining about having too much work, and having to climb "only in weekends".

Climbing on rock Saturday and Sunday is something that dates back a lot of time for me, so when I hear this kind of comments I tend to get angry: the last time I went climbing for more than two days is exactly February 2012 (U.K.), and the time before, February 2011 (U.K.).

Anyway. Enough of this.

I'm trying to keep my training up despite everything, and in the search of more power I bumped into a couple of articles about the benefits of short sprints: this one (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/par46.htm) and this one (http://www.t-nation.com/training/regular-cardio-will-make-you-fat).

So I started doing short sprints (around 15 meters) slightly uphill, in front of my house, before a system or fingerboarding or bouldering session. They're brutal and a total body recruitment which is very nice. I eat like a monster in the following days.

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iFwzHfUc3AQ/UwssVQjEvQI/AAAAAAAAAqs/m6sEq27hW74/s1600/jump.PNG) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iFwzHfUc3AQ/UwssVQjEvQI/AAAAAAAAAqs/m6sEq27hW74/s1600/jump.PNG)

Jump! The last bit of the warm up before breaking the barrier of sound.

Generally speaking I feel tired from a lot of training but also from recent bad eating habits. Power seems to be fine, but last time on the feet on campusing I was absolutely nothing; I did not panic though: I had just completed 12 sets with the small foothold and 6 kg on, so probably I was not 100% ready for PE...

Obviously all my climbing plans went out of the window: from February, to Spring, to Autumn, to - hopefully - Christmas.

I did a comp on Saturday, and climbed nothing. Not even on the Moonboard.

Hmmm...

As soon as possible I want to check my one armers.

And that's all.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: ERIC HOBSBAWN AND AMIATA BOULDERING
Post by: comPiler on March 21, 2014, 06:00:13 pm

ERIC HOBSBAWN AND AMIATA BOULDERING (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/03/eric-hobsbawn-and-amiata-bouldering.html)
21 March 2014, 3:29 pm

I don't know if Eric Hobsbawn ever did some bouldering, I seriously doubt so, though. What I'm sure is that, had he bouldered around here, he'd have written a book intitled "The Short Amiata Bouldering Season". For another year the bouldering season, for me, has lasted as much as two days. Two days of good conditions, with a clear sky, Sun and some breeze. Sticky rock. Psyche. Biceps. Amiata bouldering is a land of extremes: it's not uncommon to go and try the higher sectors only to find them freezing cold and damp, or dumped with snow, then to check the lower sectors and discover Summer is here. The cold sectors do not get any Sun at all, but they get the Northern icy winds; the warm sectors are in full Sun and get the Southern warm and humid winds. So basically every different sector has a window of good conditions that is really short. It took me just 21 years of climbing to understand that in Amiata you either freeze or boil. A good old friend of mine, an American girl named Josie, who I climbed with for a winter while she was here studying, nicknamed me "The Lord of Cold"... If you still read here, Josie, I'm sorry I took you climbing with glacial temps and made you belay me for hours for my route project. The friction was amazing that day, though. In one of these days I managed to make some good links on the super low start of my project from a couple of years ago, and did a cool variation. Rock climbing is quite fun, I have to say. Training wise - let's get to the important things - I had a brief stop due to a small finger injury that luckily passed in a couple of weeks: while doing a dynamic move I smashed my right middle finger in a hold that was in the way. Result, a slight sprain, swelling, pain, and panic. Also, a couple of weeks before I had strained my left hamstring attachment to the pelvis, while training PE on the feet on campusing, with the small foothold and 6 kg on. This has also almost healed, but I had to cut the sprints off for a while. I'll save them for the late Spring and Summer, when I'll be allowed to sprint barechested in my neighborhood. Now normal service is more or less resumed, with good results, especially on the board. I did good on some projects, and repeated an old one that I had only climbed twice in more than two years (still a long way from Malc's twice in five years on his project; also in terms of difficulty: Malc would flash my project in flip flops and my motorbike tied to his back). I did not improve my PE, neither on the feet on campusing nor on the circuit test, but I did not lose anything. Not having trained it properly in a lot of time I am happy about that. I have to admit that I'm also happy about the short Amiata bouldering season; I have lots of work to do, so going climbing for a full day leaves me feeling guilty. It's not often possible to go for just two or three hours, because after all it's almost a three hours driving there and back, so it's expensive and tiring. Not going climbing on rock except in special occasions (when I really want to put on my Hornets or Team or Dragon, that I don't use on plastic), gives me some peace of mind because in the weekends I have enough time to rest, work and train at home.

Up here is a project whose first part I climbed last week, with great joy. The following moves mark the start of the hard bit. I tend to think that I'll never do it, but as soon as I keep trying I may as well have a chance. And down here there are other training videos: another project, in which again the hard part starts where I fall (latching the purple with left hand and then matching: a move that I did in isolation once in two years...); and some power endurance training on one of my two test problems, using just one foot with 6 kg on. Brutal. Using only one foot means that every foot placement involves cutting loose: this works your abs very hard, plus all the body placements change. Very fun.

One last note to self: when still not fully recovered from a middle finger strain, it's not advisable to do middle finger mono one arm dead hangs. Strangely it hadn't occurred to me that feeling very strong on two armed hangs isn't enough: when passing to one armed hangs the load kind of... doubles.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: IT NEVER RAINS...
Post by: comPiler on April 24, 2014, 07:00:19 pm

IT NEVER RAINS... (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/04/it-never-rains.html)
24 April 2014, 1:01 pm

It never rains under my board. It never rains under Sanjski Par either. After more than four years, I went back to Misja Pec to try my chances on Sanjski Par, the route I fell in love with when I went there to interview Tadej Slabe (http://totolore.blogspot.it/2010/01/interview.html), old school hero and serious wad. The route had gone to gather dust in the recesses of my mind for a few years, then after a troubled relationship with climbing in the last years, it came out again to push me to train and to get stronger. So, from September, I put in four to six weekly sessions, with fingerboarding, system climbing, bouldering, and power endurance. A few weeks ago I hit a monster peak, which put me on top of a couple of projects on my board and made my ego and psyche boost. Then, while I was tapering the training to get to the route strong but rested, one day I made a mistake. I took part to a local comp. It was a rainy Sunday, and I had trained at home doing feet on campusing with 6 kg on; I wanted to do one footed bouldering with 6 kg on, after, but was too tired, so I decided to go and make my friends happy by checking out the comp they had set. Bad idea. The wall we have is just slightly overhanging, so it's hard to set hard problems, which have to be contrieved and generally ugly. On one of the easier ones, though, I heel hooked to gain the top. No problem. The following day, around noon, while at work, I realized I could neither stand up nor walk. My left leg was stiff and swollen like a ballon. Four days before going to trfy the route. I decided to cut my losses, gulp antiinflammatories, massage arnica and go nonetheless. As it was immediately clear, climbing hard requires both legs to work properly: there lies the difference with campusing. Tadej was there, under the pouring rain, in 20 degrees temp and 100% humidity, quite tipycally barechested and in shorts. The man is a legend: his current project is to campus the ten central moves of Sanjski. When you climb with Tadej, you follow his rules: total time at the crag, one hour (walk-in included: he walks fast); warm up: no; warm down: no; total tries: two. This is how a busy man climbs. So, there I was. On my first go I barely managed to see the holds. Then I touched a few of them and my forearms exploded. On my second go I linked a few moves of the start, but my left knee was quite useless, especially on hard pull-ins and drop-knees that I had to avoid like the plague. So I tried to climb face on. Ahah! That was the first day. On my second day, the first go was dedicated not to rip a tendon, and the second to actually perform a few moves. Then for another two days I just gorged on Spritz and baccalà. I made a whole lotta love with my girlfriend. So, Sanjski Par. It's hard. I had seen a few videos, but they were of the route prior to a major breakage of a big mushroom that hosted a strong double heel-hook and some toe-hooks for many moves of the central part. The already hard 8c is now hard 8c+. I tried a hard 8c+. Jesus fucking Christ. I must be mad. If there's a hard route in the World that I can climb, it's this one: it's short, it's crimpy, it's a roof and it's so low to the ground that if you skip the last clip you need a crashpad to protect the fall. Seriously. I had so much fun. I did all the moves, with many doubts about the sequence, but my dodgy knee didn't allow to try tricks, so everything needs further inspection. I will go back as soon as my knee heals, somehow: the sports doctor checked it out and told me I have a broken meniscus, but I probably didn't break it now. It's old stuff. I gave it a serious beating this time though. How did I feel on the route? Bad. How did I feel on the route bearing in mind that it's hard 8c+? Fucking good. Before going, I was physically very very exhausted. I felt strong but exhausted: the training had been brutal. Months and months on end of weighted beastmaking, weighted bouldering, power endurance, circuits. I needed a rest. And I planned to rest at least two weeks after this mini trip, because I really really needed it. I wanted to have fun, to relax, to go to my board without thinking "What are the homeworks for today? How will I do on the BM? Which hold of the circuit will I get to?"I got home Tuesday night. I trained on Wednesday evening. And a great session, also. And I am going to train today. And tomorrow. I came back from Sanjiski Par with a renewed motivation. And all just for 20 moves in a crimpy roof. So fucking cool. It never rains under my board. It never rains under Sanjski Par either.

(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5447/13972126401_b75f75c72b.jpg) (https://www.flickr.com/photos/70381658@N00/13972126401/)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: FIGHT THE BOREDOM!
Post by: comPiler on May 09, 2014, 07:00:22 pm

FIGHT THE BOREDOM! (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/05/fight-boredom.html)
9 May 2014, 1:31 pm

Summer temps are already here, and with them I have another perfect reason not to go climbing. Under my board, with outrageous tank tops that would have me banned from every crag in the world, from every gym and from every sane congregation of climbers - if such a thing exists - I can unleash what is left of a once powerful physique. Weeks and weeks on end of dining out are slowly but steadily changing my body composition, and I already dream about the days to come, the powerlifting days. Last Sunday, first thing in the morning - ok, no, first was coffee, second the toilet - so, third thing in the morning I ordered this ebook (http://www.amazon.com/Simplest-Effective-Training-Strength-Edition/dp/B00686OYGQ). Alright. When my traps will finally join my ears, and I'll bicep curl twice my bodyweight, then I'll be happy. In the meanwhile I just have to stick to training for climbing. Or, to be more honest, to training for training. Training is what I like and what I do, and if it gets me up something, all the better. If not, I don't care, as long as I get stronger. Ascents come and go, and can depend on many factors. But when you are in front of a loaded barbell, lifting it depends only on one factor: are you strong enough? The same can be said for the mother of all training for climbing: fingerboarding. The hold is there. You either can hang it or you fucking don't. Try changing your climbing shoes motherfucker, if you can't hold it. Try to dropknee mutherfucker if you can't hold it. Ahah! Where's your fucking god now. Anyway, I'm digressing. I tweaked a couple of excercises, lately. I've always thought that I'm weak on crimps, but I've never liked to train the full crimp on a fingerboard, leaving it for board climbing and rock climbing. So I started doing feet on campusing but using a full crimp, as shown in this video.

The full crimp works the tendons a lot more at the level of the palm of the hand, because obviously also the first phalanx has to be flexed closer to the palm to full crimp. I really felt the difference. Then, this thing called Power Endurance is pretty cool, to be honest. Despite the fact that I'm pathetic at it, I keep doing it because it still has the word "power" in its name, so it can't be bad. I switched from doing 3 consecutive goes on the same problem, resting just the time to get back to the starting holds and chalk up, to climbing the same problems pausing 5 seconds on each move. It's cool and fun. While lapping the problem, you always get at least 10/15 seconds of rest, between the laps, so - despite finishing the third lap with exploding forearms - this rest could cause some bias when transferring the training onto rock. If ever it will happen. The new excercises are in these videos here.

Last but not least, a little rant. When I read a pro climber giving advice on life, I get mad. As pro climbers, they should only give advice about climbing, and not about how you should live your life, letting you know how brave they are to live with no boundaries, no bonds, only guided by their dreams of the perfect route or perfect boulder. Bull. Shit. And with this nice little drop of good vibes, I now get the fuck out of the office and go training before dining out. Come. The. Fuck. On.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: a dense loner on May 09, 2014, 07:17:27 pm

Good blog nibs, so true

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Stu Littlefair on May 09, 2014, 09:44:02 pm

Amen brother.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: bendavison on May 09, 2014, 10:10:19 pm

Brilliant!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Jaspersharpe on May 09, 2014, 10:57:17 pm

Once again the man with English as his second language hits the nail firmly on the head. In perfect English. The bastard.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 10, 2014, 10:01:42 am

Ahahah!
Cheers guys!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fiend on May 10, 2014, 10:41:44 am

That PE training looked good Nibble, I got pumped watching it!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 14, 2014, 05:46:24 pm

Cheers beast, it's a good excercise indeed!
I'm still tweaking things, I decided to stop using downturned shoes for the feet on campusing. So from today I'll use flat shoes, to make the core tension more difficult.
I love this shit.

Title: BLUE, GREEN, MINUTES AND STRENGTH
Post by: comPiler on May 21, 2014, 07:00:18 pm

BLUE, GREEN, MINUTES AND STRENGTH (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/05/blue-green-minutes-and-strength.html)
21 May 2014, 2:30 pm

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8KC2M_Mj4Dc/U3y2Vbtl3cI/AAAAAAAAArE/kKyR4ztz46A/s1600/blue.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8KC2M_Mj4Dc/U3y2Vbtl3cI/AAAAAAAAArE/kKyR4ztz46A/s1600/blue.jpg)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3YfZRGQ0x08/U3y2gX1OkcI/AAAAAAAAArM/6YoRNQXX_IA/s1600/verde.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3YfZRGQ0x08/U3y2gX1OkcI/AAAAAAAAArM/6YoRNQXX_IA/s1600/verde.jpg)

In the pictures, training body and mind at the same time.

Then, I do not understand why some people like to detail how many minutes it took them to climb a boulder problem or a route. The odd "15 minutes", "20 minutes", and so on, on 8a.shit. I'm being modest as usual. Of course I understand why they do so: it's because the less it takes to climb a problem, the stronger the climber is supposed to be. So, if a climber takes "15 minutes" to climb an 8a, he appears to be stronger than the climber who took "15 minutes and 38 seconds" to climb the same problem. Bull. Shit. No one cares about time, we're not sprinters, and we're not making love. When two climbers have climbed the same problem, on that problem they are equally strong, if we're talking about climbing. Otherwise we would need to create a new way to grade a problem: it's 8a in less than one hour, 8a+ in less than half an hour, etc. You got the point. Everything is getting so fucking complicated that my mind boggles: number of tries, number of days on, number of minutes, how long did one drive to get there, he had fever, he hadn't taken a dump, he had diarrhea, he was on a bad mood, he had snorted cocaine, he was full of love, he had wanked five times... The last thing we need at the crag is some idiot who times you on your project. What will it be next? "I skipped a rest", "I used crappy shoes", "I thought about work during the climb"? Every excuse seems good to try and show that - ceteris paribus - for some reason one is stronger than another. Goddammit, you either climbed a problem, or you didn't. Get a fucking clue. The only way to show you're stronger, is to climb a harder problem or to show down on a fingerboard, pull up bar, campusboard or gym. I tend to think that many of those who just climb, have far too much time on their hands, and things get complicated. And I want them as simple as possible.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Muenchener on May 21, 2014, 07:48:12 pm

I don't entirely agree with you on this: doing something with relatively little work *is* generally a pretty clear indication that one is further from one's limit on a given route than somebody who had to project the same route twice a week for six months.

Otoh: if sport climbing is about climbing as hard as possible, then go & get on something that you find properly hard dammit!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: ghisino on May 21, 2014, 11:19:53 pm

Quote from: Muenchener on May 21, 2014, 07:48:12 pm

I don't entirely agree with you on this: doing something with relatively little work *is* generally a pretty clear indication that one is further from one's limit on a given route than somebody who had to project the same route twice a week for six months.

of course but i think lore's point is that you shouldn't get any particular credit for this.

quick redpoints are usually quite easy on the mental side for instance...many find it much easier to have a cold, emotionless "route killer" attitude on them than on some uberproject or a desperate onsight attempt.

Title: HIIT. KIND OF...
Post by: comPiler on June 05, 2014, 01:00:12 pm

HIIT. KIND OF... (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/06/hiit-kind-of.html)
5 June 2014, 10:07 am

One, of the many things that really piss me off about having broken my meninscus, is not being able to sprint anymore.I'm getting older and it's getting harder and harder to keep good form, so every possible activity is welcome. Every possible activity that contributes to power and burning some fat, in this order of importance. Regular cardio, steady state or not, is not welcome. If you ask yourself why you should not do any regular cardio, refer to the font of all information, T-Nation (http://www.t-nation.com/). The concept of "skinny fat", however, should clarify everything, and should keep you awake at night and make you tremble during the day, for the fear of becoming one. So, I can't sprint, but that doesn't mean that I can't perform other high intensity excercises. Yesterday I did this routine of five excercises: spider crawl (http://www.t-nation.com/training/reflexive-strength-and-spider-man) (+6kg), skip, gloves, snatch high pulls and front levers; each one - except the snatch high pulls - consisting of six sets of 10" max efforts, with 30" intervals. It was fun and I'll be doing it again. Fun means horribly hard. I didn't puke but was close. But not so soon. DOMS are kicking in already and I feel as if I'd wrestled an M1 Abram tank at full speed. And won. Do yourself a favour, do some high intensity training. Videos below.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SIGHS, SELF PROMOTION AND A RANT
Post by: comPiler on June 16, 2014, 07:00:05 pm

SIGHS, SELF PROMOTION AND A RANT (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/06/sighs-self-promotion-and-rant.html)
16 June 2014, 1:30 pm

Quite unexpectedly, and contrary to all my efforts, I am longing to go climbing outdoors. Yes, you had it right: the real thing, the rock. That stuff. Quite often, in the last weeks, while studying Civil Law wearing my still new, undersized Five Ten Team, I've found myself walking in Alpine settings in my mind, surrounded by granite boulders and high pine trees. A heat wave that got to 39° (it's just June, goddammit!) made me explode in huge sighs at the thought of how cool - in both meanings - it had to be in the mountains. I downloaded the guide of Magic Wood. It seems that after all, rock still appeals me. And this brings us to the main event of today: in the late evening I'll have an MR to check the damage I made to my left inner meniscus. I'm sure it's serious, given that each time I warm up and try to squat a little bit more, I definitely feel something moving and squeezing inside my knee. A painful and unpleasant sensation.End of the sighs, bring the self promotion. In a previous entry, I confessed my worries about one armers: I wasn't feeling strong and felt the urge to test them. Training one armers proves to be a tricky matter every time I try. I have a pull up bar at home, but it's in a door frame and I don't have enough room to twist my body; my legs always hit the wall. The same can be said for the Beastmaker. I tried to build some kind of handle to hang it from the board frame, but still there's the wall on one side, and the steepnees of the board doesn't allow any leg space. The device I prefer, that comes under the form of a big, flat wooden edge (I prefer it to a normal pull up bar, don't know why. Maybe because my wrist stays more straight and doesn't flex), sits in my garage, where unfortunately my dad parks his car, of which unfortunately I have no keys (my father is smart). So, when his car is there, I can't train because there's no room. And it's always there, because my dad never takes the car. A couple of weekends ago, my parents went to the sea, and when my father dropped me a message I immediately knew that I had to make the most out of the chance. Doubtful and trembling I warmed up, trying to put an emphasis on big recruitment more than pulling force. I did a few lock offs and some HIIT. Then I went down. I took it easy and felt good. So I tried, with the idea that I was going to perform poorly, but also with the desire to use this test as the starting base for future training. It turned out that my worries were a bit excessive, as the video shows.

I am very psyched, even my left arm felt good with three/four one armers. There's no video of it because I need to stop my body from twisting using my right hand on the beam - an old, badly healed collarbone fracture makes my left shoulder girdle very weak - so it's not a good sight and probably it takes some weight off also. With proper Summer training things could become very interesting. Then: last Friday I won my first trial, the first one I followed from start to finish. It's been epic, from sleepless nights full of worries, to a proper fight in Court, with the judge nearly kicking me out so furious I was. But then I crushed the fuck out of the other parts: one was a Public Administration and the other a company that is the collection agency for taxes, that was condemned also to pay our expenses. Fuck you bastards: see my guns and hide!

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9T354jIdEDQ/U57tb5YOoGI/AAAAAAAAArk/l29UQb1DeJs/s1600/flex1.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9T354jIdEDQ/U57tb5YOoGI/AAAAAAAAArk/l29UQb1DeJs/s1600/flex1.jpg)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wNXotpdBFTc/U57tcrSCJ5I/AAAAAAAAAro/BTUB_x-46u4/s1600/flex2.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wNXotpdBFTc/U57tcrSCJ5I/AAAAAAAAAro/BTUB_x-46u4/s1600/flex2.jpg)In the pics: a few Nike athletes are going to need a new job. Of course I wasn't dressed like this in Court.

End of self promotion, on with the rant.

I've bumped into this picture:

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fUiqNYuDx2w/U57uM7_Bd5I/AAAAAAAAArs/R8Lqf3T9Ic0/s1600/flex3.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fUiqNYuDx2w/U57uM7_Bd5I/AAAAAAAAArs/R8Lqf3T9Ic0/s1600/flex3.jpg)

Everyone, has bumped into this, or a similar one. They're used to make fun of Arnold, and of those who dedicate themselves to the cult of muscle. The aim is to show how these things are temporary, how we are all subject to Mother Nature's laws. Well, thanks for nothing, assholes. The idiots who post these pics, do not understand that once you've been good at something even for a day, that day will remain forever in your life as an asset, as a success, and as a treasure. The fact that it's temporary - like everything in life, life included - it's just a lame excuse to sit there and become fat and ugly before time, accelerating the ageing process, instead of slowing it down. Motherfuckers that never were good at anything even for a single day in life. Arnold, and many others in many disciplines, from sport to culture, to art, were the best or tried to be the best in their fields for at least one day. And this is all that matters.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: HOW IT USED TO BE, HOW IT IS
Post by: comPiler on July 18, 2014, 01:00:04 pm

HOW IT USED TO BE, HOW IT IS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/07/how-it-used-to-be-how-it-is.html)
18 July 2014, 9:02 am

I wanted to blog about how much my days changed since last Summer: the long hours at work, the double schedule of teaching and practicing as a lawyer, with some translations thrown in for good measure.

But I won't.

Some things change, some others don't. I'll tell you about the second ones.

I still want to train and to get strong, even if I don't climb on rock basically anymore.

Temps are still awful. Luckily humidity is high... As my sense of humour.

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ETPKW4g5dK8/U8enfrGNenI/AAAAAAAAAso/Z6r_3jF_sBY/s1600/temp.jpg) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ETPKW4g5dK8/U8enfrGNenI/AAAAAAAAAso/Z6r_3jF_sBY/s1600/temp.jpg)

I still want to tweak my routines, namely the foot-on campusing, so I added 2 kg and switched to old, flat shoes instead of downturned ones. Train heavy, climb light. Still working the full crimp.

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lJp-ykJmgIw/U8enyXgbvuI/AAAAAAAAAs4/EVLRCYXmBZs/s1600/foot+on1.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lJp-ykJmgIw/U8enyXgbvuI/AAAAAAAAAs4/EVLRCYXmBZs/s1600/foot+on1.jpg)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YWx4u39v090/U8enypLbsiI/AAAAAAAAAs8/4VWJVnVObIo/s1600/foot+on2.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YWx4u39v090/U8enypLbsiI/AAAAAAAAAs8/4VWJVnVObIo/s1600/foot+on2.jpg)

I am still a cool motherfucker. Or at least I try to be.

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0wdl4l81DY/U8e1ghtUYNI/AAAAAAAAAtI/PkyBIyZp9d4/s1600/wedding.jpg) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0wdl4l81DY/U8e1ghtUYNI/AAAAAAAAAtI/PkyBIyZp9d4/s1600/wedding.jpg)

On the side of the many changes, I introduced some Finishers to my training.

What is a Finisher? As the name suggests, it's something that terminates your session. What the name does not suggest, is that a Finisher terminates your session by terminating you. After a well done excercise, or series of excercises, you should be lying on the ground, crying for your mamma to make you dinner and put you to bed. You don't look at your bulging muscles eager to go out for a drink and some girls, you just lay there and cry.

A Finisher has to be very short in duration (less than 10 minutes they say, but just 6 minutes leave me properly finished) and very high in intensity. Being performed at the end of the session, with muscles already fatigued and poor in glycogen, these excercises creat a very high metabolic stress that induces, teamed with proper eating, anabolism and fat loss. Yay!

For my finisher I chose to perform two excercises, back to back, in two sets of 2 minutes followed by two sets of 1 minute. I do Spider Crawls and a complex of Half Squat, Biceps Curl and Overhead Press. All with a 6 kg weightvest, that I wear under my sauna jacket. Just 6 minutes in total, but I can assure you that they are some very, very long 6 minutes. They seem to last an eternity.

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-opOIfPHx8k0/U8e19gLH8GI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/inx4GsJOjww/s1600/sauna.jpg) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-opOIfPHx8k0/U8e19gLH8GI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/inx4GsJOjww/s1600/sauna.jpg)

You, my dear reader, may be sitting there wondering why I still keep training so hard, instead of dedicating my time to (enjoying) climbing: I'll tell you why.

Beyond trivial matter-of-fact reasons (hours to go to the boulders, lack of doable projects, etc.), the main reason is: Delusions of Grandeur.

No, not the famous boulder problem. The other problem. The mental problem.

I can't be the best at climbing, so I want to be the strongest. I don't mean overall best and strongest, like in the world (I'd like though); I mean the best I can be. The strongest I can be.

To be the best I can be at climbing, I would need to climb loads. I should travel to many destinations, try many problems on different rock types, different prehensions, different angles (from 45° onwards). Refine my technique.

But I can't. I have no time and no money. At least for the moment.

So I want to be the strongest, because I have time and tools for this.

I can't be the best I can be without being very very strong. I could simply go climbing and punter around, maybe even have some fun.

I don't want to. I want to be as strong I can be, ready to seize the opportunity, if it will ever dawn on me, to try and be the best I can be.

Luckily, I don't even care about if and when I'll be able to create this opportunity: as I've said so many times, I love training as a goal in itself, and sometimes, the more useless it is, the more I enjoy it.

Finally, I got an MR for my left knee, and it showed a tear in the posterior horn of my medial meniscus. I will need surgery to fix it, still don't know which kind of: it's not too bad, so they could simply file the damaged part off, or cut it off, or stitch it, or combinations of the above. Recovery times will depend on which one they'll choose.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: jstrongman on July 18, 2014, 01:46:44 pm

Good luck with the knee I had mine done last October, trimmed out about a 1" tear by key hole in and out of hospital within 6 hours and totally recovered in 8 weeks, just in time for the arrival of our second small one!!

I am totally with you (well no where near in terms of strength) on focusing on strength and power endurance, when life gets in the way of your climbing ambitions. High intensity training is the one type of training, which I can be consitiant with and follow a structured plan. I take a lot of comfort in the fact that the routes and boulders I dream of climbing will still be there, when circumstances change and I can come out of hiding. Building the strength baseline now I think will serve much longer into old age than just trying to maintain all aspects of the sport, its is just so much more intersting and easier to keep the psyche when pushing forwards, rather than trying to tread water.

Title: SOMETHING DIFFERENT
Post by: comPiler on August 27, 2014, 07:00:09 pm

SOMETHING DIFFERENT (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/08/something-different.html)
27 August 2014, 3:28 pm

A very different Summer is about to end. Basically, we haven't had a Summer. An Italian Summer, I mean.

Apart from a boiling start, with temps quickly close to the 40's, then it's been just warm and rainy. I mean, very rainy. With floodings, casualties, and all that stuff. I didn't manage to touch dolomia at all. The boulders are soaked and a couple of project will have to wait for next year. Booooo. In the last months I have been plagued by my lower back, that really gave me hell, but finally it seems to be going better now; but at a very high price: stretching after every session and also on many rest days. Boring, but being able to stand almost straight is priceless. Another different thing: I have taken lots of rest. I took two entire weeks off. Not in a row, but still something very different. I went back to training one armers, trying to improve, with paused sets training, a.k.a. deadstop sets. Then last week I got a finger injury. It had been a long long time since the last time I had heard that terrible cracking sound. The sound of your climbing dreams being shattered. Luckily it seemed worse than it is, but still very very unpleasant and annoying, especially because I was feeling super strong that day and not bad at all in general. Could this renewed sensation of power be related to taking more rest days? Surely not. Anyway, injured finger meant back to one armers, and last Saturday I finally managed an L-seat one armer, on my right arm. Still not as cool as Juri Chechi would do, but pleased nonetheless. Blimey, they're hard. I can do 6 paused one armers on my right arm, but just ONE L-seat one armer was maximal. Brilliant. Video here: L-seat one armer (http://vimeo.com/104277058)

I also went climbing, and tried a long time project of mine, that unfortunately has few holds, that are a bit crumbly, and therefore tend to disappear. A new sequence was found on my last visit (after three years of not trying it) and I am very psyched to nuke it to orbit this next Autumn. This project also earned me the almost-best climbing shot I have. Dammit that left hand.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SCHOOL IS OVER, BACK TO SCHOOL
Post by: comPiler on September 03, 2014, 07:00:07 pm

SCHOOL IS OVER, BACK TO SCHOOL (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/09/school-is-over-back-to-school.html)
3 September 2014, 1:47 pm

School is almost over. After spending most of the Summer teaching Italian again, now the time has come for me to go back to my own school. In two weeks I'll start following a course that will last until December, with lessons every Friday and Saturday, exam-simulations every other Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and a final exam at mid-December that is the first of the two final steps to finally become a Lawyer, or I should better say a Barrister with no limitations of practice and full competence: three written essays, on three different days; one Civil Law case, one Criminal Law case, and one procedural act. Then I will spend six months working and waiting for the results. Then, in another six months or so, I will face step number two, under the form of five oral exams on five different subjects: Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law, Constitutional Law, International Civil Law and another one that I still haven't chosen. One year. Fifteen months from now. I am terrified. When I started back one year and half ago, I had one year and half of compulsory practice in front of me, behind the protective presence of two Lawyers, with no need to step up onto the main stage. Then my turn came as well, and I found myself spending sleeplees nights before going in Court on my own. Now I face this other challenge. This exam is very hard, and I want to pass with full marks, and I will pass it with full marks. Then, in more than a year's time, with this maelstrom behind me, I will go climbing.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: BODY AND MIND, BUT MOSTLY MIND
Post by: comPiler on September 18, 2014, 07:00:22 pm

BODY AND MIND, BUT MOSTLY MIND (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/09/body-and-mind-but-mostly-mind.html)
18 September 2014, 1:42 pm

If my body sometimes is giving me signs that it may give up (back pain, meniscus, strained finger) my mind is not. My mind is strong and therefore my body is as strong. My mind is young and sparky and indestructible, therefore my body is young and sparky and indestructable.

Body. The numbers say so: after a recent body exam, I found out that my body composition sits just shy of the one of bodybuilders, at the extreme top of that of "athletes". And I'm 42 motherfuckers. Anyway, this is not important. Well, it is, but not for you. Just for me. I have been on rock, and I had fun, despite thrashing my lower back. I need to sort it out properly, otherwise everything in terms of training and power gains is useless.Despite injuries and ridiculously few and brief training sessions, I managed to retain some ability to cling onto holds: I am currently focusing on super short system sessions, almost no board climbing except some attempts on the project circuit. I've been trying it for 13 months now... Still 4 moves to go, but now I always complete it with one resting. I get to hold number 25 with exploding forearms, fall down, wait a little bit then get to 30. This led me to think about the mysteries of endurance training: I am progressing on the circuit without training Power Endurance (or even Stamina) at all, or at least in no structured way. I have only been doing some laps on 12 moves long problems pausing 5 seconds on every hold, for a minute and half more or less of climbing; and some one foot bouldering on the same 12 moves long problems with 6 kg on. No repeated problems, no feet on campusing for Power Endurance, nothing. Could it simply be that I am reaping the fruits of the structured training I did until May? Hmmm.... it seems a long time ago to be still progressing. Who knows. As soon as temps and humidity go down, I need to test myself with the objectivity of a stop watch. I tried a variation of the foot on campusing, under the form of not campusing, not moving at all. It's very cool. Becoming able to shake out in such a position could lead to interesting things in the future.

Mind. I'm stuffing my mind with notions, preparing myself at best for the most important exam of my life.

"Who are you?"I ask this question to myself many times a day, and I always have the right answer.

Some pics. (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4CQjj4Rp1dI/VBrcfDsKKmI/AAAAAAAAAvo/-cuzR3xzn4o/s1600/image.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4CQjj4Rp1dI/VBrcfDsKKmI/AAAAAAAAAvo/-cuzR3xzn4o/s1600/image.jpg)Higher, he luxurious foothold that I use for foot on power campusing and for the new excercise, with its majestic 1 cm of contact surface (As Keith once told me: "You can't come off from 1 cm thick footholds!"). At least it's incut, it's almost like cheating. Lower, the bleedin' bivy ledge is use for Power Endurance. "You are weak" written on it.

Trying what will become my hardest problem.

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QRF1BA0jVWE/VBrcd-UNgVI/AAAAAAAAAvc/okivevk1qS4/s1600/image.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QRF1BA0jVWE/VBrcd-UNgVI/AAAAAAAAAvc/okivevk1qS4/s1600/image.jpg) The books I've studied in the last months, in the spare time from work.

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--VhLISz5DV8/VBrcfGAGsYI/AAAAAAAAAvs/3n6aD0sr7Ug/s1600/image.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--VhLISz5DV8/VBrcfGAGsYI/AAAAAAAAAvs/3n6aD0sr7Ug/s1600/image.jpg)SAN Power edge. The big one. Those guys are selective.

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D5DAYx90fx0/VBrckmzpmMI/AAAAAAAAAv8/ZeyIypumvI4/s1600/image.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D5DAYx90fx0/VBrckmzpmMI/AAAAAAAAAv8/ZeyIypumvI4/s1600/image.jpg)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMc-bIFDbuY/VBrclTn394I/AAAAAAAAAwE/1INwsVfX6Bo/s1600/image.jpg) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMc-bIFDbuY/VBrclTn394I/AAAAAAAAAwE/1INwsVfX6Bo/s1600/image.jpg)Staying there, staying put, shaking out. 65 kilos locked between the foothold and the crimp like a steel beam. Breathe, feel the greatness. Who needs real climbing? Not me.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI
Post by: comPiler on November 04, 2014, 06:00:21 pm

SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/11/sic-transit-gloria-mundi.html)
4 November 2014, 3:41 pm

I will remember this past month forever. It's been one of the densest, most intense periods of my life. I've been studying a lot, writing appellation acts, criminal and civil cases, and attending classes in the weekends. I've been pulling on wooden edges and plastic holds. I stepped on stage again after more than 15 years, to act and sing in a musical that a friend of mine wrote for our contrada, Istrice, and that sold out two nights in the main theater in town, raising more that 5.000 Euros for charity. Finally, I've been - briefly - climbing on rock. One single day, just one day of the nearly three weeks of perfect, clear weather that we've had, but what a day. I climbed some new, easy problems, nearly climbed a project that is around 8a+, and opened a beautiful arete. Now I'm here in my bedroom writing this with my left knee wrapped in ice and swollen after I got my meniscus surgery yesterday. It seems all over now, while I roll left and right to change position and ease the pain and discomfort: the stage, the public, the pointless training, the perfect rock. The pointless training. The pointless training. The pointless training nearly made me climb 8a+ on Sunday, on the first day on rock after 6 weeks. The fifth day on rock since the beginning of Summer. Is it really pointless? It's been great and beautiful. When I was there with my headtorch, rushing another pointless - yes pointless - attempt on the project, I thought: "Right, I'm gonna come back tomorrow evening and finish this." I had forgotten I had to be in hospital... Ahaha! I thrashed my hands, that now seem bitten by a dog, and got home. I really really wanted to get this done before this layoff, but it did not happen. I did not make it happen. But I tried with all my will and skin. Next time. The path is right. Study, train, love and destroy.

A few pics and videos of this incredible Autumn so far.

Below, the beautiful prow I climbed last Sunday.

Below, a new PB on paused rep one armers.

Below, the Move.

http://vimeo.com/109309457

Below, the new PB on the circuit.

http://vimeo.com/108706275

Below, a sore soul, a sore knee two sore hands.

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AxzY0orPlZ8/VFjuL7umyfI/AAAAAAAAAyA/lH2ffHzlpSc/s1600/image.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AxzY0orPlZ8/VFjuL7umyfI/AAAAAAAAAyA/lH2ffHzlpSc/s1600/image.jpg)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gPPBHnJ4gKA/VFjuNDhxPLI/AAAAAAAAAxo/c-OsSiJzMdg/s1600/image.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gPPBHnJ4gKA/VFjuNDhxPLI/AAAAAAAAAxo/c-OsSiJzMdg/s1600/image.jpg)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kpr_PTt-tT4/VFjuPaBZx5I/AAAAAAAAAyc/Hpo4F-H2gE4/s1600/image.jpg) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kpr_PTt-tT4/VFjuPaBZx5I/AAAAAAAAAyc/Hpo4F-H2gE4/s1600/image.jpg)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pgkw4r3Xx_4/VFjuMSsOBmI/AAAAAAAAAx0/HCsFRfj6YOw/s1600/image.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pgkw4r3Xx_4/VFjuMSsOBmI/AAAAAAAAAx0/HCsFRfj6YOw/s1600/image.jpg)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c8iUy1LFVTc/VFjuRjNGCuI/AAAAAAAAAyw/la0ESb9Cew0/s1600/image.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c8iUy1LFVTc/VFjuRjNGCuI/AAAAAAAAAyw/la0ESb9Cew0/s1600/image.jpg)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s1QXFhGazJk/VFjuReHV8bI/AAAAAAAAAyg/JRH4rtaIhFI/s1600/image.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s1QXFhGazJk/VFjuReHV8bI/AAAAAAAAAyg/JRH4rtaIhFI/s1600/image.jpg)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: ENVY
Post by: comPiler on November 24, 2014, 12:00:07 pm

ENVY (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2014/11/envy.html)
24 November 2014, 10:15 am

My evolution as a climber and a person, passed through envy.

For some time in the past - and I'm sure there are many traces of it in this blog - I've been envious. Envious of those who could go climbing, those who could climb the problems that I wanted to climb, those who could reap the rewards of the training they'd been doing.

It was horrible.

Let me talk about envy. Envy is a bad beast. To the contrary of what many may think, envy is a judgement. When we envy someone, we judge that person: we think that they don't deserve what they have, and that somehow in doing so they detract something from us, something that should belong to us.

So, envy is a lot more than we're used to think.

When I was envying my friends who could climb lots, my thoughts were along these lines, even though I didn't realize it and, had I realized, I would have enever admitted:

"I'm envious because they can climb the problems that I can't try. They climb them just because they have the time to stick at them. They're not as strong as I am. They're just more lucky in having more time and more opportunities. They don't deserve those climbs, I deserve them because I put in a lot more effort and dedication than they do." I could go on forever.

The sense of frustration that comes with this kind of thinking need not to be mentioned.

I don't know how things changed.

I think that I had to go through a complete chaos to finally emerge on the other side. I had to question not only my climbing, but every aspect of my life, and how every aspect of my life had been affected, for good or bad, by climbing.

It took me a lot of time to finally bury the hatchet with climbing, and this came with an added bonus: my envy had gone. I can feel it trying to raise its ugly head at times, but it's just the shadow of what it used to be.

I could say that envy became something different: it became the knowledge that my life is different from my friends' lives, and from anyone else's life.

Go figure.

Years and years to come to this conclusion. Ha!

I exchanged climbing for training, and finally found some kind of peace. Others may have time, I have not. There's nothing to be envious about, that's just how things go. Maybe I also exchanged envy for a little sadness and disappointment, but that's a victory!

I was thinking about it just yesterday evening, right before starting my warm up. Never seeing the opportunity to actually put all the training efforts to good use, makes training really really hard, mentally.

You sow, you sow, you sow, and you don't know when or whether you'll reap.

How do you deal with this?

It's very easy: you either quit sowing, or you keep sowing. Make your choice.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: THE STORY OF TWO WORLDS
Post by: comPiler on January 05, 2015, 12:00:21 pm

THE STORY OF TWO WORLDS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-story-of-two-worlds.html)
5 January 2015, 11:54 am

First things first: I did not climb "The Story of Two Worlds". I could have, but I didn't want to ruin my skin before projecting a nearby 6b+ with a better looking line. Priorities.

The story is about the two worlds that I've seen in the last times. The first one, is a world made of work, papers, books to be studied and the most important exam of my life. I simply could not pass a single day without studying or writing papers for the exam, I felt such a need to get there as perfectly prepared as I humanly could. It's been very very strange because it's been the first time in my life in which I felt such a need for perfect knowlegde. After just working as a teacher for a few years, I was feeling that my brain was struggling a little bit to grasp all the familiar concepts and principles of civil and criminal law, when I needed to use them. Now, I feel that I master those concepts and principles, and I see my brain as a laser sharp razor that would make Occam's one pale in comparison. I don't know if I've done enough to pass - not true. I know that I've done more than enough, I don't know how I will be judged. In Italy they are two very different things: how you've done and how you're judged - but I do know that I gave my best, and when on the third day of the written essays everyone, myself included, was almost panicking before a case that was seemingly impossible to solve, after three hours of head-scratching, searching for a norm that could suit this situation, I finally repeated to myself tha mantra that I had prepared for the exam, I went to the restrooms ignoring all the comments that everyone was making about how and what to write, washed my face, got back to my desk and wrote head down for the following three hours. Then I copied everything in good calligraphy and gave everything to the examinators. The agony was over. Three days of toil and torture, alone in another town, spending days at the exams and nights in a hotel room studying for the next day, without talking to anyone. I got out of the hall - where 1.700 of us were having the exam - took a deep breath and broke down in tears when noone could see me. The last written essay had drained every energy from my mind and body, and I felt betrayed. I knew that these exams could be unpredictable at least, passing from easy ones one year, to absurd ones the year after. Well, I had picked the year after. After two essays that I think I did well, the third one was the one for which I felt more prepared, and it's been the one in which I've struggled the most, in which I could make the littlest display of my legal knowledge. I got out sure that I'm going to fail the exam because of this third essay. I felt betrayed and hated Italy for how it's run and organized. Now I only have to wait six months to have the results, than we'll see. Be sure that passed these holidays, I'm going back to studying no matter what. A sharp mind is a sharp body. The climbing, as you can imagine, took a very little back seat. Luckily for me, I don't need climbing anymore to have fun, I only need training. So, I kept doing frequent, short, intense system sessions on my board, focusing on body tension and crimp strength; and some fingerboarding not to lose the love. I had good results and found out that somehow I retained some of my ridiculous endurance for the project circuit. On the board, when I tried some of my projects or old problems, though, I could barely do the moves in isolation... During these months of this first world, I also got my knee surgery. It's been far worse than expected. When they got in to cut the broken part of my meniscus, they found out that I also had a badly torn cruciatus ligament, and my knee was full of scar tissue and debris, making it impossible to even see the meniscus. So, they had to clean and grate and scratch lots of stuff out before even starting what they had to do, and this resulted in a much heavier operation than planned. This was followed by weeks of sleep deprived nights due to the pain. I also lost 4 kilos, for fucks sake. Two months later, I still have to regain proper muscle mass and sports functionality. Not pleased.

Then, after that day spent doing the last written essay, I got home and was barely able to speak with humans. My mind was elsewhere, and I could not stop thinking about what I'd been doing in those days. I could not sleep for a few nights, waking up three or four times with obsessive thoughts about what I could have or should have written. I was exhausted and only wanted to cry and pity myself.

It took me a good ten days and many dinners, gin tonics and lie-ins, to finally see the dawn of the second world. A world in which the desie to climb on rock made its presence strongly felt. I went climbing two days in the same week, and opened two new lines in an area that I've been climbing at for ages... Seeing with new eyes, isn't it?

Then, I booked an hotel and went to Ticino. Sun, freezing temps, perfect friction. Only my lack of climbing ability (and my terror for knee injuried) hindered me from climbing 8b+ as I was normally expecting with my usual laid back attitude.

It's been great. I also climbed something, with an achievement that, had it happened a few years ago, would have seen me bragging about it for the whole year, and now is passing almost unnoticed and almost already forgotten. Am I finally free from climbing? Am I finally free from myself? Am I finally free from my ego?

This second world is about to leave room to the routine of work and study, but I've planned to keep climbing a little bit. The spark is still there and my project as well.

It's been good to finally let go of some tension, and I fear the first world.

But as some climbers put themselves in hard and dangerous situations, and then have to deal with it, I put myself in this hard and dangerous (for my ego) situation of becoming a fully certified lawyer, and nw I have to deal with it.

I cannot wait to meet in Court that asshole of a lawyer that was doing surveillance at the exam: that useless presumptuous bastard, always arrogant and lookind down on us; I'll kick his fat ass like he's never been kicked before.

Motherfucker.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on January 05, 2015, 12:13:14 pm

http://www.totolore.blogspot.it/2015/01/the-story-of-two-worlds.html (http://www.totolore.blogspot.it/2015/01/the-story-of-two-worlds.html)
This is the link to the edited post, hopefully without spelling errors and some pics.

Title: BLACK INK
Post by: comPiler on March 28, 2015, 07:00:19 pm

BLACK INK (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2015/03/black-ink.html)
28 March 2015, 1:14 pm

As you all know, it's not uncommon for me to write personal things on this blog, that are not specifically related to climbing. Because, as you may not remember, this blog was born as a climbing blog... Anyway, a few weeks ago I got a new tattoo. This one: (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bzGCC6z9X6A/VRahXCIZXfI/AAAAAAAAA0g/A62njDYgitU/s1600/image.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bzGCC6z9X6A/VRahXCIZXfI/AAAAAAAAA0g/A62njDYgitU/s1600/image.jpg)

I have a few tattoos, and while I tend to keep their meaning and their reasons private, this time it's different. I made this last tattoo because I wanted people to see it, to read it and to know its meaning, because it's very important. Some time ago I read the story of Eric Garner, the innocent man who was killed by some bastards who happened to be Police officers. No. They were just mentally ill dirty motherfuckers, not worth the uniform they were wearing. There was a video and I made the error of watching it: it's terrifying. It caused in me profound sadness, rage and disgust. That poor man kept saying "I can't breathe!", and still those bastards chocked him to death. To fucking death. Young kids and innocent people killed by "policemen" is an issue. All over what we call the civilized world. We've had our share in Italy as well: Stefano Cucchi, Federico Aldrovandi, Riccardo Magherini, only to name a few. You can find everything about them on the Net. Riccardo, while two or three "policemen" were standing on his torso, while he was laying on the ground of a street in Florence, handcuffed, kept yelling "Don't kill me, I have a little son!" and yet they killed him. He could not breathe either. Well, as you all know, after Garner's killing, many sport stars and celebrities wore t-shirts with Garner's last words printed on them, to show their support to his family, to show that that they knew. Well, that's why I got this tattoo. Because I know. I know that there are some bastards out there, that are criminal dressed as policemen. I don't buy the stories you all sell, motherfuckers. The late Italian actor Antonio DeCurtis, a.k.a. Totò, was a man of incredible class and culture. He once publically challenged to duel a man, who had behaved rudely with a woman in a restaurant. The man was later to become President of the Italian Republic. Another motherfucker. Totò once said that the only way to know the real nature of a man, is to give him a uniform and some power. The way he'll behave when wearing a uniform and having some power over someone else, will show his true nature. These bastards that kill helpless people are a shame to the uniforms they wear. Uniforms that have been worn by real heroes, like Salvo D'Acquisto, a Carabiniere who gave his life to save civilians from a Nazi firing squad. So, this is the story behind my tattoo, and this is why I want everyone to know it. Because I hate those motherfuckers, I hate everyone who uses a uniform to hurt, kill and break the law.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: BLACK INK
Post by: kelvin on March 28, 2015, 07:24:37 pm

Quote from: Nibile on March 28, 2015, 07:00:19 pm

Totò once said that the only way to know the real nature of a man, is to give him a uniform and some power. The way he'll behave when wearing a uniform and having some power over someone else, will show his true nature.

My father often said something similar when I was growing up and as life has gone along, I've come to agree with him.

Title: Re: BLACK INK
Post by: shark on March 28, 2015, 09:36:41 pm

Quote from: comPiler on March 28, 2015, 07:00:19 pm

So, this is the story behind my tattoo, and this is why I want everyone to know it. Because I hate those motherfuckers, I hate everyone who uses a uniform to hurt, kill and break the law.

I assume you know about the Stanford Prison Experiment (http://www.prisonexp.org/) - it is in our nature

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: TheTwig on March 29, 2015, 12:03:35 am

Great choice of tattoo. Couldn't agree more about some of the savages that masquerade as law enforcement in the USA (and in the UK too, sadly).

Cool blog, first time looking at it.

P.s you are one scary looking guy! :great:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on March 29, 2015, 12:57:20 pm

Quote from: TheTwig on March 29, 2015, 12:03:35 am

P.s you are one scary looking guy! :great:

Ahahahahahahah! :lol:
I'm glad you like the blog!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 23, 2015, 11:30:46 am

http://totolore.blogspot.it/2015/05/two-days.html (http://totolore.blogspot.it/2015/05/two-days.html)
There you, just in case you can't live without Totolore. First time I had something to say in ages, also.
Warning: contains real climbing.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: ghisino on May 23, 2015, 12:11:41 pm

Lore, do you know that you, zidane and me may share a similar fate?

Not as athletes, unfortunately.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 23, 2015, 12:56:42 pm

Quote from: ghisino on May 23, 2015, 12:11:41 pm

Lore, do you know that you, zidane and me may share a similar fate?

Not as athletes, unfortunately.

Getting very bald?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Richie Crouch on May 23, 2015, 03:11:55 pm

Head butting Italian defenders in the chest?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Jaspersharpe on May 23, 2015, 03:31:27 pm

Having a crafty tab while you think no one's looking?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: ghisino on May 23, 2015, 05:18:33 pm

Quote from: Nibile on May 23, 2015, 12:56:42 pm

Quote from: ghisino on May 23, 2015, 12:11:41 pm
Lore, do you know that you, zidane and me may share a similar fate?

Not as athletes, unfortunately.
Getting ~~very~~ moderately bald?

Yup, even though i was referring to the location of the thinning hair (chierica) rather than the amount/speed!

It is not totally unlikely that i could head-butt someone after falling off something, but that's another story...

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 24, 2015, 09:58:00 am

;D
I haven't ever noticed that you're getting a bit bald, are you sure that it's not just a common men's fear?
In my case, I'm reminded of it by every climbing pic or video, unless I'm climbing face to the camera which is very unlikely, I'm not Rouhling on Akira...

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: ghisino on May 24, 2015, 12:49:33 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmRL2COWfM8&feature=youtu.be

32 secs in...

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fiend on May 24, 2015, 12:51:50 pm

That reminds me, gotta shave my head today.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 24, 2015, 02:48:11 pm

Quote from: ghisino on May 24, 2015, 12:49:33 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmRL2COWfM8&feature=youtu.be

32 secs in...

Luckily for you, my friend, you've still got a long way to go...

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Duma on May 28, 2015, 06:24:59 pm

Saw this and thought of you Lore:

(https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/11257014_1024264427591330_3028437730288256072_n.jpg?oh=1f1321d55acd7d55a0915b9a42007ad8&oe=55F78BAC)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 29, 2015, 08:18:46 am

Ahahahah that's brilliant!
Unfortunately it won't be easy to put a board rack on either of my two bikes, but luckily a friend of mine has a minivan, and he wants to try surfing. I don't own a car anymore, so I want to go to the sea with him and leave both my two longboards (yes I have two bikes and two longboards... ) at my parents' house there. Then it will be easier to go surfing without having to drive 100 km with my boards strapped to my girlfriend' Fiat 500 roof... And getting arrested for that.
I need to surf now.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: a dense loner on May 29, 2015, 08:22:22 am

Did you defend yourself nibs? ;D

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on May 29, 2015, 11:49:56 am

Hmmm... Not really, why? Should I have?

Title: MORE DAYS
Post by: comPiler on June 09, 2015, 01:00:21 pm

MORE DAYS (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2015/06/more-days.html)
9 June 2015, 11:59 am

I had thought that my moment of top form was going to vanish, and I had thought that I was going to run out of projects. I was wrong on both. The two days of the last post became more days, in which I found myself miraculously glued to ze rock, sticking move after move. I found myself stronger, also, adding kilos to all my previous personal bests and that's the only thing that counts, to be honest. I ask myself why now and not before. The answer is that it's happening now because now I am an overally better person than before. And I am a better person because I am a more complete person: my mind is as fast as a speeding bullet and as sharp as a laser beam. It's not hazy and lazy, incapable of thinking to anything that's not grades and moves. OK, it's never really been that lazy, but you get what I mean. Better mind, better body. I'm free. Free from others, but mostly free from myself and from my demons and ego. I know what I am and I know what I can do. The thing that strikes me most, to be honest, is that I became less shit at flashing problems. It all started in December 2014, and I suspended my judgement waiting for some more info. Then it happened again, but on first ascents, so again I suspended my judgement. But it happened again and again. So, finally, I must think that somehow I became better at flashing problems. I spent this last weekend in one of the places that I love the most, and in which I feel more at home: the Dolomites. Steep boulders on pockets and edges made for testosterone bouldering with bulging muscles and veins, fuelled by all sorts of natural and artificial food, from buckets of hyperproteic yogurt with honey and hazelnuts, to protein shakes, to honey and peanut butter sandwiches, to hamburgers and pasta. I flashed basically everything, including two 7c's (one was a retroflash of a problem I climbed ages ago). I was also very close to doing an 8a that I smartly tried at the end of the second day. Punter. OK, OK, I know what you purists are going to say about bouldering on dolomia: it's choss, they're eliminates, it's nasty, etc. I could finely discuss our diverging opinions about this subject, using my rhetoric to convince you about the quality of the bouldering there, but I won't do it. If you don't like it, you don't deserve it. Which is better for me also, because I like my boulders quite and private.

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hB2H_GCw3D4/VXbEhWyxNfI/AAAAAAAAA6I/RA9z4j7wHPE/s320/6c+citt%25C3%25A0+dei+sassi.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hB2H_GCw3D4/VXbEhWyxNfI/AAAAAAAAA6I/RA9z4j7wHPE/s1600/6c+citt%25C3%25A0+dei+sassi.jpg)Unfortunately, this moment of splendid form coincided with a certain Chzech climber flashing 8b and 8b+ and climbing 8c in a day, so I am not surprised that neither LaSportiva nor Black Diamond called me to ask me if I'd like to be paid by them to just keep climbing and being so awesome.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Luke Owens on June 10, 2015, 12:42:28 pm

Are you becoming a ROCK climber Nibs?? Great effort on the flashes, sounds like some good strong days out on the rock!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on June 10, 2015, 02:32:34 pm

Sounds incredible, innit?
Something has changed suddenly and basically without me noticing, but it's been a good surprise. I want to keep enjoying this moment, therefore I'll go back to the Dolomites in ten days!
;D :dance1: :devangel:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Luke Owens on June 10, 2015, 10:40:29 pm

Quote from: Nibile on June 10, 2015, 02:32:34 pm

Sounds incredible, innit?
Something has changed suddenly and basically without me noticing, but it's been a good surprise. I want to keep enjoying this moment, therefore I'll go back to the Dolomites in ten days!
;D :dance1: :devangel:

;D Good psyche! Enjoy buddy!!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on June 11, 2015, 08:29:58 am

Cheers! Hopefully the weather will play ball!

Title: EVEN MORE DAYS?
Post by: comPiler on June 24, 2015, 01:00:07 pm

EVEN MORE DAYS? (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2015/06/even-more-days.html)
24 June 2015, 10:53 am

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ew21HFCtvhQ/VYp2o8Rj1nI/AAAAAAAAA6s/AYZ4biSDTpo/s320/mecca+foto.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ew21HFCtvhQ/VYp2o8Rj1nI/AAAAAAAAA6s/AYZ4biSDTpo/s1600/mecca+foto.jpg) Photo courtesy of Pietro Mittica

To say I'm pleasantly perplexed is an understatement. And this blog entry could stop here. But it would be very unfair. After my brilliant weekend bouldering in the Dolomites, glowing in the golden light of my successes, I took the courage to do a few things that I hadn't done in a while. The first one, that took a lot of courage, was taking a week off. I mean, really off. Like, no board climbing, no fingerboarding, no sprints, no weights, no nothing. Not really, but I managed to do only one session, a weights and bodyweight excercises complex that left me in agony for a good couple of days. Hitting the same muscle groups with two bodyweight routines, namely front levers and paused reps ab rolls, isn't exactly a smart idea, but it was worth the risk. I felt like a Hulk. Anyway, this week off also coincided with ten days in which I never had dinner at home, resulting in lots of tasty food and wine gulped down... So, when finally Monday came, it was with terror that I slipped what I thought was my overweight frame into my training pants and top. I was training with my good friend Pietro, and fuelled by the usual dose of caffeine and protein shakes, it turned out that I wasn't exactly out of shape, at least in climbing terms. I obviously climbed a project that I'd been trying for a while, linking single moves and short bits but never coming close to success. Lesson to be learnt: train like a headless chicken for a good twenty years, then take a week off to eat and drink, then climb your latest board project. Given that I wanted to go back to the Dolomites that coming weekend, I made a good plan to be sure that I was going to get there properly overtrained and undercompensated.

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5YNjhlhlR40/VYp4ZPpGzBI/AAAAAAAAA7A/846NBXm05VA/s1600/programma.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5YNjhlhlR40/VYp4ZPpGzBI/AAAAAAAAA7A/846NBXm05VA/s1600/programma.jpg)

This time I was going to be going with my girlfriend, so the weather was going to play a big role in making everything perfect: sunny days and glowing sunsets in the mountains are a good thing for a couple. Saturday morning dawned a bit cloudy, but it was promising. It was promising rain. It turned out that the promise was wrong: it was going to be snow. 3 degrees, sleet and snow, what more could you ask for? But I'm not the one who's easily deceived, and I knew that in a couple of hours it was going to stop. After a good dose of kaiserschmarren and coffee, it was time to get our feet soaked to get some bouldering. There is this roof up there, that keeps attracting me and keeps giving problems (you see what I did there?). I had little info, in German, and I only knew that there was a big cross through move. Everything was wet, but with the precious experience gained during my visits at Parisella's Cave, I started to dry out bits here and there, fill the seams that were pouring, and assuring some chance for success. Then I started to figure out the moves, and everything started to crumble. The starting holds seemed to open up only to mysterious levitations to far away holds, and nothing seemed possible. The sequence that I was sure was going to earn me my first 8a flash proved to be 8c and I didn't flash it. Then the miracle. I kept my cool, stayed there, dried more footholds, kept trying and refining, and after a while, make it two hours - make it three - I had a sequence. I also had a soaking, trembling girlfriend. Being the old romantic that I am, I knew that it was time to leave, but I didn't leave. Instead, I took off my fleece, my t-shirt and my thermal and proceeded to reward my girlfriend with my bulging muscles beating down the problem into submission. I am the greatest. No, really. You can't imagine it. Half an hour later we were drinking spritz and eating mortadella and cheese in Campitello as if there were no tomorrow. While I was walking in Canazei, that was full of people fully clad in Montura, Mammut, The North Face apparel, I thought about Jerry, and started moaning to myself: "Wherever I watch, there's noone stronger than me. I am the strongest one." After this glorious day, I decided to take my girlfriend to get some more cold at Falzarego, where the meadow was lashed by a freezing wind that made everything a bit tricky and made me search for shelted in a nearby shithole that hosts two 8a's and an 8b+ in three meters of stone. Unfortunately being less than 45° overhanging, I didn't even manage to pull on. More spritz and mortadella. I had taken Monday off, so I was ready for the final sunny day. That never came. Clouds and wind, but a generous temp of 7°. Happiness all around. My girlfriend climbed a bit and got her battle scars, and I tried another problem in the same roof, getting as close as possible to doing it without actually doing it. A gigantic portion of potatoes, eggs and speck marked the end of the climbing trip and left room only for a brief stop at LaSportiva factory. I bought a pair of undersized Cobra for 59 Euros and everything was over. But I am still the greatest. I am still the strongest, and you all know it.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: a dense loner on June 24, 2015, 01:31:07 pm

And cobras are the best training shoes don't forget!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on June 24, 2015, 01:58:12 pm

In this case it's a shame that I don't train anymore: I only climb on rock, and only for the lines, never for the grade.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fiend on June 24, 2015, 02:26:22 pm

Twat!!

Title: NO MORE DAYS...
Post by: comPiler on September 16, 2015, 07:00:10 pm

NO MORE DAYS... (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2015/09/no-more-days.html)
16 September 2015, 3:20 pm

After a Spring made of good climbing on rock (yes, rock, that thing that you find outside instead of plastic and wooden holds), with Summer closing in and temps in the high 30's for weeks on end, my dreams of glory were truly shattered.

I didn't admit defeat, though, before being seriously and utterly defeated.

I went to the Dolomites again with a bunch of friends for a stag do, and once the effects of the first night on the cocktails were over, I managed to touch some rock.

I had my sight aimed at a longstanding project whose line I had finally discovered. I thought I'd done it years ago, but it turned out that the true line was a few meters on the left, completely independent from what I'd done and completely unknown to me.

To cut a long story short, it's hard and I didn't do it. In my opinion it could be around 8a+ or 8b. It's a traverse on the lip of a roof, whose first half is all the hard climbing of the 8a I did in June, and whose second half is probably from 7c up. Brilliant, totally brilliant climbing with edges, slopers and a sequence on right hand underclings that left me completely destroyed. With 25 degrees at the boulders, I couldn't do the middle moves of the 8a anymore, involving a slopey dish, so after refining my sequence I started trying the project from a few moves in. Blimey, despite bone dry holds and good form, I couldn't do it!!! It's hard!

I left emptyhanded, apart from finally repeating a 7a+ that I never found dry in 15 years of bouldering in the Dolomites!

I didn't really leave emptyhanded, because I gained a nice shoulder strain from spending a day on a hard gaston move and behind the head underclings. Obviously, I immediately tried to iron the injury out. Bad choice. On my first set of behind the neck press the sound of a packet of crackers cracking woke me up from my dreams of glory and my right shoulder was useless. Theraband weeks followed. Theraband and weights. Theraband and sprints. Theraband and everything. I managed to train around my injury, tweaked some excercises like the ab wheel and the barbell carry walk. I'd like to share what I found out, training wise, during these weeks of training and healing my shoulder, but I'm a selfish bastard and I won't. You aren't going to try them anyway, so why spend time and types? Fast forward a few more weeks, in which I found out I had progressed on every aspect of my training, from crimp strength, to openhanding strength, to body tension and pulling power, I finally made it back to the Dollys. Three days of climbing, a long weekend to tick my project and finally leave rock for the Winter. No way. Weeks and weeks of rain had done the damage. First day, the roof was dripping. I tried to repeat the 8a and obviously couldn't despite being now able to repeat the part that I couldn'd do in the hot in July. I tried a one move 8a and couldn't do it because of the wet holds. Pads soaked and muddy, clothes soaked and muddy. I ate a lot. Second day, we played around for a while, I napped in the sun, then didn't resist the urge to repeat a problem that I'd done many many years ago. A roofy 7b meant a sure retroflash while waving at the crowd of hikers. No. Four fucking goes were fucking needed. I waved at the hikers though. I wanted to climb a bit more in a nice, sunny, dry spot but I was sure the roof was in good nick, so I resisted. We got to the roof. It wasn't dripping anymore, it was soaked by streaks of water running down and condensation. Got the pad again, walked to the car then I remembered of the sunny spot and headed there (another 15 minutes walking with two pads among the boulders. In flip flops.). Got there. The sunny, dry boulder was sunny and dry at two p.m., now at six it was gloomy, humid and useless as everything else. But I was there. I tried the project. Didn't even find the line or the holds. So I tried to repeat a 7c that I'd flashed in June, and of which I thought I had surely used banned holds or an easy sequence because I really pissed it (pulling very hard). Could barely do the moves in isolation. Oh well at least I cancelled my doubts about my flash. Finally did a nasty 7a+ that I'd equally done in June, only, this time I didn't bother neither matching any of the holds nor putting any weight on my feet. (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PRx0gRbBFNQ/Vfl52I22nzI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/xG7tAi5pZOI/s320/mighty+upsetter3.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PRx0gRbBFNQ/Vfl52I22nzI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/xG7tAi5pZOI/s1600/mighty+upsetter3.jpg)(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WVR9yvqGLPA/Vfl14WRCWJI/AAAAAAAAA7s/qa0uVHwZQiA/s320/mighty+upsetter2.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WVR9yvqGLPA/Vfl14WRCWJI/AAAAAAAAA7s/qa0uVHwZQiA/s1600/mighty+upsetter2.jpg)(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rxfmdTSR6ac/Vfl170fXBTI/AAAAAAAAA70/gTwFhfrI9jI/s320/mighty+upsetter.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rxfmdTSR6ac/Vfl170fXBTI/AAAAAAAAA70/gTwFhfrI9jI/s1600/mighty+upsetter.jpg) Third day dawned cloudy and rainy. Drove home stopping by at King Rock for a bouldering session. Tired, bad skin, torrid temps inside. Brilliant. Climbed until nauseated. Lesson to be learnt: bad bad planning for this last trip. Got there still tired from the week's training, I wouldn't have climbed the project anyway, probably, even if dry. Now I only have to train, stay in shape for some nine months, and then it will be mine. Do not expect, dear reader, to find much rock climbing on Totolore for the months to come: it's time. The time is almost here to dedicate all my efforts to the only thing that matters: my board. Home of the hardest things I've ever tried, this Winter will be the Winter of Glory. The Winter of the Beast. The Winter that will shatter the climbing world forever.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: THE REAL THING
Post by: comPiler on October 30, 2015, 07:00:08 pm

THE REAL THING (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-real-thing.html)
30 October 2015, 4:35 pm

For a long time I've been thinking that I had become just a "trainer", not being a "climber" anymore. Given that I've ever been such. The compulsive and obsessed search for physical prowess had finally become a goal in its own, completely independent from climbing performances and from climbing itself. Being able to do multiple standing ab-wheel rolls, or one armers, or pulling mono one armers, and climbing 6b on rock showed no contradiction to me. And it still does. Then I fell to the syrens' chant, that kept me awake at night singing "The Force has multiple facets, Lore. Pursue them all in the name of our magic formula: STRENGTH X SPEED = POWER." Once I finally understood the Truth, I could finally sleep again at night. But during the days, I had to snatch, clean, power clean, power press, jump, sprint, hip-hinge, do finishers, barbell complexes, dumbbell complexes, static complexes, speed complexes, contrast training, and something else. When I added FOAs (Frontal One Armers) to the menu, my life was finally complete. Was I still nothing but a trainer? Luckily yes, but a stronger trainer. In any case, I couldn't concentrate on nothing else but watching my body change and my traps grow. With veins on them. Drop 1 kg of fat, put on 1 kg of muscle, the scale shows no progress, but the mirror (and the calipers) never lies. Then one day, while I was on the way to Damascus (in Damascus there is a gym where I was going to have my body fat percentage and cellular density checked), I saw a burning bush. I stopped by to pee on it, but it said: "Lore, follow The Force." so I replied: "You fucking idiot, what do you think I've done in the last 23 years? Piss off!" To which the burning bush replied: "But do you know where The Force lies?" "Of course I do, you silly old bush! - I said - The Force lies in the Iron and in this fucking arms of mine that can tear you another one!" "Aaaaight then!" And I moved on toward Damascus, because I was already late for my visit. When I got closer, I stopped by in a bar for coffee, and when I looked down into the cup, I saw all the divinities that I worship: Ben and Jerry, Big Malc, Terminator, Ripley and Call, Roy Batty and Deckard, Lt. Col. William Kilgore, Kate Moss and many more. And they all said to me: "The Board, Lore." I understood. I had been enlightened. And my life changed. I was only a trainer no more. I had become a board climber and I was now ready: I am not afraid.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on January 03, 2016, 09:44:17 am

Usual start of the year post.
http://www.totolore.blogspot.it/2016/01/usual-start-of-year-post-or-not.html (http://www.totolore.blogspot.it/2016/01/usual-start-of-year-post-or-not.html)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Luke Owens on January 03, 2016, 12:54:52 pm

Quote

I still read about people training for sportclimbing by swimming, or cycling, and I'm fucking bored.

:lol: Great post Nibs, it's great to read about your unrelenting psyche for training, it's inspiring!

Glad to hear it paid off and nice one on the ticks, well deserved!

Title: USUAL START OF THE YEAR POST. OR NOT?
Post by: comPiler on January 03, 2016, 01:00:06 pm

USUAL START OF THE YEAR POST. OR NOT? (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2016/01/usual-start-of-year-post-or-not.html)
2 January 2016, 1:59 pm

It's the time of the year in which we tend to look back and do our math.I was going through a few posts from last year and I bumped into the concept of sowing and then - hopefully - reaping the fruits. Fact is, if you don't sow you can only reap what Nature gives you, you have no choice. And Nature could also give you nothing. Or very little. And this very little could be reaped by others. So, you'd better sow. I kept sowing throughout the whole past year, and it's been oh so fun! I had never thought I could still take such a great pleasure in training. The weights. The Iron. Man, the Iron. It's so good, and it can do so good to you. I'm a bit bored about sharing all the details, about going on for ages on why you should sprint, hip-hinge, jump, snatch, etc. I still read about people training for sportclimbing by swimming, or cycling, and I'm fucking bored. I still read about people trying to lose weight by intermittent fasting, or keto-diets, without thinking for a split second in terms of quality of the weight you lose, of body composition, of relative strength, of fat-loss instead of weight loss, and I'm fucking bored. All the info we need to get smart training, at least under my perspective, that is the perspective of a nearly 44 year old male obsessed with strength, is out there. Feed the wolf that you want to grow stronger. Anyway, during last year, I not only rediscovered the Iron under new forms, I also found that I could devote myself to The Board even more. After a boiling Summer that I spent doing all the above mentioned, one day I took the decision that I was not going to set any new problems on my board, until I had climbed all the existing projects. It's been so far a great choice. A foolish choice, but a foolishly right one. I realized that I had the perfect bouldering right there, at a 5 meters walk from my kitchen.I had projects that really intrigued me, with idiotic sequences made only to be at the exact limit for that problem. I found myself climbing projects that I had been trying on and off for years and it's been great. It's been stressful, also, like on rock. Hard projecting, or siegeing, is a mental task. To climb one particular problem that I had set more or less three years ago, I had to keep trying just that single problem for four weeks, four sessions a week. If you do the math, it's quite easy to see that, had it been on rock, with me being able to climb outside no more than once a week if I'm lucky, it would have been impossible. Not to mention weather conditions, driving, and so on. I completely abandoned the idea of being a climber, I fully embraced the idea of being a trainer, and I found that I've never lived climbing so happily. It could seem trivial, but really dedicating all my time to the board is at the same time an extraordinary relief and stress. I walk by my board dozens of times every day. It's always there. The projets are always there. It is always dry, and with fans and air conditoning I can make conditions perfect for most of the year. The holds are always grippy. Basically, you can only stick at it, put the hours in, and perform when it's time. At the same time, the only way to climb a new thing is to get better and stronger. You have no excuses. There are no techy escapes, you can't change anything. It's great really. After a couple of specific projects that I climbed with a lot of dedication, I needed to take one week off from climbing, because I was mentally exhausted. Now tell me, who needs rock when you can get stressed in the comfort of your home? Eventually, right in the middle of this new way of living climbing, I found myself on rock. Eventually, I also found myself climbing some old projects and opening a few new lines. Eventually, I had a lot of fun and satisfaction. The first post of 2015 was about two lives that I had lived and also about a beautiful trip to Cresciano. This first post of 2016 is also about a trip to Cresciano, in the very same days of my last visit one year ago. I had my sights on two problems, and the magnificence of my failure has been, well... magnificent. I barely tried one being stopped by a move that I judged morpho and reachy, before reminding myself that shorter climbers than me had iced it. Blame the glassy holds and feet... But when a door is closed, often a window is opened and I saw that window open and got in. Switching from glassy holds and heel-hooks to clean, crimpy holds and feet, I immediately felt that a new love was born. On the second day of the trip, I behaved well and saved my skin and muscles. I climbed the classic "Un Uomo Un Perché", a beautiful and hard 6a. I rested a lot and then found a nice one move wonder to the right of "Slopey Traverse" called "Dragon Fly Power", 7b. It was a great feeling to find myself on top of a new problem for once. So we went to the sector where we all had our projects. The athmosphere was great and I was happy and ready. On my third go I climbed "Frankie Minchia" 8a+. And I had and have no words to describe it. Riding on the wave of this unexpected success, on my last day we went to Chironico where, after a few tries and after saying "There is no way I am going to do this move!" I climbed "Vitruvian Man" without the chipped hold. Bliss. Sow. Be patient. Reap. There you go, a year. I really think that only by getting rid of rock climbing I can now enjoy rock climbing. I know what I can do with the right time and the right conditions. I know that when I complain about greasy holds and soft skin, it could be an excuse but often it's not. I know that I am just a trainer, a board climber at best, and that I need to be lucky to climb on rock. In the meanwhile, I started sowing again. Pics now.

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-36QIidpwm2E/VoQHZpkhKVI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/ebhN-9C9N6c/s320/20151227_153655.jpg) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-36QIidpwm2E/VoQHZpkhKVI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/ebhN-9C9N6c/s1600/20151227_153655.jpg)(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z1eNQ-7IZB8/VofR8tx_0nI/AAAAAAAAA94/PR8I2IYQQNM/s320/20151228_125243.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z1eNQ-7IZB8/VofR8tx_0nI/AAAAAAAAA94/PR8I2IYQQNM/s1600/20151228_125243.jpg)

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FuZfqX1lcA4/VofSRQ5qltI/AAAAAAAAA-A/X89bPrNBiB4/s320/20151228_145041.jpg) (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FuZfqX1lcA4/VofSRQ5qltI/AAAAAAAAA-A/X89bPrNBiB4/s1600/20151228_145041.jpg)(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dJWiYGDQNDw/VofSluEnAhI/AAAAAAAAA-M/X3yhaokZgi8/s320/20151228_151150.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dJWiYGDQNDw/VofSluEnAhI/AAAAAAAAA-M/X3yhaokZgi8/s1600/20151228_151150.jpg)

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D0HMrg9_CoA/VofTFH8VPeI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/vIrrn5A-fLU/s320/20151228_151158.jpg) (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D0HMrg9_CoA/VofTFH8VPeI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/vIrrn5A-fLU/s1600/20151228_151158.jpg)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4AL2i3OUMOc/VofTalikwsI/AAAAAAAAA-g/18s_63MIvYo/s320/20151228_151218.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4AL2i3OUMOc/VofTalikwsI/AAAAAAAAA-g/18s_63MIvYo/s1600/20151228_151218.jpg)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pJ9Ps7Nv3JI/VofTr8HenWI/AAAAAAAAA-o/Pcwqx8ik65k/s320/20151229_122302.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pJ9Ps7Nv3JI/VofTr8HenWI/AAAAAAAAA-o/Pcwqx8ik65k/s1600/20151229_122302.jpg)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ag9NLw9s0GI/VofUE52thPI/AAAAAAAAA-w/_rck0skxDUg/s320/20151229_125633.jpg) (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ag9NLw9s0GI/VofUE52thPI/AAAAAAAAA-w/_rck0skxDUg/s1600/20151229_125633.jpg)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VYylJA0-zAk/VofUZET7BpI/AAAAAAAAA-4/mnyTX0HhEaw/s320/20151229_125452.jpg) (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VYylJA0-zAk/VofUZET7BpI/AAAAAAAAA-4/mnyTX0HhEaw/s1600/20151229_125452.jpg)

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: ICONOCLASM
Post by: comPiler on January 31, 2016, 07:00:09 pm

ICONOCLASM (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2016/01/iconoclasm.html)
31 January 2016, 3:54 pm

I've been thinking about this thing for years now, and maybe it's time for me to get rid of it by sharing my thoughts. Maybe I find out that I'm not alone. As it's easy to imagine, I've spent quite a lot of time in climbing gyms during the last ten or fifteen years. It seems to me, that many Italian climbing gyms suffer from a very clichéd behaviour. The usual pattern, at least for the gyms that I've regularly been to, is that a strong climber at some point decides to open a gym, or to go and work somehow at an existing gym, maybe setting, maybe coaching. Let's not take into account, for the purpose of this post, the not so irrelevant aspect that many of the guys who do this aren't qualified neither to set nor to coach. I mean, officially and legally qualified. Like, they attended a course, passed some sort of evaluation, got a qualification. Let's not take into account that many simply apply to others the kind of training that worked for themselves, without reflecting over the circumstance that they may have been training for decades and are not novices that want to go from 5c to 6b. Let's overlook this all. What always left slackjawed, is the fact that, in the gyms that I know well, there is always a star, a leader that all the climbers worship. I am always shocked by how everyone seems to be needing a boss to which refer, and whose words are thought to be taken as absolute truth.I've seen things, that you people wouldn't believe. Groups of beginners destroying themselves on a campusboard for hours and weeks on end, because the rock star gave them a training plan. 14 years old, 40 kilos talents ripping their muscles with weighted pull ups, because the rock star wanted to test their strength level before coaching them. Groups of 10 novices following the rock star like dumb prisoners, each one with a crashpad on their shoulders, as the leader tries all day his dangerous projects, brushing a couple of rocks nearby to make the children play when off spotting duty. I've heard every kind of amazed, adulatory and self depressing comment about the leader: "I'll never be as strong as he is." "He could be in the national team if he wanted." "Only he, can climb this." and so on. I despise this servility. A strong climber that operates in your gym, is just that. He's not a leader, a life guru, or someone to worship. He could be someone to admire, if he deserves it, and when he deserves it. I wonder why these people always need a chief.

To me, climbing has always been about the highest form of individualism, a radical behaviour that follows the rule that you are always alone on the rock. You may be tied to another person, but when climbing, you're alone. You're alone because you only have the responsibility of your own actions, and of the consequences that those actions can have on the other person.

We are always alone on the rock: if we want to kick down a rock, we can do it; if we want not to clip into the bolts, we can do it. Because we are alone and no one can stop us. But if the rock falls on the head of someone, or if a nasty fall puts everyone at danger, it's only our fault. There's no sharing in climbing, there is only putting together small bits of individual effort. We share the experience, but not the climbing.

This individualism was immediately evident to me, because before starting climbing, I'd always participated in team sports.

All I knew was that everyone was stronger than me, everyone was better than me, and that I wanted to become stronger and better than all those people.

My friends and everyone who was stronger than me, were more targets than role models. I copied what they were doing, maybe even their attitude, but only to have an easier target to destroy.

They were still friends and brothers in real life, though.

Even now, despite struggling to stay attached to the sport with everyday's life committments, I have no gods, no leaders, no models.

There is a huge difference between esteem and idolatry; between matter-of-factness and self-deprecation.

I don't know what people like in this attitude. Maybe it's because they think that some of the leader's golden dust will rub on them. Maybe it's because they like to shine with mirrored light.

In doing so, they accept and embrace mediocrity, because they accept that they will never be as good as their duce, their leader, their god. They could progress, but... they will never be like him. Or her.

I would like that these people kill their idols.

I would like that they shine of their own light, strong or feeble, but theirs.

I would like that they say: fuck you I'm not spotting you all day and carry your pads.

I would like that they take the risk of wanting to get stronger and better that anyone else, or at least as strong and as good as humanly possible for them.

But no, for them it's better to be part of a crew. It's better to hide behind a star and be happy to be their friend, their follower, their crashpad caddy, their belay slave.

I don't even want to spend a word about the other side of this Janus' mask. The Leader, the Guru, the Star.

Jesus fucking Christ, guys. Get a fucking grip. Have some dignity.

Be great, be shit, but be yourself and not a pale face in the crowd of worshippers. Become your own god. Become your own model. Become your own target.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: ghisino on January 31, 2016, 07:57:19 pm

it is funny i have seen what you describe when i was home in Italy as well.

I don't see it in Paris, but a friend who made his phd thesis on climbing sociology (!) reported something vaguely similar in his own region (Alsace) and time (mid-end 90's), although it took place at actual crags and saw several teams of leader and followers "fighting" each other.

my friend's interpretation of this follows Pierre Bourdieu's approach, whose main assumption is that competition and symbolic violence can be found in any social field. Everybody tries to achieve a form of supremacy or "honour" in their own field(s).

so why do followers follow, according to our sociologist? Because it is clear for them that they cannot compete to directly for any meaningful position, and the amount of statust they get for their "temwork" is higher than what they would achieve alone.

It is as if at a climbing comp you could either choose to compete or to be the personal hold-brusher of a finalist, and those who are too weak to even dream about semis chose the second option - as brushing in the finals is still making the finals in a way...

if we accept this framework, the self depressing comments can be seen as having a double purpose:
1) Act of submission to the leader
2) Attempt to maintain/increase the leader's status. (as being the follower of the strongest leader is what gives you the most "follower points")

it would be interesting to know if things work similarly in UK?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: shark on January 31, 2016, 08:50:47 pm

What if Malc was a regular at your gym :jab:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: cjsheps on January 31, 2016, 09:56:56 pm

Thanks for writing this Nibs - it's helped me come to some conclusions about one of the guys I regularly climb with, that's set himself up as the star in the limelight.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on January 31, 2016, 11:27:41 pm

Quote from: shark on January 31, 2016, 08:50:47 pm

What if Malc was a regular at your gym :jab:

I would worship him privately as I actually do.
Besides, Malc doesn't seem to be one who likes followers or flatterers.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: DAVETHOMAS90 on January 31, 2016, 11:47:00 pm

Do you mean:

Quote from: shark on January 31, 2016, 08:50:47 pm

What if Malc "Be great, be shit, but be yourself and not a pale face in the crowd of worshippers. Become your own god" Smith was a regular at your gym? :jab:

..you'd probably be grateful for a few fee paying sycophants :2thumbsup:

Cracking post Lore!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on February 01, 2016, 08:05:21 am

Cheers guys, I wasn't alone after all!
@Ghisino
That's quite interesting!

Title: TOTOLORE
Post by: Oldmanmatt on February 01, 2016, 08:30:19 am

I spend 5/6 days per week, all day, at a climbing gym.

No comment.

Except, I shared that on my "private" Farcebook...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: jwi on February 01, 2016, 08:58:58 am

I have seen this in some gyms and not in others. Don't have a grand unified theory

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Oldmanmatt on February 01, 2016, 10:29:06 am

Quote from: jwi on February 01, 2016, 08:58:58 am

I have seen this in some gyms and not in others. Don't have a grand unified theory

My reading of Lore's comments and my own view, is that this is less an all encompassing view of climbers in general; and more an exhortation to those who might stray down the route of idolatry.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on February 01, 2016, 10:33:00 am

I don't have a grand unified theory either, as I wrote this is just what I saw happening in many gyms that I've visited regularly.
It's also true what Matt says.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: rich d on February 01, 2016, 11:53:41 am

Yep no place for false idols in climbing, only one true path...following The G.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fultonius on February 01, 2016, 12:32:49 pm

And what happens when your idol turns out to be a thoroughly unpleasant twat?!?

Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on February 01, 2016, 01:10:25 pm

Quote from: Fultonius on February 01, 2016, 12:32:49 pm

And what happens when your idol turns out to be a thoroughly unpleasant twat?!?

Sent from my XT1039 using Tapatalk

:shrug:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fiend on February 01, 2016, 09:59:23 pm

You name them on a public forum, of course....

Title: SON OF S.A.M.
Post by: comPiler on April 11, 2016, 01:00:14 am

SON OF S.A.M. (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2016/04/son-of-sam.html)
10 April 2016, 10:28 pm

With the powers granted by all the fucks that I don't give about what's going on in the climbing world, thereunto enabling me, I hereby officially command that the Board season be considered over, and as a consequence I order that the Summer of S.A.M. commence, where S.A.M. stands for "Singles, Anabolism, Metcon". Getting the front two crimp I immediately feel that something's wrong. And I refuse to admit it. I refuse to admit it because I have convinced myself that today I am going to climb one last project before the arrival of Spring and high temps. I mean, higher temps. After one week with up to 26,5° a sudden couple of cloudy, rainy days have given me renewed hope. I've been struck by luck and I must take advantage of the bitch. I have slept until late after a very tiring week, I have eaten well and I have done my usual, loyal general warm up routine. Then it's time to awake the fingers. Big slopers, 35°, big rungs back3, big rungs front3, small rungs back3, small rungs front3, small rungs front two crimps, one arm the incut rung. Fingers are ready. Time for some recruitment. A dumbbell complex with low reps, at full speed, is followed by some cleans and some snatches. The speed is there. Time to rest. I am ready. "One shot, one kill." I say to myself as I leave the ground for yet another moment of glory. That's why, when I feel the crimp, I refuse to believe my sensations. I start sliding off and I barely make the second move. I crimp the motherfucker out of the hold, cut loose (I mean, seriously, what the fuck? I thought the times of cutting loose were over!) and in disbelief fuck the feet sequence, then, like a hippo rolling in the mud, I try to get the next hold and I'm on the mats. Jesusfuckingchrist, this is shit. I am shit. I am a shame for climbing. Maybe 21° are still a bit too many for this project, that I've trying for a couple of years now, and for the last 8 weeks... I keep my calm, because I know that on this planet there's only one thing that's stronger than my body, and it's my mind. I go through all the moves, sometimes sticking them, some others not. I rest. I feel, with complete sureness, that liquid chalk is a disadvantage in these conditions. It forms too thick a layer on the skin, and that's why I slid off. Temps aside. I start again. This time, it's one shot and one kill. Not. But I make it to the third move. Moving in the right direction. Keep moving. I feel strange sensations when moving my feet, time to check the shoes. The soles are dented. Session after session the footholds - despite being slightly rounded - consume the sole in the same exact spot, and after some time a dent appears. And it changes everything. Out comes the file, and as I've done dozens of times, I start filing the dent out, cleaning all the small ridges in the rubber, making everything smooth and level. "One shoot, one kill." Bang. I get to the last move of the crux and fall with numb fingers. Excellent. This was my personal best on the problem during the past weeks, with perfect temps. Numb fingers mean switch fan from 3 to 1. Rest. Everything goes as programmed, I am a machine. I execute perfectly, not a single hesitation, I am static, strong motherfucker. But the last move is hard. Three more times I get to the last hard move, maybe the hardest of the problem. And three more times I don't manage to seal the deal. I keep trying until I feel that I have no more chances. The season is over. I set the last move with a different hold, a generous 2 cm finger jug, and I immediately fire the problem as a consolation tick. But the season is over. I feel that I've done everything I could, to climb it. But it simply was too hard, at least for the day. Attaboy. Boy done good.

At the end of the Summer, last year, I decided that I would dedicate myself completely to the Board during the Autumn and Winter. I decided that I wouldn't set any new problem until I'd done all the existing projects. What a great decision it was. The real thing. I stuck to my program and went through many projects that I'd set in the past years, and methodically climbed them one by one. I found myself stripping some holds that I had added when the original sequences seemed impossible, and I found myself climbing those problems as I had set them years and years ago, when my imagination was limitless and I didn't care about doing them. It was all about the perspective, all about the future. This future became real, and moves that I had imagined became moves that I was performing. And it's all about this. Nothing else. Getting to know that with some time and dedication, I can climb stuff. Nothing else.

I became particularly bitter and cynical about the "climbing world" as of late. Many of the things that I read seem to me incredibly ridiculous, and I feel surrounded by attention-seeking behaviours of all kinds. Problem is: I know everything. I know when people cheat, I know when people use grades to belittle others, I know hypocrisy and I know envy. I would have never imagined it, even few years ago, that one day I would have felt so far away from "mainstream" climbing, and at the same time so happy about my climbing and my attitude. The Board. The Beastmaker. The Iron. Just these. So happy.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: DAVETHOMAS90 on April 11, 2016, 12:35:37 pm

Lore, you are a piece of dirt :P

That was brilliant.. +1

"One shot, one kill." I say to myself as I leave the ground for yet another moment of glory. Ha ha!

Three moves though, I mean, THREE moves. That's too long surely.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on April 11, 2016, 01:41:48 pm

Quote from: DAVETHOMAS90 on April 11, 2016, 12:35:37 pm

Lore, you are a piece of dirt :P

That was brilliant.. +1

"One shot, one kill." I say to myself as I leave the ground for yet another moment of glory. Ha ha!

Three moves though, I mean, THREE moves. That's too long surely.

Cheers Dave, you're too kind. I appreciate a lot.
I have to confess though, that the entire problem is actually 11 moves long. The horror, the horror. But as every quality problem should, it obviously features a nasty match from a crimp to an undercling.

Title: NOTHING NEW. OR...
Post by: comPiler on October 01, 2016, 01:00:46 pm

NOTHING NEW. OR... (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2016/10/nothing-new-or.html)
1 October 2016, 10:47 am

The rule of the part time blogger is that after a hiatus, one should immediately renew the enthusiasm of the followers, by announcing exciting news, a strong resolution, or a mega project finally hammered into submission. Not in this case. I have nothing special to tell, but I want to start again with some good habits that I had to put to one side in the last months. I spent the entire Summer working and studying, and now I am finally free. Belive it or not, I climbed a new problem in May, in the only couple of hours that I've spent on rock in ages. This problem is cool, it's always been there, at one of the most frequented areas around, and it was never cleaned. The most essential line of crimps on the lip of a roof, for the most elementary of all traverses. Not. While the holds were all there, in their glorious and different forms, from majestic, grainy slopiness to pointy teeth, or plain razor blades, the sequence was far from trivial. With a brainless enthusiasm I got to work and after five minutes my skin was already thrashed, but I had a sequence. Torrid temps were suggesting to let it rest for a few months, but that would have been too easy. I don't know how I managed, but I climbed it. Pulling as hard as I possibly could, surely must have helped.

(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LRPJ8kFpENo/V-98DgeFWvI/AAAAAAAABEY/uvWl4I1S7KYIYApF4Z0TKEakICnti2ORwCLcB/s320/trav1.jpg) (https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LRPJ8kFpENo/V-98DgeFWvI/AAAAAAAABEY/uvWl4I1S7KYIYApF4Z0TKEakICnti2ORwCLcB/s1600/trav1.jpg)

(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8nldJkmspUQ/V-98C6WPNcI/AAAAAAAABEQ/xtp4QM9ieFod7y2ePetpNxjZO-rIN8e8wCLcB/s320/trav2.jpg) (https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8nldJkmspUQ/V-98C6WPNcI/AAAAAAAABEQ/xtp4QM9ieFod7y2ePetpNxjZO-rIN8e8wCLcB/s1600/trav2.jpg)

(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h6SeHPYVLCg/V-98DaTitJI/AAAAAAAABEU/w7cTf2OFNto0otftizfGrvihrSn-OhR2QCLcB/s320/trav3.jpg) (https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h6SeHPYVLCg/V-98DaTitJI/AAAAAAAABEU/w7cTf2OFNto0otftizfGrvihrSn-OhR2QCLcB/s1600/trav3.jpg)

(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fhplr9h4CrI/V-98DwuPQ-I/AAAAAAAABEc/pQcSsX59_KI5zDqdLKT0L-oY2DojwJPQgCLcB/s320/trav4.jpg) (https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fhplr9h4CrI/V-98DwuPQ-I/AAAAAAAABEc/pQcSsX59_KI5zDqdLKT0L-oY2DojwJPQgCLcB/s1600/trav4.jpg)

(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wc57x2M1guc/V-98EVbHc9I/AAAAAAAABEg/pv7ytfD4laAdqCxva3zA7zs_uFApapX4gCLcB/s320/trav6.jpg) (https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wc57x2M1guc/V-98EVbHc9I/AAAAAAAABEg/pv7ytfD4laAdqCxva3zA7zs_uFApapX4gCLcB/s1600/trav6.jpg)

I called the problem "Animali Senza Tempo", which means "Timeless Animals", and it's a reference to sharks, crocodiles, and few other beasts that are almost exactly the same as they were at the beginning of evolution. In a few years time, this problem will be "discovered" by someone who is sure to be the first boulderer to set his or her eyes on this line - because he or she is sure that bouldering didn't even existed here before their arrival -, it will be "freed" with all the possible cheating techniques, brushing holds out of the soft rock, eliminating spikes and blades, not sticking to the lip, all in the name of climbing progress, all in the name of shameless self promotion. These ridiculous individuals have all my pity, compassion and sympathy. Only, I have no pity, no compassion, no sympathy at all. I wonder how one could possibly believe that nothing existed before them. I wonder why people aren't interested in knowing the facts, the history. They revel and bask in ignorance, in name dropping, in being servants of the local starlet, in shining of reflected light. People are uninformed, they love to be uninformed, so that they can believe what they like to believe without having to stick to facts, but then when they make public statements, being uninformed, they misinform others. I could go on forever on this. I won't. But you could ask why I don't face this issue, why I don't face these people and thell them how things really are: that they haven't invented anything, exactly as I didn't; that problems X, Y and Z were climbed ten years ago; that they cheat on routes and boulders. Well, there are many reasons. First of all, I don't care that much at all. Knowing the truth, what is false doesn't affect me. Second, they don't deserve the truth. To quote Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men", they can't handle the truth. Truth is not for everyone, not for those who want to be the first ones, the unique ones, the rebel ones, the pure ones. Truth is democratic: there's always someone else who's been there before, done that before. We only need to widen our views. Third, I don't want to cause a stir, and if I speak, there will be much more of a stir, there will be a Maelstrom that will suck them all. Finally, being a bastard, I take great pleasure in seeing how they all make fools of themselves in front of my eyes, and in front of the eyes of those who have been around for a while. It's fun, I started this post wanting just to reacquaint myself, just to post a couple of pics, and look what I've done. But I left the most amazing news last, the most incredible of all news: I want to rock climb, I'm going rock climbing tomorrow. Now tell me if this isn't really unbelievable. It is.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: DAVETHOMAS90 on October 01, 2016, 02:07:39 pm

I like that Lore. Perhaps a bit difficult.

"why I don't face this issue"

and yet you do ;)

Private language is always hard to achieve ;D

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on October 02, 2016, 12:00:20 pm

Cheers Dave, I appreciate a lot.

Title: I AM STILL A CLIMBER SOMETIMES. OR: THERE'S A RIGHT TIME AND PLACE FOR EVERYTHING.
Post by: comPiler on November 02, 2016, 07:00:32 pm

I AM STILL A CLIMBER SOMETIMES. OR: THERE'S A RIGHT TIME AND PLACE FOR EVERYTHING. (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2016/11/i-am-still-climber-sometimes-or-theres.html)
2 November 2016, 3:23 pm

(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r52jznSBToA/WBm_Ab25TyI/AAAAAAAABE4/gzVlRgQULt4sLHSNV9hZHHSUSD-11gqdQCLcB/s320/IMG-20161029-WA0019.jpg) (https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r52jznSBToA/WBm_Ab25TyI/AAAAAAAABE4/gzVlRgQULt4sLHSNV9hZHHSUSD-11gqdQCLcB/s1600/IMG-20161029-WA0019.jpg)

(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uQHju5vjJkA/WBm_AMN2JXI/AAAAAAAABE0/eBErrUPKb-0VG-0vfmbi5eQTr7CRspJ3gCLcB/s320/IMG-20161029-WA0020.jpg) (https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uQHju5vjJkA/WBm_AMN2JXI/AAAAAAAABE0/eBErrUPKb-0VG-0vfmbi5eQTr7CRspJ3gCLcB/s1600/IMG-20161029-WA0020.jpg)

(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3HYH68AHZ3I/WBm_AoGKo_I/AAAAAAAABE8/sLHSiMMGYQ4NkV105YaYye6BCI7FohZZACLcB/s320/IMG-20161029-WA0021.jpg) (https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3HYH68AHZ3I/WBm_AoGKo_I/AAAAAAAABE8/sLHSiMMGYQ4NkV105YaYye6BCI7FohZZACLcB/s1600/IMG-20161029-WA0021.jpg) Perfect. (https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9zc2iaQq8gs/WBm_F85HOqI/AAAAAAAABFA/0RR7u6BJ4ToAI4J7l7Y_YOo8M54LYPVXgCLcB/s320/copertina.jpg) (https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9zc2iaQq8gs/WBm_F85HOqI/AAAAAAAABFA/0RR7u6BJ4ToAI4J7l7Y_YOo8M54LYPVXgCLcB/s1600/copertina.jpg) Perfect.(https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kVvpF3eBsNs/WBm_H5IIulI/AAAAAAAABFE/J50uQCbpy3A8Q_8qa09suBOjYpddNUqdwCLcB/s320/mano.jpeg) (https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kVvpF3eBsNs/WBm_H5IIulI/AAAAAAAABFE/J50uQCbpy3A8Q_8qa09suBOjYpddNUqdwCLcB/s1600/mano.jpeg)A little less than perfect.

As I've said and said and said, I pride myself on being able to express perfectly every imaginable thought and concept, analyzing their deep essence and meaning. This time though, I'm struggling to grasp exactly what lies underneath the mere facts, so I'll stick to the mere facts.

The first day was amazing, and I allowed myself the luxury of visiting a new sector. A new sector, new boulders in a place where you've been climbing for almost twenty years now, is really a luxury and fuck me, I absolutely reveled in it. Basking in the Sun and in the Glory of ticking every problem, I got seriously reminded about everything that's great in climbing. All alone with just my girlfriend, agonizing with anticipation during all the three minutes that were dedicated to the theraband warm-up, it's been great to feel my body adapting to the task, morphing from steel-beam rigidity and mobility to steel-beam strength. Or something like that. I found myself in a bulimic orgy of problems, with the main difference that it was nothing pathologic. For once, I didn't even think about grades. The desire to climb every problem made that thought superfluous. Pocket pulling a go-go, sun on my back, chocolate and protein shakes, nothing else comes close. An amazing prow at 7b+ refuses to surrender under my assaults, so I'm forced to use all my four limbs, trying to actually put some weight on my feet, and it goes. I am the best. At that point I decided to try a problem in a roof, that was still marked "project" in the guidebook. I immediately had a sequence, that involved skipping at least three pockets. Unsurprisingly it didn't go. Campari Sprits and food followed, both in inhuman amount.

The second day was still amazing, but I woke up feeling as if a freight train loaded with cement blocks had run over me. Back to the new sector, I did nothing apart from repeating a few problems for the camera and spotting my girlfriend. And eating chocolate, bread and honey sandwiches and protein shakes and protein bars. At some point I went back to the supposed project. To be truly honest, I couldn't believe that it was really a project: there were holds, and I know that there are many strong climbers that climb there. So I imagined that there could be some ultra-deep low start. The only problem was that it was a boulder bridged over two boulders, forming a small tunnel, so there was no deep start. I then imagined that the start could be on the opposite face of the boulder, then you would basically downclimb and join what appeared to be the logical start. I tried this, broke a few holds, hit my head twice on the nearby boulders and understood that it was no go. I decided to start one hand movement lower than I'd started the previous day, and fuck me it made a difference. My body was quite stretched and serious pulling was needed to stay put and not touch the boulders on which the roof sits. After a couple of fumbled goes, I did it, as the magnificence of the picture above shows. Best photo I have, possibly. So, with the new sector basically ticked I went to visit and old friend. A long traverse in a roof that I'd been after since 2010. It was dry, and I remembered all the moves perfectly. I was terrified, they were hard. The following day was going to be the day. Again Campari Spritz and food in unjustified amount.

Even the third day was amazing, but my mental skies were full of grey clouds, the grey clouds of uncertainty, doubt, and pressure. I woke up at 6:40 and couldn't go back to sleep. The roof was my target for this trip, and with Winter approaching I knew that this might be the last chance of this season. I had taken the chance to avoid the project with the excuse of the new sector and its chanting sirens, but now I had only one option. I believed I'd done this problem in 2010, as this video (https://vimeo.com/14390805) shows, and as I wrote in this blog entry (http://totolore.blogspot.it/2010/08/dolomites-man.html). Anyway, I was wrong. After long hours spent on the internet and speaking to one of the guys who regularly climb there, I discovered that the problem shown in the video was in fact a first ascent, and that the original problem I was after laid a few meters on the left of the roof, and it was a much more serious proposition. Back to the drawing table... In the Summer of 2015, with all the new info, I managed to climb one of the coolest problems I've ever done, as I wrote in this other blog entry (http://totolore.blogspot.it/2015/06/even-more-days.html). This problem also constitues the first half of the original traverse that was starting to feel like a hidden treasure to me. Then in September 2015 in was back there again, as I wrote here (http://totolore.blogspot.it/2015/09/no-more-days.html).From that weekend of 2015 until a few days ago, every time I would do my theraband warm-up my thoughts would go back to the problem that had smashed my shoulder, to the project in front of which I was now stood. In 13 months I'd done a lot of theraband warm-ups and I'd thought to that moves a lot of times... My last session, one year before, had left me not only with a painful shoulder, but with a bitter taste also. The moves had felt hard, I couldn't repeat the 8a and I also couldn't link the second part on its own. Summoning all the hypocrisy I was capable of, I blamed the torrid conditions and tried to forget about it. Now, I was feeling a coward for leaving the project to the last day, I knew that I should have dedicated all my available time to it, leaving the last day for the new sector. But the damage was already done, and there was no turning back. I took it very easy, spotting my girlfriend and eating, I even tried to have a nap in the Sun. I couldn't sleep, but it helped me a lot, at least in terms of a cool tan. And finally I am here. All the holds are dry, a couple of ones are a bit humid but I brush this thought off. I don't have enough pads for the whole thing, so I ask my girlfriend for an even more accurate spot, to avoid being impaled by some sticking tree branches or crushed onto some rocks. First go, all the bad memories of the last session disappear in an instant. The sloper feels good, and forgetting all my past errors, I perform every move perfectly and complete the 8a part, then I enter the proper roof. Months of snatches, weights and training have made my shoulders bigger and more powerful and the crux move goes down without a problem. I struggle on the reach though, a long sideways reach to a blind, distant undercling. But I get it nonetheless. I cut loose and using momentum I paste my feet on the slopey holds of the back wall. I am horizontal over some big rocks put in circle to be used as a bonfire, and I mutter "Spot me very well here." to my girlfriend. This thought breaks the magic and the thought of falling off onto the rocks enters my mind. I still do the cross move to the other undercling, but then I fuck the feet placements and I am back on the ground. I pant and pant and can't get enough air to fill my lungs and fight the effort. I am spent. By just one go. I find myself in a mist in which I am happy for what I've just done, yet disappointed because only four moves were left. Happy because I had retroflashed the 8a, disappointed because I had let a negative thought make a big damage. I was so close. And now I am exhausted. I am over. It is over. I have to wait another year, soon it will start snowing here. I can't wait any longer. I don't want to. I won't. One more go. My forearms are the size of a balloon and I take off my thermal that compresses them too much. After a few minutes collecting my thoughts, every other second that I wait feels unbearable and I must go again. I am not rested enough and it feels. I fumble the first two feet placements and in anger step off and start all over again. This time it goes better, but still not perfectly. I do the first part again, but then the next moves are a bit precarious and I waste energy. I'm at the shoulder move and as I start compressing my right foot slips off the hold. A gigantic hold. A hold so big you could lose your shoe in it. I swear and swear and swear and now I'm sure it's really over. Or maybe not. I force myself to rest forever, I put on my down jacket and try to make blood leave my forearms. It's a long task. After what seemed an eternity I am there at the start. Should I take my thermal off or not? How will it affect my forearms? I keep it and go. I immediately feel incredibly well, I feel the rubber squeak onto the rock. I am so comfortable in this storm. I tap my left hand on my trousers, the sloper feels amazing. Feet are perfect and I am easily at the hole. Instead of cutting loose I instinctively keep my left foot on and heel hook with my right. I feel the difference and I know that I'm climbing perfectly and I congratulate myself. With the left foot on, I am a bit further away from the next hold and I'm not prepared to this. I struggle to identify it from the new position, but then I dig deeper and get it. I feel the difference again in my body position and I know that I have to pull harder to avoid a lethal swing. So I pull harder and I avoid the lethal swing. I keep motoring, everything seems different. The left hand hold, instead of frustration, gives me confidence and I do the next moves with a sense of pleased surprise. I must be doing good. At the shoulder move. My right foot is sunk so hard that it hurts this time, and my position is so perfect that I can match without putting so much pressure; I can even briefly let go with my left hand to recover a little. The reach. The reach is still hard, I feel my left hand sliding a little but I don't care, I get the undercling. Paste feet and push as if I were to break the rock. I feel extremely solid. I am over the rocks, the thought of asking for a closer spot comes and goes and remains a thought, because as soon as I realize it I am eyeing the right hand pinch and before realizing that I'm eyeing it, I am reaching it static, and then the sensation of it being much better than it ever felt reaches my brain and shocks me. I am three moves away and I'm feeling powerful. I cross over with my left hand to the final pocket, toe hook still bolted to the rock and I go to the blind edge behind the small prow. And I miss it. I had missed it the day before on a quick rehearsal and I had thought about how hard it would be, if I were to miss it coming from the start. And now I'm coming from the start and I've missed it. But I am so solid that I stay calm and search for it, then grab it. Everything feels good, I cut loose in control and one second later I am at the final jug with my left hand, then I match and jump off. I gasp for air once again, and in between gasps I keep repeating "I can't believe it." Again and again. I lay down on the mat and keep panting, I ask for a hug. I know how hard it is to be with an obsessed climber. It's over now, I've done it. Year after year after year, a story that goes back to 2010 has now come to an ending. The happy ending. I still can't believe how well I climbed and I still can't believe that I climbed it. I am so happy. I take my flask and sip some whiskey that my girlfriend brought from London. Before leaving for this trip I'd filled my flask again because after all I was sure it was going to be gorgeous. Tomorrow we'll go back home. Tomorrow it will be sunny and clear again, but I don't care, because I've done it today. Later on we go for a walk, then we go visit the nearby LaSportiva factory for some bargain sales. It's packed with climbers buying stuff. They're all clean and branded. I am a mess of patched jeans, tape and blood stains. I look around, and wherever I turn I think "I am the strongest one. Noone else is as strong as me." And I feel like Jerry.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: andy popp on November 02, 2016, 07:29:49 pm

Bravo Lore!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Murph on November 02, 2016, 08:20:00 pm

Thank you Lore. That is probably the most excellent thing I have ever read. The first day was so funny I cried and the last day really brought home what it's all about. Inspiring stuff.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: 36chambers on November 02, 2016, 08:21:26 pm

excellent! I really enjoyed that. A prefect pre-training session read :strongbench:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: fatneck on November 03, 2016, 10:32:13 am

:punk: :weakbench: :clap2: :bow:

Amazing Lore!!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on November 03, 2016, 11:02:11 am

Cheers guys, I'm glad you liked it!
:-[

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Will Hunt on November 03, 2016, 03:24:57 pm

Quote

I look around, and wherever I turn I think "I am the strongest one. Noone else is as strong as me."

Exactly what I have come to love and expect from Nibs :strongbench:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: DAVETHOMAS90 on November 03, 2016, 03:33:48 pm

"It's packed with climbers buying stuff. They're all clean and branded. I am a mess of patched jeans, tape and blood stains. I look around, and wherever I turn I think "I am the strongest one. Noone else is as strong as me." And I feel like Jerry."

:lol:

What a fantastic story Lore! So enjoyed that. Amazing.

The story is what it's all about, what we love to relate to.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on November 03, 2016, 04:07:41 pm

:-[ :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[
Cheers guys, really.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fultonius on November 03, 2016, 04:50:36 pm

How can someone spend 13 months in a cellar, doing something only vaguely to climbing, then go out smash in a cool problem and GET US ALL MASSIVELY PSYCHED with just one post. Chapeau!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Richie Crouch on November 03, 2016, 09:58:56 pm

Bellissimo! :strongbench:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Andy F on November 03, 2016, 10:28:02 pm

:punk: :dance1: :2thumbsup:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on November 04, 2016, 09:06:00 am

Rock on Nibs. Fantastic. If we ever meet up I need to buy you a pint. Or many.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on November 05, 2016, 08:46:15 am

:-[ :-[ :-[ :-[
Thank you guys, really.

Title: WHAT'S NORMAL?
Post by: comPiler on April 23, 2017, 01:00:33 pm

WHAT'S NORMAL? (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2017/04/whats-normal.html)
23 April 2017, 12:23 pm

It's Wednesday, it's half past nine and I've just finished my dinner. I am watching TV on my couch with my girlfriend, and everything's as usual. There's nothing special in this evening. Apart the fact that I've just climbed one of the hardest problems I've ever set on my board. Apart the fact that I'd been trying that problem for more than four years.

It's Wednesday, it's seven o' clock and I've just finished my warm up. I am on the bed, recovering from the last set of the recruitment part of the session. This time I tried something new, and, dammit, I think I screwed it. Monumentally. Instead of feeeling fired up, angry and sparky, I feel tired and empty. My forearms feel a bit worked and they don't seem to be getting much better with time. My core doesn't feel ready either. I'm not sure about what I should do: should I go for it despite everything, or should I sack it and put in another training and refining session? My last sessions had marked some incredible steps forward with this project: in one, for the first time I'd been able to climb the problem in two overlapping halves, twice. I also climbed the second part three times; in the other, I nearly did the problem. The roots of this incredible progress are deeply sunk in the previous session. During the years I had tried many different options for the feet, to try and make the crucial section of the problem less problematic. Without success. To have a higher percentage of success on the two hardest moves, I should have used two footholds that made the previous moves very low percentage ones. So, I was stuck. There was no solution but to simply choose which moves I wanted to keep safer and which one I wanted to risk. This went on for months and years.At some point, to try and have some kind of success, I - forgive me gods of climbing for I have sinned - added a hold. I decided to use a good edge just beside the left hand hold, to match on it with the right hand during the first crux of the problem, a hard swing from a small three fingers crimp. After some effort and countless sessions, with this added hold I managed to do this move for the first time in three years, and I was happy to say the least, as it shows.

https://youtu.be/R0Ckmgi7fcI

Success was far though, because I still hadn't done the second crux of the problem. Fast forward a few months, and after many tons lifted and deadhung, one day, one magic day, I managed to do the move as originally set, without the added hold, just holding the swing from the small crimp. Another step. And another wall in front of me, the second part of the problem. More months, more tons lifted and deadhung, and I finally did the second half of the problem. I thought it was game on. How wrong I was... Success of each session was judged not in terms of climbing the problem, or even putting in good link-ups, but in terms of being able to do the single hard moves. Sometimes I would stick the swing move once, some other times I would do the second crux once, but most times I wouldn't do either. For weeks and months. Then, on another magic day, I managed to climb all the moves in the same session, and I felt like a god. This feat didn't happen again for more and more weeks. Temps in the low twenties, season was over. At this point, there was no reason not to try and prepare next season's efforts, by - maybe - finding new solutions for the feet. I dedicated an entire afternoon just to trying new combinations for the two cruxes. The problem was that I'd already tried them all before without success. Having better footholds for the following move would make the previous one almost impossible. Then, I tried the previously unthinkable. I tried to keep both feet high on both cruxes. I had tried this before, and it was beyond my imagination. The moves felt impossible. But now they worked. I could not fucking believe it. I could use these footholds. This time I was really onto something. This process of years had led to the infamous previous session, in which I felt closer than ever, nearly doing the problem, as it shows here.

https://youtu.be/XQEZGxxGg4c

And now it's Wednesday, it's seven o' clock and I feel tired and empty.

It's Wednesday, it's a quarter past seven and I'm sitting here, at the bottom of the board. Hands chalked, shoes tight and clean, who knows what's going to happen. First move, from undercling to rounded edge: I catcht it slightly on the left side and have to adjust a little: a matter of millimeters. Second move, slight cross to a good edge, again, a little bit too much on the left. Third move, things star getting serious, right hand to a vertical pinch. I squeeze it and I feel good goddammit. It's on. Fourth move, quick move to the undercling. Positive edge, undercling, goddammit I love this hold. So many good problems pay homage to this hold. I feel strong and set my feet and body for the next move, the start of the first crux. Fifth move: to the small crimp. This hold is nasty. Three fingers, a bit less that half a pad, full crimp. Nasty. Why did I choose it? Because it's there, obviously. I catch it slightly too much on the left. Again. Motherfucker. For the whole problem I've been half a centimetre shifted to the left. Now. Now. Now it's time to be strong. Sixth move, the first crux, the swing. I set my feet up, I stay low and vertical under the crimp, I press on the footholds, just the right amount of weight, not too much or I'll jump out, not too little or I'll miss the next hold. I move, I land on the edge, still on the left side of it goddammit. I feel the swing, I feel every micron of skin on the holds, I reach the apex and start swinging in, and in that split instant I feel my right hand rolling on the hold, and before I realize it my feet are on the mats. God fucking dammit. When will it ever be over? I am brought back to weeks and months and years of failure. I kick this thought out of my mind, feast or forget.

It's Wednesday, it's half past seven and I'm sitting here, again at the bottom of the board. Hands chalked, shoes tight and clean, who knows what's going to happen. First move, I get the hold even more on the left than the previous try. I adjust and I am not there at all. Second move, I get it horribly wrong, miles to the left. I am shocked by how badly I'm doing. I loose concentration and tension and my left foot slips from the foothold. I am on the mat after two moves. I need to be strong now. I need to be as mentally strong as I am physically. I am calm. I am in the eye of a hurricane. I am a hurricane. I make a small tickmark on the second hold. I will get it there.

It's Wednesday, it's seven and thirtyfive and I'm sitting here, again at the bottom of the board. Hands chalked, shoes tight and clean, I know what's going to happen. I am going to climb the problem. I've put the toothbrush on the mats and I've muttered to myself: "This is for later, I'll brush the tickmarks off after climbing the problem." First move: perfect. Second move: perfect. Third move, the pinch: perfect. Fourth move, to the undercling: perfect. The instant my left hand lands on the edge, I know that I'm doing great. It feels good and grippy. Fifth move, the small crimp: obviously perfect. I am exactly where I want to be. Three fingers covering all the good spot, thumb over. Now my control ends here. I am stepping off the charts on terra incognita. Hic sunt leones. I don't know what's going to happen in the next second and half, but there will be only two possibilities: I'll either hold the swing, or I won't. I land perfectly on the edge. Swing out. Apex. I feel my right fingers moving so slightly on the crimp. An instant of uncertainty. I swing in, kick the board and stop. I am still on. But the swing took a lot of effort this time and I feel it. Seventh move, haven't been here for a while. To a very good undercling, the start of the second crux. I breathe and adjust my feet. Right one low, left one high. The unthinkable is now real. Eigth move: the cross. I set up, inhale and hold my breath. "I'm going to fall here." I think, but my body doesn't listen, it's on autopilot and I am on the hold. I twist my body under it, my left foot is bolted to the board as if it were on a ledge. On a fucking bivy ledge. The right foot comes in and I am ready to match. Ninth move. Front two match. There's just enough horizontal space on the hold. Unfortunately it tapers just where you have to match.Right. I had been here before. Three times. Once, a couple of years ago, I fell matching. Another time, a few months ago, I again fell matching. The third time, a few days ago, I fell on the following move. And now? I match perfectly, I feel the pressure on my index and middle fingers, I feel the texture of the hold running out where it tapers and disappears under my fingers. There's only so little to use. It's a hard compromise between left and right. You have to make each prehension equally good, or bad depending on how you see things, to make the move. If you're tempted by the sirens of immediate success, and you're lured into getting the hold too good, too deep, you'll easily twist your body under the hold, but then you won't be able to match and you'll fall. On the other hand, quite literally, if you think too long-term, and you sacrifice the left hand for a good match, you'll never get the match, because you'll fall twisting your body under. It's oh so subtle. But I am there, my fingers are exactly where they have to. My body is exactly where it has to. And then... Then I don't know. The next thing I know is that I've done the next move, I find myself on the following hold, not perfectly, but on it. Three fingers on, slightly openhanded. It's unreal. I am here. I am still on. I regain control. Eleventh move, to a very good edge on the left. Nasty shoulder move. I do it. Twelfth move, to the final jug. I get it. It's over. It's fucking goddammit over. I can't believe it. I slam the door open - I'd locked myself in to be more concentrated - and go to celebrate with my girlfriend. I jump around the house with arms in the air, and I can't believe it.

It's Wednesday, it's twenty to eight and I'm sitting here, on the mats, and everything's normal. Everything's as usual. I take my shoes off, I brush the tickmarks off, I put everything to place: shoes, brushes, chalkbags. As always. I am ready for a shower and dinner. As always. Because everything's normal. Except for the fact that I've just climbed a four years project that I had deemed impossible until just ten days before. It took me more than twenty years to get to this point. And I'm not talking about climbing the project. I am talking about reaching this vision, in which the extraodinary is absorbed by the so called normality. Climbing doesn't entirely fill my life anymore, and my obsession is self-confined into precise boundaries. My climbing is all the climbing I know and care about, and it's just one part of my life. An important part, but a part, a fraction nonetheless. It's finally become just something that I do, I love and I enjoy.

But having climbed that problem is still fucking awesome.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on April 24, 2017, 05:18:17 pm

Can't be that hard you didn't even take your shirt off.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on April 25, 2017, 09:08:00 am

I don't think I did it in fact...
Can't be that hard. ;D

Title: HOW THINGS ARE: A REALIZATION
Post by: comPiler on August 24, 2017, 01:00:18 pm

HOW THINGS ARE: A REALIZATION (http://totolore.blogspot.com/2017/08/how-things-are-realization.html)
24 August 2017, 12:52 pm

2017 had started in a very good way. On a freezing and sunny early January's morning, I found myself going to a new, for me, bouldering area. Eyes on the prize, I managed to climb a 7c in a few goes and split a couple of fingers. With a migthy 4° in full sunshine and a crimpy roof, things do not come much better. Fast forward a few months, in April I had climbed a four years old board project, something that I had sometimes thought I would never climb. Four years trying a problem that played to all my strengths, mean that it's probably quite hard and I felt it like a monumental achievement. Possibly the hardest thing I've ever climbed. Then I made a mistake. I went back climbing. High temps, baby skin, lower back pain and other trivial excuses couldn't make up for a generally terrible climbing experience. I repeated this mistake again and again until this past weekend, after which I decided to face the cold, hard truth: I have come to the end of my rock climbing career. I have an enormous desire, a need perhaps, to perform. Possibly, to outperform others in terms of strength and power. But mostly to outperform my own self. I've come to this moment thinking that I would keep progressing despite age, work committments, injuries. And to some extent I have, but simply not on rock. There is a gap, between what I can physically do in a safe environment, and what I can climb on rock, that is embarassing. But most that anything else, I feel that I've come - close - to the end of my physical potential. Two of my best weapons, that have granted me so many climbs, that is crimping and heel hooking, are no more such. Crimping has become quite hard to bear, and at times unbearable. My fault, obviously. You can't spend session after session on front2 full crimps on the small BM edge without being handed a pricey bill at some time. Not if you're 45 years old, anyway. After boning down on some proper crimps, the upper side of my index fingers DIP joints gets so painful that it hurts to do simple, everyday's life tasks like using a fork or a knife, or twisting a car key. It is frankly terrifying. I think that, simply, the connective tissue between the bones has gone. Heel hooking has become nearly impossible, for both the state of my knees and of my hamstrings. After a couple of serious heel hooks I start to limp, the pain becomes unbearable and I feel that, should I push on, something big and serious is going to break for good. After yesterday's heel hooking - four tries in total - today I can't bend my right knee past 90° without feeling a stinging pain and without the knee collapsing down. Luckily, as I said, I can still perform: only, in the safe environment of my board, where heel hooks are impossible. Full crimps are still a problem though. I need to get familiar with the fact that I can't climb hard on rock anymore. I have my board, my BM, my various one arm edges, the Lattice Edge and so may other toys to enjoy. And I can enjoy them at their full potential, with a long and boring warm up, fans and air conditioning to make the best of the given conditions and a plethora of paraphernalia that I simply can't have out there on ze rocks. Plus, physical problems aside, I don't know how to climb anymore. I've never been Mr. Technique, but fuck me, now things are ridiculous. I lost any movement fantasy and intuition, and all my climbing skills are: plant foot on small foothold; become a steel beam; get next positive hold. I can't move on anything else. I get frustrated if I can't climb hard. And I don't like it. It's been good, even great, until it lasted. In the past, I had already understood that I was mainly a board climber and a trainer, but then I've had some good success on some hard things and this led me to think that maybe it wasn't over yet on rock. I was wrong. Climbing hard on rock now would involve so many complicated things that it's basically impossible: from the choice of a suitable problem, to the time to try it, to getting good conditions, to motivation. I am a bit sad, but not so sad. As long as I can climb, or keep trying, my board projects, progress on the dead hangs and move big amounts of iron, I am happy and I feel that I still have a lot to give. I can now dedicate my full self to the most useless pursuit of Strength.

Source: TOTOLORE (http://totolore.blogspot.com/)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fiend on August 24, 2017, 06:35:40 pm

Good luck nibble. Sorry to hear about the physical degenerations.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: fried on August 24, 2017, 07:08:35 pm

:'(

Title: TOTOLORE
Post by: tomtom on August 24, 2017, 10:30:10 pm

Play to your strengths Lore - find overhanging small hold wall problems (peak lime is a good bit distant example) in sensible conditions - and focus on these.

As I get older I've realised that I'm never going to be able to get my heel near my ears and use it - or be any good at dyno's... so I just avoid problems that ain't my style!!!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Murph on August 25, 2017, 08:42:52 am

Keep your chin up Nibs. Your ultimate form is still ahead of you. Have a break then you'll come back better than ever.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 25, 2017, 10:27:51 am

Cheers guys, much appreciated.
:kiss2:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Hoseyb on August 25, 2017, 10:31:00 am

I'm 43 and thrive on technicalities and 3d Ness and am rubbish at knuckling down to proper training. However, if I can find the fun in working my weaknesses then I have a chance. If you're after brutality with type 2 fun? Maybe try offwidths.. :clap2:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 25, 2017, 12:32:35 pm

Quote from: Hoseyb on August 25, 2017, 10:31:00 am

Maybe try offwidths.. :clap2:

Cheers for the suggestion Hosey, but I have to decline: I don't need yet another type of climbing to suck at...
;D

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Hoseyb on August 25, 2017, 01:39:28 pm

That's the good thing about offwidths. Pretty much everyone does suck at it, so you're all in the same boat. Hope you find fun in whatever you do. Knowing your love of science and tests, functional mobility testing might be something to Google. Loads of testing to be done there

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Monolith on August 25, 2017, 02:38:36 pm

Lore, this was a frank and brutal piece of writing. I feel sure that making some adjustments to your routines and goals will allow some of these micro traumas to heal or at the very least settle down. I refuse to believe that your days of hard rock climbing are anywhere near over. Besides, there's no room for new members in the UKB has-been-fell-runner-club yet. Pull on those shoes and focus champ.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: DAVETHOMAS90 on August 25, 2017, 04:00:12 pm

:yes:

Quote from: Murph on August 25, 2017, 08:42:52 am

Keep your chin up Nibs. Your ultimate form is still ahead of you. Have a break then you'll come back better than ever.

This :yes: :2thumbsup: We're with you Lore x. You've been asking these questions for a while now, and I've been thinking "I know what you mean". I was telling a friend of mine yesterday, that I don't climb in the old way; the heights are no longer limitless - not that they ever were really of course. I'm 50 next year, and I know that my highest potential peak is still beyond where I've been before. These days, I can't keep moving forward, always fighting and winning. The hardest challenge is learning to be more tactical, choosing my battles. I think, that given it has taken so long for you to reach this point, that suggests how much great potential you still have. :boxing: When I'm at the crag, I try to rein things in a bit, so I very rarely "try" things, instead looking for good training opportunities. Refining the process has become a very rewarding challenge. Salut! :beer2:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Ru on August 25, 2017, 08:15:14 pm

Chin up Lore, its probably not that bad. You've probably not removed the cartilege from the joints, you may have chronic inflammation. I'd lay off the crimping for a bit for starters. If you want a real opinion go and see Volker Schoeffl in Bamberg. I'm climbing with him this weekend and will try and remember to ask for an informal opinion, but he will probably just say what I've said above. If you genuinely like climbing bits of rock, now is the time to try and iron out some weaknesses rather than continually just training the same things you have spent 20 years training. Let the overtrained/injured bits recover, get better at everything else, put it all back together in a year or so. I genuinely think you could be a better climber in another 5 years time and probably just as strong.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fiend on August 26, 2017, 09:48:04 am

Good psyche and support in this thread :2thumbsup:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 26, 2017, 11:59:40 am

:agree:
Cheers guys, UKB is a nice place to be.
I'll try and follow the various advices, keeping my proverbial calm and patience...
In hindsight, I feel that part of the gloominess of my blog entry was due to the frustration of not climbing anything hard in my latest sessions on rock. I surely overlooked the fact that all these sessions were in 20+ degrees and in less that ideal physical conditions.
I've been thinking about - brace yourselves, this is a big one - tying into a rope again. I have a couple of dream routes that I've always wanted to do since starting climbing, and one of these is not so far from home, just a couple of hours drive.
So, who knows, maybe this coming Autumn could bring something new!
The problem with the bouldering, really, is that I've basically done everything I wanted to, in the range of a few hours drive. This led me to focusing on my board - that, by the way, is a marvellous thing to do - where the possibilities are endless and everything's close.
I also became very lazy. Packing everything, pads, driving, preparing the food for the day, it's all become a great effort, and I rarely want to endure it as of late. Again, in a downward spiral, this led to going climbing with little or no food for the day, not enough pads, and so on, producing bad sessions, etc. etc.
Let's see, maybe the key is really in the change. Surely the key is in the change.
It could really be refreshing to keep hammering the board and then going sport climbing every once in a while. I have a few dedicated friends that can set topropes for me!

Cheers again for the support!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: erm, sam on August 26, 2017, 01:44:03 pm

How about treating "regaining real rock technique" in as focussed a way as you treat "gaining finger strength". Harder to do in terms of fitting it in to a busy life if you don't live near a crag, but entirely doable, instead of turning up to rock climb after not much recent rock action and expecting to have perfect technique.

Tying on to a rope is a great idea, ideally don't immediatly start seiging somethign hard though..

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Richie Crouch on August 26, 2017, 02:30:34 pm

Come to Font in October and relearn graceful balletic movement with me on some blue circuits! :weakbench:

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Murph on August 26, 2017, 04:05:50 pm

I honestly don't know how you do it Nibs. Putting everything into training to go out very rarely on actual rock. If you were a professed natural than it'd be easier to understand but "strong and no technique" really isn't stacking the cards in your favour for the times you do go out in project crush mode.

To relate from my experience, albeit on an entirely different level to yours - obvs. Well, if I haven't gone out on rock in a while even if I am going well indoors and on the fingerboard, then I expect to get my ass handed to me by even the simplest grit problems. Lime is a bit different because that really is basic style, but the wizardry of grit - I have no chance unless I have gone through a reacquaintence period. Im not sure what it's like on the rocks down your way, but if there is any 3Dness to them then I simply don't know how you can go from punching bag, dead lift and fucking one arming stuff to achieving your potential on the rock.

Another thing, and this is something psychological that Derren Brown tells me is true, but apparently if you set someone three problems to solve, in order, and secretly the first two are impossible then they will not be able to solve the last one either or at least have a poor chance. But if you set them the same third problem with the first two being quite easily solvable then the will get that third one right. Every time.

There's a link somewhere between these anecdotes. I wish you well on your path Lore, you are such an inspiration on this channel!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: the_dom on August 26, 2017, 04:21:31 pm

Lore, I'll throw this out there (possibly slightly controversially): Quit. Give up. Get your mind around not climbing (or bouldering*) and not being a climber (or boulderer). Remove the pressure. Find something else to enjoy, preferably something that (a) allows you to embrace the beginner mindset, (b) get outside into nature (because getting out into nature is awesome), (c) spend some time getting psyched about it with friends and (d) allows to relax some of the rigid discipline that you have used bouldering to impose on yourself.

Either you'll realise that you miss climbing (or bouldering) enough to be psyched as anything to get back to it, or you won't, and you'll have something else to be psyched on.

I'm not really climbing at the moment, or missing it. The psyche dwindled for me after my last trip, to the point that I couldn't motivate myself to climb. Previously I would have forced myself through it. This time, I asked a mate to take me mountain biking. Now I'm enjoying riding trails to the extent that I'm happy to spend my free time doing it - it ticks the boxes I mentioned above - and the world hasn't ended.

Life's too short for it not to be fun.

* Because there's often a difference - I've used the beginner aspect of sport climbing to get re-psyched on bouldering in the past

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 26, 2017, 06:03:08 pm

Hey guys, thanks again for the feedback, I like how this thing is coming out, mostly because all your comments are forcing me to reflect over the issue and clarify my thoughts after the initial burst of frustration.
I'll try to put some words down tomorrow.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Sasquatch on August 26, 2017, 10:58:46 pm

Quote from: the_dom on August 26, 2017, 04:21:31 pm

Lore, I'll throw this out there (possibly slightly controversially): Quit. Give up. Get your mind around not climbing (or bouldering*) and not being a climber (or boulderer). Remove the pressure. Find something else to enjoy, preferably something that (a) allows you to embrace the beginner mindset, (b) get outside into nature (because getting out into nature is awesome), (c) spend some time getting psyched about it with friends and (d) allows to relax some of the rigid discipline that you have used bouldering to impose on yourself.

Either you'll realise that you miss climbing (or bouldering) enough to be psyched as anything to get back to it, or you won't, and you'll have something else to be psyched on.

I'm not really climbing at the moment, or missing it. The psyche dwindled for me after my last trip, to the point that I couldn't motivate myself to climb. Previously I would have forced myself through it. This time, I asked a mate to take me mountain biking. Now I'm enjoying riding trails to the extent that I'm happy to spend my free time doing it - it ticks the boxes I mentioned above - and the world hasn't ended.

Life's too short for it not to be fun.

* Because there's often a difference - I've used the beginner aspect of sport climbing to get re-psyched on bouldering in the past

I second this!

I took a break from climbing for about a 3-4 year span 2006-2010ish for a variety of life/motivation issues, and threw myself into a variety of other things. When I came back to climbing I found more motivation than ever and in a very different way. I wasn't intending on returning to climbing, but I found the desire and motivation was there.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fiend on August 27, 2017, 10:29:05 am

Quote from: Richie Crouch on August 26, 2017, 02:30:34 pm

Come to Font in October and relearn graceful balletic movement with me on some blue circuits! :weakbench:

I'll come along, I reckon I am the epitome of graceful balletic movement on blues*

(* the really easy ones. So at least 20%)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 27, 2017, 01:20:45 pm

@ Sam, as you said, I would need lots of rock very close... Probably going sport climbing could sort things out a bit!

@ Rich and Fiend: I can't imagine anything that would kick my ass more than a blue circuit in Font, and probably I'd get absolutely terrified! But I'll come along, portable fingerboard in one hand, fresh croissant in the other, to shout encouragement: "Must try harder!" "Use your feet!" And the obvious "Pas le genoux!!!"

@ Murph, I don't know either. It's what I've always done, and not only in climbing. It's how I am. I'll give you an example: I started playing basketball when I was in primary school and I loved it and I kept playing until I could. I wasn't gifted for the sport at 170 cm tall, but I wanted to become able to dunk the ball. So I spent one year working my ass off in the gym, squatting, jumping, doing pliometrics, and everything I could bear. I still never dunk a ball, but I could get my whole hand above the rim, and the process in itself was rewarding. Basketball was a mean to exploit my physical abilities at maximum level in that specific field. It's the same with climbing. Leaving aside the magnificence of moving on rock, climbing has given me the opportunity to check my physical limits in every aspect of the discipline, from finger strength, to arm power, to body tension, etc. etc.
I love the physical aspect of things.
I love to train, I love it. To find out a new routine and test it, and progress, is something that I can't do without. That's why, for instance, I got so mad about Olympic style lifting, because it's new and exciting.
Another important aspect of this is that I don't live close to the rocks. It's at least one hour and a half drive, to get to some bouldering or a decent sport crag. Obviously, this meant and means that I couldn't and can't rely on real practice to get better. If you add to this that I love physical problems and routes, you can see how it's been easier to transfer the training onto rock.
This is why it's been so hard, as of late, to find the motivation to go out regularly. I prefer to keep training, improving my physical abilities, and then maybe go somewhere new to have fun on some things before looking for a harder project that suits my strengths. Problem is, these problems are getting rare to find, also because I have a lot less spare time than before.
Another aspect of the issue, one that I never managed to address, is that I can't relate my expectations to the specific conditions. If I go to a grag and I want to climb a certain problem, I don't take in account the fact that it could be too hot, or too greasy, or I may have terrible skin, etc., I want to climb that problem, and I get frustrated if I don't do so.
In hindsight, this has been the major error in my latest outdoor sessions, tha caused so much frustration and ultimately produce the above rant.

@ Sasquatch and Dom, the problem is that I absolutely love climbing. I can't and I don't want to quit because I love it. In some way I already quit it, at least in terms of going out on rock regularly, but the prospect of going on a little trip and doing new stuff is still quite exciting to be honest. Again, I have to reset my expectations according to the moment, instead of thinking "I want to climb that problem no matter what."
I wouldn't know what else I could do, apart from climbing. I've spent a lot of time and effort to get to this level of physical abilities, and I don't want to lose what I've gained. I could not think about taking a break and losing my pulling power, or my finger strength, or my core tension, because they are all aspects of my training that I love and that I want to keep improving.
I may be less performant on rock than before, but I'm in a better physical shape, I'm more complete.
This is why I am so frustrated especially about my fingers issues, because they are hindering my training and my progresses.
I've done a lot of different sports, but I've never found a discipline, except from climbing, that can be trained under so many aspects.
Maybe after all it's just this aspect that gave me so many problems as of late: the fact that my physical issues are making my training more difficult and are projecting a long shadow over my board projects.
As I've said, my board is the best thing ever. I've built it exactly to suit my needs and to keep me motivated, and it's given me so many satisfactions. It's like having an endless crag at your disposal, full of all the problems that you love to try and climb. And it's close. I've never climbed on rock anything harder than the problems that I've done on the board. My board allows me to climb at my highest physical potential, and this is all I need.

If you made it until here, well congratulations!
I really don't know what else I could say: I wrote that entry in a moment of great disappointment and frustration, I wans't even sure about putting it all down. But now I'm happy I did. The comments here forced me to reflect and analyze, and to ultimately understand myself more.
I really hope that my fingers heal, after all I've been here before, so that I can keep training and bash my head against my board projects.
I also need to sort my head out with respect to my expectations when I go out on rock. There's a right time and place for everything, and as of late I've clearly missed them both. My fault. A big fault with big consequences, as you see.

Hopefully, in a few months time, I'll write something about climbing a project. Board or rock it won't matter, maybe.
Cheers.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Yossarian on August 27, 2017, 03:04:25 pm

Chin up Lore - we’ve got a fucking training guide to write!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 27, 2017, 04:00:14 pm

:lol:
Now that I'm retired I can dedicate all my time to the task!

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: lagerstarfish on August 27, 2017, 04:08:46 pm

Quote from: Yossarian on August 27, 2017, 03:04:25 pm

Chin up Lore - we’ve got a fucking training guide to write!

in the style of Slaine?

I'd be OK with a Sandman style as well

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Hoseyb on August 27, 2017, 09:26:53 pm

Quote from: lagerstarfish on August 27, 2017, 04:08:46 pm

Quote from: Yossarian on August 27, 2017, 03:04:25 pm
Chin up Lore - we’ve got a fucking training guide to write!

in the style of Slaine?

I'd be OK with a Sandman style as well

Lobo?

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Fiend on August 27, 2017, 10:28:15 pm

GIMME THE CROISSANT.

(I need to keep the weight up to get maximum force through my feet onto blue grattons slabs)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: SA Chris on August 28, 2017, 10:18:02 am

Either follow dom's advice, Or embrace punterdom. I know you say you love climbing, but there may be other things you'll love you've never tired, and there's nothing quite like the beginners mind to open yourself up to possibilities.

the_dom, are you getting out MTBing with Jason W? Another CT climber who has embraced the biking vibe.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: lagerstarfish on August 28, 2017, 11:05:27 am

maybe it's time to make a few of these?

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9PX7bXW0AECT3a.jpg)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 28, 2017, 11:48:39 am

Cheers Lagers, but my board is 53 degrees, I would end up crimping the edges of the filing anyway!

Chris, I could embrace punterdom - in fact I have already, basically.
What I'm really missing - due to present physical issues - is the chance of pulling very hard on my board projects and on the odd, selected and hyper-specific problem on rock.
As for the new things and the beginner's attitude, I have already so many things that I would love to dedicate myself to!
Just serious lifting and boxing classes would see me very very psyched. But I'm leaving these things for when I'll have nothing left in climbing.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: 36chambers on August 28, 2017, 01:55:08 pm

Reset your board, scrap all your projects and start completely afresh. You could even change the angle and/or get new holds.

My local board, which admittedly I've only been climbing on for a few years, has recently been reset (forcing me to scrap all my long term projects) and I'm enjoying it more than ever :)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 28, 2017, 03:56:45 pm

Chambers, I appreciate your advice, but I'll decline, sorry.
At the moment I don't need motivation to get on my board and try my projects, I need my fingers to heal. Given that temps here are back to 35/36 degrees, I could have some more time than expected! ;D

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Andy F on August 28, 2017, 11:37:48 pm

Lore,
As someone who has had several 'crisis of faith' over the years, along with niggling injuries and loss of psyche I feel for you. It can be very difficult coming to terms with not doing what you love the most to the very best of your ability. There is more to climbing than being your own personal best. The act of moving over rock, banter with true mates, laughter, piss taking, jokes, belief in the moment are all actually much more important than beating what you did last time out.

It took me a long time to understand this.

But I still want to do my very best. I've just changed the goalposts.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: duncan on August 29, 2017, 12:12:49 pm

Hope you’re feeling a bit more chirpy. Heat like you've been having can't help.

Quote from: comPiler on August 24, 2017, 01:00:18 pm

... in April I had climbed a four years old board project, something that I had sometimes thought I would never climb. Four years trying a problem that played to all my strengths, mean that it's probably quite hard and I felt it like a monumental achievement. Possibly the hardest thing I've ever climbed. Then I made a mistake. I went back climbing.

A performance peak, inevitably followed by trough, frequently accompanied by niggling injuries and loss of motivation. Frustrating but, as night follows day, entirely to be expected.

Others have discussed motivation. I’ll confine my ramblings to the finger and knee pains. Executive summary: the former seem like over-use, the latter under-use.

Quote from: comPiler on August 24, 2017, 01:00:18 pm

I think that, simply, the connective tissue between the bones has gone.

I’d be very surprised if this was true, it is rare in climbers or sportspeople in general (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18550323). Joints don’t wear out with intense exercise, if anything they get stronger. Climbers have denser bone underlying the finger joints than the general population, their joints are likely to be fatter (both adaptations to deal with the increased load), but the cartilage is not thinner and osteoarthritis is unusual (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2100343/). Other connective tissues are thicker (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26267120). Cartilage responds to mechanical stress as muscles, tendons, or other connective tissues do. Give it too much load and it will (temporarily) feel sore, give it too little and it will slowly atrophy, give it the right amount and it will gradually hypertrophy.

The knee issue is easy. You never heel-hook on your board. You never train heel hooking muscles in any specific way. After weeks of not heel hooking, it hurts when you try. Why is this a surprise?! You should know what to do about this.

The finger pains might be some kind of synovitis, as Ru suggests. A name is reassuring to have but not really that important. The most relevant factors are the aggravating movement and the (rate of increase of) volume of that movement. The pain you describe is most likely a sign of a little too much DIP hyperextension (and probably rotation, in the index finger). The background factors being your performance peak, not being 21 any more, and possibly other issues connected with a hectic lifestyle.

You know all this but you need to - temporarily - back off crimping a little. You choose how you do this. Psychologically, in the short term, it might be easier to just stop. Take a complete break and ride your bike? Alternatively, as others have suggested, change what you’re doing a little. Get beastly on slopers? Focus on big moves on bigger holds? Half-crimp or open-hand a little more? Assess what is happening with your index finger on small holds: look for rotation. Can you modify this? Taking one step sideways to make two steps forward is probably the better long term approach but harder as it challenges your persona as maestro of the crimp!

Good luck with whatever you do, just promise you won’t take up cycling.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 29, 2017, 01:40:09 pm

Hey Duncan, thanks for finding the time to post that.
I have to agree with basically everything, and curiously enough one of the crucial aspects that I've been checking for my fingers is exactly the rotation issue. Indeed, much of the pain that I feel come with a pressure that's not exactly vertical, but more sideways to the joint, internally. Surely front2 full crimps put a load of rotational effort on the index finger, also because of the thumb catch on it.
I intend to ditch the full crimp for a while, really.
It occurred to me yesterday that this current problem is perfect to focus on my back3 one arm hangs, that I've neglected as of late.

Hopefully in a few weeks temps will lower at least enough to get some decent foot on campusing: last time I tried I got two flappers on the first set.
Cheers again for the advice, much appreciated.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on August 29, 2017, 11:44:53 pm

Quote from: duncan on August 29, 2017, 12:12:49 pm

Good luck with whatever you do, just promise you won’t take up cycling.

You can bet everything you have, I won't.

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: Nibile on January 14, 2018, 01:17:26 pm

I apparently got lost...
https://totolore.blogspot.it/2018/01/a-classic-tale-or-what-you-shouldnt-do.html (https://totolore.blogspot.it/2018/01/a-classic-tale-or-what-you-shouldnt-do.html)

Title: Re: TOTOLORE
Post by: jwi on January 14, 2018, 01:46:22 pm

UKBouldering.com

the shizzle => the blog pile => Topic started by: comPiler on April 08, 2010, 01:00:14 pm