Home sweet home

I'm back home from Val di Mello in Italy where the annual Melloblocco was held. It's a big outdoor bouldering event (6000 people estimated!) in the Italian Alps. This was my fist time there and I thought it was good fun, except for the weather which was really hot for hard bouldering. There were a few problems with price money that was split between the people who climbed them. Among lots of others, I was not too psyched to try these problems, because some of them had drilled holes, some sika used and holds or parts of the wall taped off. Adam Ondra was superior in the competition by climbing all 8 problems. Instead of the competition problems I was more motivated to climb on some of the nice looking problems that were outside the competition. One very good problem that stood out was La Chimera, a really beautiful and high 8A arête. Overall I thought Val di Mello was a nice area with tons of bouldering in a scenic valley. You might want cooler conditions though or you'll lose the skin really fast.

After Mello we made a quick visit to Zillertal in Austria. I only got to climb there one day, well half a day, because the weather has been bad in Austria lately. I got to see some areas I haven't been to before and climbed a classic problem called El Gauhara.

I'm excited to be back home now. I've been a traveling a lot lately, so I decided to skip the Nissan Outdoor Games in Switzerland. It's a really cool event and I like the concept, but spending two whole weeks at home just seemed too good. At the end of this month I'm hitting the road again, first stop Colorado for 5 weeks and then South Africa for 6 or 7 weeks! I'm really psyched for that, but at the same time I'm happy to spend some time at home.