Rabenstein

It's so hard sometimes to find an internet connection when you're on the road. Luckily I'm a bit of a nerd and learn how to hack things (ooooh!)
Thus. Rabenstein.
I was really motivated, what a wall! Full of ice, finally a real iceclimbing comp! I couldn't wait to get my axes in that ice.
Only six girls were competing, of which three really good ones. Three Russians, Angelika Rainer and an Italian girl. Four would get into the finals, so I was a bit nervous. Actually quite a bit...
So I climbed and went too slow, got pumped, couldn't get into proper figure-of-four's because I couldn't hold onto my axes anymore and...fell. It wasn't even a hard route!
Also the waiting in the isolation without the possibility to warm up didn't really help.
I was so disappointed! Also because I knew the girl who made it on fourth place was just a Russian speed-climber. Not a real iceclimber at all!
The next day I saw them climbing, I really had the feeling I belonged the too, in the finals. Even the speed in the evening didn't go too well. Though, it was such an impressive wall! 26m long!
I fell in the start, so had a bad time. But...to think positive: I became second...there were only two girls competing, in the mens category. (Oh, yes, no pictures from me...some camera-camera-man failure...)
Though, my good friend Dennis was impressive on the lead! He reached the finals and became 7th. With his length and drytooling experience he got really far. You can read his story on his website .
On speed he expected to do more. He made quite some mistakes, and could do better...next year?
For me definitely next year better. Training hard and loads? Gosh, wish it was my job to climb!