rocks are the skin of the earth: the aRCo roCkmasteR

Hectic traveling has been my life for the last 5 weeks. Alex and I bought impromptu tickets to Italy, so she could compete in the Arco Rockmaster in northern Italy. We flew into Milan, and stayed one night after getting lost downtown for far too long. The next day we drove to Arco and spent 4 days enjoying the scenery, food, and climbing competition. Alex came in 4th place after climbing strong on problems set by Fontainebleau's climbing legend Jacky Godoffe. The format of the bouldering was awesome to watch. Each person practiced the original set version of the problems the morning of the competition. There was 1 girl each from Russia, Japan, Austria, Belgium, Ukraine, France, Italy and America. They came out one at a time to try the problems. They got three tries total, but only one try per attempt. So if you came out and your foot slipped immediately, you had to go back and sit with the other girls, who were all allowed to watch each other, and try again on your turn. After the first problem 1 girl was eliminated, the second problem, 2 girls, and the third problem 2 more; which left 3 for the 4th problem. It sounds confusing; however, the format was awesome to watch. The elimination process included the girls coming out and waving goodbye to the crowd while we all cheered them on for their good effort. Also, they had a DJ. So awesome. I don't even know where to start with the food. Fat sandwiches and amazing pizza right at the event. I couldn't really ask for more.

The lead climbing and speed climbing were also awesome to watch. During the onsight route the first day for lead, Johanna Ernst killed it by being the only girl to flash the route. It was extremely impressive. The overall winners of the Rockmaster Competition were Angela Eiter and Ramòn Julien Puigblanque.

The Duel. Oh goodness the Duel. I have never been so psyched to watch climbing in my life. An incredible looking 7c+ was set that both they guys and girls dueled to the end. Cedric Lachat raced Adam Ondra up the wall and beat him by 8 milliseconds. It was insane. Ja-In Kim climbed steady up the long lead wall and beat Angela Eiter to the end. The crowd went absolutely crazy. It was so fun to watch.

This is just the first half of our trip in photos. More to come later.

I am too lazy to fix the photos so just click on them to see the entire thing!

Al reading during our layover in Copenhagen.