What attracted me to the route "In the realm of the Shogun" was the fact that I have known it for a long time. After all, it's right on my doorstep. And of course the difficulty level 9a is a benchmark for me. How often did I think about whether this route is feasible for me at all! Again and again I had to answer this question with no. Until 2019, when I thought to myself: now I am physically, mentally and technically at the level to take on such a big challenge. So I set about training.
Great respect and doubts
As I began to project the route, I found more and more like the line. It is a fine line to the impossible. There are just enough holds to reach the top. The respect for this route was very great and doubts kept coming up. I asked myself: Should I work harder on myself? Should I train only for this route and is it really worth investing the time? At some point, I decided to only practice directly in the route while projecting and not to put in any extra training sessions.
During training, I noticed that some of the holds were very painful. This sometimes really demotivated me to continue. But I didn't want to put myself under pressure in terms of time, so I took breaks every now and then to let my fingers heal. But I didn't want to give myself too much time either. In climbing, external influences such as rain, cold or heat are also decisive. In other words, it's not possible to climb such a difficult route all year round.
I learned a lot about the route
In my attempts to climb through, I failed again and again. But I learned a lot about the route as a result. At this difficulty level, things like when do I clip, when do I chalk, or when and where can I shake my hands are very crucial. And often I was also fighting against myself. Then when I made it through, I was overjoyed and felt a sense of relief. In my mind, I often went through what it would be like when the time came. I will be able to remember the feeling for a very long time, but at the same time I ask myself again: What comes next? I have done many difficult routes. Now I'm thinking about trying new ones and finding out if and how they are doable.
Hope you enjoyed my blogpost. I would be happy about many ratings and comments.
Yours Philipp
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