World Youth Climbing Competition

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Wed Aug 30 Innsbruck to Munich


Sarovski Crystal Museum .
The grounds included this maze and fountain.



Our last day in Innsbruck and we drove to the Sarovski Crystal site outside of town. It is a huge tourist "museum" next to the factory. The exhibits display colored lights and crystals.
One takes an interior tour and ends up....at a gift shop full of crystal products.
This place was packed with people!

In the afternoon we drove out of the mountains to Munich so as to be near the airport the next day. It rained and made the scenery seem even greener.

We stayed at the "Tulip Inn", four km from the airport. The airport is far out of Munich and the very very small town containing the Tulip Inn was really isolated and surrounded by cornfields.

That evening, we borrowed bikes from the Inn and enjoyed riding around town before nightfall. There were sidewalks to stay out of the speeding cars' way.

We ate dinner at the Inn restaurant and when I ordered a salad, out came a large bowl-- full to the brim, with shredded cheese and unidentifiable shredded sausage! No green anywhere. I ordered a house salad and mixed the two together! Much better.

The hotels have great breakfasts 'bars" with all kinds of breads, proteins, and strong coffee. It was often the best meal of the day. The morning of our departure, Thursday, we borrowed bikes once more and visited the local tiny store. After purchasing a few chocolate bars for friends (not on diets) and some unique after dinner stomach liquor, we were happy to make our final European pedal back to the hotel, check out, and be on our way to the airport.

It was an eventful and terrific trip!
Thanks again to everyone for your support and interest.
Sierra

Tues Aug 29 Innsbruck

Cable Cars, Cows, and Castles

The tour bus whizzed us thru the narrow streets of Innsbruck, up to the mountain tourist town of Igls, and dropped us off at the base of the cable car, Patscher Kofel.

We rode two separate cars up and got off at the base of a quaint single chair lift which was supposed to be running to the very top. However, for the next 95 minutes our feet hiked us to the top. The path faced north and we eventually ran into light snow. The other hikers just smoked and drank a little to keep going.

I was freezing but it was such a wide view and scenic hike!


The cows did't mind the cold at all. Each one had a loud bell on its neck.
After reaching the top of Patscherkofel, we bought more postcards and strong coffee at the inevitable gift shop which appear at the end of every tourist's path.












The 1.5 hour hike down to the start of the cable car down was gloriously easy and increasingly warmer, which pleased me! In the tourist town of Igls, we bought just one more souvenier for friends and the bus sped us back to our very modern hotel in Innsbruck. The tour busses dominate the streets like bulls and the cars dodge out of their way!

On our walk (oh my aching feet) back to the hotel, we climbed the Old City Tower again and took this photo of the famous Gold Roof place.

We also saw this totally silver painted woman standing on a pedestal, in the town square. She was a mime and only moved when a tourist put money in her coffer. Very unique.


After a very brief snack, we walked back to the bus station and rode out of town to the Schloss Ambrass and Kunsthistorisches Museum. Archiduke Ferdinand II had the medievil Ambrass Castle converted into this Renaissance Castle for his wife! The castle is full of unique stuff from all over the world. He has a bizarre painting of a boy with facial hair like an animal and exotic money boxes that are built like huge doll houses Renaissance style. The grounds were exquisitely kept and hosted white peacocks! We rushed thru the castle and took the last bus back to town. The hotel had a huge room with a unisex sauna, steam room, and thin water beds under changing colored lights. After some time in that room, we passed out after a great Tuesday in Innsbruck.

Monday Aug. 28 Innsbruck Tourists




I bought a 48 hour Tour Innsbruck Card which was basically a challenge to see how much of the city I could tour and visit "for free!" This city photo was taken from the old City Tower after climbing 145 steps around and around up to the lookout on top. The ski jump is visible in the distance.

Their Alpine Zoo is the highest zoo in the world and was set in very natural and seemingly humane conditions. The animals were at very close viewing range and it was fun! It rained again but that made walking cooler.

Later in the afternoon, we took the tour bus to the Olympic Ski Jump area and walked the 455 steps up to (and then back down from) the restaurant at the top. The views were 360 degrees and covered the entire valley. The Inn River runs thru the valley, as it also does in Imst.

Sunday Aug 27th

Speed Finals and off to Innsbruck

The Americans did amazingly well in Speed as the results show on the link page!

The last day of Worlds is a great day of trading stuff with climbers from other counties and getting to know some kids, now that the pressure is off. I traded my USA Team shirt for a Swiss Team shirt, which had lots of cologne all over it, but it came out in the wash. :)

Later that afternoon, we hiked down the Rosengarten-Schlucht trail (4km along a terrificly steep and rocky stream) and then drove the rental Fiat via the autobahn to Innsbruck. It rained the entire time. No wonder it is SO green over there.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Semi-finals Saturday August 26th





Since I finished 19th out of 26 in the qual routes yesterday and semis running order is reverse, I was the 8th climber this morning. That translates into getting out of bed at 5:45 am, getting into isolation by 6:55 am, and warming up my freezing body by 8 am. Iso was very cold and verrrrrrrrrrrry crowded. I couldn't walk without stepping over (and on) people. Our group got to see the route for 8 minutes (precisely) at 8 am and I climbed at 8:55 am.

Our route today started with a vertical, intensely hard (lousy hold after tough hold) wall and by the time I reached the absolutely horizontal roof, my arms were pumped and the route continued with completely unreadable sequences. I gave it all that I had and finished 23rd. Many of these climbers were not at Worlds in Beijing last year. 8 girls advanced to finals which was held this afternoon. Most of them flashed all 4 routes! It feels like to really compete in this age group in Europe, one would have to train here with a European coach, team, AND 92 foot long climbs.

Finals are this afternoon and Speed is tonight in the town square.

I am taking a break this afternoon and will ride TWO charilifts up to the top of the mountain, hike down to the midstation among the belled cows, and then ride the rollercoaster to the bottom. What a rush!

Tomorrow, Sunday, is the Speed finals and Awards ceremony. I think we are going to drive to Innsbruck in the afternoon.

Happy Climbing!

Sierra

Friday, August 25, 2006

Qualifiers-Day 2 Friday Aug 25th





Saturday August 24th Qualifier Day 2 Imst

Precisely at 8:00 this morning, two forerunners, including Angela Eiter, demonstrated (climbed quickly) three routes each and made them look sooo easy! All 65 Youth Female A climbers got another chance to score points for entry into semifinals.

I ran 9th in line and was at the gym at 7 am, climbed at 9:15, and felt great about the climb. The route was vertical with mostly natural feet and then it crossed over to a huge horizontal roof. These Europeans use their feet much better than the Americans and seem very comfortable with their pony tail hanging upside down. I got to the last huge stalagmite-thing, one hold from the end and that was all I had. I finished 19 th and moved on to semis on Saturday! I was so grateful!

After leaving the sportstadium, we rented bikes and rode flat paths along the Inn River and through hilly Imst. The apartment we are staying at has no phones and no internet sevice and no salads...but we have a kitchen!

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Qualifiers-day 1


Thursday August 24th
The comp began!! Precisely at 8:15 a.m, as scheduled, six UIAA forerunners climbed the routes for the six age group divisions. The Austrians are so precise with time. There are 65 girls in my age group and I climbed number 41 at approximately 1:15 pm. At first I felt so intimidated by the walls and the huge crowd, but settled down quickly once I started climbing. The route was long (92 feet long) with two major cruxes and many lousy holds along the way. I was very pleased when I made it over the second overhang, with the top only 8 feet away! I felt like I could go further but my arms were so pumped and that was all I had. There were many ties today(see the results on the “World Youth Championships website” link from my blog home page) and I ended up a very close 17th place.
Tomorrow is the second preliminary route and I will climb 9th after the forerunner.
(in this picture I am in the white shirt on the left)

Opening Ceremony





Wednesday Aug 23rd.

The day before the comp started, we took it easy but hiked around the mountains and enjoyed the wide vistas and magnificent views. We took the Hoch-Imst chairlift up the mountain and then hiked further up the mountain with the cows! Every cow had a huge bell around its neck and they made quite a din. When we were ready to come down, we again rode the awesomely fast rollercoaster! What a blast.


Opening ceremonies were held at the Imst town center and all the teams marched like at the Olympics but it was difficult to see and take pictures

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Training in Innsbruck


The US Team took a big commercial bus to the olympic Training Center in Innsbruck today, Tuesday. The gym was a huge complex with lots of steel and glass. The climbing gym had a pretty small floor area but was very TALL.

This was a great route and fun to climb. I am the climber in blue.

The routes were not taped but marked by holds of the same color....it was confusing when a light yellow route was next to a white or dark yellow route. Their rating system is 4-9 and with no relation to our 5. system.

It was a great day of training.













Every morning starts out wet and foggy and usually clears by pm.


In order to write this blog, I go to the very smoky
restaurant in the Hotel Neuner and use the internet. It is slow and not always cooperative with font and pictures. We are looking for a better connection.

Bye for now!

Monday, August 21, 2006

First day Sightseeing





Team members were knocking on our door early this morning, urging us come on and ride "The World's Longest Alpine Coaster." While riding the ski lift up to the top of the coaster, breathtaking views were revelaed of the Imst Valley. The attendant assured us that we could go as fast as we wanted down the track and the sled would not crash off, so we ignored the brake and flew down the track! What a blast.

In the afternoon we drove to the Bavarian region of southern Germany and waited a long time to tour the exquisite Disney-like castle, Neuschwanstein. The views out of the castle windows exposed greeen fields, crossed by tree lined roads leading to red roofed villas. It all looked magically beautiful.

Tomorrow our Team climbs in Innsbruck from 3-6 pm at the Olympic Training Center. It will be interesting to meet some of the other climbers.

Wednesday night is the Opening Ceremony and on Thursday the Comp starts. I can't wait!

Sunday, August 20, 2006

We made it!

Austria is so green and bequtiful!
We arrived into Munich at 9 am on Sunday and drove the 90 miles to Imst, Austria in three hours! Both mapqwest and Michelin's maps were totally incomprehensible. At least three different l o n g names are used for the same road and then they don't match the sign posts! Sierra was navigator and was sure we'd end up in London. But we made it fine.

All of Imst is closed today because it is Sunday and naturally everything is annoyingly written in German. Our hotel hosts are very kind, even after our power converter failed and blew the room circuits!

We drove by the gym today but of course it was closed for the comp. The setters must be inside working like mad to get ready for Thursday.

Some of the other USAClimbers have arrived and are here at the hotel. It's so nice to see familiar faces.
Here are a few pictures:
The Gym
The Alps!!!



















A pretty church Attempting to drive from Munich to Imst!