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esmaspäev, 28. jaanuar 2019

Downhilling will start

21. january
Hitched to Peio Fonti to check out the skiing place and look for part time job...
afternoon in Peio Fonti, the end of ski route. Base camp. Start of cable car
Drivers told me that there will be nothing for evenings because of lacking night life but who knows, I still decided to try. In Cogolo I just entered to bar of an hotel to get some warmth and a cup of caffe macchiato. I looked the map and it seemed to be quite (ice)climbable zone so I asked the barman (who was also the owner of the hotel) if he knows some waterfalls nearby for ice climbing. Resulted that he knew - he was also practising this kind of weird stuff. OK, he marked some waterfalls on the map... then I got to the topic of job seeking and voila! he told that he was just looking for somebody foor room service/ cleaning.... What a luck, I thought. So we changed contacts etc, but there was a little but - they already had a good candidate but they didnt believe she would take the job.... but she did... so just 4 hours after finding job I already lost it 👀👂👌👍😃😂😓😞😢.
Anyway I went up to Peio Fonti just to feel the atmosphere of the skiing centre...

...I liked it. Not too many people, also served by skibuses for free, the real mountain environment and sympathetic people (compared to Nonesi - people from Val di Non; and Solandri - people from Val di Sole in general). Decision made, I would do my skiing studies there. Also prices of seasonal skipass were more convenient (390 euros) compared to Madonna di Campiglio (695 euros) and Marilleva-Folgarida (575 euros). Another interesting thing here is that there are no discounts for students (even though iam not a student anymore i would at least pretend to be one!? but there is no point to even pretend here). Now the last question was where to buy/rent cheap but valid equipment. Googleing, Subito.it etc for second hand stuff. I found some ski boots for 30-40 euros, some skis for 40-50 euros etc... but its hard to contact italians by e-mail :D... OK, wait.

22. january
Wanted to go to Tuenno to get my bike and cycle up to Dimaro, but I found another activity - arrange wood, making nice towers of wood (well, we need wood for heating and it was for free, so why not). But I was still missing training. This problem got fixed at late evening by nice night run along the river or actually torrent Noce... 40 minutes of leg killing.

23. january
Finally I went down to get my dear bike Massimo, put some air in back tube and try out icey bike road which follows the Sun Valley almost in full lenght. But before that a good friend of mine took me to a small ski fix/rental place where I got a super offer for whole season - all needed stuff (skis,helmet, boots, glasses, poles) for 80 euros, till the middle of april. Deal!!
In october/november there were some heavy rains and storms in Italy and damages in Dimaro but also in other places were quite big. Actually the bike route is closed in many places because alluviations left too much mud behind. The bridge on the pic was also not realy happy - 1/4 of it has escaped. There and in some places I needed to go around, good for me that torrents are frozen right now (in warm Italy :D)

Actually I was a bit bored of tranquillity of Val di Sole for that moment. At evening I escaped to visit Luglio... anyway there was ice climbing in our program for next day (even though I wouldnt recommend to practise this sport while having bronchitis, but some people dont listen... and also I cant hold myself back). Hitchhiking from Dimaro to Dermulo was easy, but bloody hell, how to get to Fondo in darkness. There is quite narrow, dark and a bit curvy road. Ffancul!! I still managed.... risking a bit.

24. January
2nd Ice climb in my life (yeah, im still counting as its new experience for me, dont worry, I will get tired of counting after 6 or 7 😂). The place was same as first time. Near fondo, near rock climbing crag "Marino Stenico".  I almost remembered the basic technique, but fortunately there was a bit more ice than previously, so we got to try a bit harder "routes", a bit more verticality than first time. Yaah, now i even got my arms a bit tired in addition to legs that are not used to trust the front points of crampons. I´m sorry for lack of pictures but I was having fun so I forgot to take pics.... and after it was cold enough to not spend time without gloves. 💩😈
I think I should buy crampons and ice axes.... i like this stupid sport. Looking forward to more verticality. Maybe in Val di Rabbi next week (oh, this week I mean)
Hitching back was nice. I met Paolo, a guy from Peio (my skiing place), a super welcoming guy who seems to know everybody in his valley. He gave me some contacts of local alpine guides and masters of ski. So maybe I dont need to die of lack of climbing training? 

25. january
Ayeeee, first day of mountain skiing! When was the last time you did something for the first time in your life? I think I am not hopeless case. Thanks to crosscountry skiing and some slacklining experience I have some balance at least. Ofcourse I´m probably using some mistaken technique while turning and zig-zaging but i can get down, having fun.... and sometimes I lose control over my speed, start chickening and put down my bottom.... for safety reasons :D 
Doss dei Cembri

rifugio.... place for sunbathing, eating, drinking etc

So I spent almost 2 hours on the blue route "Scoiattolo" to gain some self-confidence and feeling. Of course i´m not able to keep things easy, so I wanted to try some harder stuff. Some red routes as "Doss dei Cembri" and "Tarlenta. First try on "Doss dei Cembri" was almost successful.... second and third try already without falling (but my technique is s**t). On Tarlenta I lost control at least 4 times 😔. Actually its super that Doss dei Cembri and Tarlenta are attached so I can just go downhill 5 horizontal km and 1 vertical km without any obstacles (if we dont count my bottom and hands which were touching the ground more than wanted). Challenge for next day.
Boots are killing my right foot because of a bone which is a bit out reaching... weird ankle. Welcome to my life dear blister!
BTW, if you happen to go skiing in Pejo visit also Bar Sandwich - welcoming staff and as clients both locals and visitors. Nice pre and after skiing place.

26. January
Working in the morning. Yep, the hotel where i found and lost job called me for change of saturday. Better one day than nothing! Chop-chop-chop, move your ass if you want to go skiing!! Hehe, strasimpatici :D. Making up beds, washing windows, taking away dust, vacuuming etc. We were 4 + boss, everybody had own logic and everybody tried to teach.... muhahaa what a chaos. I hope I learned something 😆😂. They told me: "You see, you made a mistake here, you cant go skiing".... well, we still finished at normal time 12.30 and deffinitely I went to have fun on ski routes. I even got ski trousers from Melissa, another globetrotter working in the bar. Thanks a lot... mi salva il culo letteralmente... yeah she saved my ass literally. Tried some new challenge "Saroden". Almost lost my phone there - it fell out of my pocket while i was busy with falling and sliding/rolling down.
view from beginning of route "Saroden"

...and this

And... from Paolo I got a contact of the guy who has a small handmade boulder gym so we went to have small session. Aiii, it was cold there of course, but I still managed to work out till my arms were dead. There was only one problem - I already sent a small hedgehog in my throat... and the last skibus had already left. Have a good hitchhiking!!

27.january. Hedgehog has grown bigger. No skiing. I dont want to talk about it. 😓😢
At least it started to snow.

pühapäev, 27. jaanuar 2019

No snow, go slow

 Life in Trentino-Alto Adige.
Lago di Garda from the place of Robi and community
 Well, ofcourse i´m moving around also, but the plan is to settle down in this mountain paradise. As I probably mentioned in my last post the project for the winter is to learn skiing and ice climbing. Of course there will be also rock climbing, trekking, biking, running and why not some fencing if I manage to go often enough to Merano or Bolzano (unfortunately fencing is not really popular here in valleys between mountains.... montanari).

Attention please, all those who think that it is warm in Italy - IT IS NOT!! Well, outdoors it is warmer than in Estonia, but indoors its colder than outdoors (because of little physical activity and the fact that many italians dont use heating... and houses are made of stone). First night I was stupid enough to not put my feet in hot water before going to sleep and it took 4 hours to fall asleep because of two ice cubes (my feet) in the bed... Next nights i was a bit smarter ofcourse.

11. january - Woke up with my frozen feet, made some push ups,  jumps, caffe and hot tea to warm up. Visiting my cave mates Davide and Robi in Brescia and a country house near Lago di Garda where Robi is living now as a member of a small community. Yaah I had an opportunity to help to re-plant 4 olive trees that their neighbour didnt need anymore. Lets be optimistic and hope that those trees keep living, even though some of their roots got broken during process.

excavator carrying an olive tree

Hole for olive tree. On the background 2 already re-planted trees



Generally it was a lazy day, gaining energy for the next days´ climbing. After the dinner we made a small jamming session with guitars, accordion, drums and vocal.... But I need more activity to stay warm and even though the community and their idea is lovely I think I wouldnt be able to live like that. Too relaxed but in the same time having duties as a member of community... so basically not very intense working but also no time for hobbies because there is always something to do with the house and garden. Some years ago I was thinking that it would be interesting to join some group like that but for now I have understood that I love more intense and srtressful life and anyway I tend to be lonely wolf (or individualist?). Anyway greetings to this funny people there!

12. january. Climbing with Giovanni and Samuele near Salo (near Lago di Garda). My last climbing before leaving Italy for Christmas was also with those guys 😉. This time it was 4 degrees warmer and I felt the different with many cells of my body. The name of the crag is (falesia) Castello di Gaino. The crag is graded quite hard, often the given grade is even 1 grade less than it feels in reality.... its not my fantasy because its even written on a stend next to crag. We tried "la freccia destra" (5c... quite hard 5c id say), "sederini parlanti" (6a+, id say at least 6b+), "la serpe" (6a+, super nice and creepy because of long distance between spits in hard sequence, again i would grade it 6b+), "Cioccolata" (6c, hard beginning and some hard movements in the middle... again id grade it harder, at least 6c+, but maybe i have just became weak, so better go and try!).
Guys on left side climbing "la serpe", Samuele and Giovanni getting ready for "la freccia dx"

View from the crag "Castello di Gaino"... down there you will see Garda lake.

What to do with the cold and dark evening time? Turn back to Brescia or go to Trentino? An old contact from fb group of desperate climbers helped me out.... Dorian from Verona was free to climb next day near Verona so the best option was to turn back to Brescia, hang out in the center with Davide and other anarchists. Just killing time. Got to bed at 3 am, to be ready for departure at 7.30 in the morning. Actually I should sleep more 💪😉😓.

13. january. Sunday climbing with Dorian. I needed to TAKE A TRAIN to get to Verona early enough. For me as a hitchhiker it feels really weird 😆. Well, diet for this day. Differences between prices of regional and interregional trains are crazy... over-italian Freccia Rossa ticket from Brescia to Verona was 20 euros while ticket of regional train was 7 euros. Difference in duration of the ride was only 4 minutes. Guess which train I used. OK, finally I met Dorian, the guy with whom we planned some climbing already in the end of the summer... without success because of distance and intense working time. So we went climbing on a crag named Gaium. The weather was super, under the sun a t-shirt was enough to stay warm during a climb.The grading of routes was much easier compared to previous day. Tried "scoiattolo volante" (6a, nice for warm up), "Coccinella" (6c, hard for me because of a bouldery crux, but super nice), "Otto" (6b+, nice vertical and slabby with short overhanging sections).... Unfortunately i dont remember the name of 4-th route... it was also nice vertical climb. Hahaaa, you have probably already understood that I prefer vertical climbing and overhangs make me cry... not that I dont like them, but i´m just weak and quite heavy.... all those muscles that I need to carry with me every single day.
View from Gaium. Its full of crags there

OK, now I felt that Trentino was calling. First I went to the base of climbers - Arco. BArtEcaffe was still on the same place and teroldego (one of the most common wines in the zone, my other favourite is marzemino) was tasty as always. I was a bit confused actually because I still had no idea where to do my skiing season. One of the options was Polsa, south-east from Arco, so I tried to find some room or place in some condivided room in Arco but without success. That night Anna and Luca helped me out with accomodation but the future plan was to find a job or living place (or both) and according to its location choose a skiing place. With job its a bit complicated because I want to have at least 4 hours of daylight for skiing... almost every day, so the job should be something at evening time or early mornings.

14. january, monday - hard to find company for climbing, so why not to do a short trekking?
Start of "Percorso alle Cavre"

Some parts of the track were via ferrata, well, I prefered to go without attaching myself to those iron things...

seasonal living spot



just some plants

Got up to see that in case of too much energy i would have gone further

...but i prefered to make caffe, eat bread with cheese and sun bath. This place is always open, there is gas and mokas to make caffe


Again this view. It has became classics. Every time I do some multi-pitch near Dro or Ceniga I see it.

River Sarca
While walking I realized that flu has made quite big damages to my endurance and functionality of respiratory system.... but it will get better. Just need to keep going (I have understood that it is the most secure way to arrive... ;)). I will get back to my marathon shape. 
Finished this intense walking my colleague Giulio picked me up and deported to Val di Non.

15.january... no photos. Looking for job, reading texts and writing reviews... for some cash (even I need to work a bit sometimes 😆). And I still needed to find boots for ice climbing next day.... Hmmm, why not those that I used for apple picking? And yeah, they seemed to be OK, so I borrowed them from a good friend for a while or a bit longer... well i guess i will fuck them up, so it would be smart to buy them :D

16. january. First ice climbing in my young life! Big thanks to Giulio aka Luglio who taught me (he even examined me before going... two most basic techniques - basic with split and triangle... hahaaa no idea how those techniques are actually called in english). Even though the beginning of this winter has been quite warm some ice was formed close to Fondo, a small town between Bolzano and Trento.

but... how can i walk here? its all ice!! Crampons and ice axes really work

Dont follow the flow, go upstream because following the flow you can only go down 😇😁😉

mostly not very steep (maybe 60-70 degrees) with some vertical sections

Random... view from belaying spot. no snow, even though we are more than 1000 m from sea level

Canyon

Evening I spent looking for living place, having long conversations with bears and writing reviews (I know I´m slow). Its nice to have something to do after sunset... usually in this zone (Val di Sole, Val di Non) you will die of boredom or go to bar and drink.... Fortunately my budget is low and I prefer to spend resources to mountain equipment or skipass rather than get drunk, so I have nothing to do 😂. 

17. january.  
Book exchange point in Trento. I like those a lot. Remind me my university town Tartu
Thats the main street of Dimaro. Brenta Dolomites on the background

Hitchhiked from Trento to Val di Sole to disturb owners of hotels. Nobody had job for a climbing vagabond. They even didnt have anything for slavery (working in hotels during the season means often no days off, and almost without salary, because "you anyway get the accomodation and food from there" .... muhahaa.  Buuuut.... I found a place for living (or actually a friend found it through his friends). After wandering around valley all day long I ended up in Dimaro to take a look at my base for next some months. Small room in the center in appartment with a super calm and intelligent chef, a friend of friend of friend - a friend for now I´d say. Almost no sport this day.... only walking with 15 kg of luggage. The week has passed super fast!

18. January
Moving in. Running to do some food shopping.... cheap supermarket is 5 km away in Male, so some movement is guaranteed. There is also an electric train connecting villages of Val di Sole and Val di Non to Val di Adige and Trento, but why spend money if you can do some physical activities instead.

19. january
I´m not very patient... if mountains are near I cant wait. So I decided to go and discover some passes and peaks nearby. But, as I still had reviews to write, I started tooooo late... You shouldnt start trekking at 11.30 in january (if you want to do 1900 vertical meters). Dimaro is 766 m a.s.l. and I was aiming to get to the peak of Sasso Rosso (2645 m a.s.l.)... I know I am an optimist.... 
The start




maybe at 1800 m... the background looks climbable. I will check it out in coming spring.

Sun Valley (Val di Sole) down there

It was hard to walk here... the snow got deeper and deeper


The short day was going to end and I was still far from destination


...it´s safer to go back (didnt have a tent with me)


It got slippery, I needed third leg... in the end this wooden thing was 4 times shorter because i needed to arrrest myself many times... it jusrt broke down

all´ombra dell´ultimo sole....

almost full moon... woooh... got down before real darkness

...the end

I ended up at Passo della Nana (2195 m a.s.l) which means that I only climbed 1430+ meters before I understood that the only safe option was going back the same way I got there... It started to get darkish so I needed to hurry up. Getting down was much easier (obviously 😉) despite being slippery... It took only 1 hour and 45 minutes instead of 4 hours and 30 minutes that I spent for going up. Ok, time to make fire in the stove and get some warmth into the body again. It was tough training :D. See the topo map here

20.january, sunday.... boh... walking to Mezzana to check out climbing gym - closed. WTF. I´m gonna be super weak for spring :(. Afternoon hitchhiked to Madonna di Campiglio for job finding purposes and why not to do my skiing also there? Nooo. Too fancy/touristic/expensive... no atmosphere at all... I even didnt enter to any hotel or bar to ask for job opportunities, and didnt take any photos. Hahahaaa. Next day Pejo Fonti... lets see.


STILL NO SKIING. I´m getting a bit impatient, but it would have been a bit stupid to buy seasonal skipass in some place where there is no living and working opportunities, right? So... I´m in Dimaro and my skiing options are Madonna di Campiglio, Marilleva-Folgarida, Passo Tonale or Pejo Fonti...

neljapäev, 10. jaanuar 2019

Back to outdoors. Guess where!

Last "kama" in next 3 months.

After christmas spent at home in company of many virus particles I try to get back to normal sporty life again. First orienteering is done,
Last checkpoint of the Ace Xdream christmas route (traditional christmas orienteerin, delayed a bit... done on the first day of this year because of flu like thing that didnt let me out before.

Happily in the finish. Tarmo, Nikolai von Glehn and me
some fencing and indoors climbing as well and with my sore muscles i feel normal again. So, its time to go and spend more time outdoors. Dolomites are waiting and i wont let them wait too long. Im sitting in the library area of the most cozy airport (airport of Tallinn) and waiting for my flight to Bergamo (near Milano)... would wait even longer as there are books to read but anyway i will take some of them with me if i want to (well actually i dont because i have anyway too much stuff but its nice to have the opportunity).

The piano and library (book exchange) in tallinn airport. What else to do while waiting for boarding?

Some guys were playing this lovely piano 


teisipäev, 1. jaanuar 2019

2018: 12 months, 25 pics

How the year came:
2018 came in Germany with my bad friends Mischa and Öfi. Forza Vabadussport. Sport for freedom, freedom for sports!

January:
Fifth night of the year, second night in Finale Ligure, in my dear cave.... During the year it became really cosy and homey for me. I'll be back in this climbing paradise

We were climbing ofcourse... start of the year was good. After that started quite serious work with master thesis but i dont put pictures of that because it would be just 2 computer screens and weird screenshots of ArcGIS

February:
Nordic nature in South Estonia. Skiing seminar of our department (the best-department of geography ofcourse)

Ski. Crosscountry. Yaah another form of masochism 😂... but its fun

March:
Just a saturday in a bog with my dearest Couchsurfing guest Valentine and The Australian Benji



L'immagine può contenere: 7 persone, persone che sorridono, spazio all'aperto
Geography students went out on friday night and found themselves out also next morning. Party and sweet dreams on the ice of river Emajõgi

April:

Things got serious. My brain understood that I needed to hurry up with my thesis so I moved into computer lab. My second home Vanemuise 46, Tartu, Estonia

L'immagine può contenere: 1 persona, in piedi, albero, cielo, spazio all'aperto e natura
I found some time for fun even during the busyest times.... Aardla polder and tree climber.

May:
L'immagine può contenere: albero, cielo, fiore, pianta, spazio all'aperto e natura
Dreaming of living life. Noooo... go home and write thesis, you bloody bastarda!

Last hours writing my masters thesis at 4 am. I was still working on it but deffinitely never got 100% ready... never would
Juuni:

Relaxing my neuron network after stressful times.

L'immagine può contenere: 2 persone, persone che sorridono, persone in piedi e spazio all'aperto
I got an important paper after suffering for some months in front of computers. Masters in geography and landscape ecology.

July:
Almost arrived to Hochtor pass. Unfortunately i need to repeat it because I didnt get sufficient experience. There was too much rain, freezing suffering and no view at all because of fog. If you go 2504 m high you want to see something beautiful at least :D. On the pic i was trying to smile, but actually I was crying of exhaustment



Pietra di Bismantova. Great times with great people.

August:


Barefoot multipitching which i finished with feet like parmiggiano grattuggiato. Still fun

Concert of Modena City Ramblers. That was a party!! One of my favourite groups.

September:

I found a miniature croccodile

Enjoy life... I was super pissed off  at this moment, but all of us need to make some money sometimes.... fa male lavorare, ma sono masochista cmq

October:
Directly after apple season I went to Arco, met Ariel and Luglio and suffered a lot (some people call it having fun)

What will be better after an apple picking season  than luxurious climbing holiday with a bad friend


November:


L'immagine può contenere: 1 persona, campo da basket
Back to roots: Estonia as my homeland, fencing as my first sport

A small bike-hike to Lago di Tovel. Nice to be back in Trentino-Alto Adige

December:

L'immagine può contenere: montagna, cielo, nuvola, spazio all'aperto e natura
Overhang after hangover

Battle against flu for Christmas and the end of this year

2019.....  future that started some hours ago. Hope it will be interesting and happy both for me and you!