Ueshinen (CH) FEBRUARY 2004   The journey continues... and the wish to do more mixed is getting stronger all the time! I had just come back home after a couple of days on the cliff in Ueshinen, Switzerland known for its mixed routes. I had been with Anna Torretta and Andrea Gallo who is always ready to photograph spectacular places with crazy people hanging here and there. Since she knew the area so well, we took Anna along as our guide. What an amazing place! I have never seen a cliff like it! A long, high 20-metre overhang full of freestanding candles. The most incredible thing was the number of mixed climbers you find in the area!   On the one hand it can be a bit annoying waiting your turn to climb the routes but on the other it's great to see the sport growing. To tell the truth... I don't know whether I've ever told anyone this... 6 years ago when I started out in this sport, I wouldn't have bet that the sport would have evolved or become so popular. Well... this must mean that all I've done in the past years has been worth it!   I couldn't believe it... the first day there were two Swiss, three Britons, two Spaniards and even two Japanese!   I had been preparing for several weeks, more psychologically than physically, to attempt the "Vertical Limits" M12 because... well, yes... I wanted to do it on-sight. It's not one of the most beautiful routes. It doesn't have any logic to it because it passes the overhang horizontally for the most part and crosses around ten other routes. It's a bit forced, looking for the high difficulty, but I guess it still has a uniqueness about it. It hadn't even crossed my mind to try other more beautiful, logical yet still difficult routes, I wanted to do this one! I felt straight away that it wasn't a good day for it. But I wanted to climb it so badly! I knew I wouldn't give up until my arms broke, but the tension was so high that in the end I didn't make it... I could feel that the ice pick wasn't right, but I realized too late. The day ended on that bad note and with my tail between my legs I got back to the camper when it was already dark.   A few days later Robert Jasper, who opened the route, lengthened the route by starting a few metres earlier and finishing a few later. Israel Blanco from Spain was already there trying to repeat the new longer route.   The next day we were all there ready to start work! I wasn't interested in "Vertical Limits" anymore; my aim was to do this route which the Spaniard managed to climb (or should I say, "cross" it) the previous day. I took the opportunity and watched Israel first and then tried the first and final parts myself. The day after I was feeling particularly calm and without any warm up I took off: 45 metres and 30 carabiners in one and a half hours. Where I come from we say: "Never give up!!!"   And I didn't, not until I passed the rope in the belay. What is it? An M12+, M13? I don't know and I don't really care! Even if it were an M20, the satisfaction would never equal climbing a route on-sight, even if the route was really easy. On-sight climbing is all the more purer because you add something of your own to it. It's a magic potion that's made up of experience, determination, imagination and obviously, physical preparation. What makes the difference between completing a route on-sight and not completing it, is a world of mistakes. Luck doesn't come into play at all! That's why my great experience are so rare!   But the biggest thrill of them all is the congratulations I received for conceiving a magic route like "Mission Impossible" which is considered, not taking into account the difficulty, the most beautiful mixed route in the world.   Bubu
				Game over (Innsbruck)       Bats with ice axes and crampons       Mister Big Ben (Landro, Italy)       Grotta Caterina (Trieste, Italy)       Laghel (Arco, Italy)       Arco 2004 (Italy)       Cineplex (Canada)       Musica e magia       La via è bella       Fly in the wind       Mission impossible
				Photos by Andrea Gallo