Last two years I was working as a teacher for children with special needs. I had some temporary contract but it ended kind of suddenly at the beginning of the May. Since I had information that school will probablly offer me a new contract it wasn’t hard to accept the new situation. It was perfect chance to become PRO climber for the first time!

After few days of sleeping late and chilling out more than usuall I decided to focus on Prvomajski zajeb the project I am dreamin about and see how it will go. This route is one of the best lines on Markezina greda and it is placed very high on my personal life ticklist. Last year I have tried it seriously for the first time and after few sessions I solved all the moves. Immediately it was clear that linking the whole thing will be tough issue and honestly in that moment I wasnt sure if I will be capable of doing it?

To answer this question became my ultimate goal! Highly motivated and in solid spring conditions I quickly repeated all the moves and manage to found some important microbeta for hardest crux sections. Then I devided whole line into something like 4 parts and started to work on all of them separately, usually repeating every section for few times in a row if possible. It took me 3 or 4 sessions to answer the ultimate question – yes I don’t have to reincarnate, I can do it.

This doesn’t guarantee I will really climb it but feeling that you have chance is also great satisfaction and it gets even better when you get into shape to give some proper attempts. At this point all questions are finished and it is time for pure climbing and weather forecast obsession. This is my favorite part of the game, very mental and full of pressure but I like pressure. Trying to hold it under control makes me feel so alive!

Since working alone on hard project can be pretty stressful I am taking letting go phases every now and then. Throughout them I did some nice FA’s including Boys don’t cry (8a+), Markezinovod (7c+), All along the watchtower (7c/c+), Horor (7c) and some other easy ones on Greda and Klobuk.

Few days ago my PRO career ended suddenly as it begun. I am happy that I did good progress in Prvomajski zajeb and now I am ready to take easy pace and wait for cooler temps. Here are some nice pics from Greda taken by my talented friend Luka Kivela and one from Klobuk taken by my dear wife Sandra.

Peace and love!

Lija

Photo info (from the top): 01 / Rope work in hard sun.  02/ Checking moves on roof section of Boys don cry, Klobuk.  03/ Me and Cepa getting ready for some serious work on Greda.  04/ Lower section of Prvomajski zajeb with interesting clipping instalaton under me. Since one bolt is placed to high I put a long sling on it and linked it with lower one (which I don’t clip) to keep the sling inside the overhang.  05/ Ready to enter the first crux at Prvomajski which includes crazy one finger pocket.