A strangled Madonna, Che Guevara and a few Daisies…

Its been a while since i last posted a few words… You might have already started wondering whether i have given up adventuring- rest assured, the opposite is true! Indeed so much has been happening in the last six weeks, where shall i begin? – I have visited seven countries on 3 continents going ski touring, mountain biking, sailing, canyoning, coasteering, dragon boating, cycling, kayaking, sports climbing, aid climbing, ice climbing (ok, a bit of cheating here by multiple counts of climbing), running, drinking, partying (haha, the last two clearly one of my specialities!!) – i even managed to redesign my website!!!! (Any comments?) Anyways, here in short what happened: – awesome few days in Chamonix, despite the summit of mont blanc eluding me yet again. It snowed 1.5m in the last week of april, so instead of going for europe’s (at least western) roof, i went with my good friends judith and gerald to the aosta valley and ski toured up Gran Paradiso- Italy’s real highest peak (= the peak thats fully in italy, monte bianco shares the border with france). It was a great two day outing-the last 100 meters over an exposed rock ridge to the madonna on the summit. We did the belay over her neck – hope the small strangling sensation wash’t too heretic! Fantastic weather, great companions and awesome food (nothing else to be expected from Italy 🙂 – a stag weekend in venice – Venice? Really? Yeah- it was surprisingly fun night out. Nothing better than to be boozed up on grappa strolling through the medieval streets of Venice trying to find home…. A lost cause, i can tell you – despite all that intoxication i managed to do a short drone video- check it out: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irSs9tt2VdA) – a few fantastic days at Lago di Garda…. I just cant believe it took me so long to find that great place. With my dad i managed to climb the epic “Che Guevara” via ferrata- an amazing 5hr tour up to Monte Casale through a 1200m rock face… a trip rounded up by countless gelati, pizza etc – after a few days R&R at my parents in wonderful Mostviertel (and watching Austria winning the Eurovision 2014 🙂 i managed a de-tour to Germany for another challenge… The Mainz Startup weekend. Its basically a weekend where a bunch of geeks come together, pitch ideas on friday night and then have to work round the clock for a weekend to make the idea reality. Even better: The Best one wins! Well guess who did… 🙂 no sleep for 48hrs but lots of fun (and frontage news for us in local papers: (http://www.allgemeine-zeitung.de/lokales/mainz/nachrichten-mainz/online-portal-fuer-gebrauchte-designer-mode-gewinnt-beim-ersten-mainzer-startup-weekend_14150033.htm) – back in hong kong no real time to relax either: it was time for an epic 10hr!!! coasteering trip with Werner round stanley peninsula. 34 degrees, way too few water and quite a bit of surf (check the video: http://youtu.be/n7X7zi8rWVY )- looking back we should probably just have bribed a fisherman to bring us back. “The hardest thing since the army!” (Werner) A few days later i was proud member of Austria’s dragon boat team (although they need to improve a bit on the team kit design- neon yellow with swarovski crystals!!). As in the previous years it was all an exercise in who can drink more weisse spritzer and still paddle! In true Austrian fashion we solved the problem with honours! – the last few days I spent in Japan, testing for a potential upcoming trip to China (stay tuned for more). Together with Ed we went for a climb up Mt Misugaki.. A granite spike about 3hrs outside tokyo… It was my first real venture into aid climbing and well.. very interesting indeed. Bivvying on a small ledge in a 200m wall is definitely an experience- it gets even more of an experience in torrential rain – needless to say the summit has to wait for another day, but i learned my lesson in daisis, fifis, cams, and bolts:) In short – lots has been going on. Also quite a few projects far afield from the field of physical adventuring. The following gives a hint – its the most amazing question i ever got asked by an eigth grader (following a talk i held last week at Hong Kong International School): “How do your religious beliefs combine with your view on the world, in particular on technological progress and your personal habit on spending life in a very risky fashion- can u still believe in god?” – seriously!!! I could not have come up with sth like that when i was 14!! All i was interested were my hot female classmates (no further specifics 🙂 I am afraid for more info on the answer and the background to all my new ventures you have to wait a bit.. But not long, promised!