What is up ladies and gentlemen, Mani here — and this one is a chill outdoor vlog from beautiful Kotecnik, Slovenia. It’s been a long time since I took you outside, and honestly: I’ve also not climbed for a long, long time. No training, no nothing. I’m coming in full “flubberized specimen” mode (72 kg post-Christmas), soft skin, soft body, and I’m basically using this day to re-check what I call my “Straight Out The Gates” grade — the level I can climb totally unprepared, without skin, without stiffness, without any build-up. The main event is a short but weird and very overhanging 7c+/5.13a called Dream Team. First go I check the beta with Torsten’s help, second go I send — and it’s a perfect example of what happens when you’re heavy and untrained: jugs drill into your fingers, resting is basically non-existent, and your forearms don’t “come back” once you burn the calories. The send only happens because I climb clean: no mistakes, right footholds, right hits. After that I also flash a 7b with a tough entry boulder and some reachy decision-making (T-Rex arms, you know). Big takeaway: if you’re unprepared, attempts are gold — don’t waste skin on warmups. Sometimes you warm up on the project, because every go counts.