Easter road trip

Nate and I started our trip at the at 8:00pm on Thursday night at the Yatla BP. I quick bite of Nandos and a fill of the tank and away we went. I drove from Bris to about an hour out side of Newcastle (1 ½ litres of energy drink helped), Nate took over for a couple hours while I tried to sleep. Then I drove the last 150km. It was beautiful blue skies on the way up the mountain and it felt good to be back. We stopped in at the Katoomba hospital because Nate had some metal in his eye from work. But he walked out saying it felt worse then when he walked in =s. We got to Amanda’s place in Blackheath around 10:00 Friday morning. For some reason I thought it’d be a great idea to go to the skate park before we hit the cliffs. I stacked it and both my elbows got smashed and still really hurt.

Anyway that afternoon Nate, Amanda, Ben and I went to Junket pumper area in the Glen. It was super freezing. Easily under 10 degrees with the wind chill. We all got on Junket Jumper, 24, which was Amanda’s proj. Nate onsighted it which was cool. Ben got on Wrong Movements, 27 and worked his way up it. He looked pretty solid on it, just a little bit of route fitness and its in the bag. I had a play on Alpha Leather, 32, which was super cool, but a little to crimpy and bouldery to waste skin on this trip. That night I went to bed after 37hrs of being awake.

Saturday, Nate and I met up with Sebastian and after considering how absolutely crap the weather went down to the Glen in the rain and mist, not all that psyched to do anything. After warming up we all just got hed up, Sebastian went home and Nate and I met up with a few other QLDers at Bardens Lookout. Nate onsighted Goosebumps, 24, really easily and we went round to the wall with Way of all Flesh. I’d done this climb before so got on Pleasures of the Flesh, 29 and with some beta from Dan Fisher got all the moves sorted on my first go up it. There was quite a line up for WOAF so Nate wasn’t able to have a go before it got dark.

Sunday, Nate Amanda, Ben and I headed back to Bardens. Ben put the draws on remembering the moves, he’d been on it once before, and got to the top without much of a drama. Nate went for an onsight from the ground but through for a tiny slot instead of the big jug a little further right at the start and came off. He pulled up to the first draw and tried the 26 variant then but despite looking really solid, came off pulling over the lip at about the 8th bolt. A fair effort. I got back on Pleasures and got it. Super stocked. Such a great climb. 2 goes in total. I then had a run up Bloodline, 32. It felt super good. If we head back there at some stage this trip I’m psyched for it.

After a rest day we all headed down to Nowra. Nate and I had never been before and we were super psyched. We got on rock around 1 after a late start and we all got on Spinning Blades, a really cool 20 the climbs up a steep roof on mega incut plates. This was going to be Amanda’s proj for the trip, but she ended up flashing it for her warm up!!! We packed up our gear then and headed round to South Central. That cliff is insane. Moderately over hung climbing for 8m then out a big roof. With stuff from 19-31 its no wonder the Nowra frequenters are so strong. I got on Ain’t no Sunshine, 28 and had 2 goes without success. On my 2nd go I got to the last hard move, messed my hand sequence and came off very disappointed. We ran out of light quickly so headed to the RSL for a $19 buffet dinner. That night we slept under a little cave at Thompsons point surrounded by wombat shit.

Next day after another late start we headed rounded to PC. I was super keen to see White Ladder/Attack Mode but was a little disappointed. I thought it was much bigger and grander. If you stand on the boulder at the base of the climb and reach high you come about 2m sort of the anchors of Attack Mode. But after looking at it for a while I saw it in a new light. It looked as good as the hype. Really want to get on it one day. We got on Trigga Nigga, 25, as a warm up and Ben onsighted it for his first 25 os. Nate also onsighted it which was cool. We then went over to Turn Yours Eyes Insane, 26. I onsighted it which I was happy about then Nate and Ben worked through all the moves. Next I got on Brother in a Body Bag, 28, and got up to the crux without much drama. I had real trouble trying to work out the moves through the crux. There were so many holds chalked. I kept on coming back to the same sequence though that involved a sloppy dish I had nothing on. It wasn’t that bad a hold but for some reason it just wasn’t working. My second shot I came off before the crux. I was pretty disappointed but pretty tired from the last week of solid climbing.

We took abit of a rest day after Nowra. It was another miserable day in the mountains. As we were sitting at Altitude drinking coffee and whinning about the weather I suddenly worked it out, crap weather in the bluies, good weather in Nowra, 3 days left of the trip. We were in the car that night heading down the mountain. Slept in the cave at Thompsons Point and in the morning headed round to a pocketed wall at Thomos. I did a really cool route called Muscle Hustler, 26, which felt like it wouldn’t end. Easily the best route of the trip. Then round to the grease cave. It’s pretty insane. Nate and Ben worked on Inflatey Katie, 26, and I hopped on Sexy is the Word, 31. On my 2nd go I got up to the crux feeling fresh but muddled my feet and fell. It felt close but I wasn’t too fussed on a 3rd go.

Friday night we slept at South Central. We woke up Saturday and after warming up we all decided the conditions were too bad to climb. It literally felt like it was soap. It had been raining all night and the moisture turned the mega chalked holds into goo. So Nate and I packed the car and blasted back to bris, getting home at 2:30am Sunday.

Although we had terrible weather pretty much the entire time it was an awesome tri with awesome friends =)

Sorry about the lack of photos. I'm having trouble uploading. I'm not too computer literate. If I work it out I'll upload