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

Get your psyche on

I had the day off work today due to rain so have sat at the computer watching climbing videos getting super psyched for the weekend. Pulpit tomorrow, get on One Hit to the Body. It's a long hard route and ever since I saw a pick of Lee on it in Crux ages a go I've wanted to do it. It's a route I've wanted to do since before I made my first trip out to the Pulpit. Then first day at Frog for the year on Sunday with Dunc and Glen. Looking forward to it.

Anyway coming back from a ramble, here's a sweet video I found of Rich Simpson climbing Action Directe. This is a route I definitely want to get on some day. It's just such a crazy looking thing. I'm a long long long way from being able to do it at the moment, but it's a dream =).

Obsession from Chris Doyle on Vimeo.

The video

The video has come through!! Lee has put it together and it looks cool!!

Click here for the link through

It is a vimeo link. Blogger doesnt like it. ANNOYING!!!

Lee's web site for one on one coaching, soft goods (i just bought a sweet jumper), training programs and much more
http://www.upskillclimbing.com/

Pics from yesterday

Yesterday I sent my hardest route for the year Schadenfreude, 31. It's really only been the last 3 weeks that I've been getting outdoors and trying hard on hard routes so I'm stoked. Here's a few pics from the day.

Nate onsighting his first 26, Countdown

Duncan on his multi year proj. This routes is nails hard. He's lapping up the other high 20's and 30's at the rest of the crag

First hard moves of the boulder problem

Last hard move. Deadpoint to a small crimp by the bolt. I fell on this move the go before the send =(

Last moves to the chain

Lee in position taking some video. Footage of the send will be out soon

Cold, Heat Rash.... Schadenfreude kinda makes sense

Today was a great day out at the Pulpit. Seven of us went out there all super psyched. Everyone had a warm up then Nate got on Countdown, 26 and crushed it for the onsight. It's a really good route but hard to read. There's weird rocks jutting out and little scoops up the route that can draw you in and spit you off. It was Nate's first 26 onsight!!

I got back on Schadenfreude, 31, which I was trying last week. Its a super bouldery route Lee put up 2 years earlier. Schadenfreude basically means taking joy from someones sorrows. People had been ripping into me all week about my cold and heat rash, hence the title. The route has an easy few moves to a rest then gets serious with an extremely sustained 13 move boulder problem on small crimps and awkward underclings on reasonably overhung wall. It climbs really well. I got all the moves on my first burn last week but it took another 5 goes to get it clean. One go today involved plumetting to the deck when the jug I was resting on at the start ripped off =S. Pretty spooky.

There's some cool pics and a movie Lee shot to come!!! Stay posted =)

First day out

So apart from bluies, today was basically my first proper day out climbing on rock this year. It couldn't have been better either. Dunc, Lee my dad and I headed out to The Pulpit. Its such a great cliff. Climbing starts around 28+ and its sick to have so many hard routes in one spot. I felt really psyched being out there. I got on Beautiful Thing 28, a route I flailed on on my one trip out there last year, and did it first go today with almost no memory of the sequence i used last year. I was psyched to do it so easily. Then got on Beastly Behaviour 29, next to it. Both lines are really bouldery power endurance routes and so so good. I got up high on my first shot of BB, second go messed up my sequence big time then 3rd go went well until i piked halfway through a big lunge =( (the last hard move). I'll be back there though. Im so psyched for this year =)

States and Rocklands

The QLD state titles are on in month so I've started to do a bit of training again. I have had a slow start to the year, but it feels good to rest up a bit. It's given my shoulder a bit of time to recover.

So anyway state titles are being held at Rocksports at Logan. It's a super cool wall and I'm psyched a comp is being held there. I think its been many many years since the last. These comps are for EVERYONE. There's a category for every ability. If you climb up to 20 get into Open C, up to 25 Open B and 26+ get into Open A. There's also all the junior categories. The comps are really friendly and everyone is there to cheer you on. If you don't feel up to competing come down and have a look. It's always fun!!

On another note. I'm buying my Rocklands ticket today!!!! Super psyched. Heading over for a month, maybe more, in July with Tara, Matty and Pat. I've been watching heaps of climbing vids lately that feature Rocklands. One that I've now watched 24 times is Orange Crush. It's a really good 30min vid all on the Rocklands. It costs $5 and it may well be the best $5 you'll ever spend.

Here's the trailer

And one last thing. Urban climbing now has a sweet training facility. There's 9 hangboards a proper campus board and a system board will be in soon!!! It shall be sweet.