A good weekend

The weather in the mountains over the last week has been real horror show. From last weekend until Saturday morning I don’t think we had more then 20min where the rain eased up. The usual Bluies fog roles in and you just sit tight. A trip to the co-op for a spot of training helps with the itches, but it’s only a temporary fix. Maybe two days. As the weekend grew closer however, the prediction for a clear Saturday afternoon and Sunday began to look promising. Waking on Saturday morning to see blue skies chasing away the dark clouds was a welcome sight. Amanda and I headed out to Boronia that afternoon thinking we would be fighting the usual circus crowds. It was empty. There was a good breeze blowing and, in the shade, it was actually quite chilly. Although there was some run off from the top of the cliff, most routes only had wet victory jugs. It had been kind enough to venture no further down. After her success on Lyptus (23) last week Amanda changed her sights to Grape Hour, the classic 25 next door. After a couple laps up it she had almost all the moves. Pretty good considering its one of the hardest routes she’s been on. I don’t think it’ll take her long to start going for the redpoint burns. I jumped on Tripe, which I had had one go at the previous weekend. I got to the top and was pretty happy to have done it. The climbing on that top wall is so good. Just wish it were more continuous. Rick ended up showing after finishing work and had a lap up Green Eggs & Ham, his new proj. This was the only route to be properly affected by the rain. Between the last draw and anchors was soaked. He got all the moves leading up to it though, so with a little bit of route fitness I think he’ll put it to bed soon enough. We walked out to stunning sunset to finish a beautiful day.

On Sunday a group of us headed to Bardens. Here, we found the circus. Managing to score the last park in the car park we walked in and found the crowds. After a few warm-ups on the slabs I went around the corner to jump back on Bloodline. I’d had a few goes on it before and still had all my draws dangling from the roof to the anchors. First go I got up to just under the prow, had a quick shake and tried to bust out the last few moves. As I pulled into the undercling I melted. I growled though and tried to slap up to the good edge. I missed fell. I wasn’t the nicest fall I’ve ever had. If you have fragile eyes you may want to skip the next sentence. It was a big enough fall, maybe 6ish meters, but really nothing to worry about unless you have your right nut caught under your leg loop. God damn it hurt!!! Rick had a go at Pleasures, but still had trouble holding the move through the roof. Jay got the batman of Way of all Flesh, clocking in his first 26! After some rest I got back on Bloodline for another crack. Pulled through the roof and hung at the last good rest before the final power endurance crux. As a started into the final bit I had this weird feeling come over me. I wasn’t feeling pumped like every other time and all the holds felt twice as big. I kept on climbing and hit the anchors feeling pretty good. Stripped the draws and the job was done. Took seven goes in total. Starting to feel some good fitness. I’m not sure whether I’m happier to have my draws back or that I did the route. Walking around with six draws for 2 weeks is definitely not enough for the mountains.

As for the grade, I think 31. There's enough rests and the holds are all too positive, I think, for it to be in the 32 range. I heard the FA and a few proceeding ascents were done differently to the sequence I used, but I saw the sequence and it seems bizarre. Skipping a bunch of holds right next to and below 2 draws to make it hard seems contrived. Climb the line. It shouldn't be about eliminating to get a grade. This is all second maybe third hand info I got though so I don't want to tread on toes. It was what I was told and thats my opinion on it. Straighten me out if what I've been told is trash.

Later that day Sammy onsighted his first 18 and followed it up by flashing his first 19 since starting climbing again 6 weeks ago after many years of the wagon. Cool to see some good progress and I don’t think it’ll be long before he starts knocking of 20+ routes just as quickly.

Todays a rest day before heading back out again tomorrow. Job hunting has been a project for 3 weeks now and still to no avail. Going to have another crack at the title today. If anyone knows of any work going I’m keen. Happy to waiter, do retail or be a labourer (I have experience)!!

Peace out and stay posted for some new stuff. Hopefully buy a camera soon so the posts will have some colour YAY.

Headed south

Long time coming but better late then never I guess. I’ve just been lazy lately. So lets play catch up. After I got back form Rocklands I took a very long overdue rest for 5 weeks. My fingers were fucked. Climbing a ladder at work hurt them. When I came back it sucked. I’d lost a lot of strength but it felt damn good to be climbing again, feeling the movement. Best of all the digits were feeling much better too. Still not 100% but I was going to take the win. After very slowly getting back into it for a month I started to feel good on the wall again. Two and a bit months later they are still tender and I don’t feel I’m back to 100% but I’m loving climbing. If you get injured, take a week off when you first feel a twinge. Not a month off because you can no longer climb, then deal with rehab for the next 6. IT SUCKS!!!

Over in Rocklands I met a few lads from the Bluies who finely swayed me to migrate south. I’d always wanted to but it seemed too hard. It really wasn’t. After three months of drilling holes at Parliament House I saved enough money to pack the car and head down. I’ve moved in with Amanda, her awesome kids and Thom in a massive house at Medlow Bath. It backs out onto a spectacular view of the Gross Valley and in the backyard is the crazy and disorientating roofing climbing of the Underworld.

The weather has been pretty kind in the last 3 weeks. Done some fun climbing around the joint whilst trying to not over do it and refuck my fingers. I’d never done much multipitching before but recently did Wally’s World and I was a teenager for the CIA with Rick and loved them. I didn’t real do I was a teenager, but tried the variant finish, Davis Hicks Memorial. I got through it all and 2m before the top took a wrong turn and tried to head out right into moss and chossy rock and soon had a footer break and I came tumbling off. For some reason I thought the topo said head right at the end. I tried doing that for 10 minutes then gave up and bailed out left and up. When I rechecked to topo and saw that out left was in fact the way to go it was pretty annoying. But it just means I get to get back on and try again. It was a stellar bit of climbing. Also on the Teen angst wall was an ultra classic route called Beautiful but Limp. A 50m pitch, climbing the full length of the wall right up the guts. It was insanely good. Might be easier then the proposed 27, but to be honest it really doesn’t matter. Being able to just keep climbing and climbing in one long hit, for me, is what it’s all about. Getting in a good headspace and just flowing up a wall is one of the best feelings I think. One day I’d love to climb something that’s that long and at my limit.

I’ve also joined up to the boulder co-op in Blackheath. It’s insane. Back in Brisbane training consisted of myself and the boys playing pranks on each other, talking trash, playing soccer in the car park, hacky sack, handball and most recently building forts out of the cardboard boxes we found in the bins outside the gym. Although this was tons of fun it really didn’t help with climbing. I’ve been to the co-op three times now and have had three good sessions. Pretty psyched to actually start doing some proper training.

So basically that’s a quick overview of the last 3 months. Now I’ve settled down and got everything sorted I’ll pull my finger out and start updating more regularly, so stay tuned. All I need to do now is find some work =s.

Rockalnds part 2

So here's part 2 of Pat's great vid he made of our trip.

Enjoy

Rocklands: Part 2 of 2: The Sends from Panda Prod. on Vimeo.

Part 1 of Pat's rocklands epic vid

So here's part 1 of Pat's vid he made of our awesome trip.

Rocklands: Part 1 of 2 from Panda Prod. on Vimeo.

Update

So after getting back from South Africa I've been pretty busy. Work has been taking up a fair bit of my time which is rough but its just one of those things that has to happen. While I was away my middle fingers on both hands became quite sore. I think it's an over use injury from 2 years of climbing with no more then a weeks break. I haven't climbed since being back which has been hard but well worth it. Fingers are starting to feel goodish, probably 2 weeks before I pull on to super easy traversing and vertical stuff. It looks like I'll be moving down to the bluies soon!!! Waiting to finish the job I'm on at the moment which will be in about a months time then I'll pack the car and get down there. A vague plan is to get down there and find some work locally and just have a ball in a beautiful part of the country.

On a side note I was rear ended on Friday afternoon by a Mitsubishi Pajero with a big ass bull bar. Everyone was ok but my poor old Volvo which in its 37yrs had never been in a crash, is in a bit of a state. Cosmetically its not too bad but there's something a miss underneath. Hopefully it can all be sorted in time for bluies. Serious cog in my plan if something major has happened.

Photos from rocklands are becoming a little annoying to get sorted. We just have so many and to swap them and get through them all is proving to take a while. Pat reckons he's close to getting the trip vid done though so I'll post that when its up. Stay tuned. Here's the trailer.

Rocklands Trailer from Panda Prod. on Vimeo.

That's the way love goes

Our time in Rocklands has sadly come to an end. I'm sitting in bed in a backpackers in Capetown catching up on a lot of computer work. When there's boulders to be climbed and good times to be had with your buddies, the last thing you want to do is sit on a couch and type. We've climbed on some of the best boulders the world has to offer in the last month and there is not one moment I wouldn't relive. Getting up, having breakfast and going bouldering with your buddies is as good as it gets. At the beginning of the trip I was psyched on jumping on some 12s and working through them. But I was never really sure whether we will be back at an area so spending a day projecting something and never getting back seemed like a waste. It has, however, been really fun just completing a bunch of stuff between V5-10 in a day. It's a great feeling completing problems in a day and walking out at night feeling totally wrecked.

Rocklands is not all about bouldering though. De Pakhuys (farm we stayed at) is the host of the Annual Rockstock Airstar International World Championships. It sounds fancy but basically consist of a massive party were all the climbers come together for a big party. A lamb is put on the spit, many beers are drunk and the main attraction...... the air guitar comp. Climbers can form a band, choose a song then rock out on stage miming it all in front of 200+ people. Matt, Pat, Josh Grose and I formed Cameltosis and covered Katy Perry's I kissed a girl. Josh got in drag as Katy herself, Matt rocked out on the air keyboard, Pat went nuts on the air drums at the back and I went 'friggin super insane' (yes some one came up afterwards and said that to me about my performance) on the air guitar. Apparently we went friggin super insane enough to win the competition and bring home the trophy. There's a video of our performance somewhere. If I find it I'll post up.

Matt, Pat, Tara and I all just sat down to a wicked dinner and reminisced about all the good times. I narrowed mine down to a top 3: The day I had at Sassies with Josh Grose was one. I finally did the uber classic highball, Splash of Red V10, where the hard moves start at 4m and don't stop till your holding the final jug at about 7m. It was the 3rd session I had had on the route and with the sun about to turn the rock to soap it was going to be my last go of the trip. The climbing gods smiled and let me get through to the top. It's the best bit of climbing I have ever done. Josh did it straight after me and the two of us then sat underneath it and had some lunch as happy as could be. Later that day Josh did the also uber classic Shozaloza V12 in one session. Super impressive. It was a great day to be alive. Rocking out on stage to Katy Perry was also another moment on the trip where all I could do was smile and just think 'I love life.' And last but not least would be working on yet another classic, Caroline V10. The moves are so beautiful and you need to do each one perfectly so that you have juice for the end. It's one of those problems were you grit your teeth and just go for it from the first move. Unfortunately I ran out of light at the end of the day and had to leave feeling like if I had an extra 30min of light I could have done it. But that's the way love goes. It's definitely a problem for next year. Hopefully spend 3 months next year. And I'll add a 4th to my top 3. Riding in the back of a truck with 25 other climbers over the pass and down through Clanwilliam (local town) to the golf club for the 1st Annual Rocklands Golf Day was another time where I just sat back and watched everything that was happening around me and just smiled.

I'll post some photos in about a week when I get back settled at home and have time to sort through them all. If you haven't been to Rocklands, get there. It's cheap, beautiful and the bouldering is some of the best in the world. You'd be greedy if you were asking for more.

Rocklands

Matt, Pat, Tara and I are now in Rocklands!!! It's crazy. There is soooo much rock. The photos you see of a hill side covered in rock is only 5% of what is actually here. We got into Capetown on Wednesday and it was raining and cold. It was a bit of a horror drive up to Rocklands but we were psyched all the same. Matt and I went for a boulder that arvo, just on some easy stuff, and the rock was great. Thursday we went to the Plateau boulders and Arc Valley. Matt and I both did Minki, V7 and Pat did Feist, V4 before we moved over to Arch Valley. Tara unfortunately ignited an old hip injury so wasn't able to climb for the rest of the day. Matt and I both did a few boulders between V6-8. I also onsighted Arch Baby, V8, which I was pretty happy with.

Yesterday we headed to Fields of Joy. There are heaps of great boulders there. Matt onsighted Maniac V7 which was really cool. I could barely do the moves and just gave up. It was a sloper problem, I am shit on slopers!! Pat did Sneak, V5 and was pretty happy with it. His hardest tick of the trip so far. After that we headed round to Dirty Lies boulder where Matt and I both flashed Dirty Lies, V7. We then tried No Late Tenders, V10, with a dude from Germany called Fabi (most probably spelt wrong). We worked through all the moves and Fabi sent it 1st go after unlocking the sequence. Matt came very close but no cigar and I gave up because the holds were too sharp for my wrecked fingers. Matt and I headed over to try Macho King V10. Its a really cool overhung line where you basically crimp in a crack formed from this weird block that creates the line. I had one go from the start and fell half way. I thought the climbing through the crack would be much easier. But after working out all the moves I had another go from the start and got it. It was the first time I did the last move, which is also the crux. Its a weird throw behind your head to a small shelf, on the tip of the overhang, from an undercling and horror sloper.

Today we had a well timed rest day. Fingers are shot and it was rainy and cold. Although every day is cold. We've woken up to ice on the car!!! Crazy for Brissy people. We just sat at home with a fire, climbing movies and green tea. It was great. Roadside is our destination for tomorrow. There's heaps of uber classic lines there and we are all pretty psyched.

Macho King V10

Macho King

Macho King

Macho King

Pat on his trip proj. Gegen den wind, V7

Ohhh yeah Matty knows where its at

The view from our house for the next month

Fields of Joy view

Pat getting ready to shoot Matt flash Dirty Lies, V7

Matt on Dirty Lies

Dirty Lies