Tuesday 29 October 2013

Bouldering in Joe's!

So since I escaped the rain in Squamish, I've been hanging out in Joe's Valley,Utah.
The style of climbing here is just like home and has got me super syked to try hard on the bloc's again.
I only got about 10 days in Joe's but that was plenty of time to sample the classics!

Managed to put a short video together with some highlights of the trip:



Tuesday 3 September 2013

Roping up!

Never thought I would be wearing a harness ever again.... apart from the odd highball or boulder scrubbing endeavor, but life is a bit funny that way.
I remember packing my very small amount of things for Canada weighing up between a harness and a 5th pair of under jocks haha...Glad I made the right decision on that one.

It's been a week now since I started working Dreamcatcher and the moves are coming together much faster than I anticipated.
The climbing suits my style perfectly (aside from the v7 slab before you reach the rail) and I have about 4 weeks of good weather left before moving onto Bishop so investing time into this project could be a gamble.

The climb is so amazingly aesthetic, a lot of the holds are so perfect I could only compare it to Serpentine in the Grampians, just move after move on perfect holds that make it seem like the line was made to be climbed.

Anyway I'll try and get some pic's even though I only have my Go Pro, in the mean time here is a video of one of Squamish's most popular boulder problems down at Murrin Lake.


Wednesday 21 August 2013

Bouldering in Squamish

I've been in Squamish for about three weeks now and I'm still coming to terms with just how amazing this place is.

The insane amount of boulders scattered though out the forest conveniently shaded over by thousands of pine trees and a 600 meter wall makes it possible to climb at any point of the day. 

 Smooth rock is what Squamish is all about!























  

Working Vince Pinch in the Grand Wall Area.  

There is so much natural beauty in the forest, the air is fresh and the scenery is just amazing.
Squamish is completely surrounded by mountains covered with snow and pine trees and there's a huge volcano just chilling in the background.

The style of climbing here is really different from Australia, all the climbing is on polished granite which requires good footwork and core tension.

Because my time is relatively short here in Squamish, I've decided to only focus on projecting a coupe of times a week and leave the rest of the time to climbing as many classic boulders as humanly possible.

Time is just flying by and I don't want to leave with only a hand full of ticks in my Squamish guide book!
 

At first I was camping which is 8 bucks a night, but since then I've managed to acquire a lovely Mazda van which has a double bed and a sweet cooking area at the back.

I'm estimating about 6 or so more weeks in Squamish at which point I'll be heading down to Bishop!!

Thursday 11 July 2013

The Beginning of a Grand Adventure!

Well... last week my trip to the Grampians came to an end :(
I must say what an amazing time I had there, meeting so many fantastic a incredibly motivated people from all over Australia and abroad.

Already I look back over the 3 months of living in my Mitsubishi van eating, sleeping, shitting and climbing was the daily routine and somehow it's already a blur in the back of my mind, feeling like it was just yesterday when I told the man to go fuck himself and the system that had imprisoned me for what seemed like an eternity.

Hopefully I will have the cash to spend some more time in the Grampians after my overseas shenanigans, with so many projects unfinished...
Just to name a few:
Mana - 13 days
Pretty Hate Machine - 8 days
Zeus - 5 days
Last Action Hero - 4 days

The time invested continually throughing myself at a single move for 13 session, two shoe resoles and a repetitive strain injury in my left scapula without the send was still rewarding and has helped me to better control my over attachment to projects without losing motivation.

So what now you may ask....? Well on the 23rd of July I will be facing my fears of flying after watching to many Air Crash Investigation and heading abroad to the Land of the Maple.

I leave you for now with a video I've put together from some of the highlights of my trip and hopefully everyone reading this will feel just a little more inspired by the magic that is the Grampians National Park!!

PS.. don't forget to watch it in HD for that added inspiration ;)





Sunday 23 June 2013

The Valley of the Giants!

The last couple of weeks have been sick!
Joe came down from Sydney to visit us again, so we decided to go back to the cave for a bit of a change from the usual project and resting cycle.
Joe and I got back on some old projects that we tried the last time he came down and we both had a really successful day!

Joe on the send of Aphrodite V7
Byron having a play on Lady Boy Noodle Box V10

On the weekend I traveled down to Halls Gap after being told there was a shit load of potential for new development at an area known as The Valley of the Giants.

Oliver, a local ranger that has been developing the area for more than a year now showed me around the place and I have to say how shocked I was at the huge potential for quality hard lines just waiting to be established!

After looking around Oliver got back on a project of his and managed to send it on his first attempt from the start!

Oliver on the send attempt of Ways of Being v11
Fully motivated from Oliver's send, we came back a couple days later and put up some more FA's in the area!






Thursday 30 May 2013

Passing the Days

We're currently camped out at Coopers Creek camp ground which is about 5 minutes passed the turn off to the Titanic boulders, after being asked to leave Mt Stapylton for not paying camp fees for well over a month.

Since my backs fucked, I've decided to make the best use of my time and do some searching around the area. Most of the rock although promising from the road is quite short and has little or no potential for good bouldering or routes.

We did however come across a cave about 10 minutes from the camp ground which has a sick crack line that could go at maybe V10 or harder.

The living conditions are still pretty good even though the temperatures at the camp ground are dropping well below 5 degrees on the best of nights. Double or even triple blankets are required to keep you from waking up repeatedly in the night because the body is telling you that its too fucking cold to sleep!!

Fab's been doing some days up at Taipan with a New Zealand couple we meet here about a month before. Earlier in the week he sent his first route Weak Boy which is pretty tough for a beginner at the grade of 26.

This week the focus is on Zeus and Mana, so hoping for the best even though we're forecast for a weekend of rain!!

Friday 24 May 2013

Fab sends his long standing project!

The last week or so has been fairly eventful. After 8 days of attempts an infected pinkie and allot of bitching, the stars aligned and Fab finally put down Cave Bitch up at Hollow Mountain. He also did a super fast ascent of Rave Heart which was sick to see because the climb is super techie with some weird moves from sloppy holds out the finish to the WOL.

Joe came down from Sydney to hang out with us for a few days, we did a little bit of wondering around checking out some of the areas that we hadn't really spent much time at like Between the Sheeps and Citedal. He flashed his first V6 Remains of the Sheep and did all the moves on X-treme Cool in a day.

As for me, I've had to put some of my projects on hold after pulling my back out a while ago on Mana. Yesterday I started working on Zeus because the climbing is slightly less horizontal and hopefully that will give me a chance to heal back to %100 before the end of my trip.

Working The Crux of Ammagamma.
Fabby working the same move.
Fab crushing the opening moves to his 2nd V12, Cave Bitch.
Building up to the crux of So You Thing You Can Dance.
Sucking into the wall before the crux move.





Friday 10 May 2013

A week at the Citadel

This week Fab and I spent some time bouldering with the Blue Mountain crushers Vincent and Zac.
We went up to try Ammagamma and Lost for life at the Citadel.
Both of these climbs are so fucking sweet!!!!
Ammagamma got dispatch pretty quickly after some sweet conditions earlier on in the week and Lost for Life seems pretty possible but has a difficult first move that may take a little work and some good conditions.

I found a sweet new line with a sick mantle at the end about 6 meters to the right of Butchers Choice down in the trackside area. The rock is super slick and the mantle has some tiny imperfections that may make it just possible.

Fab's finger is looking a lot better now so this week the focus is on the cave working Pretty Hate Machine and Cave Bitch, fingers crossed!!!

Fab riding the Duck on the way up to Tipan wall.

My hand got raped on Ammagamma's sharp pockets!!!!

Project on the right hand side of the Butchers Choice boulder.
 

Friday 3 May 2013

Living the Dream


Fab and I have been having a sick time here in the Grampians!

Most of our days are spent working projects ATM….

Fab has been super close on Cave Bitch but his finger got infected so he had to take a break from it and let the finger heal up. He also has been developing some nice foot work by working on some of the easier boulders around the campground and Andersons.

My days are split up between three different projects... Mana, Ammagamma and Pretty Hate Machine are all super close so fingers are crossed for this week, hoping to at least get one haha

I don’t get a lot of computer time at the Horsham library so I can’t make any videos of the lines we have been working/completed so I’ll upload these photos of Fab and I working Cave Bitch in the Hollow Mountain Cave… Enjoy!

Credit to Mike Fitz for the sick Photos!

Tuesday 8 January 2013

New Boulder Near The Wing Cave!!


With the Christmas holidays on I had some spare time to go searching for new lines around the Wing Cave and Menai area.

Just over the right side of the riverbed about 100 meters pass The Wing Cave is a 5m high 45 degree overhanging highball boulder.

This amazing piece of stone has some great features with a side pull rail running straight up the middle parallel to the sides of the boulder.

It then leads into a scary slopping mantel topout which will leave you feeling full of adrenaline and horrified at the same time!!!

(WARNING) BRING A CHANGE OF UNDERWEAR AS SHITTING YOUR PANTIES IS A HIGH POSSIBILITY!!

Its also recommended that you take at least 3-5 boulder pads and a good spotter because of the landing and height of this thing.

The boulder boasts two lines:
  • Danger Zone V8 (on the right side)
  • Nek Minnit V4 (on the left side)
Eddie Fowke came along to get some sweet photos of the boulder in progress, as well as lending a spot when the shit hit the fan :)





             Starting holds to the Danger Zone V8

             Climbing through the parallel side pulls running straight up the middle of the boulder problem.


             Approaching the slopping topout also known as the Danger Zone!!!!