An Abrupt Ending!

Some times when your climbing the unexpected can occur.
On the 13th of September, it was one of those days.....
The weather had finally cleared up after day on day off rain and I was super syked to finally be able to pull on Cherry Picking in dry conditions!
The first session went really well! About an hour in I reached a high point touching the last hold on the hardest move!

Feeling confident I returned to the boulder the very next day and without thinking decided it would be a good idea to pull on right away without warm up....
The second I pulled on and grabbed that thin left hand crimp, I new I'd fucked up.....
Anyway, my finger is improving quickly and I should be back at full strength within a month or two.
In the mean time enjoy this delightful little video of the climbs I recorded before the incident occurred :)

Week 1 - Mt Fox and Buandik

Been down in the Gramps for a week now.The weather has been awesome and the Bouldering has far exceeded my expectations! Mt Fox is amazing, the quality of rock is in some parts better than the Northern Grampains. I had a lucky first day flashing a problem that was high up on the tick list Outside V11, A absolute stunner of a line! The crux is at the start on some tiny crimps and the feet are big and obvious. It's just a matter of execution and pulling super hard on the tiny first holds! Props to Dave Kellermann for establishing this world class line, which will no doubt be sort after by internationals for many years to come!

After having a look around some of the other area's, I spoke with Dave about a problem in the first sector up to the right which had awesome potential of becoming an area favorite. The boulder was simple and steep with 3 killer rails that had some nice incut edges. It was pretty much just a matter of dynoing from one rail to the next and was completely dependent on raw power. The problem suited my style and went down pretty much straight away, I decided on "159" V9, because it climbed just like a campus board with the previous rail being used as feet for the following moves to come.

After spending a couple of days at Mt Fox I decided to check out what Buandik had to offer in terms of boulders. Last year I ventured up the steep hill for a day of Sport Climbing, little did I know that the walk in was surrounded by what could only be compared to as a mini Andersons. If your keen on hard bouldering V9 - V14, this is the place for you! There is 50 or so established lines, most of them high quality solid orange sandstone goodness. Some of the boulders have holds similar to "Grip Master" in the North, others are more like the rock in the Trackside Area. If you've ever climbed in those area's before, then you know what I am talking about.

On the first day I went straight to Roobexcube, passing though Skull area I stumbled across a sweet cave which had a couple of really nice looking holds. This climb in days to come, because a working project which I haven't managed to send yet. The crux consist of a super hard gaston from a bad pinch into a perfect sloppy triangle in the roof of the cave, from there it's about V8 though the topout. I've decided to take a break from this boulder after 3 solid sessions of effort trying to pull the first move. I should also mention Roobexcube is a world class line and probably the best boulder in the Buandik area.

Developing a Tick List

Well I've been working up to going on another climbing trip ever since my finger started to show sighs of improvement.

This Saturday it's down to the Southern Gramps to start work on some of the recently developed boulders around the Buandik campground and Mt Fox area. I'm really excited to do some exploring and hopefully tick a few classics!

In the first week I plan to focus on getting conditioned to outdoor bouldering again, there are two boulders I want to get on straight away, Simplicity v12 & Roobixcube V12.

Apparently the two boulders are on the softer end of V12 and hopefully will give me the confidence boost needed to have a good go at Cherry Picking V13, the biggest objective for me of the entire trip!
I guess I'll just have to see how strong I'm feeling and how suited the climbs are to my style... hoping for the best!!

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:

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.

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!!

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 ;)

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!

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!!

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.

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.

 

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!

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!!!!

The Pusher

Another classic problem goes down tonight, this time at the Wing Cave.
Mark and I went down to check it out yesterday, he gave me a tour of the cave and it looks like there is a shit load of stuff to try there!!

So from what I've been told, The Pusher was put up by Paul Westwood quite some time ago.
He originally graded it V14 but later on Chris and Tom down graded it to V12 which IMO is about right for this one....

For me personally this climb felt a little harder then Deep Blue Sea.
However the two climbs are very different and I wasn't feeling strong after working it the day before with Mark.

Big thanks to Mark and Fab for there support, couldn't have done it without them....

Manly Cave Sendage!!!

Rad night down at the Manly Cave!

Mattias and I took down the classic's of the cave and managed to get them on the cam... enjoy!!

One of a kind

Well after more than ten visits to Sunnyside, one of my long standing projects has finally come to an end.
"One of a kind" was put up by Chris Webb Parsons in 2010 and has held the grade of V13 after three repeats!
Probably not one of best problems I've ever tried. However it did pose quite a large significance for me being the first of the grade and after 40 + hours of sieging I feel a great burden has been lifted.

Anyway, Mark has made a great video of the accent... Enjoy!

Weekend at the Grampians

Extreme Cool goes down at the Gramps, Hollow Mountain Cave...

Day at the Villas

Went down to have a play on the new line everyone's raving about at the Villas.

What a radical thing!! has everything you could want.

Crazy roof climbing, big dyno, dangerous topout and a super nails crux move!!!

Going to keep me busy I'm sure.......


Had a couple of goes on Contact as well and managed to get it on the camera, enjoy :)

The Sunny Side of Life

I got my first look at Sunny Side when the Smitten movie came out last year.
Tom Farrell, compressing his gorilla forearms up the face of Double Demerit, perhaps one of the hardest boulder problems in Australia!

So although the name suggest otherwise, I'd just like to point out that Sunny Side doesn't actually get any sun! We went between 10am - 2:00pm and had no problems climbing what so ever.

I looked online the night before and couldn't find any information about the crag.
It looks like due to the difficulty of climbing (all hard roof problems) and lack of access and information available on the interweb, this area doesn’t seem to see too much traffic, which is a shame really because IMO this might be one of the better areas to boulder in Sydney.

Right so anyway, some of the ECAT boys and myself went there on Saturday and shit went down!!!
Nam Tram put the cave classic (Combat Wombat) to rest pretty quickly and thanks to all his short man beta, I managed to pull it out off the bag myself :O!!!

From the looks of it, there isn't a whole lot to offer at this cave in terms of quantity, (maybe four established problems) but there all high quality and defiantly disserve the time of day.

So if your feeling strong, I would encourage you to head down there and see what Sunny Side has to offer. If like myself you love roof climbing then you won’t be disappointed :)

There is a couple of problems down there that i'm just busting to try ATM, so I might put together a guide for the area with some information on how to get there and the climbs that are available.

Check out this video by Mark Withers of the crag classic (Combat Wombat)

Happy Climbing!

Another one bites the dust!!!

Last Saturday I desided to come back to a long term project I'd given up on over a year ago....
J2, now one of the hardiest V12's in Sydney after the starting jug broke of back in 2008 resulting in a lower starting position making the first 3 moves significantly more difficult.

The first day on the problem didn't go as well as I had hoped it would.
The start was still nails hard and my beta to cut lose moving to a shitty left edge on the 3rd move made the climb feel much harder than anything I was currently capable of handling....

But after working the top section all afternoon and perfecting the dyno move, I left on good terms and returned to a week of slaving as an office bitch back in the system....

This weekend after traveling from my home in Sutherland all the way across shitty Sydney traffic to pick up Fab at Parra station, we were back at Jessica's super syked to send :)

Fab made short work of (This Way Out), his first V5!

And I was super fresh after taking two days off from climbing to prepare as best I could for the send.
I figured even with the hard start, if I can just stick it once the rest will be doable now that I've perfected the top dyno crux...

After warming up on sections of the problem, it only took two attempts and the job was done!!!
Check out the video I made of this classic Sydney boulder problem: