Of late & The Mountains

Haven't updated this for a while, so what's been going on? The answer is heaps...where to start...

To begin where I left off, the Star Factory. Basically every weekend before the weather turned shite was spent up there trying Astro Boy (30). I think I've spent something like 6 or 7 days on it now. Progress has been good, but the conditions are hard to get right - because I'm weak it needs to be nice and cold to hold most of the crux holds!

The route for me comes down to sticking the sloper (hold with tick in above photo) at the end of the first boulder off the ground (V8-ish). Then it is a little pumpy with some amazing holds and moves to a traverse that leads into the final groove and mantle as for Back Yard Surgery (29).

Might head up this weekend and try it again but see what the weather does!

Fingal (Bare Rock)

This year, and particularly the recent months, have seen the development of a new, predominantly sport sector at Fingal called the Boneyard! This wall is pretty amazing, and a big thanks to those who have put the hardyards into develop this place - property owner Andrew Martin, Gerry Narkowicz, Ingvar Lidman and Garry Phillips. There are a few more details on Gerry's blog here regarding access. A topo and guide have not been made publically avaliable as it is nesting season for the falcons and eagles on the cliff - NO climbing is permitted until early December, please respect this.

Trying 2 Fast 2 Furious (28) - this is the crux, sticking a big move to a gnarly edge.

Top photo is Mark on Vapour Trail (28). Gazza enjoying life at Fingal!

Garry on Tiger Bean (28/29). Another wicked route that packs a punch, and has some rad pinches.

Garry on crux of Tiger Bean.

Garry and I headed up three times before the cliff closed about a month ago. It is sick! I tried the new mega-classic Vapour Trail (28) which is the world's pumpiest 26 to a lower-off, then blasting up the headwall makes it 28. Then I tried 2 Fast 2 Furious (28) another Gazza classic which is pretty bouldery. This new cliff is a great addition to the Tassie sport climbing scene and I look forward to climbing up there lots more when it re-opens in December!

Blue Mountains

Over the mid-semester break Sam (Peyr) and I road-tripped to the Bluies for 10 days of climbing. It was a great trip and was good to get out of Tassie for a bit and get some fresh psyche in the veins! Deciding what to take:

So we packed up my little Starlet and hit the open road. We stayed at the Blackheath caravan park and generally had a ball. We climbed mainly at the Glen and Shipely, but also at Boronia Point and Logan Brae. The first few days were spent getting adjusted to the rock because my word it is sharp. I'd forgotten how brutal it can be! But after a few days we got into the groove and all was well.

I did a few cruisy things like Bare Essentials (26), Paddington (25), Dr Stein (25) flash, but the highlight of the trip was sending Equaliser (28) on the very last day. It is awesome climbing to a boulder up high where I fell about 6 times. One of the best routes I've done, it follows the orange streak up from the top of the tree in this photo:

Cheers to Sam for all the belays! He had a wicked trip too, flashing the classic Rubber Lover (25) and doing a heap of other routes. I managed to send Equaliser at the 11th hour before we had to go, I got to the crux and suddenly found my self clipping the chains. Stoked! Getting psyched before the redpoint...

Melbourne's skyline from the boat.

And that's about it. Since I've been back I've been training a lot at Alex's wall (or the Bunker as it's now known!) inbetween writing essays at Uni. Everyone is pretty psyched which is sick. Yesterday up at Sphinx with Gaz man I managed to send Space Invader (30) for my first of the grade. I surprised myself by doing it after only 3 days of work. An awesome, bouldery route with a wicked sequence. The psyche on next year's Euro trip is intense!!!


Will hopefully post some more news soon. Have a good one!

The End of an Epic, and More Factory Goodness

Well I've been meaning to update this for a little while and have finally found the time! Until about a week ago studying for and stressing about exams made life a little hectic. But not too much because I've still been able to climb a lot.

The Factory

Basically I've just been heading to the Factory a lot, which has been sweet. Here are some photos of Grant and myself on the usual day's warm up, Antimatter (23). Thanks to Mark Polinski for the photos:



I managed to send Maxwell's Demon (28) on my third shot a few weeks back, which was good! Best 28 I've done at the factory for sure, get amongst it. Other than that I've put a couple of days' effort into Astro Boy (30), one of the raddest routes going around. It takes an amazing line on perfect rock, starting with a hard boulder then classic climbing. I'm pretty psyched on it, but we'll see how it goes, for me it's a really hard route. Thanks to Alex for the photos.

The crux move on Astro Boy, a big throw to a sloper:

Up higher another rad move; setting up for the big deadpoint to an immaculate pinch:

In other Factory news Mark just repeated Come Get Me (30) on his 4th try for its third ascent. Grant repeated the classic Maxwell's Demon (28). Alex pulled out all the stops and sent Back Yard Surgery (29), his first of the grade! Crazy John also climbed Back Yard Surgery. Jedi (Jed Parkes) also put in a fantastic effort and sent Decafe (27), his first of the grade. Good stuff everyone!

Grant on Maxwell's Demon (28) - Photo Mark Polinski

End of an Epic

I finally sent my nemesis route, Calm Before the Storm (28). I have been trying off and on for maybe 2 years, but only seriously tried it this year. After about 40 redpoints (about half of those on Storm Trooper 27, the first half) I finally got it done! The actual send was literally a screaming epic haha! Another one to cross off the ticklist. I do have a video of me doing most of the route taken by Gazza but it won't let me upload it so I'll have to work that out. Here is a still from the vid:

And that's about it! Oh one last thing, heard on the grapevine that Ingvar Lidman of Natimuk just today established a new 29 at Bare Rock in Fingal, and that more hard sends up there may be on the way. As Jakey B says, rock on!

'Tis the Season

Winter is almost upon us here in Tassie. That means one thing: good conditions at the Star Factory. The past two weekends since the Grampians have been spent up on the immaculate granite of the Factory, which has been pretty rad.

About to pull on to Back Yard Surgery (29):

Before the Gramps trip I fell off the second last move of Back Yard Surgery (29). So I was pretty keen to get back to it and get it done! It is a V6ish boulder to power-endurance redpoint crux at about 26/7. Motoring up with a psyched crew, I warmed up and knew it was game on. Putting the draws on I got the tricky groove + mantle at the top dialed, and came down. My first redpoint shot I got super flash-pumped and bungled it just before the big rest.

After that I belayed Mark on his successful redpoint on Astro Boy (30) and knew it was time to get on the send-train. Falling off the boulder once more I took a moment on the ledge to gather my thoughts and then sent. Foot high, hand jam, clip, punch, lock, crimps, deep lock, underclings, cross then throw, rest then last groove. Clipping the last bolt I beach-whaled the top and knew it was done. It is one of my favourite routes because the climbing is on immaculate rock, and is just sick!

A few shots on the route, many thanks to Alex for the photos:

Grant came really close that day, and the weekend just gone we all headed up again. He and Alex traded shots, with Grant managing to send it late in the day. A triple shot expresso was then had by Alex and he came ever so close to sending! I spent the day on Simply the Best (28) which I am going to try again tomorrow with Grant, another amazing route on rad rock.

Alex on the start of Back Yard:

Grant crushing it:

Many more weekends will be spent up there in the coming months and the plan is for some of the harder stuff. A lot of hours have been spent training recently in preparation for the season that has now started, hopefully I can transfer this to the rock. An absolutely stunning sunset on the walk out:

Grampains Trip Report

For our Easter break, Alex and I went to the Grampians for 6 days. Here's what happened...

The last Wednesday of term was important for two reasons. Firstly it meant that Alex and I were going to the Grampians the next day. Secondly, it meant that the UTAS Students Law Society was having a barrel (read:piss up). So when my tutorial finished we headed down with great enthusiasm and got amongst the $2 drinks. Suffice to say I enjoyed myself rather too much, and ended up getting home at about 3am. Not ideal when you have to get up at 6am.


Somehow managing to get to the airport, Alex and I flew to Melbourne, then took a train to Ararat. We couldn't take the boat 'cos we left it too late to book, and we couldn't hire a car 'cos neither of us is 21. Flying didn't help my raging hangover. Arriving in Ararat, a pretty bogan town somewhere in Western Vic, we set about gathering supplies for the next six days. Just chilling outside the bottle shop with all our stuff, and a stolen trolley:

Grant (Rowbottom) was a legend and picked us up (rescued us) from Ararat, and soon we on the way to the campsite at Mt Stapylton. We got our first glimpse of Taipan Wall on the drive, fueling the psyche (this photo is actually from the walk in but whatever):

Cruising into camp an awesome crew welcomed us: Lee, Amanda, Doug, Andrea, Sam and Bec.

The next morning we charged up to Taipan with Grant, who gave us the guided tour. Taipan was in cloud so for the whole walk-in we couldn't see it; only when we got to the base could we see these amazing black and orange streaks projecting skyward.

We got stuck in and decided to warm up on Dial-a-Lama (24) on Spurt Wall. Alex casually onsighted it and then I flashed it by the skin of my teeth, getting ridiculously flash-pumped. Here's a couple of photos:

Alex then went up Serpentine (29) with Grant, and I ran around like a headless chicken trying lots of things, then decided to get stuck into Tyranny (29), which Andrea was also trying. Also on Spurt Wall, it is short and sweet: two boulder problems followed by a pumpy finish. Lee was trying his project (that would become Sneaky Snake 33) that blasts up the middle of Taipan, and Doug was trying the Groove Train (33/34).

Next day on I tried Tyranny again, falling at the second boulder a couple of times. A couple of Euro dudes were on Serpentine all day so Alex couldn't try that which was a bummer, so he tried Mr J (25), but peeled off at the crux (this was to become a bit of a theme). Lewis warming up on the Big Red 'Crag Board', which was very popular at the base of Spurt Wall for getting the fingers recruited:

On Saturday we both woke up and felt like we'd be hit by a train! I decided to have a rest day, while Alex was still keen for Serpentine. Looking up:

Not wanting to psyche himself out, he didn't look up while jugging up the fixed line to the belay. Upon arrival, he stuck his head out and found that all the gear had been stripped and he only had two quickdraws. Potentially ambitious. We both decided to have a rest day, and watch Lee fall off the last hard move of the project. Here he's in a blue shirt, just before the crux:

Lee sent it that afternoon, calling it Sneaky Snake (33). Looks like one of the best hard routes in Oz! Nice work Lee!

We bailed early and headed to Arapiles: we now had a car, as Alex's mum Krystyna had decided a bush-walking holiday in the Gramps was in order. A bit of 'active recover sololing' on Tiptoe Ridge (5), helping people having screaming epics with stuck ropes...

Being true sport climbers we then went to a party in Nati that night at Toby's house. The next morning was a bit of a struggle. I had another four or so cracks on Tyranny, and Andrea sent it, which was awesome! Alex sent Mr J as well.

The last full day of the trip saw Alex crush Invisible Fist and Snake Flake (both 26). Sendage on IF:

I tried once again to send. No luck. However I got some crucial beta off Josh Grose (thanks man!) and changed my sequence so instead of yarding off a henious sloper, I used the intermediate crimp and got my foot up high. I fell again again at this move, but next go made it to the very last move. Pinging off I thought it was over for the trip...

That afternoon we went to Araps again and Alex fell off the last hard move of Mind Arithiritis (27) which was still a solid effort with no skin at all!

After packing up the tents the next morning I decided to give it one last go. We had to leave by 11am so the pressure was on. I warmed up on the Cragboard and went for it. Again the second boulder got me. On what was the very last go of the whole trip I moved easily through the first section I had wired, got to the boulder, stepped up and hit the hold! Off on every move, including the last one, I somehow managed to clip the chains and send! Glad that it was done we set off back to Hobart, both happy to have done something. First boulder on Tyranny:

Cheers to Alex for an awesome trip, as well as everyone who was up there (especially Grant, thanks man).

What up?

So what up?

Not a lot of major news but a few things have happened of late. Not long after my last post I had a sick day down at the Paradiso with the crew. Managed to do Ready, Steady, Go (26) in about 8 shots. One of the best routes I've ever done! Big throw to a pinch then another throw to a good hold..psyched to send on the last shot of the day. Cheers to Garry for the route, and Jed for the pics:

Uni is a bit more intense that I first hoped so I've been spending quite a lot of time studying. Did some mountain stuff in the SW with Gazza which was a pretty special experience. Other than that I've been having a mini-epic on Back Yard Surgery (29) at the Star Factory. Spent about 5 days so far, and fell off the 2nd last move yesterday, so hopefully it will be done soon. Mark Polinski made the 2nd ascent of Jake Bresnehan's The Wizard of OZ (32) at the Factory on Sat, nice one Mark!

Been training quite a lot in preparation for the Gramps with Alex. Pretty psyched! We leave on Thursday for about a week, so keen as mustard for that. Spent 2 seconds making a picture that gets me psyched....Dave Graham on Passion (8c+)...

Take it easy

Another Phillips Classic

A little news and some photos.

Slap Dancer (27) on Albert's Tomb, Mt. Wellington. Did this rad route a few months back - it's a good one! Thanks to Jed (Parkes) for the shots.

STAR FACTORY

Last weekend Alex and myself cruised up the coast in his brand-spanking new Subaru Outback which was pretty sick. Saturday saw us up at the Factory with Simon. I put the draws on Decafe (27) and managed to get it next shot which was rad. Alex and Simon both had burns on Street Fighter (28).

On Sunday we walked back up late, because it was absolutely baking, 25 degrees plus! There were quite a few people up there, which was a change. Power of the Percolator (28) was the goal for the day. Having a burn I fell at the crux. I went to the top putting draws and got it figured. Letting the rock cool down I had another shot but bungled it again. The second attempt:

Alex had another go on Street Fighter and got really high, to the second crux a few moves from the top. Here he is down low:

Heading home I knew I would be back to finish business with Percolator soon. Yesterday I went up for the day with Merry, Ed and Ben. Putting the draws on I refreshed my memory and soon was scoffing Red Bull for a redpoint. Just staying on at the crux I made it to the rest, then got some back and pulled the final boulder with a big smile on my face, glad to have sent another G. Phillips classic!

A rad sunset on the way home:

Autumn

What's going on?

Being a change of seasons, I thought it would be a good time to post a little update about recent goings-on and reflect on Summer.

COLES BAY

After my last post, I kicked into gear a little bit and did quite a lot of climbing. First up were a few local trips trying the sandstone test-pieces, then I headed to the Star Factory with Sam, with one clear goal in mind - Street Fighter (28). A Garry Phillips classic, it takes the streaked wall to the right of Antimatter (23). A couple of quick goes to work the moves and I had it pretty dialed - burly through the first underclings from the break, then power-endurance to the top, with a tricky redpoint crux on small feet off two pockets up high. On my first redpoint, I got to the very last move, and ended up pumping out slapping for the jug on the ledge. The very next day I marched back up there, got the last move sorted and sent it first redpoint. Now Street Fighter 2 (29) awaits...

On the same day Alex was around on the other side of the hill, at the South Park boulders on Mt Amos. The route he had in his sights was Stan (28) - one of only 4 trad routes in Tassie of that grade. Before we went up to the Factory, I gave him a belay on his first go of the day. Stan follows a thin, razor sharp crack, to a deadpoint to a jug up high as the very last move - this being the crux. Watching Alex cruise the crack placing gear, he went for the jug:

And missed it! Wishing him luck we headed off and he sent it next shot. Nice man!!

THE PARADISO

Soon after the Factory I went to the Paradiso quite a few times, with heaps of different people. I managed to tick: Thunderbirds are Go (24), Bagpipe Remix (25) and flash Simon's new one Hit and Run (25). I had a mini epic on Bagpipe, having 7 redpoints and finally sending after changing to different beta. Mark Poliniski was down as well, tearing the place apart. The swell was pretty big on quite a few days - Kim and Claire are on K2 (21) in this photo:

Sam and I also went aid climbing and tried Garry's awesome new one Ready, Steady, Go (26). This is the arete, but conditions often mean it is super greasy or the swell is too big to belay on. An absolute classic, I had a redpoint but couldn't hold the crux pinch/sloper. I'll be back!


HILLWOOD + OTHER

Two trips to Hillwood have gone down as well. Being like a kid in a candy shop, there are a lot of routes I haven't done - I climbed there when I first started but not for a long time. So far I have ticked: Small But Perfectly Formed (26), Art of War (26), Dr Pepper (23), Repentant Thief (23), Long Kiss Goodnight (22) and a whole host of easier things. On the mountain the other day I followed Garry up a new one on Northern Buttress, and it's really good fun - it comes recommended.

THE WALL

The other big news is that Alex's wall is now up and running. This is version 2.0 and it is rad! Double the size, with heaps more holds, a Big Red hangboard and more features, it goes off! Big thanks to Alex for doing the hard yards and getting it up and going!

Here is one of the cool warm-ups (not a Rocket Wall warm-up though!)

WHAT NEXT

Climbing a bit on rock recently has been good and I feel like I'm moving well. I need to be if I want to do some cool things I've got planned. A lot of training is on the cards, as it fits in well with Uni. Up at MS Fest last weekend, a particular line from Bliss N Eso's The Sea is Rising stuck with me -

"Nothing stands between you and the pursuit of your vision".

Just some food for thought. Have a good one!