Monday 23 July 2012

There's no such thing as bad weather there's just bad clothing

A good friend told me this about twenty years ago and its a mantra I've lived by ever since. So when I woke up to a rainy day where heading to the coffee shop for a brew seemed like the only thing to do, I was psyched to make the most of my day off work. Armed with my awesome Outdoor Research jacket and pants and my super cool new Asolo Goretex lined boots I was dry, toasty and ready for any weather the day could throw at me. It was grey and misty, poured rain and sometimes the clouds cleared so I could peak a look at some new cliffs too.

Its still a good 2 months until I can pull back on, but my shoulder rehab is coming along really well. I'm now doing lots of weights in the gym and the strength seems better almost everyday. After walking through the bush searching for new crags over the last few months and not finding anything, last week I decided it was time to head out on the rope and abseil down a line that I had spotted a few years ago. From what I had seen I thought it could be...ok, I hadn't been overly psyched by it, an arete up the right hand side of a greyish wall. But I love arete's and not being very steep it should be easy to bolt, it was worth a close up look.

Wow, that wasn't what I was expecting!! A steep orange wall was hiding around the corner,  I was pumped. I've only seen the top third of the wall as I travelled light and only had half a dozen bolts and they didn't keep me into the wall for very long. Now I have something to be psyched for, it's not going to be the quick rap down, bang in a few bolts and done job that I was thinking. Its my new mini expedition, over the next few months i'll work away at establishing the line. Doing small chunks at a time as not to over-do my shoulder. A rap station will also be needed for what should be about 3 pitches of fun!!



So with the rains, it was the perfect day to ferry some loads, now I have 140 meters of rope and a heap of hardware safely hidden in dry bags waiting for my next day out.

It's great to hang on a rope and get some air under the feet again and have that feeling that i'll be back in the game again soon!

Andy