Thursday 31 January 2013

Punks

The last month in Natimuk has flown by in a blur. It could be because I'm getting older and 31 days doesn't seem in a relative sense that long anymore. Most likely because of NYE and the following couple of weeks with a rotating crew of people from Melbourne and the Blue Mountains hanging out in Lake Ave. Time flies when having fun right?

Good Conditions!!?
In my last musings I mentioned that I'd had a quick play on Punks in the Gym, on Uncle Charlies. This route doesn't need an introduction from me. It's even more well known than Bert Newton. It is a route that I first heard about when this crazy young dude from the Blue Mountains was down living in the Pines. He sent it "like a bitch on heat", I didn't even know who Ben Cossey was until that point. The route since then was something that I wanted to do, but it was always put to the back of my mind. Several reasons existed for this, the main one being I was intimidated. Intimidated by both the style of the route, technical with some smearing, and the route's history. I probably didn't want to fail on a route so famous. When people overseas had found out I was from Australia they asked if I had done Punks....my ego probably found it easier to say "I hadn't been on it yet" rather than "no I can't do it". Whatever the reason I had avoided it for when I was stronger or something. In November last, when I played on it, I found that one small section near the end gave me a heap of trouble. I couldn't find a comfortable way to get through the last technical section. My plan then involved walking away for a time, learn some Araps skills, and then come back to it at Easter when it cooled down. 

New Plan - Sleep until sunset
This plan lasted all of 3 weeks into the new year. Gordon Poultney got psyched and easily convinced me to have a play on a cool 37 degree day. 'The moves are only going to feel easier in the future' was the moto of the day. Funnily enough the moves felt more straight forward than several months earlier. The weather for the rest of the week remained in high 30s which meant that I had one or two shots just before sunset one day then waited until the weekend when Saturday cooled off dramatically down to the mid 20s. Perfect summer conditions. 


Hitting the Bird Bath







Redpointing for me in the past has been a real battle. Normally I would try something, work out the moves or think I do, then just go for it from the ground. This would usually end up with doing something within a few shots or turn into massive epic which would only end when I'd given up all together and had gone through a minimum of three belayers. These sends would be more a relief rather than satisfaction - not exactly the feeling that I am looking for. After pulling off my best Charlie Sheen impersonation at Little Hands after falling off at the chains my project there for the fourth time, I devised a plan for 2013. Make sure I can do all the moves, can do overlapped sections, and visualise the entire route - then go for it from the ground. Sounds simple and basic but it has taken years for me to realise I hadn't been doing this. While frustratingly obvious now, it is why climbing is so good, I can always learn something. Punks was the first route I tried this new plan out on.......and it made a huge difference. I put no pressure on myself regarding number of attempts or time (now that I'm living in Nati there is heaps of time) and the difference was massive. I still did my usual fall from the last move but I didn't lose my shit, just accepted that I wasn't ready to do it. Slight modification of the move and the next time I got there I sent. Satisfaction! 

Organ Pipes - Mt Wellington


Well now I have some time off work and hanging around down in Hobart. Not sure exactly what I am going to do but pretty keen to have a crack at Gary Phillips' new route While Powder 31/32 at Bare Rock. It would also be cool to learn how to climb cracks at Mt Wellington so that I have some confidence to go do something bigger. As it is, I had to bail off a grade 19 hand crack cause I didn't have enough gear the right size and it scared the shit out of me. Ah rock climbing, one day you can be as high as a kite, then next eating humble pie. So much to learn!






- Grosey

Thursday 17 January 2013

Summer Lovin'



For the first time in many years I have been at home for a summer. Usually I would prefer to be hanging out in cooler climes, such as Switzerland, Spain or England at this time of year. Mostly to climb on primo rock with my Northern Hemisphere peeps, but also to avoid the hideous heat that Australia is capable of producing at this time of year. For an example of this, I need only cast my mind back to yesterday when it was 40degrees. For anyone who hasn't experienced that kind of heat, it is brutal. Stinging sweat, plagues of flies and burn-in-five minutes sun rays. Not much to be achieved when it comes. I rode up Mt William at 8am, a solid 10km hill climb, was home by 10.30 and then got in situ on the couch for the day. A waste of holidays really, but it's not all bad, there are a heap of days when the temperatures are not as high and some of the evenings are actually pretty good. Now I need to clarify this a little. When I say that it's good, I mean for route climbing. As you may know, if you have followed this for a while, I am mostly a boulderer and I love the cold weather. I love the feeling of my fingers crushing cold stone, knowing that any error is going to on my part and not a mere slip from a greasy or hot grip. That's not to say that I'm not a route climber, I grew up climbing trad at Arapiles and have climbed trad and sport in a lot of different places around the globe. It's just that I have really been focusing on putting up new problems and just trying to crush as hard as I can. But, when in Rome... So this summer I promised myself I would take a little break from pebble wrestling and tie in again like the old days... There are a few routes that I have had my eye on for some time and a couple in particular that I have tried before. I had a little early success on Contra Arms Pump, an old school mixed trad and sport route, 30 and decided the time was now to have a lash at Samosa, a 35 move 32. Not exactly cutting edge, but harder than anything I had done and a really interesting mix of power and power endurance. It breaks down to a V9 boulder at the start, followed by a second insecure problem of about 6/7. No problems right? But, there is no shake in between, I could chalk one hand once and the climbing from one to the next is tenuous and tension dependent. So, by the time I was exiting the second problem I was taxed and would fall from the final press before a good rest leading in to the final section. Did I mention the slab? Oh yeah, and there is a final slab section, where you go from a 25degree overhang on first and second joint holds to an under vertical bit with micro crimps and a weird and insecure finger lock that only takes the first half joint of your index finger. But, I couldn't fall from there if I made it, could I? Course I bloody could. I managed to fall from just about every conceivable point on the route. The only part that I really had nailed was the bottom crux. I could hike the power crux every time, but just had to take the time to gain the necessary resistance to do the rest. It was trying. I like the process, I enjoy the mental battle, but I gotta tell ya, falling from the slab was heart breaking. But, as they say, every cloud and all that... The day I finally sent, there was no pressure. It was just me and my friend Emma at the crag. I was warm and ready. I had no expectations, just an overwhelming sense of satisfaction that I was out on the rock on a lovely afternoon. Our conversation was relaxed and full of friendly banter and I realised that this is what climbing is really about to me. Being with friends in amazing places. I tied in, not even thinking about the end game, I climbed smoothly and confidently and before I even realised I was standing on the top of the slab, not knowing what had happened. I bathed in the glow of satisfaction... for five minutes, then I tied in and started up my next project...
Thanks as always to all the belayers who were goaded, beaten and cajoled into holding my ropes. I do appreciate it... Really, I do!

Saturday 5 January 2013

Across the Plains

The past few months have been rather hectic. If you read my last post you would remember that I was awarded a Gumby toy, for the most uncoordinated climber in Victoria. Falling off the top of a boulder, clutching desperately to a wire brush and my glasses was not the acrobatic phenomenon I had envisaged. With my busted ribs in tow, I headed back to Melbourne where aside from my thumbs (playstation) I wasted away.

Skip forward to October and the best conditions of the year. It seemed the Wimmera was alive with activity. Visiting rockstars from home and abroad created a real buzz around the plains. Pity I was relegated to the training room trying to get some 'omph' back. It never takes long to get back to my normal strength level, probably because I'm really a pumper pretending to be strong.

First thing I got back on, was the horse who bit me?? The boulder I brushed up and fell off at Araps. It is this awesome little prow behind Castle crag. So obvious that I'm astounded it hadn't been done before. Local legend Dave Jones, tells me he had seen it years ago, but it had been forgotten. Anyway this little gem took a little longer than the 15 mins of daylight I had allocated to it, and had to be done at a second sitting. I think its about V8  and have called it 'All the King's Men', an obvious reference to my relaxed attitude to sexual promiscuity ie. Easy as Eggs or Humpty. Take your pick it's a classic all the same.  

It seemed that this spring, Mt Arapiles was the where the buzz was maintained. Sneaky afternoons after work were spent at Uncle Charlies mostly, as thats where the belayers were. I needed some quick lessons on smearing again and managed to get up Ethiopia 29/30 without much drama. Next over to Punks. This obscure routes is actually rather cool. Don't listen to what they all say about it. I was able to get a pretty good feel for it within a couple of reconnaissance missions, however there was a one meter section above the 'bird bath' that gave me some grief. I was not able to find a sequence that flowed for me. I got frustrated, as I do (see Easy as Egg comment above) and decided to leave it for awhile.

With only a couple of weeks before heading back to Melbourne for a month of nail biting medical emergencies, such 2 days of constipation, bad dreams and stubbed toes, I headed down to the Grampians. I was chaperoned around a new bouldering area called the Bleachers near Halls Gap by Simon, Matt and Venessa. I didn't get up much - not unusual - because I was more interested in filming. I've started a little bouldering number that should be out sometime in the coming months. 
 
Rodeo Drive, 29 FA. Photo: Gareth Llewellin
On the new route front, I managed to clip the chains of a couple of things. Firstly, a roof at the Plaza Strip that I bolted in the depths of an Antartic Winter. It starts up a rippled Grampian's slab, then busts straight out back over itself through a roof.

The hardest moves turned out to be, holding on for dear life as I pounced (impossible to jump) out of a stretched toe hook position to gain a good pinch. With legs spinning wildly I must have looked like that white guy in the NBA who can almost slam dunk. I called it Rodeo Drive and its a classic 29.

Also in the Grampians I managed to send a project at Little Hands. It is a rising traverse that breaches the steepest part of the cave and is essentially a link up of the other routes that I bolted there. I had tried it on and off for a couple of years, getting no where fast as it is hard to find belayers in Victoria willing to go to areas where the warm up is a grade 28. I had been trying a super cool 9a sequence that stayed low and went into the crux of my Substance D, now considered 30. This as I say was nails, and it was only by chance that Alister Robertson suggested busting up a little earlier.

Afro Warrior, 30 FA. Photo Neil Monteith
A new sequence unlocked; a wicked throw out of a kneebar and the route was on. Not without dramas though as it turns out that roof slug thugging for 20m is tiring as all buggery. I fell several times over a couple days, attempting to clip the chains. Somehow Alister is still talking to me after an outburst to put Christian Bale to shame. That was one time I was glad no one else frequented this most wicked of caves. Well, I was able to do the route now named 'Afro Warrior', grade 30?, on a sneaky daytrip about a week later. I'm stoked to have done it, as falling with the chains in your face is hard to take sometimes, let alone 3 or 4.....I'd lost count by then.


Well 2012 felt like it went rather quickly and now the plans for 2013 are beginning to take shape. I've moved up to the Wimmera for good now, so no more back and forth from Melbourne. I have several specific goals for this year and in my mind they require me to be close to them and climbing lots; the only thing I can do well off the couch is drink beer and coffee. I've still got several projects I bolted ready to be attempted and I have also spent a bit of time looking at a yet to be freed line on Taipan. Hopefully more on that one soon. Trips are planned too, Tassie again if it hasn't burnt down completely and then hopefully to Europe for a month. Gotta start getting into shape again - if only the training room wasn't so hot!!

Yep thats 47.6 degrees in the shade!
 
Hopefully the new year resolutions are still kicking along nicely.


- Grosey