Hot Dang

Chook, looking happy with his creation...

Not so much now though...

One or two of you may have noted a lack of posts lately from down under. There really is only one reason for it, it has been hot, really oppressively, heart breakingly, stinking, blood hot. In the last month there have been 2 days under 30 and they weren't far off either. So, any fitness that I had gained from my route climbing in December and early Jan has disappeared and I am now master of the mid grade. It has been too hot to even get excited to try hard. Sweating your way up routes in a brief window before exhaustion or disinterest sinks in is really the only answer. Instead I have been focusing my efforts on a wicked new pursuit, tree jumping... So, Lake Fyan's, which is about 15 mins from my place is the venue and it works like this. Grab a kayak, paddle out to the deeper water, lash the kayaks, swim across to your chosen tree, find a route up and then jump from as high as you dare. Pehaps throw in a backflip for good measure. Sweeeeet. It has been a great addition to the list of activities and has other benefits. There is a great beach there that you can drive on to and have a BBQ post swim and lounge around in deck chairs sipping on a cold beer. All in all it has been a pretty fun summer, but it has felt like it has been hard work to get anything substantial done. Anyways, I guess you guys aren't that psyched for reading about my non-climbing related activities, so here's a run down.

Adding the bolts...

And the send...

I have been trying two routes a bit, but have had no luck. I have wanted to do, 'Who's a naughty boy?', 32 for a long time, but it is my anti-style really with the crux coming right at the end and being a continuous 10 move boulder. I can pull on and do the moves without too much effort, but doing the 29 route beforehand just saps that little edge that you need for it. I have come really close on a bunch of occasions, but have oozed off the final moves, very frustrating, but not entirely unexpected in these conditions. I have also had a play on United Nations which is an awesome wall that shades up nicely in the afternoon, so is perfect for an evening session, post work. This one is a different prospect, just a hard boulder that I haven't managed to do yet. It has a pretty hard mono move into a two finger undercling and is sick. It's probably 31/32, but not sure. Some visiting Frankendura local pathed it, but for mono mortals it is quite hard and has only had two repeats, so we shall see. I'll perservere with both, but am really just looking forward to the colder weather now and some serious bouldering. My flirtation with a cord is almost at an end.

I have been spending a bit of time at Arapiles, where the gullies offer some nice cooler microclimates of their own and you can chase the shade through multiple venues for the day. For those who don't know, Arapiles is one of the best trad climbing crags in the world, but is not entirely without some hard and techo sport routes as well. Luckily enough, I was gifted a project by one of my friends last week. A short four move boulder leads to easier climbing up higher. Perfect for a boulderer like myself. He'd already drilled the holes in it, all I had to do was throw two expansions in and pop the hangers on and go for it. The result, was an easier than expected, but still fun little 28, Mormon Poultry and is a good little addition to Doggers Gully. Anyways, last night was quite cool and low temps are forecast for the weekend, so hopefully there'll be some more action to report after the weekend.

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

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!

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





The Red Mist Descends

Mid Crux... Again

It can be really draining trying a problem over and over. And trying a single move for days on end can seem like a complete waste of time, particularly if you have the attention span of a goldfish, like me. Now, what was I saying? Oh yeah...I spied this beautiful prow about four months ago, but didn't even wander up to have a proper look at it until a couple of weeks later. I was immediately blown away by how perfect the rock was and how difficult each individual move would be. Initially, I was only able to do three of the eleven moves, but could conceive doing all but one of them.
I have done of lot of new problems this year and it has been incredible. Most of them have taken only a session or two to knock over, apart from the Taken, which due to its height proved more of an issue. But, I have lacked something really hard to throw myself at. This prow would be perfect. The crux is low to the ground, easily worked on without a spotter and it is close to home, so after work sessions were a go.
I have never spent that much time on a problem, nor a route for that matter. Normally, either I do the moves quickly and then the problem or I can't do a move or two and I move on. Not this time. I was pretty sure that the crux would go down, but I would have to train for it. It wasn't a power issue either I didn't think, but more of a body tension thing. So, I went to work on the swiss ball, at the same time as trying the problem a couple of times a week. Anytime that I sat down in front of the tele I would do some sit ups or stabilizing exercises. The benefits were pretty immediate. On an afternoon out with Chook, I managed to do the problem from post-crux to the top. I was chuffed and had a renewed sense of purpose. At times I was pretty dejected about the whole thing, I had tried the crux move at least a hundred times and was making very little progress. The crux is a weird move, a proper compression slap from a good hold on your right, underneath the roof, to a single pad, slightly off camber hold. You have a toe hook on the arete with your left foot and a scummy heel toe with your right. Left hand open-handing the arete. There was so much momentum, that every time I fell from the hold I would end up about a meter downhill from where my left hand had started.

Victors ledge. Matt and I laughing about my smooth top-out skills

It was draining too. Maybe three or four adult tries and then another ten weaker attempts and that would be it for the session. Day eight on the problem and I still hadn't done the move, I was getting cabin fever from sitting underneath the roof for so long, trying to envisage another way of doing the move. The session before I had paused on the hold and fallen directly underneath the holds, but that was the most progress I had made in four weeks. Matt and Vanessa were up for the weekend, which always boosts my psych. Since those guys moved here, I have been more motivated than ever. Their enthusiasm for climbing and general good humor is infectious, not to mention the fact that they know all the same movie quotes as me... Anyways, Ness was on camera and Matt on spotting duty. I got him to take a little weight through the move, trying to train my body to remember how to catch the hold. After a couple of attempts, with very little assistance, I did the move and then, after a brief rest, I did it on my own. I was elated. I was so happy, I considered just calling it a day there and then coming back to finish the problem. Matt and Ness were having none of it, so I tried it from the start. All of a sudden I was at the last move, but a bit of slippage and I was off. Normally, I would be pretty angry, but I was so surprised to get there that it didn't matter. Twice more I did the same thing. So close, but I was smoked. Ah well, I guess I could come back during the week with a spotter and get it done. Again, the guys talked me into one last go. And thank fuck they did, as that was the money shot. I cruised through the crux and slapped with renewed energy, until only the difficult top out remained. I slapped blindly to the top and missed the hold, but was so determined that I dropped my hand back and went again, grovelled around and then swung my body back on to the slab and rocked it out to the top. Red Mist was born. I gave it V12, but it may be harder, we'll just have to wait and see... Thanks again to all those who spotted me and provided moral support.

Swingin Spring

Grosey, Blackbeard's Delight

White Shadow

Forgive me Matthew it's been a while since my last confession blog session. After a long and unusually wet winter, Spring has offered herself up for some primo sessions. After knocking over The Taken, I started working on another little area that I discovered near Halls Gap. It's been awesome too. Lots of varied rock, but a good, solid density of hard climbing. Fellow Red Chili and Wild Country sponsored wad, Scott Walter made his annual pilgrimage down to the Grampians to escape the humidity and general foulness of Sydney and to catch up with the newly expatriated Matt Tait and Vanessa Tocatjin, who were in residence at Arnie Acres. Our little party ventured out with much excitement, ready to do some cleaning and get our crush on. We brushed up the first bloc we came across, a grand distance of about 4 meters from the walking track. Initially, this was to be our warm up boulder, but it didn't quite pan out that way. Instead, the Sex Panther boulder was born. Here's a list of the problems that we managed to establish:

Scoots, battling the mantle on Musk Up

The Quickening

Sex Panther V10
Blackbeard's Delight V8/9
London Gentleman V10
Musk Up V9
Smelly Pirate Hooker V7
Not a bad start to the area...

Everywhere we looked there seemed to be more problems. After initially writing the area off as having only a handful of classics, I was pleasantly surprised to be able to return there day after day to establish new lines. Now called the Bleachers, there is a vast array of awesome problems there, from steep, hard, compression prows, to slopey, font-like classics, made for the technicians amongst us. I even managed to discover and ascend one of the coolest aretes that I have seen in the Grampians. Climbing just like a Grit route and with a similar amount of gear, it is an absolute beauty. It's just awaiting a second ascent now...

Blackbeard's

And a few more new problems:
The Quickening V10
The Walker V9
CMD V8
Evac V7
Force Code V9/10
Gangnum Style V9

The Taken, V11