check out this website i made for him
http://www.duncanmeerding.com.au
duncan, zach and lachy also made some cool adjustable cracks for the uni gym. there are a few prototypes up at the moment, including a hand crack through the roof. nice one boys!
Friday, June 11, 2010
duncan's furniture
my friend duncan makes some amazing furniture:
check out this website i made for him
http://www.duncanmeerding.com.au
duncan, zach and lachy also made some cool adjustable cracks for the uni gym. there are a few prototypes up at the moment, including a hand crack through the roof. nice one boys!
check out this website i made for him
http://www.duncanmeerding.com.au
duncan, zach and lachy also made some cool adjustable cracks for the uni gym. there are a few prototypes up at the moment, including a hand crack through the roof. nice one boys!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
training
so i'm into training at the moment. since i'm still recovering from finger and wrist injuries, i'm trying to be careful about it. that means plenty of rest days, usually 1 day on, 1 day off.
"the bisso belt" the closest i will ever get to being wrapped around by something going by that name
i am enjoying training my weaknesses. specifially: body tension, edges, and power. i have working been hard at it. progress is sometimes slow - but it is rewarding.
rocket wall; problems for weak people, ed.1 (still in draft status)
hannah, such a lovely girl, always on time
and it works too. went to sphincter with callum a couple of weeks ago and after warming up, i put the draws on Rambo and re-familiarised myself with the moves. i hadn't been on it in over a year, but felt surprisingly good on it. i always struggled to keep tension onsome most of the moves, but it was not so much of a problem this time (no prizes for guessing why). was pretty stoked to do it first redpoint shot that day. had never climbed from the lip of the roof to the anchors before though, and almost fell off there as a result of my own stupidity!
after some more hard work on the wall, i managed to give myself another minor set back in the last couple weeks when i cut both of my thumbs (right on the pads) helping dave build his house. one of them was kinda bad. but not super bad, just a bit bad. it is maybe a good thing, since i have made up some no-thumbs projects on the rocket wall. i usually use my thumbs a lot, so it will be good to give them a break and work on getting stronger in a different way.
went to sister's beach last weekend with jed, rosie, kaely and daz. nice spot, a bit short and spoogy. some of the routes are pretty cool though. Lazy Lob (19) and Rhythm Rude Girl (22) were both pretty sweet! and Superfly (17) was as fun as i remembered it from a few years ago. tried Butcher's Dog (25) but couldn't even hold the positions with the crux holds, let alone pull on them. jedi crushed it pretty easily though, not without a bit of a close call though! read the gory details here.
rosie about heel hook over her head to pull the crux on Superfly, on the previous attempt she took the name of the route a bit too literally, photo: jed parkes.
have been doing a bit of running, physio and core work too. and went for a nice stroll into cape pillar with a heavy pack as well, that was fun.
pretty fucking psyched!
"the bisso belt" the closest i will ever get to being wrapped around by something going by that name
i am enjoying training my weaknesses. specifially: body tension, edges, and power. i have working been hard at it. progress is sometimes slow - but it is rewarding.
rocket wall; problems for weak people, ed.1 (still in draft status)
hannah, such a lovely girl, always on time
and it works too. went to sphincter with callum a couple of weeks ago and after warming up, i put the draws on Rambo and re-familiarised myself with the moves. i hadn't been on it in over a year, but felt surprisingly good on it. i always struggled to keep tension on
after some more hard work on the wall, i managed to give myself another minor set back in the last couple weeks when i cut both of my thumbs (right on the pads) helping dave build his house. one of them was kinda bad. but not super bad, just a bit bad. it is maybe a good thing, since i have made up some no-thumbs projects on the rocket wall. i usually use my thumbs a lot, so it will be good to give them a break and work on getting stronger in a different way.
went to sister's beach last weekend with jed, rosie, kaely and daz. nice spot, a bit short and spoogy. some of the routes are pretty cool though. Lazy Lob (19) and Rhythm Rude Girl (22) were both pretty sweet! and Superfly (17) was as fun as i remembered it from a few years ago. tried Butcher's Dog (25) but couldn't even hold the positions with the crux holds, let alone pull on them. jedi crushed it pretty easily though, not without a bit of a close call though! read the gory details here.
rosie about heel hook over her head to pull the crux on Superfly, on the previous attempt she took the name of the route a bit too literally, photo: jed parkes.
have been doing a bit of running, physio and core work too. and went for a nice stroll into cape pillar with a heavy pack as well, that was fun.
pretty fucking psyched!
Monday, March 29, 2010
WHIPPER MAGAZINE!!!
well, after talking about it a lot, playing around with some ideas, and staring at a computer screen for many hours on end; jakey b and i have finally managed to get Whipper online and unleash it on the world!
it's been up for about a month now. check it out!
http://whipper.com.au
make sure you get involved, and comment or contribute!
it's been up for about a month now. check it out!
http://whipper.com.au
make sure you get involved, and comment or contribute!
Monday, February 22, 2010
back in the game!
it was good to get out and about. after the peninsula missions, i seconded some harder stuff on the pipes with Dave. we had some good times exploring nooks and crannies of the pipes that neither of us had been. what a cool crag!
have been pretty busy around the traps as well... starting to find my feet again.
paradiso.
did a couple of laps on Shock Wave (20), then surprised myself by top-roping Superchager (23) clean. i was hufffing and pufffing - so-o-o-o unfit! and it was pretty slimey and conditions weren't the best. fun though. jumped on Offender of the Faith (24) next. always wanted to do that one. fell off down low, then eventually greased and slimed my way to the top. by the time i got back on it conditions had improved quite a bit. or maybe i just stopped whinging to myself and just got on with it! anyway, after nearly fucking up after the last bolt, i managed to clip the chains and was one happy chappy!
grug onsighting offender of the faith (24), quite a while back now.
i was feeling good and wanted to climb more. but decided to be a good boy and just warmed down and called it a day. it's actually the hardest thing ive done since i was in nowra, so i think resting was a wise decision.
rocket wall.
i am in love with a bit of wood with plastic holds screwed on it. the rocket wall had been a big source of improvement and inspiriation to me lately. there is a good variety of holds, meaning that weaklings such as myself can get a lot out of a session on the wall of justice.
we have two training partners at the rocket wall: hannah and bisso.
(there would be photos here if i had remembered to take them)
hannah is a lovely girl! she is a good training partner on the hangboard.
"the bisso belt" makes us appreciate has nice it is to have the girth of normal people. seriously though, it makes a noticeable difference: you FEEL heavier, and cut loose moves especially are way harder to hold with bisso on. nevertheless, Warmup Classic (Rocket grade 6) has been done with the belt on, and i think callum might have done an R7 or R8 with it as well.
there is a blue book of problems on the rocket wall that the other guys use. i've started my own little hand book entitled "Rocket Wall : problems for weak people" and have got a set of good R1 and R2 problems that i'm progressively feeling stronger on. have got an R4 project too. the day i do Warmup Classic R6, i'll be very happy. sam will probably die of shock though.
more pipes.
in between sessions on the rocket wall i managed to sneak up the pipes with tetley and do Heat Pump (22). another great climb on the pipes, with cool holds and a techy crux. after sussing it out on the first attempt i managed to do it next go, but i was quite sloppy at the crux. i was a bit upset with myself actually and threatened to jump off after doing the crux so i'd have to do it again, much to claire's amusement.
totem pole.
spent a couple of days with jed on the good old tote! he ticked both pitches which is a fine effort. many people are content to have just made it to the top of the thing, so it was awesome to see jed put in the work to get the redpoint. top job jed! check out his blog for more details. i had forgotten how good the climbing is as well! i was a bit sick of the tote for a long time (too much time in each other's company i guess), but now we are friends again. :)
jed on the tote
sphinx.
sphinx rock is a pretty good crag for what it is. went there yesterday with the jedi who is training himself in the ways of the force (climbing on steep rock). two weeks at taipan awaits jed! oh yeah! i felt pretty average because i have contracted NZ aids (not to be confused with danish aids), but still managed to clip the anchors of a couple things. (just repeats) definitely feel improvements in core and power from the rocket training! looking at my dairy afterwards, realised it was only my 3rd time on the sharp end this month, but i felt surprisingly ok which was nice. gotta find a balance between climbing, training, working, living, and eating.
bolting.
and it's all systems go on the bolting front. have been making some things around the place a bit nicer, and also have been seeking out virgin walls to impregnate with shiny bits of 316. i'm pretty slow at it, and it's often a shit fight, but it's pretty fun in a weird sort of way. and then you get to climb something cool afterwards. as it so happens, ima just about to head back down to the peninsula for another multi-day mission. hopefully i wont get wiped out by a big loose block!
'later!
have been pretty busy around the traps as well... starting to find my feet again.
paradiso.
did a couple of laps on Shock Wave (20), then surprised myself by top-roping Superchager (23) clean. i was hufffing and pufffing - so-o-o-o unfit! and it was pretty slimey and conditions weren't the best. fun though. jumped on Offender of the Faith (24) next. always wanted to do that one. fell off down low, then eventually greased and slimed my way to the top. by the time i got back on it conditions had improved quite a bit. or maybe i just stopped whinging to myself and just got on with it! anyway, after nearly fucking up after the last bolt, i managed to clip the chains and was one happy chappy!
grug onsighting offender of the faith (24), quite a while back now.
i was feeling good and wanted to climb more. but decided to be a good boy and just warmed down and called it a day. it's actually the hardest thing ive done since i was in nowra, so i think resting was a wise decision.
rocket wall.
i am in love with a bit of wood with plastic holds screwed on it. the rocket wall had been a big source of improvement and inspiriation to me lately. there is a good variety of holds, meaning that weaklings such as myself can get a lot out of a session on the wall of justice.
we have two training partners at the rocket wall: hannah and bisso.
(there would be photos here if i had remembered to take them)
hannah is a lovely girl! she is a good training partner on the hangboard.
"the bisso belt" makes us appreciate has nice it is to have the girth of normal people. seriously though, it makes a noticeable difference: you FEEL heavier, and cut loose moves especially are way harder to hold with bisso on. nevertheless, Warmup Classic (Rocket grade 6) has been done with the belt on, and i think callum might have done an R7 or R8 with it as well.
there is a blue book of problems on the rocket wall that the other guys use. i've started my own little hand book entitled "Rocket Wall : problems for weak people" and have got a set of good R1 and R2 problems that i'm progressively feeling stronger on. have got an R4 project too. the day i do Warmup Classic R6, i'll be very happy. sam will probably die of shock though.
more pipes.
in between sessions on the rocket wall i managed to sneak up the pipes with tetley and do Heat Pump (22). another great climb on the pipes, with cool holds and a techy crux. after sussing it out on the first attempt i managed to do it next go, but i was quite sloppy at the crux. i was a bit upset with myself actually and threatened to jump off after doing the crux so i'd have to do it again, much to claire's amusement.
totem pole.
spent a couple of days with jed on the good old tote! he ticked both pitches which is a fine effort. many people are content to have just made it to the top of the thing, so it was awesome to see jed put in the work to get the redpoint. top job jed! check out his blog for more details. i had forgotten how good the climbing is as well! i was a bit sick of the tote for a long time (too much time in each other's company i guess), but now we are friends again. :)
jed on the tote
sphinx.
sphinx rock is a pretty good crag for what it is. went there yesterday with the jedi who is training himself in the ways of the force (climbing on steep rock). two weeks at taipan awaits jed! oh yeah! i felt pretty average because i have contracted NZ aids (not to be confused with danish aids), but still managed to clip the anchors of a couple things. (just repeats) definitely feel improvements in core and power from the rocket training! looking at my dairy afterwards, realised it was only my 3rd time on the sharp end this month, but i felt surprisingly ok which was nice. gotta find a balance between climbing, training, working, living, and eating.
bolting.
and it's all systems go on the bolting front. have been making some things around the place a bit nicer, and also have been seeking out virgin walls to impregnate with shiny bits of 316. i'm pretty slow at it, and it's often a shit fight, but it's pretty fun in a weird sort of way. and then you get to climb something cool afterwards. as it so happens, ima just about to head back down to the peninsula for another multi-day mission. hopefully i wont get wiped out by a big loose block!
'later!
Monday, February 1, 2010
setbacks, sea stacks & battery packs
chapter i
well the year got off to a bad start, where i hurt another finger on the 1st of jan. this time i was with Jed on Nefarious (22). bit of a shame, as we had an awesome time the day before, doing The Shield (20) and Tartarus (20) before taking photos of the lightning storm from the summit of Mount Wellington. it was only a minor injury, but prompted a week off before slowly starting up again.
cool!
pretty.
after some rest, i climbed a bit with Duncan. climbing with Duncan is an awesomely amazingly humbling experience. why? because he has about 10% of his vision -- he is legally blind. Dunc had climbed lots at Waterworks, in the gym, and places like that. but not on the Pipes. so we went up the pipes.
even walking in takes its time when you can't see much (actually walking out, ie. downhill, is much trickier and more dangerous). but soon on one nice day, Duncan, Rosie and I found ourselves standing at the base of grand old Pegasus (12/14). this was actually my first lead on the Pipes ever, so it was fun to go up it again.
we had heaps of fun, and Duncan got up the whole route cleanly. the general process is: reach for holds, skate feet around looking for footholds, eventually a foot sticks, stand up and lock down on holds, repeat.
stock image of northern buttress (from the other side though)
another trip up the Pipes with Duncan saw him and i in Pulpit Chimney (12), which was a blast! i'd never done the chimney bit before so that was good. after that we did Sideshow (18) which is quite cute. there is a tricky bit at the start that is solved by putting your feet in the right spot in the crack and rolling up to the next handjam. this was a bit too subtle for dunc, so with a few sits he had to resort to desperate laybacking! amazingly he did the rest of the pitch clean (including taking out the gear!). crazy i tell you!
unfortunately, i hurt my wrist somehow that day. i don't know how, i don't know why. all i know is i don't like it one little bit. it still hurt about a month later. so i have really slowed things down a lot since then. it has improved lots, and with some rehabilitaion it seems to be getting better and stronger slowly. it is really frustrating. i am so psyched to climb and train, but i just know i will hurt myself even more if i push it.
chapter ii
after some complete time off, i started climbing again and having fun on the pipes with dave, doing some obsure classics. i love the pipes.
then rosie, dave and i had a super fun day out on The Candlestick. dave has done it about 60,000 times, but neither rosie and i had been there. both dave and rosie did the swim, while i took the soft option of a tyroleon. dave jumped in in the nud and took the rope over, and rose just dived in and swam over without a rope or anything.. crazy i tell you!
dave rapping in. photo: rosie
rosie swimming across. photo: dave
anyway, the route was cool. i was very impressed with the quality of the actual climbing! the rock wasn't exactly taipan wall, but it was fine! what do you expect??
here are some more photos:
shortly there after, we head back down to the peninsula for one of the coolest things in the known universe - Cape Raoul.
Bisso, everybody's favourite pie-eating collingwood supporter, was down for Gazza's wedding (by the way, congrats Garry and Anna!), and he wanted to go do Pole Dancer. this is one of the more amazing routes i've done, so i was happy to have an excuse to go down again. rosie was super keen as well. as for dave, he is in love with Cape Raoul, so he was there with bells on.
well it was another epic day trip from Hobart to the Poles and back, but it was another fun one! except for the wind. it was really, really windy. like, really fucking windy. we were only really going down that particular day because it was the only one we could all fit in.
here are some photos:
it was really windy. photo: dave
we tried a direct approach to the base of pole dancer. the normal way goes down those ledges to the left and up a chimney. i highly recommend the normal way. photo: dave
bisso on pole dancer (22). if you have not done this route then put it on the top of your to-do list. photo: dave
the climbing was as good as always. it started spitting on the way back out the to the packs, but it held off dumping down, which was nice.
abseiling off the wedding cake was an absolute nightmare. since there were 4 of us, we devised a plan that would hopefully minimise the suffering. dave went first, fixed a 60m rope to the top bolts, and rapped to the base. rose and bisso zipped down after, trying not to get blown right around the corner with no way back. i went last and had the enviable task of pulling up half the rope to do a 30m rap to the halfway bolts, and then another 30m rap to the ground.
now i wasn't sure if this was possible, but thought it would probably work. since dave made it down in one rap, things were looking good. it depended how far up the 'halfway' bolts were.
well the ropes reached, but the wind tried it's best to kill me and steal my rope. it was so windy, the end kept blowing around the corner and getting stuck. i felt like i had no control over anything. nearly lost the rope while pulling it, when it wrapped around itself so many times i couldnt pull it. after trying for 15 minutes in vain, i actually gave up on it. "it only cost me 30 bucks," i said to myself. i had just tied it off and was about to rap on a single line hopefully to the ground, when the rope just slightly started unwinding itself! i jumped on it and pulled as hard as i could. after a couple of jumps, keeping the tension on the rope, it started moving slowly, then the momentum keep it unwinding and it came free. yay! it wasnt all over though, because it just went everywhere - both ends were blowing everywhere, up, sideways, in my face. and kept getting caught on horns around the corner. luckily it kept pulling when it got stuck. after another rap, which wasn't quite as painful, i was down and after another epic pulling session so was the rope. i was so happy to be on the ground with the rope in one piece -- i almost hugged bisso - that's how happy i was!
chapter iii
another thing i did after hurting my wrist was catch up with rog. he showed me his bending jig and we spent an evening making some u-bolts. then he gratiously loaned the parkynator drilling machine extreme. i made some more bolts up at home and am now doing my part to sink more steel in the rock in this lovely state. it goes alright too- with the new batteries! and i also found some drill bits for $5 (i bought all they had!) and they dont do too bad at all. well, it's no petrol drill, but it does alright.
a while ago, jakey b and i drove to the tyndalls to the sounds of the (disappointing) hottest 100. on his last trip there they got totally rained out - drowned rats. the plan was to actually do some climbing this trip! ha!
i tried (one of) my project on toprope, the one i started cleaning a month ago. wow it was quite intense, move after move. the last 10/15m is steep and bulgy, which is not all that common at the tyndalls. i will need to be fitter to do it, especially since it is mostly trad. placing the gear will be strenuous.
then we climbed a nice little crack near the main face. we'd both seen it in the past from the top of Cloudstreet, where it looks like it might be a tricky layback at about 18. but the angle was much slabbier than we thought, and it's probably only about grade 11. but it was still fun times!
unfortunately for us, that was the only time we tied in that trip, because the next morning... DUN DUAAA... the Mist Monster arrived. it was coming into the bivvy cave, which suuuucks. that place has been a bit of a bitch with regards to weather lately. oh well, next time!
other than that, i've been doing little bits of work, making bolts, sorting through photos, and playing tennis and bowling on the wii.
cya!
scary in the wind! photo: rosie
well the year got off to a bad start, where i hurt another finger on the 1st of jan. this time i was with Jed on Nefarious (22). bit of a shame, as we had an awesome time the day before, doing The Shield (20) and Tartarus (20) before taking photos of the lightning storm from the summit of Mount Wellington. it was only a minor injury, but prompted a week off before slowly starting up again.
cool!
pretty.
after some rest, i climbed a bit with Duncan. climbing with Duncan is an awesomely amazingly humbling experience. why? because he has about 10% of his vision -- he is legally blind. Dunc had climbed lots at Waterworks, in the gym, and places like that. but not on the Pipes. so we went up the pipes.
even walking in takes its time when you can't see much (actually walking out, ie. downhill, is much trickier and more dangerous). but soon on one nice day, Duncan, Rosie and I found ourselves standing at the base of grand old Pegasus (12/14). this was actually my first lead on the Pipes ever, so it was fun to go up it again.
we had heaps of fun, and Duncan got up the whole route cleanly. the general process is: reach for holds, skate feet around looking for footholds, eventually a foot sticks, stand up and lock down on holds, repeat.
stock image of northern buttress (from the other side though)
another trip up the Pipes with Duncan saw him and i in Pulpit Chimney (12), which was a blast! i'd never done the chimney bit before so that was good. after that we did Sideshow (18) which is quite cute. there is a tricky bit at the start that is solved by putting your feet in the right spot in the crack and rolling up to the next handjam. this was a bit too subtle for dunc, so with a few sits he had to resort to desperate laybacking! amazingly he did the rest of the pitch clean (including taking out the gear!). crazy i tell you!
unfortunately, i hurt my wrist somehow that day. i don't know how, i don't know why. all i know is i don't like it one little bit. it still hurt about a month later. so i have really slowed things down a lot since then. it has improved lots, and with some rehabilitaion it seems to be getting better and stronger slowly. it is really frustrating. i am so psyched to climb and train, but i just know i will hurt myself even more if i push it.
chapter ii
after some complete time off, i started climbing again and having fun on the pipes with dave, doing some obsure classics. i love the pipes.
then rosie, dave and i had a super fun day out on The Candlestick. dave has done it about 60,000 times, but neither rosie and i had been there. both dave and rosie did the swim, while i took the soft option of a tyroleon. dave jumped in in the nud and took the rope over, and rose just dived in and swam over without a rope or anything.. crazy i tell you!
dave rapping in. photo: rosie
rosie swimming across. photo: dave
anyway, the route was cool. i was very impressed with the quality of the actual climbing! the rock wasn't exactly taipan wall, but it was fine! what do you expect??
here are some more photos:
 dave seconding the first pitch. photo: me |  the epitomy of gracefullness. photo: dave |
 the amazing invisible top rope. photo: dave/rose |  rose leading the final pitch. great fun! photo: me |
shortly there after, we head back down to the peninsula for one of the coolest things in the known universe - Cape Raoul.
Bisso, everybody's favourite pie-eating collingwood supporter, was down for Gazza's wedding (by the way, congrats Garry and Anna!), and he wanted to go do Pole Dancer. this is one of the more amazing routes i've done, so i was happy to have an excuse to go down again. rosie was super keen as well. as for dave, he is in love with Cape Raoul, so he was there with bells on.
well it was another epic day trip from Hobart to the Poles and back, but it was another fun one! except for the wind. it was really, really windy. like, really fucking windy. we were only really going down that particular day because it was the only one we could all fit in.
here are some photos:
it was really windy. photo: dave
we tried a direct approach to the base of pole dancer. the normal way goes down those ledges to the left and up a chimney. i highly recommend the normal way. photo: dave
bisso on pole dancer (22). if you have not done this route then put it on the top of your to-do list. photo: dave
the climbing was as good as always. it started spitting on the way back out the to the packs, but it held off dumping down, which was nice.
abseiling off the wedding cake was an absolute nightmare. since there were 4 of us, we devised a plan that would hopefully minimise the suffering. dave went first, fixed a 60m rope to the top bolts, and rapped to the base. rose and bisso zipped down after, trying not to get blown right around the corner with no way back. i went last and had the enviable task of pulling up half the rope to do a 30m rap to the halfway bolts, and then another 30m rap to the ground.
now i wasn't sure if this was possible, but thought it would probably work. since dave made it down in one rap, things were looking good. it depended how far up the 'halfway' bolts were.
well the ropes reached, but the wind tried it's best to kill me and steal my rope. it was so windy, the end kept blowing around the corner and getting stuck. i felt like i had no control over anything. nearly lost the rope while pulling it, when it wrapped around itself so many times i couldnt pull it. after trying for 15 minutes in vain, i actually gave up on it. "it only cost me 30 bucks," i said to myself. i had just tied it off and was about to rap on a single line hopefully to the ground, when the rope just slightly started unwinding itself! i jumped on it and pulled as hard as i could. after a couple of jumps, keeping the tension on the rope, it started moving slowly, then the momentum keep it unwinding and it came free. yay! it wasnt all over though, because it just went everywhere - both ends were blowing everywhere, up, sideways, in my face. and kept getting caught on horns around the corner. luckily it kept pulling when it got stuck. after another rap, which wasn't quite as painful, i was down and after another epic pulling session so was the rope. i was so happy to be on the ground with the rope in one piece -- i almost hugged bisso - that's how happy i was!
chapter iii
another thing i did after hurting my wrist was catch up with rog. he showed me his bending jig and we spent an evening making some u-bolts. then he gratiously loaned the parkynator drilling machine extreme. i made some more bolts up at home and am now doing my part to sink more steel in the rock in this lovely state. it goes alright too- with the new batteries! and i also found some drill bits for $5 (i bought all they had!) and they dont do too bad at all. well, it's no petrol drill, but it does alright.
a while ago, jakey b and i drove to the tyndalls to the sounds of the (disappointing) hottest 100. on his last trip there they got totally rained out - drowned rats. the plan was to actually do some climbing this trip! ha!
i tried (one of) my project on toprope, the one i started cleaning a month ago. wow it was quite intense, move after move. the last 10/15m is steep and bulgy, which is not all that common at the tyndalls. i will need to be fitter to do it, especially since it is mostly trad. placing the gear will be strenuous.
then we climbed a nice little crack near the main face. we'd both seen it in the past from the top of Cloudstreet, where it looks like it might be a tricky layback at about 18. but the angle was much slabbier than we thought, and it's probably only about grade 11. but it was still fun times!
unfortunately for us, that was the only time we tied in that trip, because the next morning... DUN DUAAA... the Mist Monster arrived. it was coming into the bivvy cave, which suuuucks. that place has been a bit of a bitch with regards to weather lately. oh well, next time!
other than that, i've been doing little bits of work, making bolts, sorting through photos, and playing tennis and bowling on the wii.
cya!
scary in the wind! photo: rosie
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
klondike
sometimes, when you are trying to get to sleep, bored in the car, sick of the rain, or are just feeling lonely in general, it's good to have a friend called klondike.
but sometimes you can play klondike too much...
yay $100,000 now i never have to play it again
yep.
happy new year!
but sometimes you can play klondike too much...
yay $100,000 now i never have to play it again
yep.
happy new year!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
tyndalls vacation
after retreating to hobart, we found the weather wasn't so bad down south. this made lots of climbers happy, and te organ pipes was quite busy for a couple of days. i spent a nice afternoon up there with kaely. we did Nefertiti, a great 15 and a classic pipes experience: loose blocks, trees, 3d climbing, and spitting rain. i had no jacket (only a t-shirt) which made it all the more enjoyable.
that night i checked the weather forecast and saw that a big high was going to pass over the state for a few days, which meant it would be warm (and dry) everywhere, so it was just a matter of deciding where to go...
i've been to the tyndalls once before (in feb of this year). it's pretty amazing. it wasn't a hard decision.
with 3 fine days predicted in a row, we elected to walk in the day before the good weather came, to make the most of the time. i reckon this is the way to go; the only problem is that you might end up walking up in shitty weather.
i coulnd't quite remember the way to the bivvy cave, so it was good to have a gps (thanks jacq!). although it is still a bit worrying walking around in the mist staring at your hand. after whacking the untrustworthy little gps a few times whenever it died, we made it safely to the cave, wet and weary.
from then on, the weather was perfect. sunny, warm and clear.
breakfast in the bivvy cave
on the first day we did the short routes at bunny crag and expored the area a bit. i found one of my likely projects for the summer (oh la la!) and we also did a little new route to co-incide with the birth of tom & caroline's newborn baby boy.
rosie seconding one of the bunny routes
we awoke the next morning to another gorgeous day. the peaks along the overland track are visible from the camping cave, and this morning, they were rising above a blanket of bleached white clouds.
pretty
the rest of the day was spent pulling on little pebbles. after breakfast we wandered over and did Raindancer (22, 20); of which the 1st pitch i did not free - again (admittedly, last time it was raining, and this time i was very protective of my finger). that didn't stop rosie flying up it though. redemption arrived with a clean ascent of the 2nd pitch shortly after.
then we headed over to do Cloudstreet (23), a single pitch rap-in-climb-out affair near the main wall. although for us it was just a casual top-rope-climb-out jaunt. it a neat little pitch. rose almost did it first go, falling up right up the top (after the crux) where it's a tad shouldery and powerful. i gave it two attempts but didnt get it clean, though i think i eventually figured out a way to do the crux section, no thanks to rosie's beta: "i just grabbed onto a few little minging crimpers and used those". hmph.
it was a pretty cruisy trip; climbing a bit, eating a bit and sitting around a bit. after we were done climbing for the day i would wander around exploring, taking photos and checking out the cliffs; and rose would sit perched on a rock, sketching the picturesque landscapes.
it takes me a while to get into the climbing style on this rock, but by the end i was really enjoying it. can't wait to go back... there's a line there that beckons.
that night i checked the weather forecast and saw that a big high was going to pass over the state for a few days, which meant it would be warm (and dry) everywhere, so it was just a matter of deciding where to go...
i've been to the tyndalls once before (in feb of this year). it's pretty amazing. it wasn't a hard decision.
with 3 fine days predicted in a row, we elected to walk in the day before the good weather came, to make the most of the time. i reckon this is the way to go; the only problem is that you might end up walking up in shitty weather.
i coulnd't quite remember the way to the bivvy cave, so it was good to have a gps (thanks jacq!). although it is still a bit worrying walking around in the mist staring at your hand. after whacking the untrustworthy little gps a few times whenever it died, we made it safely to the cave, wet and weary.
from then on, the weather was perfect. sunny, warm and clear.
breakfast in the bivvy cave
on the first day we did the short routes at bunny crag and expored the area a bit. i found one of my likely projects for the summer (oh la la!) and we also did a little new route to co-incide with the birth of tom & caroline's newborn baby boy.
rosie seconding one of the bunny routes
we awoke the next morning to another gorgeous day. the peaks along the overland track are visible from the camping cave, and this morning, they were rising above a blanket of bleached white clouds.
pretty
the rest of the day was spent pulling on little pebbles. after breakfast we wandered over and did Raindancer (22, 20); of which the 1st pitch i did not free - again (admittedly, last time it was raining, and this time i was very protective of my finger). that didn't stop rosie flying up it though. redemption arrived with a clean ascent of the 2nd pitch shortly after.
then we headed over to do Cloudstreet (23), a single pitch rap-in-climb-out affair near the main wall. although for us it was just a casual top-rope-climb-out jaunt. it a neat little pitch. rose almost did it first go, falling up right up the top (after the crux) where it's a tad shouldery and powerful. i gave it two attempts but didnt get it clean, though i think i eventually figured out a way to do the crux section, no thanks to rosie's beta: "i just grabbed onto a few little minging crimpers and used those". hmph.
it was a pretty cruisy trip; climbing a bit, eating a bit and sitting around a bit. after we were done climbing for the day i would wander around exploring, taking photos and checking out the cliffs; and rose would sit perched on a rock, sketching the picturesque landscapes.
it takes me a while to get into the climbing style on this rock, but by the end i was really enjoying it. can't wait to go back... there's a line there that beckons.
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