Bungonia

Its ANZAC day long weekend and Russell and I spent the last two days at the amazing Bungonia Gorge.

We camped at the main campground and were really impressed with the facilities there... really nice!

On both Friday and Saturday we hiked into the Gorge and back out for some bouldering, on Friday down to the Jerrara Falls end of the Gorge and on Saturday down to the Slot Canyon area beneath the looming main walls... 300 metre limestone behemoths... made us keen for some multi pitch action sometime soon :-)

Unfortunately we didn't actually send much all weekend apart from me doing a fun and slopey v5 on saturday which was good fun :-)

While not a weekend full of sends it was a great few days in a brilliant wilderness area... cant wait to get back there!

Heres a few pics, enjoy...

The view from one of the lookouts

No explanation needed...

Russell enjoying the scree slopes on the way in to the west end of the gorge

Sunset at Jerrara Lookout

The main walls of Bungonia Gorge from the bottom of the gorge

Ooooo Yeah Baby!

So Its taken me 3 days to write about the weekends doings... sorry Richo... please forgive my tardiness :-p

Saturday saw us all head up yet again to Cantaloupe Hill for some more tasty granite treats.
We started off at Glitz Boulder where I had a few hissy fits due to coming off the crux of 'Stopping All Stations' repeatedly. Soon after my tantrums Danny sent 'Vendetta' and there were a few almost ascents of the same problem by Richo and Josh... next time gadget, next time!

Next we walked up a short distance to the cool prow that is 'Spruce Moose'. Everyone jumped on the stand start before throwing ourselves at the sit start. After a bit of work I stuck the big first move and held on for dear life to the top for my first v9 in years.. so I was well chuffed :-)

After that Danny and Josh headed off and Richo, Russell and I headed further up the hill to the Upper Ridge boulders. We all jumped on 'Fraud Landis', a cool v7 sloper problem we tried last weekend and Richo and I both managed a quick ascent each.

After that I jumped back on 'Blood Makes Noise', another great problem at v7 that we tried last weekend. After working out a rad knee bar sequence I managed to send this one too. Stoked! I recommend this problem very highly... it has different, funky moves and is a cool line to get on.

So all in all a great day yet again. Richo and Danny sent a v7 each and I managed my best day out in years with 2 v7's and a v9 so I'm pleased as punch! With the weather getting colder and colder each day and everyone in such good form I'm sure were only going to see a lot more sending in the coming months, bring it on! :-)

This weekend Russell, Sally and I are heading off to Bungonia Gorge for an overnight bouldering trip... cant wait!

Heres some pics from the weekend, enjoy!

Josh warming up on 'The Joker'

Me on 'Spruce Moose'


Richo bearing down on the crux move of 'Spruce Moose'


Russell hanging tough on 'Fraud Landis'

Me on 'Blood Makes Noise'

Another day on the hill

Saturday saw us all head up to Cantaloupe Hill again for another dose of its awesome granite goodness.

We headed straight up to the Upper Ridge boulders and all quickly sent 'O'Ren Ishi' a great v7 that I tried last Sunday. This was Richo's first v7, so nice work man :)

We all then had a crack at an awesome line called 'Blood Makes Noise'... this was such a great line... were all keen as mustard to get back on it and send!

After that Richo, Russell and I all did 'Rumspringa', a nice v6 arete. After a bit more playing around on problems we headed back down the hill where I did a nice stand start v5 called 'Spruce Moose' then worked on the v9 sit start... awesome problem, all compression, like climbing an overhanging fridge... cant wait to get back on it!

That was about it for the day as we were all wrecked by the end of such a long day. Sunday was a rainy day so no bouldering until next weekend... bring it on!

Heres a few pics, enjoy :)

Danny on O'Ren Ishi

Russell on Rumspringa

Big day on a big hill...

Today Russell and I headed up Cantaloupe Hill out on Corin Dam Road again.
The conditions were good and it was a beautiful sunny day. We started at Glitz Rock where Russell finished off 'The Joker' v6 and 'Vendetta' v7. He did them really quickly after trying them yesterday and having his beta worked out.
I also did 'Dripping On Trips' v6 on my second shot. This problem is meant to be v5 but unless your tall as all hell you have to do the whole crux of 'Vendetta' just with a different start... its a tough little monkey!

Russell on 'Vendetta'

Then we headed further up the hill up to The Ice Blocks. On the way a stick flicked up from under my feet and stabbed me in the face, I bled for the rest of the walk up the hill!

My injured face

When we got there we tried 'Aspen Armour', a nice looking v7 but man was it well hard! Got to get a lot stronger before trying that one again!

Russell getting ready to try 'Aspen Armour'

Russell on 'Aspen Armour'

I quickly did a couple of nice v4's 'Born Again Hooligan' and 'Skullduggery' and then we headed back down to the Upper Ridge Boulders about half way down the hill. I had a quick burn on 'O'Ren Ishi' a cool v7. I came ridiculously close, falling off touching the finishing jug, I was just too tired to get it in the bag... Oh well, next weekend!

The view from Cantaloupe Hill

And its the end of daylight saving time today so no more bouldering after work :-(
Back to training on the woodie for us!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

V for Vendetta

Yesterday the whole crew (josh, Danny, Richo, Russell and I) all went to Pierces Creek but were turned away due to aerial fertilizer bombing in the pine forests (We were escorted out of the area by 2 land cruisers and a helicopter haha). So we headed up to Cantaloupe Hill instead.

We went up to Glitz Rock and I managed to do 'Vendetta' v7 pretty quickly which I am stoked about! I thought it was too hard only weeks ago so its cool to see the progress!
The others were close too, so it will go down for everyone soon I'm sure!

Russell and I are heading back up there today so Russell can try The Joker and Vendetta again then we will walk up to the Ice Blocks further up the hill to check out the problems up there as I am keen as mustard to get on 'Aspen Armour' v7.

Heres a few pics, enjoy!

Russell on 'Vendetta'

Josh on 'Vendetta'