Boulder Oz

Some slacklining

2011-12-29T13:12:00.001+11:00

Hey all,

Here's another little video of me and a few buddies slacklining in Yangshuo Park on a rest day. Ray had a GoPro camera so there is a mix of footage in there...
The winter is slowly arriving here, it is getting colder and greyer but we are still climbing like crazy. I have also started my winter training, psyched to get super strong over the winter and crush some rigs in the spring!I might have some cool news soon too, a little writing project to do with my other blog, www.athletebychoice.blogspot.com - watch this space :)

A few routes at Lei Pi Shan

2011-12-17T11:59:00.002+11:00

Hi again guys and gals,

Here's another little video from a day out at Lei Pi Shan recently. It has my good buddy and local strong man Aniu doing a lap on the uber classic 'Singularity' 5.12b as well as JJ having a shot on the tough 'Honky Tonk' 5.12d.

Sorry about the shaky camera again, I had a mishap with my tripod and had to hold the camera by hand again :)

Enjoy!

Duncan

Finally, the breakthrough I've been waiting for...

2011-12-06T10:31:00.001+11:00

So the autumn season is slowly creeping in here, albeit slowly. The leaves are changing colour and the weather is getting much better for climbing and, more importantly, sending.

Finally I have reached a breakthrough point in my climbing that I have been aiming at for a long time and I think it is of course all due to the training I have been following which has been working a charm... a few days ago on the 2nd of December I sent my first 8a+ / 5.13c / 30.

The route was one out at White Mountain called 'Gin & Tonic'. It is probably a touch soft for the grade but it is a great intro to the grade as it is my style (endurance with lot's of short boulders separated by decent rests.)and it is a 3 star route, awesome fun. I did the route on only my 9th try and while putting the draws on, I felt great and no where near my limit so I am super stoked knowing I'm not at my upper limit by a long shot yet!

I have stacks of other projects around town that I am close to as well and have more to try now that I am feeling confident and strong so today it's off to Lei Pi Shan to go try another project today.

Good times. Psyched!
D.

Another 'Y Files' - A Touch Of The Moon

2011-11-26T11:22:00.001+11:00

Hey guys and gals :)

This week the weather has been hot which is crazy for this time of year... I should be in a down jacket but instead I'm working on my tan... crazy! So because of this I abandoned my project at White Mountain despite being super close (fell at the last move... it would be my first 8a+ [Oz grade 30] if I had got it... argh!!!) and I have gone to hide in the cooler conditions at Moon Hill for the week until the weather improves again.

Here's a little clip of some fun routes at Moon Hill. The route in the movie, 'Red Dragon' is what I am working on up there now, it's also my Vimeo profile pic so you can see it a bit there to.

Alrighty, here's the video, enjoy!

The Y Files 1: Morgan Gerlitz - Caveman

2011-11-21T10:21:00.001+11:00

Hey guys!

Here is my first attempt at a climbing video with the new camera. Please forgive some of the shaky filming and editing, it's my first attempt!

The video is of my wonderful girlfriend Morgan rocking out the classic 'Caveman' 5.11a at White Mountain.

Enjoy!

'The Y Files' are coming...

2011-11-19T10:12:00.001+11:00

So I got myself a little HD video camera recently and I'm going to be bringing you guys a series of shorts all about Yangshuo, it's people and the climbing. I'm far from a professional videographer and only just learning to use editing software but I'll do my best... it should be fun :)

Enjoy!

A little photo project...

2011-11-14T13:34:00.003+11:00

Here's a little collage I did yesterday. I wanted to take photo's of interesting colours and shapes and textures while riding to the crag and make a collage out of it. I took all of the photo's on the way to White Mountain yesterday and put them together to print up for our house. Here it is... enjoy :)

(click on it for a larger copy)

Emily Harrington sending Wacka Flocka

2011-11-13T11:57:00.002+11:00

Here's a nice short from Andy Mann and Evolv of my buddy Emily Harrington sending her hardest route ever - Wacka Flocka 5.14b / 8c

Nice work sista! :)

Another cool short...

2011-11-12T10:39:00.000+11:00

Here's a nice short bouldering clip from Louder Than 11...

Some videos for the morning...

2011-11-11T13:16:00.002+11:00

Hi all :)

Here's a few cool short clips I watched this morning that I thought you might like... enjoy!

A cool bouldering short from Spain:

An except from the Scene, chatting with Dave Graham:

Enzo Oddo interview and climbing.. met this kid at the Roc Trip... he is smooth and S.T.R.O.N.G.

Petzl Roc Trip

2011-11-09T15:13:00.005+11:00

Hi all!

So I am back and all settled in after more than 3 weeks up in Guizhuo Provence living in the amazing Getu Valley for what was the most fun climbing event I have ever been to.
The 2011 Petzl Roc Trip was a stunning success and the more than 500 people that came along for the ride had an amazing time. We climbed, we ate, we partied, we caught up with old friends and new... we had a blast.

Some of the highlights included seeing Gabriel Moroni crush his first ascent of 'Coup Du Bambou' 9a, Dani Andrada on his epic first ascent of his 8 pitch 'Corazon de Ensueno' with pitches up to 8c and including an 8b+ down campussing pitch... epic!

I even managed for easier things up to a few 7c+'s so it was a great trip all round for me too :)

It is hard to descibe just how fun it was so here are some pics and videos and links for you to check out to get a taste of just how it was... all the pics and vid's are courtesy of the Petzl website.

Dani Andrada on his epic "Corazon de Ensueno" - 8 pitches of up to 8c

The main hard wall inside the Great Arch - undercling pocket resistance fest's galore!

"Lost In Translation" - No explanation needed...

Here are some links to check out:

A nice photo slide show...
http://petzl.com/en/outdoor/petzl-roctrip/china2011/photos

And the update archive from the Petzl website that has updates live from the festival...
http://www.petzl.com/en/outdoor/archive/all/2011/10

And of course some videos :)

Big News, Big Plans, Good Times!

2011-10-14T17:08:00.003+11:00

So first news is first... I just sent my first 8a (or 29 for you Ozzies)!!! Super psyched!
The route was 'Tsing Tao Beer', a route that was originally 7c+ but is considered good 8a these days. So happy! And it only took me about 10 shots so that's super encouraging.

And sending that put's me in a great frame of mind leading up to the Petzl oc Trip up in the Getu Valley in Guizhuo Province at the end of this month. We are heading there tonight for 3 weeks or so of tearing it up... Can't wait!

Finally, here are some pics my friend Hans took of me on the amazing 'Red Dragon' 8a+/30 at Moon Hill. I am doing well on it and I think it may go after we return from Getu.. So psyched! See you all in a few weeks!

Red Dragon... Mid crux...

Setting up for the last move to the chains...

The awesome double toe hook bat hang rest two thirds of the way up the route :)

Cool clip for today...

2011-10-12T11:21:00.002+11:00

Morning folks :)

Here's a cool clip I just saw posted today. I spent a little bit of time here in Yangshuo with Sam last year when he and Emily came to Yangshuo for the climbing festival here. Great guy, lots of fun, super strong... check it out :)

Sam Elias on the seldom repeated Tomfoolery in Rifle Canyon. A route at 8c put up by Tommy Caldwell circa '96 or '97 is rarely climbed yet attempted by the best. An ultra bizarre style gets you up this route and Sam Elias made a repeat in the summer of 2010.

Shot and Edit: Joe Kinder
Camera: Canon T2i
Lenses: Canon 16-35 f2.8
Canon 85 1.8

Good friends doing great things!

2011-10-07T18:41:00.004+11:00

This last week has been a great week for news from friends. Confirmation of an Oz contingent coming next spring to my new home here in China for a visit is top of the list and is followed by good friends doing amazing things all over the globe. The most amazing of these has to be the following two awesome sends...

Firstly Mayan Smith-Gobat, my good friend from New Zealand, absolutely crushing it in Yosemite Valley lately, climbing the amazing streak line of 'Peace' 5.13d in Tuolomne Meadows and capping things off with an absolutely amazing acheivment of freeing the 'Salathe Wall' 5.13b on El Capitan. She is an amazing person and athlete and I am so stoked for her.

Congrats Mayan, so well deserved!
Check it out on her website: http://www.mayanclimbs.com/

Mayan in front of El Cap (pic courtesy of http://www.mayanclimbs.com/)

The second amazing send of the week is that strong little monkey from the Blue Mountains in Oz, young Mr. Ben Cossey doing the ultimate Grampians bopuldering test piece 'The Wheel of Life'. I'm not going to mention a grade for this as it is sort of one of those 'great debates' in climbing but it is without a doubt one of the most amazing lines I have ever seen and is brick hard regardless of a number. Massive congrats to Ben for such a great acheivement. This is the 5th ascent of this testpeice now after Di Koyamada, Chris Webb-Parsons, Ethan Pringle and James Kassay. Mad props Ben, mad props :)

Ben Cossey on 'The Wheel Of Life', Hollow Mountain Cave, Grampians (Pic from 8a.nu)

That's about it right now. Just thought I would share some of the good news that's keeping me psyched right now! Now, out to the crag!

Peace, D.

The Season - An awesome video series

2011-10-02T10:42:00.002+11:00

So I just got put onto a cool video series called 'The Season'. Well, 'The Season 2' to be precise. It is their second series of this cool story telling video format that is being shown on the Arc'teryx website (http://www.arcteryx.com/?EN) and at http://www.theseasontv.com/

Awesome footage, beautiful settings, excellent story telling; all in all an aweome watch.

Go check it out, there are 7 episodes of the Season 2 up online now with much more to come. The first season can be watched on ITunes by following the link in their 'about' section on the website.

Enjoy!

A nice Font video

2011-09-28T15:31:00.004+10:00

Here's a nice little video from Fontainbleau that I just came across... nicely shot and edited, enjoy :)

A few pics from Wine Bottle

2011-09-27T20:05:00.003+10:00

The sun came back out to play today giving a searing hot blue sky day for us to play in out at the crag today. With the recent reopening of access to Wine Bottle it was a perfect (albeit hot) chance to go play on some fantastic routes in the sun.

Here's a few photos of my buddy Jon Graham ripping it up on 'Where's The Jug?' 5.11a

Enjoy :)

Chinese Mountain Shenanigans

2011-09-27T11:51:00.002+10:00

Check out these cool short videos of Kyle Dempster and Bruce Normand doing some epic first ascents in the amazing montains of Sichuan, China. Inspiring stuff!

http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=38596

The season begins!!!

2011-09-24T19:21:00.003+10:00

So after months of temperatures in the high 30 celcius range and humidity peaking out near 100% the good temperatures and conditions of the autumn are finally peaking their heads out from under the steamy blanket of summer.
And with good temps comes more visiting climbers and more psyche and the town is starting to feel like a climbing town again with great folk from all over the world popping in on our early season to crush routes all over the place.
Psyche is high and the season is looking to be a great one already! In the last week I managed a quick ascent of 'Paper Cut', a great 7c+ at Lei Pi Shan as well as the amazing 'La Liao', 7c, at Banyan Tree (sans one move that I use a draw on as it tweaks the heck out of my old shoulder injury and we don't want a repeat of that now do we!)
So I am also going to try and be a little less lazy with my camera and get out and take some pics of things around here as things go down. I got out to Lei Pi Shan yesterday and snapped a few shots of my friends Fabrice and Leon on the amazing 'Da Bao Yu' 7b+, check them out :)

Fabrice Vanbecelaere from Belgium on 'Da Bao Yu' 7b+

Fabrice again... pocket pulling!

Leon Khazanov from Israel pre crux on 'Da Bao Yu'

Leon crushing mid crux

The amazing main wall of Lei Pi Shan... it's all steep up there! :)

Shan Xi Climbing Festival

2011-09-19T11:17:00.007+10:00

So the other week I headed up to Shan Xi province with my buddy Jake to attend another crazy Chinese climbing festival.

It was the usual crazy event with nice hotels, police escorts everywhere we went, massive ceremonies and the usual political hulabaloo.

But it was great to see a beautiful new part of the country (despite the fog and rain) and to catch up with a heap of friends from anound the country that also came up for the event.

Good times all round really :)

Here's a couple of pics...

The foggy view from our hotel room to the cliffs

Police and military security for the event

Military everywhere...

At the drizzly opening ceremony

Ola with a pretty insect friend

The 70 metre high toprope routes that the comp was held on... pumpy!

Starting off up a route...

The finalists...

My good buddies Ryan and Kata

The drizzly closing ceremony...

These things always have lot's of good food :)

A few videos for the morning...

2011-09-19T11:01:00.002+10:00

Hi all, just a few videos that I watched this mornning that I thought I would share...

A nice bouldering short from my good friend Richard 'Sticky' Dale

And this is a cool little website: http://www.youclimb.de/ - go watch the slacklining video on their front page, awesome!

Enjoy!

Back home and back to it!

2011-09-14T10:49:00.004+10:00

So the crazyess of another Chinese Climbing festival is over nd I am back home in Yangshuo and heading out to Riverside today to try some of the new projects I bolted out there recently.
I will have some photo's of the festival I was just at up soon but for now here'sa cool video from BD about Alex Honnold... enjoy :)

http://vimeo.com/27728779

The Amazing Arnaud

2011-09-06T10:28:00.002+10:00

Last year while bolting routes with the Petzl Team up in Guizhuo in preparation for the Petzl Roc Trip happening up there this October I had the great pleasure of bolting and climbing with some of my climbing heros, two of which were Arnaud Petit and Stephanie Bodet. They were inspirational to me in my early climbing years and still are, if not even more so today.
Here is a really nice video that I just saw of Arnaud doing the mega enduro 'Black Bean' 8b at Ceuse in France... on trad.
Epic.

Check it out and be inspired!

A few nice videos

2011-09-03T12:19:00.002+10:00

I have been surfing around watching a stack of climbing videos online lately and thought maybe I would try and share few of my favorites every now and then. So here's a few for you today, enjoy!

Here's the trailer for the new Australian climbing film 'Smitten', it's out now, go get it :)

This is a short from the upcoming Chuck Fryberger film 'The Scene' which looks like it will be another great film from Chuck, look out for it soon.

And some straight up climbing porn... James McHaffie repeating 'The Big Bang' 9a recently at Lower Pen Trwyn in the north of Wales.

Hangboard Workouts

2011-08-30T15:00:00.002+10:00

Just a quick one for you all...

I have put some hangboard routines that I am using at the moment up on www.athletebychoice.blogspot.com

There are 2; a pull up workout and an endurance workout. The hangboard is the only climbing specific training I am doing at the moment (aside from climbing on rock most days of course) alongside my strength and conditioning training and it has really been working a treat and I am seeing enormous gains in a short time frame... check them out :)

Duncan.

Training!!!

2011-08-20T09:35:00.002+10:00

So the Fall season is coming up and right now is the time to ensure we are in top shape for the good conditions!
I am training like mad to get in shape and it seems to be working well. I am doing a large amout of cross training and developing some great cross training programs that are helping with my shoulder problem (my shoulder injury from a few years ago was playing up recently and now since my cross training programs it is all but perfect again!). The cross training is focussing on strength conditioning and I am feeling stronger and stronger every day and losing weight too. I am putting the programs and circuits on a new blog I have set up... check out:
http://athletebychoice.blogspot.com/
I'm working on some hard routes in preparation for my project out at Fuli too and getting good progress on routes up to Oz grade 30 so I'm feeling great right now!
Speaking of, I'm off to the crag so I'll see you all later!
D.

Home Sweet Home

2011-08-07T09:57:00.003+10:00

Hi all!

So After a slight visa hiccup I had to bail from Taiwan a little early unfortunately. I had a great time climbing over there and catching up ith friends. Big thanks go out to the amazing Matt Roberston for his endless hospitality and to Adrien and Ya-Ping for the good times :)
I will be back to Taiwan one day soon for some more climbing, some surfing and maybe a mountain or two as well. So much to do in Taiwan!

I headed off to Malaysia for a few days to get a visa in Kuala Lumpur and wow, if you need a Chinese Visa but it in KL... 2 year multiple entry up to 6 months per stay... awesome, I don't have to worry about visa's for a long time now. Psyched!
I got to hang out with my great buddy Wei-Yeen who lives there in KL and is doing amzing work in the jungle with Sun Bears (her work sounds incredible!) and I got to eat great food relax for a few days then it was off home to Yangshuo.

I arrived home to find things are going great guns here. My fantastic flat mates have been bolting a new wall out near White Mountain which will have a stack of excellent routes, mainly over 5.12, all really long (read like 35 to 40 metres long) and gently overhung... super excited to try them out!

So it's back to training hard and getting in perfect shape for the upcoming fall season. Speaking of training check out www.bodyrock.tv - it is a website with free almost daily workouts done by a super fit girl who is distractingly cute. Her workouts are killer, try one of the bigger rep workouts or challenges... soooo hard. I am going to try to do one per day fr a few weeks to get in killer shape. Lets see what happens :)

Ok, I'm off to the crag soon, have a great day all! Go out there and get it!

A little touch of Taiwan...

2011-07-25T13:16:00.003+10:00

Here is a little video of life here in Taiwan... it's not awesome as it is just filmed on my Ipod, but its better than nothing :)

And here are a couple of pics...

Ya Ping... music at the crag

Not a bad backdrop for a lazy sunday afternoon...

Life is hard... Adrien doing it tough

Taiwan - Tai Hao le!

2011-07-20T15:04:00.005+10:00

So I am settled in here in Taiwan now and will be for another 5 weeks or so. My good friend Adrien and I are looking after our buddy Matt's apartment and his dog Skippy. We live in a place called Hsinchu which is a few hours drive from the amazing climbing out at Long Dong but we have a nice training facility here at the IClimb climbing gym so we are psyched. We headed out to Long Dong on the weekend for my first taste of the amazing sandstone sea cliffs they have on offer and I was super impressed.
Beautiful golden sandstone walls rising up out of the waves, quarts crystals coating sections of the walls and shimmering in the sunlight, blue and white waves crashing against the rock shore, friendly people everywhere and amazing food galore. I could get used to this place :)
Here are a few pics...

The view from our camping spot on the cliff tops

Sunrise over the ocean, this is what we wake up to from our camping spot

Luxury camping - roll mats and a pink mosquito net under a picnic shelt

Just in case we weren't aware...

That is our picnic / camping shelter up there on the cliff

Adrien taking skippy across the rope traverse to some of the sectors at Long Dong

Me on a fun little solo

Me and the stone and the surf

Another Long Dong classic completed

The infamous Skippy

Taiwan here I come!!!

2011-07-11T11:56:00.002+10:00

So, news of the day is that I am sitting in Guanzhuo Airport waiting for my conne cting flight to Taipei, Taiwan! Super excited to be heading to a new place, seeing old friends (and making new ones no doubt), eating awesome seafood and climbing the heck out of some wicked coastal sandstone!

The last few weeks in Yangshuo have been good too. I had a slight incident with a hammer being introduced to my thumb so I didn't climb much but I have been bolting like crazy and have opened up a stack of new lines at the crag 'Riverside'. Super excited to get back there after Taiwan and finish that crag up, should be 40+ routes by the time I'm done :)

Watch this space for pics and stories of my adventures in Taiwan soon!

Psyched!!!

Not much to report...

2011-06-21T10:44:00.003+10:00

So it's been a few weeks between posts again as there hasn't been alot to report really. Well, there has been a little, but not lot's.

So the weather is getting hot, hot, hot... and humid. It's sweaty good time out at the crag already and it's not even full summer yet. Crazy. But despite this things are slowly getting done. I have managed to get up a heap of the 5.12's on my list ( I wrote a list of all the 5.12's I hadn't yet climbed here in Yangshuo and I'm going around getting them done) and even a 5.13 too, my first in a while now and with attempts going well on some others I should be able to drag my ass up a few 13's in the fall I hope :)

We just got in the new Shaman's and Geshido's here at Evolv so I am rocking out in a pair of Geshido's thos week to see how they go. So far so good but I'll write up about them properly later. So far they are great on gently overhung stuff, loving them. Here's a pic of what they look like...

Only other news really is that I'm going on holiday soon. Yep, life here is tough so I need a holiday haha. I am heading to Taiwan with my good friend Adrien to house sit for our buddy Matt, look after his dog Skippy and head out for a heap of amazing trad climbing at the sandstone sea cliffs of Long Dong (I know, I know, but Long Dong means 'Dragon Cave in Chinese, so no jokes haha).

Super excited to check out a new place, plkug some trad gear and swim in the ocean for a few weeks... should be a treat :)

So that's about it for now. Gotta get my gear ready and get out to a nice shady crag for the rest of the day!

Always psyched!!!

Some pics from the Chicken Cave

2011-05-31T11:19:00.003+10:00

Here are a few pics courtesy of my good friends Shane and Alon from climbing in the Chicken Cave.

First some pics lapping the really fun 'White Tiger' 7b+/5.12c/26

Then some pics of me sending the amazing, burly 'Grevious Bodily Harm' 7c/5.12d/27

L'Echo Des Montagne

2011-05-30T09:16:00.005+10:00

So the weather has been getting much better around here. The rain is gone, blue skies abound and climbing is the name of the game every day. It's warm, like 30+ degrees celcius every day, but its great being outside right now! Climbing, swimming in the river, cycling around: life is great at this time of year!
This week has been great. I sent a 5.12a, 5.12c and a 5.12d in 2 days climbing and then did an amazinly fun 5 pitch 5.8 with my good buddy Brian. So much fun!
Check out the pics below for a taste of what life is like here when the weather is good ;-)

Petzl Roc Trip 2011 - Getu Valley, Guizhuo, China

2011-05-12T18:32:00.000+10:00

As I have mentioned on these pages before, this years Petzl Roc Trip will be held in the amazing Getu Valley in Guizhuo Province, China... seriously, this place is BOSS, with a capital B. Seriously. Come.

Check out the link below for more information and keep your eyes peeled at the Petzl site for more info....

Petzl Roc Trip 2011 - Getu Valley

Psyched!!!

Some more pics...

2011-05-08T11:03:00.007+10:00

So I'm a little sore today but I'm about to head to the training wall anyway. Would prefer to be at the crag but the Spring rains are here so it's on and off rain for a while and today happens to be one of those rainy days so it's bouldering, hangboard, yoga and massages today instead :)
We built a wicked hangboard in our apartment and I have written up some hangboard programs for everyone so we are all psyched :)

Here are a few more random pics from recent times... enjoy :)

A few random pics...

2011-04-30T12:47:00.001+10:00

Im lazy, I know...

2011-04-22T18:23:00.002+10:00

So I hear you... I have been super lazy with this blog of late. But it's more just that there hasn't been alot of news of till recently.
So I have just moved house to an amazing apartment with huge rooms, big living spaces, we built a hangboard, there is a yoga nook, nice big kitchen, the works... super happy!
And we have some new cats here in town that are super psyched on developing new stuff with us herre this season and some new walls have been scouted and even a few new boulders scrubbed up so things are lookin g exciting for this year here in Yangshuo.
In other news I am also now working for Evolv here in Yangshuo helping with there sales and marketing here in China's premier climbing destination so I am super excited abeout that!
Aother than that my knee is good for sure so its been training, training, training in the hope that I can have some good shots on my project before the summer!
Training, running the bar, studying Mandarin... thats about it lately... good times... but now that the weather is getting good hopefully Ill have some news for you all soon!

Getting there...

2011-03-18T20:40:00.002+11:00

So after over 3 weeks off from a knee injury and being really sick, twice, I had my first boulder session at the wall today and it was great fun!
Feeling pretty strong still, just probably lost a little fitness but thats all good. My knee will still take a while to rehab to 100% but I can climb!!! Psyched!
But its been raining non stop here for weeks now so I haven't really missed good climbing conditions so its all good, just gotta start training again to be ready for the weather to break!
Psyched!!!

The gods, they do not smile...

2011-02-27T13:42:00.003+11:00

So. I might hae spoken too soon about no news being good news. While training at the Chicken Cave a few days back I tweaked the Medial Collateral Ligament in my right knee (I hurt the lateral colateral ligament in my left knee last year in Vietnam).
It isnt terrible and I should be back to form within a few weeks. BUT, on top of that I just spent the last few days house bound being as sick as I have ever been. A throat infection, the worst fever and sweats I have ever had, muscle aches, the works... so so so sick. But after 3 days of it it seems to have broken and I am on the mend again.
So hopefully within a week I will be back on the rock and back into it at full tilt!

No news is good news

2011-02-17T21:11:00.002+11:00

So it's been a bit quiet on the blogging front, sorry about that folks. But a lack of news doesnt mean that nothing is happening. Quite to the contrary.
The weather here in Yangshuo whilst still being a bit dreary is starting to clear up a little and its not as cold any more so its a sure sign that spring is on the way (that and that today is the last day of the Spring Festival here in China).
My good mate Jimmy and I have been knuckling down into our training regime that we have put together and are getting fit for our respective spring season goals. His is to climb 5.12 again after a long break from climbing and mine being to try and send my Fuli project 'One Day As A Lion'.
So it's training, training training. Bouldering at the wall in town, endless laps at the crags, cycling, running, yoga and generally getting into it!
Other than training I have been working most nights at my job here managing Bar 98, an Australian bar here in town. I have also had my bday and turned... well... older. We had Chinese New Year and welcomed in the year of the Rabbit. Lots is going on... but the spring is on the horizon so it's only just beginning!!!

Allie Pepper on Everest!!!

2011-01-31T15:18:00.003+11:00

So I am really lucky to know some really amazing people around the world. People getting out there chasing their dreams and inspiring me to do the same. This is just one of those people that I count myself really lucky to know. Allie Pepper.
I first met Allie years ago when I lived in the Blue Mountains in Australia. She was inspiring then and only more so now.
This year she is setting out to try and make an ascent of Everest via the South Col route from the Nepal side. Without supplementary oxygen! You go girl, so psyched for you!
Check out Allie's blog to follow her progress and support her on her epic adventure!

http://www.alliepepper.blogspot.com/

Allie Pepper on the summit of Cho Oyu in 2007

Lots of love to you girl, I'll be cheering you on from here... I would say good luck but your not going to need it :)

Awesome!

Not much news, but ten thousand views!

2011-01-31T13:16:00.002+11:00

Hi all,

There's not alot to report on right now really. It's mid winter in Yangshuo which means cold and wet so not alot of climbing is getting done. Just training to be ready for the weather to break in the next few weeks so we can go out and crush in the nice temps :)
Some of you know I have not had the best of luck in the last few weeks, some personal disasters that set me back a little, well we can add another one.. My laptop died and destroyed itself and my back up drive that wa attached at the time so as a result have lost ALL my photography from the last few years. We tried recovering the data bt it had corrupted so its all lost. Not a great start to the year. So I will have to start again with the photography. Oh well, worse things happen I guess!

On the bright side, this blog has just surpassed ten thousand views! Not exactly record breaking I know but a nice milestone none the less. I'll be back again soon with some mpre climbing news as soon as I have some! Cross your fingers that the sun comes out one day soon!

Duncan.

Beijing and Sichuan

2011-01-25T19:19:00.007+11:00

So my trip to Beijing and Sichuan was fun. Got home a few days ago. Not much of the trip was climbing related but I was in some beautiful places so here are some pics, enjoy!

Beijing - mainly Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City

Sichuan - Jiuzhaigou Ice Waterfall Festival (and the 11 hour drive from Chengdu to get there because me and a film crew missed our flifghts haha)

Evolv - coming on board with sponsored goodies!!!

2011-01-14T11:40:00.002+11:00

I am really stoked to announce finally that my good friends at Evolv have come on board to sponsor me this year with their awesome line of climbing and approach shoes!

I have been using Evolv shoes almost exclusively for a while now and I am a massive fan so this new partnership is super exciting.

Let me show you what I have been using lately...

For climbing...

Optimus Prime - A really versatile shoe that I have loved using on everything from slabs to steep

Pontas - Just ordered these ones, awesome edging shoe with a sharp toe for tiny pockets and edges

Talon G2 - These are my project babies... the best steep climbing shoe I have ever owned, absolutely love these things! Just don't try and climb anything vertical or slabby in them, they were made for the really steep stuff...

For walking around...

Escapist - another shoe that I have just ordered, a sweet approach shoe that is light and tough. Im psyched to use these for running too

Buck - I pretty much lived in these things over the last summer. THE sticky rubber flip flop, I went to the crag in them, hung out on boats in them, climbed 5.10 in them, you name it... love them!

So as you can see, I'm psyched on the Evolv range of shoes, they have something for everything I do so they have all my bases covered. Super excited to be working with the team from Evolv this year :)

Right now I am in Beijing for another 3 days. Tomorrow Jen and I are off to see the Forbidden City and Sunday we are going to go see the Great Wall which I have still never seen so I am really excited about that! Then on the 17th I am off to northern Sichuan for a few days for the Jiuzhaigou Ice Waterfall Festival, an eco tourism conference in an amazing and wildly beautiful part of China. Really looking forward to it!

Then on the 21st it's back to Yangshuo and back to work on my project out at Fuli... I have been training like crazy lately getting stronger and fitter with this project in mind... can't wait!

While here in Beijing I have been training at the O'le Climbing Gym which is run by some good friends of mine, here are a few pic's of their sweet bouldering room that I have been putting to good use... time to go train! :-)

Petzl Roc Trip 2011! China, Guizhuo, Getu Valley

2011-01-11T11:32:00.009+11:00

So earlier in 2010, in early October to be precise, I headed off to a little known valley called Getu in Guizhuo Provence here in China to attend a small local climbing festival and to stay on to help bolting some new areas there. The new development was part of the prepartions for the 2011 Petzl Roc Trip and I am happy to announce that it is going to be amazing!!!

The area already had a few smaller walls outside the park that held a handful of routes but the first bolting team from Petzl (that included the likes of Gerhard Hörhager, Guido Unterwurzacher, Erwan Le Lann, Arnaud Petit, Stephanie Bodet and Dani Andrada amoungst many others...) set to work bolting mainly in the huge cave that the area is well known for here in China. The cave is a tunnel about 150 metres long, 80 metres wide and 3 pitches high on the inside!!! There is one route now that goes from the ground to the lip of the cave and it is a massive 5 pitches long!

So far the larger cave (that is called 'Dachuandong') has about 30+ routes in it from 5.7 to 5.14c and from 1 to 5 pitches and with several possible 5.15 projects bolted in it and there are several other walls being bolted nearby with a range of routes including some amazing long moderate walls with up to 7 pitches of 5.10 to 5.11 climbing... outstanding! The cave and nearby surrounds has the potential to hold alot of routes so it will be interesting to see how much gets done by the time of the Roc Trip.

A team from Petzl will be returning this year to continue bolting in preparartion for the Roc Trip in October this year. Their plan is to finish developing as much of the area as they can on this next trip. At present many of the routes bolted so far require the proper anchor sets to be placed at the top of the routes which was due to a shortage of these here in China during theor last visit but these will all be placed on the next trip soon and the crag will be sure to become another classic sport climbing destination here in China with something for everyone to climb, and all in a fantastically beautiful setting.

I will be sure to keep you all updated on news of the next bolting trip out there and with details of the Roc Trip dates, etc as they come to hand.

Here are a few pics from Getu to get you excited...

Here is a video from the 2010 Petzl Roc Trip, looking forward to this year!

Petzl Roctrip Mexico 2010 - El Chonta Rodeo from Petzl-sport on Vimeo.

Oh, and look out for a Location Beta post on the Getu Valley in the coming months, once the bolting is completed and some topo's are done I will unleash all the beta I can for you!

Update...

2011-01-09T22:05:00.004+11:00

Hey guys, here is a more detailed trip repot from Mike Dobie on their new peak in the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain region near Lijiang, Yunnan (as written about in my previous post). Again, I am stoked to see these guys doing their thing!

--------------------
Trip: Lijiang, Yunnan, China - Southeast face of Smaug Peak (jade dragon snow mt)

Date: 12/20/2010

Trip Report: Darryl Kralovic and I climbed an unclimbed peak in the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain area in the Lijiang county of Yunnan in China.The peak itself was between 16,500 and 17,000 feet and there was no evidence of previous human beings presence at the top. The Jade Dragon Massif itself is commonly known for its major peak of 18,306 foot peak but most do not know that the area consists of 13 other significant peaks that have never been climbed. Smaug peak is one of them and the furthest south along the south to north oriented ridge that these peaks lie on.

Gear Notes: Brought the whole get up. Small rack to 4, snow and ice pro and rope and didn't use it. Only used ice axe, crampons, and helmet. Night was very cold that time of year recommend a -20 F bag for that time of year.

Approach Notes: Red Tape: We traveled to a small village named Yuhu "village" from the Lijiang old town, bought a ticket for 120 rmb each. We were harassed by police and government officials as to how long we were going to bein the area and they told us to be back that same day before 4 pm. (I think they were trying to get us to buy another ticket or something) I told them that we will be staying up in the mountains for at least 2days. They got someone on the phone that spoke english and they gave the phone to me. The man on the phone told me that they were afraid that we might die in the night and I responded by telling him that weare experienced outdoors-mans and where prepared to spend the night. He said OK and to call him if there where any problems. At no point do they say that climbing the mountain was illegal. So I guess the thing to do is tell them that you are backpacking and will probably be staying the night, and not climbing the summit. They might charge you for additional days if that is the case, but the experience is worth it.

Approach: From the ticket office we headed up the prominent horsetrail/road towards the beginning of the snow mountain ridge. There was one trail that seemed the most obvious and we passed a few horsestalls (used for Chinese horse tourism) and buildings as we headedtoward the peak we had in mind. We went off trail at about 11,000 feet and headed straight up the grassy slope to an alpine basin where weestablished a base camp. (see pictures) From here we camped at 13,900 feet. The following morning we traveled up a snowy scree field to a Southeast facing gully. Once in the gully we headed up and left till we could reach a few gully systems thatheaded to the right until we reached the summit ridge. We met highwinds and a developing storm as we ascend a 4th class block to the summit. Descended the same way. Downclimbed with no rappel. Steep snow and ice travel (50 degrees) Class 3-4 rock steps.
From the summit it looks like there might be a few other gully systems that access the summit further to the north.

--------------------

Thanks again to Mike for the beta, keep it up boys!

More upcoming adventures and some China news...

2011-01-05T23:50:00.012+11:00

Life is amazing. Every day brings new opportunities for adventure. So many things in the pipelines for this year... more on those as they develop. But for the moment January is already looking to super fun!

So far the year has started cold and a little wet here in Yangshuo but we have been climbing loads regardless and training hard to be ready for the spring and loads of project sending.

Tomorrow I am off to Beijing for 11 days to hang out with my wonderful girl Jen who will be working there this year with the Jump Foundation ( http://www.jumpfoundation.org/ ) and to train with my good friends at the O'le Climbing Gym. I am super excited to be going to beijing as I have not been there as yet and it will be my first time getting to see the Great Wall... I am hoping some amazing landscape photo opportunities are on their way!

Then on the 17th of January myself and Jen have been invited to to go to the 'Jiuzhaigou Ice Waterfall Festival' in the Jiuzhai Valley in northern Sichuan provence to offer our advise on the eco tourism projects going on up there. Super excited to get up there as I have not yet been to Sichuan and the area looks stunning (see this site for amazing pics! - http://www.jiuzhai.com/language/english/index.html ). We are hoping that later in the winter this year we will return for some ice and alpine climbing if this recon trip goes well... psyched!

So over this last year I have made many good friends around China and discovered that while climbing is relatively new here this country has an unbelievable amount of climbing of all styles to be enjoyed and developed and there are a hand few of people around the country getting it done. People are out there developing bouldering, trad climbing, ice climbing, sport climbing, alpine... you name it. So I am going to try and get more news from around the country and more location beta posts done for people (info on some of it is out there on Chinese websites, but nothing in English for the rest of the world to find info from) so you can all enjoy more of what this amazing country has to offer and help progress the sport in all it's forms.

For a large part of 2010 my good friend Mike Dobie has been up in Lijiang in Yunnan developing climbing of all types on the plethora of granite, sandstone and limestone up there in north west Yunnan and south west Sichuan. He and his crew up there have found endless granite boulder fields, beautiful red sandstone splitter cracks, steep tufa dripping limestone and endless alpine peak first ascents ripe for the picking. Here are some pics from Mike himself...

Highball granite bouldering anyone?

The above two pics are from the amazing Liming Valley. Amazing sandstone splitters? Heck Yes!

And here is the story and some pics from a recent alpine ascent Mike did...

From Mike:

--------------------
Hey all, here are a few pictures and a brief trip report of a first ascent we did of a mountain in the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain area.

Southeast gully of Smaug peak- Altitude 16500 - 17000 feet, 45 to 50 degree snow and ice travel, Class 3-4

Darryl and I did it in two days starting from a small village named Yuhu in the lijiang valley at 8,700 ft. (see lijiang plateau pic.) The first day we took a base camp at 14,000 feet in an alpine cirque belowthe summit (see view from BC). After a chilly -10 degree Fahrenheit night we set out for the summit. We followed a steep snow and ice filled gully and small class 3 rock steps to gain ledges that seemed to cut to the summit along its southeast face (see weather coming inpic). Large cornices and high winds met us at the ridge of the summit. A small class 4 hurdle was overcome on the summit block to grant usaccess to the peak (see summit shot pic). Clouds were forming as the winds increased as we descended back to base camp and out to the lijiang valley later in the day. The summit of the peak was somewhere between 16,500 and 17,000 feet. It does not have an english named so we decided to call it Smaug (like the dragon from the book the hobbit)to go along with the "dragon theme". Plus I have noticed in my time living near this peak that it seems to develop clouds before the restof the mountain ridge and be the start for most weather systems on the mountain. It gives it a smoking appearance at times like a dragon lives up there or something. During this trip we scouted more areasalong the ridge massif and we hope to have another trip up there in Feb. Love you all!

--------------------

Awesome! The boys on the summit!

So psyched to have such amazing friends doing amazing climbing all over the world but I am always most inspired by guys like Mike and Darryl out there doing new first ascents in frontier locations like here in China.

Stoked for you boys! Keep it up!!!

Looking back on yet another AMAZING year!

2010-12-31T12:27:00.009+11:00

So it's New Years Eve already. Why do the years seem to be flying by? Is it because bending ind moving faster all of a sudden or does it just seem faster because I am having so much fun...?
I like answer two best personally.
This year has been yet another year of crazy times, fun people, amazing climbing and loads of adventure!

Writing a long story recapping all the years highlights would take waaaaaaaay to lomng so instead I am going to abbreviate the year in a few paragraphs and then illustrate it with some photos at the end but you can easily go back over my year and read all the adventures again here on this blog if you feel like a trip down my memory lane :)

So, my year...

Well, it started by seeing in the New Year in Hampi, India then shortly after I left India and headed back to Yansguo, China where I started working at China Climb as a guide and developing new outdoor activities around Yangshuo. I went on trips to some fun places doing everything from climbing to white water rafting and saw some amazing places.
I started doing alot of new route development around Yangshuo and then in other places around China.
In the middle of the year I went on a crazy trip to Singapore to race up a massive building with a big group of other profesional climbers and assorted misfits from aaround the globe where we were celebrities and partied with the likes of Diana Ross haha.
Then it was a short 4 weeks in Australia visiting family and friends and going climbing at some of my old haunts which was great!
Then back to Yangshuo in mid summer for some climbing and swimming in the 38 degree heat.
Then as summer wore on we did a climbing festival in Luo Cheng, one in Guizhuo Provence (followed by 10 days of bolting new routes in a massive cave with a team from Petzl), then the Yangshuo Climbing Festival. I sort of became head route setter and MC for the bouldering comps around here which has been a blast!
Then in November my wonderful girl and I headed down to Ha Long Bay, Vietnam for 6 weeks of work, climbing, deep water soloing and general great times. Now I am back in Yangshuo working as a manager at my favourite bar, Bar 98, and going out climbing like crazy every day.
All in all another great year!

So looking back over the year what have I learned...?

I have been studying Mandarin Chinese and can now speak OK, read a little and even write a decent handful of characters so I have learned alot of a new language.
I have learned alot about the culture and people of this amazing country.
I have learned alot more about new route development and bolting new routes, building Via Ferrata and Zip Lines.
I have learned more about myself as a person than I ever knew before.

And what does the new year have in store so far?

Lots of training to try and send my project here in Yangshuo... a 65 metre overhanging stamina fest!
Trips to develop new areas around China including - Ice Climbing in Sichuan, Big Walls in Xin Jiang, Bouldering in Sichuan, Crack Climbing in Yunnan, developing more Sport Climbing in Guizhuo, maybe a return to Deep Water Solo in Vietnam plus loads of new development here around Yangshuo. Plus a few other surprises...
Also i have been sponsored for the next year by the good folk at Evolv... but more about that in the new year ;)

So yeah, it has been a great year and the next one is looking even better!
I freakin' love my life!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR KIDS!!! Have fun, be safe, climb hard, have adventures, say YES to more things, get psyched and as always... love what you do and who you do it with!

Lots of love!
Duncan
x

Ps: here are the pics I promised, in no particular order, enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T16:27:00.004+11:00

So the holiday's are definitely upon us... the time for too much good food, too much nice wine and way too much chocolate and other desserts... good times!
I am off to a roast dinner with a great bunch of friends here over at Bar 98 so I will keep this one short...

Merry Christmas everyone! Have a great festive season and dont go too crazy!

Vietnam - Ha Long Bay

2010-12-19T22:56:00.000+11:00

So after my last 6 weeks down in Vietnam I have decided to start doing a series of beta posts on areas I go to in order to help out in any way I can with any trips you might be planning to go on. So here it is, my first location beta post... look out for more coming soon enough! Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have and I will do my best to help you out.

VIETNAM - HA LONG BAY

The view from Ben Beo Harbour out into the bay at sunrise

HOW DO I GET THERE?
Easy. You want to go to Cat Ba Island out in Ha Long Bay. You cand get there from either Hai Phong or Ha Long City. Through Hai Phong is definitely the easiest. Just get to Hanoi and follow these easy instructions from Hanoi to Cat Ba provided by Slo Pony Adventures - http://www.slopony.com/index.php?option=com_sloponycontentlon&Itemid=27&Id=1

WHERE SHOULD I STAY?
There are plenty of options of hotels along the main strip of Cat Ba with prices ranging from a couple of US dollars a night to luxury resorts. The usual is about $7-8 USD or so. The Cat Ba Dream is a popular choice.

WHAT ROPED CLIMBING IS THERE?
The is basically just one bolted crag on Cat Ba Island which is 'Butterfly Valley'. There is a little climbing in Ben Beo Harbour which is nice but access might not be easy soon due to some construction there.
Butterfly Valley is a great bolted crag with a surprising amount of routes from about 5.8 up to solid 5.13 with alot of the routes being in the 5.11 to 5.12 range.
You need to buy a pass to the crag each day from the Slo Pony Adventures office to go to Butterfly Valley. This pass costs $2.50 USD and the money goes to your National Park access fee and the bolting / rebolting fund. You can also have lunch prepared for you at the crag by the local farmers for a couple of dollars too which I highly recommend, the food is great! Just ask the Slo Pony guys about the lunch option when you get your park pass.
You also need to get to the crag. This isn't Tonsai. It is about a 25 minute motorbike ride from Cat Ba town to the crag on all tar roads. You can either hire a motor scooter, get a scooter taxi or get a mini bus taxi if there is enough people. All easy options.
There is also some bolted route climbing out on some of the islands like Moody's Beach, Tiger Beach, Saigon Wall, The Face, etc, etc. Check out the guidebook (available at the Slo Pony shop) and organise a boat out there!

Fred Vanden Bergh climbing at Tiger Beach

DEEP WATER SOLOING!
So let be honest. This is what drew you to Ha Long Bay in the forst place right? So let me be frank. This isn't supermarket cragging. You cant just kayak to the crag and hang on a beach all day. The bay is extensive with a maze of islands, the tides are big and the crags impossible to find on your own.
With that in mind you need to hire a big boat, a crew and a basket boat for the crag if you want to do your own thing. Not super cheap but affordable with a big enough group. If you want to come here to live on a boat and deep water solo everyday come here with a big group of friends and go crazy, just remember it takes a little organising and cash.
As a short trip option heading out on day trips of deep water soloing with Slo Pony Adventures is your best choice. They offer affordable day trips with deep water soloing, kayaking, etc and they provide the boats, chalk, guides to show you the routes, lunch onm the boat, etc, etc... definitely the choice if you don't have experience with DWS or you are travelling on your own.
Tides are also a concern in Ha Long and really effect the crags there due to water depth so look into the tide charts before you head out to Ha Long because you might turn up for a week only to find the tides are bad the whole time your there, which wouldn't be much fun. Just contact the Slo Pony guys ahead of time to ensure your trip coincides with good tides if you have your heart set on deep water soloing.
If you have a group or just plenty of cash and want to rent a private sleeper boat and a crew that knows DWS again just get in touch with the Slo Pony Adventures crew and talk to them about your best options.

Me Deep Water Soling at Fisherman's Way. Photo Courtesy of Simon Carter

OTHER STUFF TO DO...
Rent a kayak and explore the floating villages and kart islands, rent a motor scooter or mountain bike and explore the island, go hiking in the National Park and look for one of the the rarest monkeys in the world, the Cat Ba Langur ( http://www.catbalangur.org/ ), eat amazing local food at one of the floating restaraunts, eat amazing western food at The Green Mango

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Go to http://www.slopony.com/ and contact he guys there for help with booking trips, renting boats, gear and any other info you might need on Ha Long Bay.

ALSO...
Donate to the bolting / rebolting fund at the Slo Pony Adventures shop... help with a few $ to bolt new routes and maintain the classics you climb while your there!

Now get out there and enjoy!!!

More pics from Onsight Photography

2010-12-12T14:36:00.000+11:00

Here are a few more pics thanks to Simon Carter at Onsight Photography.. check him out!

Me on 'Streak Of Lightning' on Blue Streak Wall

Me sending 'Durakuto Han' 5.12b at Hawaii 5.0

The good times just keep rolling!!!

2010-12-12T14:03:00.000+11:00

Things have continued to be amazing out here with days upon days of great deep water soling out in the bay and fun days of sport climbing on the island.
I just finished 5 straight days of DWS including a final mission for Simon and Monique before they headed home to Oz. It was great hanging out with some old friends from home :)
Jen has headed back to Yangshuo already and I will be off on the 20th so time here is drawing to an end so now I'm off to climb out in Butterfly Valley then it's all guns blazing out at the Temple Amphitheatre to get more routes bolted before I leave!

Heres some more pics for you all, enjoy!!!

Fred enjoying the view on the way out into the bay

Katie on 'Le Mekong' at Le Mekong

Vu on the boat and Cassie swimming back after taking a plunge

Good times

Climbing at Tiger Beach

Sarah on Le Mekong

Me at Le Mekong

Fred climbing at Tiger Beach

Climbing on 'Balooning Around' at Le Mekong

And again

Monique Forestier climbing at Tiger Beach

Me at Le Mekong

Me again at Le Mekong

And again

Fresh crab for luch, oh yeah!

Ha Long Bay, continuing to be amazing...

2010-12-05T23:16:00.001+11:00

Things keep getting better and better. My knee is well and truely on the mend, work has been great fun, a heap of my friends from Yangshuo are all here on Cat Ba including two of my favourite people in the world, Fred and Kre who are here climbing and working at Slo Pony Adventures with Jen and I.
I have been climbing pretty well since my knee being good enough to climb again and have done a stack of great routes including one 5.12d last week and two 5.12a onsights today. Good times!

Below are a few pics from Simon Carter of me deep water soloing the other day. If you don't know Simon check out his website: http://www.onsight.com.au/
Simon is an amazing clim bing photographer based in the Blue Mountains in Australia and you can find his work in climbing magazines and other publications around the world, check him out!

Me on a 5.8 at Fishermans Way

Me airbourne at Fishermans Way

On a 5.11 at Fishermans Way

Me campusing out on 'The Diving Board' at Unemployment Wall

On a hard project at Unemployment Wall

And heres one from my boy Lee Cujes. Check out his website: http://www.upskillclimbing.com/
... lifes hard out here ;-)

More Vietnam!

2010-11-30T16:42:00.000+11:00

Ah the island life. Relaxed atmosphere, great seafood, relaxing on boats... life is great!
Things have been continuously amazing here despite my knee injury (don't worry, its all good and I am climbing again albeit carefully) and many good times are being had.
I have been working on the boats alot taking people out Deep Water Soloing and climbing on the islands.
My good friends Lee Cujes, Simon Carter, Monique Forestier plus Coco, Sam, Tamara and Audrey are all here climbing, boltoing and doing photo shoots. Yesterday we headed out into the bay for a day of deep water soling at Fisherman's Way and Unemployment Wall... good times! I took the biggest jump I have ever taken too. Topped out a 17 metre 5.8 and jumped from the ledge, so much fun but so terrifying! haha
Here's a few pics... I will see if I can get Mr Carter to donate a few pics for this blog for you all, I'll keep you posted :-)

Monique and Coco

Cruising to the crags with a basket boat and kayaks in tow

Me less than half way up the 5.8 warm up at Fishermans way... you finish and jump from the ledge way up diagonally right from me... EPIC!

The Candlestick aka The Polish Pillar

Simon and Lee scoping out photo angles

Jen chillin' on the boat... lifes hard

The ever smiling Mr Cujes

She is obviously always very busy around here lol

Heading home into a brilliant sunset

Sarah on a long lunch break, us Slo Pony staff have it pretty easy ;-)

Nora... hilarious personified

Psyche and Physiotherapy...

2010-11-21T17:13:00.000+11:00

Hey kids!
Things are rockin' out here in Ha Long Bay! Plenty of guiding work (I use the term 'work' losely here... hanging out on a boat in paradise, kayaking, climbing and bolting new crags isn't exactly work haha) and plenty of fun. We have started bolting a cool amphitheatre on an island about 30 minutes basket boat ride from Tiger Beach. It doesnt have a name yet but it will have maybe 20 routes in the end from maybe 5.8 to 5.14+, from vertical to ludicrously steep and from 1 to 3 pitches long. Plus we have 2 deep water soloing wall to develop right next to them if the water is deep enough there. Psyched.
One little set back though. I busted my knee climbing it Butterfly Valley this morning. It's not too bad so hoepfully I will be all good in a few days but I just have to keep it elevated and iced for the moment and then see how it feels tomorrow... fingers crossed!
The crew from China Climb arrived yesterday too. They are here to run a sea kayaking trip next week so town is full of fun folk right now and more are expected soon... psyched!!!
Heres a few more pics :-)

Jen climbing 'Big Brown B-Hole' 5.12a at Ben beo Harbour, right next to our apartment

Slo - man, myth, legend

Life is hard...

The wall we are bolting at the moment, you can only get there by basket boat

Awesome!!!

Do you like it steep?

Climbing and kayaking at Moody's Beach

The return to Ha Long Bay, Vietnam!

2010-11-15T15:44:00.000+11:00

So after meaning to get back down here for nearly a year I am finally back in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam!

I have come back down here do get a few things done - bolt new routes, help out my buddy Slo at Slopony Adventures while they are busy with guiding work... and go deep water soloing.

My friend Jen and I headed off from Yangshuo a week ago, trained it to Nanning then bussed to Hanoi. We stayed with my good friends Linh and Mandy for a night, ate great food and drank amazing coffee then headed out to Ha Long Bay the next morning. We have spent the last 4 days mostly out in Lan Ha Bay guiding deep water soloing, kayaking, rock climbing on the beaches and swimming as well as 1 morning guiding climbing out in Butterfly Valley.

Today is a day off and we are going to climb on a wall right next to our apartment and see if we can't find a project or two each... psyched! Tomorrow might be climbing out at Butterfly Valley then back to the bay the day after that to start scoping out then bolting a new wall on an island out there.

Oh, and we got a Minsk yeaterday haha. A crazy Russian motorbike for cuising the island. It's a little hectic and exciting, so fun haha

I'll keep you all updated as much as possible, but for now here are a few pics

This is the sunrise view from our apartment window... amazing!

阳朔攀岩节 - Part 2 - The Rest

2010-11-04T19:07:00.000+11:00

So the 阳朔攀岩节 (Yangshuo Climbing Fetival) went really well. All the sponsors and volunteers worked really hard and everything went off without a hitch. Great slide shows from the sponsored athletes, an awesome bouldering comp and a rediculous Halloween afterparty to top it off!
We had a great time setting the routes for the bouldering comp and in the end they worked really well, splitting the field nicely and entertaining the crowd. And I had a blast MC'ing the bouldering comp too, such a good time, really looking forward to next year!
It's hard to describe everything really well so instead here's a few pics to give you an idea. Good times indeed...

Kre - legend

Yo yo yo, MC D in the house! haha

John and Andrew

Route setters doing their thing

Fred - another legend

My man Yuji Hirayama - yet another legend

Sponsors adds galore...

Me (walking on the green mat) MC'ing the preliminary round of the boulder comp

Amber topping out the womens preliminary problem 1

Kelly on the same problem

Street side slacklining

My man Abond. 14c climber. North Face Athlete. Hero

阳朔攀岩节 - Day 1 - Opening Night!

2010-10-30T16:57:00.000+11:00

So the Yangshuo Climbing Festival (阳朔攀岩节) started yesterday with an opening ceremony and slideshows along with free beer and lots of catching up with old friends from the climbing scene around China. Good times. Then it was off to Bar 98 for some bday celebrations for Jen and John - Happy Bday's kids!
Here's a few pics to get things rolling... full report on the festival afterwards :-)

Yuki!

Jon... so hot right now

Drunk arm wrestling = sore elbows today

Andrew = Hero

Duo Duo!

Me with my new friends Yuji Hirayama and Emily Harrington

Panda, love this kid!

Seeing friends is always exciting haha

Dane... "I heard this is where they are hiding the free beer..."

Jen, the birthday girl

CAKE!!!

Rowena

Guizhuo Madness - Part 1 - The Climbing Festival

2010-10-25T04:03:00.002+11:00

So I have a few stories to ell. Both take place in the same place at the same sorta time but are two different things. So first is first...

A couple of weeks ago I headed off to Guizhuo province, a few hours from the capital, Guiyang, to take part in a climbing festival there. I headed up there with my good friends Jiang Yong, Jen, Mick, Dane and Fabian by plane then buses to the beautiful valley that hold the village of Getu and the National Park that is the crowning jewel of the area.

We spent 3 days rocking out a Speed Comp and Onsight Comp with the usual Chinese opening and closing ceromonies, pop celebrities and good fun shenanigans. Good times all round in a beatiful place with great people.

Heres a few pics... more coming soon, plus part 2 of the trip... ;-)

Guo Qing Kuai Le!!!

2010-10-08T12:31:00.000+11:00

Happy National Day!
Well, its not National Day today but as its the end of Golden Week here in China after National Day on the 1st of October I thought I should post about the recent goings on here.
So for those who dont know, National Day in China is a big deal. Everyone has the week after it of which is known as Golden Week so popular tourist destinations such as our very own Yangshuo get packed to busting with tourists. Town hs been jammed to overflowing every night, traffic is at a standstill half the time and the hotels are full. Crazyness reigns! But its good fun and its only for a week... lord if this place was like this all the year I would lose my mind haha.
In two days I am off to Guizhuo Province to do two things. First is to compete in a climbing festival and competition. Second is to go bolting new routes in some amazing big caves there with a team of strong climbers from Europe. There is a point to the bolting trip but I'm not sure I can advertise what it is publicly yet so I'll keep you posted.
After the Guizhuo trip we have the Yangshuo Climbing Festival (29-31 Oct) at which I am route setter for the bouldering competition. Then after that on about the 5th Nov I am off the Vietnam to go bolting some new crags in Ha Long Bay with my good mate Slo at Slo Pony Adventures as well as hopefully getting in some more Deep Water Soloing.
Lifes full of exciting prospects isn't it!

Heres a few pics from Guo Qing (National Day) and Golden Week...

West Street, packed to overflowing

Me standing on a busy street

My good friend Yu from Japan goofing around

Tasty Things On Sticks!!! Chinese barbeque, love it!

The girls of Bar 98, my favourite bar... Ton Ton, Yuki and Aimee

Yuki

Aimee

Michelle... this girl has soooo much attitude haha, love it

Liam - fire twirling extraordinaire!

Liam again

More Luo Cheng Climbing Festival Pics!!!

2010-09-22T00:30:00.001+10:00

Here's a few more Luo Cheng pics courtesy of Liana and Gary, thanks guys!

Like the Police escort? They were with us at all times, crazy

This is the point my final night started going pear shaped, after MC'ing the Bouldering Finals...

And this is where it ended haha... Thanks for carrying me home guys!

Luo Cheng!!! EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-09-21T17:42:00.000+10:00

So I am back in Yangshuo fresh from our epic trip to the Luo Cheng Climbing and Cultural Festival. First a little background if you didn't know. A few months back I was asked to come down and scout the area around Luo Cheng for the potential for a climbing festival. The area is replete with caves, walls and arches of amazing limestone so it was a done deal. I sepnt a few weeks there with my friends Eva and Marcelo then Marcelo took a team back while I was in Oz to bolt the amazing arch of the Moon Hill there.

Last week saw a few bus loads of Chinese and foreign climbers head of to what we knew was going to be a crazy trip. Little did we know just how crazy!

We piled onto buses here in Yangshuo and 5 hours later arrived at our hotel in Luo Cheng all done up and awaiting our arrival. There we banquet dinners every night, Friendship Tree plantings, and an Opening Ceremony that left us all speachless. We arrived in the main square of town to about 15000 locals cramming in to see the show. An enourmous stage had been set up and a cultural show for 3 hours that was mind blowing. Absolutely amazing! Capped off by 30 foot images of Marcelo and myself bolting routes there! Haha, soooo crazy to see!

The climbing comp itself was devided into 2 parts. A toprope comp held on newly bolted routes in Moon Hill and a bouldering comp on an artificial was put up in the main square of town. The climbing went well and everyone had a blast but the bouldering was the real showcase. I was asked to route set for the bouldering comp and with the help of my good friends Andrew, Edd, Panda and Lao Su we managed to set for the entire comp in full sun in 40 degree heat in about 8 hours. Then it was time for the show! 20 women and 50 men from around the world stepped up to the plate and showed us what they are made of!!! I was MC for the event with help from a few Chinese cats as although I speak a little Chinese its not good enough to MC to the 3000+ strong crowd of locals that cam to watch! It was amazing! I had such a great time and the competitors loved it and the locals were stunned... it could not have gone better!

Here is a handful of pics from camera which unfortunately ran out of battery and I left my charger at home. I will have more pics including some pics from the comps from my friends soon, until then, enjoy!!!

The first bus load ready to leave Yansghuo

Bus ride shenanigans

Arriving at the hotel in Luo Cheng

Edd

Who loves Luo Cheng?

Andrew

Dirty Dane... love that moustache haha

A small part of the enourmous crowd at the opening ceremony

And the show begins!!!

Yes, thats a 30 foot tall screen showing a video of me bolting haha

Nothing in China is complete without fireworks!

Me next to the tallest man in the world at the Friendship Tree planting... Im standing up hill and he is standing in a hole... he's pretty darn tall haha

Gettin' it done!

2010-09-06T10:15:00.001+10:00

So despite the heat still Yansghuo has been fan-freakin-tastic lately! Lots and lots of days at the crags, lots of great people, lots of great times and LOTS of sending!

I have been feeling better and better and have sent a heap of 5.12's including 'Moonwalker' 5.12d at Moon Hill and onsighting a few 5.12a's. I have also tried a few 12'd's and 13a's that I think I can do relatively quickly so I have plenty of projects to keep me busy leading into Autumn. Getting fitter for my mega project out at Fuli! Heck yes!!!

Heres a few pics courtesy of my good friend Brian. All 3 shots are of me on the AMAZING 'Over The Moon' 5.12c at Moon Hill. 30+ metres of overhanging, stalactite riding, jug hauling fun!

Two in a day and the Eightfold Path of Climbing

2010-08-13T17:39:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was a great day. what started with just a couple of us heading out climbing ended up with 12 of us having a blast out at the Chicken Cave. People were pushing their limits all over the place with lots of attempts on things at peoples upper limits coming close to sends. Its was great seeing my friends all trying so hard and having such a great time testing their boundaries. And I had a great day too with a swag of onsights up to 5.11's and doing two 5.12's in a day, something I haven't done in a while! I sent 'Lily' a great, steep 5.12b on my 3rd go and making a repeat of the powerful and super steep 'White Tiger' 5.12c. So I felt great! Hopefull it's a sign of things to come this Autumn as I work at getting fitter for my mega project out at Fuli!

Amoungst all the banter at the crag we also came up with the 'Eightfold Path of Climbing', a list of 8 different aspects of climbing that we think you need to at least experience to become a solid all round climber... for those of you not familiar with what the Eightfold Path of Buddhism is that this idea is derived from looks here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path

Here they are in no particular order...

Bouldering
Traditional Climbing
Sport Climbing
Ice Climbing
Alpine Climbing
Aid Climbing
Deep Water Soloing
Big Wall Climbing

This is something I have been wanting to do for a long time and now only have Ice, Alpine and Big Wall left to do as I have done all of the others up to what I consider a reasonable level and hopefully this Winter I will be able to go on an adventure up to see my friends in Yunan Province here in China and tick of the remaining 3 styles.
But thats just my opinion of what makes a good all round climber... whats yours?

Much love!

Scorchin', sweatin', summertime good times

2010-08-09T16:43:00.000+10:00

It's about 4am and my friend Carina gets a phone call...

Carina 'Hello?'
'Hey Carina, its JP'
'Hi'
'What are you up to?'
'Sleeping, its late, you?'
'Uh, nothing much, my apartment building is on fire'
'Oh ok, cool.... wait... what?'
'Yeah, on fire, and we cant get out, could you pop round and see whats happening outside?'

Seriously, my friends apartments went up in flames, they were trapped inside and he was a relaxed as can be about it haha. The fire got controlled and no one got hurt or lost much of anything just a few motor scooters in the foyer so it was all good in the end, but man, talk about crazy!

Things have been fun here. It's scorching hot every day (up to 38 degrees celcius) and it really feels like summer. Swimming in the river, eating watermelon at the crag. Thats right, despite the heat alot of climbing is getting done. You sweat alot and your enegry gets sapped by the sun but if you seek the shade you can still get alot done. After the steep powerful sandstone of Australia I felt a little weird on the long enduro limestone but after a few days I am back in the swing of things and have tried a few new routes that have become definite new projects for me to work on. Super psyched!!!

Heres a few pics for y'all...

Changes...

2010-07-24T13:16:00.002+10:00

Just thought I would freshen up the look of my blog... hope you like it :)

Tidbits...

2010-07-24T11:52:00.003+10:00

So its morning on a blue sky winter day and I am sitting at my parents beach house, dad is playing blues on the guitar, my sister and mum are making something tasty in the kitchen, my 1 year old nephew that I have just met for the first time is crawling around and I am copying music from my old hard drive that I really miss and I have already been for a run and done yoga on the beach. It's not a bad day as far as things go really :)

Things have been good here in Oz. I have been out climbing loads with my crews both in Canberra and in Sydney and havin' it large all round!

Last week saw me head up to Sydney to hang out with my crew up there. I headed out bouldering with my close mate Chris Webb Parsons who is just back from the US. We hit up Sunnyside where Chris has now done the first ascent of 'One Of A Kind', yet another V14 first ascent to his name, strong boy! My good friend Pete Tosen also made a super solid ascent of 'Combat Wombat' v11 which was bawse!!!

Here's a video of Chris doing a few things both back in the US and here in Oz recently... enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPNinAtQxNk

So yeah, things have been fun, headed to Sydney, climbed more at Nowra and also got one of the tattoos I wanted done by my good friend Matt's little sister Meg. I'll post a pic of that soon :)

For now here's a few pics of some climbing...

Pete Tosen sending 'Combat Wombat' V11 at Sunnyside, Sydney

Chris Webb Parsons on the finish of 'One Of A Kind' V14 at Sunnyside, Sydney

The sun rising over the highway on the way to Nowra

Frosty morning fields on the way to Nowra

Greg on the fantastic 'Axis Of Evil' 24 at Occupied Territories, Nowra

Peace my friends... dodge the unstoked :)

Back in Oz!

2010-07-11T13:41:00.003+10:00

So I am having a little holiday back in Australia. Relaxing with friends and family here in Canberra, going climbing and having a blast. I will write up a full story about my time here but for now here are some pics of things here.

Enjoy :)

Greg on 'Trigger Nigger' 25 at PC, Nowra

Rich on 'Trigger Nigger' 25 at PC, Nowra

Our broken down car... bu hao!

Richo on 'A Very Nice Piece Of Cake' 25 at Thompsons Point, Nowra

Strip shows, caravan park style

SINGAPORE WINS!!!

2010-06-24T17:03:00.002+10:00

So yesterday was an epic, epic day with the race, the skydivers, the gala dinner, a performance by Dianna Ross, parties, parties, more parties and some covert James Bond escapades... all just amazingly good times!

But the big news is that SINGAPORE WON THE RACE!!! So psyched to see the home town Team win such a fun event!!! Props to you guys for rocking so hard :)

I will post more pics soon but for now here is a video on you tube that our good fried David put together. Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l_lqUcXlTw

A few pics from here in Singapore

2010-06-22T21:08:00.002+10:00

Media frenzy!!!

2010-06-22T15:52:00.002+10:00

So the media here in Singapore is loving what were doing here at Marina Bay Sands and everything is set to be huge tomorrow! Today is a full dress rehersal of the race so were all pretty psyched!

Here are some media links for news about the events lead up plus a video from 'Singapore Tonight'

Psyched!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100622-0000110/Race-to-the-SkyPark-,,,-from-the-outside

Channel NewsAsia
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/cgi-bin/search/search_7days.pl?status=&search=Marina%20Bay%20Sands&id=1064670

Razor TV
http://www.razor.tv/site/servlet/segment/main

My paper:
http://www.mypaper.sg/ (click on e reader on 2nd page with photo of Matt!)

Asia one
http://www.asiaone.com/static/multimedia/gallery/100622_mbsclimb/

Yahoo Sg
http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/06/21/stunning-visual-treat-at-mbs-skypark/

Pics of Marina Bay Sands!!!

2010-06-21T03:42:00.003+10:00

Here are some pics guys! This is the EPIC hotel we are racing up for it's grand opening... cant wait!!!
As a side note my flight from Guilin to Hong Kong was delayed for ages so I missed my connecting flight to Singapore so now I am stuck in Hong Kong Airport for the night surfing the internet, playing my guitar and wishing I was in my comfy bed in Singapore... argh!!! Oh well, I will be there tomorrow!

Marina Bay Sands Singapore - Opening Celebration!!!

2010-06-19T20:14:00.003+10:00

So there I am sitting in a village in rural China minding my own business when my good friend Matt drops me an email... "Duncan, would you like to come race up a massive hotel via a 100m glass layback then party with a whole heap of amzing climbers from around the world...?"... Ummmm, let me check my schedule Matt haha! Thus was my addition to the Commonwealth Team for the Marina Bay Sands - World Championship Climb to the Sands SkyPark!!! I will be competing in a team with Mayan Smith-Gobat, an amazingly talented female climber from New Zealand and the larrakin himself, Tim Emmett from the UK. It's going to be absolutely amazing fun! Can't wait for my flight to Singapore tomorrow!!!
It is being filmed by ESPN (see the trailer on youtube in the links below) and will be a massive media show so I will let you all know when the documentary they are doing about it is out :)

More news and pics of the shenanigans as it unfolds!!!

Check out the links below...

Climb website
http://www.alterego.co.il/

Facebook link (Photos)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=210442&id=564288744

ESPN Trailer
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1495239103633&comments

Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtOKNpmIkZM

Yangshuo Update...

2010-04-12T10:22:00.005+10:00

11.04.10

Ok. So I have been excessively lazy when it comes to blogging lately. Sorry about that! But it is for a few reasons. Firstly because I have been so rediculously busy here in Yangshuo with work, climbing and everything else and secondly because now that I have settled into a place it sort of feels like I would just be writing about the same old stuff over and over. I thought about it though and while it may seem a bit 'same-y' to me it is all new and exciting to all of you so it's high time I got off my ass and posted something!
So how's life in Yangshuo..? It's really turning out to be an amazing experience. Living in the midst of a new culture permenantly is such an exciting experience. Getting to know another culture well is amazing and learning a new language in a place where I am using what I know on a daily basis is just so rewarding. My Mandarin Chinese is getting better every day and I am now at a point where I can talk a little bit about a few different subjects and understand alot of basic conversation. I am putting in the effort of learning as much as I can so that I can finally say that I speak another language properly... I'm really excited about it.
Climbing is going great too. I am climbing at least a few times each week and feeling really solid on stuff up to about 512d (or 7c, or 27, or whatever grades you speak in) and I have some harder stuff in store too, including my epic project at Fuli. So I have mentioned before that I really wanted to bolt a really long super pitch project... well I did it. Its about 65 metres of non stop action... 30 metres of really steep angles and roof climbing out a massive cave followed by 35 metres of overhanging face climbing.. its EPIC! The super steep bottom half is about 5.13a followed by the face which is about 5.12b so altogether maybe 5.13c? Who knows, whatever it is it will be my hardest climb for sure, but I can do it! I nearly sent the bottom half last week so it will go soon and it will be time to try linking it all together... Cant wait!!!
And work... well work is very challenging. I work really hard and do loooong hours but it's worth it for the mental challenge it is providing. On top of my project management roles I now also manage our bar, the 'Lizard Lounge'. So it's all go, but it's great none the less!

Here are a few pics of some stuff I get up to around Yangshuo... enjoy!

Chinese New Year Fireworks

Mike & Mick in front of one of my photos at the Lizard Lounge

Xiao Ming, Duke and Liang Meng getting the Lizard Lounge ready to open

The China Climb gang having dinner at the Riverside Retreat... nice view hey?

Eddie and little Max at Wine Bottle crag

Eva, one of my favourite portraits I have taken here

Tony, the ruler of Fuli

Bodo, our Fuli mascot

Andy slacklining at Fuli

Lanterns at the park during Chinese New Year

Mike and some nice girls cruising the Li Jiang on a bamboo boat... all in a days work ;)

2010-02-11T20:28:00.002+11:00

11.02.10

Yanshuo. I'm back for a second time and its just as good as the first time round. It's lost none of
it's appeal to me... in fact the appeal is even higher than the first time round. The first time I
was here it was a new country, a new adventure, a new language, a new culture but this time all
those things were known factors and it sort of makes me see more of the place than the first time round. Also being here to work for a well known guiding company opens more doors and opportunities than being here last time as a climber tourist.

To give you an idea of my life here and what I have in store for the next year or more I will tell
you some of the things I have gotten up to since I arrived...

I arrived and was promptly moved into the China Climb (my employers) apartments, a 6 storey
converted hotel where most of the staff live. We live here and get cooked for by our chef every day. I was introduced to the staff that are here at the moment and basically hung around for a few days doing not much, just the hum drum stuff like bank accounts and phones, etc. Then I was put to work.

At the moment we arent guiding much as it is the middle of winter and there isnt much on till March but we are building a camp at a place called Fuli so I have had to join in on a few days digging trenches and moving bamboo building materials but aside from that my job is to develop the adventure sports around the camp. So I have to bolt new climbing areas, explore and develop the cave systems there, bolt and set up a rope swing, a tyrolean traverse, a huuuuuge zip line and to top it off build China's first ever Via Ferrata system across the karst towers there... lots of work to do but damn, I love my job! A few of the guys here have dubbed my job title "Minister of Fun" hahaha, but thats pretty much right... setting up adventure activities for a living? Hell yeah it's fun!

Aside from that I have been out kayaking and tubing (despite the cold we have had a few hot days to get in the river) and of course climbing quite a few days.The crew I work with are a really fun and eclectic mix of folk from around the world as well as all the great Chinese staff too. We have a bar called the Lizard Lounge which is basically our lounge room with free beer and a big screen with a Nintendo Wii so we have plenty of nights of crazyness which is always good :)
I have also been working on getting into the stock photo market and have set myself up with several stock photo agencies so I am working away at that with my new toys (new flashes, reflectors, etc) and on top of that am learning to speak Mandarin Chinese which is actually going alot better than I thought it would! I can speak a little already and I'm pretty psyched to actually get the chance to learn another language properly (beyond my basic French, Nepali, Spanish and Hindi).

So thats it's folks. Im here in Yangshuo, things are great, I'm loving life and psyched on spending
the next 12 - 18 months here while I am saving up for our epic Americas tour starting mid next year (check www.landoficetolandoffire.com if your not sure what that is yet...)...

Good times!!!

Our street

Our bar

My office

These pics below are for someone in particular... she know's who she is haha... much love babe

Back in the Yang!!!

2010-01-28T22:35:00.002+11:00

So kids, I am finally back here in Yansghuo to live, work and climb for a year or so... got back a bit less than a week ago after a week orso in Guangzhou with my friends down there... lots is oing on so I will post a proper story about things soon :)

A year in the life...

2010-01-08T18:11:00.003+11:00

08.01.10

A year in the life...

So, it has now been a year since I left the shores of Australia bound for fun and adventure in lands unknown so of course I feel somewhat obliged to reflect on what has been one of the most amazing years of my life and see what has made it such a great experience.
My journey saw me leave Australia and head straight for the brilliant white sand beaches of Thailand, then off to Vietnam to the breathtaking Ha Long Bay, then to Hong Kong and on to the endless karst towers of China's sublime Yangshuo, then I experienced the majesty of the Himalaya's in Nepal, then London in England for a touch of western civilisation, Glasgow in Scotland to see family and the rolling green country side, then to the pristine alps of Austria, Germany and Switzerland, on to the vinyards, alps and amazing forests of France, back to London then of course on to the chaos and contrast of India.
Each and every place I have been has had its ups and downs of course, with being robbed twice and injuring my shoulder being the worst of the downs. But there have been too many ups for anything to really keep me down. I have seen new cultures, seen amazing civilizations both old and new and seen the most beautiful landscapes. I have even kept my brain active with doing my TESOL Accreditation, becoming an Level 1 accredited Thai Massage Therapist, reading dozens and dozens of amazing books, learning how to play guitar alot better, improving my spoken French and learning reasonable amounts of Spanish, Nepali and Hindi and a little bit of Mandarin, Thai and Vietnamese.
But in the end the thing that has made this year what it has been is the people. From the locals to the tourists, the backpackers, climbers, guides, bar staff, chefs, guest house owners, porters, drivers, chai wallas, boat captains and everyone else I have met... but most importantly all the people I have spent considerable time with (there are many and you all know who you are)... the people I have climbed with, shared rooms with, endured trains, boats, rickshaws, buses and planes with... my friends. My year would not have been anywhere near as fulfilling without each and every one of you. My unending thanks and love to you all.
But of course what about the climbing? Well it has been a hard year for me on the climbing front with seemingly endless injuries from cutting my foot open to a minor A2 pulley problem to tearing my shoulder to an infection in my arm... but in between them I have had a blast on the rock.
I have climbed over 400 routes and boulder problems this year on granite, limestone and sandstone, seen climbing mecca's like Fontainebleau, Hampi, Yangshuo, the Swiss Alps, the Verdon Gorge and many more crags in between, gone sports climbing, deep water soloing, bouldering and trad climbing, single pitch, multi pitch and everything in between, bolted new routes and developed new boulder problems.
Have I climbed harder than I have in previous years? No. Am I a better climber because of this year? By a long shot, yes. I have learned alot about climbing this year including how to be patient with injuries and how to enjoy climbing even more than I already did.
So overall this year has been amazing for sooooo many reasons and it's hard to really express just how amazing, but it has without a doubt been one of the best and with my flight to China leaving India in 5 days time for me to move to Yangshuo to live and work as a adventure sports guide I am hoping it is going to be the first of many!
I miss all of you at home and I will see you all someday soon enough, until then Happy New Year and all my love :)

Here are a few more Hampi pics...

Yuli out at Cosmic Cave for Kevin's bday party

A trail of headlights winding their way to Cosmic Cave with the lights of Hampi behind

'This is Spartaaaaaa!!!!' - Vincent... Matt's hero and all round amazing caveman type guy

Tara climbing near the Rishmuk Plateau

Nic bouldering near the Rishmuk Plateau

Addi sending 'The Shield' 6C (or 'School Pen')

Nic sending 'The Shield'

More Hampi pics...

2009-12-09T18:16:00.002+11:00

Some more Hampi photos for you all :)

Yours truley...

Luc bouldering a 7A at Access Denied area

Rich bouldering a 7A at Access Denied area

Luc bouldering 'Access Denied' 6C

Luc on 'Sun Sloper' 7A at Access Denied area

India update - Finally!

2009-12-04T16:49:00.003+11:00

04.12.09

So it's been a while since I have written and I feel bad for being so lazy... but here it is, my last month in India.
Life in Hampi keeps rolling along nicely. Bouldering, yoga, relaxing, playing guitar... loads of fun with lots of great people. I have been plagued further with injuries though which is far from fun. My shoulder is much much better now and I started to climb well again but then I got a little drunk on Old Monk Rum, fell in a hole and cut my foot and toe open. So another 2 weeks off climbing for me to heal my foot. And to add to that I have a tweaked an A2 pulley in my right hand so I have to be careful of that too, but all that aside I am psyched and enjoying the climbing here.
While my foot was injured I decided to go on a little adventure with my friends Matt and Kristie and head up to Pune to visit the Osho Ashram there. Now the Ashram is hard to explain. It is a meditation Ashram but in a 5 star setting that is so amazing it is hard to explain. But, the actual workings and meditations in there... well... pisture a perfect blend of Zen Bhuddist Meditations and Jane Fonda workout tapes all located on the set of a Star Trek episode and with all the participants in matching Maroon or White cult style robes... interesting to say the least!
So now I am back in the Goan Corner in Hampi, relaxing and bouldering again with all my friends here. slowly but surely more and more friends are turning up ready for what is going to be an AMAZING Christmas and New Years... I cant wait!
Also, on the news front, I have locked in my new job for next year. I am psyched! Starting early February I will be working for China Climb based in Yangshuo in China! Guiding outdoor adventure sports all over China and living in a limestone sports climbing paradise for the year... its going to be amazing!
Psyched!!!

Highballing at Cosmic Cave

Baba Cafe

Luca at the Cosmic Cave

Wolfgang at the Cosmic Cave

Lewis at the Baba Cafe Boulders

The Rajastani Puppet Show

Bouldering at the Baba

Serious Chess time with Zoro

Einav b&w portrait

Nightime flash photography session

Some Halloween pics...

2009-11-02T15:43:00.002+11:00

A couple of Halloween Photos...

James aka Darth Maul

The gang :)

Amanda and Tim aka Gypsy Girl and Lawrence of Arabia

Me and my local friend Moses from Sanapur

Bloody Baksheesh

2009-11-02T15:39:00.001+11:00

So what a crazy day / night yesterday was...

Halloween... you know the drill. Get dressed up, go somewhere with a bunch of fun folk, get smashed, good times right? Wrong! Well, partially wrong. It was fun but wow what an epic.

Let me paint you a picture...

Crocodile Dundee (Me), The Incredible Hulk, Princess Leia, Darth Maul, 2 Wood Nymphs, William Wallace AKA Braveheart, Alex DeLarge (Clockwork Orange), Evil Indian Baba and a six foot tall Smurf all walked down the main street of Hampi getting stared at in disbelief by the locals then piled into a truck/taxi thing, drove through some small Indian villages to more disbelieving stares then arrived at our party destination some miles away.

We settled into the party with many other stangley dressed characters including Laurence Of Arabia, a Gypsy and a Playboy Bunny. Everything was set to be great fun... but it was not to be... Before dinner was even started the Police turned up. Now Indian Police can do whatever they like and make people pay 'baksheesh' or bribes. The took the lot. All the beer. The soft drinks. The food. The stereo. And 4 of the owners and staff. We were all stunned.

Long story short it cost the owners 86,000 Rupees (about 2000 CAD...) to bail out SOME of the staff and it still has to go to court. But wait. Why did this happen I hear you say? Well we got a friend to pick us up in a truck to drive us there and the Rickshaw Walla's (drivers) found out and were pissed about us not getting 2 rickshaws to take us so they called the cops on us, and if they call the cops in on a juicy 'baksheesh' they get a 20% cut on the action... pretty sh*t huh? So baksheesh was paid, party resumed... with a slight cautious edge to begin with the music started, dancing was had, bonfire was enjoyed... brilliant.

We slept in the resteraunt for a few hours at dawn and woke to find that lo a behond our 2 friends that organised the party had had their camera's, cash and phones stolen... YAY! I mean what the? Insult to injury huh? Luck was on their side though and later in the day our Indian friends found the kid that stole the stuff, returned it and are putting the thief on the first bus to his family in Calcutta.

Epic. Not really. This Is India.

Some Hampi Photos...

2009-10-28T16:57:00.004+11:00

Me and some babas

Sharon and a rest day bhang lassie ;)

Matt bouldering

Tom bouldering

Kate practicing Poi on the boulders

Lewis bouldering

Me bouldering

Amanda

Evenings in the Goan Corner

More soon... Promise!

2009-10-28T03:15:00.001+11:00

25.10.09

So its been a while but to be fair theres not alot to write. I mean, every day is amazing but now that we have settled into a routine it is easy to let time slide by without realising.
My shoulder is getting better slowly and I am climbing a fair bit now and have even bouldered up to 7A so there is hope for some hard sends yet! The climbing here is amazing. Sharp, crimpy, powerful, proud... awesome. Most days here are spent doing a lot of relaxing, blazing, swimming in the lake and then throw in some bouldering on the occasional sunrise or sunset and life is pretty darn good. More and more people are turning up here every day and the crew is growing and growing so its happy days. I will try and write a little story about life here in Hampi soon... promise!

Epics!

2009-10-08T21:05:00.002+11:00

08.10.09

You know those moments where you just stop for a second and think either 'what the hell am I doing here?' or 'god I love my life!'...? Well it seems to happen about every 5 minutes here for me. Let me tell you about my last week or so.
We have a good little team here. Me and Dave down in the Goan Corner, Nick, Scott and Ellie up in Shanthi and Elka up the hill... apart from the locals and a small band of Israelis thats the whole population of Hampi Island at the minute. The monsoon floods cut us off from the rest of humanity and with constant rain, no electricity and food running out things were getting everyone down on our little inland island. But a little bouldering in between the rain and some good company keeps the smiles on our faces.
Then, mid floods, my friend Camille and her friend Sandy arrived on the other side of the river. After 2 days of their arrival and no communication being possible I sucked it up and escaped the island to the Hampi bazaar on the other side of the river... 1 coracle ride (A little round boat), 1 car rooftop ride and 2 buses later I got there and after bumping into Elka, also stranded now on the main side of the river, we found Camille and Sandy and had a nice night in the town. Next day Camille and Sandy were heading to Goa, so a short lived reunion but a nice one, then after meeting some nice new Israeli friends Elka and I changed our plans of trying to get back to the island and took up an offer of our local friend Kieran to come spend the night out at his house in the banana plantation.
About 10 of us all told headed out to the plantation, watched sunset from ontop of some huge boulders, ate a great dinner off banana leaves under the stars by candle light, played and sang music then slept under the stars. What an amazing night. I spent one more night in Hampi Bazaar with my friends Roni and Gal, sleeping again under the stars on a rooftop in the centre of town under a clear sky and full moon then I headed back to our island which was still flooded in requiring a 3 hour round trip to get to a place only 500 metres across the flooded river. Epic. One night in my own bed then last night we headed off to the Monkey Temple.
A week ago it was Ellie's birthday but she was sick and it was raining so the festivities were postponed. With nicer weather and the river finally down we all grabbed some gear and headed up to the Monkey Temple, a temple perched on boulders atop a mountain, to camp for the night under the stars. The Baba's told us we could stay in the boulders so we watched the sun go down across one of the most stunning views in the world then found a little niche between boulders to camp in. A little fire, some music and great company and we were all having a great time.
Then it rained. Rubbish.
The rain forced us all to seek shelter under the front of the hut the Baba's sleep in. The Baba's didn't seem to excited about their new guests but they didn't seem to mind too much once one that spoke english chatted with us. So an uncomfortable nights sleep being slightly damp and occasionally waking to find a half naked Baba standing over us watching us sleep which caused us all to wake terrified everytime someone opened their eyes, saw the watchful Baba and screamed in fear only for the Baba to chuckle, say sorry then amble off into the night time boulders leaning on his walking staff. So this morning we made it back to our once again accessible island ready for some rest and relaxation.

Stop. Hammock Time.

Ellie before walking up to the Monkey Temple

Dave on the walk up

Its called the Monkey Temple for a reason

Yoga in the sunset on a mountain top... does it get better?

Sunset over paradise

Hampi...

2009-09-29T16:08:00.000+10:00

28.09.09

What an amazing place Hampi is! The crew and I stayed on the main bazaar side of the river for a few days and checked out the town then crossed the river to the Hampi Island side where I promptly fell in love with the place and have decide3d not to leave at all and just stay here and boulder for 4 months. Being seperated from the rest of the holy city by the river that can only be crossed in 1 boat (if it is running at all) makes things a bit more relaxed over here. We moved into the Goan Corner which is open but only partially while they finish renovations for the busy season, so we have a nice newly renovated room with an amazing view but for the moment have to walk a mile or so to go get food, but its not so bad. I have managed to get out bouldering a few times and my shoulder is feeling good! I am bouldering one session every second day and still doing rehab work and other stuff in the interim and hopefully that will help build up the strength in it well so I can boulder hard in another month or so, just need to take care of it and not rush myself. But all signs are pointing to Hampi being great fun all round... between the bouldering, the amazing views, the great people, the swimming hole, the rafting with the crocodiles and the adventurous mid monsoon storm rickshaw racing, things are looking to be a blast here!!!

More Hampi Pics...

2009-09-28T17:27:00.004+10:00

Some more Hampi photos for your viewing pleasure folks :)

Laura and Lois looking out over the Hanuman Temple

Laxmi the holy elephant

Will waiting for the river crossing

Waiting for the river crossing

Typical Hampi view

Lois walking to the boulders

Hampi bouldering

Will slacklining

A 24 hour what? Just what I needed!

Read the sign... we haven't seen crocodiles yet, but the locals reckon they dont bother you when your swimming... I hope they are right!

The swimming hole

Love this shot of Will haha

Heading East

2009-09-20T21:53:00.002+10:00

20.09.09

It's funny how your opinion of a place is entirely dependant on your experience. You can have a bad experience in an amazing place and form a bad opinion of it or have a good experience in a terrible place and have a high opinion of it. Goa was half half. It was a nice enough place and I had a good time with nice people. Day trips to different beaches, fun nights playing guitar and drinking Rum on my rooftop, general good times. But all good things must come to an end and with my friends Laura and Lois making a last minute extension to their time in India by changing flights we joined our other friends Dave and Will on a very last minute overnight bus to Hampi. Things started poorly.We all bused it with the locals from Anjuna to Mapusa then in some typical Indian style chaos Lois, Laura, Will and I ended up losing Dave and got herded onto a bus to Panjim where our overnight to Hampi would leave from. With all the bags aboard and no Dave in sight as the bus headed out of town Will lept from the bus as it slowed down at a round about to go find Dave and get him to Panjim while Laura, Lois and I were left with 5 peoples luggage to carry around then guard in the dark at the random back street bus station in Panjim. Finally the two boys turned up and reunited we all got aboard the sleeper bus to Hampi. Now I know I will be in Hampi bouldering for some months from November but this is just a fun 'tourist' stop with friends and a bit of a reconnosaince mission so I am familiar with the area when I come back. Today we have done sweet nothing apart from wander around town, register at the police station and buy the girls appropriate clothes... being a Holy City they cant really wear their skirts and singlet tops they wore in Goa without getting arrested haha.We will all hang out here for a week or so then I will head to the East coast to Chennai for a possible mission to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands! So much choice of destinations I dont know what to do!

Anjuna sunsets

Will on the sleeper bus

Dave getting cut throat shaved in Hampi

India, land of colour

The Hampi Bazaar

Go to India!

2009-09-17T16:01:00.002+10:00

13.09.09

Namaste (again) bitches!!!
Ah India... the land of colour and chaos. I had a fairly uneventful flight from London sitting next to a nice girl who was flying on the same connections as me to India and direct to Goa, the beachside party capital of India where her fiance picked us up from the Military airport (getting out of a plane infront of an Indian perched amoungst sandbags pointing a 20mm machine gun at you is an unsettling introduction to any airport...) at Goa and drove us on up to Calangute where I waited for buses to the beach of Anjuna, in the end I grabbed a taxi and was all checked into a little beachside room and relaxing with my feet up and a cold beer in hand as I watched a gorgeous sunset, the sun blazing orange and red as it slipped into the distant horizon of the India Ocean.
Anjuna Beach is interesting... if squalid is interesting. Its a 'sort of' pretty beach but the years of it being a party capital have obviously taken its toll with dilapidated building falling apart everywhere, trash (although thats not unusual seeing as this is India) and an all over run down look... and being low season there are few people around which is nice as the few people here have the place to ourselves. I don't think I will stay here long, just a few days to chill, maybe a week then probably head south to Palalem or maybe all the way to Ghorkana... we'll see... but for now it's nice enough to just relax a bit here first.

16.09.09

So despite it not being the prettiest beach in the world I am slowly becoming quite enamoured by Anjuna. It has been a fun couple of days. I met some nice people and we all got motorbikes and headed off up the coast for the day to Arambol, a pretty beach about a 40 minute ride from here. We dranks banana milshakes, ate fresh seafood, body surfed in the waves and generally had a great day. Today we are off to try and find the famous Anjuna Wednesday Markets to do a little shopping and general time wasting for a lazy day. I am still not going to stay long here I think, but probably till the end of the weekend then off to somewhere new... I'll keep you all posted!

Waiting for a bus to Anjuna from Calangute

Sunset from my room... jealous much?

Street cows

The restraunt at my place, sunset views and cheap Banana Rum Milkshakes :)

Ah, sunsets...

Leaving on a jet plane...

2009-09-12T00:13:00.002+10:00

11.09.09

So not much is going on at the moment... been a lazy week in London hanging out at the Hostel I am staying at, lunch's with my friend Ruthie, Dinner one night with my cousin Jess as well as lazy time with my new guitar... yep, I bought a nice new guitar and a hard case for taking it on planes, so now I can be a total hippie on the beaches of Goa with my guitar... can't wait :)

I fly out of London tonight so I will be on the Inidan beaches tomorrow afternoon... hopefully with more interesting news and photos soon!

Paris!

2009-09-06T19:06:00.004+10:00

6.09.09

So things went from bad to great to bad again.
After some amazing days bouldering in Fontainebleau my shoulder injury started playing up again and to top it off I have an injury in my other shoulder now too. So no more climbing for me for a while... back to the rehab action for me.
So Rob and I headed on up to Paris to help Sophie move into her new apartment and we hung out here for the weekend seeing some of the sights then for me its off to London this afternoon. I am sacking off Kalymnos seeing as I cant climb and instead I am going to go India and relax on the beaches of Goa and Ghorkana to rehab my injuries in the hope that I can boulder in Hampi later this year. Heres hoping!
So for now it is the end of the adventures of Rob and Duncan as I head to London and Rob is off to Kalymnos... but Im sure there will be more shenanigans together one day :)
Heres a few more Font photos and some from Paris...

Rod trying to fix the dent in our hire car

Rob at Bas Cuvier

More stereotypical Font slopers

Rob at Bas Cuvier

The Eiffel Tower

Outside the Louvre

The Arch de Triumph

Notre Dame

The Paris Underground

More photos from Fontainebleau!

2009-09-01T18:41:00.003+10:00

Cafe outside the old Palace in Fontainebleau

Mmmm... Cafe au Lait

Warming up at Franchard Isatis

Slopers...

Quintessential Font Sandstone

Slopey topouts are the name of the game

But there are also the slabs...

And the crimpy faces...

Rob in out little hotel room

Me with our "4 euro for 5 litres" plastic cask of wine and the Sangria we make from it :)

2009-08-30T05:04:00.002+10:00

29.08.09

Part 4 - SUCCESS!!!

After all our disasters so far we seem to have finally found our niche in the beatiful boulder strewn autumnal forests of Fontainbleau! This place is absolutely amazing and we haven't seen even 5% of what it has to offer... In 2 days we have been to 4 of the big famous areas: Bas Cuvier, L'Elephant, Cul De Chien and Roche Aux Sabots and I have climbed 50 problems so far, all of which were stella. There is a quantity of crags and problems here beyond any sense of reality... you really can't appreciate how amazing it is until you come here.I could gush about it endlessly but instead, here are a couple of pics (we have been so excited we forgot the camera's a few times so its only pics from Cul De Chien...)

Duncan & Robs Bogus (French) Journey!!!

2009-08-28T07:26:00.002+10:00

Duncan & Rob's Bogus Journey (Or: How to not go climbing in France...)

24.08.09

Part 1 - In the beginning...

After the decadence of our previous 10 days in Sablet lounging by the pool, drinking wine (we went through 80 litres all up haha), eating amazing food and enjoying fantastic company Rob and I headed off to try and enjoy the limestone multipitch climbing in the Gorges Du Verdon. From the outset we were doomed...
We Trained our way to Marseille with all the girls, said our goodbyes then trained it to Manosque. Walking for hours in all the wrong directions with all our stuff we still could not find a place to stay until a lovely lady drove us to a campground were we huddled into my small 2 man tent, watched a movie then passed out. Waking the next mornng we walked the several miles back into town only to find that not only was Manosque the wrong town to go to in order to get to the town we need to get to (La Palud dans Le Gorges Du Verdon) but also that we could catch a bus to the right town but then still can't get to La Palud until tomorrow... which means it is going to take us 3 days to get somewhere that can be driven in about 5 hours... Good to see we are off to a good start!

24.08.09

Part 2 - Can you spell 'epic'...???

Oh my god, Where the f*ck are we? That is what I just said as opened this to write the rest of todays epic adventures and 5 million cars started beeping their horns outside the window of the dingy little room Rob and I have for the night right across the street from the Marseille train and bus station. Marseille I hear you say? But didn't you leave there yesterday? Hmmmm... yes we did.
Here's what happened. Rob and I left the lovely town of Manosque, a town full of lovely people that talked to us despite our terrible French (Je parle Francais une pur...) and helped us at every turn (one old man walked us all the way through town when we were lost, one woman drove us to the campsite for no reason other than to be friendly and one other older woman chatted for ages at the bus stop with us and interpeted the announcements for us), we headed to the quaint town of Peyrolles on the bus where we had been advised by the bus station staff we could catch a bus to LaPalud, albeit the next day. We got off at Peyrolles only to find the that there didn't seem to be such thing as a bus to LaPalud from Peyrolles and that the Tourism Office was closed on Monday's (note to self - EVERYTHING is closed in Provence on Sundays and Mondays... dont travel on those days in future!). Now, this was ok as we could catch a bus to Aix-En-Provence or Marseille and start again from scratch, BUT, oh look... no bus untill 7:30pm... it was midday... how do you pass a day in Provencal France on a Monday? Drink cheap wine and eat baguettes of course! So thats what we did... until the bus came, we got on, ended up in Marseille desperate for a bed and a shower. So thats how we have ended up in the WORST hotel you could ever pay $70 for, right on a main road outside the Marseille St Charles Train Station...
Epic. That's how you spell it.

27.08.09

Part 3 - From f*cked up to Fontainbleau...

From where to where??? I'll explain.
So waking up in our disgusting excuse for a room in Marseille we exited first thing and ran to the train station only to find that no buses went to the Verdon from there today... ghey. Right so, what to do? After some debating we bit the cheapskate bullet and hired a car. By 2pm we were on the road in our silly looking but perfect little Fiat Qudo and heading to the Gorges du Verdon!
We arrived that evening and after scouting town for some fresh baguettes and a beer we went to camp on the edge of the gorge. When we saw what we had gotten ourselves into we nearly needed a change of underwear. The Verdon Gorge is ENOURMOUS! Huge towering walls of grey and oragne limestone up to 500 metres high... scary stuff. So we camped the night on the edge of the gorge then in the morning, armed with photos of the guidebook from the local guide store and a brief description of how to get to our selected crag, we headed off to climb some big wall limestone.
True top form we got lost. We found a descent roughly where we thought it should be, down 150m of fixed ropes and into the gorge. But where were the routes??? We found one with nice shiny new bolts and decided 'stuff it - lets just do that one...' but it was a project that hadn't even been cleaned yet so after getting scared on the first half of the first pitch sliding around on loose rock I bailed off and we climbed back up the fixed ropes instead.... fail.
We drove around and realized our mistake. Wrong descent. So we had beers and sangria then retired on top of the gorge again for the night ready to do it properly tomorrow. But wait, whats that? Thunder? Lightning? Rain!!! Argh!!!! So long story short we got rained out of the gorge and had an uncomfortable nights sleep in the car again.
So what to do? Wait for the crag to dry out in a day or two and start again? Bail? Yep, bail. But where? We wanted to climb Mt Blanc but discovered that it costs a fortune to catch the cable cars up so that was canned... so... FONTAINBLEAU!!! We woke up early and after many a wrong turn and "oops, I think the map was upside down" type moments we finally arrived in the bouldering mecca of Fontainbleau just south of Paris and are holed up in a neat little hotel room. Tomorrow we will try and get out and do some bouldering... lets hope our luck has improved...

Baguettes and Rose in Peyrolles

In our little car finally!

This is literally what we tried to use as a guide... this photo...

The streets of La Palud Sur Verdon

Looking into the gorge before our epic

Rob during the fixed rope descent

What do you do when its railing and your stuck in your car? Drink Sangria!!!

Where to now???

Half wild Verdon goats... better climbers than we are... sad but true...

Road tripping through the south of France to Paris wia the edge of the Alps

Baguette, Camembert... Jacque Cousteau!!!

2009-08-22T01:07:00.005+10:00

21.08.09

What did you do today? I woke up to fresh coffee, climbed a mountain, went rock climbing, ate amazing food, walked through vineyards, swam in the pool, had dinner in a beautiful little French village, drank wine and smiled and laughed all day with amazing friends... not much more to tell really... just the same old usual daily routine here :P

Poolside

Hard life...

Dinner time in Sablet!

Bday girl and bday cake

The view from the top of the Dentelles

Summit Team

Me climbing in the Dentelles

2009-08-17T20:09:00.002+10:00

17.08.09

After my first apprehensions about Europe my fears of not really enjoying it here have been well and truely negated. After having a great time in Salzburg including a nice day of sports climbing at a great little limestone crag called Plomberg, Nina and I headed West on our way to Switzerland. We stopped off for a night in The Zillertal Valley where I went for a boulder at Kaseler Alm. Then it was through Innsbruck and into Switzerland. Arriving at Magic Wood I set up my nice little tent that I bought and settled in to the camp. All the crew arrived by the next day and with Nina, myself, the Slovenian Crew , Lily, Jon, Bernie and more it was an amazing few weeks of bouldering in the forest. Magic wood is amazing, it is a beautiful alpine valley with a glacial river and pretty pine and blueberry forests full of amazing gneiss boulders, truely and amzing place. The bouldering was spectacular, the scenery amazing, the people fantastic.... good times!Then two days ago it was trains and buses from the Swiss Alps all the way to the south of France! Sophie picked me up at the Avignon train station and drove me out to their beautiful family home near Sablet in the Provence region... rolling hills of vineyards and olive groves, pretty old villages and their house is a beuatiful renovated old home one a hill with a massive pool with a diving board with stunning views of the farms and cliffs around us. Plus it is over 35 degrees and clear blue skys... a true mediteranean summer... so its beer, wine, cheese, baguettes, pate and hordes of pretty girls in bikinis by the pool for the next week... I love my life!

The campsite view in the Zillertal

Me bouldering in Kaseler Alm, Zillertal

MAGIC WOOD!!!

The MW Crew... much love :)

Me bouldering in Magic Wood

Do YOU highball??? Bernie in MW

Tobi and Nina, classic 6C in MW