Classic or Plastic?

Or both?

The weekend was a bit of a blur for me... an awesome afternoon bouldering on saturday followed by an overly long night of partying that saw sunday as a write off... but it was a good laugh :-)

Saturday arvo we headed to Pierce's Creek for a shot on the classic 'Public Enemy' v7 at the Playboy Mansion.. and finally Russell hiked it and I followed suit a short while later... it was a great time.. such a great problem, perfect sunny but cool conditions... everything autumn climbing is about!

We played on a problem at Cohiba for a while after that as the sun set then headed off for beers and shenanigans.

This week has also seen the completion of the the new climbing gym here in Canberra and its really good! Great bouldering / training set up and a great set up for all your top roping and leading desires too... and being only a few hundred metres from my work I can see a lot of training time being spent there this winter!

Heres a few pics from the weekend:

Russell and Richo at Cohiba


Me at Cohiba

Sunset over Canberra

One year on...

So today, 1st May, is exactly a year since we all got back into climbing after many years off, and its been a fun year!

I have met some great new people, reunited with some special old friends and had a great time all round.

Everyone in our crew has come so far with their climbing in such a short time and its only making me more psyched than ever... I'm really inspired at the moment, and with so many problems out there that I am keen to do this winter and the new climbing gym due to open basically next door to my work I am sure its going to be a great winter season :-)

Heres to another killer year on the blocs!

Bungonia

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

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

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

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

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

Heres a few pics, enjoy...

The view from one of the lookouts

No explanation needed...

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

Sunset at Jerrara Lookout

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

Ooooo Yeah Baby!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Heres some pics from the weekend, enjoy!

Josh warming up on 'The Joker'

Me on 'Spruce Moose'


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


Russell hanging tough on 'Fraud Landis'

Me on 'Blood Makes Noise'

Another day on the hill

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

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

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

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

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

Heres a few pics, enjoy :)

Danny on O'Ren Ishi

Russell on Rumspringa

Big day on a big hill...

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

Russell on 'Vendetta'

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

My injured face

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

Russell getting ready to try 'Aspen Armour'

Russell on 'Aspen Armour'

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

The view from Cantaloupe Hill

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

Hope you all had a great weekend!

V for Vendetta

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

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

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

Heres a few pics, enjoy!

Russell on 'Vendetta'

Josh on 'Vendetta'

Another great weekend

This weekend was another top one! On both saturday and sunday we headed to an old and rarely visited group of boulders near Snake Rock on Corin Dam Road and they were awesome!

We did nearly 20 different problems from about v0 to v5, all of which were really nice climbing on nice featured granite... it is a great little crag!

I will get some pics up soon when I get them off Russell as I forgot my camera on both days haha

Easter: Part 2

Yesterday was another great day! Richo and I headed out to Red Rocks in the morning and had a great session out there. We both started off by doing a classic v4 called 'Snake Bite' then another nice easy but tricky problem.

Richo getting ready for 'Snake Bite' v4

After that we went and jumped on an amazing v6 arete called 'Smoothie' which I did after falling of the crux jump a few times.

Me on 'Smoothie' v6

We left Red Rocks in the early afternoon and had a bite of lunch before heading out to Cantaloupe Hill on Corin Dam Road to try a nice v7 there called 'Vendetta'. We made some good progress on it but were too tired to get close enough to it.

We stopped on the way home at Snake Rock to check out the bouldering there for next time and found that it has some great blocs and some cool looking lines so we will be definitely go there soon. We also decided to go for a bit of a four wheel drive up to an old and mostly forgotten crag called Castle Hill. After a bit of a drive we arrived on top of an amazing mountain covered in granite boulders with a sensational view over the valleys of Canberra below. We did a couple of very easy problems and cant wait to get back there soon to explore the place properly. Apparently there was at one time in the past about 100 cataloged problems there but it has been lost to history except for numbers marking each problem at the base of the boulders (we only found problem number 32 so there are many more to find). We cant wait to get back up there!

An example of the boulders and the view at Castle Hill
(And the access, see how close you drive to the blocs! Talk about lazy haha)

Me about to do a nice easy problem on Castle Hill

Easter: Part 1

So here it is, Easter, Good Friday and the first good (cold) conditions we have had in months!
Today was a nice cool day so Richo, Danny and I headed to Pierces Creek. First stop was the tumblers and we all did a nice highball v4 face / slab to start with.

Richo on the nice highball v4 at The Tumblers

Then after playing on a few other things Danny made quick work of the v6 version of 'Tonka Truck'

Danny on 'Tonka Truck' v6

Then we headed up to the Playboy Mansion were I jumped on 'Violent Crumble' v6 and did it first shot no problem at all, then did another lap on it for good measure haha. This was the problem I hurt my hamstring on several weeks ago so I was happy to do it so easily. It is also listed as being a v8 called 'Respect Is Burning' in the guide but that problem no longer exists since the fires so it is basically a whole new problem, hence the new name.

After that we all sent the highball crack line on the main boulder that finishes right as for Public Enemy. I nabbed the first ascent and called it 'High On Crack' and its about v4/5.

Richo getting 'High On Crack' v4/5

We all then jumped on 'Public Enemy' and had a really good session on it. Danny got nearly to the arete and the end of the hard section and Richo and I managed to do all the moves for the first time ever. We are all really psyched to get back there soon for another burn now that we know we can do it!

The weather is meant to be great for climbing all this weekend so watch this space for more updates soon!

Hot, hot, hot

Well another scorching weekend with very little climbing to be done.
Its mid 30 degrees every day at the moment so no climbing for us... might have to go for a night boulder tonight.. we will see how things pan out...

Woo Hoo!!!

My knee is ok!!!

Richo and I went out to check out some blocs he had found at Pierces Creek and we ended up having a boulder at The Tumblers where we both sent both the v5 and v6 variants to 'Tonka Truck' after a few shots.

I have to be careful with my knee as I can still feel where it is not fully repaired but it is ok to boulder on so long as I don't do any heel hooks :-)

So yeah, a fun day off, a few nice sends, now I'm enjoying a nice cold beer and then its only one day of work tomorrow then a 3 day weekend... life is good!

Torn hamstring...

So yesterday Richo, Russell and I had a great day out at Pierces Creek bouldering at the tumblers and the Playboy Mansion... then towards the end of the day we were figuring out the sequence on a project when I tore my hamstring while using a tough heel hook that is part of the sequence we figured out...

So looks like I'm out of action for a while :-(

Will keep you all posted on how it heals... if its not too bad of a tear it may only take a week or so to heal... but only time will tell...

Comps, gyms and weekend happenings

Last weekend I headed up to the first round of the NSW Bouldering Series... I went in B Grade and had a ripper of a time bouldering with a heap of mates, old and new :)
The Open finals were great fun to watch with a tight battle between Marc Edwards and Chris Webb, with Chris just managing to pip Marc at the post... great to watch all the guys and gals on the finals problems :)
Went for a surf on the sunday.. but I am still such a terrible surfer that I got hammered the entire time and didn't catch a single wave haha

It looks like the new climbing gym here in Canberra is coming along well... its being built in Hume and should be opening march or april... and it looks like it will be a cool gym, the design ideas are well cool... keen as for a new training venue close to home!

Well, I'm off... going to clean my car and then head out for a boulder at Pierces Creek... might put a bit of work into 'Public Enemy' at the Playboy Mansion.. we'll see...

Here is a pic of Chris on one of the finals problems.. enjoy :)

A quickie...

Hey all :-)

Headed out to George's Boulder and Cantaloupe Hill on the weekend... Danny got up a rad highball arete on George's Boulder that is about v5 and has a tough finish... I also managed to do the lower (sit) start into 'The Joker' up on Glitz Rock at Cantaloupe Hill ... it only adds 2 moves but they are 2 tough ones which make it about v7 from the original v6... There is a further extension from the big flake to the right but meh... thats enough for me :-)

I'm going up to Sydney to go in the first round of the NSW Bouldering Series on saturday so I'll let you all know how that goes.

See ya!

Finally!

Yesterday afternoon I headed out to Pierces Creek with Steph for a quick boulder and I managed to finally do 'Gastagon', a v7 at Cohiba... So I'm well chuffed at the moment!

I wasn't sure if I should head out as I was a little tired because I went to the pool before hand and swam 3kms, but I'm glad I headed out regardless!
I have been hitting the pool a fair bit lately actually... swimming 1km or so a few nights a week which is making me feel great and a lot fitter so I'll be keeping it up :-)

Well, today we are heading out to Pierces Creek again to try a few things... will let you know how it goes!

Its been a while... again

So its been far too long since I wrote in here... mainly due to laziness I guess haha

The first month of the year is gone already and has seen its share of fun. Richo, Danny, Josh and I have been heading up into the hills to find cooler temps at Mt Coree and Hollywood a bit of late... thats right folks... roped climbing... something I have not done in a long time! But its been well fun, and I have managed to redpoint routes up to 25 which I am really happy about :-)

We also jumped on a rope in the blistering heat at Red Rocks last weekend which was fun too, as well as going down the rapids on blow up pool toys haha.

There has been a bit of bouldering too... North Black, Pierces Creek, Red Rocks and Hollywood.. but only when the heat allows really...

Hopefully there will be a heap more action on the blocs as the weather cools done over the next few months leading up to Easter!

I promise I'll be back in here writing more often from now on... no more being lazy haha

Happy New Year!

Well its a new year and the silly season is almost behind us... Steph and I have spent a few days down the coast with the family where I managed to catch a few waves finally haha (I think I have now gone from being a terrible surfer to being a beginner surfer haha)

We have managed to squeeze in some late evening bouldering once the days cool down, bouldering during the day in 30 odd degree sun is impossible...

But its been fun and I managed to get up a v6 out on Corin Road on boxing day and last night I saw in the new year with a quick ascent of 'Ronaldo' v7 out at the Playboy Mansion at Pierces Creek :-)

We are going to head out again this evening so then its back off to work again tomorrow...

Hope you all had a merry christmas and a happy new year!

Sydney, Surf & Sandstone

Its been quite times lately with the bizarre summer weather we are having stopping most attempts to get out bouldering... hot and wet is not exactly great bouldering conditions unfortunately!
I headed to Sydney for the weekend and had a fun afternoon trying to surf at Maroubra Beach on saturday (meaning I spent several hours getting smashed by big waves and not getting up on a single one of them haha)
Then on sunday Chris, Teegan, Marcus and I headed to The Fear Factory for a few hours of fun bouldering where we all managed to get up a few nice problems as well as get shut down by some hard highball slabs... fun in the sun :-)

Well, I will post some pics up again soon, for now were off to boulder at Pierces Creek... Until then, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

Have fun and keep safe!

Its been a while...

So it has been a while since I last posted... but with good reason... summer is here so its pretty warm, plus we have had more rain recently than we have had in years... So its been hot, wet and humid most of the time for a few weeks now... Not exactly bouldering weather unfortunately.

We did manage to get out to North Black and do a few problems today, and I fell at the end of a nice v6 so I'm keen to get back out and try it again soon.

Steph and I are off to the beach tomorrow for a swim and a surf / skimboard... Hopefully I will have some more climbing news soon :-)