KAILAS: Rock Searching 2012

So as I mentioned previously we have started on KAILAS: Rock Searching 2012 - our epic trip around China to develop new climbing areas and make a film about it. The trip will be taking us to Yangshuo, Le Ye, Hua Shan and Guangzhou to develop new routes and have a blast doing so.
The team is made up of a group of us that are all sponsored athletes on the Kailas team as well as some support crew and our photographer / videographer.
To start we opened a whole new crag in Yangshuo called 'Golden Riverside' where we put up a whole swag of new sport routes: 13 single pitch routes from 5.9 to 5.14 and 2 multipitches.
Morgan and I worked together to establish an awesome new moderate multipitch called 'Bless You In The Face' with 4 pitches going at 5.8, 5.9, 5.10 and 5.11 which tops out the huge wall of Golden Riverside with amazing views across the Yu Long River valley - superb!
After Yangshuo we headed to western Guanxi Province to a place called Le Ye where we are in the middle of developing some epic big caves that are stacked with endless options of routes through tufa and stalactite studded roofs. Such an amazing crag!
Here are some pics from the Yangshuo leg of the trip all taken at Golden Riverside, enjoy!

 

Some of the team. From left to right: Superman, Abond, Toni Arbones, Me!, Xiao Ting, Spiderman Paul, Simone, Zhang Yong, CJ Neff, Morgan Gerlitz

Me cleaning some holds on my route 'Fat Monkey', maybe about 5.13

Me working out the moves on my route 'White Men Can't Jump', 5.12+

Me leading pitch 2 of 'Bless You In The Face'  - Check out the amazing view down the Yu Long River valley!

Hands free on pitch 2 of 'Bless You In The Face'

Morgan and I scoping out pitch 3 of 'Bless You In The Face'

Morgan leading pitch 3 of 'Bless You In The Face'

And again

And again...

And one more  :)

More shenanigans and the beginning of the Kailas Road Trip!!!

So it's all go right now. Things are crazy busy! As I have mentioned before I recently go sponsored by Kailas, the major outdoor company here in China (check them out at www.kailas.com.cn) and it has been great. Lot's of awesome clothing and climbing hardware. So psyched!

As part of the deal we have arranged an amazing trip to 4 or 5 places around China and a small group of us including myself, fellow Kailas athlete Toni Arbones (Mr Siurana himself, if you have been to Spain you know who I am talking about), Abond and some other folk along with a professional film crew that is making a movie about us! Super excited!

We are currently developing a whole new cliff here in Yangshuo then we are heading off to Luo Ye in Guanxi Provence, then Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain) near Xi'an, then to a place in Hangzhuo... and to top it off right in the middle of the trip Morgan, my friend CJ, and I get to head to a competition near Lhasa in Tibet for a few days! So amped to see Tibet for the first time!

So it's all go. Watch this space for more and more pics as the trip progresses!

Here's a few pics of this week.

First up it was Morgan's 25th Bday recently (Happy Birthday babe xo) and here are some photo's we took that day of her on her first 5.13a send. 'Rock N Rolla' at Swiss Cheese Crag.

And here are some photo's from recent times including us bolting out at the new crag we are developing in Yangshuo for the Kailas trip.

Some pics...

So I know I haven't been posting much of late but that's more due to laziness than nothing going on. I have been out training and trying some hard routes (hard for me anyway) in the hopes of some late season sends before it gets too hot to climb here.
But there have been a few things going on, not the least of which is that I just got sponsored by Kailas, THE major gear company here in China, I have a swag of gear on its way in the post right now so a more detailed post about that coming up soon  :)

For now, here's a few pics of some random stuff from recent times, enjoy  :)

@ Lei Pi Shan

With the pics of me in Simon Carter's new book

@ The Old Goat

Dave Gliddon riding stalactites at The Old Goat

In the car on the way to Guangzhou to meet the new sponsors and boulder in a local comp

Early morning hangboard session

More chasing the Dragon...

Another day, another few attempts on a project  :)

Here are some photo's from my friend Muriel of me trying Red Dragon 8a+/5.13c up at Moon Hill... getting closer, hopefully I'll send it soon enough!

Petzl Roc Trip 2011 video!

Hi guys!

Here's an awesome video from the 2011 Petzl Roc Trip at Getu He here in China.
Awesome music and editing from my good buddy, Vladimir.
Watch it!

Monday psyche!

Here's a little video to keep you all psyched on a Monday morning  :)

Enjoy!

The Canberra Invasion and other stuff...

So I have been a little lacking in the blogging department of late but a few things have gone of lately that are worth a little spray and with the season here in full swing no doubt there will be a lot more to talk about really soon.
So the biggest thing I have had go on lately is the 2 week visit by 3 of my best old buddies from Canberra. Josh, Danny and Wells all headed over for a few weeks of limestone crushing and some excessive consumption of Jack Daniels which was a barrel of laughs. The boys crushed rigs all over the place, lot's of quick sends at all the major crags and some night time debauchery at the bars that doesn't need to be discussed in public haha.
It was amazing to have some of my oldest friends finally come and visit me here in my home away from home here in Yangshuo so it was a fantastic couple of weeks. Thanks boys!
Once the hang over of their visit had cleared I headed out to Swiss Cheese crag with my wonderful girlfriend Morgan to try a classic crimpy face route called 'The Slackline Incident' which goes at 7c / 5.12d / 27. I managed to bag it on my 3rd go after punting off the last hold on my second go. Crimpy face climbing isn't my best style so I am stoked to have done a few more hard-ish lines in this style lately. I have one more route to go and I will have ticked the whole crag there... Psyched!!!
Rest day today then off for some more projecting tomorrow.
I am starting another long training cycle right now for what I have dubbed 'Project 32' which is, as I have mentioned before, my goal of trying to climb my age this year, which is 32 in Ozzie grades, so the brutal training has begun! I will be posting a lot more training stuff up soon on www.athletebychoice.blogspot.com  so go and check it out!
Psyched!
Duncan.

Vertical Life is born!!!

So the day has finally arrived... the new magazine 'Vertical Life' is here! It is an amazing multi media magazine coming out of Australia that I am very proud to be lending a little bit of a hand to with training articles and climbing content from Asia.
So go and check it out at www.verticallifemag.com.au
Read the mag, tell your friends, get psyched! And as always, feedback on my articles in there is greatly appreciated. So go check it out!

Spring has sprung!

Hi peeps!

So I've been a bit quiet over the winter posting wise around here but now the spring season is here and things are picking up. I spent the winter mainly finger boarding as I don't like climbing in the cold so much but now it is warming up and we are back on the rock. I am a little bit out of endurance shape but that is coming back quick with lap days at the crag and training on our new bouldering wall here (pics soon) so things are good.
I started out the season with a reasonably quick ascent of a fantastic near vertical, crimpy little test piece at the 'Swiss Cheese' crag called 'Rock N Rolla' which goes at 5:13a (7c+ or 28) so I feel like that is a good start to the season, but I have a long way to go... my goal this year is to try and climb my age in Australian grades and seeing as I just turned 32 years old that is a big ask (32 is 5.14a or 8b+). I have a route in mind that is my style and I have some 30's and 31's that I have tried that I hope to get along the way so it's going to be a big year of training, training, training and hopefully crushing!
Speaking of training, look out next week for the first edition of Vertical Life Magazine, a new magazine in Australia that I am writing training articles for... I'll hook you all up with links when it's out next week  :)

Here's looking at you, kid!
Duncan

Some slacklining

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

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...

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

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

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...

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...

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

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...

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

Some videos for the morning...

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

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 :)