Almost 2011, what will it bring?...... How about a CLIMBING GYM

2011 is almost here. This coming year should put Newcastle back on the climbing map. A few people have gone in together to build from ground up Newcastle's ONLY climbing gym. This gym will be excellent. The people building it have a great idea on shapes and the dynamics of climbing. The gym atmosphere should be amazing as Newcastle has such an array of people and abilities. I cannot wait to get in there and get a great scene going. Watch out Sydney squads cause Novocastrians will be coming through the ranks. The website can be viewed here:

http://www.pulseclimbing.com.au/

On a personal note, I have been keeping in shape but have tapered back a little on the climbing as it has been an extremely busy time for me. Elevated temperatures also contribute to the decrease in training. I finished my 3rd yr in my degree this year, so exams were intense followed by a month prac placement followed by more assignments and finally the Christmas period. I have been surfing quite a bit and have seen good improvements in my skills which is great. For 2011 I have a few goals (both routes and bouldering) and a few trips in the making. I am hoping if all goes according to plan to organise a great trip once I finish my degree. Until then, see you round,
Cheers.

Just a bit of an update

Well, it's been heating up a bit lately, well except for today. It has been raining here in Newcastle for close to 12hrs. On the climbing front, I have been keeping in OK shape training at ECAT in Sydney and also on my wall here in Newcastle. I have not been out on rock for a little while as it's getting warm and would rather get some good training in as conditions would not be great. In the next couple of months there is a possibility of a few trips down to the Grampians in December and also in January next year. I do have quite a few little projects I would like to complete down there, but until then it's likely to be training indoors (with the occasional outdoor trip) and surfing.

Day trip to Nowra

I decided to do a quick day trip down to Nowra from my home town of Newcastle. Yes, that's right, Newcastle. This is a 4.5hr drive for me, so 9hrs all up. With this kind of drive you would hope for some kind of success. Well it turned out to be a ripper of a day. Conditions were a cool 17 degrees with a nice wind the whole day. I wanted to finish off a problem at Cheesedale called "Jug to Jug" V11. Previously, this problem was stout V9 however, a good two finger pocket was filled and is no longer there to pull on. Now its a big move to a slope with a difficult match. I tried this problem on the weekend of T10 and found it hard initially until finally my body got used to the moves. I got super close that day but unfortunately it did not go. I thought if I don't organise to get back down to Nowra soon I may have to wait for ages as it is so far and ill be busy soon. Conditions were so good, and I knew the moves and I was confident it would go down. After a quick warm up and a few stretches I sent it. Have a look at the vid to see it. A big thanks goes to Pete Webster (champ in the background) for half the driving. Without him it would have been difficult for me to get down there for a day trip.

Banana Rama

Hairy Joe's Banana Shack, V11.

It is finally Uni holidays, after a long term I finally was free to get out on the blocs once again before it starts to get hot. I decided to head down to the Villas once more to finish off "Hairy Joe's Banana Shack". I tried this problem after Contact however, it got hot so I knew I would have to come back to finish it off. I knew I would be racing the sun and did not have very much time, luckily for me by 11:30 it was done. This is a super simple problem (I mean easy to work out), just one hard move at the start then up a scoop to a jug finish. The first move is the hardest with a big lock/dead point to a good edge, the first time I did this move I fell off the last move going to a big victory jug. I was shattered and made sure that was not going to happen again. The second time I did the move everything went according to plan and it was done. Hopefully there is more to come in the holidays, however it is warming up quickly so time to get out there then hit the surf.

Contact RHV V12 goes down.

The Villas, a Sutherland crag with everything to keep a boulderer happy. This place is so good, its got a nice scene to it being right next to the river in bushland. With steep powerful climbing to techo slabs this place has it all. I have been going here on the odd day here and there with my sites on Contact and numerous other projects. After coming back from Nowra one day, I decided to stop here and give Contact ago. That same day I nearly did it, I went from matching the undercling/pinch to the top. All I had to do was one move onto the undercling and then match, from here I had done it and thought it would be sweet. Thing is everytime I went back there to try and send it, I would either injury myself OR conditions were terrible and simply pulling on would be an achievement in itself. Last time I was there I injured my ankle quite badly so I could not go back until it had healed. Anyway, after my ankle had healed enough I thought I would go back and have a burn on it. After warming up I pulled on only to feel that my ankle had not fully healed and was still sore. I was shattered but thought I would tough it out and see if it got better the more I warmed up. Lucky for me this was the case, I ended up sending it after some slight modifications regarding foot placement. This is great and I am super happy, I have had numerous other injuries lately all of which I have been scared may become worse, so I am happy to have this ticked off even though it took longer than anticipated.

Quick day in Nowra

Sexy Nuggets V9

Bit of a quick trip to Nowra and back. After an election party on the Saturday night, Sunday I woke eager to get to Nowra to climb a few things and get some fitness training in. Once again it was myself with my brother Dwayne. After a quick warm up at Rosies I decided to try a link I had my eye on at Lott 33. The link starts at "Sexy Rexy" V8 which is just to the right of "Special Delivery", it then heads right, and right again, and a little bit more to link into "Nappy Nuggets" V8. This is a quite long boulder, all up it is around 21 moves and no doubt is a bit of a pumper. The hardest part of it I guess is the very last punch into a gaston at the end of "Nappy Nuggets". It is called "Sexy Nuggets" and I graded it V9. I think it is solid at that as its definitely harder than the original V8 but probably not as hard as 10. It is a cool boulder and I'd recommend it to anyone. After this, I did a few laps on Ain't No Sunshine and attempted Crenshure Boulevard at South Central. That route is amazing, whilst very very overlooked, the moves are so rad. Maybe before the season has ended it will be in the basket.

Loving the Climbing

Turbo Guns V10

Another fine weekned at Nowra, the weather was perfect, heaps of people and a great atmosphere. I had a few things on my mind this trip and was keen to polish off a few things. First stop was Cheesedale. I had been on Turbo Guns previously after trying a few other routes and had found the start quite hard (most likely cause I cant fit my fat fingers in the pockets very well). Anyway, after seeing my brother send his first lead (which was great) I decided to give it a crack. I managed to send Turbo Guns V10 on my first shot that day. I was pretty happy with this as I'd been on it previously and found it difficult. In the meantime a friend Norry was ever so close to putting "Non dairy cheese like substitute" 30/31 to bed, unfortunately that day came in short.

The next day after another night in front of a fire drinking Jack we were heading to Rosies. Here I was able to snatch an ascent of "Hooter Paradise" 31. This is the direct line to "Aloha Paradise" starting up "Lucious Hooters", a powerful and steely 26. The route is so good, amazing in fact, pockets, crimps, slopes and even a crux sideways dyno! After this my brother and myself smashed ourselves bouldering at Lott33. So all in all I'm super happy with the weekend. Photos will be posted once I get em, thanks to Dwayne for his handy camera work.

Sydney Bouldering

On Sunday I had organised to meet my good friend Chris once again for a bit of a session at Crumbly in Sydney. I was keen to send a new addition to the crag put up by Webby. The new line starts as for "Abacus" and heads left onto the rails on "Sushi Train" and continues left towards the start of "Mushi Brain". The meat of the line is right at the end where your pretty spanned out having to latch a small gaston crimp. I had tried this line after climbing at another crag and also 2nd day on after a big day at Nowra. I was keen to get on it with fresh skin and a fresh mind. After a few stretches and chin-ups I managed to send "Life Changes" V11 on my first go that day. The line is fantastic and climbs really well. Chris managed to repeat many things too, pretty much Chris can run laps on anything in the crag!!! I also managed to send "Chaos & Disorder" V11 that same day later in the afternoon. Originally V10 apparently it has changed as a crucial hold snapped off. All in all a great day, perfect conditions with a great friends. Photos will hopefully be done soon, I will post them up once I get them.

Cheers, have a great day.

Been such a long time.

Top: Me on "Turbo Guns" V10. Photo by Dwayne Tosen. Bottom: Me on "Combat Wombat" V11 Photo by Duncan Brown.

I have decided to try to keep this thing up to date for once. I guess a lot has happened in the last few months, and more will be happening in the months to come. Ok, once again I have had quite a lot of time off. I went to Japan snowboarding in December as part of my honeymoon, and was able to check out one of the gyms there too. I was able to stay quite strong in Japan and was quite close to sending Pooferator 31 in the mountains one I returned to Australia. However, once again this climb shut the door on me yet again. I feel so frustrated with this climb. I don't find it hard at all, the moves are easy and I have done it with 1 fall for so so long. I fall on a drive-by move, then do it from below that move to the top. It must be all mental. It will happen, and that day will be soon and oh so memorable. I did have a big break from climbing through most of the first semester of 2010 due to uni commitments. I was really looking forward to the climbing gym opening in Newcastle however, I got sick of hearing information and not much else so i decided to build myself a climbing wall in my garage. I have a good training set up know and am keen to stay strong and start completing my projects. I have been training for around 2months now and am beginning to see some great improvements.

I recently went to Nowra and did the overlooked route at Bartondale "Mr Bubbles" 29. This route is so good, its a powerful little thing which is even a little technical at the start with placements. Another weekend after building a bit more fitness I sent "Krusty" 28, I had been on this before but could not back up a couple of days on so needed to build some more fitness. However after returning, it felt super easy a sent it putting the draws on.

I also have been doing a little bit of bouldering in Sydney. Chris, Duncan, Dave and myself went to the crag "Sunnyside" a had a great day. This crag has some hard bouldering in it with two V14s a V11 and I think a V6. Chris recently put the second V14 up which starts right of the V11 "Combat Wombat" and leads into it with some crazy shoulder pressing moves. I did the V11 "Combat Wombat" second shot once working out a good sequence and then headed to "Crumbly" to try another recent addition by Mr Webb called "Life Changes" V11. This is a classic traverse with a very hard finish. I am close to this and hope to send it in the near future.

I am very keen on bouldering at the moment, I am heaps more motivated to boulder as there is so much for me to do and it is a lot closer than the Blue Mountains and Nowra. I did go and check out the bouldering at Cheesedale when I was at Nowra last, I had a go of "Turbo Guns" V10. I was close to sending it but could not put it together as I was tired as I tried a hard route prior to attempting it.