Any Rock Climbers out there??

Gday all!!

Im from australia and i love a bit of climbing. anyone else climb??

if so, where abouts? indoor/outdoor? toprope/lead/boulder? Grades? Fav climbs??

Gotta love a good chat about it
Me... i love a good boulder, in or out. Havent done much outdoor toprope or lead but would love to do more.

Hehe found it..
QLD, recreation climber, outdoor if ever, have made it up Lesbian Printshop Workers (22-23) at Kangaroo Point Cliffs, Brisbane, and dogged it up Wages of Fear (24) which if anything, put me in my place- over with the 16's and 17's hehe.

A favourite climb done is Looking for the Sun (19) at Brooyar, QLD (did it at sunset too! amazing) and if I climbed enough, I'll one day complete The Great Devoid (22), I slipped off stupidly when I was down there and didn't get a chance to go again. The next guy did it faster than a demon. I was suitably humbled.

Hey there I used to climb quite alot, was the president of Cardiff Uni climbing Club . . never got that good but really enjoyed it been to alot of places round the uk and some places in france . . . Not sure how british grades compare to the australian ones . . . ah here you go

http://www.magwag.plus.com/jim/climbing-grades.html

The bouldering in Fontainbleau is awesome - the cardiff lot go there every easter , now in its 11th year.


Have climbed british HVS, seconded E3 but indoors we use french grades and lead about 6c on a good day .... but haven't done it for the last year

I've done most of my climbing around the French Alps, usually somewhere between 6b and 7a French grade (according to the table that's Ausy 20 - 24)

I like to do a wide variety of climbs, so I don't get stuck in a rut.
In France, everything and it's mother is bolted, so I end up doing lots of sport climbing, and sometimes top-roping.
I've solo'd a 5+ out there, and the area also lends itself very well to bouldering.

In Britain, I've done a bit of climbing around Snowdonia, where I did my SPA award.
I also had a very cool day climbing Pembrokeshire sea cliffs (but I had to change my underwear afterwards!).

I've climbed in and around Tennessee and Washington, both indoors and outdoors climbing. I think the toughest I've tried was a 5.9 climb out in Washington State, in basalt along the Columbia River Gorge. I struggled with that one. Most of the stuff I've done was between 5.6 and 5.8.

I'm not a great climber, but I have fun.

i know burning brain did when he lived in TN

Not rockclimbing specifically, but I've been canyoning a few times in the last couple of months. Bouldering, rockclimbing, abseiling, hand-over-hands etc.

Actually, as I type this, I have a large bruise running down my right forearm from a waterjump I did in a canyon on the weekend. Was about 5 metres into a small but deep pool, and silly me left my arm sticking out, SLAP! hehehe.

I'm fairly crap at rockclimbing, but am getting better. As my buddies keep saying, I gotta trust my toes!

I live about 20 miles from Smith Rocks, and I used to climb there when I was in high school. It's been a while, but I've been thinking of getting back into it by going to a local climbing gym.

Anybody have any idea how long it takes an out of shape girl to develop halfway decent upper body strength? ....Wait don't tell me I'll just get depressed, heheh.

this is mostly where i go. not the hardest climbs but they're fun and close.

http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/listArea.php?AreaID=6992

http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/listArea.php?AreaID=3664

Random bump

Hooray for Mr Search

Been climbing for a while, just starting to venture into bouldering too.

Not up into any particular impressive grades yet - but my it's fun
No Trad for me, only Sport climbing, can climb 6b on a very good day, lead 5+ most days.

Sadly I live in the worst area of the UK for climbing (except possibly Norfolk) so have a 2.5 hour drive to get to the nearest rock-rock (Have soft sandstone 45 mins away, but that's just weird)

Mainly boulders for me but a bit of trad when i can get a belay.
Did some sport climbing in Thailand a few years ago too.
Dont get out as much as i would like though as i have the same problem as Durbs As i live in Lincolnshire wich is actualy probably worse than Norfolk.

i do tree climbing, not tryed propper rock climbing but i would quite like to

I climb.

Mostly indoors sadly due to lack of time. My highest grade is 21 South African, which is about 20 Aussie I think. I am climbing considerably better than that at the moment though, probably closer to 24. Whether I can do that on rock is another story....

Not done much bouldering, although the gym is mostly that....

Yup, I've done a fair bit of climbing. Used to be comfortable on 6C boulder problems indoors, 6a outside. Not done a huge amount of outdoor roped climbs, a few weekends doing trad in the lakes is about it.

Save the trips out for special occasions now though as it destroys my fingers for days :s

I find indoor trashes my fingers much more than outdoor - though only have limestone and sandstone here which is quite forgiving.

Got my first flapper this week and everything

Need to get you out on some grit at some point Mr Durbs, that'll show you skin-trashing

I mainly boulder myself, and send stuff somewhere V3-V5 depending on the style. I also climb trees at work, which is too much fun for me to call it work with a straight face really.

Oh gods.... Gritstone. Never. Again. Ever.

Although, the way that you can stick really manky slopers is cool.

I climb on dolerite a fair amount. Also tends to shred your fingers a bit. Especially when jamming.

Apparently there are some pegmatites in the Katberg (I think?) that are awesome for bouldering, setting elimination problems with single crystals as holds for example....

I seem to avoid flappers, luckily.

Mr Joe: Are you a lumberjack? Because then it is ok. (Sorry, could not resist....)

I used to climb very week (indoor) and I've been outdoor twice, once in some random Perth Quarry and again in Thailand.

I loved it. I was super small and flexible and wasn't afraid to just jump to the next holds. I found though after a while I got to the 18-21 and the limiting factor was my arms bredth (?). Sometimes I could stand on tip toes on the last hold and still couldn't reach the next one.

My favourite ones were the chimney. I can get up chimneys without holds. SO MUCH FUN!

Hopefully I'll get back into it when I move to the 'big smoke'.

*Goes to check out grade comparisons*

Cool
It's mildly frustrating I only really got into climbing after the round the world trip... So much rock!

Off to the soft-sandstone this week for me.

Apparenly Dave Graham went out on the Grit yesterday and loved it... I think he's my main current inspiration over Sharma (9b?!!) - skinny dudes give me hope

Maybe a Portland spin-meet should be planned

Used to love indoor climbing. Would have been on my school team, but the inter-school comp was on the day of my debutante ball

Stopped going because it's too expensive

Why go indoors in Oz when you have so much gorgeous rock?

(Aside from the risk of sticking your hand into a funnel-webs home...does this affect the grading?)

This thread really makes me want to head up to Ilkley quarry. Beautiful gritstone climbs, loads of nice boulder problems, and a good pub less than 2 minutes walk from the climbs.

Perfect weather for it at the moment too.

*shakes fist*
Curse you and your good quality local rocks!

The best i have is a sideways sandpit 45 minutes drive away.

Sandstone is some of the most awful stuff ever. Had a couple of nuts rip out on me doing trad on a sandstone climb - it was the first and last time I've climbed the stuff.

Shouldn't you have a fair bit of limestone down there?

Only on the Dorset coast which is a good 2 hours drive away, 2.5 for sport climbing.

You're not allowed to trad climb on Sandstone anymore - top-rope or solo only... It's odd.
There's always the option of chalk - if you're a mentalist.

Because as a 16year old highschool students it's largely impossible to get to those places after school for practise and then for the day trip for the competition.

Even as a 22 year old uni student juggling a part-time job with no drivers license it's largely impossible to get to those places even for a weekend trip away.

Tasmanian Seastacks. I *really* want to be let loose on those babies....

Rougie - i hear you Time is a rare commodity...

I did some climbing at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, and some exciting soloing/scrambling at the Glasshouse mountains near Brizzy.

Bouldering Wave Rock would be a challenge

*nods* nods*

I find a big thing is, if I went outside I would have to have my own rope and harness (which I do) and shoes (which I have) and all the other little pieces that go with it (which I don't have) and you also have to have someone comfortable with lead climbing...

It's just easier going indoor.

And I only know of one place near Perth where you can go outdoor... Other places would be hours away... we're pretty flat down here.

I do not have rope, but have a harness, shoes and helmet. I also have some quickdraws. A good friend of mine has some draws as well as a rope and the basics.

Together we can do pretty much any climb we want to, unless it needs a stupidly long rope....

*bumpity*

I bought a dvd called 'The Sharp End' yesterday. Probably the best climbing film I've seen. Some people be crazy. My favourite was the highball bouldering stuff, but theres also some huge big wall stuff, crazy guys climbing sandstone columns in, um, Austria I think, and a bloke who climbs the north face of the Eiger with nothing but a base jumping pack.

Highly recommended

Yeah - had seen that and was quite tempted, that of "on sight" which has had good reviews.

I've got King Lines which is a bit of a Sharma fest but has some insane climbing in, an Doasge V which is heavily boulder-based but good nonetheless (Yay for Dave Graham!)

Just confirmed a climbing trip to Sardinia in March - can't wait
Shiney new 80m rope is just sitting here taunting me.

Also doing lots more regular training to get in shape for the trip, want to be leading 6b for when we go out.

oooo niiice. Will you really need an 80m rope? Can see that being a real tiring pitch!

I'm just trying to get out more, been an indoor monkey of late. Off over to Malham in a few weeks for a weekend on the sport routes, tho TBH they all look a bit hard for me so its probably going to be a weekend of of enjoyable failures.

Been invited on a trip doing some multi-pitching in Borrowdale too but not done much trad recently so holding back on a decision until I see how I feel out on the grit over the next couple of weeks, don't wanna end up being dragged all the way up on second :s

I am a rock climber! Although I haven't been yet this year, too cold...

I am so out of condition.

Going to get onto some sea cliffs at Morgan's Bay just befre getting back to uni though. I should be able to lead 6b (21) again after a few weeks heavy training.

Found a book called "The Villain" in the library about Don Whillans. Phenomenal man, even if he annoyed people....

I love that place. And Gordale scar would be such a great location for a spin vid.

So I'm told! Never been up that way before but my usual camping/treking partner raves about the place

Well - there's a 40m Grade-5 which sounds good fun, have been running 4 indoor routes in a row to get ready for that - but it was partly future proofing. We've already got a 50m rope, so thought might as well get a long one. Rather too much than too little

Might try and squeeze in some bouldering or maybe even Avon gorge after BoB if you're interested? There's some bouldering quite nearby I believe

Yeah that sounds really good actually. I'll have to check when Petes wanting to drive back but if I've time I'm definately in.

le sigh - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5497028.ece

That's 4 enviromental protection orders swept aside due to an emergency planning consent passed after the war.

(The relevance being Portland is the UK's premier sport climbing venue)

Grrrr

Goddammit I'm so near to losing all hope.

Odd - logged on to HoP and all 3 pictures up top were of climbing...

Pity I missed them....

Yay! Climbing on rough dolomite sea-cliffs next week.

Cracks++

I haven't been climbing for a long time but i am definately going to get back in to it as i have move out of london now and i live near cheddar gourge which has some sick climbs... i can't wait for the climbing centre there to open for the summer again

I *think* you best get a move on as the majority of cheddar gorge closes to climbers mid-march (and you need insurance to climb there too)

4 weeks till I go to Sardinia

*Grrrr, grumble, whinge etc*

I vaguely remember climbing outside, too bloody cold at the moment, tried a couple of times but hands freeze into claws too fast. Last time, it started heavily snowing while I was halfway up a route

Ah well, gonna go check out the new CityBloc bouldering centre in Leeds tomorrow, should be fun.

I followed a 24 the other day.

24 SA, so either 22 or 26 Aussie, I can not remember which way that goes....

i just started climbing i go to the local climbing wall with some of my friends. usually boldering, why had no one introduced me to this before?

2.5 weeks till Sardinia
Woooooooo hoo!

*ahem*

Carry on

Good stuff man You feeling ready?

Think we're booking a long weekend in Mallorca for the end of September hopefully, good times!

Ready-ish... Been bouldering lots to get the strength up, so aside from fear, should be good

Durbs go practice some falling. Get used to it. Nothing worse than being frustrated by fear rather than ability.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=874

Very important part of the sport climbing game. Falling will probably be half your attempts. Remember there's no need to back off on sport routes

Got out to the Roaches over the weekend and had fun pottering about on some of the classics. Doxy's Pool was far too wet though, really want to send Staffordshire Flyer!

Yeah - already taken a couple of falls, nothing too huge, but outdoors is still different

It is more fun outdoors. Also depends on how hard you are pushing.

If you stay too far within your limits then there is no point though. At least in my opinion....

How was the rock then Mr Durbs?

Yea Durbs, how was it? I'm off to Sardinia on Sunday for a week of fun-on-rocks.


(YAY!!!)

Cape Town in a week. Oh.. yeah....

i had. but stopped. i have my legs now swollen after few years. i wanted to continue. anyway, guy from australia, can you message me which place in australia you often go for hiking??

Sardinia was much fun... Climbing in the Domusnovas area - excellent limestone with barely any polish to the holds at worst. Some of the roads in were on the "interesting" side though - steep ascents of deeply rutted unpaved tracks; not good for the nerves when in a rented fiat panda with a stupidly high damage excess...
Much cave fun when it was raining too, being limestone there were lots of crazy stalactite/mite formations.

Will definitely be heading back there..

Hey Nigel, sorry missed your first post

Had an awesome time too - were based at the Lemon House in Lotzori, climbed 5 days out of 7, walking into the Goroppu Gorge one day and having a beach to ourselves the other.

Excellent climbing, didn't really push the grades but was just great to be climbing in the sun.
Spent a beautiful at the Canyon at Ulassai which had the best non-climbing area ever, did some beautiful routes at er... El Castello I think it was near Pedralonga (sp?) and also managed to squeeze a couple of routes in at La Poltrana and Cala Fuili.

Likewise - would love to go back, but equally excited to explore more European rock. First Fontainbleu trip being vaguely planned already.

On the down side, damaged my rotator cuff whilst in Sardinia, and being on holiday climbed on it for 3 days... Now in an enforced rest stage (1-3 months) with no climbing
C'est merde.

Took Jesse, my son age 4 and 3/4, to an indoor climbing wall. And he loved it. I would have done it with him but for my bad hips.

We are having Jesse's Birthday at the wall climbing venue.

Very addictive and lots of fun

It is indeed - I love the fact that no matter how good you get you can always improve and you can always climb right on your limit and get just as much satisfaction as someone climbing 3 grades higher/lower than you.

Snap, Durbs! Just come out of A&E with an immobilised arm and it turns out I too have royally buggered my rotator cuff. I'd give you a high five, but you know how it is.

*grumble*bloody gastons*grumble*

Climbing is good for you!

Unlucky Joe, how long are you out of action for? I remember when I hurt my shoulder (mountainboarding not climbing) that it was dodgy for ages so make sure you give it plenty of time and go easy on it when you do start up again!

w00t!!

Managed a clean on-sight of a 6b+.

Also a bunch of 6a+ to 6b range.

Make sure you guys rest up well with those injuries. Recurring ones are bad for you....

Having gone to see a physio and received a slightly more intelligible explanation of what's happened, it's appears it's really not that bad as far as rotator cuff injuries go. Really a minor sprain. 4-6 weeks rest and gentle strengthening exercises they reckon. Such a relief.

Ah brilliant! Glad to hear

I'm loving the climbing at the moment! Been trying out this periodisation training program the last few weeks. You alternate between 4 week blocks of stamina, power endurance and strength, the idea being you get better results from specific training. Was pretty annoying at times doing laps on 6a's while everyone I climb with was blasting away at the new 6c's that have been put up at my local wall, but at the end of week three I've gone from dying just climbing up and back down a few 5+'s to quite happily doing 5 laps (up-down-up-down-up) on 6 6a+ climbs in a single session Noticed its really helping with all the time you have to hang about on trad leads at the weekends too.

Get to rest up a bit next week then switch to power endurance which at least should be more fun to train too

Oh the fun of geekiness!

top rope and some bouldering
i use to work at a college adventure course so i was able to climb more..i was a belay slave on the weekdays tho.. now
the closet place for me to climb is about an hour away and its an indoor gym
its really hard to climb a lot or get some pointers "for free" when not many ppl climb...one of these days im gonna take a lead climb/anchors class, until then its top rope yay

Leading on sport is not particularly hard to start. Trad is a whole other ball game though.

Will: I am planning on working on maximal strength for a few weeks.

Woot!

Climbed the south ridge of Rhinog Fach (180m) on Saturday, only a severe, and a lot was scrambling, but a superb day. Not a cloud to be seen, stupidly exposed with views right out over the ocean. Wild camped by the lake at the foot of the mountain.

Sooooo happy its summer again

Got a 6b+ onsight the other weekend.

Am climbing better than ever before. Need to take a bit of a break now.

Will: That sounds amazing....

I was quite excited recently when I nearly on-sighted an F6c boulder problem at Craggy2...

Sadly - turns out they hadn't updated the grading board since the re-set so it was 6b+ max. Darn it.

Sticking some lovely dyno's at the moment - shoulder's fully healed, fingers seem to have strengthened in my rest period (?) and now the sun's out too.
If only I lived near some rock.

WOOOT!

Off to Font in 4 weeks
Squeee!

Note to self: Work on slopers

Jealous much..? Me...?

Well yes, actually, as I sit here listening to the tail end of the overnight thunderstorms.

Slopers aren't quite the nightmare you might believe... I've been pleasantly surprised at how manageable they are when you commit. Seem to use a slightly different muscle set to crimps (that's my hypothesis, I certainly feel it in a different place), so tiring when you've not done them much. I have more bother with keeping my feet on them than my hands...

N.

Slopers do use different muscles. As far as I understand, each different grip actually does.

I managed to send a 24 (6c+/7a depending on conversion) last week.

Also feeling super-psyched to climb more after this last holiday. I got to see some of the best climbers in the country and met Adam Ondra. The kid is incredible....

Off to Font again in Easter, hopefully shouldn't get quite so spanked this time.

Also looking at some sport climbing in Croatia in March.

Too cold (for me) for UK outside stuff at the moment...
Failed on my 6C (Boulder) goal for 2009, but have set 7A for end of 2010 so we shall see

Where I live in the US it is cold and there is too much snow on the ground. Plus where I live is the plains of this country. The nearest mountain is a good three hour drive at least! But there is plenty of bouldering to do. As if to make up for the fact, there is a place called Chandler Park which is the bouldering mecca of this state. There's plenty of climbing, but nothing challenging that you'd need ropes for, so shoes chalk and a pad pretty much covers your needs. Can't wait for springtime though so I can go to Arkansas and do some real climbing!

i do indoor climbing. i love it XD

doww, look at the little gym bunny, so cute

Are you thinking of taking the big step into the great outdoors? If you love gym climbing the outdoors will rock your world.

I have a 7c (font) problem about 15 min drive from where Im staying at the moment, Im just waiting for the temp to drop below 40C before I can go do it.

Then its all march and april at Arapiles trad climbing with Easter spent sea cliff trad and hard sport (hard for me anyway) up near Sydney

Nothing outdoors for me at the moment, too cold, wet and icy. Guess I'll be sticking to indoors till our trip to the Verdon in March.

How did you find font last time Durbs? Was it a pricey week? Hoping to get over there next year with any luck.

I used a map

It wasn't mega-expensive, but La Musardiere (sp?) campsite wasn't the cheapest, though in fairness it was a nice campsite.
We're looking at getting a gite this time as there's 5-6 of us going, and it'll only be a bit more £££ for a lot more comfort.
4 of us went over, tank and a half of diesel, Eurotunnel, then 3 nights camping... all self catering (apart from one lazy pizza delivery which was possibly the worst pizza ever had, EVER), probably cost us er... £150 per couple? Not cheap-cheap, but pretty good.

Font as a place is AMAZING. Despite getting utterly spanked on most of the routes (we dropped down to 4s & 5s, got one 6a I think), the forets is so beautiful and the problems so good we didn't really care. Was starting to get into the Font headspace on the last day though, and suddenly the routes and style started to click. It's sooooooo different to plastic-pulling or lime-crimping it really threw us.

Good croissants in the morning too.

I do a little climbing, used to go to the rock gym and Wichita Mountains a lot, spent some summers in Colorado around Salida. Then I moved to Texas. Mountains are few and far between here lol

i actually did free climbing in colorado and in west texas. I took a week off of work durring the summer to climb with some friends. Its jsut hard to find ANY mountains in Houston. There are none.

Very true, a lot of people may not understand how damn flat and featureless most of this area of the country is. It can take hours at least to get to true climbing spots!

oh yea. the trip i took i had to drive (literally) 16 hours to get to the spot in west texas where there is good mountains.

I try and go to the Ozarks whenever possible, at least for a couple of days. There's plenty of climbing and camping and it's a very pretty area when the weather's nice. There is an ungodly amount of ticks though!

Hmmmm.... Managed my goal of climbing 24 and got comfy on 21 onsights last year. Want to push bouldering a bit and see if I can get a 25 with 22/23 onsights comfortably for this year.

Those are SA grades. 24 is about 6c+. So I am comfortable osighting 6b.

and we all know SA grades are a rip off of Aus grades; just like up to 2 grades difference which is retarded, your grade 24 is like our grade 22.

Ive sport red pointed up to SA grade 27 (sounds way harder than Aus 25!), whih is like 7b
So my plan is to do some epic training this year and be able to push my onsight closer to this mark.

Trad, Im nowhere near as grade orientated, so Im more inspired by actual lines than grades. But my goal for trad is about 7 routes, all 5 star epic; stupidly exposed; mostly crack climbs around Australia I want to do this year.

BOulder, I have 2 V5 problems and an ultra pumpy roof V8 Ive had my eye on, but not sure if I will have the time to play with the pebbles this year.

This year I have 4 main aims:
- La Demande - Epic 13 pitch, 430m trad/spot combo route in the Verdon (France). Goes at 6a+ but its sustained for the length. Will be done first week in march.
- Necronomicon - E4 6b at my local crag. Thats like bold-ish F7a trad. Been looking at it ages and this year I'm getting the headpoint.
- Impropra Opera - Font7c. Amazing line on the bowderstone. I doubt this will get done really, its a massive grade jump...
- Zeppelin - BIG sport route in El Chorro, F6c+ with a roof a couple of hundred meters up. Not there till November so shouldn't be a problem assuming I manage Necronomicon!

Of course this means getting outdoors, which based on current weather I'm pretty sure will NEVER happen again

my main route I wanna do is where Angels fear to tread at Mt Buffalo, its only a 5c but its 350mtr of ultra sustained off-hand crack in the roughest granite you will ever encounter.The crack is super flared so the gear is horrible too.

Its way easy on paper, but the thing is out of the people I have spoken to about it, like one in 50 back off. It catches the sun for half a year and catches the shade for the other half so you either boil or freeze. Combine this with epic walk in and out and Im in for one huge adventure!

Second trad line is called Scorpion at Arapiles, 40 metre crack going from chimney to hand to offwidth. THe thing is you start 200metres up by stepping into a poorly protected bottomless chimney for the crux, retardedly exposed. Should be fun!

THe rest of my list is very similar to the above two.

Only Bouldering at the moment.
looking to nail a 6b problem in the indoors tonight actually, it's got a tricky crux that I've been having trouble with but that shouldn't take long to master. I've only been at it since october / november so really enjoying and looking to get outside for some play once the UK thaws a little and I have a little more experence.

Durbs - I'm looking to head up to craggy island in Sutton for some bouldring soon and maybe guildford once I've done some rope training, probably with Step, we'll let you know when we're planning on heading up if you like.

Sounds awesome.... Wish I had the money for a trad rack.



Yeah. Dunno why that is. There is a (short) doable 27 near Grahamstown, but I am just not attracted to it as a climb. Will probably do it at some point, because it is close, but it does not really mean very much.

there are a few tricks that I feel that I can share with you,

THe honest way:
If you have a regular partner who wants to trad too, share the cost and get a rack inbetween 2.
Or just start buying bits and pieces, a set of nuts here, a biner or two there. Soon you will have enough.
Cheap climbing gear is still rated - it doesnt all have to be BD gear. Kong Cams work just as well, OP nuts are like BD nuts but half the price.
Buying from America is really cheap at the moment!

You have to learn how to place gear anyway; which generally means finding a trad climber to learn from; and they will have a rack - repay them with beer and petrol money.

There are some good Ebay deals every now and again for racks; but unless you know a lot about gear I wouldnt buy second hand gear. Also Ebay is where you find a lot of stolen climbing gear being sold; which leads me to the dishonest section.

Dishonest
BOOTY

Not really dishonest as much as sneaky, its when you find gear that has been left in the rock and take that. All you need is a rap rope and a nutkey; a large hex for a hammer (or a rock) Go to a trad area and see if anyone has left any gear.

Tips for Booty finding,
Go after a uni or a club trip, there is always something left. Scan the easy beginner climbs and the ones you know where the gear is tricky.
Go when it rains. You can rap in the rain, most climbers retreat leaving valuable gear behind as booty. Particularly successful with the aforementioned uni and club groups as they are silly enough to leave at least 3 bits of gear in their retreat anchor.

I kid you not; half the nuts on my rack are booty nuts. God bless the bumbly climber!

Cool cool - let me know. We usually go bouldering on Wednesdays, and try and go routing on the weekend, but let me know when you're coming. There's bouldering at Craggy G but it's not great, certainly not compared to Craggy2.

Oh, and prepare to be spanked on grades, Craggy tend to set them on the stiff side. I onsighted 6c at Shoreham and a 6b+ at Westway, flashing 6a at Craggy is en epic acheivment

I have some experience placing gear, but it is true that I will need to find someone to climb with.

Is cheaper to get through the States here as well. Ah well, maybe once I have a salary.

the weather turned cooler so I went out for a bit of tradding yesterday. I got spanked on a climb I used to run laps on a couple of years ago.

Uni is bad for my climbing life. I need to defer and become a climberbum

Uni is one of the only chances I have to climb.

I went from being a climbing guide to a student, so my rock time is like 10% of what it used to be

funniest thing ever, I just put up my logbook on 8a.nu for shits and giggles.

It ranked my (for Australia) in the top 100 this year, top 200 of all time for routes

and in the top 50 for boulder this year and top 200 of all time.


I call bullshit bigtime. but it did make me feel a little bit good about myself despite me knowing its a wank

We use 8a.nu for our colours system.

I hate 8a.nu. Jens is a &^*$(£"%*.

hehe

Yeah. But since we use a minimum number of points, what that value is does not really make much difference, as long as everyone involved uses the same number of points for a grade.

haha it no worries, just that we have a wierd grading system for trad and it doesn't fit into the 8a way of doing things, which Jens takes as an excuse to say British climbers are crap. Its a good system for sport climbers though.

It's also possibly the slowest and worse designed website out there, but I don't use it so I don't really mind

Time till Font: 8 weeks

Time till Verdon: 2.5 weeks

Yeah. Would not bother if I was doing much trad.

But for what we need it for it is fine.

ITS ALL ABOUT THE BOULDER !! haha jk.
but im a little more into bouldering.
Utahs got some of the best climbing in the world its really quite amazing to see some of the stuff the "pros" climb on as well as some of there new projects

im a climbing instructor love it

hell yeah, Indian creek is the best place EVER.

I'm rather jealous of you people living in warm dry places with good climbing

its not to warm or dry hear right now ! haha..everything is covered in snow !!

Somehow I'm not surprised that Honnold got the 2nd ascent...

http://bishopbouldering.blogspot.com/2010/02/ambrosia-2nd-ascent-by-alex-honnold.html

Makes my palms a bit clammy

daaaaamn thats a high ball for sure !! my friend just got back from bishop he got some hella cool clips !

Same here, have not been on the rocks since October. The ground is either too wet for good grip, it's snowing or I'm working.

Sea-cliff on trad this weekend.
Probably only top-rope, but hell, it is rock.

I'm off to the Verdon TOMORROW!!!!!!!!

*dances*

Did not get onto the cliffs. *Really* missing rock....

horshoe canyon in arkansas = amazing. 24 hours of hell this september!

Verdon trip was awesome, a week of climbing in a tshirt.

We made an attempt on La Demande but failed unfortunately - my partner took a nasty fall on the second pitch, ripping a cam and falling around 15ft to hit the ledge I was belaying from. He went a bit green after that and had to go back down, I'll be back though, awesome route.

Feels COLD back in England now haha!

Is he ok at least? Hitting ledges sucks....

Yeah he's fine, bit bruised but nothing a few drinks didn't fix

Good to hear. Gonna be able to talk him into trying again?

Really must get onto rock again. Just horribly hot, so unpleasant.

I took an 8 metre ground fall this week. It hurt. Im out of the game for at least 2 weeks

Aston: Hes not up for a trip back there in the near future, massive multipitch isn't really his scene. I'll find someone to head over with though I'm sure.

WA: Jeez mate you OK?

Ouch.... Least you are able to post.

just bruised and sprained. My ego took by far the worst damage. the climb was a bit run out, the rope pulled tight just as I decked, so I was saved from the worst of the impact. Im going on a bushwalk tomorrow to stretch my legs, and back to Arapiles the following week.

The worst part was staring at the ground on the way down trying to work out whether I wanted to break my legs or my arms and which will be better for my spine; but it was all good.

Well, you are still around and still going to climb, so no harm done.

Although 8m fall.... Scary....

I climb but here in the UK. Havent done it for a while though as has no transport, mainly do bouldering to keep stamina up, but love lead-roping indoors. Havent experienced outdoor climbing yet.

You need to get outdoors! Its sunny today, off you go

Seriously, its a million times better than pulling on plastic!

lol yeah I gathered that. Its finding a climbing partner also

come to Aus, I will climb with you

bruises healing. Going back to Araps on Wednesday to put that puppy to rest. Man I love climbing.

Get it done And this time get your belayer to stand on a rock so they can jump off if you fall, that extra 2ft could make all the difference

A busted knee is keeping me off the rock right now, going to try a quick ARC session tonight but its looking like I'm stuck with the beastmaker for the next week.

Just don't let 2 big guys peel back your skin and spray skin glue to the palm of your hand when you get a flapper I screamed like a girl - I think they enjoyed it a little too much.

lol....

Sucker.

Finally got to do some climbing lately. It's been too damned wet or cold out here, but once spring hits in full I'll be out daily!

I redpointed that climb I fell on, the crux felt smooth now I knew which sequence to take so yay I didn't fall again!

now four days of teaching kiddies how to navigate then another week out at Arapiles tradding, then off for 2 weeks to Nowra sport climbing and Point perpendicular sea cliff climbing. Oh the joy

*hisss*

I did Valkyrie at the Roaches yesterday. One of the best routes I've ever done

Finally got a psyched partner for long mountain trad too so this summer should be awesome!

3 weeks of climbing goodness coming up. Im gonna be typing with popeye forearms in a month

just got back from a week of sport climbing,a bag of new ticks, and a finger pulley injury that now needs to heal

but Im super stoked, one week rest and then off for 3 more weeks of trad bliss at Arapiles. An amazing season!

Woot! Came soooo close to onsighting an E1 5b yesterday. Fell once and did it next go. Happy days

The top:

Assuming I do not freeze (Saffricans do not climb in the snow that much) I will be trying some stuff this weekend. Although I have done so little at the wall I doubt I will get anything worth mentioning.

Although there is a tempting technical 23 that I have my eye on.... (Think that is about 6c?)

Yay! Got some climbing done at last.

Still able to onsight 20s (6bish), so not as out of condition as I thought.

Wooooo Hooooo HOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Off to Lundy island for a week in 48hrs




I'm an ikkle bit excited

*wants*

I doubt I am going to get much done this semester.

Nice stuff

Had my first trip to Cheddar Gorge recently - very nice place, though the gorge acts a bit like an amplifier for all the cars and bikes that drive though it.

Nothing too exciting, but ticked a couple of 6a+ which is new high for outdoors.

Portgual in 2 weeks too, so should squeeze in some sport, bouldering and mebbe DWS too... (Though "psicobloc" is a much better phrase and quicker to say)

Huzzah

DWS?

Really want to climb again.

Deep Water Soloing - i.e. bouldering/high-balling over the sea

Ah. Have come across it, just not the abbreviation. Also, none that I know of in or near South Africa.

I want to do SPitzkoppe at some point. Slabby granite friction climbing.

Thats because if you do it in South Africa, you get eaten by sharks.

My finger is almost 100% and Im starting training for some "big wall" action (or as close as you can get in Aus anyway) in a few months!

Off on Friday

http://sintrabouldering.wordpress.com

PSYCHED!
(36 degrees in the shade though...)

Good news guys: http://www.quirkology.com/UK/Experiment_sport.shtml



Do not know which guys they interviewed though, lady climbers is sexy.

Haha quality

Been good times on the climbing front recently, just got back from El Chorro, great weather and awesome 200m limestone walls. Lovely