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March 30, 2008

bouldering

tim got nice one of me bouldering in West Lindfield (aka The Big Pump but I think it's actually in Killara)

Posted by yankinoz at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2008

sparky misses amy

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March 24, 2008

Gravity Works

With my wife still a whole Pacific Ocean away I've been focusing my energies on work and climbing. The Easter long weekend was no exception. Good Friday was spent dodging the rain up Barrenjoey way - it was a great afternoon with friends and some easy climbing. I even got to place some cams on lead again which is always a good time. Easter Sunday Tim and I got an early start for a Nowra day trip - the relatively newly developed Thompsons Sunrise crag was our destination. A whole bunch of climbs in the 12-18 grade range (that's 5.5 - 5.9) were on the agenda but I had my eyes on a 20 (5.10c/d) called The Balrog. (oh, I worked Easter Monday just to be clear on the 'no exception' i mentioned above)

The morning saw some pleasant climbing and a little bit of rope burn from small fall off the low crux moves of Blister in the Sun graded 17 (5.8). I did manage a clean assent and followed it up with three more clean routes while we worked our way from one end of the crag to the other. The Balrog was waiting.

Now I've mentioned 'on sight' climbing before - this is when you are able to climb a route with no falls or rests having never done it before and with no prior knowledge of the route (aka 'beta' or tips on how to do it.) You only ever have one chance at an 'on sight' and it is a goal I almost always go for. At grade 20 this would be one of my hardest on sights and from the ground, the route certainly looked good. It's 16 meters (52 ft) tall and 3 meters from from the top not far past the last bolt I fell. It was a clean fall - maybe three or four meters. I was bummed that I missed the on sight but was mostly worried if I could actually figure out the top section - i didn't see what to hold! I had a little rest - hanging off the rope and took a look to the right and saw something. I tried that, fell again. arg! it's frustrating but rock climbing is a sport where constant failure is part of the process. Well, i could see some holds now and had a plan. After a couple clean falls I was gaining confidence to push a little harder and I did. I got up a little further - reaching for a good pocket I lost my footing and took a whipper.

"Oh Shit" is apparently what I said. I don't remember exactly. It's hard to explain or understand just how fast 9.8m/sec/sec is when you are inches away from a rock face - it happens really really fast. As I had moved up a bit further there was more rope out - in all i fell about 6 meters (20 feet) - on my way down my knee hit the rock (bruised and scraped) - swinging a bit right to left my foot caught a small ledge which flipped me upside down (not good) and my helmet (yay helmet) hit the wall. Hanging upside down I did a quick inventory of all my parts and they were all still attached and moving so my next words were "Harness Fits!" (cuz I didn't fall out of it!) At this point i was probably most annoyed that I was now back down to the half way point of the whole bloody climb!

I was determined now. I was so so close - just needed to find better foot holds. My next attempt got me through the difficult section and safely clipped into the anchors. With the rope in the anchors I lowered down half way and then rehearsed the top moves again. This time, with knowledge of the holds and the moves I found the sequence far easier (still hard mind you but it didn't seem so impossible as it had at first) so Tim lowered me back to the deck and had a rest and received some first aid for the scraps on both legs (iodine hurts more than rock.) The worst injury is a rather sizable bruise to my right knee.

Next I followed Tim up a 12 (5.5) called Philosopher's Stone (way fun climb too.) Returning to The Balrog I was pleased to see it now completely in the shade and I was focused - I knew I could do it and to be honest I hardly remember climbing it - musta been in the zone. I do remember the top crux - there was a series of curse words from me - hey - this rock did bite me earlier. I won't soon forget clipping into those anchors. "Woo Hoo!"

Posted by yankinoz at 07:35 PM | Comments (1)

March 15, 2008

Gaby Mayo on Meltdown (19)

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Welcome to the Body Shop (21)

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