The Waiting Game

I have spent four months in Perth with still a month to go before I head back to Squamish to continue my struggle on The Cobra Crack. I planned to train to get as beastly strong as I could so that I could reach a whole new climbing level on this next trip although the intensity of climbing on plastic has left me juggling injuries. My cobra mono finger tendon is a little sore but I hope nothing to worry about, I have pain on the side of my middle finger joint on the other hand (ongoing since smashing it into a boulder last summer), and I have a tear in the cartlidge on the outside of my left wrist for which I delayed an arthroscopy and got an injection instead so I can still climb in the near term. Despite these things I am still climbing really well and am definitely stronger than last year. As long as I manage these pains well it should be a productive trip.

Peaches (28/5.13a), Wilyaberup, Western Australia. Photo: Vaughan Guan.

Apart from spending to much time in the gym I have managed to get out to some local crags I don't visit much anymore. I finished off one of the last climbs I wanted to do at a crag called Wilyaberup in the Margaret River region of Western Australia getting the second ascent of Peaches (28) after almost 15 years since Pat Turner did it. It is just a short boulder roof lip problem which is very powerful and tricky. I also went on a trip to Kalbarri with the City Summit youth team and repeated routes in the Promenade area while shouting beta and putting draws up for the kids. Theres some crushers coming out of City Summit and most of them did their hardest routes to date up to grade 27.

Only a month before I am on the road again. The current plan involves two months in Squamish followed by a three month USA road trip. I would love to be able to do a free route on El Capitan and then head into the desert for some test-piece sandstone cracks. Theres so many places I still want to go. Hopefully this trip Squamish, Skaha, Index, Smith Rock, Tuolomne, Yosemite, Zion, and Indian Creek all get some attention.

Tentative dreams/plans.