Flamin’ Gallah!

After the relief of sending a long-term project in Punks in the Gym that had been buried in my psyche for so long, it was time for some bigger adventures.

Zac Vertrees introduced me to the limestone walls of Bungonia Gorge about 3 hours from the Blue Mountains through a route called Teflon and his mega multipitch project (32ish?) above it. Teflon is an incredible 31 that I need to go back for as I only had one shot before we committed to the pitches above. His route is hard and bold. I backed of a grade 16 lichen covered slab pitch, which Zac thought too easy to warrant bolts.  While I belayed Zac as he worked the crux pitch I eyed up some amazing lines bathed in sun on the opposite wall of the gorge.

The stand out line is a relatively recent addition called Flamin’ Gallah and was supposed to be the hardest multipitch in the gorge, maybe even Australia.  It is seven pitches, which weigh in at a hefty 24, 21, 19, 23, 26, 31, and 27. The golden headwall with all the difficulties looked amazing.

Several weeks later I was back with Matt Pickles who had been tearing up the Blue Mountains crags with quick ascents up to grade 32. We decided on a strategy of rapelling in and rehearsing the crux top pitch so that we would have the highest chance of redpointing the route on a ground up ascent. We had two shots each working the moves on the 31 and found it to be closer to 29. Maybe we found an easier sequence than the first ascentionist?

In good condition and psyched, on the way to the gorge. All photos Matt Pickles.

Pre-inspection of the crux pitch on day one.

On our second day we woke early. It was near 0 degrees and there was ice covering the car. We walked into the gorge trying to warm up and eventually found the base of the first grade 24 pitch. It has an intense 2 bolt boulder off the ground and is a terrible warm up! While Matt was cruising the second pitch Lee Cossey and Andrea Hah appeared beneath us. They were also trying the route but had not done a pre inspection of the crux pitches.

I fell quite a few times on the grade 26 pitch as it was technically very hard to read. There was no chalk and lichen covered a lot of the slab. Matt followed and also fell on second. He added some more chalk and ticked key holds. Andrea following us made an impressive flash of the pitch as it was not easy even when you knew where the holds were.  Lee, of course, walked it.

Andrea flashing the technical grade 26 pitch.

Andrea belaying Lee up to the base of the crux pitch.

 Matt was first up leading the crux 31 pitch. He fell on the crux stab to a pointer finger mono hold and lowered back to the belay. We pulled the rope and I was up. I felt terrible and shook my way to the crux moves but somehow managed to keep on shaking all the way through to the anchor. I lowered back to the belay so Matt could have another lead shot in which he easily sent the pitch. We gave the beta to Lee who was going for the flash of the route. He got very close but fell towards the end of the crux sequence.

While Lee and Andrea worked the crux pitch Matt and I lowered down and both climbed the 26 pitch clean on second. We had to get back up the crux pitch to continue on our way, which was an effort after all the climbing we had done.  We had a good view from the upper belay of the crux pitch as Lee walked it on his second shot. Andrea had a good attempt but fatigue got the better of her and she didn’t manage to free the pitch.

Pulling my way up the crux pitch with the pack.

Lee cruising the crux pitch on his second go.

In the mean time I was having issues on the final pitch, which has a very morpho (reachy) move to reach the jugs to the top of the gorge.  Matt cruised the pitch on lead to nab the second ascent of the route, an amazing achievement. I couldn’t work out the final move and was shut down which was very frustrating. Sometimes a reachy move on even an easy pitch can shut me down and it sucked that there would be a move like this at the very end to cost me the ascent.

After walking back to the car we waited around to get all our draws (we had left them on the final two pitches) off Lee and Andrea before we drove, very sore and tired, back to the Blue Mountains.

A big congratulations to Matt on the second ascent, and Lee on the third (in very good style!). It is definitely one of the coolest multipitches around and should probably be downgraded to 29 as we all thought the 31 pitch very soft.

Bucket List Tick

It has been a great few months culminating in one of my best redpoints ever. Punks in the Gym, my long-term project, has finally succumbed. I had been caught up in a psychological battle with this route. It took three and a half years after falling off near the top of the route, after both cruxes, to come back and finally link it through to the anchors. All up 5 years since I had first touched the glassy holds.

There were two main factors that made the difference for me allowing the send. The first was getting a fair bit stronger and the second was getting rid of the mental aspect of the route. This trip I turned up with no expectations. I felt I had bad preparation in the weeks leading up to the trip and so I jumped on other routes to try and test my fitness rather than being demoralized on Punks. I worked Lord of the Rings (31) and Slinkin Leopard (28) the morning of the send which was the day after a big day on Lord, Punks and Ethiopia (30). A huge lunch and hours of laying on a rock led to a training lap on Punks, to develop some muscle memory on the crux moves before my next rest period. My arms felt like lead and I had hardly any skin on my tips but I felt happy from trying so many awesome new moves on other routes. The rock felt sticky and before I knew it I was howling having clipped the chains. It was still a shaky send and I almost fell on the slab at the top again but it was enough.

Post send video of Punks in the Gym.

This last two-week break from work has definitely been one of my best in terms of sport climbing with Punks in the Gym (32), a second shot send of Eye of the Tiger (29), quick send of Ethiopia (30) thanks to some key beta from Malcolm Matheson, and the first ascent of The Arkenstone (30) in the Blue Mountains.  There’s no doubt moving to the Blue Mountains and being around other strong motivated climbers has enhanced my progression as a climber. I am excited to train hard and see what I can achieve overseas in the second half of the year.

Jack Masel joined me from Perth and got close to Eye of the Tiger (29) at Muline in the Grampians. Photo by Stuart Simons.

2014, Bring it on!

I just finished an amazing Christmas, New years break in the Blue Mountains packed with good friends, food and climbing. With Rob up from Tassie, Tracey down from Queensland, and Jack and Artur over from Perth the house was packed. Days were spent visiting cafes and a variety of crags. It felt great trying a bunch of new routes without the self-imposed pressure of actually sending anything.

I also got the GoPro out and managed to get some footage of Tracey on a classic 26 in Centennial Glen called Trix Roughly which I edited together only slightly better than my last attempt (see Shogun in my last post).

Tracey on Trix Roughly (26)

Tracey managed to one up me with her video of a cool multipitch out in the Grose Valley we climbed.

 Mission Hotel California

One the final day of the break William Chan who is visiting from Hong Kong offered to take photos of me on Shogun. I redid all the moves quite easily, which was a bit disconcerting as it left me wondering how hard the route really was. Only time will tell.

 Images of Shogun (32) by William Chan

It would seem work is coming to an end and at some time soon I will be able to head overseas and try some major goals climbing full time again. I am really excited about this as I feel I am climbing better than ever. I have also recently officially become a Kailas global athlete. It’s cool to be part of something and get a little recognition for your passion. Free gear is also cool ;)

Time Flies...

I can’t believe another year is almost over! Since my trip to Queensland I mainly focused on a single project in the Blue Mountains. I mentioned a route at Elphinstone, which my housemate bolted, a couple of blog posts ago.  I was inspired by this line due to its small holds and sustained sequence despite the base being a bit of a swamp and the challenge of convincing partners to go to a crag day after day more than 5 minutes from a café! I learnt a lot from the process of projecting this route. A stopper cross to a mono at move 19 of the 24 move crux sequence shut me down for a long time. Slight tweaks to my beta to conserve energy in the approaching moves and the endless repetition of the move itself meant I eventually could stick it from the ground. 40-50 shots after first trying the route I managed to redpoint it doing the first ascent of what felt like my hardest sport route to date. This opened my eyes to the potential of a stubborn focus for redpointing at a higher level. I am not convinced that it is necessarily a good thing though.  Improving through climbing a large volume of routes and training with friends is a lot more fun! Failure is a huge part of projecting with only limited successes in comparison. I also think its easy to dwell on failure because its part of a long process of learning whereas when you finally send a route the success is short lived because you are already thinking of the next inspiring route.  Anyway if you want a challenge and to try a cool route, Shogun (32?) is down at Elphinstone awaiting a second ascent.

I am a sucker for punishment so instead of taking it easy after sending Shogun I decided to head to Arapiles to finish of Punks in the Gym. Probably not my best decision as I was a bit worn out psychologically from projecting.  It rained on me as I tried the route on my first day and the second day the holds felt damp.  After a rest day we had stellar conditions and I managed to do both cruxes getting my foot up on the famous ‘birdbath’ hold but then a lapse in composure saw me off into space again! It absolutely bucketed down the next day and I made a great decision to go have a fun adventure instead.

I had only been to Tasmania once before and that was when I was 16 and had a guide-bookless epic in snow and white out conditions trying to find any route on Mt. Wellington, that would take the handful of bolt plates I had, just so I could say I had climbed there. This time I checked the weather and had some amazing days catching up with friends and enjoying some quality routes. The 5 star Totem Pole out on Cape Huay was incredible, a must for the Australian climbing experience ticklist, and After Midnight (24) on Mt. Wellington surely ranks up there with it.  

All photos of Simon Young and I on the Totem Pole by Robert vanHaeften. Sorry we didn't get any of you Rob!

I am back working in Perth now getting ready for some Christmas shenanigans in the Blue Mountains and the seeds of some remote big wall adventures have been planted in my mind. Can’t wait for 2014!