The Fire Wall, Round 1

Liming is amazing. It isn’t like a sport crag, which lays everything out before you in a display of ring bolted grandeur. Liming has secrets. Can this be climbed? Where are the holds? What’s around this corner? To appreciate Liming you need to be an explorer and an optimist. You don’t know if something is climbable until you have thrown a rope down it and felt a hundred different contorted positions in which you might stick to the wall.

The second half of my trip I don’t think I climbed a single pre-existing route. Mike Dobie and I finished aiding up our wall on the Formation called ‘The Diamond’, we extended an old 5.11 on the painted wall up a closed corner which is now dubbed ‘The Wizardry Project’, and we hung all over the one of the coolest cracks I’ve ever been on. 

Our line up The Diamond. Plenty of offwidth on this one.

The Wizardry Project. No holds just imagination. 

This crack has been known about for some time and forms the multi-pitch called ‘The Flying Buttress’. It starts out tame with the ‘Tarzan Pitch’, an easy chimney pitch, which involves a lot of vine pulling. Second is one of the best 5.11+ traditional pitches going around, a slightly overhung hand crack with occasional fingers or fists for 35 meters. The third and last pitch, named ‘The Firewall’ is the business. The wall kicks back and the crack is ever thinner. 20m into the pitch when your getting tired the ring lock crux slaps you in the face. This thing is hard. If the crack was thinner or fatter then the climbing on the 30-degree overhanging terrain would be much easier. As it is the lack of feet, the angle, and the poor jams come together to create something special.  Small or large hands won’t help much because the crack very gradually changes from 1” cams to .3” at the anchor. You will have issues jamming somewhere towards the end of the pitch. 

 

I just scraped through the section on top rope. Stopping to place gear will be a rare event on the send.

Even with a heap of tape the ring locks take their toll.

As for the grade I am unsure but thinking 5.13+. It has been suggested as harder but I know how hard 5.14- feels and don’t believe my quick progress on the crack so far justifies that grade. Maybe if your really experienced on sandstone cracks it is only 5.13? Things may change as I have further red point attempts. It is however harder than Air China and completely traditional which in my eyes makes it a worthy goal. After returning to Australia I am turning back around and heading back to try and finish it off before the season ends.

Great company (Alexa Flower, Leah Pappajohn, and Mike Dobie)

Liming, China.

I arrived back from my overseas adventures and found myself in the Blue Mountains again. I assumed I would find a job and spend a lot more time in Oz basing myself in the mountains but that was not to be. After a half-hearted effort to find work it was obvious there was nothing around with the whole exploration geology industry falling in a heap. Many friends were made redundant and hadn’t had any luck finding new positions.  I continued to climb sending my latest project at the new crag called The Pit in the Blue Mountains. After some joking around the name Ebola Noodles was decided on.  It’s meant to be stupid.

Ebola Noodles. Very bouldery. Photo: William Chan.

I flew back to Perth for Christmas with the family and continued to send out resumes. It never takes long for me to be back in Oz before plans start to hatch and this time it was no different. During previous trips to China I had heard about a new traditional climbing mecca called Liming and had always wanted to go. The problem is it isn’t very user friendly yet with the language barrier and an epic amount of travel required.  Luckily for me I heard Mike Dobie, the main developer of Liming and guidebook author was travelling around Oz and would be heading back to Liming for February and March. I convinced myself that no work meant I should live cheap and go climbing. Soon enough I was back in the Blue Mountains hanging out with Mike and with the same flight to China.

The travel was epic. We could have flown straight to Lijiang in the Yunnan province but instead we travelled overland from Hong Kong via Yangshuo. After flying Sydney-Singapore-Hong Kong we caught a bus and train to the border of China Mainland and then a night bus to Yangshuo.  We spent a couple of days climbing in Yangshuo where I picked up a box of new gear from Kailas and had a quick go of Chinaclimb 8c. Chinaclimb is a route of significance for me as I bolted it at the end of my first visit to Yangshuo but never really got to try it. My friend Liu Yongbang (Abond) sent it creating Chinas first 8c. It’s a great line and I hope to be back to send it one day.

I managed to fit in this great climb on the right side of White Mountain during
the quick visit. Unsure of the name or grade. Photo: Andrew Hedesh.

A bus to Guilin, night train to Kunming, a day in a café, a night train to Lijiang, bus to a hostel where Tracy the trike was stored and then a 3 hour ride in the back of the trike. Finally I laid eyes on the cliffs of Liming.  The travel was worth it.  In front of me were massive sandstone buttresses with endless potential, an adventure climbers paradise.

The Faraway Hotel. Our palace for the trip. 

I generally always have goals when I travel to a climbing destination and this trip it was all about the hardest route in the area and first ascents.  The hardest route is called Air China and was put up by Matt Segal over a few weeks in 2011. He tried to make it all traditional but after taking a huge fall due to his protection pulling from the rock breaking he decided to put in a bolt. You can read about it here http://www.climbing.com/climber/to-bolt-or-not-to-bolt/. Matt gave it 5.13d R. Now that the route has received some attention the experience it gives has changed. Holds have come off the easier initial crack section meaning you are a little more tired entering the crux but the chalk, the fact that the bomber gear placement before the run out to the crux has been fallen on without breaking, and the knowledge the route has been done makes everything easier on the body and mind.  The route is still a bit heady to lead as it is insecure with very slippery feet even in clipping positions but it probably doesn’t deserve an R rating. I never took the fall from the bolt without clipping but I am sure it is safe. It does however still feel like a traditional pitch. I worked the route for about two weeks in headpoint style. That means I top roped it until I had done it without falling (10 shots) and then only had to lead it 4 or so times placing each time until I sent it. It felt good to get this one out of the way as I felt it was necessary before I could go on to put up harder routes in the area.

The not so bad runout on Air China. The bolt is just above my head. Last bit of gear is a
yellow cam a third of the way up the picture. The climbing and clip is insecure though.

The crux move is just below this involving compression between
the arete and some small crimps on the left while having no feet. This and photos below: Alexa Flower.

During our time working Air China, Mike had injured his shoulder. Your right arm takes a lot of strain holding the arête during the crux. We decided to mix things up a bit and try a route equipped by some Swedish climbers earlier in the season. They had found a long corner of clean red sandstone, which went on gear except for a short section where the crack in the corner was fused and unusable. They placed two bolts here along with an anchor at the top. Mike and I had to pull out all the tricks to work out how to climb the corner with no crack and no holds. It came down to very poor foot smears and push-pulling on either side of the corner. Above this was easier climbing ending with a final crux section of endurance crimp laybacking. I managed to get the first free ascent at roughly 5.13a and kept the name the Swedish climbers had given, Symphonie de Liberte.

The trip is over half way over and I keep getting distracted by new route potential. I wanted to focus on something really hard but these things take time and my time is running out. Mike and I are trying to aid up a wall that has never been climbed. It is dirty and the rock is soft. There is increase in mental difficulty due to the fact the route hasn’t been travelled before and we are not sure if it will be doable. Once done and cleaned it will probably be a classic mid grade route. Hopefully I can put some time into trying one of the harder already cleaned cracks as well. 2 weeks left...

Mike and I aiding our way up the unclimbed wall of the Diamond. Photo: Leah Pappajohn.

The main street of Liming with the Diamond in the distance.

The Diamond above Liming. Photo: Alexa Flower.

 

Red River Gorge

So close but no Ultraperm 5.13d for me.

I am back in the Blue Mountains after an amazing 5 months of climbing in Europe and America. It has been incredibly enjoyable climbing on so many classic routes and meeting amazing people. I am lucky to have found a sport with such a variety of people, fit and psyched on life.

The rest of my time in ‘The Red’ was a huge success. I had a great time with a good balance of success and failures on routes. I never managed to send Omaha Beach. I didn’t really even try.  After 4 shots I had done the moves easily and realized the fitness needed was very achievable for me just not in the time required. I decided not to spend all my time focusing on the one route when the stand out feature of the gorge was its quantity of classic lines. I still tried hard routes but never got to that level of stubbornness required for a major project. 45 lines between grade 5.12a (24) and 5.13c(30) is what I ended up with, which included 4 onsights and one flash of 7c+ (28).  Rest days and skin management were low on the agenda and my pinkie fingers suffered bearing the brunt of my hold draping climbing style.

I generally always had perfect skin except
for the second pad on my pinkie!

Kaleidescope 5.13c. 

The conditions during the trip were varied with large amounts of rain, freezing temps and the occasional stellar blue-sky day. It got down to -10 degrees Celsius at one stage although when at a sun soaked crag conditions still allowed for some great climbing.  Care had to be taken to dodge falling icicles though.

Ingenious. Heating rocks up at
the crag to put in the chalkbag.

Frozen morning in the campground.

When your only there for the weekend...

One of the many highlights of the trip was climbing with Jack Masel from Perth who is a crusher but had never really achieved his potential outdoors. He climbed five or six of his hardest routes ever on the trip including his first 30. I still don’t think he has achieved anywhere near his potential. Rick and Roman from the Blueys also crushed. Rick, Jack and I looked on with disbelief when Roman turned up with endless fitness and managed to onsight three 5.13c’s. I also belayed Sean, who I mentioned in my last post, again on a route called ‘50 words for pump’ 5.14c (34). He fell near the top on the last hard move on his onsight attempt. Unbelievable!

Jack styling BOHICA 5.13b in the Madness Cave. 

Thanks to all the friends I hung out with on the trip, old and new, as well as Kailas for all the free gear and making me feel like a rock-star sponsored climber.  I now have no idea what to do. Maybe I’ll get a job, maybe I’ll go climbing.

Red River Gorge Half Time Report

Days are blurring together and half the trip has passed while I feel as though I am still cruising along getting used to the style at ‘The Red’.  I have climbed a lot of routes although nothing particularly hard with my proudest send being my first epic route in the Madness Cave called ‘The Madness’. The Madness is a 120ft steep overhang graded at 5.13c (30) and considered hard for the grade. There are no moves that wouldn’t be found on a much easier route but the angle and endurance required is out of this world. It took me 6 shots and I felt the endurance in my fore arms build each time I tied in.  It is one of the coolest lines I have ever done.

Warm ups don't come any better than this. A 5.11d at Solar Collector crag. Photo Jack Masel.

In the late 90s a 17 year old Katie Brown onsighted a route to the left of The Madness called Omaha Beach. At that time it was the worlds hardest onsight by a female climber and weighed in at 5.13d (31). Ever since I have wanted to climb this route, which is now graded 5.14a (32), due to holds breaking over the years. I tried it the other day after sending The Madness, which I had been told wasn’t too much of a step below Omaha Beach, but found it to be incredibly difficult. Ill keep having shots at it although my belief that I have the ability to do the route has taken a hit.

Jack working on Paradise Lost 5.13a at the Purgatory crag.

While visiting a lot of crags and trying hard routes (project shopping) I have also been slowly working on my onsight ability. This mainly has to do with fitness as the routes are generally easy to read. Onsighting is either incredibly rewarding or frustrating, depending on whether you succeed or not. So far I have onsighted up to 5.13a (28), haven’t tried many 5.13bs, and am nowhere near 5.13c.

Just to add a bit of perspective I belayed a young (18?) American guy named Sean Bailey on a route I had a quick go at called Gods own stone (5.14a/32). It was his hardest onsight ever and he followed it up with Omaha Beach a few days later. He has also done three or so 5.14c (34) routes all in a week and a half here and all taking only a few shots. The new generation of climbers around the world are crushing and making a mockery of what used to be considered difficult. It is humbling and a little bit frustrating leaving me wondering what I could have done to be anywhere near that good. I love the struggle of trying hard though and embracing the successes and failures. It feels good to focus on performance/numbers for a while and not worry about run outs or forced bivvy’s.

Me flashing The Force 5.13a at The Dark Side crag.

Other than climbing I have been having a blast hanging out in the amazing autumn surroundings of Kentucky. The leaves are all turning red and there has been a great crew of people around. Jack and Rick are here also throwing themselves at the wall and another friend from back home, Roman, will turn up soon. It’s Halloween on the 31^st, which is a big deal here, and there is a dress up party at the Pizza restaurant/campsite we are staying at. The second half of the trip is full of promise and I can’t wait to see what routes I can pull myself up!