Headed up to Gorge Hill yesterday for the first time in years. Derek had shown me a photo of this amazing looking dyno project he had found and I was super keen to check it out. We brushed a bunch of extra holds up the arete as we thought it might be too far to dyno and compression may be the only way. Turns out the compression is henious. Fortunately the distance was manageable and I snatched the first ascent of One Trick Pony (V10). Rad!!!
A few more for the books: A few weeks back I was poking around Quantum Field trying to find a bit of shade when I stumbled upon a roof – with holds! Hard to describe where but it’s up above Retro Vertigo. It yielded two new problems; Splinter (V5) SS on the lowest hold on the right and finishes up on a large jug. Topping out is possibly possible, but at the risk of falling down a 10m drop, I chose life. The other, Tweaker (V8) Starts on the obvious ledge down and left, joins into Splinter, and finishes on the same hold. Today we headed to Flock Hill where a couple of new compression prows were, compressed. The first, Under Pressure (V8, SS) is tucked in the corridor just to the left of Instant Classic. The second, Discontinuity (V8) is up near Julian’s Arete. It could well have a SS to go with it, but it was more than I could manage for the day. Choice!
Been a while since my last post – been keeping myself busy with uni, fixing my car, and even a little bit of climbing. So, I never made it back to Font. The Siberian winter storms in early February made sure of that, which was a little frustrating to say the least! It also meant getting back up to the Peak was out of the question, as the midlands were iced up and cars weren’t going anywhere in a hurry. So all in all, my European climbing experience was slightly lacking. No matter, I’ve been back in NZ now for a couple of months, and been getting in a fair bit of climbing, both on the woody and on the rock. No amazing sends to report as yet, but been getting a lot stronger, and have a good feeling about this year. Ooh, actually today I sent Dr Manhattan (V9) which was pretty fricken rad, and even threw another lap on it for good measure. I’ve had a couple of sessions on Hume Roof (V11) and have made some good progress. Have now done all the individual moves, with some pretty good linkage too. Hopefully that’ll be one for the ticklist in the near future. Uni holidays now, so as soon as I get my shitty work report out of the way, there should be a good amount of time for some more climbing. Rad!
After 9 years of dreaming I finally made it to the forest of Fontainebleau! Sadly, the best I could manage was a 4 day trip this time around, but fingers crossed I’ll be able to return before heading back to New Zealand in early February.
Day 1: Cold, drizzle, damp, but surprisingly not too bad. Got very close to doing L’Aero Dynamite but couldn’t hold the top holds with wet hands (first holds were wet, could get past them but not without them violating my hands). Sent Carnage (7b+), got close to doing La Berezina (7c) but no cigar. La Balance was soaked. Then drizzle turned to rain.
Day 2: Everything was damp, went to Franchard Sablons. Warmed up and then it rained. Got drunk.
Day 3: Everything was very damp but weather was perfect. Just needed more wind! Did some classic easy’s at Bas Cuvier. Even more almost did La Berezina, but didn’t. Went to Franchard Cuisinere in the afternoon – so so so rad! Sent a 7b dyno called Entorse, then trucked up the hill and tried Hale Bopp (8a) on dusk. Got fricken close, about an inch from the lip, but couldn’t guster any more muster. Planned to come back the next day and, fingers crossed, dispatch. Pissed down all night!!!
Day 4: Was going to go back to Cuisinere, but was informed everything would be soaked and it was a slow drying area. So went to Maunoury as it was supposedly on a hill, a little less foresty, and quicker drying. Nearly everything was impossibly soaked. Managed to dry out (ironically) Oasis (7b+) for a quick ascent, then it rained, and we went home.
So, considering weather/conditions and lack of climbing before hand (one indoor session and a day at stannage in 6weeks) I’m pretty happy with the sends, but definitely want much much more.
To be continued…
As promised, video footage of the usual suspects making the most of the last few days out at Flock Hill, including my recent ascent of The Vapour Trail.
Monday 31st of October marked the last day of the Flock Hill season 2011, before closing its gates for 2months of lambing (and excessive heat). Fortunately, the last few days provided some clouds and a light breeze to leave some friction for those last-minute sends. First up was a quick Friday afternoon trip to Quantum Field (only had a few hours to spare!) where I managed to do Shaman (V8). Its actually a surprisingly good problem ruined only slightly by some scrappy looking but solid enough rock. Saturday morning’s weather looked a little daunting with “warm and drizzle” seeming to be the order of the day, but for the most part it kept itself at bay and sendage was had by all. I finally managed to bag an ascent of Millennium (V8) after being repelled by what has now become a trading route. For some reason I just can’t do the initial lat move. So, I cunningly missed it out with an uber-rad driveby. Sick. I also made some promising progress on Power Monkey (pictured) which will be going on next years shopping list for sure. Sunday’s weather looked a little daunting, so we gave it a miss and returned for the grand finale on Monday. I did the stand start to a project I brushed a few weeks ago which has slopey pinches, campusing, compression and a toe-hook. Need I say more?! Blue Lines (V7). The sit start is going to be awesome, with even more compression. Yum. Lastly, I finally plucked up the courage to try Julian’s cleverly named, Julian’s Arete (V7). Took a little while to find a method that worked for me (you all have bogus beta) but once it clicked, oh my – WHAT A PROBLEM! And a truly awesome way to finish off Flock Hill 2011.
With the season drawing to a close and exams looming, I’m desperately trying to get in as much time at Flock as possible, oh and a little study too. So yesterday I punched out some sweet dynamics problems in the morning, and then blasted up the hill for an cheeky afternoon bouldering session. Just as well too, as after a brief warm-up I managed to bust out an ascent of Jetstream (V9) first go of the day. Stoked! I’ve been having some battles with the top of this one on previous sessions as its a little higher than I like to fall these days, but felt super solid this time so gave it a little more commitment. Its going to be an on-going battle for me this one – the majority of top quality lines are bigguns and just have to be climbed, but I definitely do not want to go through the last two years of recovery again. Slowly building up my confidence in climbing higher again, but not sure that’s necessarily a good thing. Again, hopefully I’ll get a video of this up shortly.
Yesterday, I managed the second ascent of The Vapour Trail (V10+), which has remained unrepeated since 2003. Very chuffed as it’s an amazing looking problem I’ve wanted to do for ages (first tried it in 2006), and it’s the hardest thing I have sent in a couple of years. Video coming soon.
With the uni term drawing to and end I’ve been logging some good time both on the woody and on the rock – and it’s been paying off! Two weekends ago I headed to Flock Hill and bagged the 2nd ascent of Dyno-Sore (V8) and flashed a new slappy prow up on the scarp – Juarez (V7). Yesterday saw another trip to Flock, and resulted in a good day shopping indeed. First up was a repeat of T-Roy’s super slick slabfest “BAWSE!!!” (V6, yes the capitals and exclamation marks are required). Next I spied a sweet little problem on the left hand end of the field near the Vatican Project. After a quick scrub, Zac kindly relieved me of my prize claiming the FA of The Confession Booth (V5). I had to settle for the 3rd ascent. Next up me and Derek set to work on a rad slappy prow he had brushed earlier that morning near The Great Escape. After discovering the key to holding the razor sharp arete was to coat your hand in tape, Derek banged out the FA of Kommandant Von Luger (V7) with me gaining the 2nd two goes later – need to get on the ball to get FA’s around here!. After a quick dusting of chalk for the finishing holds, I dispatched Morpheus (V9) first pop of the day. Turns out its not too bad when its dry! Lastly, a quick march up the hill to try a project I’d brushed the previous weekend – it put up quite the fight but finally succumbed to an onslaught giving The Quivering Palm (V8). May see if it’ll go from a little lower which would nullify its current start where I jumped my heel on. Watch this space. Also, a quick tally when I got home revealed only 9 more problems v6 or harder until I’ve bagged 400. RAD!
Uni workload has been keeping me mighty busy lately and as a result there hasn’t been much to report I’m afraid. A trip to Dunedin a few weeks back resulted in success on a couple of V8’s, with one being a potential FA. With little sign of the workload relenting even for the week holiday break, we made a mad weekend dash to Paynes Ford – despite my lack of contact with rock of late I still had hopes of bagging the first ascent of the previously mentioned Mega Monster Span Project. It now sports some slightly lamer tick-tack beta making it a little less mega monster spanny, but it still packs a punch for sure. It was all looking good as within the first hour I’d repeated all the moves and linked a healthy amount together, but sadly the first time I latched the span move from the start, my skin stayed on the wall and I landed in a crumpled heap on the ground. My worst flapper to date I think! Bugger. Spent the rest of the weekend trying it back-three and got bloody close too, but really just needed the back up of that index finger to seal the deal. Next time I suppose!
bouldering 