A good weekend... mostly

On Saturday we decided to head out to Churchmans Brook for the day. Kris and I ended up climbing;
Lost Arrow (15) - Head space was a little off but climbing was good
The Sting (14) - Head space was still an issue as the bottom is run out, but committed to the crux.
Caledonia Way (10) - Nice easy climb that I had tried before but bailed on due to a bee hive which is now missing. Middle third lacks gear so ran it out.

After these three we stopped and had some lunch before playing on a toprope on Sundowner (22). I managed to fall my way up the climb,

Sunday was a little better/worse. We headed out to Mt Quarry again and climbed;
Acrobatics with Alan (15) - nice and easy, my foot placement was off however
Turbo Diesel Excavator (19) - Failed to commit to the crux moves once again...

We then thre up a toprope on City Limits(26) which I did ok on considering its well above my abilities. Made it to the tope with about 6 falls which should mean I'll be able to attempt a lead now that I know the crux is not near the third bolt as a fall from there could result in a very long fall.

Fear of falling

Hit up mountain quarry today, what started as a good day turned into a struggle with fear. I jumped on playboy (18) which went really well. After this we procrastinated looking at a few climbs since hang ten (24) had people Abseiling down it. Crazy Horse was damp and after looking at Urban Ethics and getting scared we decided on Running with the Bulls (24).

I struggled from the start with falling as my mind raced about what might happen if I fell. I managed to struggle to just under halfway which was not bad for a first attempt but I can't shake the feeling the fear of falling prevented me getting further.

We then retrieved my gear and setup a top rope on Powerplay (20) which went worse than expected due to my arms being toast from the previous climb.

All in all it was not a bad day out, I just need to lead more and get over this falling fear.

A Long Post Hiatus

So after much promising and resolution making I realised that it's been a year since I last posted here! It's come to that time of the year where the weather becomes rainy on weekends and remains clear sky's during the week!

Two weekends ago we made it out to Statham's Quarry with some friends who hadn't climbed in awhile so we took it easy for the most part with no concern for pushing the grades. It was an enjoyable 5 or so hours of climbing and chatting.

Routes:

• Short Circuit Direct (18) - Decided to do this as my warm up which was silly as I had never tried it before. Ended up on-sighting it which I was stoked with, but boy is this different to most climbs I've done before. Really enjoyable, but loose rock near the top.
• Blah Blah Blah (16) - Done this a bunch of times and every time I forget the crux move, no falls or takes so all good.
• Twenty Easy Steps (17) - A fun climb and very enjoyable. No problems.
• Mt Everest (17) - Not a bad climb, again hesitated at the thin moves going straight up instead of bailing left. done this climb a lot.

 I'm realising I need to stop doing the "usual suspects" and jump on the stuff above my comfort level. I also need to try and increase the amount I climb in a day, even if it is a social day! So I've added a Which list of climbs that I'd like to eventually be able to do clean, will keep it updated and try and use this blog to monitor my progress over the next year and beyond.

Thailand Trip

Well we are back from the Thailand Trip. It was absolutely fantastic, a lot of great routes. Apparently the grade conversion is closer to what is online than what is in the guide book. Overall it worked out to low volumes of climbs for a number of reasons.

6B seemed to be my redpoint limit, though the moves all felt good and I don't think it would take me long to move on to 6C. The biggest issue was the heat and humidity, it turned me into a sweaty mess. The climbing style was different to what I have done previously, with lots of pockets and slight overhangs.

Looking forward to the next climbing trip already!

Gyms... and more gyms

Well the weather has been really hot making climbing in practical for the most part during the day so its been a case of gym climbing more. I've also started Pilates and I'm noticing some nice gains from this!

The weather is finally cooling of and so went and spent the day at Mt Quarry, all in all not a bad day, though probably should of climbed more... end result was

Lead:
Aerobatics with Allan (15)
Playboy (18)
Mortal Wombat (20)
Turbo Diesel Excavator (19)

Also setup Crazy Horse (23) on top rope and had a good go at it. The crux is hard, though I needed to concentrate on my feet more as I was trying to do it using mostly arm strength.It should be safe to lead, will have to give it a better go next time around.

Statham's

Well Saturday was spent at Stathams for a few hours. Warmed up on Twenty Easy Steps (17) and then jumped onto Real Life Ambition (21) again. I can do all the individual moves, just need to link them now and prevent the pump. Crux is still taking me 3-4 goes to get so it should be doable. I want this done before Thailand after last years goal was not achieved. looks like I have a little under 4 weeks to make this happen.

New Shoes and US climbing gyms

Well I write this from my hotel in Nashville TN, unfortunately the purpose of my visit is not climbing but I have managed to get to the gym for some bouldering. Interestingly the gym here does not use the V scale but a competion scale that goes something like
R1-10 (recreational/beginner) - V0-V2
I1-10 (Intermediate) - V3-4
A1-10 (Advanced) - V5-6
O1-10 (Open) V6+

This is somewhat confusing but really I've never bouldered on a V scale anyways so who am I to complain. I talked with the guy at the gym and he explained what I already knew, that grading indoors is difficult as it doesn't represent the outdoors well and so they use the above 4 categories with 1-10 getting progressively harder as a method to group similar apparent grades. All really sensible, I wonder if the Australian comps will ever catch on?

As I said I'm not a bouderer, I very rarely boulder at the moment and so I was pleasantly surprised to be bouldering solidly in the I's and managed A1 after a few attempts. Not really anything brag worthy but it does give me a rough (very) idea of where I sit within the John Sherman V-grade bouldering system. Looking forward to playing on some more problems before heading home Wednesday next week.

As mentioned in my previous post I hadn't done a lot of climbing outdoors due to shoes becoming an issue, although we did head to Wungong Slabs for some nice climbing. Looking forward to trying out the new shoes on real rock, I actually have two new pairs, the first being La Sportiva Testerossa's and the second being Evolv Evo, both pairs are nice although both will be used for different purposes. As a side note I replaced my harness also, this is due to them getting to big! apparently I'm losing some of the spare tire around my waist which is always a good thing.

Enough babbling, time to do some more work.