Spray-A-Thon and Rifle wrap

Well, Rifle was terrific.

Check your ego at the door and prepare to be humbled. That's the approach that works best. If you send - woohoo. If you fail - good training! :)

Highlights of my two week trip are as follows (I've gone with the euro grades as, after all, this is sport climbing):

Spray-A-Thon 8a+ - 5th shot (super steep with one tough crux. My first grade 30 on foreign soil.)
The Anti-Phil 8a - 4th shot (gently overhanging with brutal campus-snatching around a low roof)
The Beast 7c+ - 4th shot (slipperiest rock on the planet?)
Pump-O-Rama 7c+ - 2nd shot (just like Mt Coolum in Australia. Technical kneebars not an issue :)
Beer Run 7c+ - 3rd shot (my fave in Rifle, varied and amazing)
The Blocky Horror Show 7c - 3rd shot (stepped roofs, then hugging headwall)
Hang Em High 7b+ - onsight ("proud onsight dude!" pumped off my dial)
Pretty Hate Machine 7b+ - 2nd shot (slippery steep route)
Easy Skankin 7b - onsight (best sport 12b in USA they reckon!)

And here's some pics of me doing Spray-A-Thon on my final day. Big pressure!


Getting set up for the dyno. Off the right hand undercling, you jump for that hole. Very cool move.


Clipping in the crack section.


Double kneebars (sort-of) before the first bulge. I figured out some great beta for this bulge that even the locals now use. Energy conservation is all about using momentum!



The crux move! Might not look much, but you're reaching left hand for a hold known as the "pencil". But I reckon a pencil would be a better edge.

So thanks Rifle, you were great. I love you.

All pics © Jason Huston 2010

More Ten Sleep Climbing pics

This is turning into a photo blog. Oh well. You love it.

More pics from Ten Sleep for you. It's great having three people finally as we can spend time taking a few shots.

Gareth onsighting Number One Enemy 5.11a, a fingerlocky thing at Slavery Wall. Definitely one of the best sectors here. © L Cujes 2010

Me gathering beta. Sneaky! © S Cujes 2010

Another pic for the Molly Beard Appreciation Society © L Cujes 2010

Me onsighting a nice 5.11b, I Just Do Eyes. Techy long face. © G Llewellin 2010

Gareth on one of the best routes at Ten Sleep: Happiness Is Slavery 5.12b (or 7b or 25 :) © S Cujes 2010

Big G taking flight as the pump goes terminal 5m from the top © S Cujes 2010

Applying anti-pump techniques. Do you know this trick? © S Cujes 2010

Me on the start of the classic E.K.V 5.12c (7b+/26) which I flashed thanks to Molly & Carl's beta © S Cujes 2010

Me sending the classic long route Burden of Immortality 5.13a (7c+/28) © G Llewellin 2010

Well that's it for Ten Sleep. A nice couple of weeks was had by all.

Rifle USA - home of the kneebar?

Rifle Mountain Park, Colorado USA. Where the strong come to send (eventually) and the weak come to weep.

First impressions? Way more beautiful than I expected. Rifle is a long canyon with 60-80m high limestone walls on either side (which means there's always shade, even in summer) and a rushing alpine stream running through the middle. The stream is conveniently filled with brown trout so you'll share the campsite with fisherman and camping families. Bring your fishing gear or buy a complete setup for $16 at Wal-Mart like I did.

The camping in Rifle costs $7 a night, plus $5 per car, or buy an annual car pass for $40, which makes sense if you're staying for more than eight nights. Amenities include toilets and firepits. That's about it. The nearest showers and food are in at the town of Rifle which is about 20 minutes away by car, or (better) Glenwood Springs (45 minutes away).

Easy routes? Pfft! Good luck! There's maybe one or two sectors which have a handful of routes in the 5.8 - 5.10 range (17 - 19 or 5c - 6a+). If you're climbing under 7a / 23 / 5.11c I wouldn't bother. Just go elsewhere. But for this grade and upwards (especially the 7c / 27 / 5.12d grades) the place offers some serious quality. To me, the routes all seem hard for their grades. Who cares though when the quality is so good?

Walk-in's vary in length from zero minutes to about 1 minute. Great for lazy sport climbers.

I've found the climbing to be less steep than I'd imagined. With far fewer kneebars damn it. Maybe I'm just not finding them? There's lots of just gently overhanging sectors (which I love) and the routes demand a ton of endurance. There's a lot of polish, so you have to learn to trust those "buttery footholds".

Nearly all the routes have clip and lower anchors which is nice. And nearly all the classics have permadraws like these. These are also nice, although the wear on the biners means that your rope will turn black (from the aluminium oxide) and you should wear gloves when belaying.

So we're one week in and those are my initial ramblings. As for routes, I really enjoyed Beer Run 5.13a and Easy Skankin' 5.12b - both rated as the best of their grade in the wider Crankinverse. And I've fallen in love with The Anti-Phil 5.13b, so I'll see if I can get that sent before we leave.

Enjoy some pics...

Sikati Cave

Last day climbing in Kalymnos! What to do to make it memorable? Sikati Cave!

What to say? Epic crag. Huge hole in the ground, 100m deep at the lowest point, covered in stalactites. My first trip here in 2008 I did the runout classic Lolita 7a. This time I had to step it up and onsighted the long Mort Aux Chevres 7b and also Morgan and its extension Adam, given 8a in the guidebook(!)

The first pitch (given 7c) is mostly very steep 6c-7a climbing to an admittedly hard section. It probably is 7c. Then the extension is only another 8m of climbing and you can start it fresh because there's a great bridging rest at the first anchor. I won't spoil it for you, but it's definitely worth having a try for the extension. I was happy I did.
 

Me on Morgan, still a ways to go. T-shirt carried as sweat towel.

© Mark Kochanek 2010

I was so zorched after that effort I bit the dust.

And then it was time to say farewell to Kalymnos and hello to Turkey. Thanks Kaly, see you next year!

Fun de chichuune

Yesterday I managed to do something I've been dreaming of trying since 2007 when I first saw it. I climbed the mega line of the Grande Grotta, Fun de chichuune 8a. The route is 40m long and it's essentially a roof for most of its length. As you can see in the photos below, you climb through blobs and stalactites, interspersed with scary blank sections. 

It is #8 on this topo. 

There were tons of kneebars and other creative rests along the way. I spent most of the time hanging upside down by my knees. The weight of the quickdraws felt like it might pull my harness off. There are 28 clips.

It was a hot day so I was sweating heaps and the tufas were often damp or outright dripping with water. I managed to remove my shirt on one of the rests at halfway and use it as a towel. Later, towards the end, I had to thoroughly chalk up my forehead. That's a first.

Most of these pics are in the first third when it's not so steep (!)

 

Not even halfway yet!

 

Can you spot me here? I'm at about the 3/4 point. 

And the best part, it was onsight. The first try. Meaning I thankfully didn't have to try the whole enormous beast for a second time, which would be crushing. You might cry.

Route pics © C Vaillancourt 2010

FFS! Don't feed the goats!

Okay, well now I know. Fine.

So there's this goat, right? She hangs out at the base of Afternoon sector. We think she's pregnant. She'll sit, or stand, unmoving, at the base of one of the routes. Usually the goats are skittish. Not this girl. She stands her ground. You want to stand there to belay? Tough.

Dave Bateman and the other Aussies Brad and Adam met her on their first day. They turned their backs briefly, only to turn around and discover her casually flipping through pages in their guidebook. It looked as though she was checking out what to climb next.

So I was calmly eating my mandarin and thought "What the hey, let's see if she'll eat a piece out of my hand". Well she did. But then didn't want to call it quits at one piece. She was all up in my business after the rest of it. Being a gentleman, I obliged. Okay I was scared. Goats look evil. It's that slanty pupil. She then was rumaging through our food bag and the only way to disuade her was to clip it to the first bolt of one of the 6c's.

So unless you're made of mandarins, FFS, don't feed the goats! 

In less goat-related news, I did my hardest onsight today, Aegialis 7c/27 in the Grande Grotta. It's about 30m long and 40 degrees overhanging climbing a series of stalactites, blobs, and continuous tufa curtains. I wasn't very warmed up, having only done a 6b, so I was thankful to find a stack of kneebars (like 15 or something) and just managed to squeak my way through. I spent about 25 minutes on it, and I think it's harder than the other 7c's I've onsighted.

A nice French guy Oliver decided to try his luck after me, and I loaned my kneebar pads for him to try. An hour or so later he walked around the corner to return them looking exhausted, and I asked him how the pads went. He said "I couldn't find one kneebar!". Oh how we laughed! I couldn't believe it! He said I should go to one of his favourite crags Gorges du Tarn in France where there are no kneebars. I said that would be scary because I would have to get fit! :)

I'm now blogging from my new office, as we moved house yesterday. Picture below. The umbrella is today's new enhancement. I must say, I think this is the best office environment I've worked in to date. 

Kalymnos 2010 - Trip Report 12 (Ghost Kitchen)

Group discussion this morning was on the mental game. What are those self limiting beliefs that are floating around in your noggin which are stopping you progressing your climbing? How might they be  serving you? How can you change them? Fear of falling may be in there, but often it's only a part. What about expectations? What about worrying what others think? So we discussed the importance of training mental toughness, why falls are a non-avoidable ingredient in climbing progression and some strategies we can use to reduce anxiety and truly enjoy the act of climbing on lead. This is the good stuff! Love it. [If this is stuff you're interested in, there's a couple of good books (like this and this) or you could join us sometime and get hands on.]

So, after me scrounging builders rubbish to build a bosun's chair (pic of field testing below), we jumped in the car and blitzed to Ghost Kitchen. GK offers some quality vert walls, gently overhung tufa madness, and the best warm down slabs on the island.

This would also be the crag we would test out our new CU belay glasses. Guaranteed to make you look like a Professor of Belaying (PBe) and a complete dork, these unusual prism-based glasses allow you to see directly upwards without tilting your head. This allows you to watch your climber while maintaining a relaxed stance. It's a tradeoff of fashion sense versus neck pain. Verdict: crystal clear and pretty awesome. Bloody expensive though (about $120 AUD). If you buy three it's free shipping and no tax which brings the price down some.

Dave and Ruth reaquainted themselves with Joy In The Garden 6a after Andy's onsight while Lena and Ronsley did Achilles 5c+. Warm ups over, I belted up the main wall and commenced hanging from my fencepost with the camera. Andy was up on the sweet Remember Wadi Rum 6c which just has the most crazy tufas and blobs.

It was a valiant onsight attempt, foiled with a slip of the foot on the finale, resulting on Andy wizzing down the tufa curtain. Second shot there were no such mistakes. Tick tick for Andy "I'm a delicate flower" Lightfoot! Dave got inspired by that effort, and girding himself in his Upskill kneepads, he proceeded to knee his way up the route. It was rediculous the amount of solid kneebars he found! He was however overcome by the unusual outtro sequence and took flight. By this time the sun was on the wall and a second try was off the cards.

Dave, Ruth and Lena enjoyed the nearby Delta 6a+, and my vantage point out in space on my fencepost afforded me some unexpectedly good angles and I snapped some great shots like this one of Lena. Perhaps my fave shot of this trip so far?

We then headed down to the "skateboard slab" which hosts some great very slabby, smooth and pocketed slabs. One day I'll bring a skateboard and see if it's possible to drop in and ride it out on abseil. I slammed the draws up on Persephone 6b in my sneakers (my new hobby; 7a is my best so far), and nearly everyone climbed it clean I think. Lena absolutely killed it on the slabs, with first try clean topropes of Parasitos 6a+ and Zyklop 6a+. Sam flashed Zyklop which was notable for it's un-Kalymnian-runout-ness.

And then came Serena. "6b? I'm calling bullshit on that!" Dave had been spat off the top section of this awkward number on the last camp. Rematch time. Using good tactics ("Nah mate, I won't ruin your onsight!"), he sent Andy up to put the draws on. With his reach like a sick dog, Andy grunted his way through the overhang and with difficulty, got himself into a position to clip the anchor. Draw on. Pull rope. Go for clip. Fumble. Draw swinging. Try again. Fumble. Swear. Draw swinging in a mocking, "you can't catch me" manner. More swearing. Final scathing stare at the anchor. Fall. Noooooooooo! It was in the bag!

Suitably padded up, Dave jumped on, cruised the slab and engaged the steepness, finding some no-hander kneebars. Up in the business, Andy passed on the crucial beta "Stick your arm up there like you're helping a cow give birth!" Dave had clipped the final bolt then started to gibber. ("I only had about five seconds left!"). He then somehow wrangled double kneebars which gave him enough juice to clip the tricksy anchor. Yeah boy! What will you be doing at 60? :)

Today's fun fact:

To the belayer of a top-roping climber, a red upturned helmet on the ground broadcasts thusly: Dave has initiated a game of pebble basketball. Would you like to play? You have selected...yes.

Kalymnos 2010 - Trip Report 11 (Odyssey)

Welcome to the fifth day of climbing for this group here in sunny Kalymnos.

Sam on the walk-in to Odyssey, while Ruth cranks in the background.

Funny stuff with Ruth today on the slippery and tricky Femio 6a+ (pictured above). It's stiff - no gimme for the 6a+/19 grade. Because of its position it gets tons of traffic and is therefore super polished. Ruth gave it one burn and had plenty of rests and claimed "There's no way I'm leading this, it's just too slippery!" After sorting things out on toprope a couple of times, she was suddenly tying in for the lead. What the? Ruth is highly vocal when climbing and if she's thinking it up there, she's saying it. So we get a great insight into what's going on in her head as she's climbing, and yet me tell you, there was a lot of self-doubt and uncertainty during this lead! We've all been there. To Dave's great credit, he played his role of belayer (i.e. climber supporter) perfectly and was able to help Ruth make her way through the doubts and push through to the anchors and her hardest lead climb. Congrats Ruth! From now on I suggest less judging what you can't do, and being more curious as to what you can do. There's so much ability there waiting to be unleashed...

This little orange domino spider (not the technical name) was way cool.

Dave decided on the tough Itaca 6c (perhaps more like 7a?) as something to get a workout on. He'd been on it on the 2008 trip and in this shot (above), tries like hell to remember the sequence. On his second burn, he went all the way through, skipped the last bolt, only to fall on the final hard move. A very near thing, and 100% energy output. Just what we want - awesome!

With that kind of effort, you get special personal shade privileges. All part of the Upskill Service ®.

Andy's day proj was Dionysos 7a. I put the gear on, ticked up some holds for him and then gave the beta rundown. He fell on the last move on the flash. Effort! On the second shot, same deal - that powerful final move! He woke up the next day sore across the back and shoulders and is now booked in for a massage.

Another day, another shot of Telendos. I never get sick of it.

Kalymnos 2010 - Trip Report 10 (Dolphin Bay)

We awoke to another perfect day. After our big day at Poets, we aimed to downshift and do some volume. On the menu was the rather unassuming looking Dolphin Bay. Located on a headland near Kastelli, this white marble cliff requires either a steep scramble on scree, or an abseil to access. We chose the abseil for some extra spice. Some of the group hadn't abseiled for ages, so we did some rigging practice and set up different methods with autoblocks, Grigris, ATC's, munter hitches etc. All good learning.

While the cliff looks a bit ho-hum, it hides some real gems. The easy routes here are of great quality and during 2009, a whole stack of new routes got bolted, so there's now about 40 to choose from.

Ronsley and Lena really enjoyed their time on Wisteria Lane 5c+ to begin the day. A great route on featured white marble with an overhang to overcome up top. Lena in particular really styled it. I went crazy with the camera all day as the blue background of the ocean contrasted so starkly against the white rock. I love sea cliffs! I'm going to not write much and instead let the pics do the talking...

Andy against the sea on Trokrakhan 6a+

Sam put in a great effort to flash the sequency Baklava Maniac 6b. Ronsley also really enjoyed this route. His route of the day. He did seven routes I think.

Ruth battled through and redpointed Trokrakhan 6a+. I like this landscape shot.

Me playing around on the slippery Kalymnian Lightning 6b+. And for the record, no, this is not photoshopped.

Dave and I had fun on this route. It's mostly an overhung crack route up slick polished limestone. Being down quite close to the water, it cops the salt spray, and the main challenge of the route was to not have your feet blow off the holds as you laybacked with various levels of desperation. Dave was blowing like a chimney up there with his feet skittering around like a cartoon character. You can see the steam coming out of his ears in this next shot...

Nearly there Dave!

The furthest left route on the wall necessitated belaying from a low rock platform. You can see Sam down there belaying as Andy onsights Too Fat For Tufas 6a. The tide was slowly on the rise and the shelf was getting more and more wet from the waves. It was more exciting belaying than climbing I think. At least it was for me when belaying Sam. When she was at about the fourth bolt, a HUGE wave pounded over the top of the rocks and drenched me and the rope utterly, while the group looked on from their dry perch just above. Much laughter!

So the verdict on Dolphin Bay for an easier day of climbing by the sea - total winner. 10 out of 10 eh Dave?