What better
way to round up one awesome year and begin another, than with a trip to the good,
old Blue Mountains? Over the last few years it’s become an annual road trip event
for Alex and I to join the hordes of Queensland climbers doing exactly the same
thing. It’s such a great vibe with everyone there simply to have fun, celebrate
the coming of the New Year and climb as much as physically possible… Which is generally
until our fingertips bleed, tape becomes our best friend and yet we still
refuse to stop climbing.
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Me working on "Hairline 2000" (28) at Diamond Falls. Photo by Slavik Titov |
At just
under two weeks, this year’s trip was a slightly shorter one for Alex and I,
but we had an incredible time regardless. On the morning of our arrival (a few
days post-Christmas) like keen beans we headed straight to the nearest crag,
Centennial Glen’s Main Wall to get some much craved rock under our eager
fingertips. After a half day of climbing, we set up our tent in the Blackheath
Caravan Park. The place was packed to the rafters with all sorts of caravans
and tents, some small and modest and some which looked like the size of a small
house. With many young families around the place it certainly wasn’t the
quietist of campgrounds, but the hot showers were amazing!
Rainy day at the crag with Alex Turnbull |
Sore hands! |
Week one of
our trip brought perfect weather with sunny blue skies and cool breezes which
was a stark contrast to the weeks before we’d arrived. Lucky us! …or so we
thought. Our luck seemed to run out as week two came around with torrential
rain and strong winds diminishing our climbing area options and making the
campground drenched and miserable. The creek behind our tent was rising, things
were leaking everywhere and tent pegs were pulling out of the now soft, muddy
soil. All of a sudden the once packed campground was now almost completely
empty, with only our tent and one or two others sticking it out in the
miserable conditions. Amongst all this, Alex and I were unfortunate to catch a
vomiting bug which seemed to be making its way around Blackheath. As unpleasant
as it was, it kept us occupied over the two worst days of weather, and thankfully
we were back to our old selves once the rain began to recede.
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Me on the onsight of "Paint God" (25) at Bell Supercrag. Photo by Sam Cujes |
Throughout
the trip I was really keen to head to some new areas we’d never been to before
and just have fun pushing ourselves to onsight or flash as many routes as
possible. It’s my favourite type of climbing, onsighting… I find that I use my
whole body and mind as one element to keep myself on the wall, and everything
seems to just fall into place. I push myself harder and I seem to be able to
hold on for that little bit longer. It’s those magical moments when you seem to
pull strength out of nowhere and pull a move you never thought possible, or
when you happen to catch a dyno in the perfect spot, as if you knew the climb
without ever even seeing it before. It never ceases to amaze me how much
strength your body still has in reserve, even when you think you can’t possibly
hold on any longer. The more I challenge myself to push past this mental
barrier, the more I understand myself better as a climber and what my body is
capable of.
My most
memorable climb of the trip was a long, tough route called “Parallax Error”
(27) at Bell Supercrag. I didn’t onsight the whole climb as one because I had
some insight into possible beta for the boulder crux start. Past this point
however, was another 25 metres of completely new rock for me to work my way
through. This was one of those magical climbs that just happened to all fall
into place, where my mind and body were challenged to their limits to keep me
on the wall, and somehow I managed to pull moves I didn’t think were possible
for me…
It was our
first day at Bell Supercrag, and also Alex’s birthday!! Alex had just managed
to strongly onsight “The Reality Dysfunction” (25); a very long pumper of a climb
with a tough finish. I was very pleased to flash it before we shuffled down a
few climbs to the left where the daunting yet alluring “Parallax Error” stood
before us with what looked like a very bouldery, cruxy start. Warning: Beta alert ahead! Alex jumped
on first and tried working out this difficult boulder problem which began the
climb. He managed to pull the massive move after only a couple of attempts and
put the first couple of draws on, but decided to come down and rest for a bit
so I could have a go. He pointed out a few small crimps which might be useful
to get through the cruxy boulder problem… So I whacked another 10 or so draws
onto my harness and decided to give it a try. To my delight, I managed to get
through the bouldery start on my first attempt with some sneaky, crimpy
short-person beta. Now with very pumped arms, I continued battling for the next
25 or so metres of onsight climbing ahead of me. Once I was past one crux,
there seemed to be another just ahead. It was the climb that just kept on
giving. At one point I was sure it would have to ease off in difficulty, but
instead I was confronted with a crazy slab with no foot holds and tiny crimps.
I don’t know how long I was stuck at the next undercling trying to figure out
how I could possibly reach the next slopey rail way above my head. Eventually I
figured the only way would be to do a full cut-loose dyno from a slabby
undercling to this diagonal slopey rail. With feet numbing and arms screaming,
I managed to stick it. It felt absolutely amazing! There was no giving up now…
the thought of having to do it all again after this much effort and desperation
was almost more painful than my forearms at the time. Thankfully there were
some larger holds after this crux but the climb had not finished with me yet…
Just before the anchor, with a tremendous amount of rope drag almost pulling me
back down the climb, I was forced to do another full cut-loose dyno to reach
the clipping ledge. I couldn’t believe I had actually stuck it and was thrilled
to clip the anchors bagging a flash of this epicly awesome fun climb.
Going for the dyno on "Hairline 2000" (28). Photo by Slavik Titov |
We ended the
trip on a high, spending our last day at the lovely Porters Pass where we
jumped on a few of our past projects and spent the day hanging at the crag with
a bunch of our lovely Queensland mates. I was super happy to find some new but
very painful beta for the crux of “Sail Away” (26), and managed to tick it on
my second shot of the day. After bruised knuckles, bleeding fingers and a
profound lack of energy left, we decided to end the day and head to the pub for
a beer. It was a stunning evening and a lovely way to round up another awesome
trip and another incredible year.
A very sore and exhausted me after the send of "Sail Away" (26) at Porters Pass |
Motivating, and well told tale of a fantastic Aussie location. Keep crushing Lucy. Can't wait to tick some 'never thought I still had it in my tank' tales of my own.
ReplyDeleteI hope this year was a good one for you and you also have learnt many new things from life which you can apply later in life. Enjoy your new year with friends and family with freedom and no fear.
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