Everyone has dreams, yet few of us ever get to realise them... Some might say it's sad when you have a dream you will never see realised; the aspirations to realise mine is what ends up taking me to places I never would have gone to without them in the first place! So what if I never realise the dream? Well at least I experienced the journey!

This story is a happy ending though; I didn't just go on the journey... I realised the dream!

The Legendary photo of the no-hands rest on the 7c+ pitch of "Silbergeier"

The Dream

I have just spent 7 full days on a 250m high limestone wall attempting to climb one of the world's most famous Alpine multipitch climbs, "Silbergeier".

This climb has been a 10 year dream of mine... Since I first saw the pictures of it, heard the tale of Beat Kammerlander's amazing triumph over this immaculate bullet hard and almost featureless limestone wall and grew up hearing about the even greater challenge of climbing the Alpine Trilogy of which this climb is one third of - it has been in my mind as a climb to aspire to do one day!

A part of me thought that to climb this route would always be a dream... a beautiful one at that, but a dream none-the-less. There is always a leap of faith when you dare to capture a dream like this. What if you fail? What if it all turns to ash in your hands, slipping between your fingers like so many before...

But you can't let the thought of failure stop you, otherwise the dream will never come true. I have been through the process of "dream seeking" before and know through personal failure and triumph that both doubt and fear never help."Silbergeier" takes the really obvious looking barrel feature of this wall

It was born...

I decided last year that I wanted to try "Silbergeier" in 2015. It has always been a part of a larger goal to do the "Alpine Trilogy", but "Silbergeier" was always the ultimate of the three! 

I needed a partner for the journey but was unsure of any who would be up for the challenge. Whilst in Oz last year, I spoke to my friend Monique Forestier (one of Australia's Top Climbers) about the prospect of such a trip - she was "over the moon" excited!

We kept in touch over the year until finally meeting in Switzerland for the adventure of a lifetime!

Unfortunately we were greeted with very bad weather for the first big chunk of the trip. This meant we had to abandon the Ratikon for drier climates and return when conditions were more suitable. Thankfully the weather got a lot better in the following week and we managed to get a good 5 days on the wall together before Monique had to leave for Australia.Monique arriving to a wet Ratikon :(

Monique and I made good progress on every pitch as each day progressed; however it became apparent very quicky to both of us just how difficult this route really was! It isn't a case of just slapping a grade next to a pitch and saying "yeah, that's how hard that is" - the climbing is extremely technical, really run-out and super exposed! From my 80 odd 8b-c ascents collected from 10 years of sport climbing... I ain't ever climbed anything like these before!

Sadly Monique had to leave, but I wasn't alone! Thankfully my friend from back home, Willis Morris had decided to join me on the trip and felt satisfied enough just being away from the dreary dreak skies of the motherland to belay me for a few days on a big blue limestone wall!Feeling like a mountaineer... in the sunshine... clipping bolts...

The Ascent

 Willis spent 2 days on the wall with me before we decided to go for a redpoint. I had had 7 days on the climb and was confident that I could get through the first 4 pitches to the crux 5th pitch, but was unsure of my chances here...

On the day, we got up bright and early, power walked into the crag and jumarred the 200m of static to the base of the climb. Today we would be running of ClifBar products - thank god for them! 

I wanted to beat the sun which was coming around fast, so without much rest I ran up the first pitch, a meaty 8b/+ warm up! When this guy arrived... things got a bit more crazy!

By the second pitch the sun was closing in on us but it was still quite cool. I managed to clean the 7c+ pitch also despite it feeling about 8a+ and insanely technical and balancy - probably the most intense 7c+ I have ever climbed!

The third pitch was in the sun now but I was desperate to get through this before being burnt alive on the wall! At 8a+ this pitch was no pushover and for me was one of the most intense pitches of the climb. The climbing like all the previous is really technical and very run-out!

There is one more pitch before a resting bivy ledge - this is 7a, but rest assured if I was to grade it at an indoor wall, the locals would be begging the wall manager for my head and demanding an upgrade! Hahaha!

Willis and I sat up camp on the bivy ledge, fortifying our position on the wall with a collection of our layers and shells to sheild us from the 30 degree sun! It only shaded us partly - my ankles were swollen and burnt by the end of that! We stuck it out for 4 hours, baking in the sun before finally the sun passed around the mountain.When I was a kid I used to love building forts... Now that I am 25, I still love building forts!

It was finally my time to put the skills to the test... the dreaded 5th pitch! Grades are so subjective so you can't expect anything from the number on these big walls, but for me this pitch was absolutely terrifying! The climbing is extremely technical, the wall is dead vertical to slightly overhung, the holds are visciously small, always sharp and often gnarly razor crimps or shallow serated pockets! Maybe it's just me... I'm 70kg of "muscle + organs" and about 10kg of "flabby bits" give or take a kilo depending on whose feeding me... that's a lot of guy to be hauling up on those small holds!

In not much time at all, I found myself "somehow" working my way through the cruxy bottom half and into the demanding headwall! A nightmare thought appeared in my mind - my friend Manu, a 9a strong German crusher relayed to me his experiences of falling on this section of the climb on three separate occassions from which he had made the full ascent from the bottom completely free... What if I fall here too? Will I have what it takes to come back? Am I good enough to do this?

I blocked out the negativity and focussed on what I was doing - the climbing is all that mattered. One move flowed into the next and I found myself pulling through the crux, not easily, but with intent! I had made it through and was looking into the final daunting traverse of apprehension, insecurity and complete and utter terror! A 7m run-out on smeary feet and upside down hand-holds does that to a person, but somehow the desperation to not have to re-climb that pitch got me through it.Much like in the Titanic, I felt on top of the world - very happy that I am making progress on each pitch on the send!

Willis jumared up on second and we were celebrating making it through the hardest pitch. All I had left was a 7c+... this pitch is famously known for being the most scary, having a dangerous fall on the crux moves before a final 20m run-out on what I can only describe as "choss chimney direct" - with climbing more akin to caving.

Somehow I sketched my way up this pitch, not gracefully but with intent on not wanting to re-live the stress that pitch 5 causes me but more importantly, not wanting to be helicoptered off the cliff.

The End of a Dream?

Topping out on "Silbergeier" was the best day of my life... It's hard to put into words when I speak let alone on paper (or a computer screen), but I will try.

"Silbergeier" was a lifetime ambition of a life dedicated to climbing. A 15 year old boy grew up with this goal as one of the fundamental driving forces behind a life dedicated to climbing. And at 25 years old, the boy has seen it through!

Is this the end of a dream? Not quite... the other two of the "Alpine Trilogy" have yet to be climbed!

The grit was made famous worldwide after the movie “Hard Grit” was released in the late 90’s. Whenever I travel abroad, the moment it becomes obvious that I’m British (which is generally instant), I am queried about grit… Almost as if this island we live on is just one massive gritstone blob bobbing in and out of the sea :P Well I have a confession to make folks, I’ve not really spent much time on the grit… In fact my time on the grit can be narrowed down to half a day at Stanage bouldering and another spent top roping “Flying Buttress”. Saying that I’ve spent a bit of time recently on the sandstone of Northumberland (my local) and although it is finer grain, there are certainly similar characteristics style and rock formation.

What with the history embedded in gritstone, I kind of feel a little bit intimidated by it. You’d think that a bunch of sandy boulders barely 15m high on average surely wouldn’t be that scary? But I think because as I grew up, the reputation of the grit has been so prevalent in the media, it was always this looming rock that would forever feel scary and formidable to me.John Dunne on the FA

Because I have been getting well into my in trad recently, it made sense to take a trip down to the gritstone and get on a couple of the classics. But being me, I always love a challenge and I wanted to jump straight into the deep end! I contacted a friend of mine, Jacob Cook. We had been discussing gritstone plans for a while and on the cards, “Gaia” and “End of the Affair” had been climbs most often mentioned. I had even almost done a trip down for “Gaia” shortly before my Spain (Chulilla) trip, but weather got the better of us.

Jacob recommended “New Statesman” as a good route for me to try… arguably a very big step into gritstone and not what you would call a standard entry level climb, but it’s an amazing line and there is no harm in trying. Jacob had already climbed it and has even added his own harder variation on the same wall.

I really laid on the pressure with “New Statesman”. Committing myself to trying this with basically no gritstone experience and also brought along Euan Ryan (Finalcrux Films) to film the ascent for an upcoming series documenting my climbing adventures. The plan wasn’t to lead it this trip, simply to work it and figure out what I needed to do in order to make a successful ascent. I had more or less said to myself that this would probably take a good few trips to nail and I didn’t want to rush anything!

Working “New Statesman” was certainly an experience of intense learning and adaptation. I discovered many possible ways to climb the route; but what I wanted was a method that delivered success with the least likeliness of pre-sending failures, any of which might have involved broken bones and a swift end to the climbing season for me! So you can understand why I didn’t want to fall off!Working "New Statesman" sporting my Urban Uprising Tee :D

I played about with the sequences a bit, but by the end of my first day working the route I found my beta after a successful clean top rope from the ground. When this happens, it’s a flurry of emotions… you’ve done the route; all that’s left is to get on the sharp end and climb it “for real”! Not as simple as it might first appear…

I needed a nights rest to ponder my situation. The option to lead it was on the table and I was ebbing strongly in favour for this. The rest of that night I relaxed and had some good fun on my longboard with the guys :D

The next day, it took me the best part of 2 hours to get in the zone; which involved quite a number of false starts. I phoned a friend (Neil McGeachy) for some advice and discussed tactics with Charlie (my belayer). Neil’s advice was simple yet effective… the route would still be here next week. There was no pressure today and to drive home without it would in some ways be a more rememberable experience than to have ticked it off in a weekend. This calmed me down, relieving all pressure and strangely enough I felt hyped up to lead it now!

I had a stare down session with the route; I listened to music and stared at the climb… like an opponent in a duel I approached the climb with deadly seriousness and ambition, I didn’t want to let this beat me, I didn’t want to go away with my tail between my legs. The song “Sleep Forever” by “Portugal. The Man” rung through my headphones…

I stood below the climb reminding myself as I often do of the pointlessness of it all… I am spending hours, days, and years of my life obsessing over rocks, puzzling them out and getting emotional about climbing them; what a silly fool!

On the redpoint I was eerily calm inside… confident in every hand hold, every foot placemen; I knew I could do it! There was no doubt, not even a slither; I had this! As I came to the top of the highball crux section I gave a small power scream to shut out negativity; but that had been killed off long ago!

I rested a bit, then pressed on gaining higher and higher on the climb. It was now feeling quite airy for a boulder, but luckily here comes the comforting gear that famously ripped on Michale Caminati when he fell at the final crux. Staring ahead at the oncoming sequence of smeary unbalanceness above the fated gear that may or may not hold was a curious position to be in; but I was calm… there was nothing that could go wrong! I executed everything precisely and had nothing to fear… and then it was over!On the lead...

Questions cropped up as to why I decided to lead that day. One honest reason is ego… Perhaps it got the better of me? I wanted success and didn’t want to experience a drive back to Edinburgh knowing failure! But that wasn’t the real reason… I think it’s only a feeling you get when you’ve been in this situation but I knew I could do it! In the morning I wasn’t capable of climbing 3m up this thing; and yet after lunch I was impervious to any negative thoughts!

Climbing “New Statesman” for me was a huge step forward in my climbing career. Ego aside (as that’s where I often like to put it), climbing this particular bit of rock was a challenge for me in numerous ways and I learned much from the experience. You can’t put a price on experience and you certainly can’t grade it!

“E” is for “Experience” in this case; not “Extreme” :D

Ethics

One final note goes out in response to some of those who questioned the ethics climbing “New Statesman”.

First of all, my current stance on trad climbing is this:

•       Make the leader as safe as possible
•       Leave no gear behind
•       Respect the rock

I think those are some pretty widely accepted notions of what trad climbing is about. I don’t pretend that others won't think differently, but from talking to experienced trad climbers they mostly agree with these points.

I used pads because I figured it would be safer. I’d say that’s reason enough. I am aware that John Dunne didn’t use mats during the FA, but there have been many ascents of this climb since then that have all involved them. I don't conclude that my ascent was better or even on par with John Dunne’s… first of all he did it as a FA, so that’s pretty much as good as it gets! And I’m not too fussed if anybody wants to go repeat it with a bed of nails under them, it’s not a competition about who is bolder (but maybe it is for someone?); it’s climbing a rock at the end of the day… anybody who gets off on being the “big man” by climbing a rock in a particular way should probably reassess life goals; but I’m not going to judge too harshly as I have been that same guy many times before.

Ethics are really funny because what was ethically disdained upon 10 years ago; today is common practice. Some of the folk who have been against the use of mats are the same folk who practiced head-pointing when ground up and onsight style was considered standard and head-pointing was considered “cheating”. My take on this is, as time goes on ethics change… it’s really quite simple and a natural progression to the world and not just our meager little past time of clambering about on rocks.

Grades are a big part of climbing in the 21^st century, but I like to remember that they are man-made and not essential to life!

If I could get across one thing in this blog post it would be this:

“Last week I climbed a rock. I got to the top. I was happy. Some people liked my facebook pictures. Some did not. The End.”

Spotting Charlie on the E1 solo/highball

Well… Long story short… Logan and I were successful in our attempt to free one of Europes toughest multi-pitch challenges and indeed one of the world’s most famous, hard, alpine style rock climbs. But the short story long is a far better tale to tell, so that is what I will tell now…

View from our tent ;)We travelled back to the Dolomites after a break in the bad weather would allow us to have a bit more time working the crux pitch. We had only had 2 days on the route so far and it had already seemed very possible to free climb, however the prospect of doing the whole route including all the separate pitches in one single push still felt like it would be a real challenge, and would require us to be on top form, climbing everything exceptionally well and especially to have the crux pitch dialed.

Chilling out making dinner night before the send...Logan had already decided that for him, it was more about the experience of doing the whole climb as a team and had reserved to take the second on the more difficult pitches to allow me to get the free ascent of those. For me, I wouldn’t really be satisfied with anything other than to free the crux pitches ground up… Alpine climbing is approached very differently than other forms of climbing I feel. It’s not about doing the climb free solely; it’s about getting to the top and experiencing the adventure that the climb takes you on. You can approach alpine climbing with a multitude of varying styles i.e. free, aid, team, individual or mixed ascent. Each has its own merits and are impressive in their own way depending on the route. Also, it varies a lot with the conditions you get on your ascent as sometimes it is impossible to complete free or indeed becomes very dangerous and stupid to attempt if the bad weather hits as is often the case in the alpine environment. You have to learn to take what you get sometimes and if your preferred style of ascent is not possible, then you just have to go with what is the most sensible option…

Being in the mountains is where we feel home... My desire was to free the route, climbing the most difficult and personally challenging pitches that I felt made the difference to the overall experience of making the free ascent and of course, to top out on the summit of Cima Ouest.

We spent our third and fourth day simply working the crux pitch, a really tough traverse that was already 6 pitches up on the face, hundreds of feet from the ground, on the most exposed face of the Dolomites and probably one of the steepest sections of multi-pitch climbing in the world! This pitch is famous for being the toughest in terms of technical difficulty of the whole route and has proven to be a stand out test of pure climbing ability compared with the rest of the climb which is relatively easy in technical terms. But saying that… the mental aspect of other pitches is far more demanding… I will go into this later…

So, the idea for day 3 and 4 was for me to become immersed in the crux pitch. To learn it’s secrets and to become comfortable climbing it so that when we went for a full free ascent (which we had scheduled for the Monday, after a rest day from day 4) I would be able to just hit it on command without too much hassle.

Leading one of the 7a pitches... As you can see in the background, we are in a cloud!!!What actually happened was that I struggled with the conditions of the rock during those two days. I could link large sections of the crux pitch together, but nearly always I would hold back and not try as hard as I could simply because I was uneasy with the slippy nature of the rock. Unfortunately, the rock up there is very susceptible to humidity and sucks in the moisture becoming almost permanently damp and slimy. It’s the kind of conditions that if you were at a sport crag, you just wouldn’t bother climbing it and you would pass it off for another, better day… However, Alpine climbing is very different and you have to learn to just take what you get.

On the 4^th day working the route, we bumped into none other than Dave Macleod who was there scoping out a potential new line and trying the crux pitch of “Panorama”. It was good to chat to Dave briefly about “Bellavista” as he had done the crux pitch with Alan Cassidy on a previous trip, however I was a little dismayed when he told me that the conditions they got where “Very windy and freezing cold”… So far all we had got was “zero to light wind and quite warm humid conditions”. We weren’t going to get freezing temps and so far the wind had been minimal. It’s been the wettest summer in the Dolomites for 30 years and despite a number of professional climbers stating they would be out trying “Bellavista” now, they hadn’t shown up on account of the weather… I basically decided that the best I would get was what I had already been experiencing, and although it wasn’t completely terrible (i.e. the route wasn’t soaking wet), it wasn’t ideal. On Day 4, I made some good links and realized that if I broke through the first 15m of climbing of the 55m pitch, then in reality, if I tried hard enough and pushed on through it, I could climb the remaining 40m even in bad conditions… I would just have to try BLOODY HARD!!!

At the belay of the crux pitch... CHECK OUT THAT ROOF!!!We had a day to rest; I said to Logan that I felt it might just be worth having an attempt to free from the ground on the assumption that all I needed to do this thing was the pressure to send! I already felt that I was holding Logan back slightly with this route as he wasn’t trying the crux anymore, just belaying me… Both of our ambitions to climb the route relied on my ability to climb the pitch, and I knew it was possible; the only thing holding me back was myself… I needed to be put on the spot, I needed to have to do the pitch, not just to prove I can do it, but to actually be in the situation where when I do it, we keep busting through the upper pitches to the top of the wall!

We spoke about what the best approach would be for us to climb the route… I wanted to have the full tick, i.e. to free every pitch, but on the actual send to swing leads and for me to climb the pitches that we both felt made the difference to claiming the individual free ascent of “Bellavista”. In my eyes, that was by leading pitch 1 (7b), Pitch 6 (8c) and Pitch 7 (8a). I had already lead the other pitches free onsight anyway and I didn’t feel they had as much to offer as those three in particular. So it was decided that I would lead those on the day and Logan would lead the rest. I ended up linking pitch 1 (7b) and 2 (6c) together and Logan linked pitch 3 (6a), 4 (7a) and 5 (7a+) together.

Logan getting excited at the belay...For me, there really was only two pitches that I was worried about (the 8c and the 7b). Pitch 7 (8a) was actually very easy, I thought it felt like a low-end 7b+. There was one tricky move after a huge rest and then it was good holds the rest of the way. Pitch 1 (7b) I was really nervous about... The 7b pitch was scary; it had a 10m run-out to the first piece of gear (a rusty peg) then more run-outs between more rusty pegs (all suspect and one of which I know already wouldn’t hold a fall). Not to mention the rock quality here is terrible… foothold and handholds crumble off practically every couple of moves, you basically just can’t trust anything completely. Finally, the crux is a bit of a lunge around a small roof which you get to via a run-out from a very bad peg that pops out if you so much as look at it the wrong way… the rock quality in the roof is the worst on the route and I must have sent a good few kilos of choss down on Logan when I was on my lead here. Climbing this pitch for me was probably the toughest mental battle I faced on the whole climb… I knew in some places that if I fell… it wasn’t going to be a learning curve… Falling at the roof would be a bad fall if that peg snaps. But I think I learned more about myself climbing that pitch than any other climb I have ever done… I discovered what I can handle and what the potential for me to do in that style is.

After leading that very scary 7b and the following 6c, I was amped up for the crux pitch but still had to wait for Logan to follow me up and for him to lead the remaining few pitches, then I would follow him on second. Logan breezed through these alright but the conditions weren’t the best and both the 7a and 7a+ pitches were pretty wet… I followed him with a rucksack on with all our gear and was finding it a really intense warm up for before the crux pitch. I managed to get through but took a fall on the 7a+ when my hand slipped out a massive wet jug just before the chains! So I lowered down and repeated that pitch again just so I could claim the whole route free…

We were now at the belay of the 8c pitch… I wasn’t really nervous, I was psyched for giving this thing my all! I went up once just to pad out the holds with a fresh layer of chalk as the conditions on the first section were pretty bad. It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting for a sending try, but I knew it wouldn’t get any better, so I just had to try bloody hard! I attempted to replace a broken pin that I had fallen on after the crux from a previous day but unfortunately the sky hook failed and I took a big fall onto another suspect pin… Nervous enough as it was, I decided not to risk that again and came back to the belay.

At the belay, I took a 5 minute break, joked with Logan a bit and got myself prepared for the attempt… I was going through the sequences in my head, I had it all dialed… I knew if I got through the first crux, then I could get through all the next section as well.

And so… I went for it!

That is a LONG way down...I climbed through the initial traverse section easily, it wasn’t hard, just damp. I wasn’t going to fall off here anyway, but the dampness of the holds doesn’t help for the upcoming crux sequence on smaller sloppier holds. I rested up on a couple of 3 finger pockets before committing fully on for the first part of the crux! I managed to break through and before I knew it, I was resting on a jug pocket and positive crimp. I shook here a few times… the next section was the boulder. Only a couple of hard moves, but the holds are quite small and very damp. I had fallen here a few times before when my hand would just slip of them without warning. I was slightly nervous about doing this sequence because I didn’t really want to have to go back to the beginning to repeat this all again, but I knew in my heart that if I committed fully, I would be able to break through this as well! I committed… I was quick, I took the pinch hard, through my feet out right, pressed the small gaston and screamed as I went for the jug! BOOM! I had it and I was pulling up to rest at the next big jug.

This was my moment… I knew it! I had one opportunity here to take this to the end and to successfully free this pitch. I shook out here for about 5 minutes, just trying to get as much back as I could. The jugs were damp, but on each chalk up and shake, the jug would feel slightly better to hold onto. I got everything back in that time and I just had to hold it together for the next section.

Hi... from the Dolomites :) Postcard Perfect!I pressed on into the headwall of crimps pockets… I was moving confidently despite the insecurity of wet feet and damp handholds. I knew I wasn’t going to be getting anything back if I started to over grip or distrust my feet, so I just focused on giving them all my weight where needed and hoping that my body tension would hold them in the right place.

I broke through the next crux! This was a relief because it was the once place after the main crux here I felt I really could fall… I continued the progression and made it further and further along the wall. Occasionally I would do a committing move and scream for it just for that added confidence to my movement, every time I was successful! I soon came to a mega rest where I did a heel toe lock and could hang of backwards, hands free hundreds of feet in the air… The liberating feeling of hanging upside down from one of the most exposed pieces of rock I have ever been on, hundreds of feet from the ground was amazing! You feel like you are flying up there… I felt all my energy come back to me after a few minutes. I was fresh again and ready for the upcoming technical cruxes. I was about 15m from the chains now, it was almost over and I had never fallen off this section before on link.

I ran through the next sequence of moves in my head, then committed! The moves flowed and I was flowing with them… everything felt easy and I was making sure I was continuing to trust my feet. There was one move to a jug where I moved dynamically for it and accidentally punched it, but latched on as I fell back… close! I rested up again… 5m to go!

Freezing cold at the Bivvy... COLDEST NIGHT EVERRRRRR!!!!!I felt good and went for one last burn… the last 4m… 3m… 2m… I saw the chains… I pressed a gaston crimp, the index finger broke of a small chunk… SHIT! I matched it with my right hand… the pinky broke of something else… SHIT!!! I shifted my weight out left on some small crossly feet… I had run it out here skipping the last 2 pegs and was looking at at least a 10m run-out since the last rusty peg… I reached out and grabbed a slot in the wall, turned the right hand into an undercut and clipped the chains! I grabbed the rope chains, through my arm around them for added security and clipped hard into the bolts! YASSSSSSSSSS!!!! I screamed! I was howling with happiness! I heard Logan screaming back and even a few dots from the ground screaming stuff up at us hahaha! I couldn’t believe I had done the pitch…

Logan followed up on second, we were celebrating at the belay shortly before I decided to lead the next 8a pitch. I tied in and went for it straight away and managed to dispatch quickly without much effort (it’s probably only 7b+ anyway).

This was where the EPIC started… We accidentally went the wrong way and after an 8m run-out on terrible rock and no sign of gear, we realized something was wrong. We spent an hour trying to find the way before I decided to try traversing onto the Swiss route out right. The Swiss route was 10m off and we couldn’t see any gear apart from that of the Swiss route, but I decided that that was better than climbing into the unknown… However, about 5m into the traverse, I found a peg and felt happier knowing that somebody had done this traverse before hahaha I realized soon after that this was the way we were supposed to go and was confidently moving upwards on 7a-ish climbing.

We reached the bivy ledge shortly before a huge thunderstorm hit us… The rain was heavy and the thunder and lightning was terrifying! Logan and I huddled together for warmth and survivial from 7pm to 5am the next morning… It was the coldest night of my life! I couldn’t feel my legs the whole time and at one point I was seriously wondering how likely it would be to ever feel my toes again…

In the morning, the rain had stopped, but the wind was strong and the waterfall coming over the top of the Cima Ouest had grown over night and become a torrent over our route. We had not much option but to try and escape the route… We traversed under the waterfall getting quite wet, Logan especially as he had to belay under the freezing waterfall as I traversed the chossiest rock I have ever seen. I was searching for a way to abseil off the tower, a good belay point and an obvious line below where another route might be coming up. After traversing about 90m rightwards along a loose, chossy and scary runout ledge system, we eventually reached a decent belay and made three double rope abseils off the tower. When I finally touched the ground, I felt like kissing it!

Although we hadn’t summited the tower, we had accomplished something amazing for us and we were overjoyed to be able to revel in our experience back at the refugio with a nice warm cooked lunch!

This experience has left me with no doubt in my mind that this style of climbing leaves something with you unlike that of any single pitch climb. Its a true battle with your body and mind. You have to be strong enough to do the route, mentally strong enough to deal with the fear, but more than anything, you have to have the undying will power to keep going despite what happens. When the shit hits the fan and things get dangerous, you have to be clever and decide what its worth. It’s not like giving up is even an easy option in any case, because escaping the route in bad conditions can be as hard as summiting. We were lucky when we traversed the right way and found the belays… but we might also have been unlucky… if we hadn’t had found them, we would be in a much worse scenario… If we had decided to press on the night before in an attempt to summit, we would probably be climbing in the dark in a thunderstorm and even if we reached the top, we would be wet, freezing, and spending the night up there with no way of getting down before 5am!

I was strong enough to do the route which is a product of my training over the years, but equally, I am not an experienced alpine climber and I need to do more of this before I can really make a mark in this field (something I am really psyched about). I am very happy that Logan was with me on this route, I don’t think I could have done it without him and I am really psyched that we did this as a team… Hopefully the first of many future adventures in the alpine…

What’s next?  Well we are in Zillertal now sport climbing and trad climbing. We want to do the trad finger crack line “Ganja” 8a+ which will be my hardest trad route and my first ever finger crack haha I also tried “Love 2.1” (8c+) which I was really keen to work. I felt like it was a good route for me to do here and that it would go down quick after a couple more sessions on it, but unfortunately there was not as lot for Logan at that crag, so I have left it for another trip. We are now planning a few more days here in Zillertal to finish of the crack project and visit a couple more crags before heading to Grindelwald in an attempt to summit the Eiger and to climb one of the mega routes up the North Face. If we are lucky then the weather will be on our side… So far it has not…

Wish us luck everyone :D

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” ― Phil Jackson

"Landerhammer" (8b+), Zillertal

The whole idea of the trip was to attempt the famous Alex Huber 8c multipitch “Bellavista” on the Cima Ouest. This is a route that is steeped in fame and infamy becaue of both the legend who freed it and also because when it was put up in 2002, it was the hardest multipitch climb in the world and still remains to this day one of the greatest challenges of the European Alps.

Unfortuntely, upon arrival the weather was not on our side and we had to quickly abandon our post in the most expensive town in Italy (Cortina D’Ampezzo) and head off for another (hopefully drier) alternative climbing destination, at least for the time being.

We drove to Innsbruck and spent the day there where we decided that Zillertal would be a suitable option. This was where we spent most of the last week climbing…

Zillertal has proved to be a totally outstanding destination for us. It offers a completely awesome climbing experience (albeit a little on the spoogy side in current conditions) and there is a multitude of hard granite sport and bouldering crags to go at that are dry all the time! "Total Brutal" (8b+), Zillertal

The first day after a recommendation by both Gaz Parry and Jacopo Larcher, we headed to a crag known as Bachexe (meaning “Witch of the River”) and attempted a classic 8a called “Electriv Avenue”. I was surprised at how hard it was climbing on the granite and it did actually take me 3 goes to do the 8a! Logan got on it and struggled a bit with the powerful moves as he is quite a bit shorter than me and unfortunately didn’t climb it clean. I then tried a beastly powerful 8b+ called “Landerhammer”. On my first attempt it felt really tough… huge shoulder moves to holds that are difficult to see, however on my second attempt it felt much easier and I actually made a really high first link. Hoping to go back for this one as it for sure will go in the next couple of attempts.

The next day I tried a route that I have literally been waiting 9 years to try :P After seeing a poster at Avertical World in Dundee of “Total Brutal” (8b+), this climb has been etched in my brain as a classic to climb one day… And so I was given the opportunity to go try it after I convinced Logan it would be an awesome little project for us J

Abseiling from the crux pitch of Bellavista... EXPOSURE!!!I was really happy on my initial attempt at the route. I found the first crux quite tricky but the rest was actually not that hard. Felt like a tricky V7 crux start into a f8a to top out. On my 3^rd go, I made an awesome link from the start right to the second last clip but fell when my foot popped on a small smeary foothold. This was really frustrating as I had done all the hard climbing and was pretty much going to send it, but that’s what happens I guess…Logan attempting Zillertal's first F8A!

I came back for it yesterday and sent the route after a couple of goes. Jacopo and his girlfriend Barbera (Zangerl) were at the crag as well. Barbera is trying “Total Brutal” too and she is getting mega close. Was awesome watching her attempt at it as she has flawless technique and immense skill in climbing… I also got to talk to her a little on the Alpine Trilogy, a feat of climbing that has only been achieved by very few (including her) and something that I am keen to try next year.

Bellavista (8c)

So we have had 2 days on “Bellavista” so far… I can’t begin to express how insane this route actually is… It’s really difficult to put into writing the experience of being hundreds of feet from the ground on some of the most difficult rock climbing in the alps whilst your protection on the wall is limited to rusty pegs hammered into fissures and cracks in the wall that you have no idea how long they have been there or how much weight they can actually take… The only real comfort is that the belays are bolted (with one bolt 10m into the crux pitch) and you are so high up and the wall is so steep that hitting anything during a fall is pretty much impossible… you’re just gonna take a massive fall into nothing!

Monkeying about on choss :PHaving that much air below you certainly gives new perspective whilst you climb and it is sometimes quite difficult to forget the almost limitless nothing that awaits you if you fall, but its just something you’ve got to get used to…

On the first day we had OK weather, with some light rain that only splashed us a little on some of the belays, but apart from that, all was good. Logan lead the first 7b pitch and one of the 6a’s and I lead the 6c+, 7a and 7a+ pitches leading to the 8c crux pitch. The 7b pitch was quite scary and involved a 10m solo to get to the first bit of protection! The others I didn’t feel were nearly as bad, but the 7a and 7a+ pitch had some really bad humidity issues, the holds were soapy and damp and quite a few times I almost fell purely because my hand or foot would slip… this is also not to forget to mention the fact that the rock quality is about as comforting as climbing a giant bowl of Apple Crumble… That is to say it’s crumbly… oh so very crumbly!

LOOK AT ME!!!The sensation of feeling your footholds crumbling into dust when you put so much as a toe on them is something I can’t compare to anything else… that and the sensation of holding a very flexy piece of rock that your trusting to hold you onto the wall… hmmmm not a very nice feeling at all. But at the end of all that, you feel like you have really accomplished something incredible and outright scary! The position on the wall is stunning and totally out there… like nothing I have ever experienced before…

The first day we got to try the first section of the 8c pitch. We didn’t really put any more time to try the rest of it as we were tired and satisfied with having figured out the first pitches of the climb and at least having a glimpse of the 8c pitch. I managed to do all the moves on the first crux and was happy with that for a start.

Onsighting the 7a pitch!!! HARDCORE!!! It was actually sodden wet and I broke half the route off...On the second day, the goal was to try the full 8c pitch and to start working it in an attempt to get it dialed for a lead free attempt pretty soon when the weather is on our side. I was super psyched to find that actually, the rest of the route wasn’t that hard for me… I lead the full thing going from peg to peg, just figuring out the moves and trying to be tactical about the whole operation. I know that attempts on this are limited, so I really do need to know what I am doing up there. Rock quality isn’t the best so I need to be confident where I am putting my feet in order to be as efficient as possible on my redpoint attempt. I attempted the crux two times that day… the first crux pulling the bulge I did several times in a row and have good beta for it now and the last section I did in sections and figured out all the best rests, even a kneebar in the middle of one of the cruxier sections which aided me in not only making one move a lot easier but also gave me an extra little shakeout position. I don’t think anybody else has used this before as there was no rubber on the foothold I was using.

Chilling out on the side of Mt Doom, Mordor... (Avoiding Orcs AKA Logan)So all in all, me and Logan are really excited about this! I know I can do this pitch so it all comes down to just getting the conditions, getting a bit lucky and making sure I am in the right zone! I am going to try and lead the 8c pitch free with the limited time we have, so it’s all on me for this pitch and Logan is going to try and free the 8a pitch above. I am also going to aim to free this one so that when we go for the full ascent, I will have freed every pitch (if all goes to plan...)

AMUERTE!!!Logan giving me a good belay from a nice comfortable hanging belay with our best friend, Mr Edelrid Bowsons Chair :P

“Punks in the Gym” is an iconic sport climb steeped in history. It was a route bolted by a local Australian climber that was free by Wolfgang Gullich in the mid 80’s and became the world’s first f8b+/32. It has since been the goal for many climbers to one day repeat this hard historic piece of sport climbing history.

When I first got on the route, some of the moves felt really low percentage, like I could fall of them a lot and it could get rather frustrating for me quite quickly. Every foothold is a smear of sorts, nothing is a perfect edge or blocky foothold like on limestone or other rock types. And the smeary feet aren’t just smears of friction, it’s glassy making it even more improbable that your feet should stay there.

There are several moves on the route that just feel so committing that you don’t want to do them for fear of failing…. But you know you have to do them with a do or die attitude, the true “Amuerte” spirit, otherwise you simply won’t make it!

On my first go, I did all the moves but found several sections of the route particularly challenging:

Crux 1: Heel-Toe Lock

The first real crux is a sequence of moves leading up to a particularly tricky move involving a heel-toe cam and a powerful lock move to gain a jug of a fat pinch. After the first couple of clips, you gain a nice flat jug rest after which the sequence is continuous for around 9 hand movements with lots of foot movements interspersed. The last move of this series if the heel-toe cam, which is tricky to place and even trickier to pull off the lock move following. It involves a powerful move of a positive but flat edge to gain a fat pinch, from there you place the heel-toe cam. As soon as the cam feels like it’s locking, you switch the pinch to a gaston and pull through to gain a really nice jug! That’s pretty much the first half of the route over, but just after this with little rest is a techy sequence traversing leftwards on some small crimps and smeary feet. I luckily never fell off this sequence :)

Long move before the heel-toe 

Crux 2: The Birdbath Cross-Through

The famous move that has thwarted so many climbers! This crux move is probably the hardest singular move on the route, which follows about 6 fairly intense moves alongside “A LOT” of foot movements! The crux move itself is fine on it’s own, but it’s quite difficult to keep the percentage chance of success high as it requires good body tension to maintain constant pressure through your feet for the bad smeary foot placement.

I was trying out various different foot placements before I discovered the best one - a left foot smear on a slightly more friction based part of the rock which was slightly further left than what seems to be the most popular smear, which for me was causing a horrible barn-door effect.

When I figured this beta out, I stuck the move first time from the ground and it was the attempt following that I sent!

The sequence before this definitely tires you out, but luckily you get a really good rest beforehand, I even got a cheeky knee-bar, which I used a little bit.

Crux 3: Horrible Slab from HELL!!!

The top vertical slabby section I found so hard on my first go! It was like a balancy Fontainebleau slab boulder problem right at the top of the route… The difficult part about this is the fact that it comes straight after “Crux No.2” with no rest in between! As soon as you grab the “Birdbath” hold, you pull into a bad thumb sprag and again into a sharp gaston crimp! From here you do a series of very intense movements, one which involves foot to hand on the “Birdbath” and then a couple of very small side-pull crimps. After that you are on the balancy slab bit which isn’t restful until you gain two small but positive edges on a sloping ledge. And even here, it’s not the best rest… When I climbed the route the weather was so warm that I was greasing off these very quickly and only had a short time to rest before having to press on into an extra few tricky moves.

The last hard move is a high step into a positive but flat side-pull. The reason I hated this move was because the high step was onto a horrendous smear foothold, which felt really dodgy! I just felt like I was going to blow off it every-time. Luckily that never happened but it doesn’t mean it was any less scary :P

The Send!

The day I sent it was fresh after a rest day, but conditions for climbing hard routes was not in favour. Temperatures were in the low 30’s, there was little or no wind and everyone was complaining about it being greasy. I wasn’t feeling like I was climbing in the best conditions when I was on the wall, but I decided to give it my all anyway. I managed to get through the first crux pretty steady and was feeling confident for giving the second crux a really good go!

As I rested, eyeing up the following 6 moves that would decide whether or not I would get through into the final head wall, I felt a hot mist roll over me… You know that horrible feeling when your body is just overheating and you start to perspire extra quickly? Well, that was happening, and so I decided to chalk up loads and move quickly, making sure my left hand was rested more than my right for pulling hard on the side-pull that I needed to gain the “birdbath” hold.

I went for it! Every move went perfect, I hit every hold exact and when I came to the “Birdbath”, I set myself up, sat my body out from the wall ever so slightly so I could get as much pressure on the left foot smear as possible, and suddenly I powered through my right leg and pulled hard in on my left hand and caught the “Birdbath”!!! YASSSSSS!!!

I knew I could do this right then and there, I didn’t waste any time! I moved through the following “Crux No.3” sequence fluidly and even though I could feel the sweat dripping and my tips bursting under the sharp crozzles of the crimps, I moved regardless and placed every foot and every hand in the exact sequence I had planned J Before I knew it I was resting on the final crimps before the dreaded “smear move”. I rested up for a couple of minutes making sure I was ready for it and then gunned it down! There was a moment when I was stepping high that I felt my body sink slightly but I sucked it in and pulled through! When I grasped the jugs I was so relieved J I pulled up and made the final few moves to the chains… SUCCESS!!!

Feelings

Climbing “Punks in the Gym” was an amazing experience for me :) It’s one of those routes that you have to climb in your lifetime if you think you have the ability and certainly just one to try out if you ever visit Arapiles even if it’s only one shot.

It’s the world’s first 8b+… that means it used to be the world’s hardest route! Such an amazing experience to be climbing on the same bit of rock that the best climber in the world 25 years ago was gunning for… especially when that guy was the legendary Wolfgang Gullich!

Now having done the route for myself, I see why it has inspired so many climbers over the years. It’s a beautiful piece of rock in an awe-inspiring setting. There are no crowds, few cars and no room for egos! The way I like it – just you and the rock and a few friends to share your experiences with… 

Interviews from Australia:

• http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=68964
• http://www.verticallifemag.com.au/2014/05/interview-robbie-phillips/

A lot has happened since my last blog post! I have been climbing in the Grampians, the Blue Mountains and around Queensland. It’s been an incredible trip and I don’t want it to come to an end :P

Towards the end of our time in Arapiles, we made a couple of trips to the Grampians, which is only a short distance away. We visited one of the most amazing crags I have ever been to, a super steep sculpted sandstone wonder known as Muline. This place is literally like something out of a crazy dream world where the rock is formed like a huge tsunami of orange lava! I really can’t think of any other description for it :)

Muline Crag in all it's glory!!! Look at it's beautiful curves :P

When Muline was first discovered, the guys who found it must have literally had to pick their jaws up from the ground… What a find!

When we first arrived at Muline there was nobody there but us, but within a few hours, fellow Edelrid sponsored climber, Nathan Hoette and his wife Heather joined us at the crag. I had not seen Nathan and Heather since I was 18 on a trip to Ceuse back in 2008, so it was really good to catch up :)

On our first day at Muline, I started of with a warm up on the classic 24/7a+ called “Krank ‘N’ Dangle”. It has one shouldery move low down and afterwards is just swinging about on big holds. It was really good to get the upper body moving properly before trying anything harder.

“Eye of the Tiger” 29/8a

The next route I did was the über classic king line of the crag, “Eye of the Tiger” 29/8a. This one was what I really wanted to do today… I had first seen this route in a picture Nathan had posted on facebook before I came out... it looked wildly overhanging and gymnastic in style. I couldn’t wait to be up there :D

The first section of the route is a sloping ramp of flat jugs for about 10m. It traverses diagonally leftwards along the side of the huge “Tiger’s Eye” feature that the route is named after. The holds in this section are all really positive and you don’t really get too pumped. You can then get a really good rest at the top of this section and chill for a while before heading out into the roof.

I looked out from the rest position into the roof, scoping out the next holds and trying to visualize what it was you had to do. The climbing took me out feet first, something you very rarely get to do on rock, and involved a cool hand to foot match and a swing as you released your weight. Onsighting the classic 8a "Eye of the Tiger"! This wild route is one of the most stunning pieces of rock I have ever laid my eyes on... It's pure ART!

Once your established in the roof, the only way is up! I powered on through the steepness onto big positive holds and managed to crank through into a rest just over the bulge. Talking to guys later on, it seems that the rest here is not great, but for me I really managed to recover and relax before the impending upper section where the holds become much smaller! For me, this rest was important otherwise I just wouldn't have been recovered enough...

I did a few more moves on positive holds before reaching a traverse out right on smaller crimps and pockets. The good thing was that although the holds were small, they were positive and I could shake out well on all of them! Before I knew it I was clipping the chains :D ONSIGHT!

“Path of Yin” 30/8a+

Another absolutely stunning piece of climbing art was “Path of Yin”. There was a picture of Nathan in the guidebook on this which looked awesome and I had already been told of it by a friend from Melbourne (Gavin) that this was something special :)

I read it from the ground, a tough boulder to start followed by easier climbing then a rest and a sustained finish. I figured that I could onsight this if I broke through the bottom boulder but I would need to try hard! AMUERTE!!!

I pulled onto some small slopey crimps then reached out to a big slopey pinch… I launched into a compression sloper with my left and held a small cut loose. I threw my right foot onto a good footer and kneebared in with my right knee allowing me some stability to bring my left hand over onto a better hold and then I pressed onto some good holds out right. YASSS!

I was through and all I needed to do was keep it together The rest of the climbing looked about 28/7c+ from there. I kept going upwards, rested at some jugs before another steep section then kept moving. Thankfully none of the holds in the steepest section of the route were bad and I was comfortably moving higher and higher! I reached a rest at the last clip… the next section looked sustained on small edges traversing left towards jugs and the chains! I moved quickly and efficiently… everything was going fine, I felt strong, I rested on some positive holds then kept going. Before I knew it I was eyeing up the last hold before the chains… I pressed out left and held it, I was just about to move when I slipped… NOOOO!!! I was pretty upset… the last hold I had was in the middle of a wet streak of water, I had the hold solid in my grasp but obviously was holding too hard and I just slipped straight of it!

Everyone on the ground was as devasted as me, they didn’t expect it either… Nevermind… It’s part of climbing, dealing with the little slips. In truth, if I was a better climber I would have just done it anyway hahaha like ONDRA on "Mind Control"!!! But I did it 2^nd go so I was happy with that :)

“Flying Duck” 32/8b+ 

The big tick of Muline for me was a link up of “Path of Yin” into “”Eye of the Tiger”. Now I know it sounds like a bit of a cheeky tick :P Link two routes you have done already to get a harder climb, but in all honesty, “Flying Duck” was very much it’s own route, with a large linking traverse section being the crux.

Nathan Hoette states in the guide that he thinks it’s the best bit of climbing at Muline… I don’t have the credit of Nathan that that statement deservses because I haven’t climbed everything at Muline, but I can vouch for him by saying that it’s the best climbing I did there!Gunning down the crux move of "Flying Duck" 32/8b+

Include the boulder crux of “Path of Yin” that probably weighs in at around V6/7? After this you rest at the linking point of “Path of Yin” and “Flying Duck”. This is then followed by a tricky pumpy section busting out right where I found some cool beta that I think was completely new, as I had not found any chalk on the holds I used and the route has still very few ascents to this date.

You can rest up on a sharp crimp rail before doing a short boulder sequence of probably about V5 or V6 difficulty involving a powerful dynamic throw for a sloper rail of a 2 finger pocket! AWESOME!!! From here it links into “Eye of the Tiger” for a nice and steady 26/7b+ finish :)

Other stuff in Grampians

As well as those classic three routes, I also did a few other great climbs at Muline. I had an awesome onsight attempt on “Centinnial Line” 30/8a+ which was only buggered by the fact that I accidentally traversed to far left before going upwards and instead of being on the 8a+, I was actually making an onsight attempt of Nathan Hoettes new bolted project which looks like it will be in 31/8b grade range :P I actually managed to get quite far along it before taking a whipper :P I think if I had gone the right way it would have been on for the onsight of the 30/8a+.

I also came close on the onsight of another 30/8a+ called “Deamon Flower”. I fell on the crux move but did make it through the first crux which is pretty gnarly. If I had made that one move then it would have been done :P Cool route but very sharp!!!

More?

All in all my experience of Grampians was limited to one crag due to weather and time. I really wanted to go to Taipan but I think that will have to wait until next year :) Something to come back for YIPEEEEEE I will come back next year for a big chunk of time and spend a lot of it at Taipan to get the most out of the crag :)

 Having way too much fun hahaha

The last week has been a whirlwind of climbing here in Australia. I have dabbled in both trad and sport but the highlights for me have certainly been in the sport climbing (and sometimes mixed).

Tracey on "Krank 'N' Dangle" at Muline crag, Grampians

Firstly, after doing “Punks in the Gym” so quickly, I had surprised myself at what I could achieve already. I was keen to do more challenging routes in the area but there wasn’t anything really hard in Arapiles that inspired me. I had a looke at the f8c/33 “Somalia” which had last year only received it’s first ascent from Wiz Fineron, however I wasn’t inspired at all by the climbing or the line and felt it was more of a painful 1 move boulder situated next to some much better looking routes. I think “Somalia” for me would be something I would have to invest more than a few days into anyway and I don’t think I would be prepared to do that.

I seeked out only the best looking routes, those that really inspired me to climb them from the bottom t

o the top!

Ethiopia 30/8a+

The first thing I saw was “Ethiopia” 30/8a+. This was already on my ticklist. It’s famous outside of Australia as well for being outstanding climbing, but also because it’s largely placed protection and not bolts that are securing you. There are on the route 1 bolt and a carrot

Me climbing "Ethiopia" (30/8a+)

I believe that protect you from over halfway to the top of the route. As well as that there is one fixed wire and plenty of room for cams and other nuts all over the place!

I tried it at the end of the day with Logan Barber, an aussie friend of mine who I’ve known for years! Logan and I are planning big trip to the Dolomites in a few months time so it has been good to climb with him out here as well beforehand.

Me and Logan tucking into Breakfast at Natimuk before climbing :DMy onsight of “Ethiopia” didn’t go as well as I had expected. “Ethiopia” has a 7c+/28 variant called “India” that busts out right after the first crux. Unfortunately I didn’t even get past the first crux L I fell on the crux move going to a big slot in the wall falling onto the fixed wires. I spent the next 15 minutes trying various things but couldn’t get through. All until I found a vital way of holding a pinch on the wall, which I had not been using! As soon as I discovered this I cruised through it and was into the second half.

I was lucky, the second half of the route was actually quite easy and probably on 7c/27 on it’s own. There was a tricky crack sequence at the end that took some time solving for me, but once I had figured it out it was easy. A day later I came back and sent!!!

Lord of the Rings 31/8b

The next big hit on the list was the ultra classic “Lord of the Rings”. This is yet another historic route with a little bit of comedy gold as well. This route is famous world wide thanks to a picture of a keen local who is seen climbing the route solo wearing flip flops whilst drinking a pint. When you actually get on the route you realize how utterly mental this must be and it quickly becomes apparent that this can’t be possible!!!Heading into the final few tricky moves of "Lord of the Rings" (31/8b)

I found out that it wasn’t :P The guy was wearing his harness under his shorts and was clipped into one of the “Ring” bolts (hence the name “Lord of the Rings”).

The climb is cunning and challenging to figure out. All the holds are obvious but they are small and there is a lot you can do with your feet. I also figured out multiple sequences I could use to get through the main crux section but these all ended with slightly different difficulties on redpoint.

In the end, a Kiwi climber also working the route (James Gunn) gave me some of his beta and that worked for me nicely. I quickly despatched this afterwards, but not before taking a fall from the slab right before the chains… D’OH!!! Exactly what the guide says try to avoid!

Some say this might be as hard as “Punks in the Gym”? For me it felt a long way off, but it certainly doesn’t mean that for some it isn’t as hard… Just depends what you feel comfortable doing.

The epic story of “Lord of the Rings” for me is one that went crazy on Facebook. I jumped off the top whilst working one of the sections and the quickdraw that was clipped into bolt snapped!!! The quickdraw was a Petzl Spirit that James had equipped the routes with. The biner snapped in two, sending me flying towards the ground. Luckily, Tracey caught me before I hit the tree and I was only a bruised in my ribs and wrist.Snapped Quick-Draw!!!

The reason this happened is unsure right now. Speculations have gone from, dodgy Chinese knock-off Petzl biners to the potential that the biner cross-loaded. I believe that the dodgy home-made hanger attached to the bolt caused the biner to flip and cross-load as well as opening the gate and weakening the whole thing completely, then my jump was obviously too much to take and it snapped.

A scary predicament to be in but luckily everything is still in one piece and I live to climb another day. I would say to locals to re-place the dodgy hanger with a newer one, possibly placed in a way that won’t make it as easy for the biner to open? But I will leave that up to them…

Onsighting and some Quick Ticks

The rest of my time has been spent trying to onsight other routes. I was really happy to onsight the 28/7c+ “Slinkin’ Leapord” that climbs just to the left of “Lord of the Rings”. It didn’t feel hard on the onsight but I was shocked to see that it hadn’t actually had any previous onsights on 8a.nu which makes me think I might have had a lucky moment where everything came together for a good climb.

I fell on the last move onsighting “Wagalak” (29/8a) whilst placing quickraws. This was frustrating for me, it felt really steady until the last move but the hold was really spooged up and the conditions were really hot and humid. I came back on a much drier, windier day and did it first go! I really liked the style on this route, it felt way different to everything else I had tried beforehand in Arapiles. “Wagalak” is just a steep overhung prow on slopers and a couple of crimps.Climbing "Break and Enter" (29/8a) - This was a seriously nice piece of climbing despite looking a bit junky in this chasm :P

We spent a morning climbing higher up on the Bluffs. Logan was really keen for a 31/8b up there called “Leaps and Bounds” which he had heard was ok. When we arrived, I must admit I wasn’t inspired. The rock looked a bit crappy and the line wasn’t that obvious… looked a bit like a filler in and not something you travel to the other side of the world to climb. When I actually got on the climb, I was pleasantly surpised and the moves were actually really cool. Both Logan and I got all the moves dialed on our first attempt and we felt confident for a second go burn.

My second attempt at the route went really well! I stuck the crux move and scrambled my way through the next tricky sequence. Before I knew it I was on top clipping the chains :D A cheeky wee 8b to start the day! Logan was close to making it through the crux on his second go as well but unfortunately missed the hold which he takes slightly different to me due to reach, and he has left his quick-draws on it for the send later on in the trip.

Standing below "Leaps and Bounds" (31/8b) - Yet another line that looked rubbish from the ground but actually had nice climbing in it - No Punks though :PAfter doing “Leaps and Bounds”, I was on a high and was really psyched to do the 7c on the main face called “”. It looked like a mega line going straight through the most sustained and blank looking section of wall. The 26/7b+ to the left called “The Prow” was getting a heavy number of hits that day, it shared the same start, and so in-between their attempts I jumped on. Logan had mentioned that he had tried the 7c years previously and found it really hard, so I was expecting to battle. At about half-height, I saw a really tricky sequence ahead on some pinches. I did my best to read what to do from the rest and the I gunned for it. I managed to break through the slopey pinches that were felling rather wet and grimy as well, but the next section was totally blank and there was no chalk anywhere. I was starting to take a bit of a run out now and all I saw was a nut placement to secure the final headwall. I shook out at a rest and went for it! There was a few tricky moves at the top with another quite big run out from the nut but all was good and I came out on top. On the final few metres, a slackliner who was running a highline from the top of the tower to a wall on the other side was talking to his friends whilst hanging from the line, I heard him say “This climb looks amazing from here, I wish I had my camera!”. I wish he had too because it felt really exposed and I imagine the photo from the slack line would have looked wild!

Tracey climbed really well that day and made her hardest ascent on trad for the trip, “Thunder Crack” 21! That route looked really exposed and scary and I think it would bring even the strongest climbers to their knees without a good head on them.Nearing the top on this EPIC 7c that I onsighted - it even had a few gear placements!!! Does that count as Trad?

In the evening, we caught up with Logan’s good friend Aido who was also trying “Punks in the Gym”. I ended up getting on a 29/8a called “Break and Enter” that was situated just to the left of “Punks”. I had a flash burn with some beta from some guys trying it but unfortunately fell just short of the chains. I ended up finding a much better bit of beta for the last move and stuck it on my second go! YAY!

The next few days we spent climbing in the Grampians and Arapiles before heading over to Queensland. I am now in Brisbane for a few days, climbing at Coolum and The Pulpit :D 

Stay tuned for a blog on the Grampians in the next few days and my time in Brisbane :)

PSYCHED!!!

My first week in Australia is almost over, but I still have 5 weeks left in this incredible place!!! I actually can’t believe the quality of the rock here, it’s without a doubt a completely new experience for me, and different to anything I have ever done before.Arapiles in all it's glory :D

I have been staying in a really nice cottage just outside Natimuk called Banksia Hill. Highly recommended for anyone coming to the area and conveniently located between Arapiles and Northern Grampians.

For the last week I have been climbing in Arapiles for the most part. Arapiles is an incredible sandstone venue with features and styles unique only to this area I believe. Most of the climbing here is trad but there are a few sport routes and even some mixed routes (gear and bolts). This is something completely new to me and actually quite refreshing as it combines the new with the old way of thinking. Generally for the harder routes, there tends to be protected sections with bolts where there is no gear available and when there is potential for good safe placements, they don’t bolt and allow you to place your own gear.

This has been a great learning experience for me as I have never done a lot of trad climbing, but because Arapiles is pretty much a trad venue, I have been forced to learn quickly. The good thing is that Arapiles is quite a comfortable venue for trad, with all placements being pretty obvious in general and most routes very safe. Even a sport climber like me can figure it out :PARAPILES

That’s not to say I haven’t been doing any sport since I’ve been here… on the contrary, I have been trying some pretty hard sport routes and even some hard mixed gear routes.

Day 1

On day 1 we went to a sector called Atridae located on the South end of the Arapiles cliffs. Here Tracey and I did a couple of nice trad lines to warm up on, “Muldoon” a 3-star grade 15 (f5a) and “Surface to Air” grade 17 (f5c). We then went further left to an area called the flight deck and I climbed my hardest trad route to date J a beautiful crack line called “Orestes” grade 24 (f7a/+). When I climbed it, it felt really steady and I would go so far as to say for me it felt like f6c climbing at most (grade 21/22), however, looking back at it now, I saw I was making some pretty flexible split maneuvers with my legs that most might not be able to do :P So perhaps it might feel different to those who can’t almost do the splits!

 Climbing "Afterburner" (30/8a+) at The Flight DeckA bit later I moved onto some Sport climbs on the same bit of wall. I started of with the 3-star grade 25 (f7b) called “Have a Good Flight”. This was an awesome route that later Tracey attempted to flash. She got high on her attempt but failed just shy of the final section. I then attempted to onsight a 30 on the same wall called “Afterburner”. I actually did really well, reading the crux almost perfectly but unfortunately used the wrong hand hold for my right hand just an inch left of the correct one and I fell when I attempted a balancy hand adjustment. I had another attempt afterwards and nabbed it on my second go! YEOW!!!

Day 2

On Day 2 we went to do something I have been waiting almost 10 years to climb… “Kachoong” (21/6b+). This is one of the most famous routes on the planet, made famous of course by the countless numbers of fantastic images of climbers taken on it J The Arapiles guidebook describes it as thus:

“Created by the Ancient God Kodak – Still a must for budding legends”

I can only think of one other route equally as photogenic and that is of course “Aegialis” (7c) in Kalymnos. I was first attracted to this climb by an old photo in a “Climber” magazine article on Arapiles of a climber soloing it! At the time I was on a field trip with my school to the Outer Hebrides visiting the islands of Pabbay and Mingulay for exploration, not climbing. I can remember walking about thinking; this place would be awesome for climbing… I wonder if anyone knows about it? :P How naïve I was back then… One of my friends from school saw the picture as well and asked me if I would ever do that one day… I said of course… one day I will… and here I am. I stood at the bottom of that cliff, climbed to the belay and looked out onto the roof of this famous climb. I saw in front of me the picture I had seen from 10 years previously and every year since then in various forms with different climbers…

Stefan Glowacz soloing "Kachoong"

One thing I had noticed in each and every picture was a yellow orb floating randomly in the background. For years I thought it was a hot air balloon, but upon being at the exact place where the photographer would be sitting, I realized finally that it was not this and in fact it was just a connection of an electricity pylon cable that sits above the climb :P Wow… sometimes the comedy of realization that the perfect picture you once thought was real makes more of an impression than the original perfect picture itself :P It was just one of those hilarious moments when a piece fits the puzzle in your head and you realize that you weren’t looking at a pink elephant… it was just a fat guy with a bad sunburn :P

Rob "Dawg" Saunders at the campsite in ArapilesThe actual climbing was surprisingly easy… Well I guess 21/6b+ isn’t desperate really, but I expected there to be more challenge having seen the pictures of people cutting loose in the roof… but in all honesty, I think that this comes more from the climbers desire to feel free up there in the sky, than the actual necessity to do so.

“Kachoong” was a brilliant moment for me, but I also seconded Tracey on an equally good but slightly less photogenic grade 18/6a called “Golden Echo”. The climbing was arguably just as good as “Kachoong” but not as photogenic.

After this, we headed a little higher and we came to a stunning looking line following the steepest angled part of the crag. This feature was incredible! It started low, following an awesome jutting prow and taking an almost 45 degree angle for at least 20 metres of climbing! The route was graded 29/8a and was called “You’re Terminated” :D GO ARNY!!! I was blown away again by another superb Arapiles climb, the climbing wasn’t that hard for 29/8a (or of what I am used to at that grade) but it required placing some gear amongst a few bolts. The wall was followed up the whole way by the ground meaning you were never much more than 4m off the deck at any one time and because of this I was constantly terrified that if I did fall off, I might gouge my back out on the rocky terrain behind me L On my on-sight I actually did the crux quite easily, but was scared of falling and hurting myself afterwards when I had to place some gear, so opting out I took on one of the bolts and made sure I wasn’t going to fall off the next section whilst placing the gear. Then on my second go I red-pointed the route. Unfortunately there was no easy way of getting the gear back other than by seconding it and because Tracey wasn’t that keen on seconding a 29/8a, I did it again on top-rope (Probably harder second time round and definitely scarier!).First day Onsight Lead of "Orestes" 24/7a+?

Day 3

On our third day climbing in Arapiles we went finally to the place I have been dreaming about going to… “Punks in the Gym” (32/8b+)! This is an epic route with some serious history to it :D The first ascent was from none other than the main man himself, Wolfgang Gullich who did it back  in 1985. It’s had a lot of attention from climbers all over the world since then and has spat a lot of them off! I can see why as well, it’s incredibly technical and requires perfect body positioning from start to finish…

Day 3 was my first day on “Punks” and since then I have had 5 goes in total almost getting it fully on my 5^th attempt but foot slipped unfortunately L The thing with “Punks” is the low percentage style of nearly every sequence on the route… even the rests are fall off-able!

Tracey climbing "Golden Echo" on the Kachoong ButressMy first three goes were spent just figuring out all the moves. I managed to do every move on my first time up but wasn’t using the best efficiency to link longer sequences together. By the end of the first day on it though, I could link from the ground to the first rest and then again through the “Bird-Bath” crux into the last vertical crimpy section which I found really tricky. All I really needed was a day more to figure out even better beta and after a rest day it could go!

Tom and Owen (some new friends) joined us at “Punks” crag as well that day and they tried with Tracey a cool 25/7b just up from “Punks” called “Spasm in a Chasm”. This was a sick route with a gnarly traverse sequence in the middle which after completing you had to place a dodgy side-ways nut and then do either a dyno/lunge move or if your like me and too scared to do anything dynamic, just lock off really hard and reach!

Day 4

Day 4 we spent the morning trad climbing at a really nice venue on the Northern most part of Arapiles called “Curtain Wall”. I climbed “Entertainer” 18/6a on second and the shortly afterwards “Comic Relief” 21/6b+ on lead. I was pretty beaten up from my battles with “Punks” the previous day so it was good to do some easy trad climbing before heading back to “Punks” in the late afternoon.

Tom crushing "Spasm in a Chasm" 25/7bTracey and me headed down later on to “Punks” followed by Tom and Owen and shortly after by the rest of our crew, Suzie, Bernie and Ben. I had my 4^th go on “Punks” which left me wrecked and skin shredded. I was pretty confident I was not going to have a good attempt from then on in so I had already more or less thrown the towel in for the day, that was before Suzie egged me on to go for another shot J I was more psyched up just because everyone was at the crag and it was a nice atmosphere so I went for it! Amazingly the route felt easy :P I climbed straight through the first crux into the rest and then straight through the second crux! I started to shake before heading into the final crux when my foot slipped and I was hanging on the rope L Awwwwww… But I wasn’t upset, rather the opposite! I was psyched that the route had gone so smoothly on that attempt whilst I had been feeling pretty rubbish. I was now psyched more than ever to go back and crush it into dust!

Day 5

Me onsighting the classic 28/7c+ "Monkey Puzzle" at GalleryToday we headed to Grampians to check out “The Gallery”, a wild overhanging sport crag with amazing 3-star classics all over! We had a bit of an epic that day both on our arrival and departure. We took the wrong road into the car park, which took us down wild bumpy roads and a bit of sketchy off-road style tracks! Kind of fun but also a bit stressful with the hire car L

The crag was situated high in the forest and the walk in was a steep 45 minute treck in quite high temps… When we finally arrived, I was already tired but warmed up on a cheeky 25/7b called “Mr Meat” which had a boulder start and some awesome exposed arête climbing to finish on.

I then went onto the best looking line at the crag, “Monkey Puzzle” 28/7c+ which took some seriously steep terrain on amazing looking holds and sequences. There was a picture of Lynne Hill in the guidebook on it and it looked fantastic :D I ended up on-sighting this and it never felt that hard for the grade so this gave me confidence to try the 29/8a to the left called “Le Petit Mort” on-sight as well.

Tom (Reido) on "Spasm in a Chasm" 25/7bThat turned out to be a very different kettle of fish! I got slightly above the 2^nd bolt before falling. It then took me the best part of half an hour to figure out what to do on this lower section, and even then it was still pretty gnarly! My skin was really bad now as it was my 3^rd day on and I was pulling on sharp crossly crimps… The top section of this route wasn’t a piece of cake either, it took me a while to figure out the kneebar in the roof that allows you easier access through the lip and even then there was a big lunge move which was quite easy to fluff if you weren’t confident with it.

The day was getting on and the heat was increasing! Tom had tried a 25/7b called “Hueco Dreaming” but unfortunately fell at the dyno L Bernie managed to send this on his 2^nd go which was a really good effort! Tracey onsighted the 4-star classic “Weaveworld” 23/7a and then sent on redpont the 3-star classic “Two Tribes” 24/7a+! WOAH!!!

I then went for a 2^nd go ascent of “Le Petit Mort”… Amazingly I somehow sketched my way through the start and made it into the second half of the route. I climbed high into the roof and gained the rest on the knee-bar. I managed to pull myself through the lip of the roof with my cheeky knee-bar and into the big lunge move… A scary moment occurred when I didn’t catch the hold correctly on the lunge and fell back onto the jug, only just holding it!!! A second attempt at this move and I stuck it and climbed to the top :D YAASSSSSS!!! Psyched!

Me climbing "Mr Meat" 25/7bI was pretty tired now and it was getting hotter and hotter. I had a last minute burst of psyche during my exhaustion and attempted to onsight the 27/7c “Chasin’ the Shadow”. Tom pointed the irony that the bottom of the route was in the sun and I was literally chasing the shadow at the top of the route. Unfortunately my energy ran out and I fell off :P I greased of a hold at the top and to be frank, I was pretty destroyed as it was my 3^rd day on!

Me climbing "Le Petit Mort" (29/8a) at the GalleryTo finish the day off, I went on the 25/7b that Tom and Bernie did earlier and managed to send that as well. It was funny because I found a load of knee-bars that neither of them found… I think it was partly due to desperation as I was so tired and sweaty by that point that I think without them I wouldn’t have made it :P I got to the dyno move but didn’t see the intermediate hold that you dyno off so I just did a big lock off and somehow managed to pull it off… JUST!!!

A there was no chains, I just down-climbed the route to strip the quickdraws. Unfortunately at the 2^nd clip from the ground I slipped as I took the draw out with a load of slack and fell just short of the ground! Thanks Tracey for the catch :P That was a close one!

Our adventures for the day were not over yet though, on the way out of the crag we got lost and ended up on a nightmare stroll through bush and wilderness. Tom was being very Aussie Outback hard-man, climbing boulders to see above the trees whilst I helplessly stood around and waited to be told where to go :P On the way down, I put my foot on a loose boulder and it gave way. I fell about 8m down the hill and did about 4 somersaults before finally stopping dead in a massive heap! I thought I had broken my leg it was so sore – but luckily I had just been knocked about a bit :P I limped down the hill a bit further and we finally found the track again. When we got to the car park the four of us looked pretty worse for wear and anyone looking at us would have thought we had just been on some sort of 3-week expedition through the deepest Australian bush… nope… we had just been sport climbing for a day at the Grampians :P HARDCORE!!!

Day 6

We had an awesome rest day after the Grampians epic, eating at the Natimuk Café and catching up with friends. Today was going to be all about “Punks in the Gym”. I didn’t want to go too early because it doesn’t get shade until much later, so Tracey and I headed down to the Flight Deck wall to watch Tom on his final attempts at “Have a Nice Flight” 25/7b before he headed home that afternoon. We baked in the sun, not the ideal conditions for Tom but he’s an Aussie so he should be used to it ;) Unfortunately, he never quite made the send despite being so close on all his attempts! We had fun feeding grapes to the Skinks however and after Tom had left, Tracey and I headed to the Morfydd Wall to do some trad before heading to “Punks”. Tracey and I both lead the classic crack 19/6a+, which both of us were immensely happy about as it had proper hand jams and everything :PTracey taking a cut loose move on a 7a+ at The Gallery - check oot the mad eagle flying in the corner of the photo!!!

At the crag at the same time as us I heard a Scottish accent of sorts… I couldn’t quite grasp if it was Scottish, Irish or Australian. It was a weird mix but I listened for a while and eventually I grasped the accent as Scottish. I spoke to the guy who it turns out was from Fife, but had moved to Australia with his wife 15 years previously and had not been back in 10 years! That would make sense why his accent sounded a bit different. Though I noticed that within 5 minutes of talking to me he was rolling all his “R’s” and getting back into the true Scots tongue (CURRILLY WURRILY!!!) :PTom on "Spasm in a Chasm" 25/7b

They suggested me trying the 24/7a+ trad route that they were on “No Standing”, so I went for the lead on this. It was a tough wee route with some spicy moves and a committing crux, but I managed to send despite being scared silly when I had to trust my head and just commit to the slopey gaston crimp. Turns out it was a Kim Carrigan route from the 70’s! HISTORIC!!!

After a quick break with friends back at the campsite, we decided to go see what “Punks” was all about… I decided that “Punks in the Gym” deserved it’s own blog so if you wanna read all about my experience on this route, I'll be posting this up pretty soon :)

I have just spent the last 2 weeks climbing in the mecca of Limestone that is Catlunya, Spain :D Of course that doesn’t really narrow it down much does it? I have been climbing at some mega impressive crags such as Terradets, Oliana and Santa Linya!Lee Cujes on "Energia Positiva" (7c+) belayed by Sam Cujes

On arrival I didn’t really have a plan – I thought I would try and get some public transport to Terradets and work it out from there… I had heard there was a refugio and hopefully that would be open. Totally by chance however, a good friend (Henward Nind) was climbing at Siurana and I messaged him to say I would be climbing at Terradets if he fancied meeting up… Long story short, Henward let me stay in his van and we have been climbing together for the last 2 weeks!

Me onsighting "Latido del Miedo" (8a)

One of the main reasons for coming out now was also to meet up with two really good friends from Australia, Sam and Lee Cujes. They were also in Kalymnos when I was there, but this is the end of their 2 month trip to Europe and it might be a while before they are back L Unfortunately, Lee suffered a tweak in his right shoulder on one of his final days climbing in Kalymnos and this seems to have stuck with him throughout his trip to France and Spain. Thankfully though things seem to have eased out a bit and he is back in crushing mode :D Sam and Lee have both been climbing at Terradets with me the last week and a half and it’s been awesome hanging out with them and occasionally invading their apartment at Villanova de la Sal (Tell everyone!!! It’s lush!!!).Getting my trusty Shamans on for the next send :D

So we have been mainly at Terradets this trip however we’ve had half a day at Oliana and half a day at Santa Linya. Oliana was absolutely amazing, I can’t wait to go back there ASAP! I tried the mega classic 8b+ “Humildes Pa Casa” and was blown away by its awesomeness! It is without a doubt in my top 2 routes I have ever climbed… up there with “Tom et Je Ris” in Verdon. Unfortunately I didn’t get to actually send the route L we arrived at Oliana quite late and the next day it rained so I only got one attempt at the climb – I am planning on coming back one day with Lee and we will do this beast together!!! YEAH BOI!!!!Lee high on the redpoint send of "Energia Positiva" (7c+) - Fun Fact: He actually jumped on me after clipping the chains :P Two guys hanging of a static didn't feel so secure :P

Santa Linya again was only half a day and the crag was pretty damp. There had been a massive rain and pretty much everywhere was wet, so we headed to Santa Linya, the one place steep enough to stay dry. Unfortunately it was still very humid inside the cave L I tried an 8c called “Ingravids Serps” which I managed all of the moves bar one on my first try and it felt very do-able in a short time if conditions had been better. I then turned my attention onto an 8a+ in the cave called “Irak Attack”. I had planned an onsight attempt of the route but was weighing up whether or not I should given the bad conditions – but hey, if you wait around for good conditions you’ll never climb anything. I gave it a good burn and got high on the onsight but mis-read the sequence and fell off the crux… I lowered, untied and in a fit of annoyance/arrogance I tied straight back in and re-climbed it to the crux, this time not going wrong and sent it :P Felt like a return to my endurance training back home :P Probably not the best tactics ever and I apologise for my lack of discipline (especially to those I coach – please don’t do as I did here – it’s called being an idiot).Sam looking way too strong on "Energia Positiva" (7c+) - LOOK AT THOSE GUNS!!!

When it wasn’t wet we’ve been climbing in Terradets. I have been here only once before but never actually climbed, just sat and watched :P This time round I was climbing almost everyday and have had such an amazing time :D I was blown away by the quality of every route here, nothing is bad, nothing is below par, it’s all awesome!

I heard so much about Terradets being the ultimate crag for onsighting in the 7c-8a range but I really had no idea until trying it out for myself. There is literally dozens of routes in that grade range all over the wall… there is one section where I’m sure there are at least 4 classic sustained 7c+’s in a row!

On my first day I onsighted the two classic 7c’s “Avant Match” and “Occident” followed by another 7c+/8a “Primea Linea” and then finished off by redpointing the extension of “Avant Match”, a bouldery 8a/+ which I fell on the final move on the onsight. After such a great first day, I didn’t really know what to expect for the rest of the trip. I feel really in my element when I am going about the wall ticking off routes I know I can do onsight or 2^nd go, it’s one of my favourite styles of climbing because you can get so much climbing done J Even at the ends of the day when my fingers were tired and bleeding, I was still going for more on easier routes.Me onsighting "Millenium" (8a) - I found the start quite tricky as you can see :P

I continued to tick off more routes in the 7c-8a range with some more classics such as:

One of my favourite routes of all of these has to be “Redbull” (7c+). This was a tough little number and had me a little scared at one point when I climbed too high on the tufa and had to make an awkward cross-through to a pocket from way too high up :P When I went for this I was only warming up at the time and I thought it was only 7c. Of course it’s actually probably the toughest 7c+ at the crag and in my opinion probably as hard as some of the 8a’s!

Higher on the onsight of "Millennium" (8a)“Millenium” (8a) was an interesting one too. I did this at the end of the day and was already a little tired. I had to put the quickdraws in on this, which was a bit of a pain (why can’t all crags be equipped with in-situ draws damn it!). There was a scary moment at the third bolt where I had found it really awkward to clip the rope through the gate of the quickdraw… I thought I had clipped when in fact the rope had got stuck on the gate and I was in risk of decking! I heard Sam whisper my name calmly as she had seen the rope not go in… I knew that the rope hadn’t clipped in correctly… but then I heard the faint ‘click’ of the quickdraw as the rope slid into place (PHEW!). I continued on the climb and managed to get a good rest at half-height. The next section was really technical on tiny crimpers and bad feet (reminded me of Malham). I took my time on this section, making sure that each hand was freshly chalked and as dry as possible to get a good grip on every slopey little edge. Thankfully I managed to get myself through this section unscathed as well. Next thing I was heading into a large booming bulge that terrified me to bits! There was no chalk at all on this thing and I hadn’t the faintest idea of what to do… but then suddenly I saw some undercuts… they were flat and I needed to get my feet as high as possible to get some power behind them. Climbing "Xarop de Basto" (8a)When I did this, I managed to make a long stretch over the bulge and reach a positive flatty (the thank god hold!). I could relax now and cut my feet to mantle over the bulge and into the final head wall… little did I know that the hardest move was just ahead! I rested for a bit on some good holds and scoped out what was remaining of the climb. I knew that the chains were after the next bolt, but the holds in between were small pocket things and I couldn’t fit my chubby meat hooks into them. I saw a small left hand pocket that the very edges of my fingertip pads just stuck to and the right hand one was slightly better but much lower down… I could see a hold high up for my right meaning I was going to have to pull hard on my left and lay one on for this thing… I built up the courage and went for it… I remember the moment so vividly as I pulled on the small slopey left hand hold, expecting it to rip any second, but nothing happened, I kept moving upwards and with a scream I caught the right hand hold which turned out to be a good edge! YASSSSSS! I was in :D I pulled over and mantled out the top to clip the chains – SUCCESS!!! This was probably one of my favourite moments onsighting a route – I really feel like I climbed it well the whole way up and took every challenge as it came, responding to the situation effectively!

Starting out on "Non-Stop" (8b)Henward was also doing well and getting used to climbing on steeper ground, something he is very adamant that he is bad at. I tell him that he needs to give it time and learn the technique and flow for climbing on steeper ground… he just moans some more and asks if we can go to vertical crags… I stare at him blankly… “no…” :P Despite his incessant moaning, he was doing bloody well and going from strength to strength throughout the whole trip. He ticked another 7b in his first few days, then did another 7b, then a 7b+ (his first of his year long trip!) – quit complaining Sully (he looks like Sully from “Monsters Inc.” with his mad turquoise fleece which is obviously for girls :P )Pulling through the steepness on "Non-Stop" - Photo by Lee Cujes

Definitely one of my biggest challenges this trip was a tricky 8b called “Non Stop”. 8b usually doesn’t take more than a few attempts but this took me a couple of days to close. I think this might be for a number of reasons though:

1. When I first tried the route I noticed a massive scar where a hold had been in the midst of the crux – most likely something has broken off and made it a bit harder
2. On my closest attempt at the route on my second day trying, I snapped off the crux hold making the route (without a doubt)… much harder!

The second break was slightly annoying but also ridiculously funny :P I couldn’t really be angry with it – I was actually amused more than anything as the whole route was a massive a pile of choss. I was surprised that the hold hadn’t fallen of earlier despite the sika (I am obviously too fat). The amazing thing though was that after the break, I found a new sequence, totally wild and whacky with a mental sideways dyno maneuver. I can only relate to this by watching some crazy Daniel Woods or Chris Sharma video… The sequence worked of course but was very hard for me…                        Campussing through the roof of "Non-Stop" (8b)

Astonishingly, I sent the route on my next attempt that day! It wasn’t without a heck of a lot of trying. I threw for the hold with everything I had, the swing almost ripped my arms out of their sockets and truthfully, I thought that if I actually took the fall I might have ripped a hole in the space time continuum… there was a lot riding on me sticking this move as you can see :P I screamed like I have never screamed before and when I realized I was still on the wall – I screamed some more in sheer surprise, happiness and slight fear as well as I didn’t want to screw up the end! Luckily I didn’t mess up the finale and I ticked the route :D YAY!!! It was a great feeling to come back after getting spanked a bit on this one.

Liam on "Red Bull" (7c+)There was one other 8b I tried at the start of the trip called “Golpe de Gas” – I am still unsure whether or not I was trying this route the right way. I had to try it in the sun which didn’t make things any easier but for all the life of me I couldn’t do the final bulge crux… Not being able to do the moves on an 8b has not happened to me in a long time – I am not going to say it wasn’t frustrating but I accept that maybe I need to get a bit better at tiny slopey crimps and bunched up feet for this one. I was mega impressed to see that Karin Magog crushed this back in 2008 (according to 8a.nu stalking) – all I can say is “oh my god, what a beast!”

In the last few days I have managed a few more onsights in the 8a range and even managed a cheeky 8a+ onsight today with a route called “Formula Weekend”.  I didn’t expect to onsight this all the way as the top of the route was completely wet. Over the last few days it has been raining pretty heavily, luckily most of Terradets has remained dry however the top outs are pretty much all wet. “Formula Weekend” is 8a to the first chain, then there is a 4m long roof and a bulge which turns into slopers. The 8a felt pretty steady for me, I never felt like I was going to fall but there was one moment just before the chains where I had to pull pretty hard on a small damp crimp… I was a little unsure on whether or not my fingers would stay put on the wet crimp but thankfully they did :P The remaining roof section for the 8a+ was damp and the bulging sloper was not sodden wet with drips coming off it! I just went for it to see what would happen… before I knew it I was grabbing wet slopers and mantling to finish on top :P WHAT!?!?!?! A pleasant surprise :P It actually didn’t feel that hard, but I think I was quite lucky with reading the sequence correct and that my hands didn’t slip on any of the wet holds.The previous crux - out of interest, the right hand crimp I have here is what broke off... which changed the sequence for me so I had to dyno through with my right hand off the undercut to catch the hold I have with my left hand in this picture :P

Lee and Sam were having a good trip too, of course Lee was held back slightly by his shoulder. Despite this he was still trying 8a and getting 7c+’s sent. Sam was trying a 7a+ called “Pasta Sin Agua”, I did this one my last day – OH MY GOD – it’s fierce for 7a+, definitely as hard if not harder than “Jam Session” (7b).

This is actually much smaller than it looks like in real life :P The broken hold!!!On my last day I really wasn’t too bothered about doing anything in particular. I had had an amazing trip and had ticked the best routes at the crag, I was just happy to spend my last day climbing with friends… but that’s not to say I didn’t do anything :P I had one last route that I had attempted the day previously which I had not completed, an 8b called “Democracia”. “Democracia” is situated just right of the very steep cave where the other 8b “Non-Stop” is and it’s also the right hand variant finish of the 8a+/b “Anarkista”. “Democracia” includes the same first half as “Anarkista” and then a new upper section that veers out right where “Anarkista” breaks left. I was pleasantly surprised to repeat the first section of the route without any issues and onsighted the 8b section until the main crux (which was very hard!). It was here that I got stuck into redpoint mode for the last time this trip. It took me a few goes to figure out exactly how to do the crux in the most efficient way possible, it had a pretty intense technical sequence involving a long reach to grab a three finger single pad crimp which you had to do a cross-through match with your right hand into a positive two finger pocket situated just above (quite awkward actually as your left hand gets in the way of your right crossing through). After this you did another big cross-through off the two finger pocket to grab a really bad tufa pinch! Finishing off "Non-Stop" (8b)This thing was proper filth and required me to figure out exactly which finger had to be placed where on the tufa – pinky, ring, middle, index and thumb were all placed individually during the cross-through so I could get the right amount of friction and strength to complete the next move. Once I had the pinch there was a tricky twist and I grabbed a very bad polished edge that would only be quarter pad at most – from that I step my feet up (making the tufa feel a bit better) and cross again into a good slanting slot on the upper section of the tufa. From here to the top it’s probably still about 7c in it’s own right so still very droppable I guess! The horrible thing though was that the last crux below the chains was wet as well so I had to climb this pulling on slippery wet crimps and pockets… LOVELY!!!A site I will never get tired off - This was the first view I got off Terradets area almost 5 years ago that I saw... So B-E-A-UTIFUL!!!

I had one attempt after my first working go/onsight and failed at the first crux again – I thought this crux could be potentially very problematic for me now, not only because of the difficulty but also my skin was beginning to get pretty torn up from resting on some bad pockets and jamming my fingers into slots lower down on the route :P On my third attempt I felt pretty good and managed to get all the way to the rest before the crux without too much bother… here I rested for a while, eyeing up the crux and waiting to feel that moment when your forearms are recovered just enough to make a beeline for it… I felt it was about ready… I shook out one more time with a chalk up on each hand and then went for it! I moved fast, the cross-through to the pocket was solid and I didn’t hesitate in the next move to the pinch but I made sure I positioned every finger in exactly the right place… SQUEEZE!!!! I crushed the pinch into oblivion and made the next move to the small crimper which I took without any thought of failure… I position my feet and made the next move to the good slot and suddenly felt very fresh and not at all like I had felt on my previous dogging attempts (I love this feeling!). I kept going and got a cheeky kneebar rest before the final crux which was still slightly damp… I sat scrunched up in my kneebar relaxing my grip off the two sloper hand holds I was shaking out on… at the corner of my eyes I saw Lee and Sam watching me and I gave them a little wave :PMe pretending to be a photographer for a day :P I was not completely confident that I had this in the bag and I needed to relax for the final section - I always climb best when the situation isn’t serious – sometimes it’s a good thing for me to talk to myself or give a little wave from a rest to friends just to alleviate some of the pressure. On the last section I moved quickly and got all the holds pretty perfect… they were all a little wet still and didn’t feel completely secure but I wasn’t about to give up… I just moved confidently and put trust in myself to do this... I moved out right and grabbed a weird awkward pinch which splayed my fingers a bit, I crossed again into a wet crimp and then made a big move to a wet jug – DONE! It was sealed, I had done the route, I pulled a few more jugs and clipped the chains – YAASSSSSS!! It was a really good feeling to tick something challenging like this on my last day in Terradets :D

My last day wasn’t just my success though – Henward ticked his first 7b+/c with a very boulder route on the left side of the crag “Tarambana” and Lee ticked “Mallorca es Funky”, a very powerful 7c+ up one of the steepest sections of Bruixes wall. I even finished the day off doing another 8a+ called “Flix Flax”. I tried to onsight this one but made a silly mistake low down which cost me the onsight – I then did it 2^nd go.The Lone Ranger!

That pretty much concludes my climbing trip then :P The last night I had dinner with Lee and Sam ad we said our goodbyes... I hope to see them again soon! Henward gave me a lift to the airport and I had some problems with my tickets but got home eventually :P Now I am comfortable in my own home and looking forward to setting and coaching over the next few weeks... Got a busy build up to christmas now... I am always psyched to be on climbing trips but it is nice to come home and get back into a routine again - I have missed all the kids I regularly coach and I am looking forward to seeing them all in action now that I am back! Hopefully they have all been training hard and not slacking :P

See you at the wall!