Grampians :D

Hey Guys

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