Spray-A-Thon and Rifle wrap

Well, Rifle was terrific.

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

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

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

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


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


Clipping in the crack section.


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



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

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

All pics © Jason Huston 2010

More Ten Sleep Climbing pics

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

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

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

Me gathering beta. Sneaky! © S Cujes 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rifle USA - home of the kneebar?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy some pics...

Sikati Cave

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

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

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

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

© Mark Kochanek 2010

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

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

Fun de chichuune

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

It is #8 on this topo. 

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

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

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

 

Not even halfway yet!

 

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

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

Route pics © C Vaillancourt 2010

FFS! Don't feed the goats!

Okay, well now I know. Fine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kalymnos 2010 - Trip Report 13 (Spartacus, Seabreeze, Katherina, Odyssey)

Today, our second group of climbers flew out of Kalymnos. As we wave goodbye through the glass window at the Kalymnos airport, Sam and I are saying goodbye to our last links to Australia for the next ... who knows? But let's step back a few days.

After the big day at Ghost Kitchen, the group's seventh climbing day was scheduled for Spartacus (aka Spar-ta-klus). This big orange bowl is one of my favourite sectors on the island because of its looong routes. I quickly ran up Tales of Greek Heroes 6b+ to set a toprope on this 40m pitch. You can use a 70m rope just by the skin of your teeth.

Ronsley and Lena both toproped on this and Andy punched out a lead. Sam has a project up here dating back to 2007. The route is called Harakiri. Its modest grade of 6b belies its steep, pumpy climbing and sequency crux. It's basically Sam's anti-style. Andy was kind enough to put the draws on "Bloody hell I'm pumped!" and Sam decided to have a warm up burn. Long story short, the warm up burn turned into the send. Happy days!

It seemed the sendage gates were open so I jumped on Neska Polita 7c+ and dispatched it on my second try after misreading the tricky crux traverse. We needed a route that would take Andy out of his comfort zone and the steep, long and intimidating Kerveros 7a fit the bill. Andy fought the good fight but it wasn't to be. Another one to come back for!

After a well needed rest day, Seabreeze and Katherina were the sectors in mind for what proved to be a warm but windy day. Seabreeze consists of a sweeping expanse of the typical Kalymnian grey-blue slabs. The routes here can be quite long, up to 35 metres, which is nice. Some rock features that differentiate Seabreeze are the chickenheads (nice) and some very sharp gouttes (V-shaped pockets). Ruth got stuck in and led a few routes, as did Ronsley, who came down from one and immediately led the one next door.

We were also really keen to get Lena super confident with belaying lead climbers on the Sum, so I was the crash test dummy and Sam was the belay coach. I proceeded to climb a 5b, taking falls every few metres. There's quite a bit to learn in terms of giving a soft catch whilst considering any obstacles, how to help the climber regain their highpoint without expending much energy etc. She was quite intuitive with this learning and now seems rock solid on the catch.

After punching through a few routes from 5b to 6b, we headed around the corner to Katherina sector. This red limestone wall sits overlooking Arginonda and looks a bit chossy from the road, but it actually hides a few gems, one of which is the aptly named And Now For Something Completely Different 5c which Lena is climbing in the photo below. It's a big trench thing and contains some wacky 3D climbing.

Ruth and Andy climbed the saucy Pornokini 6a which is famous as the route an 84 year old guy onsighted. Ronsley led Tufa Slab 5a while Lena escaped the sun...

Dave got inspired by a newish route called Albi Bak 7a+. It's always a worry when a route in Kalymnos has zero chalk. But up he went anyway. It climbs a prickly, flowstone covered vertical wall to a corner, runout climbing to a roof, then the crux turning the roof on reachy crimps to a short, steep slab finale. Dave gave it a couple of burns and despite drawing blood and taking some big falls, couldn't quite put it in the bag. He knows the value of power endurance training now to increase that "six move pump clock".

Keen to share the blood and sweat, Dave talked Andy into getting on board, and the reachy route was right up Lightfoot's alley. He came off the roof on his flash attempt, methodically worked the sequence, and then on the second burn after going up and down on the roof for a couple of gut-wrenching minutes, inexplicably came off again (aka doing "an Andy"). Gahhhh! It was a heartbreaker. I had to hug the guy.

The final clibing day was dictated by the boys. Ronsley said "If we go to Odyssey, I'm going to sit and project Atena all day". Andy had unfinished business after "Andying" off the top of Dionysos 7a and Dave had his Itaca 6c (more like 7a) project from not only this trip, but the previous camp in 2008. So, it was decided.

First up, Ronsley. I dunno if it was the fact that it was the last day, but something lit a fire under him and he came outta nowhere on Atena. One solid burn, then another - on lead - on a route that was grades above anything he'd climbed. He ended up one hanging it, and wrung the last of the usefulness out of a shoulder that had been dodgy all trip.

Andy on Dionysos. What to say? On his first shot the other day he climbed almost level to the anchors, so we knew today would be better, and it was. He put in several shots and fell at the anchors each time. On his best burn, he climbed PAST the anchors and still couldn't clip! I thought he was going to top out Odyssey and walk off the back. Well, that's about as close as you can come to sending, and yet not. 100% Andy!

Caught from Andy? Who knows? But falling from the top was a theme of the day and Dave loves carrying on a theme. He did with his burns on Itaca. It's a bloody burly route that spits climbers off the top time and again. On one burn he touched the victory hold but didn't latch it. Soooo close.

Everyone went down the hill exhausted, knowing they'd done all they could physically do on this trip. That makes me happy - seeing people give their all. The tick is actually not very important, but the process of learning, refining and giving it everything - this is what makes climbing so rewarding for me, and I love sharing this.

So this concludes yet another absolutely terrific camp here on Kalymnos. Even though the group came together with extremely varied experience and backgrounds in climbing, they were able to throw all of this in the melting pot and come out the other side with stacks of new learnings and motivations to train and progress their climbing when they return home.

And Kalymnos herself, well, she's gained yet more devotees, with talk of moving here, building houses, or at least being back on the next Upskill Camp.

Thanks for reading. This is the last post chronicling the progress of our Kalymnos Climbing Camps for 2010.

Now resuming your regular Upskill programming in 3...2...1...

Kalymnos 2010 - Trip Report 12 (Ghost Kitchen)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's fun fact:

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