Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The Big Boulder Bash

On Saturday, it was official unveiling of the new bouldering wall at ClimbOz in Blacktown! Like them on Facebook? Lots of work was put into the wall and I have to say, all the routes were awesome and it was a great event! It was probably the most fun I've had climbing on plastic actually!

I cycled there from home and that wrecked me, then a long long day of hardcore bouldering, and a few other mini competitions throughout the day as well. It was a 'you had to be there' type of day, and I think Chew captured the day pretty well! I think I will just spam photos rather than talk about it. I cycled home at the end of the day, and... died.

Sunday, I woke up really sore, especially my core, bouldering is intense! Went to Cabramatta to have Yum Cha with my parents, no complaints about that, amazing food, as always at Vinh Phat, the best Yum Cha restaurant in Sydney!

Monday, bad weather, but me and Thanjon still went to Shipley to try and climb a bit.. at least... Didn't turn out so well, but we did manage to get a few climbs in before the weather got even worse!

Tuesday, went to The Climbing Centre to pick up my resoles, played on the woodie and on the newly set wall, fun! Always great to catch up with everyone over a few slices of FREE PIZZA ;)

Just a few photos, the rest you can find here!


Friday, December 7, 2012

Holidays

Wow, so much has happened in the past month! (And by that I mean, I've been climbing a LOT.)
I won't have enough time to blog everything properly, but everything is going amazingly well!

Climbing as hard as ever, with more partners, I'm loving the holidays!
Mainly with Thanjon, Steph, Paul and Jenga.

Hmm, in the past month, been hitting up the following crags:
The Glen, Shipley, Bardens, Boronia, Celebrity, Medlow Bath, Zap Crag, Engineers Cascade (Catch the Wind Area) Dam Cliffs and The Freezer.

Had a few days out with Thanjon to our usual areas, pushing ourselves on some harder stuff.
Going out with Steph and doing slightly easier stuff, our days aren't organised so well :P
Love going out with Paul and Jenga (and their group), they've nicknamed me 'Ninja', I like it, haha.
Been doing some harder stuff with them more recently, although one of the nights we went out, the weather ruined it, so we went to the BBC instead, better than nothing, I guess.

On one of my off days, I went to ClimbOz to set some routes on their new bouldering wall, not too hard, but not too easy either.

Last Saturday, went to Glenbrook Park and had an awesome picnic party for Jenga, whose leaving to Europe for 7 months or so, then had an awesome day at The Freezer on Tuesday, one of my favourite cragging days in a long time, for sure! Met some great people, and climbed hard!

Till next time!
Like always, follow me on FaceCrag!


Thanjon after sending Junket Pumper
Crag Lizard with my apple

Beautiful Day

Thanjon, Rock Magazine and a Petzl Ange

At Celebrity

Unpacking my new gear!

Sid came down, went and got Canton with him and Fletcher

Medlow Bath with Steph
Storm is approaching
Storm was brutal, everything was wet as hell!

Ben on Zapt
BBC

My two problems
Paul on Cryogenics

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Sweet Dreams

Hello! So, it was my birthday on Saturday and I had an awesome day out!

Woke up early in the morning to catch a train up the mountain to Woodford, for Thanjon to get me. Sid would meet me on the train, taking another weekend off just to come down for me :D Fletcher was at work, so that was lame. That guy is always at work on Saturdays. Found out Jimmy would catch up with us later too, which was cool! Haven't seen him in a while.

Drove to Big John's first, and Thanjon revealed his gift, a nice little 'voucher' he printed off for Big Johns, a.k.a he will buy me anything there as a present, haha. Norry was working and we chat for a while, and sid was looking for new climbing shoes to buy. Nearly bought one Petzl Spirit quickdraw, but Norry advised to get 3 Mad Rocks quickdraws instead, it'll help build a rack better. We went to Shipley and Centennial Glen to climb. We met up with Jimmy and Hannan and had a good day of climbing! I nearly got a 23 and a 24, and will head back to get those this weekend. Very keen!

Afterwards, we headed back to Katoomba, where Sid had booked a remedial massage for himself and I. Weird birthday present. $95 for an hour long session. I was pretty weirded out, the place was super posh, run by hippy-ish type people, the whole place smelled amazing and the music was super calming. I felt like jelly, and super calm afterwards. Me, Thanjon, Sid and Jimmy went to the Katoomba RSL for an all you can eat buffet, awesome food. I was super full! Sid paid for that also, he is too rich. Jimmy drove us back down to Penrith and we all headed home!

On Sunday, I went to Cabramatta with the parents and we had Yum Cha at Vinh Phat, mmm, delicious. At night time, I went on Campsaver to look at some gear, and found out that there was so much on sale. I now have bought my own climbing sports rack. 60m BlueWater rope, 7 quickdraws and a rope bag! All that for less than $250, wooh! The 3 draws that Thanjon got me makes it ten, awesome. Combined the order with Sid and Thanjon to make the total over $400 (easily) so we could get free shipping. :)

Yesterday, Benn dropped by my place in the morning with Sam, and we drove to Leura to do the multi-pitch called 'Sweet Dreams'. Me and Benn started off doing two single pitches first, then we started Sweet Dreams for Sam, who isn't much of a climber, but it is a relatively easy multipitch, when seconding in the middle. It has great views and I will be posting photos we took during the day! It was such an awesome day out with my Kathmandu crew, haha. :)


Choc Chip Chai
Chalk flying errywhere. Theory of Negativity.
Benn on The Cramps
Halfway up Sweet Dreams
Finished!
Our View
Benn van Balen, Samantha Sutton and I

Delectable

Non-climbing shtuff!
I'm just going to make all of you hungry. :D
Went to Barluck (in Cabramatta) not so long ago with all the cousins for dinner.
Exam week! But not so important as I will be changing courses anyway.
Kept organising my room, removed all the childhood stickers from my door. Hard work!

Climbing and similar stuff post later tonight! :)

Bun Nuoc Leo
Barluck
Mi Quang

BBQ Pork, Roast Duck in Noodle Soup.
The same, with rice!


Saturday, November 10, 2012

Nineteen

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me!

Brother's gift
Real post soon.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Winds

It's been a while since I've posted, sorry!
I highly doubt I can remember everything that's been happening, but I think I can give you a rough idea...

Non-climbing news:
I haven't been to uni due to my break, and I have applied or a course transfer to Exercise Science / Sports Medicine. Hopefully, I'll get it. :) Finished my physiotherapy sessions, wooh! Went out with my parents to Cabramatta a few times to feast, yum yum. Yum Cha, Fried Noodles, all good stuff! :D Been talking to Sid more, since he has moved to Singleton and now has internet!
I finally had work last Friday, stocktake. Good seeing everyone again! I need to think about quitting Kathmandu, because I would be able to work at Mountain Designs if I left. Hm. Two weeks ago, I replaced the curtains and blinds in my room, to make it more... adult-like and less cartoony, haha.

Climbing news:
Last last Saturday, Sid came back to visit for a day! We went to The Climbing Centre to have some fun. Didn't do that much, apart from climb and catch up!
Still going climbing every Tuesday night, always fun times! :D
Last Thursday, went to Villawood with Damion to get some extra leading in, it's been a while.
On Saturday, me, Thanjon, Baden and Louise went to Porter's Pass to climb. Did a few routes in the low 20s, before Baden and Louise left because they found it too hard! They lost their motivation. :( So they went to Slackline in Katoomba instead. Thanjon and I headed to the other crags in the area, the Glen and Shipley to do some more routes. I'm happy with how I did on the day! 3 climbers hitch-hiked with us on the way back from Blackheath to Katoomba.

We met everyone in Katoomba (including Sid, who came back this Saturday also) and had Subway for Dinner. We all watched Reel Rock 7 at The Edge, which was bloody awesome! Huge turnout. Back to Thanjon's place afterwards and stayed over the night.

Feeling pretty sore from all the climbing, but it's awesome. :D

Not such a detailed post, since it's been a while, I can't really remember everything.

Awesome quote:

Water parks are fun. Disobeying your parents is fun. Sex, drugs and loud music are fun. But do these vapidly blissful states of mind automatically bestow superlative greatness in one of the most technically challenging enterprises to ever grace human existence? Fuck no!
Toffee :D
Bun Rieu
Lou and Baden
Megalong Valley in the BG
Pho

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Boring

Quick update!

Things have been rather uneventful the past week! Due to the fact that I have injured my ring finger on my right hand from climbing, so I haven't been out climbing, rather just taking it easy.

Happened last Tuesday, trying to campus the green roof climb at The Climbing Centre, missed the jug and hit the edge with my middle/ring finger, and got half a pad or so deep, and then came off! So pretty much, I've been resting it since. Just at home, seeing the physio and heading in to start work at TCC also.

Hmm, I went to the dentist last Wednesday for a clean and ate Tan Viet after, mmm, best crispy skin chicken ever.

Most of my days involve sleeping in, sleeping late and watching Wong Fu Productions, JustKiddingFilms or climbing videos, haha. Sad life. I've gone into TCC twice to train, and I'm picking everything up well, I should be working there properly in a week or two, max!

I sent my old Anasazi's in to Big John Retreads for a resole, there's a tiny hole in the right shoe, at the big toe, better get that fixed! Putting beefy rubber on it, and retiring it to be my gym shoe. I have since ordered a new pair of the latest model (my old ones were clearance from a while back) and my finger is getting much better, looking forward to climbing soon!

Exams coming up in roughly a month, can't wait to kick ass afterwards!


Blast from the past, this was taken last year in November!

Monday, October 8, 2012

Point Perpendicular

Had an amazing weekend down the South Coast with awesome people!

Thursday was relatively boring, I went to the supermarket to stock up for weekend camping! Prepared my camping dinners and lunches for the weekend also!

Friday, had a good long sleep, had spring rolls for lunch and red rooster for early dinner before heading out to Penrith station to meet with Ben (Jenga) and Rob! About a 3-3.5 hour drive down to Callala Bay and shared some great stories during the ride. Went to the bottle-o and Ben had a stack walking out of the store, dropping the beer! Stopped by Maccas so Ben could have dinner and I had a double cheeseburger because I knew the smell would make me go crazy. We got to Jake's house and wondered around near the wharf for a while because he wasn't home. Came back and met Matt, a guy from the UK! Watched a climbing movie to pass some time, and later in the night, Leith from Newcastle, who was quickly nicknamed 'Snacks' arrived and we headed to bed, hoping for the best weather. We stayed at Jake's place for the night, rather than camping.

Saturday, woke up around 8am, to lousy rain, no! Had a new person in the house, her name was Ashleigh and was a friend of Jakes! Had fruit/fruit juice and a cheese and bacon roll for breakfast, and decided on 'South Central' in Nowra to climb away from the rain. Basically, tough, powerful moves on steep, slick rock. Did a few short, powerful routes; but I'm too lazy to put them in detail here! I keep a record of the climbs I do on TheCrag. While there, more people came, including another Matt (Monster) and Dana, his girlfriend. Looked awfully familiar, just like a person two grades above me at Penrith. Will, Doug, Louie and Tom turned up and there were draws all over the wall! I worked a hard route for a while, but didn't get it, and we moved over to Mortein Wall and Rosies Wall when the rain stopped, and I was so close to getting 'Fist Full of Steel' which was my favourite climb of the day, I fell off at the last move! Climbing commitment issues... A great day of climbing with great people! We left after sunset, as it was getting dark and decided to have dinner at the local pub where I absolutely destroyed a T-Bone steak, mmm. The rain at this point was absolutely crazy and the wind was so strong. Jake offered to let us stay at his place for the night, instead of letting us camp out (which would have been at Honeymoon Bay). Went to Woolies to grab dessert, and back to Jake's place! We all went to bed earlier, knowing the weather would clear for a long day at Point Perpendicular!

Sunday, stupid daylight savings, alarm went off at 6am (so basically, 5am) and I had the same breakfast, was really cold and tired, but I was looking forward to The Point. Got there first with Ben and Rob, while Snacks and Matt were still eating. Set up a rappel for our first section of climbs on Wind Jammer wall. I walked around soaking in the view, taking a few pictures before the others arrived. People arrived in bunches over the next hour or so! It was frighteningly cold in the shade, but the sun made it bearable. The wind was absolutely incredible and caused gigantic waves! Seconded my first two full trad climbs on Man Overboard and Grey Mist, classics! I removed so much gear from Grey Mist, cleaning both Snacks placed gear and Rick's pre-placed gear from earlier. Made the top out pretty difficult, and it happened to be the crux too! We walked to the Lighthouse area, called Bayside Upper and I did a mega classic climb called 'Hello Dolly' which I got an awesome photo out of! (I didn't even know he was there) I was too absorbed by the environment, the view, the climb, the exposure. Afterwards, I seconded 'Sympatico' which was also a really lovely climb to end the day. There's no time for all the specifics of both days, but all in all, it was another amazing day, to end an amazing weekend, with the most amazing people! Said our goodbyes and we headed back home right afterwards, another 3.5 hour drive, and had dinner at Maccas again, it's climbers fuel, seriously! Ben dropped me and Rob off at Penrith and we headed home! I was absolutely nackered, I had some instant noodles when I got home, I was craving it since Matt had it for breakfast in the morning! Hibernated.

Today, I pretty much just rested, didn't do much, it's my mum's birthday today! Happy birthday to my mum :) We had pizza for lunch!

Giant photo montage time!
Amazing photo taken by Simon Wills of me on 'Hello Dolly'
South Central
First photo at the Point
Looking North
South, with Rob and Ben
Seals!
Wind Jammer Wall
Crushing Waves
More Waves!
Snacks and Marek, right after finishing Man Overboard
Dana preparing to rappel down
Simon, the photographer
Rick leading Grey Mist
Snacks and Matt after finishing Grey Mist
My rack after seconding Grey Mist
Other Side
Sympatico
After Sympatico
EOD Silhouette