nguyenimproved: Long Weekend

Howdy!

Awesome long weekend, very tiring, but like always, very fun.

Saturday, I caught an early train up the mountain and we all met at the hostel in Katoomba. Two Swedish climbers backpacking said they'd like to join us to go out. We decided to go to Big Top, and the line up was Baden, Lou, Damo, Me, Thanjon and the two Swedish guys (Pontus and Johan). It was a tiring up hill walk to the crag, but the rock looked beautiful. Awesome colour, but the quality was... debatable. Warmed up on a crack climb, free-solo'd an easy pitch and hated the Grade 18 chimney, holy shit. Finished the day on a nice, short 21. We went back to the hostel, rain was coming and going... We decided to go Slackline, and it was so cold! The wind was crazy. I had some roast chicken for lunch, and a meatball sub for second lunch. Had a little to drink at the hostel in front of the fire to wind down after a tiring day! Caught the train back with Damo and chat about life, was good.

Sunday, had a little sleep in (till like 9:30) and headed to Penrith to meet up with Baden and Damo, and we drove to Blaxland Maccas to meet up with Tristan and Thanjon. Headed to The Surgery to boulder, and we all managed to get our V4s ticked! Wooh! :D Had sushi for lunch, been craving it for a while. Had to walk home because parents weren't home, I also forgot my keys so I had to jump/climb the fence. Got some good sun-tanning in, haha. Made sure I slept early because Chew was picking me up from my place Monday morning for climbing at Shipley.

Monday morning, Chew and his mate Anu came by my house at 8:30am and we headed off to Blackheath. We stopped by Mountain High Pies on the way, and had the best breakfast ever. Met Halil at Shipley carpark a bit before 10:30am and we started heading to the 'Sandwiches Wall'. I nearly onsighted 'These People are Sandwiches' but got pumped out at the fourth bolt and took an awesome fall! Also had a go on 'Pallet of Pies' which is a 24, I also think I'll be able to send that soon, when I'm fresh and committed. Halil destroyed all these routes with ease, and a few others that I didn't try. Went on Hot Flyer to end the day, and the slab is so scary. Gah! Bumped into Johan and Pontus there, and there was this super pretty asian girl that was climbing so gracefully. I talked to her a little bit and found out she was 27, holy crap! Aging level: Asian. I thought she looked familiar all day, but didn't ask or say anything. I realised on Tuesday, while going through Vertical Life magazine, that she is Andrea Hah, Australian female climber of the year, and she climbs 32 and V9 or so. Wish I talked to her more, damn! Traffic was pretty bad on the way back, due to the long weekend ending of course. We decided to have dinner at Outback Steakhouse in Penrith, and it was delicious! Told some horrible, mean, death-deserving jokes in the car and during dinner, we are all going to hell. Haha! Got home, and I was so bloody tired, I could hibernate for a whole day.

Tuesday, I woke up around lunch time, ate half a chicken at home then headed to uni to print out some Turnitin stuff, then to Blacktown afterwards to pay Chew back, because I didn't have enough money for dinner, then off to the Climbing Centre! Very popular night it seems, lots of people, but i took it rather easy because I was still sore from climbing the past few days. Paul gave me his external hard-drive which has 78 climbing movies on it, and I was stoked! Thanks so much! :D

Today, Wednesday, I woke up late again, watched a climbing movie, ate lunch, headed to Blacktown to chat with Halil for a bit, then I went to the Orthodontist for my appointment. It was so hot today! I had my first soft serve cone in such a long time, with a Flake too! Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next two weekends because I'm heading down to Point Perpendicular to climb this weekend, and then Nowra for the next. Should be awesomesauce.