Sunday, December 15, 2013

Freedom

Freedom at last! Finally about to go out and about and actually do things again! :) Been seriously lazy to write this up, a lot has been happening!

Finished my studies for the year, and no longer working every Sunday at The Climbing Centre! Still have my regular Friday shift at Kathmandu, though; but it pretty much means I have 6 days a week to do what I'd like!

So right at the end of last month on Wednesday, went out to Shipley Upper with Damo, Dave and Jess. It was one of Jess's first time outdoors and despite the fact that Dave has been climbing for years, probably one of his firsts as well. Hah. Jess listened to Dave at the base of Trinity as he taught her things, while me and Damo tried to do some climbs.

I was definitely rusty from not climbing in such a long time and sketched out like a bitch leading Trinity, the 13. Things got better as I tried Pompadour 13, but I wasn't too keen on leading These People are Sandwiches 22. Ended up top roping it, but I got it clean! Next time I'm at Shipley, that's going down for sure.

Quick snap as we walked out. Megalong Valley

On the Saturday immediately after, woke up early to meet all the Sydney L & P Riders at Windsor McDonalds. It was an organised group ride eventually finishing in Bathurst! Had a fun ride down Bell's Line of Road to stop at Bilpin from breakfast, Lithgow for a snack and then Bathurst where we had a few laps around Mount Panorama Circuit, where they hold the Bathurst 1000. Remember a few faces from another time when we all met up for coffee at Starbucks!



The day after, went out to Sublime Point with Paul and Dana. Met up with Paul at Penrith station at 0630, and Dana dropped by Paul's place and we headed up together. Paul had his eyes on a crack that he and Neil spotted when they were climbing The Iliad. We were hoping to put aside roughly 2 hours going for the first ascent, but it turned into an epic, taking us about 3.5 hours!

Had to climb up the first pitch of The Iliad, a few attempts on 'Trojan' which links up into pitch two of The Iliad, and then traverse across and a 40m or so abseil down the anchors of Cynics United. 

Picture taken by Dana. The route is a slightly overhung tips finger crack. You can see part of the 3 sisters on the left.

Afterwards, headed over to the Binary Cave where Paul made me attempt La Nina 22; which I somehow onsighted... It did take a long time, the confidence was not there. Dana then tried going up Birthday Bolts, however she ended up bailing on it. A few pitches of climbing later, we bumped into an American climber named Adam, who had actually contacted Paul, and was eager to climb with us. 

We ended up climbing Sweet Dreams with our packs on, (I have blogged about Sweet Dreams before) I think the post is called... Sweet dreams, hah. I partnered up with Adam; while Paul partnered up with Dana. Ended finishing the multi-pitch as the sun was setting. Picturesque. We headed home right afterwards, and the always so lovely Dana gave me a lift back to my place! :) A great long day, I was in my harness for a solid 11-12 hours.


Tuesday, I rode out to KFC to have lunch with Daniel, who had placement in Mount Druitt hospital. Afterwards he came over to my place and yeah... we played some Team Fortress 2, of course. Went to climb at the gym that night, it was such a quiet night; so I just got some training done, had nothing else to do.


Thursday, we (Paul, Dana, Youngy, Gene, Ro and I) had all planned to go climb some multi-pitch routes out in Pindari. It had been ridiculous hot for the week, and I definitely dressed for the occasion. Anyway, we had gotten up the mountain and it began to rain... heavily. Not just rain, it actually started sleeting and hailing. The wind was mind-numbingly strong. We bailed on the plan to climb in Pindari, and headed down the mountain slightly, to climb at The Underworld; a massive and steep cave. It was mostly rain protected, however the wind howled through. Climbing was difficult from how cold it was. 

I have to thank Dana so much, as she had a very thin midriff hoodie (which looked fabulous on me) and a rain jacket, which we alternated between climbs. None of us could feel our hands properly during the climbs, and Paul fell off Julius Caesar, after doing all the hardest moves; just because he couldn't feel his hands any more.

You can't fathom how cold it was, however the "feels like" temperature was minus 4.6 degrees. The last time I felt that cold was probably doing the whole Valley of the Waters walk with Thanjon, Fletcher and Sid; without proper gear, on a freezing, pouring day.

We walked out in the dark with head torches, and all had dinner at Wentworth Falls Pizzeria! It was unbelievably warm inside and we loved it. Dana, was once again a lovely human and drove me home once we got to Paul's place. A good afternoon/evening of climbing!

The crew, minus me and Ro. Yes, that's toilet paper underneath Youngy's helmet, for warmth.

On Saturday, met up with Paul, Dana and Dasha to go up to Medlow Bath for climbing. We organised to meet up with Taib and Thanjon. We actually got lost on the walk in, which is just slightly confusing. That's the second time that has happened! Also sprained my right ankle fairly badly on the way in, but that was taped up by Dr T-Dog. Was well prepared for the cold on this day, but it ended up being such a nice sunny day, although Medlow is one of the more colder (shadier) crags. Paul and Taib went to the lower section to do some old-school trad classics! Me and Thanjon stayed along the top doing some moderate climbs while Dana and Dasha were doing some easy stuff on The Block. 

Thanjon and I finished up and headed over to Dana and Dasha, where we did a little bit of climbing; but spent the rest of the day just sharing stories and that was really great fun. These two American climbers were trying a 23 nearby, and were having loads of trouble! They thought it was a much easier route, so I volunteered to put up the rest of the draws so they could top rope it. It was easy climbing, to a big dyno off horrible holds. Eventually stuck it, and that felt bloody awesome! Headed down the mountain with Paul and Dana, and yep; Dana got me home, again! :) :)

Koala Dana

Panorama, count the trees.

Next post coming soon! I think...

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