Ross Climbing

WA-CD-01

Last Sunday the new start-up Bob Gnarly Developments Pty Ltd opened up a 12 months exploration lease in its new permit WA-CD-01 (Carrot Damnation field), with a preliminary 3D survey. Several lines were set up and explored and a wildcat anchor was drilled.

The prospects are all subject to approval as per published regulation. Following this approval, development drilling can be expected in the near future. The project is expected to enrich the state of Western Australia's climbing and contribute temporary unpaid jobs to several local personalities.

For more information, get involved.

Gareth's Wall

I walk in. A large shaven-headed man covered with tats and a black tee shirt looms behind the cash register. Could this be a robbery?

He-ey, Rosco! 

Hey, Gareth, how is it?

Well, it's a bit of a change, let me tell you!

There is maybe half a wrinkle above the eyebrows revealing a minor concern: what did I let myself in for here? The rest of the face is smiling happy. Yep, Gareth and Tracey have taken over The Hangout. After the stellar management by Raph and Melissa, and then a sucession of absent owners with a run-it-down-to-the-ground philosophy, the "under new management" sign is out again. New but certainly not naive. Both G&T know much as much about the climbing business as anyone.

Even as I am traversing along the base of the climbs, I cannot help but notice the colourful new Gri-gris. The music coming from the speakers is Massive Attack, followed by similar chillout numbers. Somehow, it seems more relaxing now. Sure, if I fall in the wrong spot I may still end up with a mattress spring up my arse, the back left corner is so dingy it is more suitable for caving than climbing and the holds have so much skin grease on them that you could supply a soap factory for weeks. Yet somehow, it all does not seem to matter any more. Where there is a will, there is a way. The future seems bright. 

If yer a CAWA member, for only $7 you can climb all November for as long as you want. More money for cheese!

Last Weekend

It was great to get out climbing on both days. On Saturday I was at Churchmans where I led The Sting, Slash and Burn and Red Giant. I love the gut wrenching topout on Red Giant. On Sunday I was at Blackwall along with Pete, Nostromo and Ishmael.

This weekend I am including Tigervet's proofreading edits into the Perth Guide which is going to the print shop on Monday, yay!

Hangout Part 2

It seems that The Hangout in Bayswater has been purchased by none other but Gareth, the ex-Rockface machine behind the Ultimate Climbing Competitions. Clearly a big man with big ideas needs a big patch of turf of his own.

Could this be the end of dim lighting, zero atmosphere and old spring mattresses? Are we up for a contest between good management at Rockface and fun management at The Hangout? If so, it could well be the one contest where everyone is a winner!

Hangout Sold

Not much is know at this stage but The Hangout climbing gym has just been sold to new owners. According to the staff, large scale upgrading is being planned. Sounds good to me...

The Grand Opening

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of unleashing my new crag Lost World onto the slightly jelaous world (OK, a few others). Kate, Neil, Tigervet and Yours Truly piled into the Xtrail at the ungodly hour of 8 am, donned paper bags and headed out bush with me driving. At the High Wycombe Macdonald's we met Kyles and Ange and headed off. Pistol Pete joined us a couple of hours later, after he finished serving free gruel breakfasts at the Sisters of Mercy Orphanage for Poor Children in Balga.

The approach walk was just 12 minutes and we were there. For once I was not lugging bolting gear and covered in glue, as this was my day to enjoy the vegetables of my labour. The easy slabs were well received, and on the harder climbs Neil whinged only a little bit. Canada toughened him up I recon. Pete got frustrated trying to free the start-aid climb The Gift (20 M0), which clearly is not for midgets, and proceeded to vent his frustration by soloing 5 easy climbs like a man posessed.  He then soloed an unclimbed grade 5 chimney next to one of the routes and demanded it to be recognised as a new route. Fat chance, I recon a hundred marsupials have been up that one before him.

Kate and I roamed the area a bit and discovered a nice rising hand rail crack a bit lower down the valley which I bouldered. That was pretty much it. Back at the Macca's we celebrated with bodybuilding thickshakes. 

Although Lost World has 14 climbs, they are all next to each other (a bit like at Boomer Crag near Pinjarra but 35 min from the Perth CBD) so it only takes 5 hours to knock over all of them. Almost all the climbs have ring bolt loweroffs so there is no faffing around at the top, much to the ants' and ticks' disappointment. Pics here. It will be in the new guidebook, out 1 December.

Oh and by the way, any carrots placed near Lost World will be removed. Do it properly, or go elsewhere.

 

Moan

I hate getting old. It is not the gray hair and wrinkles and the getting fat due to new inability to resist white Lindt Gold chocolate with almonds which is now in every Coles so it is not safe to go shopping any more, no, I could cope with all that. It is also not having to divide my time between work, house, kids, relationship, guidebook AND climbing.....when mostly what I want to do is fondle a chunk of granite in some place far away from you, the rest of the human race, no offence intended to you in particular.

No, it's my frigging back. Once upon a time, my back and me were friends: we trained, ran, cycled, swam, and did lots of cool things together and like with many good relationships, I took it for granted.

Then it had gone bad. Since May 2009 it has been an absolute pain in the ....well, back. It stops me from overhanging climbing, hates twisting, and its last tantrum was two weeks ago when at the Rockface I was topping out a nice 19 lead which was overhanging and twisting and whooopie! Five days later I got out of bed and while bending down to put on socks I got completely floored by a back spasm. Evolution is not a good way to design anything and the spine is far worse than rest of this rig.

What to do? Any ideas? I would love to dedicate my life to Yoga or Pilates but there seems to be a guidebook that needs writing and wait...then there is the rest of my life as outlined above. Mind you when your back goes the rest does not seem to amount to much. So if you have any magic cures I'd like to hear of them. Sure, time cures all....in fact give it about 50 years and I will have no more back troubles. But in the meantime, I have rocks to climb, crags to develop, alpine adventures to have and I really don't need this.

What is going on with the medical profession? We have had heart replacement surgery available decades ago, eye lasers, IVF and whatnot and they still can't replace discs for goodness sake. When I go and see an orthopedic specialist I get this "you must stop climbing, it's bad for you" spiel. Of course he has never climbed and has no idea what he is saying. All I want to do is grab him...... and it is always him, men love giving advice, especially the ones with fancy qualifications....... by the neck, shake him around and say "hey, Dr PhD Postdoc Specialist Smart Arse, I did not come here for lifestyle advice, I came here for you to fix me". But no, the prick smartly looks at MRI scans for 3 seconds, gives no explanation and says "mmm...you should stop climbing". When I politely explain to him what he can do with the well considered advice and those MRI scans he gets all agitated. Then I get charged a few hundred dollars for the experience. Doctors are wankers.

So, one must fix oneself. Any ideas?

The Chronicler of Climberdom

I could say that I sit hunched over in my office cubicle during the day, then go home to another laptop and slave on the Perth guidebook on weeknights; cruise Perth crags on weekends with the camera while jelaously observing those actually climbing. But the cup need not be half empty, one can reframe things. So....

....I have been a chronicler, documenting the climbing history of our place and times. Each word is a precious jewel, layed in a perfectly crafted string that intends to please the viewer. Lately, I have become fond of mapmaking, carrying on the proud tradition of Ptolemy and Mercator, although on a slightly smaller scale perhaps. Also amassed on my hard disk lies a collection of photographs from the greatest talents of our fair city and beyond, all jostling for the coveted cover page position and eternal fame. Soon I shall deploy my vast Photoshop skills upon the lucky candidate. How great to be given this opportunity, to assemble the coveted Perth Guide, praise God/Allah/Jehova, and the kind Committee of elders who have bestowed their confidence upon this unworthy mortal.

...see, the happy pills do work!

Movements

There have been some sales and people movements in the climbing scene. The one everybody knows about would be Gareth leaving Rockface back in June. After the sterling effort he put into the UCC1 and UCC2 climbing competitions and after his previous many years at the place he is sorely missed.

Adventure Out have bought the Urban Ascent climbing gym and taken out a lease on the facility. CAWA is now negotiating with them about discounts for members for gym entry and training courses.

Mike Wood is selling his three Mountain Designs stores back to the franchisor on 1 September, after 18 years as owner of the franchise. Mike has been a tremendous supporter of climbing, having climbed himself and served as CAWA president in the late 90s, and his interests have spanned basically anything going in the outdoor business: from the Bib Track to trekking in the Himalayas. Speaking of which, Mike will now concentrate on his other business, the Peregrine Travel Centre. Good luck.

Rockface Gassed

At 6pm last Sunday I have arrived at the Rockface climbing gym, intent on some bouldering after spending the whole day crawling around quarries and taking pictures for the new guidebook. I was met with staff complaining of headaches and the news that "we are closing an hour early today as we cannot work in  here any more". A thick smell of paint stripper hung in the air. Right next door in the panel beater shop, there was happy spraying going on.....the source of the stench....at 6pm on Sunday! Apparently this is not the first time this happenned. I am sure Worksafe would have something to say about that; as far as I know gassing people was outlawed shortly after WW1.