Upskill Climbing

Blue Mountains Pictorial

2012-01-15T14:05:00.000+10:00

After Christmas we packed the car and headed south on a 12 hour journey to one of Australia's finest and best known sport climbing locations, the Blue Mountains.

The Blueies/Blueys/"The Mountains" are a really extensive area an hour or so west of Sydney and are home to well over 2,700 routes on gritty, sometimes chossy sandstone. You can check out the guidebook here.

Some of my fondest memories climbing come from the joys of the humble road trip with friends. I really do think I get just the same amount of excitement from going to a great area somewhere else in Australia as I do from going to a great area overseas. It's the opportunity to go to new cliffs and get on routes I wasn't able to get on the last time I was there.

I had a great week, and we really packed it in, taking only one rest day. In six days I'd managed four 25s, one 26, three 27s (one onsight) and one 28. I also put in some good work on routes I'd like to try again next time.

Cops were on in full force on our New Years' drive down.

Wrong turn on the way to the Freezer. Not good!

Small epics are good for the soul.

Duncan Steel on Ha Ha Wall 25/7b, The Freezer.

The Log Of Death. This thing which sits above a 40m drop has scared climbers for well over a decade.

If you squint you can see me. Up high on Dicky Ticker 26/7b+, Freezer.
Cool wall - quite chossy!

Summer flowers.

In the office.

Sam taking down the Ancient Mariner 19/6a+, Boronia Point.

This was a route I'd always wanted to try.
Don't Believe The Hype 29/8a, Boronia Point.

Don't Believe The Hype 29/8a.
There's a million link-ups and variations on this well-loved piece of wall.

Lovely walk-in to a cliff near Bell.

Where's the clip?

Sam on this cool 22/6c at Bell

Sam at Bell


This action sequence of Erik somehow ended up on 'I Love Climbing' which meant it went onto 157,000+ people's Facebook. That's funny :)

What's going on here?

Duncan tries a MEGA SOUR candy :)
Check them out at the Leura Lolly Shop.

I went back to try 'Don't Believe...' again but didn't quite have the freshness to get it in the bag. One to go back for!

Sam launching out the start flakes of Cowboy Clip 21/6b+, Boronia Point.

My final day of climbing was at the hard-man&woman's cliff of Diamond Falls.

Amanda Cossey showed me how it's done on Fresh Goat's Milk 28/7c+, a popular variation on Hairline 2000

Taking the whip!

Jake Bresnehan on Dogbite 31/8b

Roadtrips are great for recharging the psyche! Okay, time to start training again!

Adam Ondra's training regime

2011-12-18T17:21:00.000+10:00

Here's a collection of training tidbits from the world's best climber.

Adam Ondra's training regime

"I train more or less just by climbing. How simple! I train on couple of small bouldering walls, where I train endurance and bouldering power as well. I rarely climb indoor with rope because there are not good walls enough in the city. The way I train depends on what I am training for. If I am preparing for bouldering, I do just lot of hard boulders. If I train endurance I do laps. I figure out usually 20 move lap and try to climb 3 times. 60 moves are usually more than enough. [See Upskill article on circuits] Good trick how to become stronger is to use ONLY micro footholds for your feet. You work on your power and precise footwork at the same time. I do not train more than 3 days in a row."

Getting good fast

"I would not say I have become better fast. I have been getting stronger more or less the same level a year since I was 8. In my early steps in climbing I climbed just onsights and sometimes 10 routes a day."

What do you do?

"Rock – sport climbing 85%, bouldering 15%.

Plastic – most of the time I train on bouldering walls, but on these bouldering walls I train endurance as well [see above]. I only climb indoor routes around twice a month. In winter, I climb on plastic five days a week, for two to three hours a day. During all other seasons, I usually climb on the rock, even after school and only on plastic for two weeks before the competitions."

Training partners?

"More than half of the time I train alone. If I don't train alone, I love to climb with my sister, when we're bouldering it works quite well, we only have to figure out two different variations on the problems. I also train with Martin Stranik or I sometimes go to train with Tomas Mrazek, who has a really good bouldering wall in his house."

No hangboarding, no campus-boarding?

"Yeah, I train just in winter on small bouldering walls. The only exception when I go climbing indoor is time before European Youth Series and Youth World Championship."

Fitting climbing in with school

"My training has been just climbing two hours on the wall, so still a lot of time remains for me to study something if it is essential. In fact we go climbing abroad more or less just at weekends, so I do not miss school too much. Not enormously more than my classmates. Only on the rare occasions that we go climbing for longer trips. There are usually a few hectic school days after my arrival home from such a trip, but on the other hand - what one would not do for 14 days of climbing..."

Diet and nutrition

"I care about what I eat and try eat in some healthy way and to get enough proteins and vitamins, try to think what would be good dinner for fast recovery and so on, but I do not restrict myself in amount of food. When I am hungry, I eat. I have advantage that I can really a lot and I do not put on weight.

My favourite meal is pasta with various sauces before a climbing day and fish with basmati rice or couscous before a rest day."

What does Adam recommend for other people's training?

"If they start climbing, to climb many easy routes on the rocks onsight to get good technique. It is hard to get technique when you can do 10 one-arm pull-ups. Better to train power later. For [an already] exceptional climber, it is hard to advise. It depends on what you want train. But for sure it is important to have some base."

Adam Ondra on injuries

"I have a curved spine (like all climbers), but as well mine is also curved to one side. Because of it I am training mostly on an exercise ball, specifically some exercises in order to train the muscles around my backbone. Anyway, I have been lucky with some other injuries. Once I fell quite badly under the second bolt, head-first, but fortunately the only result was a lump."

Secrets of success

"Hard to say, success depends on many factors, I think. Firstly, I have big talent for climbing and had the best conditions possible to work on my talent, thanks to my parents. I had possibility to climb outdoors all the time and to improve my technique and efficiency in climbing. Secondly, I became soon totally obsessed by climbing. If you train and climb by your heart and passion, everything goes way easier. What more? I do not know, maybe the way of my climbing (fast, efficient and, if everything is OK, precise)."

Climbkalymnos interviews Lee Cujes

2011-12-08T19:45:00.000+10:00

Climbkalymnos.com, the premier site of all things Kalymnos just published an interview with me.

I talk about some random stuff, as well as the camps we ran in Kalymnos this year and why I reckon the place is so good.

Click this link to check it out.

Ask The Coach #5: Mental Training

2011-11-18T17:29:00.000+10:00

So while I was in Kalymnos running our climbing camps I had ample opportunity to do weakness assessments on a stack of climbers (self included). I kept seeing the same weaknesses popping up again and again, and most of them had nothing to do with our physical selves.

I always say it. Climbing = 80% mental.

So, I thought it was high time to address some mental training. It's an area I'm very interested in, and I reckon all climbers can make good gains simply by paying attention to what's going on upstairs.

Oh yeah, go subscribe to ROCK. It's $31.95 per year.

Kalymnos 2 Week Photo Essay

2011-11-18T09:49:00.000+10:00

Just arrived home in Oz so we're going for a full Joe Kinder/Coletteloc style photo dump from the last two weeks in Kalymnos. Some of these don't even fit on this blog template. You know what? I don't care, it's art.

Enjoy the eye candy.

Lee, Hogo Fogo 7c flash


Kre, Island In The Sun 7a+

Kre, Biloute 7a

Have you been to Olympic Wall? It's awesome, especially when it's cold.

Danny, King Cobra 7c+.
It's not every day I can say I put the gear up for Hayden Kennedy.

Dovi

Fred

Kaly medal

Jorg

The Coaches! Lee and Robbie.

Sam

Sam, Ciao Vecio 6c

Kre, Fouska 7a

The fingers of Robbie Phillips, hand model. .

My biggest effort send of the trip, Sardonique 8a.

Sam, Pterodactyl 6b+

Sam WHIPS!

Danny, Houftasaurus 7b

Me. Time for tape.

Fred, Fossil Wall 6c

Advanced rigging? WTF? .

My hardest send on rainy last day - Punto Caramelo 8a+. Click this to enjoy it more.

Danny celebrates

Matt Nance, Rendez With Platon 8a+/b

Lee, St Saavas 7b+ onsight

Team Oz: Lee, Sam, Danny


Thanks Kaly.

Gotta love the big trips away. Kaly 2011 was one to remember. These trips fuel my psyche for training hard at home, devising interesting local projects to keep motivation high, and working hard for $$$ to fund the next adventure.

Bring on the next one.

Video: Upskill Kaly 2.0

2011-11-02T17:59:00.000+10:00

This video is a memoir of our final Kalymnos climbing camp of 2011. Enjoy!

Kalymnos 2011 - Trip Report 11 (The finale! Odyssey & the SG)

2011-11-01T19:42:00.002+10:00

This is the end my friends. The final trip report from Upskill 2011 Kalymnos climbing camps. This'll be a good-un though, so read on for your last little hit of Kalymnos for the year.

ODYSSEY

A bit of a fave, you've probably gathered by now. Day nine of climbing and there were some tired bodies! But only two days of climbing left, so time to pull out all the stops and give it heaps!

Besides, it had to be Odyssey, as Bo refused to leave the island without Atena 6b+ in her satchel.

We headed up to the left side of the cliff which is home to a whole host of 20m high pitches. Most are tufa-laden, and quite hard, hovering around 7b, although there are a couple of easier routes.

Mythos 6b+ provided a warm up for Owen and Bo, while Andy and Susy found Feta 6c to be exceedingly 'warming' :) I put the gear up on Kulturistika 7b which had caught Andy's eye and Island In The Sun 7a+ which had Owen and Susy's name on it.

Owen ticking off Island in the Sun 7a+. Look at those tufas!

Sam is on climber-watch.

Enough rock for ya?

DAY 9 HIGHLIGHTS

Andy had several solid burns on Kulturistika 7b which ended up going with one fall. Next year!
Andy also went up Island In The Sun 7a+ with a rest and proclaimed it Mega Classic, like everything he got on on this end of the wall. Another 2012 project.
Bo sent her project Atena 6b+!
Susy ticked Feta 6c and came within a metre of sending the powerful Island In The Sun 7a+
Owen went on a spree with sends of Mythos 6b+, Feta 6c, Island In The Sun 7a+, Satyros 6c+, Il Gigante E La Bambina 6c+ and Morfeas 6b+. He actually did 10 pitches of climbing on the day.

Bo is happy. She bagged Atena 6b+ on her second shot of the day. Stoked!
"We can leave the island now Andy ... Andy?"

Bloody knuckles, chalky digits. This is the life we love :)

LIGHTFOOT CHALLENGE

Last year Andy set the challenge. One large margarita pizza from Prego Restaurant. He didn't achieve the send in 2010 and was up for setting the bar this year. All camp he was talking up the training he'd been doing over the past year and how this time, he'd smash it.

What he didn't bank on was having a couple of challengers to the title.

A double thumbs up photo is required to start the challenge.
Facial examination: 100% confidence.

I thought I would up the ante by adding salami to the margarita. This gives a higher degree of difficulty to the challenge.
Facial examination: 60% confidence.

Owen went for broke ordering the Mexican. Extremely high degree of difficulty.
Facial examination: 40% confidence.

And now ... the results!

Valiant effort from the Hustler - two pieces remaining with all crusts gone.
Next year mate?

Done and dusted! Dual 2011 champions.

SECRET GARDEN - the final day!

We loved it so much the first time, we thought it would be an ideal place to finish.

Bo starts up Achinos 6b

Susy crushing tufa blobs on Melodrama 7a

Susy on the final tufa curtain of Melodrama 7a. She flashed it!

Andy blitzes up the start of Ballos 7b+ (we think more like 7b).

Susy going for broke on Bratsera 6c+
Don't downgrade this Aris! Sam will come for you! :)

DAY 10 HIGHLIGHTS

Susy was absolutely torched. But still managed to redpoint Bratsera 6c+ and flash Melodrama 7a
While the number might not look impressive, Owen's onsight of the pitch one slab of The Flood Gates 6c+ was "one of the best onsight fights I've done on Kalymnos". Hell yes it was! I got on after Owen to warm-up and nearly fell in several places. Super technical and hard!
Owen's clean redpoint and Andy's one-hang on Ballos 7b+ (we actually thought 7a+/b because the routes are so squeezed in here)

ROUTE OF THE TRIP!

We always like to find out what our guys thought was the best route they climbed all trip. And here they are:

Bo: Pirates of Kalymnos 6b+, Sector Ghost Kitchen
Andy: Nickel 7a+, Sector Kalydna
Susy: DNA 7a, Sector Grande Grotta
Owen: Ixion 7a, Sector Kalydna

Upskill Kalymnos 2011 Team #2
Thanks guys, you're legends!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Well it's been another amazing season here in Kalymnos and both the camps we've run have been terrific. The great thing about having such a high return rate from our team members is that we get to see their progress from year to year. I can honestly say that the crew climbed better on this trip than I have ever seen them climb before. Love that.

Climbing is an evolution. Rarely do people have a linear progression of non-stop "getting better". We all have other things going on in our life, different amounts of time we can devote to climbing and training, injuries which crop up and hamper us, weird mental blocks, loss of confidence or decreased motivation.

What I have personally learnt is that one of the most valuable things I can do as a coach is help people discover (or more commonly, re-discover) the pure joy which is at the heart of climbing. If you can remember why you loved climbing in the first place and re-connect with that, improvement will take care of itself.

We have the trip video coming soon but in the meantime I want to sincerely thank you all for reading.

Now go have some fun on the wall :)

Kalymnos 2011 - Trip Report 10 (Kalydna, Iannis & Spartacus)

2011-10-28T21:02:00.011+10:00

Day seven of climbing. Perhaps the highlight day so far? I don't know, you be the judge.

We started with a group vote on where we wanted to go for the final four climbing days of the trip. Plans were made, guidebooks were consulted, and dates were made with dogs that had been left behind at various cliffs to date.

KALYDNA

If you were playing along at home you know we went to Kalydna on day two. You'll also know that Owen, Andy and Susy found a friend for life in the 30m Nickel which is a 7a+ pitch which builds and builds to a stunning climax right before the anchors. It was billed as the main event for today. Well, long story short, Owen did it as his warm up (yeah, he does that). Andy, straight up. Susy? Second shot. Thank you very much, let's retire to the gelateria for tasty treats and frappes. No? Okay, more climbing.

Andy starting up Nickel 7a+

Nickel don't know it yet, but Nickel goin' down.

Bo managed to cleanly toprope the tufa blob route of Kaly-Nikhla 6b on day two and was bang up for leading it, which she did, seemingly with no hassles.

Bo dispatching Kaly-Nikhla 6b

Susy on Kaly-Nikhla 6b

Demanding something harder to play on, Owen and Andy led the technical wall route of Ixion 7a and Bo jumped on on lead! It was awesome, fully bouldering out the reachy cruxes, running out, taking whippers. On her second burn she went all the way to the anchors and had done all the moves. Very cool to see, and amazing for someone who was nervous on grade 5s only a week ago.

Bo loving life on Ixion 7a

Scoping out something else to do, I suggested Owen jump on the mega-pitch Aurora 45m 7b. It is monstrously long and starts out easy up a slab and gradually builds in steepness until it tips into overhung country at about the halfway point, and then you have about 20m of overhanging tufas to negotiate to get to the anchors, way up on a huge concave face. The crux is at the top when you're shagged.

"How many draws?"
"Oh I dunno, take 25."

Owen high on Aurora 7b. Telephoto lens, yo.

Owen went great on his first shot, placing lots of extended trad draws and using Susy's 8.9mm rope ("Jezebel The Ranga Rope...a slim sultry redhead that handles well") to cut down on rope drag and weight. He was climbing super well, but missed a key foothold and blitzed off with his elbows above his ears about five metres from the anchors.

He's off! You can see the anchors up there. Bloody close!

It can be a bit soul destroying falling off so high on such a mega onsight attempt. "It's such a big investment going again on a pitch like that!" he said. We were unsure what he'd do, but sure enough he lowered off and left the gear in as we clapped in approval down below. Lowering from the anchors on a 70m rope left him hanging, stranded about 20m off the ground, and this necessitated some handy slab climbing from Susy to get them both to an intermediate station conveniently placed about 10m off the deck, presumably for this very purpose.

The second shot on the monster, I am sad to report ended in a fall from the same place, just shy of the anchors. Oh well, can't win them all. It's the effort that counts, and that was a biiiiig effort. Project for next time OG?

The team was mostly cooked by this stage except for Susy who was keen to head around to Iannis for more...more...MORE!

There are two climbers in this picture.

IANNIS

Iannis is a small sector with about 10 worthy pitches. The one that grabbed Susy's attention was one of the vertical wall routes on the right side of the cave, the near 40m Sens Unique 7a. A technical and absorbing challenge. At one point on the vertical wall, I looked up to see both her feet slip off the holds at the same time. For some reason she didn't fall, reasserted, and kept climbing. She was completely in the zone! Soon came the seemingly inevitable clip of the anchors as the sun hit the wall, and Susy's best ever onsight, a 40m 7a/23/5.11d.

Upon lowering down I went over for obligatory USA-style congratulatory fist bump and got the low down. Out of her chalkbag came her "cliff notes" which were reminders of things to concentrate on which we had unearthed during one of our video analysis sessions (if you haven't watched a vid of yourself climb, do it!). They included a handful of points like...

Visually assess the hold options first - don't feel each one
Make a choice and go - don't hesitate!
Move dynamically and with confidence

Susy said this made a huge difference. Not only did it front-load her brain with the right kind of thoughts, having something technical to focus on actually removed some of the pressure over the possible outcome of the ascent. Hence, a more relaxed, yet focused climbing approach. And a personal best onsight!

We weren't the only ones buzzing.
What? Too much?

SPARTACUS

The ever popular Spartacus hosted our eighth day of climbing.

Andy, Susy and Owen got psyched on the bouldery, pocketed, short wall of Alexis Zorba which was always 7b and has been downgraded in the current guide, like most of the popular routes on the island it seems.

Susy on Alexis Zorba 7a+

Owen came away with the tick (nice!), Susy was too afraid that a fall at one point would end with her fingers remaining forever in a curious finger-locking pocket, and after working out all the moves, Andy ended up lying on a rock with stomach cramps. Bummer!

Gutache.

Susy had her eye on one of the crag classics Kerveros 7a since the first trip. It's a long, tufary (it's a word), pumpy beast which demands respect. She promptly tied on and went straight up the thing! She's on fire.

I racked up for a quick attempt on the short, pockety Magnetus 7c and then noticed that one fixed hanger on the route was no longer a fixed hanger and was now a missing hanger. So just a stud remained. Nuts coming loose and falling off is a problem with the tru-bolt style of bolts used on Kalymnos. It's rare to encounter a route which doesn't have at least one loose nut and hanger and climbers often have to do the nuts up with their fingers as they climb past.

Bolt type: Tru-bolt.
Problem: the nuts come loose over time and the hangers fall off.

Bolt type: 12mm Flushhead Dynabolt.
Why good? No problem with nuts loosening, and easier to replace.

Anyway, because we're Australian, a removable bolt bracket is never far away and thanks to Bo we had a hanger we could use, and she even managed to find the nut on the ground beneath the route. So I managed to hang off a two finger pocket and do the re-assembly.

French crusher of the future Sasha resists my attempts for an autograph.

Bo managed a run up the 35m Le 13eme travail d' Hercules 6b+ before calling it quits and retiring back down the hill with Gutache Andy, so this gave me some time for an attempt on the epic Spartacus Maximus which takes the 25m 7b+ crag namesake Spartacus and stacks on a 20m extension to make a huge 45m pitch at the grade of ... still 7b+? Hmm! It was great having the draws on the whole way and I fought my way through for the redpoint/onsight/flash/whatever-you-want-to-call-it (I'd previously flashed Spartacus years ago but it was my first go on the extension). So I was mighty happy with that. Love the long pitches!

Spartacus 7b+, rockin the new b+n shirt.

Well that's about it for now. Two more climbing days, one final trip report coming your way. Soon my pretties, soon!

Sam and Owen chat on the way down to the gelateria :)

Kalymnos 2011 - Trip Report 9 (Odyssey & Goat's Bitchin')

2011-10-25T19:09:00.003+10:00

Time is ticking by and when you hit day five of climbing and realise there's only five climbing days to go it's panic mode! Ahh, cobras!

ODYSSEY

You guys know all about Odyssey now. You don't need me to tell you that it is the single most varied and diverse crag at Kalymnos and hosts the biggest grade range of any sector (3s to 9s). Could this be why it draws the climbing celebrities?

Recognise this guy? Yep, none other than climbing superstar Iker Pou. Rumour has it that he has been sent here on a secret mission by The North Face to scope out potential for a TNF festival type thing in September 2012. True or not, you heard it here first :)
Edit: Are we on it or what? Festival now announced.

As you can see, we run the biggest, baddest cameras in the business.

The steep, tricky and slippery Mermezeli 6b+ provided more of a warm-up than the crew were bargaining for. NAILS! :)

Bo takes a quick warm up on Eyreclea 5b.

Owen bagged Dionysos 7a

Typical view from the cliff.

The Hustler.

The lovely Tiia who works in the climbing shop was hard at work on Polifemo 7c

You know I'm all about the laziness. How about I just copy in some of the team's achievements from today from theCrag.com?

Susy

7a Dionysos - Trifecta! Morning tickage by Owen and Andy and myself. Superb steep line on big holds. Loved it. ...
6c+ Itaca - Woo-hoo! Having tried this in 2008 and 2010 it just HAD to go this trip. One shot today working it out with Sam, and sent 2nd shot at the end of the day with Owen and Andy as it came into sun. Awesome steepness on pockets and crimps. ...

Andy

7a Dionysos - Great climb! Cleaned up last years proj in 1 shot today :) ...
7b+ Inti Raymi - Two working laps.

Owen

6c+ Itaca - Flash
7a Dionysos - Redpoint
7b+ Inti Raymi - Two working laps.

Bochere

5c+ Laertes
4c Argo
5b Eyriclea
6a+ Poly Retsina No Good - mmm not so sure with this one.. could have been a combination of pumpage ruining my reading skills but not a fan ...
6b+ Atena - FANTASTIC!! i love this route :D ... (off the final hold on the flash attempt!)

Well that copying and reformatting was actually more time consuming than I thought. Probably won't do that again.

Today ended up being a big clean-up day. Projects from last year ticked off with authority. Love that! So that was great, but what was also great was the team getting on hard routes and beginning to work them out and go through the falling and redpointing process which Owen and Andy did on the 30m pumper 7b+ Inti Raymi and Bo did on the 6b+ Atena (which was 3 grades harder than she'd previously led and which she almost flashed!).

Killer day.

GOAT'S BITCHIN (or, GHOST KITCHEN)

I would have to say that this season, Ghost Kitchen has been the single busiest sector on the island in terms of # climbers vs. available routes.

Buoyed by yesterday's success, Bo warmed up by flashing Exotic Ambelli 6a, and then...


Andy: Man, that was hard. Do you want to top rope this Bo? Bo: It looks awesome. I'm leading it Andy. Andy: It's 6b+! Bo: Pull the rope! I'm leading it! Result: 6b+ flash. Previous best lead = 6a. WTF!? :)

Sweet! Love the b+n gear.

I use a bowline, but Sam prefers a figure 8 with Yosemite follow-through. Super neat, more compact than using a stopper knot, and pretty easy to untie.
What do you use?

Andy onsighting Axium 6c+. One of my faves.

Susy and Andy both found Totenhansel 6c+ scary. Polished footers down low and dynamic pops between glassy tufa flows. They both persevered and sent.

Owen is well behaved as long as he has his toys to play with.

Goat's bitchin'

Bo dispatches Zyklop 6a+ first try before her toes say NO MORE!
Ghost Kitchen sector.

Post send review.
"It was like this, so then I did this..."

Some memorable achievements from today included:

Owen's redpoint of the nails Sisyphus Junior 7a+
Bo (who'd previously led 6a) ticking off 6a, 6a+, 6b and 6b+ all first try today! MVP!
Susy overcoming fears to dispatch Totenhansel 6c+
Andy's easy onsight of Axium 6c+ and having fun up high on Totenhansel extension 7a+

These guys are on fire. I can't wait to see what's to come in the second half of the trip!

I got the hook up!

2011-10-23T02:07:00.000+10:00

My awesome clothing sponsor boulders and nuts just flung me a whole stack of climbing clothing from their 2011-2012 range. Check it...

b+n make some of the nicest climbing threads around.

The best way to check out b+ns newest gear is by checking out their online shop here

If you're in Oz we have a selection of their gear on the Upskill Climbing Gear Shop

SCHWAG! Gotta love your sponsors!

Thanks b+n. Love your work!

Kalymnos 2011 - Trip Report 8 (Arhi, SG and the GG)

2011-10-23T01:48:00.001+10:00

ARHI

For our dose of vitamin D on day three we headed to Arhi. The left-side was in the sun at 9:30am when we arrived but temps were low, and the group punched out some long slabs up to 40m (!!) in length which required lowering off in two stages.

I like this one.
Komak 6a+ gets a musical note (i.e. the highest quality rating) in the guide and hence was on Susy's ticklist so we made a beeline to check it out.

Lowering off Komak

Owen runs up Komak. That blue is unphotoshopped. Cracker of a day :)

That right there is a genuine 100% LEGIT Survivor buff, from the Australian season.

SECRET GARDEN

I am from Australia. It was instilled into me at an early age to stay out of the sun. Sun'll kill ya. So after a few hours blitzing up slabs at Arhi we (I) needed to escape and I knew just the place. This crag is relatively new, unfinished (projects remaining), and not in the guidebook yet. It is also in the shade, by the sea, and offers some routes which will be classics in the making. I'm not allowed to tell you where it is, but if you ask around it's not hard to ferret out the required beta.

Susy flashing an absolutely awesome 6c.

Bo on the same route.

Owen employing some freaky cool leg wrap skills.

Now THAT is a rest!

Owen shakes off the pump on a pockety 7a+

Camera 2!

The team wraps up the day at SG.

GRANDE GROTTA

[Jeff Probst's voice]
Previously, on Upskill 2010, Susy G was co-opted by a young Matt Schimke into putting the draws up on DNA 7a for his flash attempt. Since then she's been dreaming of a clean tick. Today was to be that day.

The Grande Grotta! Bo and Andy get acquainted.

Owen on Ivi 7a+: "It was steep, and it kinda hurt!"

Bo flashes Happy Girlfriend 5c+

Andy sent DNA 7a second shot. You can see the steepness.

This was Susy's second shot on DNA.

Somewhere around this time in the day the resident crag goat (everyone has their own name for her but ours is Citronella) decided to go on a tour of the unattended bags at the cliff. This resulted in most of Bo's lunch being eaten. Susy and Andy then tried wrestling the goat, which resulted in bruised forearms from horn flickage. She's got horns and she ain't afraid to use 'em.

Don't feed the goats people.

While I was shooting Andy on DNA, this strong french guy very casually waltzed up the 40m roof Fun De Chichunne 8a.
Here he is entering the route in his 8a scorecard on his phone at one of the rests.

Someone glued a horse on and sprayed it with concrete. Now Andy wrestles it. This is climbing. The route is DNA 7a, and the end is in sight.

This was full on. She was sketching, skipped that clip, and then went inverted. Commitment!
Result: DNA 7a in the bag for the G-Star. TICKAGE!

Keep your body - and face - close Sam! The route is Panakia 6b+, Afternoon sector.
Alternate caption: "Mmm, delicious lichen!"

Highlights from days three and four:

Andy's redpoint of an SG 7a+
DNA 7a tickage from Susy and Andy
Owen ticking off two SG 7a's onsight and redpointing Bitman 7a+
Soft catch (i.e. dynamic belay) training with Bo, with me taking multiple lobs until we got it nailed. And then a role reversal with Bo taking the falls. We spent a lot of day four on mental training, which provided a foundation for...
Bo's five lead climbs on day four, including two 6a's - a personal best. She's making serious headway :) YES!

Kalymnos 2011 - Trip Report 7 (Dolphin Bay & Kalydna)

2011-10-19T20:16:00.001+10:00

You thought we'd wrapped? How wrong you are! Gird your loins dear readers and prepare yourself for another gripping six-part series of Upskillery on the isle of Kalymnos.

Despite imminent Grecian economic collapse, general strikes, aircraft groundings and a run-in with pirates, our first team of Upskill players managed to leave the island and make their way home. This left a void that only a group of boisterous Aussies could fill, so we imported some. Allow me to introduce the new players.

Upskill Kalymnos 2011 Team #2

If you've been playing along at home, you'll remember Taswegian Owen Gervasoni from last year's camp. Nicknamed The Hustler, he'd lull you with stories of injuries and "taking it easy" before onsighting 40m pitches like Trella 7a with no warm up and smashing out personal best redpoints like Amphora 7b.

Susy G-Star Goldner is an Upskill fixture and lifetime platinum member (ask us about our rewards program). This is her third Upskill Kalymnos camp and she's racked up more sends here than the Pothia Post Office.

Another Upskill regular goes by the name of Andy Lightfoot. He's best known in Kalymnos for his efforts last year in waging war against a large margarita pizza at Prego Restaurant. This is now known as the "Lightfoot Challenge". He got to within two slices of success in 2010 and I'm told most of his training efforts in the last 12 months have been directed towards this goal. Rest assured the rematch will screen exclusively here on upskillclimbing.com.

Evening up the boy-girl numbers, and generally lifting the stylishness of the group is the fiery Bochere Rand. After putting up with a year of Andy's Kalymnos stories, Bo decided to sign up to ensure Andy doesn't come home with a bag of stray cats.

DOLPHIN BAY

Talk about quick changes of weather! A week ago it was 30° and on our first day of climbing, a top of 13° was predicted, with strong winds. Perfect weather for a spot of sea-cliff climbing! Dolphin Bay is a great cliff for getting close to nature, where nature is crashing surf and sea spray. It's super atmospheric, and the climbing is on a rock type which is different to most other crags at Kalymnos - a highly featured white marble.

Bo straight up, day 1, on lead, let's do this.

Andy carbo-loading

Marble and climber.

Andy races up Barbouni 6b+

Sam runs a quick lap up Palamida 5c+

What's on the menu Andy?

"This is the first time I've had fun climbing in like, a year!"

Owen opened the account with 10 pitches today!

Wild and wooly.

So - cool things from today:

10 pitches by most of the team
MVP was Bo, no doubt. Early morning jitters. Sit, talk, discuss, re-evaluate. Learn a new process for approaching a redpoint. Techniques for removing the pressure. Channeling nerves away from negative 'fear' and into positive 'excitement'. This climbing is supposed to be fun, right?! Let's make it fun - no pressure. Nerves, banished. Route, conquered. Big progress.

KALYDNA

Kalydna is a big orange face, about 80m high. Imposing and impressive. A great venue for stepping it up on day two.

Andy bagging Extra 6a+ having no trouble with the reachy crux to clip the anchor.

The Huster stepped it up bigtime. Tassir is 7a+ and TECHNICAL. Second shot baby.

Owen redpoints Tassir 7a+. This is only about halfway up the route. It's beasty long!

Andy and Susy enjoyed first shot ascents of Mamy Nova 6c.

Bo doing Extra (and you're reading all about it) 6a+ and somehow having no trouble with the height dependent finale.
"I've never climbed anything like this ... ever!"

Best efforts of today:

Bo doing a stack of metres, including her longest pitch ever, a 30m sustained 6b+ pitch Golden Oriole. And doing the tufa-blob route Kaly-Nihkla 6b without falling.
Lightfoot, G-Star and Hustler having redpoint burns on the epic 32m Nickle 7a+ with its awesome "left or right??" decision crux finale.
Susy-G bagging Mamy Nova 6c onsight with ease.
Sam and I managed to get a couple of climbs in too which we were psyched on: Golden Oriole 6b+ onsight for Sam and the 45m epic Uschanna Extension 7b+ onsight for me. Wicked.
MVP: Owen who hustled out the redpoint of the technical and super long Tassir 7a+. Huge effort mate!

Stay tuned for more action from climbing central, Kalymnos.

Video: Upskill Kalymnos Climbing Camp 2011 #1

2011-10-13T15:28:00.002+10:00

The camp is done and this right here is the video. You gotta have a video. Sit back and enjoy.

Kalymnos 2011 - Trip Report 6 (Spartacus & Panorama)

2011-10-12T20:26:00.001+10:00

The two final climbing days were upon us.

Spartan Wall offered some new slabby warmups up to 35m in length, and Ruth and Dave decided to stay on here while the rest of the crew headed uphill to Spartacus.

Ruth gingerly pads up a huge tongue of rock on Spartan Wall.

Kurt bags Yo-Yo 6a+. A newie on Spartan Wall.

An odd sight at the cliff!

Spartacus hosts a great collection of routes in an orange bowl and our team ate them up. Harakiri 6b+, Tales Of Greek Heroes 6b+ and Les Amazones 6c were all dispatched as well as attempts on Mon Bat... 6c+ and Gladiator 7b.

Me having a quick arvo onsight attempt on Magnetus 7c

Luke rigs a neat way to descend if you drop your belay device.

Something to do while de-pumping - rigging practice!

Luke onsights Tales of Greek Heroes 6b+, Spartacus

There's a lot of photos of Lewis sleeping at the cliff. But then, not many people put in the effort he does on his burns. 100%, every time.

John put this one in the bank. Les Amazones 6c, the third most "recommended" route under 6c+ in the 8a.nu database worldwide.

A different angle on Harakiri 6b+. Luke is onsighting this pumpy beast.

Kurt and I discussing possibilities on Mon Bat 6c+.

Lewis takes flight

Luke's consulting the tome.

Lewis mid-crux on Harakiri 6b+

Kurt also got it done. Les Amazones 6c. Tick tick.

John tops out Harakiri 6b+

The final climbing day rolled around and we woke to storms and rain. A nice excuse for a long breakfast/brunch and extra coffee as we waited to see what the weather would do. Most climbers took the soft option and stayed in the cafe, but hell - it was our last day! Once it looked as though it would hold off a bit we grabbed the gear and headed to the Grande Grotta and Panorama.

The storms had washed a whole lot of mud and rocks down the hill. Not only was the path up to the Grande Grotta washed away and eroded, a couple of local scooter operators had some of their scooters washed down into the ocean! One of the tavernas had a retaining wall collapse and there were road closures due to landslides. An action packed storm!

We managed to tick our way through Carpe Diem 6b+, Panselinos 6b+, Commandant Marcos 6c+/7a, Uncle Bert 6c+ and its extension Steps Ahead 7a+ before it started raining again. Sam, Kurt and John had the good sense to leave before the final route and made it to the bar before the rain hit. Luke and I weren't so lucky and splashed our way home. Adventure!

The pumpy and sustained Panselinos 6b+ was no match for Luke who was climbing well on his final day.

A large pizza at Prego Restaurant is dubbed the "Lightfoot Challenge".
John was up for it.

Beaten! Go back to Australia!

Self portrait on the last night of the camp.

Our motley crew getting ready to depart Kalymnos.
It's been a TERRIFIC two weeks.

So once again we've reached the end of yet another absolutely tip-top climbing camp here on Kalymnos. We had such a diverse group for this camp from guys with less than a year's experience on real rock, to Dave who has been climbing since the 1950s! Of course the great benefit of this is the knowledge sharing that happens. Climbing is all about constant learning and improving. Ultimately, we all learn a lot on these camps and are able to go home fitter, more knowledgeable, and more confident on the rock.

Our camps are open to all climbers. We'd like to hear from you if you think you would like to join us in the future.

Kalymnos 2011 - Trip Report 5 (Ghost Kitchen and Odyssey)

2011-10-07T19:07:00.003+10:00

Ghost Kitchen is a cool sector. If you're climbing around 6c, it's probably the premiere pick of places to climb on the island. The central part of the sector is an orange main wall which is just barely overhanging, which has resulted in the creation of huge tufa curtains and blobs the size of ponies sticking horizontally out from the wall. On either side of the main wall are grey slabs which offer routes from roughly 6a to 7a, if you're into that kind of thing.

When we walked up the hill to the cliff, it was clear that people were into that kind of thing. The routes on the left of the main wall were pretty packed. Thankfully, there's been a stack of new routes put up in the last year or two and there was still 20 routes to choose from.

If only all route markings were as creative.

How's that for a hold? Kurt riding Axium 6c+.

This route used to be 7a+. Kurt had to settle for 6c+. Still, grades are irrelevant -- the route is just awesome!

John (in red) battles the tufa/wall combo crux on the redpoint of Remember Wadi Rum 6c. Later, Luke flashed it.
This is the second most popular 6c in Kalymnos.

Dave's rotator cuff is a bit buggered (although it's improving every day), so he's now a 1-arm climber. It's amazing the routes he's snatching his way up!

Lewis and Serena 6b+ was a match made in filmmaker heaven. You'll have to wait for the trip video to see what I mean.

John and I also took up Dave's 1-arm challenge. How's your footwork?

Ruth on the sharp end on Persephone 6b. I was not able to do this route with one hand.

The drill dust had barely settled on this before Kurt jumped on for a quick repeat, possibly a second ascent. Third route in from the right (there's about 8 new ones going in here).

Once we'd done our hard routes, and as many one-handed slabs as our toes could manage, we piled into the car to go explore Skalia Cave. This is a cool feature of the island where you descend down a series of ladders into a pitch black, enormous ballroom with pretty amazing stalactite, stalagmite and crystalline features.

Skalia Cave features.

Our 8th day of climbing dawned and it was decided Odyssey offered the best mix of grades for our team, plus the opportunity to settle some scores with projects from day three.

Funnily enough, on the walk up to the cliff, there was some dragging feet. Whaaat?? Tired?? After seven full-on days of climbing? :)

Lovely textured rock for Ruth. With a sore toe, she climbed most routes in her approach shoes today. So she has one usable foot and Dave has one usable arm. They were quite the pair today (and probably had the most fun).

Clipping clinic. Five minutes spent practicing the four ways to clip on the ground pays dividends!

View from the cliff.

John finding the rests.

I would call this effort of the day. Lewis ticked Atena 6b+ today on his fourth shot (second day on the route). Another super battle producing his hardest ever lead. This guy has given 100% every single day he's hit the rock. I couldn't ask for more.

Luke took a monster whipper off Calipso when he was too pumped to clip. Very solid burn.

[Insert your humorous caption here]

Luke does battle with Calipso 6c+

"What's in here then?"

I've wanted to do this wacky route for ages, never got around to it. Until today! Stemming all the way to the top and then some surprisingly hard moves up the headwall. It's Carribean Wedding 6c+.

Kurt slabbing it out.

Only two more days to go guys. You can rest on the plane on the way home :)

It's time to pull out all the stops. And here ... we ... go.

World Climbing - Rock Odyssey, by Simon Carter

2011-10-07T00:07:00.001+10:00

2009 was our first foray to the unknown delights of Vietnam and its limestone towers in Ha Long Bay. (You can find our 2009 trip reports and video here). We had a stack of fun and I was particularly impressed by one limestone tower which had just two routes (The Face 7b+ and License to Climb 7b). It was the most impressive and striking tower I'd seen in a bay which has over 2,000 limestone towers. After we left, I kept in the back of my mind the dream of establishing an extension to License to Climb which went all the way to the top of the diamond shaped face.

In November 2010 we took the opportunity to head back to Vietnam to climb, DWS, bolt new routes, and shoot photos with our friends Simon Carter and Monique Forestier (and a host of others). Simon was interested in profiling the climbing in Vietnam in his upcoming book and 2012 calendar, and we were happy to help out and share what we'd discovered about the climbing there.

As soon as I'd told Simon about my plans for an extension on License To Climb, he was psyched. It didn't take long before we were out there, climbing scary sharp trad to get to the top of the formation and suss out my dream line. As I gingerly rapped over the razor sharp limestone edge, I had high hopes. Within roughly 60 seconds, I was bummed out. The rock up high was crap. Flaky, friable crap. Everything that looked like a hold I managed to rip off in my hand. I was never going to get the 50m pitch I was hoping for. As I descended though, metre by metre, the rock quality improved. Suddenly my spirits lifted as I began piecing together a possible series of moves upwards from the existing chains. Upwards... but how far, and to where?

Me, approaching the anchors of the original route. My extension steps right and goes up another 10m or so to finish at a large hole/undercling at the top of the black streak right of me. Above there, the rock really craps out - unfortunately!
© Samantha Cujes 2010

The original 7b finishes at a set of double pockets the size of footballs in the middle of the face. It's an obvious place to stop. My extension however would climb rightwards for two metres, and then immediately begin more difficult climbing upwards on vertical to slightly overhung orange rock which resembles melted candle wax. The climbing itself is at times delicate, relying on very precise footwork, and at other times powerful, with some very wide pinches across tiny, finger-width tufa flows. The route builds to a stunning climax where you must make a traverse rightwards on small holds to snag a monster hole as an undercling, from which you can clip the lower-off. This comes after 32 metres of climbing.

On the day we went back to attempt the first ascent, I was apprehensive, but excited to simply get on and see how my new creation climbed. Speak to most new route developers and you'll see common threads in their motivation. It is a creative pursuit, like art. You are envisaging possibilities, imagining a reality, but the true reality only comes when you climb the route. Sometimes it goes wholly as you expect and other times it could not be more different. But that creative process, from the vision through to execution is what keeps us coming back for more.

On my first try, I linked through the 7b and into the extension. As I made my way higher I was surprised, and thought I might do the route first go. Then I got brutally pumped on the wide pinches, falling three moves shy of the anchor. Noooo! My second attempt felt better and I moved confidently through the extension to once again pump and fall, this time two moves from the anchor. I was now tired. Sun was beating on the tower. Good for Simon, who was shooting photos, not so good for me. Third try and I rested for a long time in the football pockets at the top of the 7b. I knew my best bet to avoid pumping off in the same spot was to climb with a slightly quicker cadence. So I sped up, careful to not introduce any mistakes with the small, sloping footholds. As I began the right traverse to the anchor, I stabbed my right toe on a hold and began to apply force on it only to have it crumble and fall away. I whimpered a curse, and I recall Monique shouting encouragement from below. I twisted my toe on what remained of the smear and felt the rubber bite, rocked my weight across and stabbed a hand into the finishing undercling as my body barndoored rightwards like a gate opening. Thankfully I reeled it back, pulled rope and gratefully clipped the anchors. I'd got my 'License to Climb Harder'. I think it adds a couple of grades to the original, let's say 7c/27.

Climbing on this unique, aesthetic piece of rock is something I'll remember for a long time. And in the event I do forget, someone will be able to show me the cover of Simon Carter's "World Climbing - Rock Odyssey coffee table book. The COVER! Holy crap! How cool is that?!

Cover shot!

Check out Simon's amazing new book (which also contains all the best shots from our 2010 Vietnam foray including some featuring Mrs Upskill) here as well as his World Climbing 2012 Calendar (see here).

Thanks again to SloPony for the logistical support, the bolts, the drill and the love.

Kalymnos 2011 - Trip Report 4 (Grande Grotta and Arhi)

2011-10-04T20:51:00.004+10:00

Hey y'all!

Let's get into the pics. Day five of climbing was in the mighty Grande Grotta and surrounds. This massive cave is the most famous sector on the island.

Kurt's been experimenting with the GoPro capturing footage while climbing. I've often thought of headcam shots as "vomit footage" because the camera is swinging around wildly, but he's captured a few cool short grabs which I will certainly try to get into the trip video.

This is a newish route in the Grande Grotta called Happy Girlfriend. It finishes just a bit above where Kurt is now and at 5c+, gives you a taste of what climbing in the Gee-Gee is all about, without the back scratches and stalactite-spooge stains.

Luke finishing off Happy Girlfriend.

Yep, that's chalk all over that stalactite blob. A helmet wouldn't be much use if this came down on you.

Sharma screaming effort on Monahiki Elia 6a+ = exhaustion. Top job Lewis.

This was the route! Not far from this point, Dave had a foot blow off a polished edge. Small mistake, controlled fall. The problem was one hand refused to let go, and he strained his rotator cuff (shoulder ouchy!). Damn it! Nobody did anything wrong, it was just one of those unfortunate things that can happen in climbing. With four climbing days remaining, Dave remains in good spirits and we have established a new challenge for him: 6a on toprope with one arm only. Good footwork is going to be imperative!

Bye Bye Doc 6c is a tech slab challenge on Afternoon sector. Our team went bloody well on this I thought. Onsights and flashes all round. Here's Luke with the onsight.

With Dave out, Ruth stepped up, dispatching the nemesis route Jana's Kitchen 6b on lead. Her best lead.

Kurt tic tacking through the flash of Bye Bye Doc 6c

This was Ruth's best day yet, and here she is on her pick of 'route of the day', Monahiki Elia 6a+. Cleanly redpointed. Check the foot wrap!

Day highlights:

Lewis flashing Monahiki Elia 6a+, in which the last 15 moves were individual epic battles of their own.
Ruth's headspace. A switch has been flicked! Redpointed Monahiki Elia 6a+ and personal best lead of Jana's Kitchen 6b.
John doing Bye Bye Doc 6c first try while feeling ill
The brothers smacking down the burly tufa climb Taz 6c
Me getting a quick onsight in of the freshly rebolted Beta 7b+
Watching the Townsville lads try to good-naturedly wrestle Citronella the goat, Afternoon sector's default mascot.

Day six we piled into the car and headed to Arhi. This area was the first sector developed on the island and while always popular, is currently seeing somewhat of a renaissance with a stack of new futuristic projects being bolted through the main cave by local guide Simon Montmory.

Spotted!

Lewis testing his shoes. This was a pretty nails 6a+ called Dedalo. Some of the slabs can be crazy technical. This went down second try.

I was lucky with this capture.

I like this shot. Mostly because it is near impossible to photograph this slab without 20 other climbers all over it. This is Luke onsighting Orione 6a.

The new guidebook is great. Well worth getting.

John put in three solid burns on the overhung blobfest that is Kastor 7a. The tick remained elusive, but Luke swept in to pick up the scraps. First 7a, and a great route at that. Thank you very much.

What to do with a few sunny hours in the afternoon? Why, anchor setups, vertical rescue and hauling systems of course! Here, John shows us a very elegant anchor setup. I learnt some handy new tricks too. Always learning and improving.

Seeing what NOT to do and the failure modes is always interesting. Demoing how a munter hitch can undo the bezel of a screwgate and fail.

It's not sport climbing, but skills are skills! The bigger your bag of tricks, the more chance you're going to be able to get out of that sticky situation.

Yeah. This is how we do it. I am trying to negotiate to get the PLAZA in the pool swapped for UPSKILL.

Day highlights:

Lewis fighting his way to the top of Kalymnos' most popular 6b, Thetis. It's a mega stemfest against one of the biggest tufas you'll ever see.
John picking Kastor 7a as his project and giving it such great shots
Luke's redpoint of Kastor (a personal best)
Kurt's near onsight of the technical gritstone-like route Mofeta 6c+, and follow up redpoint (a personal best as well)
The team dragging all our packs, me and a couch along the PLAZA patio using a 5:1 hauling system

Kalymnos 2011 - Trip Report 3 (Odyssey and Symplegades)

2011-10-01T20:23:00.001+10:00

Alright. After the team's first couple of days a rest day was in order. So we piled into the Upskill limousine and began our Kalymnos mega tour. The main port town Pothia, the impressive church and monastery of Saint Savaas, and the scenic township of Vathy were all ticked. In order to work up an appetite, we decided some swimming, snorkeling and cliff jumping was in order...

The water was just as good as it looks here.
I've got a mighty spring going in this photo.

At our restaurant at Vathy which is an Upskill fave, we had the typical scenario where food would come out and he would say "You didn't order this, but I thought I would give it to you anyway". Just crazy amounts of good food. My rustic, authentic dolmades were a standout. Yum. We have to make sure we do heaps of climbing to avoid getting massive.

As we sat trying to digest, we were informed that we and the other restaurant patrons would be going on a free boat ride. Hmm.

"And how much will this boat ride cost us?"
"It's free!"
"Yes, but what will I pay?"
"Nothing!"
"I see ... ... How much is it?"

Well this all sounded rather dubious. Would we end up in Turkey, sold as slaves? Or wake up in a bath of ice with a kidney missing? Nobody knew, but you don't look a gift boat ride in the mouth. Or something. So we piled onto the fishing boat and away we went around the east coast of Kalymnos. Just when I thought I would record some farewell messages for family on the video camera, our skipper turned the boat around and we made our way back, marveling at the goats on the near vertical cliffs which drop away into the ocean. Crazy goats.

When we re-entered the fjord of Vathy we spotted the deep water solo cave and I pointed and made climbing gestures to the captain. He seemed amused and pulled in. I dived in and within a minute was barefooting up the most obvious line in the cave which I found out later was Sharkbait 7b. When I reached my height-comfort level, I dropped off and came back to watch Lewis, who had decided to walk to the top of the cave for a mighty drop.

Lewis takes an express descent.

So we were all happy to make it back with our organs intact, and nice and refreshed ready for climbing the next day.

The classic sector of Odyssey was the plan where the team could test their mettle on some routes that kick back to overhanging and where they would be battling the pump. Writing is hard, let's let the pictures tell the story.

The anchors of the great route Atena 6b+.
Clean leads today by John, Kurt, Luke.

Checking out some warm-ups.

Luke casually flashing Atena 6b+. His project for the day was Calipso 6c+.

Kurt hadn't fallen off anything prior to this on the trip, so we had to push him a bit.
Dionysos 7a was a nice, steep route to clock up some airtime.

Kurt - Dionysos 7a. He and John shared beta and swapped burns on this bad boy.

Lewis redpointed the tricky Femio 6a+ which is harder than its grade might suggest.

John chalking up and having a shake before ticking off Atena 6b+

Dave enjoying the technicality of Circe 6b. It's hard down low, then delicate!

Dave's tried this in 2008, 2010 and now in 2011. It'll go! The route is Itaca 6c+.

Kurt - Dionysos 7a

We keep Townsville crusher Steve Ioannou on hand for getting
draws back at the end of the day. Here he's onsighting Dionysos 7a.

The next day saw us up in the canyon of Symplegades Rocks. It's a great place to go on a hot day because it funnels the wind. On day of Beaufort 7 wind however, it's a great place to get blown over and lose chalk balls horozontally out of chalkbags! It was wild and exposed!

Luke warming up on Drama 6a+.

Hi Sam!

Luke climbing in a rock garden.

Kurt flashing Drama 6a+

The crag is great because you can choose either sun or shade.
John has chosen sun, and a face-smear on the "interesting" Skorpios 6a

John, Skorpios 6a

Spot the climber.
John, Skorpios 6a

This is a new route for the sector this year. It goes up the arete of the cave.
Lewis enjoying the lounge on Neanderthal 6a+/b. The route has a hard start and
Lewis did well to persist with multiple tries until cranking through to glory.

When whippers are on the agenda, it's high time to switch to a bowline.

The team watch Kurt battling with the technical Ermix 7a

Highlights of the day...

Dave's onsight attempt of the massive 45m Rabat 6c. 22 quickdraws, massive rope drag, communication impossible with the wind. Almost mountaineering, surely!
Lewis' tenacity on the start of Neanderthal 6a+/b, walking away with the tick
Excellent soft catches given all round.
The focus on body position and stable clipping positions
Ruth's mileage on the epic 30m K.V.R 6b and Drama 6a+
Luke getting within a metre of onsighting the tough Bubuki 6b+
Kurt and John's strong efforts on Ermix 7a ("Stop falling on my rope would ya!")
The fact we didn't lose any team members in the hurricane. Winning.

Kalymnos 2011 - Trip Report 2 (Kasteli and Poets)

2011-09-29T02:30:00.003+10:00

First things first, come meet our team.

Team Upskill 2011

On this climbing camp we are blessed with a diverse group with a wide range of ages and experience. From Luke and Kurt, for whom Kalymnos is their first true taste of climbing outside the gym, to Dave Reeve who has been climbing since the 1950s when it was all about swami belts, hemp rope and hip belays!

Day one was all about getting familiar with limestone climbing. Though the weather was hot, we knew where to head. The picturesque crag of Kasteli was our location of choice for a breezy seaside setting where we could rack up some volume, and rack up we did. By the end of the day the team had smashed out 10 pitches of climbing. Not bad with lingering jetlag! Kasteli also offers some great history, being the site of a Byzantine fortress which was occupied until the 10th century. There's still ancient walls and fortifications on top and around the walls we now climb on for fun. 1000 years ago they used the same walls as a defense against Arab raids!

We even got into some dynamic belaying practice with me acting as the crash test dummy. Here's a few shots from the day...

Early morning walk-in

Where's that route go Dave?

Fresh from the gym, Kurt is KEEN AS! Straight on the sharp end, onsight city.

Kurt eating up Piccolo Diavolo 6a+ onsight

Lifeguard, infantryman, stand up comic, vagabond. Lewis is a man of contrasts.

Quick feeds are vital. John is like lightning on the catch.

John racking up more volume and loving the backdrop.

Kurt sinking fingertips into diddy little crimps on Tsarouhios 5c+. Another onsight.

Kurt's loving his super sticky Boldrini Apache 5's. The Full Contact Sole on this model
allows you to roll upwards on tiny holds without losing your edge. See here for more info.

Luke getting ready for another lead

Ruth leading up Gikas

Sam keeps an eye on the rampaging team

Lewis testing his crimping and footwork on the "demanding wall" of Tsarouhis

Verdict of the day? Tons of climbing, onsights, some falls, soft catches, seal sighting. Stoked.

The morning of day two found some bleary eyes and sore muscles at our breakfast buffet. We were keen to build on the previous day and there was one crag which was an obvious contender - Poets. The roof-capped slab and wall of Poets sits above Masouri village and promises the climber longer and more demanding wall routes, with the promise of some tufa flows thrown in the mix.

The walk up was a bit slower than usual, but by the time the crew got there, they were psyched. Quando Tramonta il Sol 6a, Dryads 6b, Mustass 5c+, Styx 6a+, Sapfo 6a+, Ibria 6b+ and the mighty O Brothers 6b+ were the routes of choice. Highlights included Kurt's unhesitating onsight of O Brothers and Ibria, John and Luke's flash of O Brothers and Dave's run up same (he'd done it on last year's camp but said it felt easier this time with better technique), Ruth's clean ascent of Sapfo and Lewis' flash of Dryads.

Dynamic belays today were held on the nails hard slab of Omero 6c+/7a which I attempted to climb in trail shoes. This ensured plenty of whippers. Our team now has dynamic catches DOWN!

Ruth blitzing up Styx 6a+ as part of her warm up

John killing it on the crux of Dryads 6b - broccoli galore!

Luke grabbing the shallow dish on the start of O Brothers 6b+

Tricky footwork helps John through O Brothers 6b+

Fitting. The brothers both sent the classic O Brothers 6b+ first shot.
Hardest lead climb to date. Big things are coming.

The day wrapped with gelati, a timelapse of which you can see on Facebook (Like us for pic updates).

Stay tuned, we're just getting started.

Kalymnos 2011 - Trip Report 1 (Orientation)

2011-09-26T01:59:00.003+10:00

Our team flew in this morning for the first of two Upskill Climbing Camps here in Kalymnos, Greece. Kalymnos is simply the best location on the planet to coach a varied group of keen sportclimbers. This is our fourth camp to date and we love introducing people to the classics here.

Here's a quick intro video from day one.

WE'RE GOIN' BACK TO KALY!

Evel Knievel

2011-09-10T23:11:00.002+10:00

Only a few days to go until Kalymnos 2011, so time to get some training in on something steep. Frey Yule's route Evel Knievel 29/8a at Coolum was a likely target. It starts up Evil Wears No Pants 30/8a+ with a burly, 70 degree overhung, 11 move boulder to a good kneebar before cutting a traverse directly left for several bodylengths and then a transition back to "up" climbing to finish up the last three or so bolts of the route Ground Control.

I'd been on the route in March this year while conditions were too warm for other crags. At that time I had to re-learn the Evil section which felt hard. The Evel Knievel section actually felt pretty okay. This lulled me into a false sense that the route would be a quick tick, to be squeezed in amongst other routes or when I was struggling to find something to do. Not to be.

In April I turned up to the crag ready to send, only to find my quickdraws (which I had left on the top half of the route) had been stolen. This completely ruined my psyche for the day, and I didn't return to the crag for three months. When I came back I got stuck into bolting and doing some FAs and I'd almost forgotten that Evel Knievel was still patiently waiting for a third ascent.

Today I decided that I would approach it differently. Seriously, and with respect. I spent my first burn re-learning and refining beta on the second half of the route only. On my next burn (first redpoint attempt of the day) I went through the Evil start, through the traverse only to have the tank go from three quarters full to empty in two moves. WTF? Moves that felt easy bolt to bolt suddenly felt impossible on link. So I ditched some toehook beta I had previously refined in favour of a strange heel-toe which felt super solid with the awesome heel of the Boldrini's, and on my next burn I made it through. Hanging on the jugs above the hard climbing I began to lose it. My vision was flicking between black and white and I felt like I was going to pass out. Erik told me later I'd done the entire section of climbing up to that point without breathing. Not ideal.

Anyway I managed to claw up and get a kneebar, rest a bit, breathe a bit, and finish it off.

Odd route, but worthy climbing! And good abs training for the steepness of the Grande Grotta. Coming soon to an Upskill blog near you :)

A way to burn heaps too much energy. Good for training.

The end of the traverse section where it's time to get to grips with things.

Sinking the subtle heel-toe lock which for me was pretty key.

Cruxing.

All done. I am pumped.

Tribute to a cool hold

2011-08-21T23:08:00.001+10:00

You know when you see a particular rock feature and you just really want to climb it? Well, with this hold at Mt Coolum it was love at first sight. I knew I wanted to hang off it. And I can tell you, it is just as good, and fun, as it looks.

Welcome to The David Lee Roth (25/7b). Or the Wrath Of David Lee?

And 25. Who doesn't like a good 25?

To hang off this cool hold, climb up The David Low Way (if you dare) and then climb up out. And if you're feeling stumped by the first crux, well, might as well jump.

Did you know David Lee Roth was a climber?
If you're under 30 do you actually know who he is?

Red Tag Scumbags

2011-08-01T08:47:00.006+10:00

My friend Will Monks decided to move from Victoria to Queensland. He moved his family up, got a house, got settled, bolted a great project on Mt Coolum, and then decided to immediately relocate to the Blue Mountains. Nobody knows why. I suspect it may have to do with the hygiene habits of his Queenslander climbing partners.

At the Coolum Sendfest, I peered across and saw the red tag was still on, swaying in the breeze mockingly. I emailed Will asking his intentions with the project. Would he come back and finish it, or would he open it for all comers to try?

In answer, and to make it fair for everyone, he posted an "Open For Business" announcement on qurank, the Queensland Climbing Forum. The race was on. We drove the 1hr 45min the very next morning and I raced up the hill expecting a queue. A first ascent going begging! Surely the hoards would be swarming all over it?

I needn't have worried. We were the first at the cliff and on the second try after some chalking and brushing, I sent the new route at the modest grade of 26/7b+. It has some of the wildest holds of any route, anywhere - just see the photo below.

Will did all the hard work, he has naming rights.

Thanks Will, you're a gentleman.

jjborienclimbing has the full story and all the pics here

Will has named the route Nuts In High Places

Tee: CLIMB T-shirt by boulders+nuts
Shorts: Thailand Billabong knock-off's
Left leg: New, Hybrid Kneebar Pad by Upskill Climbing
Right leg: Upskill Undersock and Friction Kneebar Pad
Harness: BD Chaos
Shoes: Andrea Boldrini Talisman Lace

Video Trailer: The Don

2011-07-28T18:08:00.000+10:00

Film coming soon of Duncan Steel's five year quest to establish the hardest route he possibly can. Here's the trailer :)

This is just a bit of fun, don't take it too seriously :)

Climbing training tips based on YOUR level

2011-07-19T13:04:00.000+10:00

Climbing is an incredibly complex sport. It's not like throwing a javelin. There are so many different factors that come into play and require training.

Also, it's worth remembering that what one climber sees as improvement (or success) doesn't necessarily equal improvement for another. Someone might aspire towards pure gymnastic difficulty (grades) while someone else might value variety, or volume, or style, or the social aspect of climbing or just having fun. Usually it's a combination. In the case of our coaching here at Upskill, we measure performance by the grade and volume of routes cleanly climbed on lead.

Lean, keen learning machine
(Up to grade 18 / 6a / 5.10a)

At this stage of your climbing, you are still developing your repertoire of all the different climbing movement engrams (movement patterns in your brain). So it's vital you get out on rock as often as possible, on as many different rock types as possible so you are exposed to lots of different types of movement.

Because you are new to climbing, you don't really need to do any significant training beyond getting out on rock regularly. If you're a bit overweight or unfit, by all means engage in swimming, jogging, riding or other aerobic activity to increase your general fitness and shed any unwanted weight. Aggressive training such as campussing or hangboarding should be avoided, because it takes several years for the tendons and other connective structures to build the strength required to support your rapidly strengthening finger and forearm muscles that develop from climbing. Ensure any training you do is progressive (i.e. builds up gradually). A drunken chin-up contest might be just the thing to blow out your elbows.

Often climbers at this level go out and do two or three routes in a session. The single best thing you can do is aim to increase the number of routes you do in a session. Be the person who always says "Just one more climb!"

Steve Ioannou enjoying Mother Butterfly 5.10a, Butterfly Valley, Cat Ba Island, Vietnam.

Not a beginner, not a pro
(From grade 18 / 6a / 5.10a up to grade 22 / 6c / 5.11a)

This makes up the majority of non-Spanish climbers :) The most common grade climbed by climbers worldwide is 6a. At lot of people never break out of this bracket their entire climbing career.

This is the land of the plateau. And to break out of a plateau, the recipe is to stop doing the same thing every week! That is, increase your training load. You do this by increasing the intensity or volume of moves per session, or decreasing the rest between tries.

I also find that climbers in this bracket are often comfort zone climbers, in that they rarely venture beyond the climbing where they feel completely in control and are comfortable. Unfortunately, this is a recipe for digging yourself into a happy rut. I'm guessing you also don't take falls regularly either. Now might be time to read up on my Fear of Falling article and aim to conquer this.

If you would like to improve and push beyond this bracket, the following diagram suggests how you should be directing your climbing. Basically, it shows that you should be spending more time on harder routes! Simple eh?

Apportioning your climbing time to maximise improvement opportunities

Alexandre Lemieux enjoying the sun on an unnamed 6c on El Delfin, Rodellar, Spain.

Now we're getting serious
(From grade 23 / 7a / 5.11d up to grade 26 / 7b+ / 5.12c)

If you're at this level, you're already training. You're excited to be breaking into what is considered truly hard climbing by most. The routes that are open to you now are some of the best and most enjoyable in the world.

It takes most climbers years to move through this bracket of grades. Take the time to build your base. Tick off two to four 7a's before moving on to attempt your first 7a+, and so on. Constantly backfill your grades. By the time you attempt your first 7b, you should have four to eight 7a's under your belt. Build a solid foundation on which to progress. This is what we call building a pyramid (read this article).

Often, the issue here that you are an advanced climber stuck with the self-confidence of a intermediate climber. It's here where climbers often stay well within their comfort zone, ticking off multiple laps on 7b's, without the gumption to back themselves and have a serious go at some 7c's. Be process focused; realise that it may take some time to work through a hard project and enjoy the process (rather than being overly focused on the outcome). You'll gain a lot from it, not just physically but also psychologically.

Suzie Christensen flashing the superb License To Climb 7b, The Face, Ha Long Bay, Vietnam.

Tendons of steel
(27 / 7c / 5.12d and up)

So you're already an advanced climber. If you're Australian, you're in the top 10% of Aussie climbers, but this is where progress can become difficult. The biggest mistake at this level is that we tend to fall into the habit of working our strengths, particularly in training. We "got good" training at this particular wall, so that's where we stay. We cottoned on to doing circuits and and it really helped, so we keep doing them. You can see the issue here, the body simply adapts to the training load and improvement grinds to a halt.

So mix it up. If you're an endurance specialist, do a month of bouldering. If you are projecting sport routes, go and do some moderate trad for a few weekends. You'll be surprised what this will do for your climbing, and your motivation and psyche.

The other issue at this level is that we know we have to increase training load but we're already doing what seems to be a lot of training, and so we are risking possible injury by overdoing it. This is where you want to train smarter rather than harder. Continually tweak your training variables to ensure very good quality of training rather than large amounts of dubious quality thrashing. Read up on periodization and perhaps try to design yourself a program.

Continually assess and address your weaknesses. Determine why you fall every time. Be brutal with your self assessments. Ask your belayer and training partners for feedback on your movement. Understand that your performance is always in a state of flux and that this is natural. Listen to your body. When it feels right, go for it. If you're feeling average, scale things back to allow for recovery.

Ethan Pringle firing the first ascent of China's hardest route, Spicy Noodle 5.14d

Hopefully this article has given you some renewed focus for your training. Compared to other popular sports (e.g. track and field, swimming, soccer etc.), climbing training has a long way to go and there are still lots of opportunities for experimentation to see what works for you. Have fun with it!

Ask The Coach #4: To consolidate, or grade-hunt?

2011-07-12T14:22:00.000+10:00

The latest issue of my Ask The Coach column is now out in ROCK Magazine Winter 2011. Grab a copy, it's worth it for the cover alone. A brilliant Simon Carter image of Lee Cossey on one of the best looking new routes Australia's seen in a decade (Sneaky Snake 33/8c, Taipan Wall, Grampians, Australia).

As for my article, well, it delves into that age old debate about whether it's best to quest after the next grade at all costs, or consolidate a base at each grade before moving up the ladder. We take a special look at Adam Ondra and riff about specialists vs generalists in climbing.

As always, I'm looking for training-related questions to answer in future installments, so please email them through (upskillclimbing AT gmail.com). The next question chosen for publishing wins a copy of the upcoming Australian climbing flick Smitten on DVD. I don't get many questions, so if you ask a good question you're in with a big chance.

While we're at it, why not bite the bullet and subscribe to ROCK? For the price of a low-end quickdraw (in Australia anyway!), four issues will just show up in your mailbox. What a nice surprise.

Ask The Coach #4. Click to enlarge like Adam's hair.

45 degree climbing holds - Upskill/ICP collaboration

2011-06-24T09:37:00.001+10:00

I recently expanded my home climbing wall, adding a big 45 degree wall. It was the one key angle I had been missing. When I went through my hold collection to see which holds were most suitable for going on the 45 I discovered a bit of a pattern. Holds were either too big and juggy and I could campus on them. Or they were too small or slopey to do anything other than bump off or compress with because they were actually designed for less steep walls. And pinches. God, it seemed like everything I put on the 45 turned into a pinch. I have 500+ holds to choose from on my woody, and yet I struggled to find small, powerful edges that would work correctly on the 45 (edges which worked on my 30 and 40 degree walls often weren't good enough for the 45). So I started shaping some holds out of wood and they are great, if a tad unrefined :)

I was then approached by Rob from Indoor Climbing Productions (a very cool, local climbing hold company) who suggested I have a try at shaping up some holds using molding clay. That was quite a learning process! I knew what I wanted, but sculpting it in clay was something else entirely. Anyway, after some trial and error I shaped my first set, and Rob set about taking my initial designs and crafting the holds. I am stoked with the result. The holds climb fantastically. Some of them are little flat one-pad edges (great for powerful, long movements) and others are fiendish half pads which really require some power. Have a look at the pics:

Holds shaped in clay

The finished set!!

One pad

One pad, a micro jug

My favourite hold. You can use it on every orientation. Half pad.

Very powerful half pad hold. Love this one.

Little dogbone, less incut but bigger active surface.

So if you have a steep home climbing wall and are keen to check these out, you can pop over to Upskill Climbing Gear and grab a set. Make sure you give me some feedback too. I will be keen to shape and design some more goodies over the coming months.

Upskill/ICP 45deg Edge Set (S)

~~$40.00~~ $34.95

Add To Cart

Video: Tom O'Halloran repeats The Singularity 32/8b+

2011-06-22T15:41:00.000+10:00

While yesterday may have seemed like any other ordinary Tuesday, it wasn't. It was a special day. It was the day Tom O'Halloran snagged the first repeat of my 2009 route, The Singularity. This route at my local crag took me 18 days and 67 attempts and I really poured my life into it for several months. It certainly has special meaning for me and is still the hardest route I have ever done.

The route suited Tom perfectly given his strength in crimpy bouldering. The video doesn't really do justice to how terrible the holds are through the crux. Tom fired the route off on his sixth day of attempts and 17th try overall but on the send, it didn't even look like he was trying. It was satisfying to be the one holding the rope for the send, and a fluke to have remembered to set the camera up on a tripod to capture the genuine send footage.

Given he's onsighted 30's/8a+'s and now climbed 32/8b+ without apparent difficulty, I know he's just getting started. Big things are on the horizon. Have fun in Rocklands Tom, and enjoy the video.

Cold weather climbing

2011-06-12T17:15:00.001+10:00

Winter is upon us. But we're from Queensland, Australia's home of hot weather. This leads to two things:

Numb fingers
Bad fashion

We ain't used to this.

Beanie stolen from small infant.

Mrs Upskill adds a splash of colour to the crag, and puts up a first ascent to boot.

Heat packs. Ammo for six shots on the project.

"How do you plead?"
"Your Honor, we plead ... insanity."

Locate me under that mound of clothing.

Michelin man O'Halloran


Body fell, fingers remained frozen to the rock.

Climbing in the cold. I don't know how Dave MacLeod does it. If you have cold weather climbing tips, leave a comment. God knows we could use them.

Cold Weather Climbing Tips

Well, we might as well compile the little we have learned about climbing on cold rock. Try these tips to get feeling back in your ... tips.

#1 The run around
Before climbing, run around, walk up and down a hill, anything to get your heart rate up. This does seem to be the single most effective way to keep fingers warm enough for a decent go on icy cold rock.

#2 The heat packs
These are little gel packs (see pic above) which you crack and a chemical reaction happens and warms up the pack instantly. A decent level of heat lasts about 20 minutes. You can put them in your chalk bag for long pitches. You could also try a stove, but not in your chalk bag. I'm also not a big fan of people lighting fires at crags, or in chalk bags.

#3 The hot bottle trick - contributed by Owen
Buy a high quality plastic drink bottle. Buy an insulated sleeve that fits. Fill the drink bottle with the boiling hot beverage of your choice. Stick it inside your down jacket. It will sit on your stomach and your hands are right on it when it's in your pocket. It will pump out dry heat for at least an hour, then you can drink the still warm beverage, then recharge from a thermos. Leave it in your downie on the ground when you're climbing.

Beth on Meltdown.
Photo by Corey Rich — Aurora Photos

#4 The pre-freeze

I heard about this when Beth Rodden was trying her hard trad route Meltdown in Yosemite. She would pre-freeze her hands in snow or the icy stream until they went numb, then rapidly warm them in Tommy Caldwell's armpits. Presumably what this does is a Lewis-reaction type way of rapidly getting hot blood into the hands and fingers, enough for a good shot on your route. Good luck finding Tommy when you need him though.

#5 The 'burn a shot, have a shot' technique

I fell into this method while trying my hardest routes in winter. It is probably more applicable to short climbs than monster endurance pitches, but see how you go. Anyway, all you do is blast up your route until your fingers freeze and you fall off. Lower to the ground, put on your gloves and warm gear and de-pump for about 10 minutes. At this point you are super warm from the effort of climbing, and with any luck, not brutally pumped. So you're now ready to have a proper shot. If you haven't rested too long your fingers will be warm all the way.

Ueli Steck Climbing Training Plan

2011-06-10T21:56:00.000+10:00

Climbing just published a story taking a look at the fitness of alpinist Ueli Steck. As far as climbers go, it would be difficult to imagine someone with greater fitness than Ueli. I mean this is the guy who literally sprinted up the Eiger in 2 hours, 47 minutes in 2008. Only a year earlier, the Swiss Federal Institute of Sports Magglingen judged Steck 'out of shape'. In his quest for setting the fast speed record he could, what followed was a year of the most scientific and rigorous training Steck could devise supported by a slew of sports scientists and training specialists.

Here is just a selection of his training plan.

Get psyched!

FOCUS: ALPINE ENDURANCE (PRE-EIGER RECORD)

MONDAY  
1 hour running–Intensity 2 / 1 hour stretching / 1 hour stabilization (core) training / slideshow
TUESDAY  
2 hours running–Intensity 2 / 1 hour stretching / 1 hour mental training / slideshow
WEDNESDAY
 4 hours climbing in the gym / 2 hours running–Intensity 1 / 1/2 hour stretching / slideshow
THURSDAY
 4 hours climbing in the gym / 1 hour stretching / 1 hour mental training / slideshow
FRIDAY
 1.5 hours running–Intensity 1 / 1 hour stretching / 1 hour mental training / slideshow
SATURDAY  
3.5 hours running–Intensity 4 / 1 hour stretching / slideshow
SUNDAY (REST DAY)
 Climbing with my wife 4 hours / 1 hour stretching

FOCUS: YOSEMITE CLIMBING (2010, WEEK 17)

MONDAY  
Run: 12 kilometers/1,000 meters gain–Intensity 2
TUESDAY
 Climbing outdoors: 3 pitches of 5.13d, 2 of 5.13a, 1 of 5.11d / 1 hour weight training / 1 hour stretching
WEDNESDAY
 Climbing outdoors: 4 pitches of 5.14a, 2 of 5.13a / Run: easy 12 kilometers/800 meters gain–Intensity 1
THURSDAY  
Run: Eiger Lauper Route, running and climbing from Grindelwald, 20 kilometers/3,075 meters gain–Intensity 3
FRIDAY (REST DAY)
SATURDAY  
Climbing in the gym: 4 pitches of 5.13b, 3 of 5.12d, 5 of 5.12b, 6 of 5.11d / 1 hour weight training / 1 hour stretching
SUNDAY
 Run: 18 kilometers/1,700 meters gain–Intensity 2

FOCUS: GENERAL ENDURANCE (2010, WEEK 33)

MONDAY (REST DAY)
TUESDAY  
3-run series, total 27 kilometers/ 5,100 meters gain–Intensity 3 / 1 hour stretching
WEDNESDAY
 Climbing gym: 3 pitches of 5.13b, 4 of 5.13a, 6 of 5.12c, 4 of 5.11d / 1 hour stretching
THURSDAY
 Climbing gym: 3 pitches 5.13b, 5 of 5.13a, 6 of 5.12b, 6 of 5.11d / 1 hour stretching
FRIDAY
 3-run series, total 27 kilometers/ 5,100 meters gain–Intensity 3 / 1 hour stretching / 1 hour mental training
SATURDAY
 Climbing outdoors: 2 pitches 5.13d, 1 of 5.12c, 3 of 5.11d
SUNDAY (REST DAY)
 Drive to Dolomites

FOCUS: HIMALAYA (2011, WEEK 2)

MONDAY
 1 hour running–Intensity 2 / 1 hour stretching / 1 hour stabilization training / slideshow
TUESDAY
 2 hours running—Intensity 2 / 1 hour stretching / 1 hour mental training / slideshow
WEDNESDAY
 4 hours climbing in the gym / 2 hours running–Intensity 1 / 1/2 hour stretching / slideshow
THURSDAY
 4 hours climbing in the gym / 1 hour stretching / 1 hour mental training / slideshow
FRIDAY (REST DAY)
 1.5 hours running–Intensity 1 / 1 hour stretching / 1 hour mental training / slideshow
SATURDAY
 3.5 hours running–Intensity 4 / 1 hour stretching / slideshow
SUNDAY (REST DAY)
 Climbing with my wife 4 hours / 1 hour stretching

The Eiger's hardest free route, Paciencia (5.13b), a 27-pitch line on the right side of the north face.
© Robert Bosch

The importance of remembering sequences in climbing

2011-05-24T10:08:00.001+10:00

On our coaching camps we talk a lot about visualisation, the importance of remembering sequences and what should be running going through your mind as you climb your route (your internal dialogue). If you are one of those climbers who only climbs intuitively "I'll just figure it out as I go along" you are sabotaging your true potential. Seriously!

This video of our man Joey Kinder is a great insight into the level of detail required when you are memorising your sequences.

Here are some visualisation and memorisation tips:

Sit at the bottom of the route, close your eyes and climb the route in your mind. If you get to a bit you can't remember, open your eyes, look up, get it sorted and start over.
If it helps you, give specific holds names i.e. "the brick" or "the contact lens".
Imagine vividly how each hold will feel on your skin.
Like Joe, visualise how each finger will sit on each hold, particularly if it's a subtle or tricky grip.
Don't just concentrate on hand sequences. On difficult routes you must also know 100% what you are doing with your feet and what your body positions are. This represents heaps of data and might be very hard to memorise, but you simply have to do it. Start with the hands, but begin to expand your mental program to foot movements and body positions to make the sequence more and more detailed and realistic.
Get your climbing partner to quiz you. Mime to them the entire sequence, talking it through as you go. Moving your arms and feet is very helpful.
Sometimes there will be a section, or a subtlety you will continue to forget on route. Come up with a trigger phrase like "Stand tall" or "Pull in right hand" or simply (as is often the case) "Breathe!" and have your belayer yell this at you at the appropriate time. When you are running through the route in your mind, think about that section, and say the trigger phrase to yourself. Do that multiple times. Really embed it deeply. You'll find you'll begin to remember the section very well.
If you are a visual person, compile a route map. This is a sheet of paper where you draw the route, the holds, mark L hand and R hand, draw little arrows, mark clipping holds etc. If you can do this accurately for the entire route, you are well on your way to having a good sequence locked in your memory. Now let's hope your sequence is the most efficient one :)

My climbing partners and I have previously noted that on our hardest sends we have to be like a climbing robot. The program is set and it is all a matter of executing perfectly. There should be no decisions made on route - none! The program is written. Simply execute.

Happy projecting!

GearLoopTopo better than SuperTopo?

2011-05-23T12:22:00.003+10:00

If you are looking for Yosemite topos, or climbing topos for Tuolumne, Squamish, USA Desert Towers, Red Rocks, The Wasatch, the guys at GearLoopTopos have you covered.

I met GearLoopTopo co-founder and Salt Lake resident Alexandre Lemieux in Maple Canyon last year and climbed with him again in Spain. Great guy who's come up with a great concept for carrying the topo with you while you climb.

In Yosemite, SuperTopo is the gold standard. Back in 2002 when I was in the Valley the SuperTopo book was a revelation because the quality of the diagrams and topos were so clear and of such quality. Chances are though if you're doing a trip you are interested in hitting up the classics. If it's a short trip, perhaps you don't really need to buy the entire guidebook. You really just want to get the topos you need for the classics you want to do.

Not very detailed to say the least :)

Then there is the issue of how to carry the topo on your long, windy multipitch route. If it's in a guidebook you have to try to find a way of photocopying it, writing it down (pointless, you lose all the details), or tearing it out of the guide (sacrilegious). Then on the fifth pitch you pull the tatty piece of paper out of your chalk bag and WHOOF a gust of wind tears it from your grasp. Enter GearLoopTopo with their individually laminated topos for single classic routes complete with keeper cord. You clip the topo to your harness and blast off.

It's not simply a rip-job of SuperTopo either. Alex who made these topos climbed every route himself, photo-documenting and taking notes and drawing as he climbed. The result is highly detailed topos which contain approach and descent info, full route description, topo diagram including variations and tips, gear advice, and heaps more. Basically everything you need to get to your route, climb it, and get down safely. All this for a couple of bucks each. Absolute bargain!

You can buy them online before your trip and he'll post them out to you pronto. Super cheap, super good. You'll want to see what routes he has topos for. Check out this page and browse around. There's also more free info and free topo samples available on the website. There's particularly a lot of free goodies for Red Rocks.

At the moment, the website doesn't seem to display all the Yosemite topos they have, but I assure you, they have heaps including Snake Dike, Serenity Crack & Sons of Yesterday, Nutcracker, Northeast Buttress of Higher Cathedral Rock, Freeblast, East Buttress of El Cap, Braille Book, After Six & After Seven and Central Pillar of Frenzy. I expect the site will be updated with these soon but otherwise just shoot him an email.

A typical GearLoopTopo. You get a lot of value in a small space.

GearLoopTopo created Alexandre loves his multipitches!
This is Fiesta De Los Biceps in Riglos, Spain. I am visible in green one pitch below.

Full disclosure: GearLoopTopos provided us with some free topos for the purposes of this review.

Good Morning Vietnam

2011-05-20T09:33:00.000+10:00

Climbing in Vietnam’s spectacular Ha Long Bay
Words Monique Forestier, Photos Simon Carter

Lynn Hill and Todd Skinner bolted this line in the 90s. The sea gobbled up the stainless steel within a couple of years. After rebolting the line, Lee Cujes ascends Saigon Wall 7a. Photo: Simon Carter.

Legend has it that many centuries ago fearless dragons protected the people of northern Vietnam from invaders by spitting 2153 ungraded diamonds into the sea, thus creating a sheltered haven in the bay. Nowadays, the glistening emerald-green waters of Ha Long Bay are studded with these thousands of brilliant-cut limestone karst formations, each karst varying in quality and suitability for climbing. It’s no surprise that it is a spectacular tourist hot spot, and on many climbers’ ‘must visit’ list.

23 November 2010
Coming from a 24/7 culture can sometimes catch you unawares, when we arrived late in the evening at Hanoi’s airport everything was closed. Not having even one Viet Dong between us, I felt helpless and stupid, added to that was the fact that Simon and I were travelling with our two-year-old daughter, Coco – our situation seemed grim. Thankfully, the arrangements we had made through Slo Pony Adventures came good. We were met by a placard-holding man who whisked us off, settling us into our downtown Hanoi hotel before we could even register the traffic metamorphosis that had just occurred. Arriving in Vietnam is a rush of cold blood to the head, a full body awakening that leaves your eyes spinning in their sockets.

24 November 2010
After a deep but all too short slumber, our group assembles over an unimpressive breakfast distinctly lacking in crispy French baguettes and real coffee. Joining us are Australians, Sam and Lee Cujes, the dynamic husband and wife duo behind Upskill Climbing. They had been to Vietnam the year before, hosting their own training camp, and are now on the second last leg of a one-year round-the-world climbing odyssey. They are so psyched about being here that they literally talk the brass knobs off an ornamental monkey perched behind me. Audrey Sniezek from Seattle also joins us, a talented and highly motivated climber who has proven that dedication and hard work do pay off. Lastly, is Tamara Sepetauc, a self-proclaimed romantic who radiates warmth and is completely relaxed about her climbing.

You can read the rest of this story in ROCK no 86…

Promo video: Kalymnos Climbing Camp - October 2011

2011-05-15T10:57:00.004+10:00

In October 2011, you have the opportunity to join the Upskill Climbing Team in climber paradise Kalymnos in Greece for our 4th Kalymnos Climbing Camp where you'll not only have a brilliant climbing holiday, but walk away a better climber.

This will be our 7th Climbing Camp, and our 4th held in Kalymnos.

Find pricing and more information on our Kalymnos 2011 Climbing Camp page. Be sure to check out the previous camp videos for the flavour. And if you think this might be for you don't delay - email us today: upskillclimbing@gmail.com

Video review: Andrea Boldrini climbing shoes in Australia

2011-05-08T21:34:00.001+10:00

So I'm pretty psyched. I put the order in back in February and finally the shipment is here from France. One very large box of Andrea Boldrini climbing shoes for Upskill Climbing Gear. Andrea Boldrini shoes are crafted in France and are not well known outside Europe. In Europe however, they are very high-end, well-regarded shoes. Their hallmark is incredible performance with incredible comfort.

We're stocking five of what I reckon are the best models they make and below is our review of the top of the line laceup, the Apache Talisman FCS. FCS stands for "Full Contact Sole". This unusual innovation wraps the rubber from the sole up onto the rand without the traditional hard edge which can deform off micro edges. More rubber surface area = more stick. Another Boldrini first which you'll see in the video is their asymmetric lacing system which Boldrini first developed 10 years ago.

Duncan and I are both wearing the Talisman's now, and Duncan has also grabbed a pair of the Evo's which are an amazingly well-fitting velcro boot. My impression is that the fit is perfect for my foot shape, the materials make them very comfortable and there is zero dead space in the heel. Killer. They're also reasonably soft which, for me, encourages a playful, intuitive style.

Video: The Apprentice

2011-05-01T20:34:00.000+10:00

Our latest film sees young Queensland climber Matt Schimke well outside his comfort zone on the power endurance testpiece Beautiful Thing (28/7c+) at The Pulpit. Matt has only been climbing since 2008 but rapidly progressed through the grades culminating in his 2010 ascent of Evil Wears No Pants (30/8a+) at Mount Coolum. Still in school, with a mad obsession for climbing and no car has seen Matt's efforts concentrated at Mt Coolum, his local crag. The local style is super steep and chock full of kneebars and other tricks. All his hardest sends have been at Mt Coolum. This has been the first time he's ventured onto a hard project a long way from the comfort of his 'local'. The angle is new, the style is new. Grades don't matter now. It's just you against your weaknesses. And the fiercest battleground is in the mind. Enjoy.

Ask The Coach #3: Training for non-trainers!

2011-04-21T18:13:00.000+10:00

My third installment of Ask The Coach is now out in ROCK Magazine Autumn 2011. Go get yourself a copy - it's a good issue.

It's all about training for people who don't want to train. We're all busy. Some of us ~~don't have time~~ choose not to make time for more training. So, if you want to get better without devoting any more time, I give you some ideas on how to do it.

My lovely wife Sam scored her first photo (in front of the lens) in a climbing magazine as the background for the article -- happy!

As always, I'm looking for training-related questions to answer in future installments, so please email them through (upskillclimbing AT gmail.com). The next question chosen for publishing wins The Pinnacle DVD.

First Ascent: Gay Pride

2011-04-18T21:34:00.001+10:00

Just a quick happy snap from the sharp end today. So happy to actually climb something without falling off. Seems like it's been ages...

Me, first ascent of Gay Pride 29/8a at The Pulpit today.
The business begins where I am now.
A bulging, smooth shield of stone with cool little edges.
Skip that clip and do the ninja move. Or you may do the cowboy move.
Are you a ninja or a cowboy?

Upskill Climbing Gear goes live!

2011-04-11T10:28:00.000+10:00

If you're from the States you'll have a good laugh at this.

We all know this product. Petzl Spirit quickdraw. An old sport climbing favourite.

Price today in USA: $20.36
Price today in major Australian gear store: $54.95 (!)

If you're from the USA or Europe you might be thinking "WTF?" but yes, it's true. Australians pay roughly double what you guys spend for our climbing gear. Often this simply means that people who know what they want just order from the States. This unfortunately means not supporting local business, but when the prices are so high, can you really blame consumers? Not me. I too order gear online if it's heaps cheaper. Of course the downsides from ordering from the States is the expensive shipping and the waiting.

I had this idea when I was roadtripping overseas and since returning home I have been super busy getting it up and running but I am happy to announce that as of today upskillclimbinggear.com is open for business. Yep, we have our very own online climbing gear store :)

Have a browse - let me know what you think, or if you find any bugs :)

I don't want to become yet another online climbing retailer selling the same stuff for the same prices. I'm working directly with several gear manufacturers in USA and Europe to source products directly, cutting out as many middlemen as possible. This isn't about making money. I'm not quitting my day job. It's about getting gear here cheaper and selling it cheaper.

So what do we have? Well right now we are launching with:

a stylish clothing range from boulders+nuts (Germany)
we are the exclusive distributors of CU belay glasses in Australia
we have a range of innovative hardware from Climb Tech USA including carabiners, quickdraws, permadraws, removable bolts and more
we obviously carry the Upskill Climbing kneebar pads, with a new model out soon
in transit and soon to arrive is a very exciting high performance climbing shoe range from Andrea Boldrini (France)
we will continue to build our range over time

Our aims:

Source gear that has not been previously available in Australia
Use sourcing and selling models which allow for low prices
Supply outdoor equipment at prices which are better than buying from the USA
Give super quick, kick-arse service

Why support us?

Street cred. We're not a big corporation or a bunch of has-been climbers. We're out there doing it at an elite level every single week and have been climbing for over 17 years. BAM!
We're not selling camping equipment. We're not some generic outdoor shop. We know our products and we know climbing. We will give you expert advice if you need it.
Price. We aim to make our stuff cheaper than you can buy anywhere else.
We try hard to make climbing better. See How Upskill Helps Climbing.

Our philosophy for Upskill's online retailing

Only stock products we believe in.
Grow very slowly. Build new relationships and add cool new products as we find them.
There's no point stocking rock climbing gear if you can get it cheaper somewhere else.
Encourage the outdoor gear market in Australia to change.

So! I hope you'll take a browse around the site, mention it to your friends if they're after some new quickdraws or something, or buy a T-Shirt. You can subscribe to a feed of our new products (check this for more details) or just keep an eye on our featured goodies over in the right sidebar of this site (scroll up, you'll see what I mean).

And to everyone who has helped with this project - thanks so much for the encouragement and support. Sincerely!

Keylock Quickdraw Solidgate - Pack of 6

$99.95

Add To Cart

CU Belay Glasses

~~$149.95~~ $139.95

Add To Cart

T-Shirt - "Climb"

$29.95

Choose Options

PermaDraw

$19.95

Add To Cart

Have a browse - let me know what you think

Video: Save Coolum: Lee Cujes Speaks

2011-04-01T16:09:00.001+10:00

We are about to lose one of our premiere sport crags Mt Coolum due to Government bungling. Please watch the video and I'll explain in person:

We need everyone to write one email. That's all!
It must be sent before April 4 2011

(edit: deadline now past, thanks everyone who responded, we'll keep you posted on the progress).

HOW TO WRITE YOUR EMAIL

To: parkplans@derm.qld.gov.au
Re: Response to Draft Mount Coolum National Park Management Plan 2011

Attention: The Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability

Dear Madam

[perhaps introduce yourself, say where you're from and give some short background to your interest in Mt Coolum or climbing in general]

I am writing to respond to the Draft Mount Coolum National Park Management Plan 2011.

[Now here comes your writing. There is just the one action we need to concentrate on:

Action A28: Declare cliff-based activities a special activity under the Nature Conservation (Protected Area Management) Regulation 2006 in the area shown in Appendix A, Map2.

The key points to discuss:

Point 1 (good), you agree/support/think awesome/ the idea of managing the park for its unique/cool/awesome/magic conservation values. You absolutely support the development of climbing as a sustainable activity and would chastise/beat-up/persuade fellow climbers who did otherwise.

Point 2 (bad!), the way in which special activities are managed using permits, insurance and compulsory peak body membership is "at odds with how the climbing community works" / "just plain sucks" / "will be ignored" / "will cause conflict with the rangers" / "will set climbing back twenty years" / "will impede the progress of our young sports climbing athletes" /"is at odds with the declared aim of promoting nature-based recreation" / "is at odds with the Premiers Q2 Vision by placing barriers to outdoor recreation" / "discriminates against climbers as valid stake holders in the outdoor recreation community" / "a bureaucratically lazy way of dealing with the management issues" / "set to fail"]

[Feel free to elaborate as you like, but this simple two part message is the key]

Yours Faithfully

[Your name]

Enjoying the social scene, enjoying nature. This is what climbing life is all about.
Pic is of me trying Evel Kenevil 29.

Strong chicks: Kalymnos guidebook-worthy!

2011-03-29T08:00:00.001+10:00

Come to Kalymnos with us and who knows what will happen? End up in the guidebook perhaps?

We shot these pics on the first Upskill Climbing Camp back in 2008.

The camera just loves the girls, wouldn't you agree? So too did Kalymnos guidebook author Aris Theodoropolous who chose to include these pics in the latest 2010 edition. By the way, the 2010 Kalymnos guidebook is the best freakin' guidebook in the world. 360 pages, chock full of pics (maybe 1000+ pics?), good descriptions to get you psyched, accurate topos, sexy layout. All the beta for your holiday. It's awesome. You can buy it at climbkalymnos.com.

Susy G-Star Goldner - full page spread on Macabi at Summertime.

This was an unknown crushing chick on Kalydna

Goldner again, this time on Joggel & Toggle, Panorama.

Mrs Upskill (Sam) crushing Ammochohostos Vaselivousa at Summertime

Video: Tom O'Halloran repeats Schadenfreude (31)

2011-03-27T19:32:00.002+10:00

Yesterday, Tom O'Halloran made the first repeat of my route from 2008 Shadenfreude (31/8b) at The Pulpit. I was lucky enough to film Tom's climbing on the day. This was a route that took me 17 days to establish, and Tom repeated it on only his second day! There's a reason he's #2 in Australia. It was awesome to behold.

On his first day of trying the route, Tom discovered a new sequence in the middle of the 13 move bouldering crux which is certainly much better than my original way. It eliminates a low percentage stab to a tiny pocket which was a section which repeatedly stopped me when I was trying it. It's amazing the tunnel vision you can get on sequences without outside input from other climbers.

Tom, who has previously onsighted grade 30 routes affirmed that even with the more solid sequence, Schadenfreude felt harder than Point Break (30/31) which he'd recently climbed in the Blue Mountains. He's now super keen to repeat the other hard routes at the cliff (things like One Hit To The Body (30), Below The Belt (31) and The Singularity (32) will no doubt be on the list).

The Upskill camera will be rolling. Psyche is high!

Play it here, or (better) open it up BIG on Vimeo.

Behind the scenes.

Titanium bolts: The answer for Thailand climbing?

2011-03-11T22:08:00.008+10:00

Introduction: The Norwegians

Let me relate a story real quick. A new multipitch route on Fire Wall (Tonsai, Phranang Peninsula) goes up with stainless expansion bolts. The very same bolts that are used throughout all of Europe and the States. One year later a team of two Norwegians go to repeat the route. The leader climbs the first 6b pitch without falling and establishes the belay at two bolts. Before bringing up his seconder, he clips the rope into the first bolt of the 7c pitch above. When the seconder reaches the belay, both climbers lean back to survey the pitch above and BOTH BELAY BOLTS SNAP.

Yes.

They are left hanging by the single bolt on the next pitch. That could have been two deaths right there, and it was really just luck more than anything else that saved them. I mean, who would think that an entire belay which is basically brand new would self destruct under bodyweight?

Well this is what happens to stainless steel bolts in a few select places in the world, and southern Thailand is one of these places.

Forget what you think you know about bolting. It does not apply here.

Why do perfectly good stainless steel bolts snap in Thailand?

Thanks to our good friend Science we now know the answer definitively. In brief, the high amount of rainfall combined with the high amount of vegetation atop the cliffs sets up for very acidic water within the rock itself. This produces high concentrations of magnesium on the bolts, which allows for a higher than otherwise possible concentration of chloride ions. This is then a hyper-corrosive environment for bolts and can sometimes cause 'Stress Corrosion Cracking' (SCC). Think of SCC as a little rust gremlin which has a sixth sense for finding any weakness in the metal and then driving a wedge through it until it snaps.

Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in a Fixe 304 stainless steel ringbolt
on Massage The Rock 6a+, Muai Thai sector.

So how do you know which bolt is good and which is bad?

You don't. There is no way to tell from visual inspection alone. What's more, sometimes rusty looking piece of crap bolts are super strong and hard to remove, and perfectly shiny bolts fail with one hit of a hammer (I had this happen multiple times).

SCC simply eats the stainless

Who maintains the routes in Thailand?

People seem to think "There's heaps of climbers here and I haven't walked over any bodies so someone must be maintaining and rebolting routes." Let's be clear. There is no "Federation of Climbing" in Thailand. There is no local organisation whatsoever. There is not even a coalition of guiding schools on Railay (there's currently about 14 climbing schools, all in competition). Every local Thai person using the cliffs commercially is there to make money. There are a couple of exceptions (hi Toto!), but generally, the locals do not rebolt or maintain the routes. This is left up to foreigners. But who carries a drill, glue, and titanium on their holiday? Well, I'll tell you...

I'll let you decide if this is good or bad.

The "Thaitanium Project"

Titanium does not rust. Therefore it is the perfect material to make bolts from for use in Thailand. It's tried and tested. The problem is it is expensive. With glue, a single titanium bolt costs around US $15. Rebolting an average pitch can easily cost $200. This is about quadruple the price of stainless steel bolts.

For the last several years a group of Americans including Josh Lyons, Tom Cecil and Sam Lightner Jr. have been travelling to Railay with the sole mission to rebolt the peninsular with safe, titanium bolts. And as I was in Thailand for a couple of months I ran into the guys and got the low down. Between Sam and Tom, you probably account for 50% of the first ascents on the peninsular. They are some of the true pioneers of Thailand climbing. Like me, these guys love new routing. What was amazing to me was that instead of going off and doing the stuff they love (exploring and new routes), they spend their hard earned holiday time back in Thailand working their arses off rebolting.

So they're paid by the local authorities?
No!
So they get free accommodation right?
No!
A discount?
Nope! ... Bubkus!

The locals give these guys nothing whatsoever. I was gobsmacked. There are no perks to doing this, it's just endless hard work with very little in the way of gratitude.

Why do it then? Because it needs to be done or someone will die. That's it.


Well at least one of the bolts on this multipitch anchor is good (!!)

One encouraging point was that a number of climbers who were there on their holiday offered to lend a hand. Most had no previous bolting experience, but both Tom and Josh are excellent teachers. So it was a merry band of climbers doing the work each day.

It's not just putting in new bolts

After I heard what the guys were doing, I thought "Well, I could be sitting on the beach having another shot at Jai Dum, or could actually be doing something useful". So I ended up spending my final two weeks primarily engaged in the rebolting initiative.

One thing that has tended to happen in Thailand is that as routes get rebolted, the old bolts are not removed. You end up with an ugly mess as the picture below illustrates. Why? Removing the old bolts is often plain hard work. It's much harder than simply drilling a new hole and gluing in a new bolt. But, a mess of bolts at each clipping stance is a huge pet hate of mine.

Three generations of bolts. Expansion bolt on right. Shiny Fixe stainless ring at top,
and dull grey titanium bolt with red glue at bottom. The bottom bolt is the one to clip.

Not only does it make routes look ugly as hell, it's a safety issue. No matter how clearly the guidebook describes to only use bolts with red glue (these are the bombproof titanium bolts glued with the highest quality Hilti RE-500 glue), people still make the somewhat understandable mistake of thinking shiny = good. So you have people climbing routes clipping every shiny ringbolt and skipping the new safe titanium bolts.

Under the supervision of a local Thai guide, a punter clips the stainless bolt
instead of the safe titanium on Shadow Show (5), Muai Thai.

So because I had friends coming over from Australia to climb with us, I had them bring over my cordless 18V Makita grinder. And then the real work begun. I would often go out climbing for the morning and then in the afternoon, I would go and self-belay myself up some route and begin work removing the old bolts and carefully patching the holes. Sometimes I would go out at night using my headlamp. Basically, whenever I thought I might go have a massage or kick back and have a drink out of a coconut, I would go and fix something instead. Within a couple of weeks I had personally removed 99 old stainless bolts (on routes which had already been rebolted with titanium), many of which were cracked through with SCC. And whenever I wasn't personally using my grinder, it was being used by other people. I reckon the team might have removed 200-300 bolts all up.

What was achieved in the 2011 season

Complete rebolt of Wild Kingdom Wall
Complete rebolt of The Nest
Complete rebolt of The Keep (this is what I was involved in and took over a week for a team of roughly 8 people to do)
My complete clean-up of Muai Thai and some routes on One Two Three
Rebolting on Ko Yawaban and other misc projects

Cost: Several thousand dollars.

The Film

The money has to come from somewhere.

To spread awareness of what's going on and to help fund buying the expensive bolts and glue so rebolting can continue, Josh Lyons produced a film on the 'Thaitanium Project'. It's great. They go through the whole thing from start to finish, talk to the metallurgists and scientists who did the testing, and lay out a plan for moving forward, which is basically switching out every stainless bolt with titanium. It's a must see for people that love Thailand climbing.

The sign I would hang up when I was working. We sold a few films for the cause.

Donating to the cause

The guys have a simple website with a donation link. Visit http://thaitaniumproject.com/ and hit the Donate button up the top. This money goes to Josh who puts the money directly into the kitty for the next season. Every single dollar goes towards titanium being put in.

If you are in USA, you can make tax deductible donations to the American Safe Climbing Association (ASCA) and earmark the funds for use on the cliffs of Tonsai/Railay. If you earmark it for Thailand, that's where it goes (it's a rule of the Association).

BUY THE FILM:

http://thaitaniumproject.com/

In the press:

Thanks to ClimbingNarc for profiling this story on his blog.

My world climbing trip recap

2011-02-26T21:12:00.000+10:00

Well, it's true. I am back in Australia and back in my own house. In the end, it was 11 months on the road.

Climbing destinations included: Kalymnos (Greece), Geyikbayiri, Olympos (Turkey), Boulder, Rifle, Maple Canyon, Ten Sleep Canyon (all USA), Rodellar, Margalef, Arboli, Riglos (all Spain), Vietnam, Hong Kong, Yangshuo (China), & Railay (Thailand).

Usually, my trips away are pretty short and sweet, so it's go go go the whole time and collapse when you get back home. This was quite different. You were really living in the locations, sometimes months at a time. It was great for getting a deeper understanding of the people and culture.

We were lucky with the weather in two respects. Firstly, I'd planned the crags and the best seasons really well, so were we at each place at the right time and experienced almost no rain the whole year. Secondly, the weather in Oz in 2010 sucked bigtime so it was great we weren't here!

I climbed quite a lot. Well over 600 pitches according to my notes. I didn't climb as hard as I might have at home. I guess this is to be expected for a few reasons. Home is familiar territory; you tend to do best where you've had the most practise. At home, you're usually forced to rest (sitting at a desk). On a trip like that, it's hard to discipline yourself to rest enough in order to recover and be able to really climb hard. Often I'd just think "well, I could have a rest day or just dial the difficulty down a couple of notches and onsight a stack of things" and that thinking often won out, especially in areas I hadn't climbed at much (kid in a candy store).

On the plus side though, my onsighting improved a lot (a number of personal bests) which I think is aided by simply climbing heaps on lots of different rock types. There were times during the year where I felt not particularly strong, but virtually 'unpumpable'. I can tell you that is a rare and amazing feeling I've not really had before in 16 years of climbing. I think that I can't really achieve this state with my usual weekend warrior routine, and only by climbing big days on difficult routes for 4-6 days a week, week in, week out. Not really an option if you have a regular life.

I don't have a standout favourite area. Everywhere had it's own charms. If I had to pick a new local crag it might be Rifle, or maybe Yangshuo. Kalymnos was brilliant as always. I feel right at home there and am looking forward to going back.

But for now, a return to normality. Work, training, dinner with friends, local crags, raking leaves, fiddling about in the shed, and all the things that being at home entails. And dreaming. Dreaming of the next trip. Won't be too long I suspect.

Back in OZ

2011-02-18T23:19:00.000+10:00

Well it's true. They say all good things must come to an end (why is that?) and Sam and I are back in humid, wet Australia after nearly a year away from home, roadtripping the planet and living the dream. As you might have guessed, it was awesome!

I have been a bit quiet on the blogging front. Not because I have nothing to say but more because I have too much to say! I've been super busy and so much has been happening recently in Thailand with the titanium rebolting initiative and my plans for Upskill Climbing in 2011 that I have heaps to tell you about - and I promise I will get into it in future posts, and soon!

First though is to unpack a house full of stuff (ugh!) - and dream of where we were a few days ago...

ROCK Magazine - Ask The Coach column #2

2011-02-06T17:43:00.001+10:00

My second installment of Ask The Coach is now out in ROCK Magazine Summer 2011.

If you've wondered why some climbers seem to get really good really fast, take a look.

And as always, I'm looking for training-related questions to answer in future installments, so please fire them through :)

Click to enlarge

Sights from Thailand

2011-01-19T17:54:00.001+10:00

It's been a while so I thought I'd let you know that we're still alive here in Thailand, which, while hot and humid, is a much better proposition than being at home in Brisbane where there has been catastrophic flooding (it's world news). On that front, thankfully our woody (with house attached) is okay. But some of our friends and family have not been so lucky and it's with mixed feelings we continue the last portion of our world climbing tour while they are going through hell with the clean-up. Our thoughts are with them.

Here's some pretty pictures...

Kathryn Gardner on Massage The Rock 6a+, Muai Thai sector

Erik Smits on Massage The Rock 6a+, Muai Thai sector

Erik Smits flashing The Sit Spins 6b+, Dum's Kitchen

Me redpointing Tres Aquis 7b+, Wee's Present Wall.

Me redpointing Tres Aquis 7b+, Wee's Present Wall.

Me onsighting Sweating Mekong 7a, Ton Sai Wall area. Lots of kneebars on this route, notice the pads :)

Erik, Sam and Kathryn on the ledge at Cobra Wall

A dusky langur surveys the climbers.
I asked him to put his tail through the ringbolt for the photo, but no luck.

Just cruising.

We are due back in Australia in mid February. Don't want to think about that though...

Video: Keller Rinaudo - China Climb 5.14b

2010-12-22T17:10:00.000+10:00

A couple of days ago I was at White Mountain in Yangshuo, China. Apart from it being a great climbing day for me with a personal quickest 8a+/30 ascent (Gin & Tonic 2nd go), I had the opportunity to shoot and film some climbers on their projects. One of these climbers was Keller Rinaudo (USA) and he had been working China Climb 8c/33. This fantastic route was originally equipped by Australian Logan Barber (nice work dude!) and was first climbed by Yangshuo local Abond. Here's a short film we knocked together. Note that Keller's piece to camera was one take with no preparation. Someone give this guy a job on TV! :)

Play it here, or (better) open it up BIG on Vimeo.

Here's some behind the scenes stills from the shoot...

"Damn, you Aussies are resourceful!" -- Ethan Pringle
My bosun's chair for the shoot: 3 pieces of bamboo held together with finger tape.

Beginning the big jugging mission to get in position

In position! Lights camera action!

Me and Keller - a job well done!

Many thanks to Keller, Ethan Pringle and John O'Brien.