In the past week I have managed to get out to Muline and climb some more amazing routes while unfortunately Audrey still isn't climbing much and has switched to full on tourist mode. Audrey has also bought her ticket home for June 8 and hopes to get up to Cairns (Queensland), do some winery tours and maybe even take a bus out to Ayer's Rock in the centre of Australia before flying home. I'm going to stick around the Grampians for the next few weeks and try to get as much climbing done as possible before taking a few weeks and go surfing up north. I'll probably fly home at the end of June or early July.

A lot has happened in the last week so I appologize in advance for the long journal entry.

After climbing Serpentine last Thursday I was satiated for at least a day and went out climbing with Audrey at Arapiles on Friday. We decided to do a three star day up at an area called Bluff Major. In the guidebook there were quite a few three star routes up there and it was an area that we had been meaning to check out since we first looked at the guide for Arapiles. To get to the area we had to scramble up a climb that at points was equiped with chains to aid through steeper sections. It was actually a little challenging with a backpack full of gear, a rope bag and a camera dangling off of us. We finally made our may to the climbing area and started off on a 17 called Missing Link. The bottom of this route takes pretty finicky gear and I had fun trying to come up with some inventive placements including a number 2 Astro Nut equalized with a double zero Metolius cam. Neither piece is designed to take a full fall but I figured the two of them together might hold. Turns out the Astro Nut didn't even stay in until I made it to the top. Audrey quickly followed the pitch and took out the gear and we moved over to Thundercrack. I have to say this next route was one of my favourite in Arapiles. It was quite sustained, steep and took lots of great gear. We took a bit of a break after climbing Thundercrack so I could rig up a pathetic photo op. The colours were amazing and although it took a little too long to get set up I still think some of the photos turned out. Next up was a route called Dispatched, a 23 with a few bolts, generally good gear but a tenous, technical traverse just before the anchors. The route was great but what made it three stars was definitely the last few moves before the anchors, downclimbing on massive hand holds with delicate feet and nothing below you. That evening we went and had dinner at the Natimuk pub with Cate (the lady who we rented a room off of when we were here before), Simon and Monique (friends from the Blue Mountains). Audrey surprised me by not only ordering the large Arapiles Steak but also by finishing the whole thing!

On Saturday we drove out to Muline, a crag in the Southern Grampians that we had heard quite a bit about. Malcolm had been telling me to get on a route of his, a 45m traversing line called Central Latitudes and Lawry Dermody (who we met in the Blue Mountains) had been raving, and I mean raving about the place for the entire time we were up there. There were two routes at Muline that according to Lawry were equivalent to, or better than, the second pitch of Serpentine. Lawry was so enamored with the crag that one evening he spent at least three hours drawing us a topo, something I'll have to frame and hang up back home. As you can imagine my expectations of the crag were pretty high and I'm happy to say that it did not disappoint. The routes that I got on were all pretty long and pumpy with great moves on awesome stone. The first route I roped up for was the crag warm-up, a 24 that was steep with big holds but some hard moves. After doing it twice to warm-up (once to get the draws off) I then set my sights on a six star (on a five star scale) 29 called Eye of the Tiger. The route starts by climbing out along a rail on the left side of a large, very large, round hueco that looks like an eye. It then drops down and pulls a lip before finishing up a nice gently overhanging headwall. Again my expectations of the route were pretty high and I wanted to try and onsight it. I actually almost fell between the second and third draw where it was really balancy but once I was on the rail I was able to cruise up to the roof. Pulling the roof was one of my favourite moves I've ever done; reverse-gaston-undercling, move the feet to a bicycle manouver, match hands and then reach to a perfect three finger thread right at the lip of the roof. Apparently there's a better way of doing it but I think my way was cool :). I was able to rest my way to the top and snagged the onsight.

Audrey was quite disappointed not to climbing but didn't want to injure herself further by getting on something steep as a warm-up. I decided to try another route that Lawry had been raving about called Path of Yin. It clearly had a very bouldery start, squeezing between badly sloping rails while trying to move your feet. I actually onsight the bottom part of this route (and not fall on Audrey) and was up in the easier section when my foot slipped and I couldn't control the swing. Doh! I did manage to do it next go and then cleaning the downclimbing to clean the draws pretty much wiped me out. I'm not used to such steep climbs not having fixed draws. I was also silly and had left my draws on Eye of the Tiger. I thought that as the sun moved lower in the sky it might light up the whole eye feature and would make fantastic photos. Turns out the sun doesn't quite get into the eye but I still had to go up it again to get the draws down. Audrey videotaped this attempt which I assure you is much, much sloppier than my first attempt. I was so tired...

Audrey and I hurriedly packed up and hiked down. Our plan was to drive to a city called Ballarat where they had an observatory that was open to the public on Friday and Saturday nights. The skies were clear and this was an opportunity to see stars that you can't see from North America. Since we were in the Southern Grampians we thought the best way to get there would be to go through Hall's Gap, on to Ararat and then down to Ballarat. We also thought we had lots of time but we didn't calculate just how long it would take to get through the Grampians. By the time we got to Ararat we decided that it was too late to continue south. Instead we drove back towards Horsham and at one point we drove off the highway, stopped and tried to locate stars based on a star chart that Audrey had printed out. Unfortunately the moon was out and very bright. This caused a lot of the dust in the sky to be lit up making it impossible to see many of the stars. We still were able to see all of Scorpius and Virgo.

Sunday we set our alarm for 6am and actually crawled out of bed around 6:30. We wanted to get out to Arapiles to take some photos of the rising sun on the rock of Arapiles. We drove out there and then proceeded to sit around for about half an hour freezing and waiting for the sun to rise. However it was all worth it. There wasn't a cloud in the sky as the sun rose it lit up the front faces of Arapiles just beautifully. We drove to a few different spots including taking a few photos of water in Mitre lake (unbelievable!) before returning to Horsham for breakfast.

Next up on our agenda was a trip to a wildlife park/zoo near Hall's Gap in the Grampians. One of the things we wanted to do in Australia was see a Koala but we had yet to see any in the Grampians (apparently they are there). It was about an hour and a half to Hall's Gap and for the first time on this trip I actually let Audrey drive while I was in the car. This was fine while we were on the wider roads but once we got down on the very skinny roads with cliffs and oncoming traffic I couldn't take it anymore and had to take over. Audrey was doing fine but I'm just not a very good passenger. We made it to the wildlife park just after noon and there weren't very many people there. You could purchase some food to feed the animals and as soon as we walked through the gates all these deer and fawns crowded Audrey trying to get some food. She was a little scared but I figured if five year old kids did it, how scary could it be? It wasn't until I actually held food in my hand and had them crowd around trying to bite my whole hand off that I was scared as well. I swear they had big teeth! Of course the highlight of the visit was seeing the Koala's. Apparently Koala's sleep 20 hours a day so umm... I kindof had to disturb it a bit. I just whistled at it, it opened its eyes, crossed its arms and went back to sleep.

On Monday I met up with Martina at the Buandik campground in the Grampians. She had been staying there with some climbers from Melbourne on the weekend but was now by herself. It was raining again and we decided to go to Millenium Caves since it's a short hike and the rock is steep enough to climb when it's raining. We got a little wet on the hike but it was the wind and the cold that was more annoying than the rain. We warmed up on a few climbs and then Martina tried to onsight Tunnel to Caracas, she wasted some energy sorting out her feet in the roof and unfortunately fell. She redpointed it later in the day. I looked pretty long and hard at a route called Breathing Gasoline, definitely the longest line in the cave. It looked pretty easy down low, a little tricky in the middle and then desperate at the top. I couldn't really see a good sequence up there but I could see a rest right below the bad holds. I onsighted up through the middle section (barely) and got to the upper rest. I was now about 20' from the top of the climb but was staring at the crux of the climb. I moved up into the crux but couldn't sort out my feet and managed to hang on long enough to downclimb to the rest and recover. I debated for a brief moment just taking and trying to sort out the sequence properly rather than wasting more energy and not being able to get up here again. I was actually really scared of the moves through the middle section, I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull them again so I decided to just try the upper moves. I positioned my feet slightly differently reaching up to the first holds and was able to squeeze the holds and shift my weight enough to move me left foot up. I was now committed to the sequence and was really starting to get pumped. I fought a few moves before being able to shake my pump out a little. Pulling the last roof I pasted my feet out left and as I placed the quickdraw on the anchors I felt the foothold shift. I quickly pulled slack, clipped the anchors and slumped down in my harness exhausted after onsighting but I still had to downclean the draws! In the guidebook Breathing Gasoline was rated 31 (5.13d/8b) which would have been my hardest onsight by grade but apparently people have started calling it 30. I was still psyched to have onsighted the route though, I felt like I had to dig really deep to pull the moves through the top. That and I don't onsight 30 that often so it's nice to get one every so often.

Last night there was a crazy storm that rolled through. The winds gusted over 100km/h, it rained about 20mm and there was thunder and lighting. Today was a rest day anyway and for a little while Audrey and I were debating driving to Adelaide to do some wine tasting but on a day like this we decided to just stay in Horsham. We went to the aquatic centre, Audrey went swimming while I went into the fitness gym and did some cardio and weight training. While we were there we ran into Martina and invited her to come stay with us at the house where we are. Apparently there are no climbers camping right now and she was all alone out there. We drove out to Mt. Stapleton, grabbed her gear, did some grocery shopping and then went back home to cook dinner and watch a new episode of The Simpsons.

I figure this day, this route deserves its own entry. As I have said before I am pretty much in Australia after seeing so many photos of the route Serpentine. The orange and grey wall, the chalk smeared and squeezed onto rounded holds of a spinelike feature and then the long headwall leading to the top of the Taipan Wall. Not only does the route look amazing but I have heard from quite a few people, people who have different tastes and climbing styles, that the second pitch of Serpentine was one of the best pitches of climbing in the world! When Audrey and I were around in March I pretty much had to force myself to not drive straight to the Grampians. I wanted to climb a few weeks in Arapiles and get used to placing gear again. Since we have been back in the Grampians I have spent two days at Taipan but haven't tried the second pitch (the famous pitch) for a few reasons; I was scared of it, I wanted to get stronger and there were always people on it. Finally today was the day. I hiked up to Taipan with the goal of getting on and trying to flash the second pitch of Serpentine.

My original goal when I arrived in Australia was to try and onsight the pitch but the longer I was here the more I heard about it, the more I became scared of it and it was almost impossible to climb at Taipan and not see people on it and hear them talking about it. So I chickened out and watched two climbers on it today; Malcolm Matheson (the first ascentionist who was back trying it to get back into shape) and Lee Cujes from Brisbane who was just getting ready to redpoint the route. I saw Malcolm's beta for getting over the first roof and then Lee fell right near the top so I knew I'd have to rest a lot and stay ready for the top.

Warning: Beta for Serpentine contained below...
My only warm-up was jugging the line to get to the belay and the sun wasn't on the wall yet so it was a little cold. Lee was going to rest for awhile and Malcolm said he was willing to belay so I tied in and set off. I've rarely been nervous on routes outdoor. Scared yes, but rarely nervous. The last time I actually remember being nervous on the ground before a route was when I was trying to flash a route called Millenium at Maple Canyon in Utah. This was a similar feeling. I managed to pull the first roof (thanks for the beta Malcolm), barely made the crimp moves left and then stood for awhile at the base of the turret trying to relax and get the cold out of my fingers. The turret was amazing. It was like climbing double aretes but being able to put your feet off to the side as well. There I was holding onto those rounded holds I had seen in the magazines. I almost fumbled off near the top of the turret but then made it a nice rest right at the top. This was the first crux (supposedly the roof and the traverse right weren't supposed to be hard...). I had seen both Lee and Malcolm leave the rest I was one, move their hands up a few moves until the right hand was on a decent crimp and the left hand was on a sloping crimp. They then backstepped the left foot and threw again with the left hand to the slot rail above. I set up immediately and didn't waste time trying to readjust on the bad crimps but did hesitate since the move looked so big and I wasn't sure I'd be able to reach it. I forced the doubts out of my wind and generated as much momentum as I could (which isn't very much) and committed to the move. As I threw for the slot my right hand came off (I was throwing with the left) and my right foot came off as well. Luckily the rail was really good and I was able to stick it and hold it with my left hand as my body swung around violently (that's how it felt). I quickly got both hands on the rail and shook them out back and forth trying not to think about how close I came to falling. I shook there for awhile before moving left on the rail and resting a bit more. The next move looked massive as well. It looked like at least 4' to the next hold and I had to ask Malcolm if I was missing anything. The sun had just come onto the wall and I was looking almost directly into it at this point. It turns out I could statically reach the next hold. It was 4' away but you could hand jam in the slot and just lever out over your arm. The jam was so good that it took me a few seconds to release it. I don't remember the next few moves but I was now up on the upper face with lots of crimps, a few big moves and quite a few rests between me and the top. I remember resting below the second crux (apparently there are only three... I could list a lot more) knowing that it involved a small finger slot that was hard to get fat fingers into and again deciding to just move through the moves if I felt I could do them rather than trying to re-adjust on holds until they felt perfect. I grabbed the finger slot and managed to get a bit of bite with my ring finger. It was enough to allow me to move my left foot to a nice ledge and shift my weight up so I could cross over to the next ledge. Again I rested for awhile and there were a few options. I could see chalk going straight up and chalk going to the right. I decided to try straight up and was surprised by how slopey the crimps felt. I backed down to the rest shook out a few times and committed to going straight up. After a few moves there was another nice rest and I was about 20' from the top. I managed to shake out every few moves but mostly just lock in each hold and move in control all the way to the top!

There are no anchors at the top and most people take a victory leap. I'm not big on the victory leaps, in fact I hate falling so I downclimbed to the last piece of protection and asked Malcolm to take the rope tight. I knew that all the guys down below were bugging Malcolm to give me lots of slack and the night before the had talked about how a 60m rope could be tied off to the anchor and the climber could be dropped 30m and pretty much swing in directly to the belay... I felt the rope go tight and let go only to be falling through the air for about 10m, fortunately not 30. I pretty much expected it but it was still good for a laugh.

The sun was out in full force and warm. I didn't climb anymore today but did walk around and take some photos. I knew Lee was going for another redpoint burn and wanted to try and take some photos from the top of flat rock. I walked around a bit taking photos of Taipan Wall from different angles and trying to capture the sun's movement across the face. Through my zoom lens I could see Lee starting up the pitch and I knew that he was tired since it was his third burn of the day. He managed to do the first crux (the hardest for him) and from where I was I could hear the other guys cheering for him. He made it through the second crux, up the headwall and past where he fell earlier in the day. When he reached the top he mantled up and over and stood on the top of the wall. I wasn't sure if he was going to jump from the top or not but then all of a sudden he was in the air and flying down the pitch. He must've fallen about 20 meters! He then had to pull himself back up the rope in order to clean his gear of the pitch but I'm sure it was worth it.

I then waited around for the sun to set over Mt. Arapiles in the distance and walked down flat rock where Audrey had been waiting for over an hour... oops. Even though I only did a single pitch of climbing today that pitch could very well be one of the best in the world. After Sonnie Trotter did it earlier this year he described the climbing as very similar to Heinous Cling in Smith Rock and I'd agree. The headwall of Serpentine climbs very similarly to the full pitch of Heinous Cling with a slightly harder crux. Add the amazing turret feature at the bottom and it makes the climb just that much better. As for the grade of 29 (5.13b), manye people suggest that Serpentine is soft for 29. As far as I was concerned I didn't really think of the difficulty, just the quality of the climb. Next up... Muline Crag.

So apparently Australia is in the midst of a nine year drought but it's rained every day since we got back down to Horsham. Now don't get me wrong. I'm glad that all the farmers, the local economy, the local water supply etc... are happy but come on! I'm on vacation here people! I want sunshine and perfect climbing weather! Is that too much to ask? Actually even with all the rain we've been able to get out almost every day. Our lack of climbing is more due to laziness and lack of desire to sit in the cold than the fact that it's raining.

Audrey managed to get out climbing with Cate and Monique last Saturday but unfortunately on their last climb they got a cam stuck as it started getting dark. Sunday morning Audrey and I got up pretty early and drove out to Arapiles to try and get the cam out. I climbed a route next to it and lowered down to it. I spent about 20 minutes hanging on the rope, banging and pulling on the cam lobes with a nut tool and then finally it moved a little and I could slide it up the crack and out. Phew. Since we were in Arapiles anyways we decided to spend a day climbing easier trad. We started out with a route called Pilot Error that was quite a novelty climb. It went out big jugs through a roof and then pulled up on a face and that was it. It was fun and you were in a good position to take photos :). As soon as we finished that climb the clouds came in and it sprinkled a little bit. That was enough for us. Having just been through a crappy winter in the United States we weren't really into freezing our asses off climbing in blustery, wet, cold conditions, so we called it a day.

On Monday I really wanted to climb in The Grampians again but Audrey was going to rest. Even though it was raining a bit I drove out to Taipan Wall but no one was there. I hiked up the approach slab just to see if anything was dry and the wall looked really dark. I decided to try and find some bouldering, in particular I wanted to find The Hollow Mountain Cave. This cave is home to Dai Koyomada's Wheel of Life, on of the world's only V16 boulder problems. I assumed that:

a) - It was a cave so it would be dry

b) - It was somewhere on Hollow Mountain

So I drove to the Hollow Mountain parking lot and started running around. I had no guidebook and no idea where it was. I took quite a few branches off the main trail and while I found lots of boulders I didn't find anything that resembled a cave with a super long traverse in it. I did manage to hide under some boulders during the occasional rain shower but didn't do any bouldering myself. I'll have to come back with a guidebook.

Tuesday it was sunny in the morning so I rose pretty early and drove to Taipan hoping to find some people to climb with. Audrey went back to Arapiles again to go climbing with Monique. It's just easier on her body to climb there and she's learning lots about anchors and placing gear. Fortunately for me there were quite a few people, some of who I recognized, climbing at Taipan. It was a little windy and pretty cold so people were taking it a bit slow. I managed to partner up with a climber from Syndey named JC. He had redpointed the second pitch of Scorpion a few days ago but hadn't done the first pitch yet and wanted to. The first pitch has a bit of a reputation as a stout, scary pitch. I offered to belay him and that was pretty scary. The first move involved jumping off this unstable cairn of rocks and he fell a few times back to the ground. Once he stuck the first move he had to traverse a wet ledge before moving upwards again. After he did the first pitch I decided to lead it but wasn't going to try the second pitch since there were a few people trying it. I managed to do the first pitch and it was definitely interesting; delicate, balancy but not really that hard. After doing that pitch it started raining and getting more windy. I thought the day was over but after about an hour the sun came out and warmed things up to a nice pleasant level. JC wanted to go try a route called Venom, a 28 that had the gear on it and I decided to try for the onsight. The crux down low was short lived and fortunately there were a few good rests on my way to the top. JC quickly redpointed the route and we decided to try Tourniquet which finished at the same anchors. The first time up Tourniquet I fell all over the place. It was a very tiring, technical, body tension route where in general the crux was the bad feet, not necessarily bad hand holds. On my second go I felt that while I had a sequence that would work it would be luck if I did it without a foot or hand slipping. I managed to pull the first crux okay but then I couldn't remember what to do with my feet and wasted a fair bit of energy but sucked it up and managed to finish the route. To finish off the day JC recommended that I try a route called Mr. Joshua, that is actually two pitches (25 and 26) but he suggested to do it in one. It was starting to get a little dark so I sprinted up the first pitch getting quite pumped in the process and started up the second pitch. There's a ledge for the belay and right away you have to dyno. I thought for sure that if I missed the dyno I'd land on the ledge and being the chicken that I am I grabbed the draw and pulled past the dyno and kept climbing. There isn't many rests on the second pitch and I ended up falling near the top on a rather funky arete sequence that even after hanging and trying to recover I still found quite hard. All in all I'm glad I tried it but boy did I ever get tired. I cleaned the route and we hiked out in the dark.

Today Audrey wanted to go to Arapiles and climb a multi-pitch route to practice her gear placements and anchor set up. She had a quick physiotherapy appointment in the morning and then we drove out to the cliff. She elected to try a route called Syrinx and got a little disconcerted by a plaque at the bottom in memory of a guy who died climbing the route almost exactly a year ago. Audrey racked up and started off. The guidebook description was a little vague as to where exactly the route goes and at every belay we'd get it out and try and figure out the next pitch. On the fourth pitch, which happened to be a slab, it started raining. While Audrey was leading it was only a mist but as soon as she hit her belay it started raining a bit harder, leaving a nice wet, slick slab for me. Fortunately Audrey placed quite a bit of gear so I was protected as the second climber but I was still worried about slipping. How could I live down falling on a grade '8' pitch? (That and it was a slab so it would hurt). The next few pitches were pretty spectacular and exposed and Audrey led every single pitch. We topped out the route just as the sun was setting and still had to find our descent route. I ran around for a bit, found what looked like a path and we set off. The path down was a lot nicer than I expected and even in the low light of dusk we could move fairly fast. We got back to the car, drove to the grocery store and bought a pre-cooked roast chicken for dinner and a pre-made chocolate cake for dessert. Yummy!

The weather is supposed to improve for the next few days and I really want to go back to Taipan to get on the second pitch of Serpentine. I also want to go to the super-crag, Muline. Hopefully in the next few days I'll get a chance to do both.

Well we've finally made it to The Grampians and I've actually climbed a few routes on the Taipan Wall. Unfortunately in the process Audrey got banged up even more and it doesn't look like she'll be climbing much in the next little while...

We drove down to Albury on Tuesday night and stayed at a nice little trailer motel in northern Albury. We finished the drive on Wednesday and pulled into Horsham around 5pm. The first thing we noticed is just how green it is around here. It's rained a lot lately and compared to the brown desert when we left it sure seems pretty lush. We met up with a girl named Christina whom we are going to be renting a room off of and then went and bought some groceries before making a big pasta dinner and settling in for the night.

The first place I wanted to check out was Taipan Wall. While I had no dreams of getting on anything spectacular I did want to at least hike to the wall and maybe try a few pitches. It had rained most of the night and quite a few days in advance so many of the routes were wet. When we arrived at the wall there were quite a few climbers that we recognized from the Blue Mountains. They helped us get orientated and even recommended a few pitches. I was silly enough to get on a two pitch route called Sirocco (26 - 5.12c), a route that the guide book describes as desperate and demoralizing... The first pitch was 21 and had some gear already on it and the second pitch was supposed to be classic although hard. I figured it'd be a sandbag but since it was dry I was willing to go give it a thrash. So I climbed up the first pitch and for a brief moment climbed across some perfect orange and grey streaks, the stuff of dreams and got to the first belay. I brought Audrey up, made her a belay and hooked her up. I then started up the second pitch, knowing the first crux was a big move, but at least there was a bolt right there. What I didn't know is that even after the first big move there was another insecure, difficult big move. The second move involved mantling up (getting your feet at the same level or above your hands and pressing out) off a two finger pocket and making a huge reach up. I managed to try and downclimb this move a few times, taking and resting at the bolt but on my last attempt I slipped while attempting to downclimb and fell about 10'. Not a big fall but big enough to generate enough momentum to lift Audrey out from the belay and slam her into the wall above her. It was a vertical wall above her but since she is so light she went up and around the belay and hit the wall, hard. I was almost level with her and thought I saw blood on the side of her head. I instructed her to escape the belay, use me as an anchor and lower herself to the ground. There were a few people at the ground and while she did hit her head (side of her face) against the wall there was no blood and just a big bump, fortunately. One more bruise for Audrey. While I felt demoralized for not being able to do the route Audrey was shaken and had a big headache. She was a trooper though, took some aspirin and held a water bottle to her head while I went off looking for other belayers (yup, I'm a jerk). I managed to try two other routes, one called The Invisible Fist (of Professor Hiddich Smiddich), or something like that and then one that was wet and slick which I flailed all over. As we hiked out the sun came out for just a few seconds and the Taipan Wall was glowing orange like in so many photos that I have seen.

The next day Audrey once again (more out of boredom than desire) agreed to hike out with me to an area called Millenium Caves. Fortunately with our car we could drive right up to within 10 minutes of the crag and escape the 1 hour plus hike. It was cloudy and a little misty as we hiked up but not long after we arrived the clouds burned off and the sun came out. There are a few small caves in the Millenium Caves area and although we hiked around to check out all the routes we only climbed in one area. Well actually I only climbed in one area. In addition to hitting her head on the rock it appears that Audrey also torqued her pinky finger somehow, probably when I fell at Taipan. She tried to climb one route but couldn't put any weight on her finger so didn't want to push it. I managed to sample a few of the climbs there including a nice long, steep 29 (13b) called Nomads, Saints and Indians that was quite pumpy with some hard climbing right at the top. I was happy to onsight this route and fought the temptation to use a sidewall near the top. I've been trying to get back to pushing myself lately and not 'take' or just give up. After reading The Rock Warrior's Way one of the things Arno says is that you don't know the outcome of trying but you know the outcome of giving up. You might as well try and see what happens rather than just give up and take. So I was happy to push through the pump and get rewarded by onsighting the route. That evening we went out to Natimuk, it was Friday and locals night at the pub so we decided to go out and say hi to a bunch of the people that we had met in our time there including Cate who we stayed with while in Natimuk. I can tell you that everyone is quite pleased with all the rain that has been falling lately.

Today Audrey and I were going to head out climbing with Cate and Monique but again it rained last night and was still raining a bit this morning. Audrey headed out but I stayed in Horsham to do some work and just rest up a bit.

It's finally happening! We are leaving the Blue Mountains and driving back down to Horsham to climb at The Grampians. I'm pretty excited about being able to climb at a few of the crags there like the world famous Taipan Wall and a newer crag people have been raving about called Muline.

Last week it rained on Wednesday and Thursday so we didn't get out climbing but I managed to get a lot of work done and we went to the fitness gym in Blackheath for a few hours. Audrey baked up a bunch of chocolate chip cookies and a rhubarb pie so two days of rain and eating baked goods necessitated the trip to the gym.

On Friday the weather cleared up in the afternoon and we took a quick trip out to Zapt Crag. Audrey ran a few laps on a steep 22 there while I did Pulse and then tried another 28 farther to the right. I can't remember what it was called but it was the loosest, scariest thing I've done in awhile. I was pulling holds off and breaking footholds before I was even into the crux. I bailed off that and headed out right up an equally scary 24. At least it was a gorgeous sunset again.

Saturday found us back at the Centennial Glen area. I was initially going to try Truckstop 31 but it was too hot. The sun was out and there was no breeze, not great conditions for that route. We still warmed up on Shippley Upper but then headed over to try a steep route called Inertia. Once again Audrey's body was feeling wrecked so she didn't really want to climb too much but was down there and willing to belay (fortunately for me). I went up Inertia to work the moves and quickly found a good sequence that would work for me. I actually thought I'd tick it right away so I lowered down and quickly got back on it. Unfortunately I fell in the middle of the roof and was actually a little tired. I had to rest a bit before my next go but was able to get through the roof and fortunately didn't fall on the upper headwall. A pretty good route all in all. Audrey's had this obsession with trying to videotape and record the sounds of Australia, including this one bird called a cockatoo. She spent about 15 minutes walking around trying to videotape one and then right when we were back at the car there were a few around.

On Sunday we went out climbing with Christina and decided to check out a newer area called The Gateway. The hike down was easy to find and pretty short. The cliff was actually three little amphitheatres and most of the climbing started up the columns separating the caves. We started on a short 24 on the far right side but it was really sharp and actually a little cold. I did a 28 extension that traversed the lip of the cave and got a quick flash pump but was able to onsight it. After two routes my skin was pretty shot and we decided to hike out to a different area called Logan Brae. Audrey had been there but I had not but wanted to check it out. Again it was fortunately a short hike so our knees didn't kill us. Audrey did a few routes and Christina went for the onsight of a 28 called EIEIO. There was a wet hold and she slipped out of it but managed to get a good sequence for me to then flash the route :). Christina then had to get back to town to pick up Alan so we called it a day a little early. Audrey and I enjoyed a coffee sitting in the sunshine before returning back to Mt. Victoria where we were staying.

Monday we went climbing with Martina who had just returned from a few weeks in the Grampians. She had been working Tsunami before she left and wanted to get back on it so we went back to The Wave to give her a belay. Audrey tried Tsunami as well while I sucked it up and got back on Microwave, a 29 with that huge dyno (some people say 28, some people say 30, I say 33! :) ). I unclipped the first two draws to reduce the drag over the first lip. I committed to the dyno but couldn't stick it from the ground. I actually tried the route another four times but couldn't do it... oh well. Unfortunately Martina didn't do Tsunami either although she did give a few good burns. Audrey and I returned back to the house we are staying at and started packing and cleaning, hoping to leave for The Grampians after her appointment with a local osteopath named Julian Sanders.

Audrey's appointment was early Today and after her appointment we went back to Logan Brae to do a few pitches and then we packed up the car, made a reservation at a hotel in Albury (about 4 hours south) and we were on our way!

All in all we spent about 6 weeks in The Blue Mountains. For the most part, once I accepted the sharp holds, I had a great time. The views are spectacular and there are tons of great routes. The people were friendly and welcoming and I think if we had known how long we were going to be here I would have tried to actually project some routes rather than just sampling crags (which was nice). I also regret not getting out to Pierce's Pass and doing some of the multi-pitch routes like Weaselburger, Hotel California and Critical Mass. At least I know there are plenty of routes to come back to!

On a side note - how many people read these entries? I get emails every so often from people but if you read this and haven't emailed me lately then drop a line and say hi. Thanks.

This past weekend Audrey and I went out climbing with one of the local route developers named Roger Bourne. Roger has been busy cleaning up and bolting many of the routes at an area called Mt. Boyce, included in his developments are two routes that he claims are the only two routes he'd want if stranded on a desert island... those are bold words. The two routes are Master's Eggs, and a gorgeous 45m long route aptly named One of the Best.

Last Friday Audrey and I started the day at Shipley Upper. Audrey wasn't feeling super energized after a long day of climbing yesterday and wasn't sure what she wanted to do so I decided to go down and get on Poopherator again. It was really windy which generally means good conditions for the climber but pretty crappy conditions for the belayer. In fact the conditions were so dry that on my first burn I slipped off a hold because my skin was too tough, it wouldn't mold to the rock properly. I'd never really experienced this route climbing before although I have had it bouldering. Normally I'd just file my skin down a bit but here I figured the rock would just do it for me. Some of the locals even refer to the sliding feeling as a 'Dry Slip' on days like this. Knowing that I'd have to prepare for the tougher skin I managed to redpoint it next go. As we were at Upper Shipley some friends, Alan and Christina, were over a The Wave and just before I got on Poopherator we saw Alan redpoint Tug Boat and hiked over there afterwards. I once again tried Search and Destroy but still couldn't figure out how to do the crux dyno. Christina managed to convince Audrey to go try a couple of routes that were in the sun on the other side of the Glen. I stayed behind in the shadows to try and take some photos but unforunately I didn't have my tripod with me so not many of them turned out. After climbing Audrey and I went back to Roger's place to pack up. We are moving out to Mt. Victoria to house sit for some friends who will be gone for a few weeks. We'll still be close to lots of climbing areas and hopefully get out to some different areas.

Even though the weather was amazing on Saturday Audrey and I decided to make it a rest day. After spending most of the morning doing errands and work we decided to save our energy for climbing on Sunday. We did get out though. I went for a run while Audrey rode circles around me and laughed at how out of shape I am. To make up for the fact that I actually exercised we went for dinner at a pub, ordered burgers and drank some beer. Hopefully that'll cure me of the running bug.

On Sunday we had planned to go to Mt Boyce with Roger. Now everytime someone asked us what we were doing and we said 'Going to Mt. Boyce with Roger', they'd laugh or chuckle or shake their heads. Most people knew it was Roger's favourite spot and guessed that if we were climbing with Roger chances are we would be going to Mt Boyce. I hadn't heard too much about the area from anyone other than Roger but the way he talked about it made me want to check it out for sure. I was a little worried that the climbing wouldn't be that spectacular, or that Roger was taken but the 'Route Equipper Bug', that the routes you put up are always the best. The hike down took Audrey and I longer than expected as we got lost for a little bit while Roger rappelled down from the top and set up a line to take some photos. The first route we got on was called Master's Eggs, a tricky little arete climb that truly was unlike anything we had done in the Blue Mountains so far. Audrey and I both really enjoyed the delicate climbing although she made it look a lot easier than it felt for me. Next up was the route of the day and the second of Roger's favourite routes - the 45m long 26(5.12c) called One of the Best. The climb goes straight up a long orange face and based on a discussion Roger and I had about the lost art of the sandbag I was appropriately scared of the route. There wasn't a lot of chalk on it and most of the climbing was quite technical. I managed to onsight the route although apparently I botched both crux sequences. I was mentally prepared to pull hard so if I could do the move I did it. I even had to pull off this really shallow mono when there was a decent edge about another foot to the right. That's the beauty of onsighting though. Every 3 meters the route seemed to changed characteristics. One section you might just be pulling on simple crimpers and then the next you're laybacking up a large flake, then traversing on underclings. Super cool climbing and definitely one of the best routes in the Blueys. I had been warned that doing it as a 45m pitch made the upper section really heinous but I loved it and wouldn't do it any differently. The climb is very direct so the rope drag wasn't that bad. Audrey also tried the climb but the lower crux involved a huge move off an undercling (where I used the mono) and she didn't want to tweak a tendon. She pulled past after barely resting and cruised to the top. After Audrey cleaned the route we went over and I tried a 25 called The 25th Floor, again the climbing was unlike anything I had tried so far in the Blue Mountains. After climbing in the sun however I was exhausted and couldn't try anything hard.

To finish off the day Roger and I rapped down and tried a 20 called Light My Fire. It was a great climb. You rap in and then climb out but as you climb out your feet are right on this ridge, and below your feet is about 150' of airy nothingness! To finish the route off you had to climb this steep headwall that was filled with jugs but then mantle out the top of the cliff. Yikes! It was a great way to finish off the day. Actually going to the pub for a beer was a great way to finish off the day.

On Monday Audrey wanted to return to The Freezer to try and redpoint a route called Lac Tic Toc. The Freezer has two parts to it; one that is great for warming up and running laps and the other with harder routes. Both areas and about 25m tall and vertical to slightly overhanging. We warmed up at the first area with Audrey onsighting a few routes to get warm and me following. The hike over to the second area involves walking across this chasm on a suspended log that sways a little. You connect yourself into a fixed line above the log but it's still a little scary. Lac Tic Toc is at the second area and as the name suggests while you climb the route you can hear the lactic acid clock ticking away. Audrey sent me up first to give me a chance for the onsight but I really know she just wanted the draws put up. I'm catching on to her. Audrey redpointed it first try making it look easy as usual. We hiked out and quickly drove over to the Zapt Crag, we hiked down and I tried a route called Pulse and surprised myself by not onsighting it. I wasn't pumped I just didn't want to pull a hardish move near the top. To make matters worse I fell even lower on my second try! Time for some spaghetti back at the house.

Today we headed down to Porter's Pass to try a few of the classic routes down there. Audrey started the day off by onsighting Black Heathen a 4 or 5 star 24 (11d/12a). Then she tried to onsight a 26 calledSail Away but a big move at the third bolt stopped her. That move stopped me on my first attempt and I had to lower to the ground and try again. Initially I was going to try a 28 that cut up and right just before the anchors but by the time I got to the branch I was pretty tired and opted out, heading for what I hoped was the easier ground at the end of the 26. While it was easier ground it was still very technical, slabby and reachy (maybe a little scary?). For the last move I had to hand-foot-match-heelhook behind this flake that I was sure was going to bust off. The last bolt was only at my feet but I couldn't do the heelhook without getting wrapped in the rope, just one of those situations. Eventually I just committed to the heelhook and hoped the flake would hold. Luckily for my it did but it still felt a little dicey. After Sail Away I onsighted Wipe Out but scared myself at the end by traversing low on a footless traverse to the anchor when apparently you can just walk across where I had my hands. Ah... onsighting... After that we headed up to Shipley Upper where I tried a route called Truckstop 31, a link-up between Poopherator and Equalizer. I figured out some beta and if we are back in the area I'll probably give it a go. By that time it was mid-afternoon and both Audrey and I were tired so we went into Katoomba to do some grocery shopping.

Right now Audrey is in the kitchen baking up a storm. I've been bugging here to make some chocolate chip cookies and she has finally agreed. I've probably already eaten a half dozen right out of the oven, yummy! I also think I'll be going for a run tomorrow...

This past week has been horrible. It's been raining and windy, my computer crashed so I've been without a computer for over a week and the Canucks are now down 3-1 in their series vs Anaheim! Could it be any worse?! Of course it could be worse. You know the old saying "A bad day on the road is still better than a good day at work". Audrey and I are still travelling down in Australia and planning on heading farther south to the Grampians soon.

It's been awhile since I added an entry and I don't really remember everything that happened last week. I know there were quite a few rainy days so Audrey and I didn't climb that much. On Monday we went out to an area called Bowen's Creek which was a pretty long hike but well worth it. It was protected from the rain hitting the east side of the mountains and had a nice roof to cap the cliff so all the routes stayed dry. Tuesday and Wednesday it rained but we had Alan and Christina over for dinner on Tuesday night and then drove to an indoor gym on Wednesday.

Thursday was a nice weather day, we climbed at Shipley Upper in the morning and went out to Barden's Lookout in the afternoon to try a super steep 28 called The Way of All Flesh. Monique wanted to run laps on it for fitness and I just wanted to get up it.

Friday and Saturday were rest days again. Friday I had to drive into Sydney to drop of my laptop for warranty repairs and Saturday it was pouring rain and windy but I still forced myself to go out for a run.

Sunday was nice and sunny but super windy. Not really knowing the area too well yet we headed out to Diamond Falls, apparently something you aren't supposed to do on a windy day. There's a small runoff to the left of the main wall and with the wind this runoff blows across the entire wall soaking it. It was a nice hike at least. In the afternoon we went down to the Centennial Glen area but didn't do too much.

Monday ended up being a rest day. We took the car in for a tune up and were stranded in Katoomba while it was being fixed. Nothing major just some time in the shop. Walking around Katoomba all day was pretty boring I'll be honest.

For those of you trying to stay updated on the travellings of James Barrand, well he was in Tasmania for the past week and just returned to the Sydney area before heading back to Thailand next week. He came out to the Blue Mountains on Tuesday where we again headed for Diamond Falls in the morning. Audrey wanted to try Mr. McGoo again and I wanted to just finish off a few of the routes I had tried there. When we got down there none of us were super psyched since it was still pretty windy and cold. I managed to do Super Goo, and Tuckered Out and was suprisingly quite pumped on the later climb. For the afternoon we headed to Zapt Crag, a small area with an equally short approach. We did a few routes there and I managed to do this incredible 28 called Zapt, I loved the climbing on the upper prow. The evening colours were incredible as the setting sun made the orange rock almost glow.

Wednesday Audrey decided to rest and actually drove into Sydney (by herself, on the wrong side of the road!) to pick up my laptop. Fortunately it went smoothly and she made it back safe and sound. James and I climbed down at Shipley Upper and I tried a route called Poopherator, one of the best routes I've been on in the mountains. It has a sustainedd yet bouldery lower section for about 15-20 moves, capped with a small dyno to a jug and then easy climbing to the top. I managed to figure out a sequence but was too tired to actually link all the moves, next try probably. James was running on empty after climbing lots recently and wasn't too excited to try hard on anything. He just played on some easier routes and seemed content at that.

Today's a rest day for me. I have my laptop back and will need to do quite a few hours of work to make up for lost time. Audrey is out climbing with Monique and it's a gorgeous day. I'll probably go for a run or a hike at some point... So while the past week has had it's ups and downs I think it'd be really stretching it to say it was the worst week of the trip. It was a frustrating, uneventful week but still had some great moments.

Audrey's neck and shoulders have started bothering here again, actually they've been bothering her for over a month and she recently started seeing an osteopath down here. It looks like he wants to have at least a few more sessions so we'll be in the Blueys for the next two weeks or so. We'll see...