October...one of those months

We had pretty good weather in October here in northern Tasmania - relatively rain free, warm temperatures but not the full heat of summer, and nice long days. At least that's what it looked like out the window. I didn't actually experience much of it myself as I spent a good portion of my time in the molecular lab trying to keep my temper under control and not throwing expensive equipment. I did manage to get out after work some days for a few hours, and the occasional day on a weekend here or there, but most days/weekends/evenings/nights/early-mornings were spent in the lab. When I did get out, I spent most of my time working on local climbing and bouldering projects, although as with my work in the lab I was having trouble getting anything to fruition. I didn't really take any photos during October either, which makes for a pretty weak monthly blog report. However, in the first week of November some things finally came together in the lab and I cut back on working to normal hours which has given me a bit more opportunity to get out.

This past weekend Leanne and I took one day and went out to Mt Williams National Park. It was unseasonably hot that day so it was a good day to walk out on the beach and relax.

 

The other day of the weekend I went out and tried a couple of the climbing projects, which went really well and hopefully I'll do some of them soon. I'm going back home to the US for December and there's at least 2 routes I'd like to have finished before I head home. 

I also dusted off the video camera last friday afternoon, and went out and did a new boulder problem in the Gorge that I dubbed Limited Edition (probably around the V9 grade) just below the Duck Reach Power Station. I had to build up the landing a bit with some logs as otherwise it's a pretty nasty drop, which unfortunately will likely be swept away in the next substantial flood, but with the landing in it's current form the problem is one of the better ones around. There's a left variation too that is a little harder which I'll have to get back and try at some point

That's all I have for now. I will try to post again before I leave the first week in December. Till then-

September in the Grampians

In the last post I mentioned that in mid September Leanne and I were heading to the Grampians for a short vacation. Obviously there was more to September for me than that trip, but for the most part it was just the standard fair of working and occasional climbing without anything too noteworthy occurring, so for this blog I will focus my attention solely on our trip to the mainland.

To succinctly describe the trip, it was awesome. It was really nice to get away for a few days, the weather was excellent, and the scenery was beautiful.

   

Spring was in full effect and the wildflowers were out in force. It seemed like every single plant had a flower on it, and some of them smelled incredible. 

 

We took two trips to areas we hadn't visited on our last visit: Mt Arapiles and the Victoria Range. We didn't climb at Arapiles, just walked around and checked the place out. It's mostly a destination for traditional route climbing of moderate difficulty, however there are a few things I think I would like to climb and I fully intend to spend some more time there in the future,

 although I'm a bit dubious about spending too much time in a place where apparently the 80's still hold so much sway

The Victory range was also really nice. More remote, beautiful vistas, and some good route climbing with the potential for great bouldering (although it has yet to be much developed). We climbed routes for one afternoon at a place called the Gallery, a nice steep cliff in a great setting. It wasn't very large, but most the routes were of good quality and it was nice to climb on that overhanging style again. There isn't anything like it in Tasmania, and after climbing on it I was keenly reminded how much I like that type of climbing

On a rest day we did some wine touring similar to on our previous trip with Mike and Tammy, which was also nice, but mainly we went bouldering. Lots of bouldering. The boulders are some of the best quality I've ever seen and it's rare that I go to a place and choose bouldering over climbing longer routes, but this place is one of those. I was pretty out of shape, being a strict weekend warrior in Tasmania, so I spent most of my time getting back into shape so to speak by climbing lots of easy to moderate boulders, although I did manage to get up a few harder ones as well, and tried a good number of harder problems that I didn't finish. If I couldn't do them in a couple tries I moved on. There were so much good climbing to be done that I didn't want to bother fixating on one (or a limited few) problems but rather do as many different climbs as possible. In our 6 days of bouldering I did about 35 problems between V5-V10 and a similar number of problems between V2-V4, almost all of which were of the highest quality and really enjoyable to climb. Leanne did a lot of problems too, and between us we climbed well over a hundred problems and 500 V-points of Grampians classic boulders. It was probably one of the most enjoyable weeks of bouldering I've ever had:



Lightning Arete (V7)



4:45 (V4)



100 lbs Club (V10)





Damsel (V3)





Caves Club area, top of Mt Stapylton





Cave's Club (V10)




Whipped Cream (V7)



Dra Di (V3)





The Snakepit area





Volume 1000 (V4)




Topout Volume 1000




Snakepit roof




Caterpillar (V3)




Caterpiller




High Flyer (V9)



Waiting in the Air dyno (V7)



Out of the Bleu (V5)



Out of the Bleu



As is usual on our expeditions we saw some interesting wildlife, and even after being here in Australia for more than a year now I still find the uniqueness of the fauna very striking.



On one of our last days we met our friend Craig from Adelaide at the Tiapan wall and did a few routes, although Leanne wasn't so enthused about the style and I can't say I was exactly in the mood to deal with "sport" climbs where half the gear is traditional protection. Still, I did do a classic route called Tyranny (8a) in a couple tries which was pretty good and managed to get up Venom (7c+) first try after our friend Craig placed the gear and gave me all the beta (thanks Craig!).

Now I'm back at work, but with our daylight saving in effect I hope to get out a bit more during the week if I can find the time (I've got some upcoming deadlines that might stymie those plans). I turned 30 years old yesterday, had a nice party and took a brewery tour. We'll see how this next month goes, but for now that's all I got. Till next time-

August update

Ok, so I didn't quite get this one up in August, but it's only a day late so I'm calling it cose enough. I don't actually have much to say concerning this month, pretty standard fair really without much in the way of new things to post about. I've been a bit more excited about climbing lately. A nice feeling to get some psych back, especially since Leanne and I are heading to the Grampians in about a week and a half to take a short but much needed vacation and do some rock climbing. From our previous trip last year I thought it was the best bouldering area I'd ever been too, and I hear the route climbing is just as good so hopefully we'll get a chance to do some of that as well. The next post should be a good one.


As for the past/present. I've been spending a good deal of time as usual at the University in my lab coat putting my brain the rack. The past few weeks I've been attempting to isolate and purify double-stranded viral RNA and capsids from fish blood, which may or may not sound very difficult but let me assure you that it damn well is. The stuff I'm to do with the RNA once I've purified it has plenty of pitfalls as well, but in the end I don't really have anything to whinge on about since I find the problem solving quite interesting.

I (we actually, since there's 4 of us) have continued with the beer making. Since Feb we've done well over 100 gallons, which may seem like a lot but when you have a number of people drinking it it goes pretty quick.

The last few weekends have been rather rainy, which didn't make for very good climbing although we tried anyway. This past Sunday I went out again to the Leven Canyon area to try and find some more climbable rock. I checked out a new place called Preston falls, which had the angle I was looking for (i.e. overhanging) and the rock quality seemed decent, but spray from the falls and the precipitate that had formed on the rock didn't inspire me enough to get out the drill....yet. I might have to take another look in summer when the falls dry up and see if the rock will clean up better then. It's a pretty area at any rate.

I also went back to the only climbable limestone cliff I've seen in Tassie, which is unfortunately on private land and quite near to the owners house/bed and breakfast. After a good hard look I decided that I didn't think it'd be worth the effort of developing for the few choice lines available and mostly dead-verticle terrain, although laying my hands on a tufa and a couple of crimps definitely made me miss climbing on that type of stone. I'd say limestone's my favorite by far.

So that's about all I have for now. I'll leave you with a short video of a couple boulder problems I did in Oatlands at the end of last summer and have only recently got around to uploading the footage. Three nice problems, all around 7A+ in what's called the Rumble cave. I'll be excited to get back there when the lake goes down again to get on some of the harder stuff. I'd Like to thank Andrew Geeves for shooting the footage, he did a really good job especially concidering I handed him a camera he'd never seen before and said "here, shoot some vid".

Till next time-

July - new things

The first week of July I went to an aquatic animal health conference in Cairns. Those unfamiliar with Cairns will find it located on a map on the northeast coast of Australia in Queensland, likely learn that it is the gateway to access the Great Barrier Reef, and has a climate reminiscent of Southern Mexico (a nice change to the relatively cold winter we're currently experiencing in Tasmania). Apparently there is a variety of outdoor things to do in Cairns in addition to snorkeling/scuba diving, but I wouldn't know about any of it as I spent most of my days in the casino's event center and my nights at the bar(s). Pity, I would have liked to wrestle a crocodile. Maybe next time.

The second week in July I spent recuperating/catching up from the first week when I was away at the conferance and planning for the following weeks trip to Port Lincoln in South Australia for more tuna sampling.

Again, long hours and a lot of lab work on the Port lincoln trip, but it went well overall and I got done what I needed.

On my return to Tasmania, Leanne and I spent the weekend climbing/diving. On Saturday we went to Bare Rock in Fingal and did a couple new routes on the right hand end. Bare rock is a big cliff (200m tall) and as the climbs we wanted to do were on the upper bit, we hiked around to the top and rappelled down to a big ledge to start. The 7b route (Into the void)was excellent, although my feet were hurting by the end of the 50m pitch from all the small edges. I also did a harder 7c variant (Fairies wear boots) which was decent, but not quite as good as the first. I was hoping to make it over to a new sector on the left hand end of the cliff where some recent development and potential for hard routes had been rumored, but the short winter day saw us walking out at dusk without time for such a venture.

The following day we went diving with a friend of ours, Eddie, on the east coast. Eddie, unlike us, does have an underwater case for his camera and Leanne was able to take a few photos while Eddie and I hunted for cray (lobster).



Eddie and I got a couple crays, but unfortunately all but one were female and we had to let them go (this time of year females have eggs and can’t be harvested). Still, it was nice to get one sizeable one, and with the addition of some abalone it made for a nice dinner.



Then, this past weekend we went back to Fingal and I got to check out some of the new development on the left end. I met up with Will Bartlett and Gary Phillips, the latter of which has been spending a bunch of time up there recently bolting and climbing new routes. I was feeling quite out of shape, but psyched about the new routes and had a really nice day out climbing with those guys. As there was three of us, we switched off taking photos, climbing, and belaying and ended up with some pretty good shots I think that showcase the nature of the climbing and the position nicely.

There was a bit of valley fog in the morning when we got up there, and with some snow on the peaks, it made for some really nice vistas that day

 Here are a couple shots of Gary on his new (and really good) 7b+ warmup route that I can't remember the name of

and one of me blowing a heel-hook and pitching off at the anchors of the same route



Will and I then tried a nice 7c+  Gary had put up earlier in the week with a pretty cool cross-over crux sequence

Gary made quick work of a new line he bolted just right of his previous one Will and I were trying, also in the 7c+/8a range.

There is definitely potential for some hard stuff in that area and I am feeling pretty motivated to try and get back into some climbing shape, get out there, and do some quality hard climbing. Unfortunately the season is about to end, as wedge-tail eagles and peregrine falcons will start nesting there. Nevertheless, it will give me something to look forward to for the fall and a little extra motivation never hurts when it comes to making time for training.

That’s about all I have for the moment. Until next month-