Return to the Hooker

well im heading back up there, the hooker valley i mean. ive people say part of a successful alpine career is a bad memory. luckily for me the pain of walking has subsided and im super-psyched to get on with it!! the distance cant be as far as i remember. it wont be as cold as i remember either!! i sit hoping that by saying this over and over it'll come true!!

well time to have at it!

"All men dream: but not equally, Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible. This I [do]. "- T E Lawrence

Storms and Tea-Cup's

so now that ive got my blog up to date with all the adventures ive been having at the start of the year i can finally get done to what im doing right now!! currently im sitting in Christchurch, New Zealand.

after a fantastic weekend of partying, and saying fond farewells to all my friends i was at the airport. as always i was arguing my case with the check-in chick. virgin have cracked down on excess baggage so my 55kg saw me forking out for the privelige. luckily i had met a friend of a friend, Liz, so i had a place to stay in Sydney overnight. i was in the heart of struggletown tho making my way from the train to her apartment with my body-weight of gear! i was soon involved in the goon frenzy going on and a good night ensued!! i woke early with a sore head and bleary eyes and made my way back to the airport to get on with the next leg. fog in sydney led to my flight being delayed. this meant i would miss my next flight, costing me dearly! by the time i rocked up in Auckland there were no more flights to Christchurch so i pulled out my sleeping bag and settled into the international terminal for the night. a cheap Air New Zealand flight later and was standing at the counter for Jucy car rentals, signing my life away. i had some time to kill before i picked Garry up from the airport so i made my way into town, to sift and peruse the fine wares on offer.

Garry was also delayed a bit, but we were soon on our way down to wanaka. i had some things to pick up from a shop there and we had to stock up for a mission. we checked the forecast, our best bet was heading up the hooker valley to Empress Hut. here we might steal a chance at climbing the might south face of Mt Hicks. the weather looked like it would be grim but we had to try! we stocked up on everything we thought we'd need and made our way to Mt Cook village to launch our assault from there.

the walk up the hooker is a grim and gruelling prospect. going from the plains in the village to 2500m. we set off just before dawn and were making good time. watching the transformation of vegetation and scenery was amazing. we even had some wild tahir(?) run past us. getting down onto the glacier from the moraine wall proved to be 'fun' little escapade. we soon had snow crunching under-foot as we made our way up, always up. the hardest section is getting past a big hill called pudding rock. in a good year u can walk straight past it but we had a bit more exciting time. theres a couloir on the right that i led up. it was steep sloppy uncosolidated snow, quite hairy! i even had to pull up off a snow stake to get past a steep bulge!!

once on pudding rock we collapsed into Gardiner Hut. we decided that this small hut would be home for the night. we were pretty tried from the previous 8 hour slog and didnt feel like navigating the next bit in the dark. dawn broke and we were soon up and at it slogging our way the glacier, navigating crevasses to get through to Empress Hut. we made it by late morning and slumped ready for a cup of tea! with some good weather still about we went for a wander over to the base of Mt Hicks and climbed the first rope-length of ice on the Dingle Button couloir. it was getting late so we rapped off and made our way back to the hut.

during the night the foul weather set in. the following 3 days were a blur of reading, tea, stretching and sleep. anything to shake the boredom of being stuck in a small hut while the wind howled! with so much snow being dumped it looked like we would not be able to safely climb, due to avalanche danger, even when it was clear. with this in mind, and the forecast looking even more grim for the following week we decided to get out when we could.

the snow was so deep when we left, snow-shoes proving invaluable! it was crazy to see how much was dropping off all the slopes around us. the whole valley would rumble from time to time, white out conditions preventing us from know where it was coming from. after nearly falling in a few crevasses the clouds lifted enough for us to make our way ot Gardiner Hut. we stopped for a brew and pondered our next move. we decided the safeest option was to try and locate abseil anchors over Pudding Rock. however these would be covered in snow and ice!

we found the first cable alright. i abseiled lower to try and find the next set of anchors. after 45 mins of frustrating chopping i finally found another anchor. Garry joined me and i set off to find the next one. 30 mins later i couldnt find the next one so i had Garry fix our 70m rope so i could go to the end to keep searching. luckily i soon found something, some steel cable buried at both ends. i wrapped a prussic around it, that would do. a 40m free hanging abseil saw us touch down onto the glacier. the snow here was so deep we were soon wading, up to our thighs thru the wet slop. we now only had about 1 hour of daylight so we hurried down the glacier.

we continued on once darkness fell, navigation was fairly stright-forward. it did however get increasingly difficult as we went lower down the glacier, where its more chopped up. we had to find the right bit of the moraine wall to scramble up and exit onto the track, but in the dark this proved a pretty grim prospect. equally grim was the other option we settled on, and open bivy. after trying to make the rocks around me as flat as possible i crawled into my light-weight bag (only rated to 0 Degrees) and shivered the night away. i managed about 45 mins of crappy sleep.

the sun in the morning was a welcome sight and i soon warmed up as we trudged up the moraine to get on the track. my feet were soaked, cold and starting to rub but i grit my teeth and pressed on. theres no other option! just after lunchtime we collapsed back at the car, barely able to hold myself up! a well deserved meat-pie at the hermitage saw me feeling mych better!! we checked in with the Department of Conservation (DoC) to let them know we were safe and then decided to bail to christchurch. the weather forecast looking shit for the rest of the week.

so last night we stayed with Freya and Jeremy (jez) from tas which is great! really good to hear about their trip to India. Garry heads home on wedsnesday so im not exactly sure what to do for the next three weeks, but im sure ill find something to climb with someone!!!

rock on!!!

Buffalo once more

so i had some classic free-climbs ticked out at the wimmera, so what better to do now than climb some classic aid routes at buffalo? i had all my big wall shite in the van when i came over so once we finished work i just hopped in the car and started driving, buffalo-bound. i had the worst timing ever, the rest of melbourne were also on the hume highway this friday evening. bloody long weekends...

i dossed in the back of my van on the side of the road down near bright. the morning light came as i set off to finalise the supplies for this next adventure. with most shops being closed i was glad to find some open for the masses, allowing me to stock up on fuel and big-wall goodies! soon i was heading up the hill to check things out and get ready for the assault. having previously climbed Holden Caulfield and Ozy i thought id be a bit of a hero and try Clouded Queen in its entireity. the topo and route description in the guidebook is pretty poor but i figured id work it out on the wall.

i fixed a rope on the first abseil down Defender of the Faith then made my way down. id forgotton how much of a pain in the arse haulbags are on ur own! after much cursing, spluttering and general rage i was soon setting up the belay at the base of the route. i only had a few pitches to climb on the first day so i was in no hurry. however dark clouds were brewing. just as the clanking of my portaledge going together was finished, the heavens opened. i scurried under my fly and got out the most essential big-wall solo item, my iPod. watching lightning flash through the portaledge fly was something i wont soon forget!

the next day broke to blue skies once more. i set off what i thought was the right route, following some fixed gear out the roof. i hauled/ cleaned the pitch and started up the next ropelength. something didnt quite feel right. there were bolts on the pitch and it didnt quite match the vague description i had scribbled in my pocket. i thought 'oh well, im still going up' and continued up the line. by the end of the pitch i knew i was off route. i was now moving on the arete left of Ozy when i should have been out on the face. i now had a big choice, bail into Ozy or sack-up and head back into Clouded Queen.

i tucked tail and ran. mentally i wasnt prepared for what soloing a hard aid route would require so i decided to just take a few days off and just float up Ozy Direct. getting into the corner below the Ozy roof proved fun however. unable to pendulem across i had to tape my nut tool to the end of the pole for the portaledge fly, attach some rope to it and hook a bolt to pull my self over! once established in the corner i was off, the A1 crack feeling so easy compared to the copper-heads i'd just been pulling off!!! i punched throught the roof and was soon up at the gledhill bivy, what better place to chill out!! again the iPod came out as i watched the gliders arc and soar across the darkening skyline, life wasn't too bad. all the stress i had about climbing hard had been washed away and i could now relax and enjoy the moment.

i silenced the alarm and rolled over, with only a few pitches to climb i wanted to lie in! eventually i dragged myself out of bed and set off. i decided to finish out Holden Caulfield. theres less fisty-cuffs in wide cracks and you get some cool exposure. everything was going fine, i was on the rivet on the pitch, these crazy blobs with wire coming off them. i was up at the point where Steve is pictured on the cover off the guide, standing on the wire he has clipped, when things got grim.

'Crunch'

oh shit i thought as i dropped a centimetre, looking down the rock had blown out half the placement. by the grace of god i was still hanging in there. i frantically fumbled on the rack for a hook so i could get on a good edge on the face, then 'Ping' i plummetted. because it was 'easy i had lots of slack out. i remember thinking 'ok the rope should take up about now', as it did i slowed a little. then 'snap' i broke the rivet and fell another few metres. i finally arrested about 8 metres below where i started the plummet. i bit shaken i jugged back up. not sure what to do next i thought i had better try and hook past that section. a few dicey moves later saw me at the next rivets. the pitch is now harder but in my opinion more classic!! it never needed so many rivets in the FA.

i topped out just after lunch and made my way down the hill. all the caravan parks were chockers so no-one would let me shower, so i set off for melbourne! at elwood beach i braved the frigid waters for a bath. soon i was sitting on the ferry back home. it was only a few months till i was to set off for NZ and Peru so i had heaps to keep me out of trouble at home. i reflected on what had just happened.

i had wanted to be the hero, soloing a hard route but mentally i wasnt up to it and i got smacked. it was a good lesson in learning to listen to myself. to hear whats actually going on upstairs, not just what i wish was happening...

Talk is Cheap

Heres a cool video Garry Phillips made of us climbing on our new route, Talk is Cheap (IV, 24, 180m). we did this a little while ago now, but an amazing route!!! one of the must-do's for any keen adventure climbers out there!!!

Fun times in VIC

i was back at it, slaving away over aluminum handrailing, trying to make the world a safer place. all i could think of was climbing though. with arapalies and the grampians only hours away i was busy making plans... old 'blueballs' Grug and his little german friend had just set up camp in the pines and i was soon off to join them. i only had the wkends however so i had to make them count!
Day 1, Taipan wall! i searched the pines high, an i searched them low but no sign of Grug, did they show. i heard a whisper in the trees that they were at some magical wonderland, full of amazing orangeness, where the bins are plentiful and the vegies never go off. well ok they were at taipan. i cruised on up to join them, albeit a touch late! Grug was just about to get on Invisible Fist (26). he fought his way up it, figuring out the moves. i got on and did the same. alright, i had it sussed, but did i have the fitness?! i pulled into the crux, somehow staying on. with a roar to rival any, i managed it second shot! the sun came along to ruin the party and we hightailed to araps for some classics! sunday rolled by with a flurry of classics, highlights being Dreadnought(24) and thundercrack(20)!!

so back at work, doing my bit for the flailing economy. all week i dreamed of araps, and what awaited me next weekend. friday finally came and i was off, out west again! straight to the pines where we talked shit well into the night. the morning broke and we headed back up Ali's to the base of an amazing route, Final Departure(27). after a few hours of flailing i couldnt work out the crux properly. it felt like 9a! so we pulled the pin and went back to camp with our tails between our legs. we were both pretty stuffed but decided to go try a route id been told was amazing, Yesterday(26).

the approach is epic by arapiles standards. but the 15 minutes rolled by quickly and we were soon at the base. a valiant effort by Grug got halfway up the route, stopped by a crazy dyno-thing. i decided to man up and take the lead, all the way to the top to put a top-rope on it... not my finest hour but if you think i honestly care im sorry, whatever! anyway we had a play and figured out some moves before calling it a day! the next day we marched stright back up the gully. with a few friends up to watch it was my turn on the sharp-end. i psyched up but the boulder problem to start spat me off. again i pulled on and made it through. i couldnt fall now! i got to the rest, then stuck the dyno! shit, dont fall now. shakily making my up i had to dig so deep to hang on, even the final jugs felt insanely hard!! i lowered off and gave Grug a belay, but no luck unfortunately!

i was soon driving back to Geelong, next weekend i was keen to head to Buffalo, to get a mini big-wall fix! i had big plans to be a hero, i wanted to solo Clouded Queen, the whole route. but fate had other plans....

Mt Anne

So i had ticked a dream, solo the Tote. what next? after a few more weeks slaving away trying to get the bank fat i was about ready for another adventure. about 12 months ago garry had made noises about an unclimbed cliff on the backside of Mt Anne, in the states southwest. we talked about it all summer but thats all we did, talk. i checked the forecast and saw there were a few good days coming up the next week so we committed to the trip. Anna and her friend, Michelle were gonna tag along for the ride and keep the tea-pot on at basecamp. we made plans on how we would tackle the 210m of unknown climbing that would await us.

the last time someone had tried the face was in the late 70's. they had started up three different lines but lack of modern gear to fit the fused cracks led to retreat. we planned to go light and fast, taking only the bare essentials. we would have one small pack, hauled on a 6mm tag-line so the second could follow free. we took a double rack and small selection of pins, peckers and RURP's. we thought that leading all pitches on a single rope would be best. we packed all the gear into Michelles car and made the drive down. it was awhile since id been up that cursed hill but it didnt seem so bad, even with ropes and the rack!! we kept trudging up and up until we made to the Eliza hut, just below the plateau. we decided to sleep here and walk across in the morning. i had minimal bivy gear so this would be the warmest. in future however id sleep closer to Mt Anne.

with a pre-dawn start we were up and at it with a vengence. we stormed across the plateau and made good time. we arrived just below the summit and started skirting around to the East side of the hill, away from the track. we kept going down and down, passing a million unclimbed single-pitch mega classics. just a shame about the walk up to them! the gully we were in got steeper and steeper until we hit an impasse, a 10m vertical step. we had to abseil. garry hunted for an anchor, the fused rock didnt lend itself to anything decent. with a cry of amazment garry found two old pins with some faded tat. he replaced the sling and backed it up and i went over the edge with the pack, bounce testing as i went. a full 50m rap saw us out of the gully. we were soon looking up at a pretty damn intimidating face, miles from no-where with rescue days away. truly commited, all of lifes mundane bullshit faded away. we scoped the face for a few minutes, trying to find the easiest looking line. we decided on a corner system that went straight up, through the highest part of the cliff. we set off up the ever steepening scree to the base, relieved there was no scrub bashing!!!

with a belay in at the base of the wall proper we got organised and employed the time honoured rock paper scissors. im sure theres hyroglyphs in the pyramids of early games. i won and set up, climbing delicately past some loose rocks to gain what i thought looked like a bomber hand crack. after 10m i got into the crack. it started out perfect hands, dreamy climbing. i looked up and saw a hex hammered in as a lower-off. the badarse trad-masters of yesterdays' high point. i clipped it and struggled up. the crack had widened to #4 Camalot fisty-cuffs. i thrutched away, bitching and moaning. walking my only #4 up i constantly thought about uttering that lifesaving word, "take". but no, this was time to sack-up and give it hell! letting out some grunts and screams i somehow managed to grab a jug. so pumped i could barely hold on, i yanked hard and found myself on a comfy belay ledge. i whipped out the nut-tool and revealed a 5 piece belay on RP's and micro cams, where was a nice crack when i needed it!

garry quickly followed, laybacking the fisty-cuff section. before too long he was racked and ready to tackle the next pitch. he started up, it looked hard and bouldery. he gave his all but pinged off as a foot hold blew, landing on his 00 friend. pulling up on gear through the crux he gained a perfect, slightly overhanging finger crack and worked his way up. all i could hear were cries of delight. he soon had an anchor in and i was away! i wiggled his gear out and managed to free the bouldery crux at hard 22, maybe 23(definately in victoria, but they're homo's!!) to gain the finger crack. this was pure bliss. clean and steep with the odd footer thrown in capped by an incredibly unlikey traverse made this an amzing pitch. the location only added to it! we didnt care that we hadn't 'properly' freed that pitch, we were just trying to get up and out!!

i started up the next pitch, easy climbing, about grade 16 led me up a corner. we couldnt see where to go from here. i might be able to get into the next line left but it was a jungle of bushes and trees. the crack i was in was capped by a roof. i climbed up to the roof, shouting out to garry to check the camera, maybe he could see something on the pics we took that morning.

'can u go left, man?'

i gaze out across a 5m blank dolerite wall.

'nah dude what does it look like right?'

'ummm...' he pauses, 'yeh give that a try...'

i frigged a bomber anchor in the corner, i wanted to get around the arete a few metres away. as i did this i noticed a small edge. i stepped right and commited. damn, i was on the arete now. slapping blindly around it i found a jug slightly below my waist level. i jumped down and around to get it, smearing like a madman to mantle onto it. shit, there was no way back now and i had just stepped into some crazy exposure! crap, no gear, i made a few moves in and chucked in a small wire and a 00 C3. ahead looked hard. i moved up insecurely and tried to punch through. i whipped off, landing on the small cam. freaked out i aided a few moves and put in a belay. the rope drag was killer so i couldnt continue. i should have belayed in the other corner system, and double ropes would have helped!!

garry came up and we decided i should aid the section above for speeds sake. it didnt look too easy and we thought that would be the quickest way to go! i raced up it on A1 placements with the odd dicey cam thrown in. after 55m i tension traversed left to gain the summit, of this buttress anyway. the cold forced garry to jug the line, quickly joining me at the top of 170m of the steepest alpine dolerite ive ever climbed on. this place is the future for hard adventure routes! we hoped to just walk off easily. we could see the girls at shelf camp and were super keen for some hot tea! unfortunately there was more climbing to come.

there was a 50m buttress above us that we couldnt go around, so we started up, aiming for a rockscar that had made a corner. i aided up the corner, it will make an amazing free pitch, probably 24 or so. but fatigue, cold and darkness led us to the quick decision to just get out! as garry topped out with his trademark hissy fit, the last of the light faded, leaving us in the dark.

we stumbled across back to shelf camp in the black night. much to our liking the girls had soup ready for us when we got back. i should invite these guys along more often!! we set up the tent on a flat rock and turned in when heavy mist set in, the kind that just gets u damp all over, not in a good way. i managed to get a few hours of fitful dozing in before the rain set in. it wasnt long before water settled in a puddle under the tent. if only we'd seam sealed it like we said we should. soon my down bag was soaked. it was grim, i had all my clothes on, and still i shivered like a crazy man. i begged the sun to rear its warming head so we could get up and go! slowly it grew light, but we were still in the mist. we walked out and eventually came out of the cloud. we were stoked to have had perfect weather the day we climbed. after a hamburger on the way back home i slept like a wee baby, as happy as can be.

so whats the next adventure?!?

Playing with a Pole

Working for 'the man' was killing me slowly. Cage rage was slowly building up and i needed to break out and do something fun crazy and out there. Over new years Lauren Chandler came down for a trip to tas and i showed her some of the best places about. it was then i decided to go do something i had always dreamed of. I headed back to Melbourne for a few more weeks work, everyday thinking about the mission at hand. Soon the time came and i landed back onto the Hobart airport. i didnt bother checking the forecast for the next day, i own a rain-coat so that was inconsequential. As i drove down i was as happy as a pig in mud, the sky was blue!!!

i pulled into Fortesque Bay and paid my fees to avoid another run-in with the over zealous caretaker.(thats another story...) i shouldered the pack full of aiders ropes and other widgets to allow me to rope-solo the Aid Route(A3+/27 65m) on the Totem Pole. My housemate, Doug, had recently freeclimbed the line so his chalk was all over the route. he still had his tyrolean set-up to the summit, i could have gone across this and down but i wasnt feeling particularly homo so i set off to do it properly, ground-up.

the swing to the base is hard enough usually, i had a full aid-rack plus a lead rope plus four aiders plus the partridge in a pear tree so it took 3 goes to snag the new hangers at the belay. (cheers doug and deano!) the surf was pounding and the wind howling so i frigged in a belay and set off in search of dry rock. i made it to the higher belay without much fuss, theres heaps of bolts down low so i could move fast. i moved the belay higher, out of the waves then continued upwards.
i managed to get 10m out before i tried to go higher and was tugged back down by the gri-gri. with no good method for stacking the rope at the belay i had to head back down to clean up the tangles the wind had created, costing me more time.

soon i was looking up at the meat of the route, a thin seam that heads up to some hooks to the bolt-belay. i had to step around the arete into the seam and was exposed to the full force of the 70kmph winds! getting thrown around like a rag doll i continued up of tenious RPs before i faced an impass, the only bit that accepted gear had a useless rusty stub sticking out. i searched for ages to find anything to use. finally i moved off a tipped #1 pecker. up another foot the prospects of gear were no better. i ended up settling on a shitty sloping edge with a small dimple for a skyhook on the arete. staddling the arete i commited to the hook, watching my pecker fall out as i did so. i looked down past all the worthless pro and figured i'd end up somewhere near the sea when this hook blew. a minute passed and i was still there, the stuong gusts meant i couldnt get high on the piece and i dont know how my rocking around didnt dislodge it. i searched manically for the next piece, another shitty hook. about to commit to it i paused, this hook was suicide. there had to be something better. thirty second later i found it, a positive edge to sink my 'talon's into. highstepping up i clipped the bolt of the anchor, mumbling about how im selling my aid gear after this. it still staggers me that i didnt take the plunge.

i continued up of the belay passing the thin RURP seam. some hooking and delicately placed peckers saw me through to the final A1 crack to the summit. at this stage i heard voices, turning round to see two climbers. they had decided it too windy to climb that day but still came for a look. snapping off some pics they came across the tyrolean and joined me on the summit ledge. i had been to the true summit only weeks before but i had to go up once more, marking the first solo ascent of the Totem Pole. i smiled all the way back home, making the chesire cat look like a manic-depressive emo teen.