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Turkish Delight
24 January 2012, 11:36 am

The A Team!

Geeza!

Shisha innit

Antalya rest day

Psyched!

Snow...

Sunday market

Lunch!

Real Lunch

Serefe

We got wet!

All goood

First day syke!

Crags from campsite

Was up!!!!!

We have just returned from an amazing two week trip climbing at Geyik Bayiri, in the Antalya region of Turkey. This was our first time visiting the country and what a very special place it is! We had an absolute blast of a trip! None of this would have happened without our main man Andre ‘The Hammer’ Hedger, who was the driving force of the trip and the one who gave us the inspiration to head that way and check it out.

So, the start of the trip involved a quick dash down to London town where we all met up and stayed the night at Chez Andre’s. The next morning involved an early start, with a taxi ride straight to Gatwick, then followed the usual airport shenanigans and then boom, we were on our way heading east. Destination=Antalya !! After a rather long 4 hour flight (we didn’t care, we were going to Turkey baby!!) we arrived in the city of Antalya. It was pretty late on, but an organised taxi was waiting for us outside to take us the last bit. We arrived at our final destination of the Climber’s Garden in the dead of night, quickly putting up our tents and then hitting the sack!

The next morning we awoke to an amazing view of where we were going to be based for the next two weeks. There was rock everywhere we looked!! And best of all, the main and best sector (Sarkit) was less than five minutes from our tent! It really was a climber’s paradise. We then met up with Dan G, a great guy and friend of Andre’s who had already been out there for over a month and knew the place pretty well. He then joined the team and off we went ROCK CLIMBINGgggg!!

The first few days we took it pretty steady, ticking off some of the classic’s and then gradually stepping it up a gear to send some amazing routes! Weather wise, it was pretty chilly for most of the time and we did have four days of torrential rain which were a right off and dampened our moods slightly. Not to mention soaking everything in our tent!

Apart from that, all in all it was an amazing trip. One of the highlights was spending two of our rest days getting more of a cultural experience of real Turkey! This included a stole round the local Sunday market, a rub down at the Turkish Baths, smoking strawberry Shisha and consuming large amounts of kebabs, Turkish delights and Bazlama’s.

Here were some of our favourites sends of the trip: Ja Ja City 7a+, Back on the funky planet 7b+, Sarkit Souls 8a, Colonist 8a+, Okrimono 7c+,Geyikbayiri games 7b+, Skyline 7c, Plastik fantastic 8a, Gizmo 7c, Turkish Airways 8a+, Milestone 8a, Trio de ligoville 8a, Fun in the sun 7c+, Black moon 7b+, Family affair 8a+, Serpedon 8b+, Ikarus 8a+, Freedom is a battle 8a+, Richfest 8a, Chain erection 8a, Parrelle universe 7c+, River dance 7b+, Neptunalia 8a+

A BIG UP most go out to Andre, Dan, Ali and Ethan P for making the trip propa good gezza!!

Serefe homies!!!

Also a MASSIVE thank you to Peak Ales who made the trip happen.

Here's a sweet litl video Andre made from our trip!!

Tuffa central

Sick 7c+ at Alabalik

Toe jam rest!

Spot me?

Its all about the long stuff!

Source: The Hamer Blog

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Bouldering shizz
29 February 2012, 2:23 pm

Ed Update:-

Over the past month and a half since we returned from Turkey we have been trying to get out as much as possible on zee Gritstone. The weather has been far from helpful but there have been a few decent days between the 10 bad ones!

I have slowly been ticking my way through some brilliant problems that the grit has to offer. First up was a great session up at Row Tor were I managed to make the 3rd Ascent of Dave Mason’s ‘Pink Lady’ (8A). It’s a must do problem with some very hard tension moves on some pretty small undercut’s. As there was still enough light I went down to finish the day by ticking ‘Domes Sit Start’ (7C) which has now turned out to be my favourite problem on the grit. A great day with some video footage to come!!

Next was the Roaches, I had been meaning to go and try Tetris for ages and finally decided to go and check it out. We arrived, the boulder was completely dry and I managed to make a quick ascent of Tetris (7C) followed by a surprised flash on Columns (7C+), Great Day.

After those two amazing session’s on the grit, the weather crapped out again BUT this didn’t hold us back as I decided to go and meet up with Ted and Ethan and hit Stoney, the place of all dreams. Surprisingly the conditions were incredible and around 30 problems went down between us that day. Some of these include Arm bandit (7C), Denses White Ladder (7C), Pete’s Power Pull (7C+), Nasty Traverse (7C+), Jerry’s Problem (7C+) and an un-named 7B+.



After talking with Ethan and Bails we all decided to go and check out Turningstone edge near eatswood Rocks but on the other side of the valley. Our aim was to try and climb ‘River Of Life’ (8A). As we arrived the conditions were awful. The rock was all wet and the psyche was low. We decided to try and dry the holds and see if we could dig out some of the moves. After around 30 minutes of drying we realised that there was potential for climbing on it. We all gradually worked out the beta and finally I managed to make a send of it. Ethan and Bails were very close to sticking the crux and will deffo get it next time! Good effort Lad’s!!!

Photos taken by Adam Bails

Gasper’s Week;

Just Last week my good friend Gasper Pintar from Slovenia visited the UK for 1 week. We had already decided to take him up to the Plantation on the Tuesday. He started off by ticking ‘The Green Traverse’ (7A) and then Dope on a Slope (7A+). He and I also had a play on Deliverance (7B+) which shot us both down but was fun to try. He also got a send of the classic Not to Be Taken Away. We all then finished off the day by trying ‘Brad Pit’ (7C+). I had about 400 goes with loads of different heels from different makes of shoe which didn’t work. Gasper then kindly leant me his La Sportiva shoes which stick on like a babe in the wood. I FINALLY sent the problem all thanks to Gasper’s shoe. Thanks mate, you legend!!!!!

After a hard and long day up at Stanage we decided to take a rest day by having a really hard board session. Fantastic preparation for Friday’s venture.

Last but not least, we all headed down to the Churnet to check out the amazing looking Ina's Rock. This is a truely awesome piece of weathered sandstone hidden away in the woods, with two classic highball/solo's side by side. With a big team and even bigger loads of crash pads I've ever seen, we were ready for action! First line to go down was Thumberlina (highball V6 or E6), this is a brilliant line up a smooth wall with a wierd pockety start involving a big heal hook. Then some positive crimpers and a final scary lunge right at the top! This got 5 ascents in good time, including Gaspers first E graded route! Next up we moved all the pads over to the left and got stuck into the harder Cornelious (V9 or E7). Anyway Dave showed the way with a stylish ascent followed by myself and then Bails! What a great day!!

Dave sending Cornelious



Pads galore!



Me on the crux stretch!

Oh yeh and here are a couple of cool vid's that Ethan made a few weeks ago.

1. Churnet Bouldering

2. Beast of Bauston

I nicked them off his blog! Cheers mate!

Source: The Hamer Blog

[duncan]

 I had about 400 goes with loads of different heels from different makes of shoe which didn’t work. Gasper then kindly leant me his La Sportiva shoes which stick on like a babe in the wood. I FINALLY sent the problem all thanks to Gasper’s shoe.

 The Hamer Blog

Ed Hamer was sponsored by Red Chilli.

[Wood FT]

 I had about 400 goes with loads of different heels from different makes of shoe which didn’t work. Gasper then kindly leant me his La Sportiva shoes which stick on like a babe in the wood. I FINALLY sent the problem all thanks to Gasper’s shoe.

 The Hamer Blog

Ed Hamer was sponsored by Red Chilli.

Yeah but retorspective shout out to the Red Chilli wearing right foot for them stabby smears

[Jaspersharpe]

 

[Paul B]

a quick ascent of Tetris (7C) followed by a surprised flash on Columns (7C+), Great Day

I'd be surprised too!

[Doylo]

I'm sure Sportiva would welcome Ed on board, he's a beast! Thought Brad Pit and River Of Life got 7c and 7c+ in t'new guide

[Nibile]

Saw that Pearson as well is now sponsored by Sportiva.
W Italia.

[duncan]

I'm sure Sportiva would welcome Ed on board, he's a beast!

It's 'issuing a come and get me plea' innit?

[Bonjoy]

I'm sure Sportiva would welcome Ed on board, he's a beast! Thought Brad Pit and River Of Life got 7c and 7c+ in t'new guide

Dobbin recently pulled a hold off the start of RoL and suggested that it upped the grade to 8a after working the new sequence. I think Ed’s is the first repeat since the holdloss, so may well be on the money at 8a.

[dobbin]

What a fat cunt that dobbin is! At least he is dead good looking like. Here's the final throes of the aforementioned jugenhausen :

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East Asia!!
12 April 2012, 7:45 am

I've just returned back home from an amazing 3 weeks in Asia. The first few days were spent in Hong Kong watching Fiji run loops around all other oposition in the Rugby 7's tournement. Then we headed off to Thailand with a couple of mad days in Bangkok before flying off to Krabi and then the climbing paradise that is Tonsai! So instead of writing an essay about the trip thought I would just put loads of pictures up documenting it! Enjoy.....

Boooom!

Final- Fiji vs New Zealand

Fiji won!!

Towerblocks above the stadium

Chinese dragon celebration

Hong Kong skyline!

Zimbos beating the Canadians!

Hong Kong stadium

Hong Kong island

Bangkok Thailand



Now thats a hat!

The Thais like there brights colours!

Bangkok tansport

hmm maybe not

Monks in orange

Grand Palace

Bangkok at night

Krabi



Elephant riding in Au Nang!!

Early morning sea fishing!

Type= Needle Fish

Tonsai and Railay beach

Longboats

Dum's kitchen

7b+ on Tyrolean Wall

These guys knew how to climb!

Wild moves on Tantrum 8a+

Our family abode

Sex Power 8a on Tonsai wall

litl one

Throwing funky shapes

Phet Maak 7c+

One of the crag inhabitants

Baby Gorilla 7c

Warming up

Now those are Stalactites!

Classic Tonsai route Tidal wave 7b+

Tonsai beach

Low Tide wall

Paradise!



Source: The Hamer Blog

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Dry rock hunt!
6 May 2012, 11:00 pm

Right, since getting back from Thailand about 3 weeks ago now, the weathers been totally shite and the overall psyche’s been hard to come by and would choose 35 degrees and crazy humidity any day over piss wet British rock, but we’ve tried and have found the odd line to claw up!

So here’s where we’ve been, what we’ve done and all the rest is history… Peace x

• Malham (Very wet + cold!): New Age traveller 8a, L’ob session 7c+ (me!), Herbie 7c+ (onsight-ed), Obsession 7b+ (os-ed), The Last Toad 7b+ (os), Conceptual 7b.  

• Orme (Even wetter!): Masterclass 8a (just me, Ed couldnt be arsed to go up there), Loui Armstrong V13 (hefty grade dispatched by the youth!)

• Llandullas cave (too windy!): Manjekeews 7b+, Whirral whip 7c+

• Dinbren (waterfall!):  Walking with barrence 7b, I punched Judy first 7b+ (great name!), Flowers are for the dead 7c. Ed didn’t climb, he wanted to go home and weep!

• Stanage (dry and mint..finally!): Brad titt 7c+ (thank the lord!) Archangle E3 5b (classico)

• Lovely Matlock quarry (dryish): The power of the dark side (was E8 but more like cool E6/7 6b, mint line though).

• Harston rocks/Churnet (well good!): We both did One Chromosomes Missing E7 6b and then I sketched my way up Pair O’Genes E7 6c. Two awesome routes in a very esoteric seeting!

Check out the shots of Power of the darkside and a funny little video of the Churnet!

Yeh so that’s it, short and sweet. Don’t know how people can write so much gobbledygook about the art of climbing rocks. Less is more… Cut the crap like……………….. over and out youths





 

Source: The Hamer Blog

[jowgli]

Nice videos, Power of the Darkside looks amazing

are you still planning on uploading your footage of Pink Lady over at Rowtor? Keen to see it....

[Three Nine]

Well sick youth, hook that shit up homie.

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Never, Never Land
18 May 2012, 5:44 pm

A classic route at a rare sunny Ramshaw crag, from last weekend!  



Big span move leaving the crack

Commited

A bit camp that



Slopey shizz



Phew...

Source: The Hamer Blog

[cheque]

A bit camp that

 

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Spain diggin and UK OUT!
28 June 2012, 10:54 am

I have just returned from a great trip to Spain. I spent a week in Margalef and then went over to Siurana for a couple of days to end the trip off. I had already been to both of the crags some years ago so had some specific routes I wanted to try.  I wanted to crack a new grade category and was successful in doing so with a send of L’espiadimonis 8c/+. Another route that stood out amongst the others was a route called Doble Lluna, originally graded 8b/+ but I was informed afterwards that a hold had broken off, bumping it up to top end 8b+ possibly 8c?  We had 10 days of amazing weather, sometimes it was a little too hot but this meant climbing in the mornings and evenings. After spending 6 days in Margalef on pockets, my skin was thinning and I needed to pinch and crimp a few holds for a change. Hence my move to Siurana.

 Anyway before I get into too much detail I had a fun trip and can’t wait to return next year. My ticklist in the 8 days included

Siurana -

L’escamarla 7c+ (os)

Peixa 7c+ (os)

Gigololo 8a+ (2^nd go)

Cop de Cigala 8a+ (2^nd go)

Migranya Profunda 8b+ (2^nd go)

Margalef –

El Allento Del Dragon 8a (2^nd go)

Aeroplastica Extension 8a (os)

Vertigen 8a (2^nd go)

El fustigador 8a+

Absolut 8a+

Deverse Cordes 8a+ (os)

El Mananeo 8b (2^nd go)

Doble Lluna 8b+

L’espiadimonis 8c

After some quality escalade it was cool to finish with a glass of Cartoixa at the Scala Dei Priory. On my return to UK I had a great time watching the Queen’s jubilee down in London!I have been back for 3 weeks now and have managed to send a couple of good route, first up was The Spider (8a) down in Chee Dale. This is one of the best route in the UK. Next up was Beeston Tor, Ethan and myself did Honorary Buoux 7c, its a great route but everything else at that crag was EPIC! might leave that place for a good 20 years now!Gorges Du Loup soon! Rain now!

7a+ in Margalef



                                                                 Vertigen 8a, Margalef



Vertigen



La Cara Que No Miente 8a+



Migranya Profunda 8b+ (Adrien Berry taking shots)





Chillin at the Siurana refuge with the 3 D's



Homework!



Migranya Profunda 8b+L8rPeace to G baby! little true boss

Source: The Hamer Blog

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Summer trippin in the Loup!
10 September 2012, 1:08 pm



Hey up everybody!! Its been a while since the blog got an up date. So here's one....Well, we have just returned back from another amazing Euro trip to the south of France. It sounds crazy to think that we were out there for 5 weeks as it just went so quickly!  Me, Ed and Ethan all headed down in a very full Mazda bongo!So we spent the majority of the time in this huge gorge just north of Nice called the Gorge du Loup and most of this time was spent climbing at the world famous Deverse sector. It was an incredible place to climb with some of the steepest and hardest routes in the world all packed into this one cliff. Tuffa’s and chipped pockets was the name of the game here. So yeh, a pretty wicked place to be if you like that kind of stuff. During the time we were there, some fairly amazing sends went down from a lot of people, including three 9as by some Euro beasts!! It was a pretty hard place to get used to as everything was just soooo hard and steep! I found the style of the climbing there pretty tough and didn’t quite get the sends that I was hoping for from the trip but still managed some stunners. Ed as per usual crushed most routes he got on and got some amazing sends!

Here were some of the highlights of the gorge Deverse Satanique 8a, Cascade 8a, Sika 8a, Arrow head 8a, Welcome to the jungle 8a, Quassai 8a+.

Ed powered his way up these beasts!- Hot Chili X 8c, Quenelles Trophy 8c, New Power Sacrafice 8c, Hot chili beans volcano 8b+, Honk 8b+, SatanX 8b, New Power Generation 8b, Soul Sacrifice 8b.

Deverse Satanique 8aNew Power Sacrafice 8c



Chateauverte DWS innit

The Lettered Man in Antibes

7b+ in Chateauverte



Chillin int Calais

Ethan on New Power Generation 8b

Nice car! ?

Cheese Fondue!!

?

Quassai 8a+ South Normanton's most wanted Then for the last week we needed a change, so headed across to Chateauverte near Aix and did some awesome 40metre pump fests as well as a few bouldery offerings. It was a tad warm but a great place to unwind and finish the trip off. The top routes were Atlantis 8a, Bill boullette 8a, Le Diktateur 7c+ and Alexandre du blocos 7c+.

All in all a great trip was had with over 100 routes climbed on amazing cliffs in a beautiful area of southern France. So, apart from spending 20 euros each in a posh campsite for the first couple of days because we didn’t know where to stay, the rest of the trip we didn’t spend a penny and dossed in a picnic spot with the best view in the world!  There were some pretty spicy moments bumping into the police, park rangers, the mayor and a lot of other stressful moments that got people a bit pissed off but we had some pretty rad times as well. Big Up to everyone we met out there, cheers bru's!! Bring on the next trip hey!Oh yeh and last thing is a massive big up to Ethan and Tanja for the photo's. We stupidly forgot our camera so everything was either taken on his mobile or her camera!  Cheers guys! Check out his blog for a cool write up and more photos.

Peace x

Source: The Hamer Blog

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Frankenjura!
5 October 2012, 11:05 am

I've just got home from a lightling fast trip to the amazing Frankenjura in Germany! I was only there week but we managed to fit quite a lot of stuff into such a short time, with some climbing, a bit of sight seeing and even went back to school for a day! It was an amazing week in a very special place with a very special person, Tanja.

She kindly invited me over and gave me a tour of some of the best crags in Northern Frankenjura. Just down the road from her house!! It was great to have someone local show me around the place and I got a much better feel for the area!

Weather wise it was perfect climbing conditions being cool and sunny.

I dont know why we hadnt gone back, since we went there 4 years ago as its just such an incredible place to go climbing. So yeh it was awesome fun! Cant wait for the next trip there. Check out the shots to see what we got up to!

Here were a few of the amazing routes I did:-

Nikita 8a+, Infiziert 7c+, Lochverstarker 7c+, Down Under 7c+, Marathon Man 7b+, Dumbo 7b, Die Vollerdung 7a+, Salsa 7a.

[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Celebrating the onsight of Down Under 7c+[/td][/tr]

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[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Classic 8 (7a) of the Jura- Salsa[/td][/tr]

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[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Drinking in Bamberg-Gasmos!![/td][/tr]

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[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Huge pizza in Bamberg[/td][/tr]

[/table]

[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Aaamazing Bavarian food![/td][/tr]

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[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Stick clip or is that a Clip stick?[/td][/tr]

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[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Heeeeey![/td][/tr]

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[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Coburg[/td][/tr]

[/table]

[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td][/td][/tr]

[/table]

[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td][/td][/tr]

[/table]

[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Spot the lady with the four breasts![/td][/tr]

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[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Nikita 10- (8a+)[/td][/tr]

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[tr][td][/td][/tr][tr][td]Nikita [/td][/tr]

[/table]



Then apart from that, we've been out abit back home, mainly just ticking off a few things down at the Tor. The Prow and Cruxifiction (both 8a) were super cool lines all the way to the top of the crag! Also ticked a couple of Ted's cool links, The Green Rooster 8a and Lets get Green 7c+. Ed did The Toilet 8a

Then we checked out a little crag down at WCJ with a route called The Vision on it. It was pretty dirty and hadnt been climbed for a good while and we found it quite tricky to figure out which route was which. But we spent a bit of time cleaning and it turned out to be quite a decent and pretty desperate route!! Not quite the 7c/+ it says in the guide! More like tough 8a we thought!

Then up the road at Bigginers wall I did Fossil wall 7c and a couple of new 7c's down at Rubicon, Slapin and The Wimp.

Then last but not least I had a great day down at the Tor this week with Ethan. It was amazing to have the crag pretty much to our selves considering its been so horribly busy the last few times I've been there. Anyway I did the awesome extention to Chimes, which goes all the way to the top of the crag called Waddage 8b. Its a pretty rad route with a full on jump move right near the top after a lot of climbing!

Then after that I did a neat little route tucked around the corner called Tomb Raider 8a. Only short but packs in the moves!! Ethan then dispatched a cool problem called Lets get ready to rumbleweed V11 and I did Tumbleweed V10

So thats all folks for now, Cheers ya'll

over and out

Source: The Hamer Blog

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Snogging Crocodiles and Petting Alligators
4 December 2012, 3:11 pm

Had a cracking couple of weekends out on the grit recently! Perfect conditions to get your head back in the game for gritstone.

So last weekend I met Ethan up at Higgar tor. He had got there abit earlier and had already done the powerful lefthand arete Block and Tackle and so the only thing left to do on the block was Linkline (E6 6c). This we didnt really know too much about but after a couple of attempts, it was in the bag and what a great route it was! Pumpy, with long moves and good gear!!

Then this weekend, Saturday consisted of a bouldering sessions up at Burbage South ticking some classics that we had never done before.

The Sphinx V7 (high!), Boyager V8 (turd landing!) , Monochrome V8, Velvet Crab V7 and Rocket man V8+.

Then finally on Sunday I managed to finish off the wierd and amazing Dangerous Crocodile Snogging (E7 6c) at Ramshaw. I had been trying to do this route for a while now and everytime something seemed to go wrong with it. Firstly the weather is usually shit over that way and we got rained and snowed on a couple of times just before attempting the route. Then once, I forgot the key size 5 friend at home and then the last time we got there, someone was one it!!! Jeeez

Anyway was good to nail it this time!

Ed did a desperate problem called Ram Air V8+.

Got it on film too, Enjoy.....

Ed was in Slovenia over the last 10 days and here is a video of climbing Petting With An Alligator 8A+ Maltatal, Austria



Source: The Hamer Blog

[Doylo]

Not often you see the old V8+ these days ...

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2013....
12 February 2013, 2:27 pm

So....

It's been quite a while since I last wrote anything on here and quite a bit has happened over that time.

Firstly we both had great new years.

Ed headed off to Siurana in Spain with Ted and met some mates over there. It sounded like he had a cracking 10 days with perfect weather with a lot of psyched people! Highlights were the usual few 8a onsights as well as 3 8bs. He also checked out Montsant which sounded awesome!

And then as from last friday he's flown half way across the world to check out the climbing scene in Australia for a couple of months. Plans are to spend a lot of the time in Sydney and the Blue mountains. He'll be writing up some blogs for sure.

As for me! I've been spending a lot of my time over in Germany which has been amazing. I've been training hard at the gyms over there and in general having a great time! Its definitely not the season yet for climbing in the Frankenjura but its not far away and I can't wait to get stuck into some of the awesome lines of the forest.

Apart from that we had a fun day out in the snow at Rowtor a couple of weeks ago. We all managed the awesome highball line My Apple V8.

Then two weekends ago, Saturday was an amazing day weather wise and I was up at Stanage popular end with Oli Grounsell where we both managed a brilliant little gem, hidden among of the easy classics called Wall of Sound E6 6b. Then further down the cliff we did the classic roof climb Shine On E7 6c. Was great to be back on the grit after some time off!

Then last week Finn was up for a few days to get out on some trad and ended up having an amazing last day, where I sketched my way up the incredible Gaia E8 6c over at Black rocks. Had already tried to do it earlier in the week but just as I was getting my boots on it started snowing and totally covered the route. Pretty pist!!

This time however it all came together and after a few attempts trying to get through the desperate start (for shorties anyway!), I stuck the move and just had to keep it together for the top wall. Such an incredible route! Big respect to Finn for the psyche and the belay! Cheers buddy Managed to get it on film too.

Check it out, my first video effort! ha

And then this was the video that Ollie put together of Wall of Sound and Shine On. Nice one lad

Some shots too.......



My Apple V8

Wall of Sound E6 6b

Wall of Sound crux

Source: The Hamer Blog

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Ed Downunder...
25 February 2013, 2:08 pm



Week 1 – Arrival…I arrived in Australia after 24 hours of travelling feeling pretty spaced out and absolutely knackered. My journey consisted of flying from London via Paris and Guangzhou to Sydney. It was pretty full on. Anyway, I woke up the next day feeling slightly better and got myself some breakfast before checking out one of the local climbing gyms in St Peters. I was staying in a great little hostel in Newtown called Billabong Gardens. Newtown is a brilliant spot to be as there are plenty of shops/supermarkets/bars/restaurants/cinema’s -  loaaads!!!!After a couple days I met up with some great people inlcuding Amy Wilson, Matt Adams and Bill Hatcher who were really helpful and gave me plenty of contacts for my stay.Yesterday, I headed to the Villawood Climbing Gym to meet up with Carlie and Rob and to have a training session to loosen up. It is a fantastic wall with plenty of routes and boulder problems to go at across all grades.I then headed back with them out of the city to their place in Falconbridge, close to the Blue Mountains. Today, I am resting as it was a pretty full on session the night before…..my body is feeling all beat up! Next stop…..Blue Mountains ;)









Week 2 - Into the Blue Mountains…Day 1After a couple of rest days I felt ready to climb again. I hopped on the train from Carlie and Rob’s place and 30 minutes later was in Katoomba. Here I met up with a local climber, Matt Norgrove, and together we headed out to one of the newer crags in the Blue Mountains called Elphinstone. There was a large group of people at the crag that day so the psyche was high. I started with a route called ‘Tiger Snatch’ (29/8a) which climbs up an impressive orange coloured wall.  There were some super gymnastic moves between good natural breaks. I managed to send this on my 2^nd attempt which got the ball rolling.Next up was a climb called ‘Green Grass’ (29/8a).  This is by far one of the best lines I have ever seen. A few guys had been trying the route that day so I was encouraged to go for the flash.  This went pretty well for me and before I knew it I was resting after the crux moves with another 10 metres to go on slightly easier ground. I managed to dig deep and complete the flash. It was a great feeling clipping the chains;  a 5 star route ;o). Then we headed home after a great first day of climbing.Day 2The next day Matt decided to take me to a crag called Barden’s Lookout. It was pretty hot and sweaty but in the shade, so it was still possible to climb. I got ready and went for a route called ‘The way of all flesh’ (28/7c+). After some goes at the hard boulder start, I climbed through to the top. Another fantastic route!!!Then I had a quick go at Bloodline (8b/+) to the right, but felt pretty beasted by then to have any chance of climbing it.  Next time maybe ;o)  Day 3We woke early raring to go. The previous night a friend of Matt’s called Gavin had come up for the weekend to climb in the mountains. We had planned to check out a crag called ’Red Ledge’. It’s another amazing piece of rock with a range set of routes. It has a slightly longer walk in - about 45 minutes - but pretty flat ground the whole way. We arrived early in the morning becasue the sun hits this crag in the afternoon. Matt got warmed up on a climb called ‘Andys 24’ (7a+). I then followed and Gavin gave it a few good shots although I think he had previously climbed it sometime before. Matt then told me to try ‘Bloodshot’ (30/8a+), which he had climbed already. It was well chalked up and again climbed up an amazing, bright orange wall. I had a go at the onsight, but didn’t get very far. It had three obvious cruxes which all felt pretty tough to me. However, after working out the beta I made it to the top on my second attempt which was cool. Another five star line!We made the long walk back in full sun and 30°C and decided to finish the day with a session at the boulder gym in Blackheath. This is by far the best training gym I have ever used ;o). Totally psyched!!Day 4After three solid days of climbing, I started to feel pretty tired, but was just too psyched and I didn’t want to rest. Matt had some work on so I got dropped off in Blackheath, met up with Rob and Carlie and headed to another crag called ‘Centennial Glen’.  This sector was just unbelievable. There were so many good looking climbs that I just didn’t know where to start. I warmed up on a tough route called ‘Padington’ (25/7b) and then belayed Carlie on a route called ‘August 1914’ (29/8a). This had a very hard bouldery start with some big moves.  She worked out the beta, but decided to back off and save some skin. I was next in line, and decided to try the flash. I sketched my way through the start and found myself shaking out with a dodgey knee-bar rest before finishing up even more crimpy moves to some final jugs. I was pretty happy with this flash!!! I then finished off the day by onsighting a couple of great routes ‘Trix Roughly’ (26/7b+) and ‘Madge Macdonald’ (23/7a). We all headed home feeling pretty wasted.Day 6I woke up after a nice rest day feeling good and with a little more skin. Got the train early and met Matt again and headed back to Elphinstone. Matt wanted to finish off ‘Green Grass’ (29/8a) and I wanted to check out the moves on ‘Tiger Cat’ (33/8c). We both warmed up and I gave Matt a belay on ‘Green Grass’.  He came so close to sticking the last move on the crux. He was feeling pretty psyched with his efforts as it had been about six months since he lasted climbed due to an injury! Great effort mate! He has only been climbing for four years and has managed to climb a handful of 8c’s in that time.  Strong bugga!I got on ‘Tiger Cat’ and managed to do all the moves pretty quickly.  On the second redpoint I fell off high up on the last few tricky crimpy moves damn it!  We then watched Quentin (a strong French climber) breeze up Tiger Cat and saw Lee succeed with another (8b+ or 8c) first ascent to the right. What a day! We finished feeling very happy with our efforts and decided to come back here the next day.Day 7Elphinstone again.  Warmed up!!! Matt totally beasted ‘Green Grass’ clipping the chains with ease. Nice job!! Meanwhile, I had a couple more goes at ‘Tiger Cat’, but kept falling from the same move high up going for a right hand slot from a tiny left hand crimp. Anyway I manage to compose myself and have one last effort and this time I stuck the move and climbed to the top. It was a bloody great feeling ticking this route.  It’s one of the best climbing experiences I have ever had. Great effort to Lee Cossey for the first ascent! Another rest day calling………..















Source: The Hamer Blog

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Grrrrritastic
9 March 2013, 12:24 pm



It has all been about grit trad these last few weeks and I've been lovin it big time!So starting the train rolling was a trip over to eatswood rocks a couple of weeks ago now, to have a look at the famous roof climb Fat Slapper E7 6c. This was made famous by Seb's ascent in the dvd Hard Grit, although I hadn't heard of many ascents since then! So wasn't sure what to expect. Anyway, after having a quick look at the moves and checking out the gear we both made ascents in good time.The following day we spent the morning in some dirty little quarry, on an amazing sharp arête called Speak the Truth E7 6b. Having no gear on it, its just a solo with quite a balancy start above a slopey landing. Another a quick look at the moves and it was in the bag. Even got both ascents on film! Check out the little vieo edit..We then headed down the road to Black rocks to have a look at some stuff on the green slab up at the top. The next line to go down was Velvet Silnece E6 6c and then finally to finish off a great day Jumping on Beatle E6/7 6c. Then a couple of weekends ago we headed up firstly to Froggat where I sketched my way up Benign lives E6/7 6c and then over at Moon buttress on Curbur, Ethan cruised his way up Moon maddness E7 6c. This last weekend we were back up at Curbar with photographer Mike Hutton to finish off Cool Moon E7 6c and then hopped across to Gardoms to do Spanish Fly E6 6c and The Igloo E5 6b. Check out Mikes website for more cool shots! http://www.mikehuttonphotography.com/

Then finally, last Sunday I met up with London boy Andre Hedger and his Dad and managed to fight my way up Coventry Street E5 6b and Andre pulled off a great onsight of London wall!

So thats all folks for now.Weather seems to have turned to shit this last week but hey...rugby and cricket on this weekend so I'm happy!!!!!

Cheers bru



Cool Moon ( photo Mike Hutton)



Spanish Fly(photo Mike Hutton)

 Sketching up Benign lives (photo Ethan)

Evening light on The Igloo

Mike getting in close!

Ethan nearly there on Cool Moon



Evening sun at Gardoms

The Igloo

Mid-way on Cool Moon

Starting up Coventry Street

Onto the top headwall on Coventry

Andre rocking it on London wall (photo Hedger)Crux on Coventry Street!

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Source: The Hamer Blog