5 December, 2006 

Another good turn out by the crew: Red, The Chad, The Duke, Irish, Crazy German Girl, The Teacher, The Giggler, Bigfoot, Gilligan and myself.

I lead Love Hurts (23) to setup a TR. Then followed this up with another lead on Surrender (19). Cruised up both with ease.

Red was encouraged to do his first lead of Surrender. The wobbles set in just after the 1st bolt and saw him come off. Then some wrong moves on the crux saw him come off again. Still determined Red clipped the last bolt but the exit to the chains was too exhausting and he decided to bail. Some mind games to deal with going forward on his next lead.

The Duke was convinced to clean the climb. Passing the last clip he was technically on lead. He hesitated a little on the chimney but cleaned the climb to setup the TR.

Gilligan and The Teacher arrived to setup TR on G&M (22) and Olos (15/21RHF/25theSlab). Gilligan cleaned G&Ms with ease. The Teacher conquered the same despite a fall on the crux. They both worked Surrender and Love Hurts on TR with ease. When are you guys going to lead it?

The Chad worked Love Hurts and finally found the right moves to conquer the crux: smearing the wall and stemming with the right hand to switch it to the overhang for the final layback pull. The Chad was keen to lead Surrender, but a busted BCC light made it too dark for leading. Instead The Chad cleaned Surrender on TR.

Irish went up Olos and bravely did the leap of faith traverse onto the slabs headwall. Irish then attempted Love Hurts and with some effort arrived at the crux. The hard moves here proved too much for Jimeoen the Redskin.

The Giggler laybacked her way up Surrender’s start. During her battle there where a few giggles which soon turned into a slapping match with the rock. At this stage, the slap backfired: Rock 1, The Giggler 0. But settled the score eventually to jump onto the ledges and move further up the route. The traverse onto the wall proved too taxing by the time she reached this height. The Giggler then attempted G&M’s. Despite the grade (22), The Giggler got half way up the route. At the end of the night she reasoned that she climbed a full route (1 half route + another half route = 1 full climb up the cliff).

My year long promise to conquer the Olos Slab (25) saw a major improvement last night. Finally the start moves to get onto the wall were sussed out. A finger lock, a crucial toe hold and lots of determination and grit saw me stem like mad to reach the 2nd bolt (about half way up the wall). Although I got some assistance from Gilligan my belayer and lots of hang dogging there is 1 more move to work out before comfortably reaching the headwall where I’m sure more problems will present themselves. Odds are now 25-1, but running out of weeks before the Olos Slab falls! I already know what the next promise (2007) will be: to do it clean. Then the obvious promise (2008) after that: just like Brisbane Bitter (24), I will lead it (stick clip that first bolt though).

Bigfoot’s break from climbing saw him on the Olos corner learning to smear and layback up the great crack. Then he jumped straight into the deep end and attempted Love Hurts. The 1st bolt move involving a high leg up maneuver coupled with a push away from the wall seemed unnatural at this time. Love Hurts does involve some unorthodox technical moves which goes against natural instincts, especially the crux where the first instinct is to go all arms to try an overcome the overhang. Instead the legs and layback is the key.

The Crazy Germain Girl waited patiently for her climb on the Olos corner. With some guidance from Irish she reached the last part of the corner. A good gutsy effort (crazy Germans).

During the night we witnessed even crazier stunts: Gollum the free soloist going up several climbs in a row. When he reached the top, he would then down climb a route nearby! "Pfft, but can he do the Olos slab without rope?", said one of the crew.

Irish can you send us your piccies of the night please?

–Mel