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It was an unusually quiet night at the Kangaroo Point cliffs last night. There was hardly any climbers around, most notably missing was the university climbing club which infamously can take up to 8 climbs along a given part of the cliff. There were more crazy fitness boxing types than climbers. There was this one cave dude who ran up and down stairs and then flipped a big tyre a few metres and repeated the whole process. Would’ve been a lot easier to just roll it along Ug! Despite the lack of other climbers at the park, our large group was quite rowdy with lots of trash talking, Nicole’s whining chatter (my ears are still ringing), Chris playing devils advocate, and more trash talking from all. Urban Crag has now a relatively large crew and its too long to name who came and those who didn’t. But one person notably missing was Fraser. We got an email at 5:30pm simply stating, “Should be there by 7″. Five minutes later, he followed it up with, “On second thoughts… My cars missing…Looks like I’m stuck in the western suburbs!!”. For once we had a high ratio of ropes per climbers with Faz, Shane, Chris and my rope all setup as over Chubba Chip Mods (19), Robbie’s Robust Runners (21), Juice (20) and Wounded Knee (18). I’m a bit skeptical about the grades of these climbs, in particular Chubba Chip Mods and Robbie’s Robust Runners. The grades should be the other way around, CCM being a 21 and RRR a 19. Or maybe my busted finger is to blame. Wounded Knee is an apt route name. I now sport 4 knee caps due to me banging both knees in succession of each other. Some of the crew would concurr too. If it wasn’t banged up knees, it was cuts and skin abrasions from CCM’s hard start. Dylan and Faz were able to nail the hard sections of CCM. Nicole had a bout of nevous giggles on parts of Wounded Knee. Belinda ate too many (like 5!) cookies before her ascent and thus was only able to climb a third of the way up. Brock was peeling rocks off the cliff and enjoying it. Shane the crane simply just reached up and topped over every time. Meanwhile, Chris argued with the rock but was it was no contest. We had a couple of men of leisure along: Francis the Irish guy and Stu who really isn’t a newbie, but climbed with us for the first time. Francis was prepared for a climb: jeans and sneakers, but his excuse was he didn’t want to be too shagged for a job interview the next day. Stu donned his helmet, and headbutted his way to the top of a couple of climbs. I think our belayers should be wearing helmets. We always seemed to be showered with rocks from above. Buddy up with the Grasshopper (grasshopper@urbancrag.com.au) on Google Talk. The Grasshopper is a chat bot that can help you with instant answers to your rock climbing endeavours at Kangaroo Point cliffs and elsewhere. If you’re stuck or bored with something to say, type help or just chat naturally to the Grasshopper. Please note, adding the grasshopper as your buddy can take up to 24 hours for the Grasshopper to accept your invitation. Decide what to climb at Kangaroo Point Cliffs in Brisbane. Type climb <name> or climb <grade> to find out. For example, to get the beta on Love Hurts:  climb love hurts Note how the Grasshopper will help you locate these climbs by listing routes around it. An example for listing all grade 25 climbs at Kangaroo Point cliffs:  climb 25 Look up the meaning of rockclimbing jargon. Type rockionary <jargon>. For example:  rockionary crag Find out the current weather conditions and forecast for any city. Type weather <city>. For example:  weather brisbane Look up the next QR train to leave your Brisbane station. Type train <origin> <destination>. For example:  train central "park road" Note, put quotes around long station names. Check the time in any city right now. Type time <city>. For example:  time london Insult and praise your fellow Urban Crag buddies. This is purely for fun. To dish an insult, you must first accumulate karma which is done by giving praise to someone. Only existing buddies of the Grasshopper are able to receive insults and praises. Type insult <email address> or praise <email address>. For example:  insult someone@gmail.com Have fun chatting to the Grasshopper, the rock climbing bot with attitude! If you’re offended by the trash talk, simply block the barstard! Last night (25th September, 2008), a top rope climber on XXXX (grade 25) at Kangaroo Point cliffs fell about 15 metres after their anchor failed. The climber is currently in a critical condition. Although not confirmed officially, the anchor failure may be due to having no redundancy (single setup) and using a sling (or webbing) which has no core like a static rope. The multiple falls on the dyno crux may have caused the sling to be sawn off against the sharp rock edge at the top of the cliffs. This type of failure has been reported twice, initially by me way back in 2003. Suhail and I were top roping on the Olos slab (grade 26). We were using slings with no rope protectors but had redundancy in the top rope anchor system. One of the slings snapped but the other held. We reported this to the local climbing forum, where for many years people have taken heed and used rope protectors and static rope as opposed to slings or webbing. Before this it was commonplace to see slings used. The next reported anchor failure was the same as last nights incident: no redundancy and using slings in the top rope anchor system. The climber also was left in a critical state. The moral of the story: NEVER USE SLINGS and HAVE REDUNDANCY in your top rope anchor system. Urban Crag also recommends using ROPE PROTECTORS when top roping at Kangaroo Point cliffs. Our best wishes go to the climber who fell and we hope this never happens again. Climb safe! –Dennis Continue reading Climber falls at Kangaroo Point Cliffs The Teacher and the Grasshopper setup top ropes over Love Hurts (23) and Samsons Pillar (16). The rest of the crew today were Nicey, the Giggler, Red and the Chock. Tonight was very busy, not because it was the first clear night but one of the Uni rockclimbing clubs decided to setup 5 ropes all around us. First up Samsons, was Nicey but after 5 metres soon found herself stuck. The Grasshopper hopped on Love Hurts, the first time since the broken mallet finger. Although taxing, the top half was unnerving. Firstly, while resting above the overhang he felt something brush past his feet. Was it a snake? He has seen many at Kangaroo Point. There was some grass on the ledge and assumed it must have been the wind. Better keep moving up in case he thought. The last moves were difficult with some crimping involved on the bung finger. The Giggler’s favourite climb is Samsons Pillar and she did this without too much swearing, not even a giggle could be heard. Seems to be getting easier every time. The Chock went up Samsons cleanly, detouring once after encountering a blank wall. His first clean climb on Samons. Red was back and only had time for one climb, choosing to damage himself on Love Hurts. He reached the crux and was working the layback move until he had run out of juice. Nicey went back on to Samsons and this time seemed more confident and determined. Despite a couple of falls, the Giggler refused to let her down and encouraged her to keep going. Nicey sucked it up and made it to the top. A satisfying effort no doubt. Meanwhile, the Teacher was climbing Love Hurts. He did this with some effort but asked to repeat the crux moves to improve the layback technique. Everyone did well tonight, not giving up and always going for it. There was no call of "watch me" or "I’m going to fall". Continue reading The Love Pillar Jenesse, Nicole, Brock, Shane, Faz and I setup two abseil ropes over the Nursery Cliff. Most had either not abseiled or were out of practice for many years. Nicey was first to descend and despite being out of practice had no issues jumping down. I was on abseil next to her and guided her down spotting her if necessary. Shane was next and was also confident rapping down. Brock seemed okay too. Nicole reluctantly had a go at her first abseil. Unfortunately, it was at this time a bus load of Asian tourists and their cameras decided to watch and film this local Brisbane outdoor activity. It took a couple of hesitated moments where Nic hauled herself back to the start on sturdy ground. All to the enjoyment of the paparazzi. On her third attempt she finally got the courage to go over the top and slowly descend to the base (while swearing heaps). We repeated more abseils and got some exercise walking back to the top of the cliffs! Meanwhile, Shane decided to free solo up the easy looking Nursery cliff only to find he got "stuck" about half way up. Nicey moved one of the abseil ropes over to rescue Shane out of his predicament. Everyone had a least two attempts abseiling, even Nicole (hesitantly) agreed to a second abseil. Faz had now turned up and already setup top rope over Brisbane Bitter (24) – although he thought it was Gangbang Wall (23). I then setup next to the route on Anonymous (14). Nicey went up Anonymous and despite a hard false start, proceeded to about three quarters up where a high foot placement was required. Faz attempted Brisbane Bitter to reach the crux. It remains his nemesis. I had similar issues and am now finding my mallet finger is not letting me down as it used to. Seems strength and flexibility need to be worked on. Brock made his was to the top of Anonymous cleanly. Nicole did well and climbed within metres of the top. Finally we all relaxed by having a drink and eating BBQ sausages, salad and tarts. Continue reading Abseil Training Kangaroo Point |
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