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Another Boring Straddie TR 26-Aug-2016 At 7:44:00 AM shortman

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6)

I'm staring at the pile of gear sitting on the rocks. There's at least; 400m of static rope, a gym bag full of carabiners, two pulleys the size of my head, crane slings, scaffolding pipe, rigging plates, rolls of carpet, cams, nuts, hexs, tri-cams, hooks, slider nuts, all those funny looking things in the industrial section of your climbing gear catalogue (which make you feel like you should know what they're for). Phil has brought his toys out to play.

The Queensland crew have sorted this whole trip out. Clinton is the man with the plan, Dan guilted us into getting involved, but the Queensland climbers have actually done the legwork. Steve and Bo are young, motivated, good looking, and annoyingly sorted. Steve signs his emails as an “estimator for Q-build” (whatever that means), Bo is a personal trainer. Although not very experienced as climbers, they have the obvious talent and ambition, combined with an organised approach which will certainly see them getting good in a hurry. Steve picked us up from the airport, booked the ferry, has already come over to the island once to check out the site, and also helped Clinton to brush up on his rope skills.

Phil is a gear junkie. Actually Phil is the gear junkie against whom all other gear junkies should be measured. To be fair, he runs a business building obstacle courses and things, so the gear is a tax write off. Running us through his rigging plan, Phil seems to be seeking approval from the flown in specialists. The reality is that he's far more qualified and capable than the rest of us combined. I make a couple of suggestions for pointless minor alterations. The other option would be to admit that the southern contingent is superfluous, which is blindingly obvious. Over fifty, but looking ten years younger, Phil is more enthusiastic than most climbers half his age.