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Chockstone Photography
Australian Landscape Photography by Michael Boniwell
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Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports

Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!

 Page 3 of 3. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 50
Author
bl@ke and Hargs. Ozymandias. TR
simey
2-Oct-2010
12:11:26 AM
I don't think Blake needs warm and fuzzy support from Chockstone readers. Judging from his trip report I think Blake needs a rev-up speech similar to this when he is next standing at the base of Ozy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thWqNof5nXA&feature=related

james
2-Oct-2010
4:17:20 AM
simey you need to recruit that guy for the Rams!

the coach's welcome on the Nati Footy club website could apply to these TRs also "...we tried but failed..."

gordoste
4-Oct-2010
2:05:16 PM
Sounds like they underestimated the climb and made some bad decisions about how much gear to take. Once things seem to be going against you, it can be easy to get intimidated by the unknown. And when you're relatively inexperienced, everything is unknown!
Anyway, the weather was pretty grim the next day (freezing, raining etc.) so it's probably for the best, otherwise there might have been a genuine need for rescue services...
When I met Blake last year he was just learning to lead trad and got really scared leading Piccolo. Yesterday he led his first grade 16 on trad (and it was a crack too!). So he is rapidly hardening up and should overtake most of us well before he turns 20 :)
You don't learn if you don't try, at least they got out there and gave it a go. I'm sure they learnt something and will be back to try again.

Don't listen to simey - what has he done on grit?

IdratherbeclimbingM9
5-Oct-2010
2:29:51 PM
On 4/10/2010 gordoste wrote:
>Sounds like they underestimated the climb and made some bad decisions about
>how much gear to take. Once things seem to be going against you, it can
>be easy to get intimidated by the unknown. And when you're relatively inexperienced,
>everything is unknown!

~> Yes, and can be a fun learning curve if one has the attitude that they will enjoy the moments along the way.
I would expect that their bivy on the Crystal Brook Island will be looked back on with fondness by them some time down the track!



On 2/10/2010 simey wrote:
>I don't think Blake needs warm and fuzzy support from Chockstone readers.
>Judging from his trip report I think Blake needs a rev-up speech (snip)

That may work in some situations but maybe a mix of both would be better.
The positives out of some of the harsh feedback they have received are;
Harden up, and take less 'stuff'.
~> These are hard won lessons that have now been somewhat learnt.
I have been on that same learning curve, and decided that the compromise depends on how badly you want the objective vs. the creature comforts you are prepared to forego...

In the background I received an email that kind of refers to the 'warm 'n' fuzzy' component mentioned above.
It basically translates as...
>trip beta should be offered with a K(indness)-factor, defined as the extent to which a piece of information (a) is valid and (b) preserves the adventure experience. >Low K-factor beta seriously diminishes the adventure experience, high K-factor beta provides for, well, for the type of weekend described
(in the Trip Report).

If someone had given me harsh trip beta in my early days, I seriously doubt it would have made a huge difference to me, as I was more intent on finding out for myself my limits due to valuing the adventure component highly and applying the experience I had already gained for myself.
Yes the objective/s may have been realised earlier, but in my opinion life is equally about the journey to get there, ... and the hard lessons along the way I find help fortify the mental component for future endeavour.
If the objective is worthy, then the endeavour to reach it is also worthy. I am happy for them that they are progressing along their journey, so who am I to criticise their pace?
Having said that, I do now more closely subscribe to the nmonteith three bars a day ethos, than I ever have before!, and FB is right about a large haulbag being for two people to share all the 'stuff' for a multiday wall sojourn!!, ... or one soloist, if they trade company for a bit of luxury in their hard earned endeavour!!! heh, heh, heh.

MrsM10iswhereitsat.
5-Oct-2010
4:28:34 PM
Dearie me. So much effort and so little result. Oh well, you now know more than you did before and I am sure it will stand you in good stead for a future attempt.

On 1/10/10 Mr simey wrote:
>Neil is correct. I don't know what route you guys are taking on the walk-down. In fact I don't even recall the fixed ropes you mention. I've walked back up South Side from the base of Ozy with all my kit having bailed after two pitches after trying to solo it (I had never done any aiding and was a bit clueless). I am pretty sure it only took me an hour and a half to walk back up.

I'd like to see you putting yourself out there with a trip report about that epic dearie.
?
What? there is no bar reception in the gorge? I don't believe it!
hargs
7-Oct-2010
7:10:05 PM
Well, back in Sydney, couldn't log in for a while. Very funny reading on the TR thread. Here are my various thoughts on the exercise, in no particular order:

-- "This is hardman country and I have no business here," was a recurring thought I had going up and down the gorge. ODH's post is basically on the money: harden up, princess. I'm putting this trip down to the recky I should have done first, and some bonus mental preparation.

-- Take less shit. Seriously, a lot less shit: No stove. One quarter the food or less. Somewhere between Neil's "3 bars per day" insanity and ODH's "it's not a camping holiday." And I considered lugging a boombox in there, fark me. Romantic Yosemite Climber images of paisley-clad Bridwell & co standing in a grassy meadow before a glowing El Cap have been erased. Buffalo is pointy and abrasive; it completely destroyed my daypack before we even started. It's a good thing the 'ledge building fiasco ended in disaster at 10 oclock the night before I left: Lugging that bastard in on top of everything else would have killed me.

-- More confidence at the grade. Led Cream Machine the day after really enjoyed climbing the pitch -- but I balked at the M4 where Trogster took that 8m groundfall last March. Ideally, a few M4 pitches before next attempt, but I'd settle for one or two. (Annoyingly, I thought of top-roping the M4 on the drive back to Wagga; I really wish we'd done that instead of Banana Blase, or at least as well as, but it'll keep for next time.)

-- More confidence in the environment. We met Fishboy after he soloed She and he suggested rapping into Bannisters Rush -- 50m grade 21 hand crack -- and aiding out, but not knowing the rap stations, the route, or where to find the anchors on the wall, I baulked (again). In retrospect, that was a missed opportunity: at worst, we'd have gone over the edge, buggered around on the end of a rope -- admittedly, over a somewhat intimidating void -- and jugged out. But that alone would have been worthwhile.

-- Learn to properly interpret local advice. There are tricky subtleties, and individual snippets must be taken in context to glean their full meaning. For example, "the access track isn't pig-friendly" together with "give some thought to a recky" translates, roughly, to "the bastard access track will seriously f*ck you up, especially if you haven't been down there before." Obvious after the fact, but not before. Now we know the way in, it'll go much easier next time. (But if you rapped in and bailed, and hadn't walked out before, you'd have a fun time locating the exit. The track may get more obvious with use over summer, but right now it's quite overgrown in places.)

-- There's a big, significant difference between taking yourself up there and figuring shit out on your own, and tagging along with someone who's done it before and knows what they're doing. Fishboy offered to go up with us -- thanks, FB -- but already a tiny, perverted part of my brain is telling me that would be a cop-out. Like Gordoste said, it's scary and intimidating when it's all new.

-- Per ODH's TR rewrite, spend the next few weeks punching walls. I sprained my ankle on the way in, and my back hurt for days from lugging around a bunch of crap we didn't need. I need to train some weakness out of me. I taped ODH's post to my computer. I've been running up and down hills with my revised Ozy kit, cranking scando metal -- man that's some messed up shit -- practicing screaming obscenities at the traffic on the way to my fucharse job and ripping heads off butterflies. I'm not sure it's helping: my wife wants me committed.

-- Get back to Buffalo in November for the aid weekend. M9, sign me up.
simey
7-Oct-2010
7:43:55 PM
On 7/10/2010 hargs wrote:
>There's a big, significant difference between taking yourself up there and figuring shit out on your own, and tagging along with someone who's done it before and knows what they're doing. Fishboy offered to go up with us -- thanks, FB -- but already a tiny, perverted part of my brain is telling me that would be a cop-out.

Good attitude. By all means learn a few tricks from experienced folk on other routes, but save Ozy and do it with someone who hasn't done it before so you get the most out of the experience.

PS. You're right about reducing the amount of stuff you need to take, but boombox is mandatory.

kieranl
7-Oct-2010
9:59:23 PM
On 7/10/2010 davidn wrote:
>And here I thought I was a dyed-in-the-wool metalhead. Scando metal =
>scandinavian metal?
>
>I always get confused between those guys and the Norwegians.
Scandinavian metal <> Norwegian wood
One Day Hero
8-Oct-2010
10:49:05 AM
On 7/10/2010 hargs wrote:
>ODH's post is basically on the
>money: harden up, princess. I'm putting this trip down to the recky I should
>have done first, and some bonus mental preparation.
>
Just for the record, I wasn't really guessing at what was going through your heads, simply recalling how badly I pooed my pants the first time I walked in to the gorge.

>-- Take less shit. Seriously, a lot less shit: No stove. One quarter the
>food or less. Somewhere between Neil's "3 bars per day" insanity and ODH's
>"it's not a camping holiday." And I considered lugging a boombox in there,
>fark me.

If you go food-flat you'll stop going up! Save weight on things like guidebooks.....a good rule is that you should be able to hand haul without wrecking yourself, but don't leave essentials behind........you should probably pack your haulbag with everything you think you'll take and test haul it up a tree before you go to back to buff.


>-- More confidence at the grade. Led Cream Machine the day after really
>enjoyed climbing the pitch -- but I balked at the M4 where Trogster took
>that 8m groundfall last March. Ideally, a few M4 pitches before next attempt,
>but I'd settle for one or two. (Annoyingly, I thought of top-roping the
>M4 on the drive back to Wagga; I really wish we'd done that instead of
>Banana Blase, or at least as well as, but it'll keep for next time.)
>
This is the key! Aiding is a bit technical and quite scary, remove the scary in order to learn the technical, then learn the scary later. I learned most of my aid climbing on toprope (self belay toprope means you don't waste anyones time belaying). Going fast on bomber gear is probably the number 1 skill for making walls pleasent, practice on free routes which have awesome gear all the way. See how fast you can go (still on toprope)..........big days of easy milage will teach you stuff quicker than a couple of drawn out knee tremblers.

>-- There's a big, significant difference between taking yourself up there
>and figuring shit out on your own, and tagging along with someone who's
>done it before and knows what they're doing. Fishboy offered to go up with
>us -- thanks, FB -- but already a tiny, perverted part of my brain is telling
>me that would be a cop-out. Like Gordoste said, it's scary and intimidating
>when it's all new.

Yeah, climb it with Blake, it'll be way more satisfying to do it yourselves
>
>-- Per ODH's TR rewrite, spend the next few weeks punching walls. I sprained
>my ankle on the way in, and my back hurt for days from lugging around a
>bunch of crap we didn't need. I need to train some weakness out of me.
>I taped ODH's post to my computer. I've been running up and down hills
>with my revised Ozy kit, cranking scando metal -- man that's some messed
>up shit -- practicing screaming obscenities at the traffic on the way to
>my fucharse job and ripping heads off butterflies. I'm not sure it's helping:
>my wife wants me committed.
>
Sweet, I might start doing motivational seminars like the c--k Warrior

>-- Get back to Buffalo in November for the aid weekend. M9, sign me up.

Drag Blake down there, work your system by aiding lots of easy free routes. Try to aid 300m over the w/e, doesn't matter if its all A1. Don't take any more falls! It'll do wonders for your confidence.

IdratherbeclimbingM9
8-Oct-2010
10:59:44 AM
On 8/10/2010 One Day Hero wrote:
>On 7/10/2010 hargs wrote:
>>ODH's post is basically on the
>>money: harden up, princess. I'm putting this trip down to the recky I
>should
>>have done first, and some bonus mental preparation.
>>
>Just for the record, I wasn't really guessing at what was going through
>your heads, simply recalling how badly I pooed my pants the first time
>I walked in to the gorge.
>
>>-- Take less shit. Seriously, a lot less shit: No stove. One quarter
>the
>>food or less. Somewhere between Neil's "3 bars per day" insanity and
>ODH's
>>"it's not a camping holiday." And I considered lugging a boombox in there,
>>fark me.
>
>If you go food-flat you'll stop going up! Save weight on things like guidebooks.....a
>good rule is that you should be able to hand haul without wrecking yourself,
>but don't leave essentials behind........you should probably pack your
>haulbag with everything you think you'll take and test haul it up a tree
>before you go to back to buff.
>
>
>>-- More confidence at the grade. Led Cream Machine the day after really
>>enjoyed climbing the pitch -- but I balked at the M4 where Trogster took
>>that 8m groundfall last March. Ideally, a few M4 pitches before next
>attempt,
>>but I'd settle for one or two. (Annoyingly, I thought of top-roping the
>>M4 on the drive back to Wagga; I really wish we'd done that instead of
>>Banana Blase, or at least as well as, but it'll keep for next time.)
>>
>This is the key! Aiding is a bit technical and quite scary, remove the
>scary in order to learn the technical, then learn the scary later. I learned
>most of my aid climbing on toprope (self belay toprope means you don't
>waste anyones time belaying). Going fast on bomber gear is probably the
>number 1 skill for making walls pleasent, practice on free routes which
>have awesome gear all the way. See how fast you can go (still on toprope)..........big
>days of easy milage will teach you stuff quicker than a couple of drawn
>out knee tremblers.
>
>>-- There's a big, significant difference between taking yourself up there
>>and figuring shit out on your own, and tagging along with someone who's
>>done it before and knows what they're doing. Fishboy offered to go up
>with
>>us -- thanks, FB -- but already a tiny, perverted part of my brain is
>telling
>>me that would be a cop-out. Like Gordoste said, it's scary and intimidating
>>when it's all new.
>
>Yeah, climb it with Blake, it'll be way more satisfying to do it yourselves
>>
>>-- Per ODH's TR rewrite, spend the next few weeks punching walls. I sprained
>>my ankle on the way in, and my back hurt for days from lugging around
>a
>>bunch of crap we didn't need. I need to train some weakness out of me.
>>I taped ODH's post to my computer. I've been running up and down hills
>>with my revised Ozy kit, cranking scando metal -- man that's some messed
>>up shit -- practicing screaming obscenities at the traffic on the way
>to
>>my fucharse job and ripping heads off butterflies. I'm not sure it's
>helping:
>>my wife wants me committed.
>>
>Sweet, I might start doing motivational seminars like the c--k Warrior
>
>>-- Get back to Buffalo in November for the aid weekend. M9, sign me up.
>
>Drag Blake down there, work your system by aiding lots of easy free routes.
>Try to aid 300m over the w/e, doesn't matter if its all A1. Don't take
>any more falls! It'll do wonders for your confidence.

The best post I have seen him do for some time, that contains a lot of good useful information as well as a bit of humour!
... but then again, maybe I have just got my aid focus blinkers on, and that is why I enjoyed it?

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There are 50 messages in this topic.

 

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