SURMC will be hosting another Adventure Team Challenge night on Saturday, 10th of September due to the success of last semester’s event. For details and registration click on the link in upcoming trips.

Pinky's memorable milk challenge at the last Shenanigans

So we made it outside this time but ended up going to Thompson’s Point instead of Hospital Rocks, an area on the opposite side of the river. After a late start and an interesting walk in, we finally made it to the designated climbing spot and a good portion of the group got their first feel of real rock.

Nathaniel crushing his first climb with Tim on belay

Blanca on her first outdoor climb with Gustavo on belay

After getting a lesson in outdoor belaying and warming up on a grade 14 and 15, the leaders set up a couple 16′s for everyone to try. The start for one of these was completely desperate and most of us had to pull through the first move, but it was pretty straight forward after that.

Ida watchful on belay while Jenny edges around a corner

Tim just before the crux of the first route

Overall it was a very good day. The weather was excellent and everyone was able to challenge themselves with the routes. It’ll be great to see the people on this trip develop their outdoor skills on future outings, so keep signing up to club excursions! Also a shout out to John who had a chance to practice some leading and completed the climb with ease. Good job John!

John on lead pulling the rope up to a quickdraw

And finally a big thank you to the days leaders, Mat Guenette, Alisa Rabovsky and Emma Welshman, for organizing the trip and helping teach the next generation of SURMC climbers. Great trip everyone!

So at the last minute before driving out to Palm Beach on Sunday Pete determined that the rock was too wet to climb on, so unfortunately the group was unable to go outside. However we ended up having a pretty good day after deciding to go to the Villawood climbing gym and doing some grueling indoor climbing instead. After getting an introduction to lead climbing and lead belaying, everyone in the group received their lead passes. This will be great groundwork for learning more techniques at other gyms and hopefully applying these skills outdoors soon. Congratulations guys!

Alex Groothaert clipping in

Pip Collins on lead

Thank you to Pete from the ledge for helping organize the day and sharing some of his expertise. It was great to see everyone trying something new, so even though we didn’t get to climb outdoors the day was far from wasted.

If anyone from today’s trip wants to try some more leading at St. Peters feel free to talk to me (Alisa) and we can organize a day to go there. Also if there is anyone who missed todays trip and wants to get their lead pass we can try and organize a day for that as well.

In our continued effort to join the local competition scene SURMC has once again rallied its troops to represent the club at Villawood’s bouldering contest. The competition was held on Saturday evening and participants were given three hours to work on a wide range of problems with each contestant’s top eight problems counting towards their final score. An extra point was also awarded for flashing a problem (completing it on the first attempt). Congratulations to Georgi Knox for finishing first in the women’s open B division and to Michael Lee for placing third in the men’s open B. Great job guys! An honorable mention also goes to Alisa Rabovsky for finishing third in the women’s open B category although we’re fairly certain there weren’t many competitors in that division.

If you’re interested in competing with SURMC, even if you’ve just started climbing, just talk to one of the club executives and they can give you more information on how everything works. It would be great to have more people involved. We’ll be posting an announcement regarding the next competition so keep an eye on the website for updates.

Hi guys,

To celebrate the start of semester SURMC will be having a party at the Forest Lodge Hotel this Friday. There’ll be finger food and a few jugs to get things started. When the Flodge closes at midnight we will most likely find somewhere to kick on. Details about the Flodge can be found on their website: www.forestlodgehotel.com.au

We’d especially like to meet the new members of the club. (I promise, only some of them bite!)

See you there!

Emma

Many of you have seen this already, but in case you haven’t I put together a video using footage from trips taken during first semester this year. Here’s a link to the finished product:

Enjoy the show!

So once again the women of SURMC have successfully evaded the men of the club in order to have a climbing day all to themselves. This semester’s secret location was Hospital Rocks in Nowra. We were concerned about being rained out, but the weather ended up being beautiful in the end.

(from left) Elodie Fourmond, Elin Anderson and Alana Hill

There were a few girls new to outdoor climbing who got their first taste of real rock but hopefully not their last. Congratulations to Emma Welshman who completed two routes on lead for the first time, despite some touch and go moments. Great job Em!

Emma Welshman

Aisling Digges

Aisling Digges took the only lead falls of the day, which I know she won’t mind me mentioning because they helped make an awesome video edit and probably also means that the rest of us need to start leading harder routes. Don’t worry, when this happens I will be waiting in the brush with my camera, ready to capture the moment on film.
After filling the afternoon with climbing, the day was capped off with Anna Rogers sneaking off to a rope swing which quickly landed her in the freezing water. Brrrr. Looks like there was some testosterone among us after all.

Anna Rogers

A huge thank you to Georgi Knox and Fiona Cunningham for organizing the trip. It was a great location, awesome weather and an overall fantastic outing. I can’t wait for the next women’s trip in semester 2!

Fiona Cunningham climbing with Pip Collins on belay

So this actually happened a little while ago, but I thought I should finally get around to posting the results. As some of you may recall, the Bloc bouldering center hosted a competition on May 13. A group of club members went to represent SURMC which potentially marks the first of many other similar events for our climbers. The participants were given 2 hours to choose and complete six problems from a long list of challenges with various difficulty ratings. Each problem was worth between 20 and 60 points with an extra point awarded for flashing the problem. The top five scorers in each category went on to the finals.

Georgi Knox

Congratulations to Georgi Knox who finished second in the Women’s Open B’s and to Agnes Andre who finished fourth in the same category. The best performance of the day for the men was put in by Toby Hulf who finished sixth in the Men’s Open B’s, just out of the finals.

Agnes Andre

We’re planning on competing in more contests in the future so if anyone is interested they can come talk to someone on the committee and get more information. You do not have to be an experienced climber to participate. Thanks to everyone who came to the Bloc to support SURMC!

Lunch break, during which Sam is too concerned with his food to pose for the photo

So unfortunately we’ve been a bit slack on updating the trip reports. Hopefully everyone agrees it’s better late than never. For anyone who missed Araps this semester here’s a little rundown of what went on:

There were a fair amount of trad climbing virgins on the trip (am I allowed to use that word on our website?) but everyone was able to get a lot of climbing done. Congrats to Anthony Doig who spent the week learning to lead and was able to take several people up a variety of routes.
Although we were rock climbers by day, we became squeeze-boulderers by night. With only the glow of the moon to guide us we spent several evenings conquering various squeeze problems around the campsite. Jeremy Simes even went through one of the problems without putting down his cigarette. To witness the feat in person was nothing short of breathtaking.

Alana Hill pulling herself out of the scorpion squeeze

Sam Kissajukian in the squeeze boulder

A particularly amusing moment occurred when club president Emma Welshman decided to go through the scorpion squeeze feet first. Watching her legs wiggle out from under the rock is perhaps one of my fondest memories.
A small faction of us also broke away from the group for a day to head over to the neighboring Grampians. Here we bouldered, explored Hollow Mountain Cave, encountered an un-mantable mantle and afterwards went to the pub for the world’s largest chicken schnitzel.

Elodie Fourmond

Michael Lee

The win for the trip’s most epic fail goes to fan favorite Mat Guenette for having to bail off Salami (9), because he couldn’t get through the squeeze section about a third of the way up the climb. His struggle was both exhausting and amusing. Besides that it was just another trip that saw many routes completed and many more left for next time. Here’s looking forward to Arapiles in semester 2!

Jade Kingsley and James Henderson on Skink (18)

A place to drink, play, dance, celebrate climbing.

Date/time: Saturday, June 4th 7.30pm-2am

Address: 7 Epping Rd Double Bay

This is going to be good. We have a hammock city set up in the garden, we have amazing live music to dance to, there is a live art piece to be added to by participants and there are a plenty of interactive surprises and games to make the night quite unlike what you are used to. We are using Jimmy’s house and there will be a mix of people from outside SURMC to mix things up and keep it spicy.

The game plan of this house party:

1. Bring an item or prop that allows you to interact with others in an unusual way that brings happiness or amusement.
2. I retain the right to refuse any serious people, please check your adultness at the door. Non destructive immaturity is welcomed.
3. Bring boxed wine or a six pack.
4. I welcome suggestions.

Send me an email if life or anything about the party is confusing to you; samkissajukian@gmail.com

Sam