A big congratulations to all those who won a prize on Wednesday night at the very successful SURMC 2010 Club Comp. It was a great night, with a big turnout, and a tasty BBQ to enjoy after all the hard climbing. Sorry about the prizes being paper, we will give you the real thing as soon as it arrives!! Thanks to Phil for his wonderful setting, and Pete for organising the food and judging, and Laelia for her judging abilities too! Thanks to everyone who turned up and gave it a good go!

Our winners were:

Novice Female:

1. Celine Lai
2. Linnea Lorgen
3. Madhura Killedar

Novice Male

1. Adam Schaefer
2. Bjorn Sturmberg
3. Daniel Roberts-Clarke and Matt Anscomb

Open Female

1. Tara Lee
2. Georgi Knox
3. Fiona Cunningham

Open Male

1. Sam Kissajukian
2. Tim Frommer
3. David Dearnley

Photos to come very soon!

Also, keep up the training for the Interclub Comp against UTSOAC and UNSWOC on the 13th of September! (It’s a Monday, so please keep that in mind, and make an extra effort to come on a non-club night!) We’d love to have a hat trick on the old Manky Cam trophy!

More club trips TBC soon, so keep an eye on this space!!

You can check out the trailer here:

 http://www.warrenmiller.com.au/home/

And you can check out the details of where it’s being shown here:

www.snow-australia.com

Booking your tickets well in advance is highly recommended as there is a limited number of tickets available.

President: Kate Randall
Vice President: Michael Lee
Treasurer: Aline Nocon
Secretary: James Henderson
Gear Officer: Lachlan Boyd
Training Officer: Sean Coleman
Trip Officer: Dave Dearnley
Safety Officer: Emma Welshman
Membership Officer: David “Pinkie” Mulligan
Publicity Officer: Celine Lai
Social Officer: Stratton Powell-Hughes
Web/IT Officer: Rich Crowder
Alpine Officer: Mick Morris

SUSF Reps: Tom Ellicott and Kate Randall

Don’t forget Beeroulderlining at Queen’s Park this Sunday! Come enjoy some beer, bouldering and slacklining fun times!

So post below

Upcoming events in March include:

• Climbing at the Ledge every Wednesday evening from 5pm (followed by dinner at the Flodge [Forrest Lodge Hotel])
• Beginner climbing trip to Barrenjoey Head – 6th of March
• Beginner climbing trip to the Dam Cliffs (Blue Mountains) – 13th of March
• Beeroulderlining (Beer, Bouldering and Slacklining) socail afternoon – 28th of March

Many more trips are planned and details will be added to the website as they come up.

The long awaited SURMC t-shirts and singlets are finally here and will be available from the O-week stall or at the Ledge on Wednesday evenings. Those who ordered specific colours and sizes have had them set aside so ask for your order (there is a list). if you want something different from what you ordered that’s OK but make sure to let us know so we can put the garments set aside for you up for general sale. The shirts are available for $15 for one and $25 for two if they are for the same person.

Looking forward to seeing you all on the rock!

Michael L

Attendees: Mike and James.

To me adventurous climbing is where its at. It doesn’t have to be dangerous or hard. Just a full day out in a spectacular location where you can get up high. To me that’s real rock climbing. Summer brings longer days and potential for longer climbs, but the enjoyment goes down when I get cooked. Also I don’t think I look so good in red.

I’m eager to poke around the Warrumbungles but a trip in summer would probably leave me wrinkly sun-dried. Buffalo provides a cooler alpine option and granite slabbing is something I don’t get to do much. Mike had time to go on the Australia day long weekend but wasn’t able to make the trip when others had planned to go at the beginning of February, so I agreed to join him.

We left Sydney at around 4:30pm on Friday and arrived at the river near Porepunkah at about 1am. Mike slept in the car and I stretched out next to the river. With a dead rat just up the road and a lot of low ground cover I thought I might have a few furry friends that night but they didn’t come to visit.

The view from the park entrance

We drove up the mount to Lake Catani for breakfast then headed out to the Cathedral for a bit of climbing. In the afternoon we had planned to scope out the gorge and Where Angels Fear to Tread (17) before making a run at it the next day, my main reason for coming this far. I was skeptical but Mike assured me we would be back to the car for lunch so I postponed my need to unblock myself and didn’t bring much water or food up to the crag. Big mistake.

We got there and took a few moments getting our bearings and working out where to go. For our first climb at Buffalo I picked out something low grade (13?) thinking it would be a nice introduction. Turns out this was the first in a series of sandbags. The first few meters were an easy ramble up to a corner. The left wall of the corner was slightly less than vertical and the right wall vertical or very slightly overhanging. In the corner itself was a wide crack on the right and a small shallow crack on the left. I procrastinated a little at the bottom of the crack trying to work out what to do. In the end I just pulled on because hey, its only a 13. On the walk down it looked innocuous, just a ramble up a corner. I started out laybacking off the slopey wide crack on the right and struggled up a few meters. It quickly became clear that I was doing something wrong. I switched to laybacking the small shallow left crack. Hmmm I was still doing something wrong. I hadn’t yet worked out the whole smearing business and was torquing both feet in the wide crack thus putting a lot of weight on my hands. Half way up I was pumped, exhausted and although I could hold on and maintain my position a couldn’t seem to work up the energy to keep pushing on, so I shoved in a big cam and reluctantly called down for Mike to take. At this point I was a little bit stunned and didn’t really know what to think. I’m not super strong but I should be able to manage a 13 no problems shouldn’t I? Oh, and did I mention I popped the two pieces of gear below the cam I was hanging on? This wasn’t a good start. After growling my way up a few more meters and hanging again I decided some smears were on. But damn, it was sketchy. Somehow I reached the top of this pokey little climb alive but seriously questioning myself. I slung a bush and wiggled in a bodgy hex and nut for an anchor. Mike came up clean but not without effort. We were both knocked down a few pegs from that one.

A friendly old fella was accompanying a couple of young lasses up Maharajah (17), a crag classic which we had also planned to do. They were making slow progress and Mike was in his usual unenthusiastic state so we decided to wait around for a while. Mike didn’t look like he intended to do much for a long time, and he didn’t. I pretty seriously wanted to visit the toilet and immediately regretted my decision not to find one earlier and to leave the food and water at the car. I amused myself with a bit of scrambling, looking in awe at the slabby hard routes, the various solo first ascents, watching one bloke get pissed off at his partner for not tying in on a traverse pitch before he had pulled the rope away from him, playing with the camera and some resting in the shade.

Mike is sleeping

After a few hours Mike finally decided he had worked up enough energy to get on Mahurajah. It was his lead so he took the first pitch. The start was a bit of an off width and as we were both very much learning granite, Mike had a few false starts and a hang (another sandbag?). My bigger hands probably made it easier for me. I took the second and best pitch and it forced me in a good way to reluctantly put heavy weight on my smears and learn the technique. We finished the climb after 5pm. I packed up quick, waited for Mike and hurried back down to the car. Thankfully that building we had parked near was a toilet. My guts soon stopped groaning at me.

Coming down from Mahurajah

Since we had spent most of the day not doing an awful lot there wasn’t enough time to properly scope out Angels Buttress so we just headed back to The Gorge for a rest, dinner and the night. Wandering over to the lookout for my first view of the gorge I remember peering down and very happily thinking ‘Oh, this is big. Yes, I like this. This is real climbing, haha.’. It really is a beautiful sight and an inspiring location. Driving away from the Cathedrals, after being hammered on the first climb I was a little concerned about our chances with Angels, but looking at the gorge now I was super psyched. While Mike had another sleep I wandered around, found the hang glider ramp and resisted the urge to walk down it and peer over the edge (its steep and slippery!).

Exciting jump off the hangliding ramp

The Gorge. Angels Buttress is the slabby looking buttress on the left, middle-ground

After dinner a couple of blokes turned up in a Porsche 4wd with a long static and slept in the hut with Mike. The allure of a night under a clear starry sky with a 360 degree view was much more appealing to me so I slept on the lookout. It was a fantastic night staring up into the heavens with a nice cool breeze blowing over me. I awoke in the morning with the sun and was perfectly positioned to watch it rise. At about 7am I heard car doors slamming so I hurriedly put some clothes on and got up. Turns out it was only Mike and the Porsche drivers. I wasn’t going to be part of any amusing tourist photos.

Orion was high in the sky

After another brekky at the lake watching the ducks play we headed out to The Horn, the highest point at about 1700m. Today was also the day of a cycle race up the mountain. Poor buggers, they didn’t look happy. We climbed Pintle (16) which was very nice. At the end of the second pitch the guide book says scramble down left and chimney right to the start of the last pitch. Ok, sure. Down we go. Peering in, not really a chimney as its horizontal but definitely a squeeze. I got a few meters in and up to the end blocked by a small unmovable (yes I tried) boulder. I untied the rope backpack, wriggled my helmet off and tossed it through. It smelt like people used it as a toilet and my shoulders wouldn’t fit through. What the hell? Not what I was expecting. How do people do this? At this point the fixed sling at the top of the second pitch made more sense, just rap down 5m to the right instead of crawling through urine and getting stuck. I backed out and decided to do the rap. Mike rates himself on the squeeze boulder at Araps so he wanted to give it a go. I quickly scrambled back up and rapped down to the squeeze exit with camera ready. Mike didn’t fit either. Another definite guidebook sandbag, only a pigmy is going to get through there, seriously. To get the best camera shot I had rapped down into a widening bridge as far as I could stretch my hammies. I paused for a moment pondering how to extricate myself with all my skin. It was only 1.5m to the ground so I put the camera away and tried to lower my butt to the nearest boulder. My right foot slipped and I spun and slammed into the rock on my right. First blood to the lovely coarse granite .

The very pretty Lake Catani

You can't fit through that

First Blood

We were greeted at the top of the last pitch by a few very interested tourists and some very pretty butterflies who I had to battle with to get a decent photo (the butterflies, not the tourists).

We headed back to The Gorge for lunch, watched some hang gliders take off and Mike had yet another sleep (old man territory now). To prep for Angels we checked out Burston’s Crevasse, the exit scramble from the top of Angels Buttress and trundled down the start of the walk-in to mushroom rock. We made some tape gloves. Mike omitted fist jam protection from his model and later regretted it. They took a while to put together but I was happy with mine and they make you feel hardcore because all the normal tourists stare at you. Bare knuckle fights in the carpark at sundown. Be there .

Tape armour

The gear

We assembled a rack including a total of 19 cams, a hefty rack indeed. Mike dissuaded me from hauling up the no. 6. . As it turns out we didn’t need it. I prefer not to climb with a monkey on my back so at the last minute I downsized from carrying 3L of water to 2L and decided to thoroughly hydrate myself tonight and in the morning before we left. For dinner we both carbo loaded by forcing down a pile of pasta.

The entire weekend we had been strategising on what our approach should be to maximise our enjoyment. The Angels buttress is lower in the mountains than some of the other climbing areas and is essentially in sun the entire day so it has the potential to get hot. We thought a 4:30am start would allow us to walk down in the dark and start the climb at first light.

My decision to skull water the night before came back to bite me. Too much liquid, within an hour of curling up in the hut I pulled my pants back on and trundled to the toilet. Walking to the toilet shirtless I noticed how warm it was, an ominous sign, not cold at all. Being a naked sleeper I stayed inside my inner sheet but wished I was out at the lookout again in a bit of privacy where I could lie in all my natural glory in the breeze under the stars. After hours of sphincter clenching and my stupid self thinking ‘its nearly time to get up, just hold it’, my rooster alarm gave us the go and I rolled out of bed and into the toilet to drain my main vein. Relief.  We suited up in tape armour and fuelled ourselves with banana.

The end of The Gorge at Sunrise. Just stunning.

Time to go. The reason I had come. The Gorge. The adventure. The experience.  Following the track down at sunrise we were focused on making good time but kept the eyes on what is a beautiful location. The line of the first few pitches looked fantastic, a pure jam crack and by the time we got to the bottom I was raring to go. However we had already decided that Mike would take the first pitch where the crack was slightly thinner and my bigger hands would enjoy the width a little higher up.

Mike started up the first pitch but found it tough going.  He was looking pretty desperate and insecure and needed a number of hangs and rests to make the end of the first pitch. I was a little concerned that the first pitch had taken so long but I had expected the first couple of pitches to be tricky and for it to take some time for us to get the rhythm. The start of the climb is fairly steep, just under vertical before slabbing out a bit roughly 10m up. The crack flares outward and if you are prepared to get up close and personal you can jamb it how you like, hands, wide hands, fists and forearms. Despite his displeasure I couldn’t help grinning to myself. I knew I was going to enjoy this. I made use of all sections of my lower arms to make my way up to join Mike at the first belay. I was cursing the double ropes in the crack which were continuingly thwarting my attempts to get some flowing jamb moves. Next time I want the lead. I took a quick sip to focus myself and racked up. Seeing Mike struggle so hard with the first lead I was a little apprehensive but the first pitch was within my limits and I had enjoyed it. After manipulating myself to get above the anchor in the crack I was feeling quite comfortable and confident. I worked my way up nice and steady along the wide crack to its end. It was good physical climbing, some interesting bridging moves between cracks, plenty of jamming, smearing, heel toe, offwidthing. All good stuff. At the top I cautiously smeared left four or five meters on a no hands traverse to switch cracks and plop down to rest at our second belay.  I had read tales of the climb and thought the no.5 BD cam might be useful on my pitch but I hadn’t needed it. Since I had dragged roughly all half kilo of it up I used it for the anchor along with a couple of small finger sized cams, which really demonstrates how nice a crack it is and the potential for what you can get up to inside it. By now the sun was beating down and I settled in for a stint on belay to bring Mike up and then swing leads.

As Mike drew closer toward me I noticed the grunting and groaning were more excessive than Mike’s normal surly sailor, I hadn’t heard him make noises like that before, a sort of groaning whimper. At some point he popped off and came into view with a face that said ‘let it stop’. After some more hanging and resting he arrived at a stance and stopped to recuperate. Mike told me he was struggling with the physicality and getting decent smears. He looked exhausted. I was baking away in direct sun and the rock was radiating heat. I offered to keep leading because we needed to keep the pace up and though I was hot I was otherwise fine and preferred to lead. After a bit of a break and the seeing that the angle was easing Mike declined and set off up. It wasn’t long until his exhaustion got the better of him and he rested on the rope. A move or two later he took a small fall. Comparatively the climbing was easy so it wasn’t looking good. I could see Mike was in discomfort, but I was quite sure with enough determination he could at least second to the top. To much amusement of others, I also have considerable experience in hauling, but that is another series of stories… . Back to the climb at hand, I thought we could make it and really wanted to get to the top and I offered to lower him down and do the leading. He suggested bailing. I didn’t want to but climbing happens as a pair and I couldn’t force him to go on, it could have been dangerous if he really couldn’t cope. Anyhow I had wanted an adventure and my first bail counts for that.

As far as we got. Down off this bush

I lowered him, cleaned his gear and set an abseil off a shrub, backed up by a small shrub lower down. Mike went down first. The rope didn’t quite reach a large shrub and Mike didn’t like the look of the smaller ones. He set a medium hex (belonging to him!) for the abseil backed up by a small shrub and down we went to the bottom.

On the way down Mike had mentioned someone had told him you don’t want to do the walk in more than once and now that he was doing it he agreed. Ironic? By the time we got back to the top of the gorge I think Mike had had enough and wanted to go home, so we came home a day early.

Having come home a day early and not having any other plans I have spent my Australia Day writing this trip report, watch a marathon of Poker Stars and the cricket. Just looking at my knees now I have two bruises one on the inside of each knee. Bruises are something I haven’t had for some time. Its good to have them back.

We’ve had this website for about a year now and it’s probably due for a bit of a face lift! It would be great to get some feedback from YOU the user’s to find out what it’s missing, what’s working well/not so well etc. So please have a think about the following broad topics and post your suggestions as a comment on the post.

• Design/Graphics/Layout – colour scheme? new logo? font suggestion?
• Trips Section – sign up form ok? trip details provide enough info? enough info to post your own trip?
• Overall content – need more pics? more pages w/ info – eg. where to get gear etc? can you find what you need too?

I’ll kick off by writing the first comment – please be brutal it wont hurt my feelings!

Yours in Binary,

Georgi – SURMC’s 1337 h4×0r

www.trainingforclimbing.com.

First up lets break down a typical training session at the gym.

1 the warm up – easy climbs, stretches, etc.

2 climb new stuff learn new moves do anything that is new and different

3 do old climbs and work moves that you can already do. This is for when you are fatigued and no longer climbing the your best.

4 warm down – so stretchs, flodge etc.

Apparently eating protein and carbs with in 2 hours of a work out improves recovery ie steak and beer. Other wise is is good to steer clear of food that causes a big spikes in blood sugar level.

The general program is broken up into 4 sections over a 10 week period. Since it is 10 weeks to Christmas this is a good thing. Sorry guys I have only just thought of it so it officially starts today on wed the 21^st and the end of week 9 is the 23^rd of Dec. If you want to start late chop a bit out as you see fit. The first 2 sections are the most important as section 3 is how we normally climb in the gym. The aim is to finish before Christmas because the ledge closes then.

The number of times you should climb each week are very vague. If you have an relaxed training session then you can climb more often. If it’s intense then give your self 1 too 2 days rest. The idea is to fit it around people’s weekly schedules.

The reason the training schedule is broken up this way is because of the way the nerves, bones and tendons recover. They all take significantly longer than muscle to recover so changing the focus in theory allows the other areas to recover.

Section 1 – 4 weeks – endurance

Section 2 – 3 weeks – strength

Section 3 – 2 weeks – strength endurance

Section 4 – 1 week   – rest

The first 4 weeks focus on endurance. So climbing for longer than 5 minutes, breathing deeply not climbing at your strength limit. Objective is mileage not hard climbs. To get the mileage you can do traverses or down climb or do 4 climbs in a row then your partner climbs 4 in a row. You should try to climb 3 – 4 times a week

 The next 3 weeks are focussed on strength. So short hard routes rest between routes for 3 minutes. Focus on hard moves crimps overhangs. You should not be on the wall or rope for longer than 2 minutes. If you can not access the gym hang boards are just as good if not better. Don’t hang for longer than 2 minutes using a pack with weight in it is also good. Climb 2 times a week

 The next 2 weeks is on strength endurance. So this is how we normally climb in the gym. So hard routes 2 – 5 minutes on the wall. 3 minutes rest. At your limit the whole time. A weight belt is a good addition for this period. If you can’t access the gym do lots of chin ups with a pack. Climb 2 – 3 times a week.

 The last week is rest do no climbing. You can rest for 2 weeks as well. Or a month with only a loss of strength and nothing else. Also good for injuries. Besides the ledge is closed.

GUYS FEEL FREE TO POINT OUT ANY SPELLING ERRORS PROBLEMS WITH IT ETC. OR JUST FIX IT IF YOUR ON ADMIN

IT WOULD ALSO BE GOOD TO GET SOME FEEDBACK FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED. A LITLE BIT OF MOTIVATION WOULD HELP ME TO KEEP THIS GOING.

It closes on the last Friday of the month, 30th October

www.gore-tex.com.au/gear

You can go into the running to win a Gore-Tex ® Paclite Limited Edition Jacket.

The Second Rounder Jacket went to someone who voted for me so the next one could go to you!

Thanks for all your support!
Sean

Looking down Megalong Valley from Mr Big

Disclaimer:  I have no idea how to use this thing so if it comes out weird I apologise.

Tom, Kate, Lachlan and I (Sean) set out early Saturday morning, as the second dust storm in a week settled across a Sydney morning.  We could have taken it as an omen for a week filled with unusual happenings and twists, but instead we lamented this was the lame little brother of the first dust storm.  The trusty tarago, stuffed with gear, chuffed up the hills as we watched the Sydney disappear into a mustardy haze below us.

The Tarago already to go

After stopping at Blackheath for pies and supplies we headed to Mount York campground and pitched our tents, including Kate’s Sad Tent.  After only the first night Sad Tent was abandoned by Kate, and put on suicide watch as result.  We then hit possibly the worst crag any of us had been to at New York.  As the temperature dropped and the sun set we all through it would be a great idea to go for some night bouldering.  Unfortunately we had not reconed the area earlier.  The highlight was definitely Pinkie’s raincoat.

Kate and her short lived Blackheath Bakery

Pinkie in his state of the art raincoat

That night it decided to snow a little.  Tom was totally unprepared even though the night before leaving I had warned him that it would get down around freezing for the first couple of nights, and wouldn’t get above 10C during the first couple of days.  This resulted in Tom wearing everything he had, PLUS some stuff on loan from myself, saving him from his overly skinny fate.  Tom now owes me a potentially unlimited amount of favours, and these can be purchased from me for the low low price of $10 a favour.  I hear he is quite good at cleaning.  The snow also led to the first classic line of the trip when it was discovered that Sad Tent had not kept Kate dry and Tom quipping, “Kate’s wet, but not in a good way.”

Sad Tent - It was touch and go there for a while

The following day we hit Dam Cliffs.  After setting some top ropes for Nathan and Aaron (sorry if that’s spelt wrong) we branched out and tried some routes not usually done on SURMC trips there.  While attempting the 23 overhang Lachlan was caught making a most enlightening observation about my photography skills and his climbing status.

Monday saw us head for James Bond, with ambitions to climb Mr Big.  We followed the directions in the book and pulled over in what looked like the parking area.  After picking what looked most like a path up the hillside, and trusting Tom that there was a path further up underneath the cliff we could see we headed out.  Four hours and an impromptu canyoning trip later we sat exhausted in the forest just off the roadside.  Tom decided to heed to the call of nature, but before that he had to “chalk up” a certain body part.  I am concerned that Tom’s chalk obsession has moved into addiction.We finally made it to James Bond.  Lachlan, Pinkie and I scaled the first two pitches of Mr Big.  The wind picked up by the time I had started to lead the second pitch and we were all quite cold by the time we abseiled back down, after snapping a few photos from the top including the picture at the top of this post.

Lachlan topping out on the second pitch of Mr Big

Meanwhile Kate and Tom had been sandbagged onto an easy 11 and 15 by a couple of old locals.  Lesson learnt: Beware friendly and kind looking 60+ year old climbers.  Tom then sandbagged himself onto a 24, which he did not finish.  The day finished with a hearty meal at Blackheath, where there was a clear No Sit Zone around our table.  Personally I thought I smelt fine and continue to blame Kate.

Tuesday saw us head to Zig Zag.  Lachlan and Kate did the classic trad route of the area Honey Dip, giving them the opportunity to legitimately place the Number 5 cam.  Pinkie and Tom, and later Lachlan, scaled a nearby 21 in the meantime.  I tried my hand unsucessfully and enjoyed the warmth of the sun until the trad rack was free and did my first, very short and straightforward trad lead.  I later decided to try my hand at a 17, which turned out to be exceptionally pumpy.  It did however turn out to have a great hands free rest half way up.

Hands free rest

Lachlan also took the opportunity to get artistic by channeling Andy Warhol.

That night Tom continued to prove that he really shouldn’t be trusted with anything flamable and hot.  With the Fire v Titanium Spork score standing at 3:0, Tom almost lost his eyebrows while trying to refill the metho stove after having already been warned not to pour it into the stove.  After a couple of beers and many marshmellows we hit the sack.

Wednesday morning rolled around and we thought one last hurrah was in order.  Medlow Bath was chosen, and after only doing one route each we decided to call it a day and get the jump on peak hour traffic.  This of course was not before Spidey, who up until now had been quite happy to just hitch a ride around, decided to get in some climbing.

Spidey scoping out his next move