watertrade Posted July 15, 2010 Hi guys, just wondering if anyone is into rock climbing? back when i was younger and fitter I enjoyed it a couple of times a week. I gave it up when friendships broke down and I had some bad experiences. I'm thinking about giving it another go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bread Filter Posted July 15, 2010 Do you mean free climbing without ropes? That is hardcore. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted July 15, 2010 Do you mean free climbing without ropes? That is hardcore. nah, climbing with ropes and all the shiny gear Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bread Filter Posted July 15, 2010 nah, climbing with ropes and all the shiny gear That's cool. That is still hard. I am shit scared of heights. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ramon Posted July 15, 2010 Hi guys, just wondering if anyone is into rock climbing? back when i was younger and fitter I enjoyed it a couple of times a week. I gave it up when friendships broke down and I had some bad experiences. I'm thinking about giving it another go. Use to do it a fair bit years ago. Wouldn't want to try it these days without losing any extra weight. Places a lot of strain of connective tissue. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mt.B Posted July 16, 2010 Places a lot of strain of connective tissue. This is why I gave it up. I developed 'Dupuytren's Contracture'. Whether it was caused by climbing is up for debate. All the research I've done on the condition, no one knows what causes it. I had to have corrective surgery on one of my hands. After that I didn't want to take the risk of it returning if it was caused by the climbing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
niggles Posted July 16, 2010 I havent done it in a long long time... would be fun to have another crack! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
paradox Posted July 16, 2010 (edited) yeah i am... haven't been rock climbing in a while though... i'm a rope technician by profession, so i guess i don't feel like climbing that much in my spare time anymore. but anyway yeah, i've always been a monkey & felt right at home swinging in the sky edit: oh yeah & like people say it's pretty hard on your fingers if you're not careful. full blown rock climbing i don't really get into anymore as it's not practical when considering i spend the other half of my time as a musician.. it's not even 'rock climbing' but the other day i didn't have gloves at work & i still haven't been able to play guitar, piano or anything else properly for days now.. proper musculature preparation of the fingers is essential before you push yourself in rock climbing & proper warm ups, stretching etc. i think yoga & rock climbing should go hand in hand Edited July 16, 2010 by paradox Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted July 16, 2010 When I finished climbing I had big fat knuckles which I had to strap every time I climbed and pretty impressive forearms. ;) Just in case you’re curious about one of the bad experiences I talked about it was on a sports climb on Thompson’s point, Nowra. We had arrived in town the night before and drunk a crazy amount. We then headed out the next day. first paddling a canoe across the river to the base of the cliffs and started working on the local classic Vanderholics ( a 25 meter grade 19 ) I was belaying a mate and everything was going great - so much so I was chatting away with my mates girlfriend and not paying attention. My mate made a dynamic move for the final hold and didn't give me a heads up. He didn't make the move and the rope jumped out of my hand. I grabbed at what I could and grabbed above the belay device. A few seconds passed and my mate ended up with his feet at my head. My hands were melted, skin folded over in flaps etc - but I caught him! We climbed more that day and the next but that is when my fear of climbing started. I would like to hear your climbing stories Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
paradox Posted July 16, 2010 ok haha, i have a crazy mate who is just one of those insane people who gets into insanely crazy situations & survives.. anyway this experience left him pretty freaked out & he never really went as extreme as he used to since.. anyway we were on a trip up north around brisbane & went to a place called frog butress.. a mad chunk of straight basalt chimneys & cracks. we had just been to brisbane & bought some new gear & were pumped for a climb. we headed down on the first afternoon we arrived there & it was really sick, beautiful place, tree snakes & wallaby's, cool views & crazy rock. my mate (being a bit more experiences than me at the time) picked out a nice crack to start on. i think a 21 or so, so all was going well, i was on belay & about 2 meters above my head was a descent size ledge jutting out from the cliff. my mate had started leading up this crack putting in his new nuts & some cams as he went, so he got about 10-15m up this crack & to the crux, problem was the idiot had just bought some fancy new angled nuts & he wanted to use his shmick new gear but it was unsuited to the cracks there, so anyways he works into the crux & before i know it he's falling face fist straight towards me & all his protection is just popping out one by one in milliseconds & loose rope is piling up on me & i'm fighting to pull in a much rope as i could as he's falling face first towards this ledge, then all of a sudden i yank down on the rope & his body appears to bounces straight off the rock ledge. i watch his body contort & to me it looked exactly as though his body had just completely smashed on the rock just above my head. in fact one of his cams had stuck & the rope had caught him literally millimeters in time, his body bounced on the rope just, & i mean JUST missing the rock, his head whipped around & his face smashed the ledge, but luckily he only shattered his cheek bone & i didn't have watch one of my best friends die horrifically but i've got heaps of stories haha, most of them involving that mate too i guess Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest svarg26 Posted July 29, 2010 i climb a lot at morialta. around grade 17/18. i go bouldering up at mannum water falls and around palmer, williamstown and belair. pretty fun. a couple more weeks and i'll be back out there again. both my wrists are toast, but i love to climb. my mate fell about 5m while free soloing a giant crack at mannum. he hit the soft grass and didn't even have a scratch on him. although if he fell about 60cm further forward he would have gone over the next 30m cliff. moral of the story is. i am not a very good spotter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wameron36 Posted November 6, 2013 I'm bumping this thread back! Any one still climbing or any others gotten into it since?Haven't had any real bad experiences so far, luckily. Though a few months back I had a bit of a fall that, while I didn't get hurt, shook me up a bit. Was leading a super crimpy 23, clipped the draw in one of the bolts then fell as I was about to clip the rope. There was a tree right next to the route and I decided to try grab one of the branches and catch myself. That didn't quite work and instead I flipped upside down, fell into another branch and broke it then nearly swung straight into the wall. Wasn't a massive fall, probably about 4m. But that scared the shit out of me and had me on edge for the rest of the day. Beside that though, it's been all good and I'm totally hooked! Managed to send a couple of AWESOME v5 problems in the last week on two trips, which was a sweet achievement for me!I'm really keen to head down south at some point and check out the climbing there, would love to visit the Grampians, Arapiles and all of those areas. Will be travelling north at the end of next year so I'm pretty excited for the potential climbing up around the Northern Territory and West Australia around the Kimberly and all of those beautiful escarpments and gorges out that way. Need to get into some trad climbing first though! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted November 6, 2013 (edited) I would like to get back into it one day but if I did I would go about it in a much less macho, gung ho way. I don't have the body for it any more and I don't really like the idea of scaring the shit out of myself too much. Now I would be interested in long, lazy, easier climbs, well protected with much less crimping. ( which used to be my thing!) And lots of hanging around the camp fire talking about climbing and drinking whiskey ;) Edit: oh and many less overhangs. Edited November 6, 2013 by watertrade 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justler Posted November 8, 2013 I love bouldering! Only been outside three times, but spend every Tuesday and recently Fridays at a indoor climbing Gym. Such a fun and challenging way to stay fit and hang with great mates. Would love to check out the Grampians and its definitely on the agenda for next year. I sent my first 11 the other day (my gyms grading is different, it would probably be around a V8), such an awesome feeling! Any Sydney folk on here, or anyone swings through the area I'd been keen to catch up for a climb. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted November 8, 2013 Which gym is that Justler? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Justler Posted November 8, 2013 ECAT - Evolution Climbing and Training in Whetheril Park. It used to be called The Pitch many years ago. I've climbed at Villawood and Petersham a few times, and The Block in North Parra once or twice. ECAT is my regular though; great atmosphere and great climbing community. You climb Tripsis? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted November 8, 2013 I've been meaning to check ECAT out, but it's just so inconvenient that I figure if I'm going to bother driving a distance, then it might as well be outdoors. V8 is solid, nice job. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wameron36 Posted November 14, 2013 Hell yeah man, nice work on the V8!Not sure which gym it was, but some friends went down to Sydney the other week to have a play in one of the bouldering competitions. Originally I was planning on heading down too, just for the fun of it and to check out a big gym since ours is pretty tiny and basic, though a change in circumstances and a one new car later - I'm poor again. So didn't make it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted November 14, 2013 What's the climbing like in FNQ? When I was up there over last summer I didn't come across anything, but I wasn't travelling with other climbers, so wasn't really looking. Mount Funnel near Mackay looks like it has has wicked potential. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted December 16, 2013 (edited) For anyone in Sydney and interested in all things adventure related, you should come to Adventure Time on Thursday. The event is run by friends in their warehouse just up the road from the St Peters climbing gym and is free! Adventure Time! It's a great little event, has some really interesting people come to talk. Last month Mike Law gave a talk about Sydney seacliff climbing. Edited December 16, 2013 by tripsis Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OPP Posted December 18, 2013 I love bouldering! Only been outside three times, but spend every Tuesday and recently Fridays at a indoor climbing Gym. Such a fun and challenging way to stay fit and hang with great mates. Would love to check out the Grampians and its definitely on the agenda for next year. I sent my first 11 the other day (my gyms grading is different, it would probably be around a V8), such an awesome feeling! Any Sydney folk on here, or anyone swings through the area I'd been keen to catch up for a climb. I'm a Sydney person. Did a little bit of climbing years ago and am thinking of getting back into it but don't have anyone to go with/know anywhere to go. The only place I know of is a beginners cliff in Lindfield. Would be keen to get back into it if someone can suffer a beginner!!! tripsis-that sounds pretty good. Pity I didn't read this earlier..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tripsis Posted December 18, 2013 OPP, it's tomorrow! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
altenate Posted December 18, 2013 If your interested in a bluies day out OPP or Tripsis pm me. Being summer & fairly warm canyoning is my preference. But happy to show you the ropes so to speak!;) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
C_T Posted December 18, 2013 when the olympics came to sydney, they put an indoor setup in at the Forum at Newcastle University. great fun! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wameron36 Posted December 19, 2013 In Townsville it's pretty sweet, there's a few good places close to town. Fredericks peak is an awesome bloody spot, a lot of hard sport routes being up there!Then there's some great bouldering nearby as well, up at Harveys Marbles, over on Magnetic Island or down in Bowen. Bowen is something spectacular! Awesome bouldering along such a beautiful piece of coast. It's all right on the beach with crystal clear water along side.I'm up in Cairns for a few weeks doing some work at the moment, and there's not as much of a climbing community here, but I think that's mostly due to the lack of places. In Barron Gorge/falls area is suppose to be a fair bit, but I've not been there myself. Hoping I can meet some climbers up here to take us out since I don't have any ropes. But I've been bouldering up a place called Emerald Ck, real close to where I'm staying in Mareeba and there's a lot of cool problems that I've found! And again, it's so incredibly beautiful there! Only problem is, most of the really cool boulders outside of the creek line itself is a very large grained, crumbly granite. You find something that looks like a really cool problem, have a feel of the holds and they all just fall off... At least inside the creek area most of the rock has been cleaned up slowly when from countless floods over the thousands of years. What's the climbing like in FNQ? When I was up there over last summer I didn't come across anything, but I wasn't travelling with other climbers, so wasn't really looking. Mount Funnel near Mackay looks like it has has wicked potential. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
