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Get your own Free Home PageO.K this is where I write a whole bunch of lies about my awsome climbing ability, and you skip them and go straight to the jokes and pictures. So we'll just take that as read and start with the self-depreciation.
I've been climbing off and on for a couple of years now, but haven't really put in the time to get any good at it. Then my girlfriend went and bought me a pair of climbing shoes, so now I have lost my excuse. ("I could have done it if I had shoes.")
As you can see from these photos I do toprope climbing. This is mainly because I don't have any lead climbing gear. My housemate has a big collection of toproping gear but doesn't climb any more because of shoulder injuries, so I do toproping. Simple huh?
Hence I've started to put some time in to climbing again. And I've gone off and actually done some at various locations about the place. The primary place where I started climbing was of course Kangaroo Point, because it is in the middle of Brisbane and so very convenient. But I did go a bit further afield than that, such as to Bald Rock and Lake Perseverence. Then, once I moved to Sydney, I was forced to look for other areas such as Nambucca Heads.
Kangaroo Point is an area that is right in the centre of Brisbane. As soon as I get some photos I'll put them here, but until then you can see what it looks like at these climbing pages.
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Now here I actually have some piccys to show you. The first is of me doing a layback on Natural Arch which is actually at Giraween rather than Bald rock, but as the two parks join together I thought I'd just stick this here. I am that tiny little multicoloured dot about halfway up the lefthand side. To zoom in just click on the picture. |
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Now this one is really at Bald Rock. Halfway up the South Side there is a granite formation of boulders, and I am bouldering up an internal chimney. What you can't see from this photo is just how rotten the rock is. Or maybe you can. Look carefully and you will note that the rock is green. This is not the normal colour for granite, this is the colour of granite that is rotten with mold and lichen. The surface is so filthy that I did not want to wear my nice new climbing shoes (which could get no grip anyway) and so am using my old boots from India. |
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Now this is the outside of the same formation. That is my girlfriend (at the time) Lucy down there belaying me. She isn't as keen on climbing as I am. This particular climb was pure slab the whole way, with lots of lichen to keep things interesting and some tiny little fingernail holds to act as red herrings. As I very rarely do rated slabs I have no idea about what level it is. |
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And how did I tie on to a pure slab? Well luckily there was one crack, and right in the middle of it was this piece of rock like a giant, natural chock. So I looped the tape around it and I was away. This rock weighed a good 100 kg so the changes of it comming out when the load on it was sideways wasn't enough to concern me. |
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Where? Well at the moment it is not well known, though hardly a secret. Basically it is the closest site to Toowoomba that I know of. If you know of a better site just email me and I promise to keep it secret if you want me to.
Lake Perseverence itself is a between Crowsnest and Ravensbourne (though you'd think that a place like that should have the word blackbird in the name.) Drive along the highway from Toowoomba through Crowsnest and then you reach a town called Hampton. About 5 minutes after that the Lake Perseverance turnoff is to your right. Of course if you are reading this from Siberia or London or somewhere then you really should have skipped ahead.
Well I haven't actually got any photos from this yet but my friend Mykl did, so you can go to his page and see some there.
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