Success

We had some phenomenal weather just after finishing our roadtrip. The Sky was blue, we had a little bit of wind and the temperatures in the shade where quiet chilly. "Simplicity" had always been one of the very last boulders in the whole area to be dry, since the crux of it goes straight through the main water runnel of this 20m x 15m block. Expectations where low to try it on our first or even second day back, especially after noticing the many deep puddles and rivers on the approach to Buandik.

Finja and her toys

Surprisingly the rock at the top of the hill was in better conditions then the ground and as a first warmup I climbed the tree next to my Project and gave my best to prepare my holds with towels, toiletpaper and heeps of chalk. It would be climbable in the afternoon, or perfect the next day!

Drying the holds

We enjoyed climbing on other problems sun so much that day, it was a big relief after so much rain. Katinka got back on "First One", V7 and we did three new lines between V5 and V9 which where put up my our american friend Chad a couple of days ago, before we hiked down for dinner.

The clear sky and the wet campground made the next few nights feel terribly cold. So we did not spend much time outside or around the fire, but cooked inside and where once again very happy with the interior and electrical setup of our van. Finja loves to play on our matress in the bright light of the many LED's and we always have enough energy to charge Ipad and macbook. While she plays we can listen to some music and while she sleeps we usually listen to audiobooks, while I'm editing the latest photos.

With no hurry and great weather I continued my work on "Simplicity". I rather climb many different boulders than focusing on one really hard line. It's fun and rewarding to put a lot of effort in one thing, but at some point it turns into a head problem. Over the time individual moves will feel easier and smoother while the mind says, "It does not feel hard, I should have climbed it already", but starting from the beginning this one move won't work, no matter how hard you try. It's frustrating, I hate it and it's what happend the next few days. I think in total I arrived at my hate move around 30 times, while making it past that point on only 3-4 occassions?!

Katinka in "Northern Fire", V8/9 - Buandik

Anyway, the sun was a nice change and Katinka started working "Northern Fire", V8/9. When I did the First Ascent of this one, she decided not to try it, since I only found a tall person beta where I extended my 1,84m body to the maximum to reach the holds. But a few weeks had passed and other climbers found better beta. Katinka found a great technical solution with some slippery heel hooks, requirering body tension and precicion.

Later that week we spent our very first restday on the Buandik Campground. Just outside the van, without any need to drive 80km One Way to hide from the nasty rain or to do some shopping. We used the day to relax, and do some van work.

Katinka busy with sewing works

After that it rained again, but we were in urgend need for a second restday. We went to Halls Gap to do laundry and showers at a friends place. The next day was absolutely windstill and humidity was around 150%. It was not possible to climb much, so all our hopes were focused on our last day in the Grampians, before heading towards Melbourne, where my parents and sister would arrive the day after.

Everything worked out! After some warmup at a new boulder called "Where is the wind?", V5 (which we put up that previous day), I finally climbed the full version of "Simplicity" from sitstart to top in my second go of the day! It's the boulder I spend the most time on ever and I would guess it's the hardest approach I have ever taken to get to the summit of a piece of rock. Yiphhiie!

Sticking the crux move of "Simplicity", V12 - Buandik

We went on to Katinkas Project and she did it right away on here third day on it.

To celebrate the successful day we went to Halls Gap with our french companions and ordered massivly good Hamburgers and drank some wine. Now we are on our way to Melbourne, sleeping at a friends place in North Melbourne. In about two hours our guests will arrive at the airport and we might see them in the CBD later or tomorrow morning.

www.chalkonrock.com

Roadtrip

We tried to climb at the Campground Boulders on Thuesday, but the weather was not to pleasant. Katinka couldn't warm up her body and lost her motivation to try hard and give her best. As she was finally ready to climb her project it started to hail...

We packed the van and decided it's time for a little roadtrip. Through Hamilton we drove south towards the sea around Portland, Victoria. From there on we turned towards the neighborstate South Australia. On this trip we saw some white Kangaroos, the sea, lighttowers, huge waves, massive blowholes in windy seastorm weather. We made it to Mt Gambier a city surrounded by lakes created by vulcanoes long ago and now we've passed the rainy days. We've just checked the weaherforcast and it looks like a good amount of blue sky.

Weatherforcast for the southern Grampians, Victoria

Tonight we will return to Buandik, chansing the sun.

Arapiles

The past days we spent in area on the other side of Horsham. Instead of sitting in the rainy Grampians (the weather has not improved yet ...) we enjoyed some sunny days in the Arapiles. There is a little bit of bouldering, but not to much and the sandstone is by far not as good as in the Grampians.

Katinka in a V6 Traverse - Arapiles (Finja is enjoying the sun in the back)

We used the times to empty the area, pretty much all available boulders are climbed, next time we have to jump into our harness and go for some sport or traditionalroutes. Also we did a big clean up in our van. We sorted through all our luggagae, got rid of hidden rubbish and some dirt and mould. We bought some paint to protect the wooden construction within our van from pulling water and the sun was a big helper in letting everything dry.

Axel in "In Between Fear and Desire", V10 - Arapiles

Now we're back in Horsham, just having had a refreshing shower in the local Aquatic Center. We refilled our kitchens cupboards and watertanks and are prepared to return to the Grampians. The weather is still worse than we like it, but sitting in the van or in cafès is not a great alternative.

Finja playing with the Baby Roobiks Cube

Together with Yannick and Florien from Belgium we'll return to the Stapylton Campground Boulders tomorrow, in hope for great success in Katinka's Project "Happy Camper Traverse", V9.

Birthday Party

Shortly after our last post we had to celebrate a double birthday party. Paula and Finja both turned 1 year old on friday, 11th July. It was a rainy day, so we spent quite some time in a nice cafe together with Manu and Marie. The two little ones got surprised by some boxed and colorful presents they had to unwrap.

Birthday Gift unwrapping

The cutting board and fruits

Paula got a ball to play with, a monkey dolly and a bird mobile. And Finja got a nice set of a cutting board and several wooden fruits while all fruits are separable in the middle by a velcro. Using a knife to seperate them in a pretty realistic manner means heap of fun! Thanks so much for this present Jochen and Miriam! She also got a dolly by Manu and Marie, one beeing called Wolly the Wombat which scared her in the beginning and now she loves it.

After some delicious pastries and cappuccini we did a quick internet session to communicate via Skype with our friends and family before we went to an awesome pizza place with two burning fireplaces and pizzas as good as you can imagine. What a nice day!

"Simplicity", V12

Climbing wise we had a lot of rainy days, but also dry days inbetween. Jochen did the second ascent of my "Simplicity" which is still awaiting it's full sitstart ascent by me. It is hard but eventually it will happen! Instead of this one I managed to climb the "Roobiks Cube", V12, but with the original, plastical and complex Roobiks Cube I'm still stuck trying to solve the last two corners of the last surface.

"Roobiks Cube", V12

Katinka and Miriam both climbed "Brian's", V6 and "The Ramp", V7 before Jochen, Miriam and Paula ended there Grampians time. They took the Great Ocean Road towards Melbourne where they still are, trying to sell their campervan. In a couple of days they will be back home in Germany. Good luck with the van sale mission!

Katinka in "I'm a Koala", V5

In the meanwhile my parents have decided to spent this years summerholiday in Australia rather then driving to Italy or other European countries. They will arrive in Melbourne in about three weeks, meet up with us to visit the Grampians and together we will drive north towards Sydney, where we want to spent some more time bouldering in the city and routeclimbing in the Blue Mountains.

Simplicity is born

The past week was full of rain. After one day in Buandik where I tried my steep project together with my brother Jochen I found a good solution for how to do the single moves. I've solved the puzzle of the rock and only need to link all the moves together another day.

Then we drove back towards the Campground Boulders where Jochen had his big project (see last post). After falling twice at the top moves (scary fall, but he didn't die ;)) the send it! In the Guidebook it is called the Scorpion King Project, but asking Google, we learned the First Ascent happened 12 years ago. Now it's the "Scorpion King", V13. Hard, scary and beautiful!

After a few days of bad conditions and rainshowers every now and then we had a really windy day yesterday. We were not quite sure if it's worth driving all the way from Horsham to Buandik (80km) or if it would be a better idea to climb in the Arapiles (30km) for an easy day of climbing classics. But we decided to give it a try and it payed of!

A double Kangaroo in Halls Gap, Grampians

After warming up, Katinka could climb "Hillary Step", V9 in her first Attempt of the day and so we continued to my project. It was absolutely dry and stunning conditions. The pads were about to fly away due to the strong wind, but fixed with heavy stones on the crashpads corners they stayed were they were supposed to stay. I warmed up and worked the moves again and again before starting to link them. Finally I fell twice at the last move, a dyno to a big jug where your feet swing out, before I did it.

Katinka in "Hillary Step", V9 - Buandik, Grampians

"Simplicity" i named it, but business is not over yet. I still have to return and try to climb the sitstart, as I started on the last move of the old V7 version, which makes it a obvious standstart. After beeing really tired I postphoned this mission to another day and tried "Roobik's Cube", V12 again. I managed to do the hardest move as a singlemove and almost sticked the move starting in the middle of the boulder.

Katinka on the last move of "Simplicity", V7 - the extended version might be V12

I think both boulders feel about same hard, but for a correct grading I have to wait for repetitors of "Simplicity" and for the full line to be completed. Due to the strong wind we had to postphone the photosession. It was impossible to leave Finja on the ground without watching her, since there was a lot of sand flying into her eyes. Hopefully next time up there, it's a bit more comfortable. ;)

Now it's only two days until Finja is one year old!

www.chalkonrock.com

Back to Australia

Last week we rearrived in Australia. Our little holiday ended with an exhausing overnight flight back to Melbourne, where the immigration officers took a real close look at us. They pulled us out of the line and asked, why we would return to austalia after an such short absence of only nine days. We had to proof the purchase of our ticket back to germany and they wanted to see our bank account.
Luckily they were happy with what we could show and let us in.

 After just 30km of driving we pulled over at a gas station and stopped for an two hours nap. We were so tired of the journey and couldn't make it any further. After that stop it went better and we finaly arrived at Buandik Campground just in time for dinner. We reunited with my brothers family and went up the hill again in the morning to see what boulders Jochen and Miriam had found in the past days.

Northern Grampians

My own project was still soaking wet, so we climbed other lines and the little girls where pretty psyched to plac again together in the mud. The day before it had rained a lot, so the conditions were not as good as you want them. But for bad luck it was the best day for a while ... The weather turned into really bad. Lots of wind, freezing cold and heavy showers at the same time. We jumped back into the van and drove north. We found a few problems in the northern grampians, that were accessible, even though most of the areas are still closed due to the bushfires.

Generally the weather is way drier up there. For every 10km you drive south, there is 25mm more rainfall per year in average. We got to climb a little the next few days. I repeated problems I had already climbed five years ago and Katinka managed to climb "Happy Camper", V7.

Jochen found a problem in his style, marked as a Project in the guidebook and really hard. After grabing a one finger pocket and pulling really hard on it the line tops out through a better-don't-fall zone. Scary and hard!

He almost did it, but destroyed the rubber on his shoes, which made him slip off. Next time might be sending time!

www.chalkonrock.com

Bali 2

The next four days in Bali did not pass in a boring way. Weather was stable as expected, but now we have had enough heat for a while, and motivation is high to return to australia, where the weather is more comfortable.

Looking for handmade scarfes.

We hired a taxi for one day and got to see more remote parts of the island. As a highlight our driver Ketut showed us a nice waving factory, where they produce carpets, scarves and other beautiful things by hand.

Coffee Plantation

After that he showed us a cocoa and coffee plantation, where we tasted the world famous Luwak Coffee. To produce this coffee, they select the very best coffee beans, feed them to an animal called Luwak and after he has turned them into poop, they will be cleaned again and are ready to be sold.

We visited several different evening markets and tried local dinner specialities. The absolut highlight was called Martabak. A big wrap filled with egg, chicken and spices. Even Finja enjoyed eating it and afterwards she was very happy to find herselfe sitting on her very first carousell (human powered, not electrical!)

Human powered carousell.