Slinkin Leopard

Sweet arvo after work in doggers gully, arrived with gear and rope and no partner lucky I found Ben and Chris at the cliff. Mega thanks to Chris for a sweet belay and Ben for filming. Later

GO ONE MORE

"When you're pumped and you trust your gear, you can just go for it!" Malcolm Matheson

Alex Hartshorne, onsights Hypertension 24

Pumped, scared, wincing you shout "take" and slump onto gear at your waist. We've all done it and we've all regretted. Reaching up and feeling the next hold, knowing deep down if we just had of made that next move we could have held on. The climb was ours, well not this time.

Theory has it that we have a limited scope of attention capacity, occupy it with thoughts of how pumped you are, how you just can't go on, how this hold is terrible and you might just fill your attention capacity and fail to concentrate on important cues like where the next handhold is, where your centre of gravity is, analysing the real risk in your current position, unlocking the correct sequence.

The process of thought-stopping and centering means to stop negative thoughts and replace them with good one and to recenter thoughts internally. There are four steps to the process:

1. Take a moment to stop negative talk, and replace with a positive comment.

"OH DUDE I'M SO PUMPED" vs "I'VE TRAINED FOR THIS"

2. Bring your focus inwards, take a deep breath and calm yourself.

CONCENTRATE, INHALE, EXHALE, RELAX

3. Bring you focus to the route, analyse the risk, find the next holds grips and footers.

LOOK, ASSESS, PLAN

4. Begin the next move and continue you planned sequence when you feel you have regained focus.

CRUSH

 So next time your pumped or scared or both! Take a moment go through these four steps, make an informed decision about the consequences of a fall and when safe; GO FOR IT! So don't sit on the rope knowing you could have given more because when you are safe with great gear or going for it on bolts you'll probably send, you won't regret going till you whip and it beats taking any day!

REFERENCE

Cox, H. C. (2012). SPORT PYSCHOLOGY Concepts and Applications. New York: McGraw-Hill

THE SHORT END OF A LONG ROPE

Last week I was told by my neurosurgeon that my scans where good and I could go take some whippers, well actually he said 'return to normal activity and don't fall off any mountains'. To me that's pretty good news. At the start of November  the day before my girlfriend Kerryn's birthday I messed up an abseil and fell. Now I'm pretty sure I fell some 10m but somewhere between Simon, Oli, Danny, the SES, Ambos and Police rescue it turned into 15m shit; I aint gonna argue with that, so I fell fifteen fucking metres man.

I fractured vertebrae T9-11 anterior burst but not displaced, ligament damage in my cervic spine with a micro fracture in C7, some small stuff in L5 and fractured my 5th meta-tarsal in my right foot.

On the 5th of November last year Simon, Kez and I rolled on into the Buffalo camp ground (after we missed picking up Simon from his flight from Tas and overheated three times on the road up). Really psyched up we wasted no time and with Oli and Danny, Simon and I headed out to the to get some routes in before dark. Kerryn stayed in camp with the laptop to do some work.
Simon and I both climbed Peroxide Blonde. I went first, lowered back down and then Simon led the pitch, when he was safe at the top he abseiled back down and meanwhile I took off my harness and helmet and soloed the route next to Peroxide Blonde named The Pintle; On getting to the top I asked Simon to tie my harness to the rope. Thinking I should pull both ends I fatefully for some reason did not, I hauled up my harness, pulled some slack and chucked the rope. Putting on my harness I checked the buckles, checked the belay device and launched off... I was cruising down looking out over the buffalo plateau and the rope lost all resistance, I saw an end shooting past me.  Oli reckons I said 'Oh Fuck'... yep oh fuck, I remember thinking well this is it when I crunched into the corner of The Pintle, thought to myself SURVIVE and tried to grab the corner with of course no hope, I tumbled further down and out of the corner system into Simons loving open arms! Simon says he looked up and saw me coming flying towards him so he stepped under me and put his hands up, I would say that he bloody saved my life. Then I crunched, was winded severely, broke some bones, thought I was royalled and felt really guilty for killing myself on my girlfriends birthday (the next day).

I won't go into the details of the rescue—suffice to say a lot of people helped me out greatly and I am humbled by the effort others took to ensure my safety, comfort and eventual rescue.

I would consider myself one of the last true romantics for arranging a scenic helicopter flight over the Alpine National Park for my girlfriend on her birthday, none of which would have been possible without the support of the very giving tax payers of Australia.

The situation is human error, my ropes were not equal from a retrievable abseil, I went past one end which was around 3-4m from the anchor so the system of course pulled through. I was enjoying a conversation and the view of the Mt Buffalo plateau at sunset (my first trip here) and didn't check the system thoroughly . Knots in the end of the rope would have prevented this accident. Personally I find this easy to deal with and can move forward from it, I made a mistake and luckily enough can learn from it, gear failure on the other hand would result in forever second guessing equipment. It has been frustrating to think how avoidable this accident could have been, especially for someone like myself who as a guide prides myself on safety but there is always a difference between workplace setting and personal climbing.

The posse enjoying Kez's BDay a day late, I hang in the Alfred

I take away from this accident, a little bit of climbing knowledge but a lot about life, I have learnt so much about friendship and love in such a small amount of time compared to my previous 27 years. I went climbing for the first time about a few weeks ago with some mates at Bundaleer (love this cliff! It was pretty much home for me when I lived in Halls Gap). While back in my first climb top roping Enter Sandman a close friend Earl heckled me to put in a double knee bar and bat hang, I laughed and said Na which he responded 'Gaan do it' and so I did, but not because he pressured me or I felt I had to prove myself but because I knew either way I went Earl would have something positive to say about what choice I made. True friends encourage us to explore, try new things, develop and support us no matter what we choose. We truly stand on or mates shoulders, literally, next up came Manic Depressive but I felt the first throw move was too much so I stood on Earls shoulders and pulled through it, this too me sums up so much, although we may grasp onto and latch the next hold we truly are only propped up by those around us.

Thank you.

THE WARM-UP & COOL-DOWN

WHATS IT ALL ABOUT?
A good warm-up (pre activity) and cool-down (post activity), should become an integral part of your climbing/training routine. There are several important reasons for warming up by slowly and systematically increasing the stress on your body you properly prepare it for peak activity and reduce the risk of injury, you can nurture optimal mental focus to gain good psychological performance levels. Similarly warming down allows the body to return to resting activity level, aids in dissipation of body heat and flushing out lactic acid built up in skeletal muscle during high intensity activity.
Thinking of your warm-up and cool-down as an essential part of your climbing routine rather than separate and it as time lost to not climbing or training is important to keep you focused and regularly engaging in these processes.
Imagine a day in which you get straight into hard climbing; hurt yourself, perhaps get a mega flash pump or sketch out feeling awkward and uncomfortable on rock. A day in which you work a route or problem over and over till failure then just stop and go home feeling waisted and sore. Half an hour spent warming up aids avoidance of the first example and half an hour cooling down will aid in the recovery of the latter, quicker recovery means on the rock sooner. So an hour dedicated to the warm-up cool-down process isn’t an hour lost but an hour well spent ensuring optimal performance level and better recovery to get you sending again sooner!


WHAT TO DO & WHY TO DO IT
0-5 minutes aerobic activity 1 minute of light intensity aerobic exercise 1-3 minutes should be medium intensity aerobic exercise you should be able to maintain a conversation, 3-5 minutes of vigorous intensity aerobic exercise you should find holding a conversation difficult. Doing this will raise your heart rate, increase blood flow and begin to warm-up muscles for high intensity exercise. Eg. Jogging, Cycling, Skipping
5-10 minutes light dynamic stretchingto begin to ‘limber up’ each of the following areas:
HEAD gently roll the head from left to right for 15 seconds and then front to back for 15 seconds (do not rotate like a ‘NO’ response)
SHOULDERS roll your shoulders forwards for 15 seconds then roll them backwards for 15 seconds
ARMS spin your arms together slowly forwards and increase the speed over 30 seconds and spin your arms slowly backwards and increase speed over 30 seconds
HANDS clench your fist and open them as wide as you can for 15 seconds and shake them about for 15 seconds
TRUNK start with small rotations and begin to get bigger and bigger circles with your hips for 30 seconds
LEGS one leg at a time for 15 seconds make increasing arc ‘kicks’ from back to front then for 15 seconds each leg try put your knee on your chin and for 15 seconds each try to kick your bum
FEET write your name with each foot for 15 seconds each
Doing this gross movement will promotes joints to release synovial fluid which lubricates joints and you begin to put the body through some of its range of motion you are going to engage when you begin climbing
10-30 minutes of sport specific activitythis means climbing! Do several easy climbs/boulders with each climb/boulder engage in these activities:
BREATHING: focus in on your breathing, hear yourself breathe in and out, concentrate on moving fluidly with each breath.
BODY: close your eyes between moves and zero in on your balance point, focus a moment on each hand and each foot and what it feels like on the given hold, close your eyes again and concentrate on each limb relative to the other
PACING: concentrate on the speed at which you climb, begin slowly and increase your speed to as fast as you can whilst maintaining excellent technique


By now you should start to feel pretty warmed up you can begin to increase the intensity of the climbing/bouldering you are doing bringing it to just below the level that of your desired climbing/training for the day. You may choose to isolate some specific movement or holds and use them. Eg lock off left arm and hold then repeat for right. Hang on a finger boards off a medium edge. Here you want to bring on a near pump but definitely do not waste yourself, now after a short period of active rest (you don’t want to get cold again!) you are ready for your session


Sometimes the constraints of an area or climbing partners etc. mean a regimented program like this may not be possible, this doesn’t mean you should throw out your warm-up routine. Instead be creative, here is an example warm-up for a ‘real’ climbing day.


Your walk-in will become your aerobic warm-up bringing up your heart rate, if the walk in is too short go for a quick jog on the spot or along the base of the crag. Whilst still warm (don’t sit around for ages talking shit and getting cold) by all means still chat with friends and have a good time but whilst doing this begin your light dynamic stretching as described above. If reasonable traverse the base of the cliff and begin your sport specific activity or choose a very easy climb to conduct this stage, don’t think of this as a waisted climb if it is easy enough it won’t take you very long, engage in the activities whilst doing the climb, and if possible a top rope may make closing your eyes and adjusting your pacing better. For the final stage you can find some holds and begin increasing intensity hangs or moves at the base of the cliff, or choose a second route that will be a step up from the first but not too hard that you can’t get the desired effect of this stage. A short rest maybe a snack and you are really ready for a day of crushing.


THE WHATS AND WHYS AFTER YOU GET YOUR CRUSH ON

COOLING-DOWN

So many times I have just packed up and gone home after trying a route/problem at my max, leaving my body feeling tired and soar. It may often seem inconvenient but cooling-down properly in the longer term will aid recovery, meaning we can send/train harder sooner so surely every minute spent cooling down is a minute well spent.

The idea like I said above is to allow the body to return to resting activity level, aids in dissipation of body heat and flushing out lactic acid built up in skeletal muscle during high intensity activity. So initially we simply need to reverse our warm-up process slowly decreasing the intensity of our activity, creating nice blood flow to flush out muscles and slowly cool down our body. This will be followed by twenty minutes of static stretching aiming to elongate our muscle which will have tightened up after intense activity.

0-10 minutes gradual decrease in climbing intensity Climb 1-2 routes or a handful of problems well below your max, again concentrate on style and technique and shake out, you will feel tired but shouldn't struggle on the routes you choose

10-30 minutes static stretching Check out the following sight

www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/stretching-exercises

and work through:

Front/Doorway/Back shoulder stretches

Wrist flexor and extensor stretches

Back stretch, lumbar rotation and side stretch

Quad stretch, hip flexors and hamstrings

Calf muscles

www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/rehabilitation-exercises/stretching-exercises/types-of-stretching

Read the section on static stretching to guide you in what to do.

Now you should go enjoy a nice meal, hang with some pals and get a good night sleep OR drink beer.

Scary descents, hairy attempts and still nuthin sent.

I came to the Blue Mountains with one goal in mind Tsunami a mountains test piece that I had tried on four rainy days last December before heading south. Things started out pleasant and slow; Ash, Ollie and I enjoying scrambled eggs and Bondi coffee to go, before leaving Sydney.

 We hit up shops in Katoomba so Ash could buy her first pair of rock shoes and I took the time to say hi to colleagues from the Australia School of Mountaineering. An hour later we were at Hugh and Nikki’s house in Blackheath, slurping down more coffees and packing rucsacs.

It didn’t take much convincing of Hugh that Wave Wall was the spot to be (Wave Wall is home to Tsunami of course.) we went there and Ollie and Ash shot off to Piddo and Ash did her first lead on Hocus Pocus. Hugh and I warmed up on Jaws and tried Rubber Lover we also met locals Matt and Christine surprisingly the only others at a popular crag for rainy days on a weekend. Bolt to bolting up to the crux of Tsunami happened pretty smoothly, giving me confidence the crux however wasn’t any easier to when I left it last! I tried the move A LOT but didn’t quite stick it, though I left it feeling with the practise and some rest I would do it. In the end pulling through but climbing to the top again without too much concern. It was good, I came down and after a short rest tried again… it wasn’t good! I was pretty smashed so a quick warm-down and Hugh and I shot it. A fun day cragging followed by a great dinner with a crew of locals to meet made day one winner.

Scrambled eggs again for breakfast! A solid night’s sleep on a healthy serve of red wine and sun shining skies meant day two was on track for some good climbing. Hugh was keen to go check out a new line he had bolted on the huge Carne Wall, it was a steep short piece below the hanging belay from a 40m pitch he had already established called Kingdom Animalia. It had been tried by Hugh and some friends and hadn’t gone yet, moves were probable somewhere around 26-27. Hugh wanted one try and if he didn’t send then he would let me loose on it. PYSCHED!

Abseiling over the lip of Carne wall was frightening, asserting intimidation like ones first abseil. A seemingly endless void below security from 9.8mm of woven nylon threads, some 40m later I clipped into the comfort of a double bolt belay. This semi hanging stance rest on the lip of steep rock horizontally splitting large sections of cliff, nestled below is a comfortable ledge then around 150m of sandstone wall to the Grose valley below. Hugh rappelled with drill kit on hand and placed two more bolts to finish the lower pitch, jugging, swinging, hanging, workin hard is what it took but not too much time, practise showing in Hugh’s approach despite been away from rock for 4 months. A fixed line was in place from our current anchor to the next we rebelayed our abseil line into the current anchor, clipped in short to the fixed line and rapped off, the fixed line acting as a zip line and pulling us into the belay.

It started raining

Hugh got amped up for a burn, the top bolts were still drying but he could try to that point and then lower back. The terrain is steep enough that you remain dry shielded from the slabby water runnels above, wind and exposure remain full value. Hugh climbed out three bolts, then decided he wasn’t having fun and came back. My go.

It started lightening

Departing the dry, comfy ledge seemed a little silly but I did anyway. Moving left around a blunt arête onto a steep headwall instantly changing your bottom peripheral from nice sandy ledge to empty space and minute bush. I held on tight, focused on breathing, moving my feet the safety of my two ropes and ignoring the increasing thunder storm. It felt out there, I was in every sense of the word terrified. The line drew me to a dyno, hesitation to commit to the situation meant I got tired finally I threw and finger tips slid off target hold and I fell, a sense of comfort and normality as the rope took up slowly stopping me and my harness pulling tight coming to rest in space. Rain dripping out behind me, massive cliffs and ringbolts! This is all happening 300m from the car! As gear did its thing, so did head space and climbing without fear began, the intensity of the elements and the situation been natural inspiration.

The dyno move held me off and I pulled off a quickdraw to gain the next hold, traversing good holds further left to the next bolt. Taking on the rope I rested hanging on the bolt, finally pulling on ready for the next section of climbing I reefed hard on the jug rail and then was falling, strange, because it felt I was still holding on. After letting go while falling I realised I had pulled a big chunk of rock out, dangled on my rope and stared as the rock drifted towards the valley floor half expecting a cartoon dust cloud to shoot up on impact. ‘Nice work Toby, yeah just get rid of the shit stuff, needs a clean up’ hah yeah thanks Hugh! I continued my climbing, resting to the lip of the slab and the traverse back right to the belay. Now things up here were wet, and I started getting wet. This sucked but I got to the belay and lowered back down to the ledge and its protected position, time for banter, resting and food. Without resting long enough but getting cold, I started gearing up for a red point shot, then the sun came out perfect I delayed my departure for 15mins and soaked up the rays.

Way more comfortable with the situation I climbed to the crux dyno move, hucked in and went for it slapping the hold, tearing off, taking a nice fall and cutting my finger. I lowered back to the belay and taped up, it was a big vertical slice up my middle left finger. Taped and even more determined up I went same situation only this time the tape got cut up and my flesh got even more chewed. Back to the belay. More tape! I tried the move a few more times then had one really good shot latching the hold with my full hand but when my weight came down the roughness and pain with sticking the hold came I just let go. It was time to concede, the move required lots of skin and lots of trying so I pulled through again and wanted to climb clean to the top. My foot popped higher on another hard sequence which was abit of a bummer. Hugh followed up and we (well Hugh) hauled the bag and all the gear left from previous trips to the semi-hanging belay.

The sheets of water that had covered the upper wall earlier in the day had dried, and with red hued evening skies I had the chance to flash I guess (we had rapped down and I had seen the line) Kingdom Animalia 20 which I think deserves two stars. Hugh followed and we hauled the bag the final forty in the dark, juggled out another 10m and scrambled some 30m to return to the normal world. All that was left was 180m of bush bash back to the car, I swear bush has one direction travel and everything was sticking against me this last stint! All in all we had 4 single ropes, 1 half rope, 30 quickdraws, two full trad racks a drill, bolting gear and lunch. I was left feeling exhausted and satisfied with a great day out, filled with adventure all just 200m from the carpark.

Monday started really slow, Hugh and I finally got going and visited Zap crag. Onsighting Jug Buzz and trying Zapt and the route to its left but not getting anywhere, fatigue obvious but pysch high and a great little days cragging. Tuesday I had planned to try Tsunami one last time but after trying 4 different people to climb before my departure without success I without hesitation called an end to my climbing trip. Looking back over the two weeks I didn’t come away with some of the routes I was hoping to do, others I did much easier. I think the last few days in the Blue Mountains I got a message form my body. Whilst I was still climbing pretty well, and having so much fun, resting wasn’t making me stronger. I definitely plateaued; I had planned 4-5 days off between Nowra and the Blue which didn’t eventuate and with the end of a 6 week training cycle without proper rest overtraining starts to set in. Looking back over the past 7 weeks the longest break I have had from climbing is 3 days when up in Rocky, that’s cool it’s time for some rest now. So here I am visiting the folks in Barwon Heads, walking mums dog to the cafes and awaiting my body’s response to all this stress with SUPER COMPENSATION!

Torched Quickdraws, failed redpoints and good times.

 Explosive quickdraws? Onya Nowra

Nowra home to some of Australia’s most physical and hard sport climbing has never been a place of inspiration to me… still isn’t. Yet what it lacks in exposure, beauty and awe it makes up for in intensity, aggressiveness and power. Short hard climbing typifies Nowra and it has always shut me down. Till this trip my experiences at Nowra were really only limited to two days at a time, on three different occasions. A trip to Rockhampton for Uni pracs and some mates from Tassie (Jed, Claire and Bec); heading up this way where the catalyst for the winter escape.

CJ and Anna were also up here and it was a good but brief catch up with a friend Merry before he shot off to North America. Rain had us kept at South Central (dirty, steep and chalked to the shitter) the first two days, which I was pretty physched on because a mate Wayneo had been talking up Ain’t no Sunshine 28 which lies here. The first day went just as expected, getting shut-down! I couldn’t get up my second warm-up route of the day kept whipping and then bailed on it when someone told me it was called Bag of Sand (sandbagging is to intentionally mislead someone as to the difficulty of a climb ie. putting a sand bag weight on someone). The next few routes came a little easier and then Ain’t no Sunshine it felt super hard and I got to the top once in three tries on the route I also tried Brown Badge but couldn’t even get off the ground on that, literally! So all in all day one went according to plan, pitches, pain, pump. Jed cooked bean burritos for dinner which was super yum.

Day two was a little slower warming up on some of the routes of the previous day and then a few runs on Ain’t No Sunshine my third try of the day felt pretty good linking the start to about half the route before coming off, the fourth try was a burn out and fatigue meant coming off and calling it a day. CJ had some pretty rad shots on it too and Bec can destroy the start so when we are rested and the sun is shining there may be some sendage. Day three meant rest and study so I visited the Nowra library, to do some course work for Nutrition. Jed, Bec and Claire groan every time I open my mouth because inevitably I quote some fact from my studies to try solidify it in my head. Unless of course it something that might help there climbing, but mostly it’s us driving between crags and me talking about blood components or cardiac cycles.

I spent my third day in the Nowra library studying and resting, I cooked two currys for dinner a Saag Aloo and a Black Bean curry with popadoms and chutney, not bad. We hit up the classic Thompson’s Point the next day everyone was psyched and crushing. I managed Cowboy Junkies second go and very nearly got Top one Thommo second try after bolt to bolting it on my first. Came back and did it next day. Then more rest and another day in the library, and Jack Jane cooked up a winner meal the entrée was blanched broccoli with boccacini lightly salted n peppered delicious! We started the day at The Grotto and pulled down on Worm on a Razor then Sheriff of Nothing then headed back to South Central so I could try redpoint Ain’t no Sunshine unfortunately the four days since I had been on it last meant I had lost the smoothness of movement required for me to efficiently climb it. A trip to Albion Park to visit Kerryn’s mum and her partner was a sweet interlude, great to sleep in a real bed and get fed like a king. Treated to a full roast dinner, thai for lunch and tuna mournee pies I felt rested and psyched for the next day.

Three coffees some serious psyche tunes I was up for crushing! Everyone else was resting so I trained it back to Nowra and got a belay of Jack Jane bolt to bolted to find the 5th draw a little worse for wear! Going for the redpoint I calmly cruised to the last few moves, then I guess I forgot to switch on hard mode and laimed the last few big moves. I threw myself at it for the rest of the day having some good tries especially after a big rest and walk out to a café for a coffee! With the last day looming I convinced the others to come back to climb near South Central. It was a tragedy, I was spent couldn’t even get up the warm-up clean and had to redpoint it! Slowly things got better I nearly onsighted Mega Mac and then did it second go feeling a little better but a lot more psyched I decided to have one last try at ANS it was close real close but no cigar and I was shoving gear in my pack and getting to the train station to catch my ride to Sydney. A good night with some cold beers talking trash with my mate Ollie in Sydney and an early start to catch my plane to Rockhampton for uni brought my Nowra trip to an end. Looking back it was a great trip, lots of pitches and great company. Now im sitting in a rotunda at Central Queensland Uni surrounded by palm trees, the sun is shining and I’m waiting for the lab to open up so we can cut things up!

The Way of the Monkey

Last week began with the first niggling’s of injury, turns out I have a mild case of medial epicondylosis more commonly known as golfers elbow (more on this very soon). This really sucks! Though it has coincided well with three days of top rope guiding and a weekend away in Geelong to see my brother off travelling.

The week-end away in G-Town was great, parties, bonfires delicious food and good friends. Oh man the cook up on Friday night; Reece D’s own line caught Tuna fresh outta Portland pan seared with lemon and saffron. Nicko’s premium lamb cutlets cooked in rosemary and garlic and I smashed out roast potatoes and pumpkin, hummus, yogurt, kalamata olives, pita’s roast almonds and dates. Put away of course with plenty of good xxxx and vino. Sat night was a boys night with three different types of meat (some dumpster swag of-course) and Texas Hold ‘em.

Six days of rest and rehab exercises with no pain meant I felt good to climb again. I needed easy climbing with not too much serious pulling so soloing on the watchtower faces was the name of the game.

Lately I have been all about the science, quantifying my climbing setting measurable bench marks and pushing a little bit more each time. It has been great, but injury takes you a step back from that and today was such a natural days climbing, putting a smile on my face for its simplicity, significance (not all things are measurable) and freeness (new word TM by me).

Solo rock climbing, that is climbing without a rope is complete commitment. A feeling so often taken away from us by laws and rules that govern our society. Literally taking your life into your hands. At times it may be a little scary but more often it is a complete liberation. Engaging yourself with the rock, feeling its texture, warmth and toughness on your hands and allowing yourself to find the positions allowing you to move upwards. There is no pausing for gear, no hassle of ropes, no partners just you and stone.

BULLETS FROM UNDERNEATH WATCHTOWER
FACES, ONCE A SHOOTING RANGE.

When you can remove yourself from the thoughts and chat that usually accompany normal existence and just focus on movement and climbing, everything feels natural and is meant to be. When you can remove conscious decision from you, movement and climbing, and allow yourself to be subconsciously climbing it is a state of meditation. The flow and liquid kinetics of your mind, body and rock are no longer separate but one unit, perhaps just nature itself. Nothing else I have ever done has given me a this feeling, like moving beyond our normal understanding of time and place.

Whilst walking back down after one of these rare moments today I started thinking on it. Our conscious minds are really our only barrier to taking seemingly impossible dreams and making them real. The lizards I saw on the face today, didn’t think about climbing they just did, the rock doesn’t think about forming it just does, and as I released my conscious mind I just climbed. Can and cannot are not realities of the earth but restrictions put in place by our own conscious thought. So often the first and biggest barrier towards reaching our goals is only ourselves. Today Kerryn (she didn’t transcend time and space, she’s not into that) who currently has pneumonia could easily have used this as an excuse to do nothing and feel sorry for herself, despite of her sickness she chose to come climbing. You must willingly allow yourself the opportunity to experience, without engaging into something you are just making excuses.

Like a wondering Buddhist monk seeking enlightenment, perhaps gaining strength and power through knowledge and understanding rather than campusing and dead hangs is the key to climbing like a monkey. After all I doubt a monkey thinks so much about the next move, he just makes it.