New Project at PC

Gav very kindly bolted me the a great line at Planet Clare. I had spied the line earlier this year but hadn't made any effort to clean or bolt the route so Gav got motivated did two routes for himself and one for moi. Thanks mate.

The route is awesome. Delicate footwork in shallow pockets, balancy sidepulls and two cruxes. The first crux is a cross through move into a shallow two finger pocket some tricky foot moves and a long reach to a sidepull. The second crux is an uncling into a crimpy sequence reminiscence of Paddington at Centennial Glen.

The route didn't go today as we only had an hour at the crag - not enough time to warm up, learn the moves and then redpoint - maybe next time. I did have one redpoint but fell at the top crux twice, then went to the top. I have edited the footage together to show what the route will look like and put the falls on at the end (some of the hard moves are well above the bolts). It is bad footage - sorry hard when there are only two at the crag and you have a stills camera with a grainy video function. I will try and get better footage when I tick the route.

No name yet and grade to be announced - around 25 I think


Gav's new routes are a blank slab and an extension to great little 23, both look very hard maybe 26 and 24 respectively. Plenty more new routes to come aswell on natural gear.

I See Red

We woke up to the most awesome red sunrise yesterday, the result of a sandstorm. Red dust from the heart of Australia had travelled thousands of kms to cover the East Coast in a blanket of fine red dust.

The people (and media) of Sydney carried on about this all day yesterday with some people saying ridiculous things. I heard one old man on the radio claim the seagulls were flying backwards to avoid getting dust in their eyes and Sharon from Bogansville was going to stock pile canned food for the Armageddon. Here in the Jones' house we just enjoyed natures best light show in 70 years.

Lachlan Climbing

Lachie is learning to climb, check out his moves on the video below. He says "when I older I climb rocks with Daddy" - let's hope so!!

How times have changed!

How times have changed! The other night on my way to the kitchen, I saw a huntsman! Once upon a time, not that long ago, it would have been sprayed with fly spray until it was all foam. But now that my little boy has a bug catcher, my first thought was, do I have the courage to catch it?! It was all up to me as everyone else was in bed! Anyway, I was very brave and this is the result Lachie found the next morning.


Ryan turned 6 months old last Thursday! He is growing so quickly. He's still an absolute delight and smiles pretty much most of the day. He has just started shuffling backwards and trying to get up on his knees, so I don't think it will be much longer before he's on the move - oh dear! Sprouting some cute fluffy hair now too. Still not a huge fan of food but we'll get there eventually I'm sure.

Lachie continues to be a gorgeous, fascinating and delightful little boy. His vocabulary has improved even more recently and his latest 'thing' is reading all 36 Mr Men characters from memory on the back of one of his Mr Men books. Baz & I are really quite over reading about Mr Nonsence these days though! Toilet training has been put on the back burner for the moment - he just didn't seem too phased about not using the potty / toilet even though he knew when he should etc. So in a few months we'll bite the bullet again.

Lachie still loves his little brother and now Ryan follows Lachie around the room with his eyes and lights up with a big gummy smile when his bigger brother comes near him. It's really lovely to watch. This morning I captured the following video which pretty much sums it up between the 2. Lachie was stroking Ryan's head absentmindedly while watching a cartoon.




Also, this one shows Ryan starting to try and move around...




Lastly, here is a recent photo of our beautiful boys

Work & Working Routes With Gav

I have done some work with Gavin for his new business Eurosafe. This a company that installs the best and latest roof and fall arrest systems from Europe. I have done a few jobs this year and hope to do plenty more as the business grows, below is photo of a job we did in 44 degree heat last January!Yesterday we looked at another job at a local TAFE and then found ourselves with a free afternoon so headed up to the Blue Mountains for a quick climb. The weather was looking like a change might push through so we headed for Centennial Glen.

We started with a warm up on a grade 20 -Dr Foopsickle (photo below), a newish route that we had never done before. It was a nice little number on sinker pockets a little sequency so I was happy to get the onsight. Next up was a bouldery little number called Horrace Herrod (25). I missed the onsight and then took a few goes to finally get the red point.
We traveresed the top off the crag and set up a top route on the mega classic Paddington. Both Gav and I got all the moves on first up so we pulled the rope and tried to redpoint the route but with no luck. I am sure with more time and better commitment this great line will go clean next time out.

With light fading fast we headed over to Wave Wall to try the technical and bizzare route Jaquiline Hyde (24). Gav but the draws in and I had a go at flashing the route. I got through the crux and the roof but feel on a monster jug above the last bolt after missing a huge side pull. I was dissapointed at missing the flash and falling ofa grade 18 move one move below the chains but that was all we had time for so it to will have to be on the list to finish off next time.

All in all a great way to spend 4 hours, now if I can only coerce some belays up there for a full day to finish off those routes and maybe try a few others.

Sydney Grit Project E8?

I went down to Planet Clare and Berowra last week to try and the Desire Factor and a few other routes. The Desire Factor didn't go but we got up Gavs Slab (was a 25 but possibly more like 23) and Glamapus at Berowra in the evening. But the big news was the discovery of a new hard grit style route Planet Clare. The route is so far unnamed but will be maybe called Martyrdom, Kamikaze or Hara-kiri (Japanese meaning death with honour) if it is ever done.

Below is a photo of the line. It is a twin arête that is about 10 degrees overhanging in the top half - vertical below that. The moves up the bottom section are blind slaps to shallow pockets or crimps around the arêtes. The crux is then turning the lip onto the slab at the top. This move requires a blind heel hook on a flat edge about foot below your left hand, right foot on a tiny edge on the face. From here you do a long lock off the right sloper on the lip to a sloping horrible two finger pocket on the slab. Then some fancy footwork and two more blind slaps with the right hand get you set for the crux mantle onto the slab. From there it is an easy pad on up the slab for a change of undies and my eternal respect.

The good news is there is some bomber gear at half height. On the photo you can see a lot of chalk in the crack on the right at mid height. Though this gear is solid and canbe placed from a hands free stance on the shelf a fall of the crux would see you swinging hard onto the slab at best (if you belayer jumps of a ledge to take in the slack), hitting the low roof (just out of shot) or the ground (which is a terrible landing).

We top roped the route and where surprised to see the moves come together but it is a way off going yet. We need to do lots of cleaning and unlock the perfect sequences. At the moment I believe the route is around grade 26 or 27, about V7ish. Gav who knows the grit scene says he believes the route will go at E8 6c. That is the same grade as some very famous grit routes including Gaia, End of the Affair and Renegade Master.

Any takers??

A couple of developments and about a trillion photo's!

Just thought I'd share our latest, most exciting news! Ryan rolled for the first time the other day. Unfortunately, he did it in his cot after a nap, so we missed it but nonetheless!

As for Lachie and our toilet training....just as I thought it wasn't really going anywhere, he asked last night to do a poo on the potty and he did!!

Doesn't take much for us to get excited these days! LOL

Now, for all the latest photo's. They're mainly of Ryan as he is the one changing so quickly at his age but I am starting to realise I've been so conscious of making sure we have loads of baby photo's of Ryan, like Lachie had, that poor Lachie isn't in many these days. Will have to change that :)

Awww

Hello, I don't believe we've met!

My darlings

Ryan loves his baths! Has from day 1.

Had to put this one in because he looks
so much like Lachie did!

Isn't he beautiful?!?!

And last but not least, check out
Ryan's cankles hehehehe

Latest on our boys

Well our little boy Ryan is 5 months old now (which I can't quite believe!!!) so we thought we'd try him on some rice cereal. Thought it might be just what was needed to help him go through the night too. Let's just say that he wasn't overly excited about his first taste of his rather runny rice cereal and nor was I expecting him to be. We haven't tried him again since as he is doing completley well on just his milk and won't go fading away too quickly with the 'reserves' he has stored away on those thighs!

Here are some pics...

All smiles at the beginning

So far, so good...

What on earth IS this?!

Doesn't know what to do with it LOL

Ewww, no more thanks!

Barry's face says it all, Ryan smiles in victory

Below are some pics of Ryan sporting 2 new outfits. The first was given to him by his Nanna from her recent trip to Africa. The 2nd one is a beautiful hand knitted jumper given to him by his Nanny's friend Rosemary. She is one generous, talented lady!



On to Lachie news, we are in week 3 or so of toilet training. Going well except for the fact that he prefers to poo in his pants not on the potty / toilet....sigh..... He's done 1 once on the toilet for Nanna and that was it. Good with the wee's though. Here are a few recent pics of Lachie:

Some privacy please!

Hope he doesn't try this on the astro-turf at kindy!

At a local park

Hahaha Baz couldn't resist having a turn!

Pedalling himself for once,
he seems to think it's a rather tiresome chore though!

Winding Back The Clock To 1995

With Dave J up from Tasmania for a week we organised a day climbing with the old guard. Eight of us shared belays and some good climbing. Special mention to Jules, Dan and the two Steves (Lind and Jones) returning to Berowra for the first time since 1995. It was also good to see the crags latest developer Gav drop in on his way to Singapore.We got a heap of climbing done. One notable ascent was Dave Js flash of Grumpy Old Men (23) which was also nearly sent by Steve (photos above) and Ace. Dave went close to flashing Are You My Pussy (23) a new route I established last month (see the video below). Gav did another first ascent sending his route on the pocket wall calling it Torque is Cheap, a very solid grade 22.

We enjoyed alot of the old classics. Dan, Steve L, Jules and Steve J all did the appropriately named Yesterdays Heros (17) and Ladder of Gloom (19). Dave, Ace and I did Scones of Doom (23), the funky jug-a-thon Luv Handles (21) and the all time classic Ladder of Death (22) (below).
I managed to repeat Dingo (24) a very short but bouldery route (see photo of Ace below or video of me below), Are You My Pussy (23) and also got the second ascent of Gavs new route Torque is Cheap (22) aswell as some old classics. All in all a fantastic day out and good to see the posie back on rock.

Big falls at Sissy

Steve, Gav and myself returned to Sissy crag yesterday, it was the first time all three of us had been there together since 1997. Not much has changed in the last 12 years as the Jones boys tried to follow Gav up the desperate slopes.
We all warmed up on some easy classics before doing Go Granny Go (v5) (photo above) and playing around on some harder problems but nothing worthwhile was achieved so moved down the crag to the days main objective - the slabs. This block is home to two beautiful blank and committing lines. We had to invest a lot of time cleaning the lines since these problems have lay dormant for over 10 years.

The first line fell quickly as only the bottom half is blank then there are just enough small edges to make for an exciting but easier top out. Steve below on the crux first 5 meters on the right side slab called Slabia Minora E1 6a.The second line didn't go yesterday as we ran out of time and couldn't get the last 3 meters cleaned (we didn't expect to get so high). This problem Slabia Majora was first (and only) ascended by Gav in 97 and is about E4 6c. I had a nice drop from 3/4 of the way up but Gav took the biggest plummet falling with only 2 meters to go - enjoy!

Perfect Winter Climbing

Had a good day at the crag today climbing with Gav, Ryan and Adz. We climbed a few of the old classics to warm up including an old route I bolted for a mate in 1997 called Up The Duff (22), a horrible route that I am glad someone stole so I don't have to admit it was the work of myself and Paul Duff. I also sent Scones of Doom (23) a piece of unfinished business from the mid nineties. After that I spend some time on Gav's new project and another thin (and painful) route on the blackboard wall - The Red Menace (24). No luck on this sharp and sandy number and I am not that keen to thrash my tips on it again any time soon.

Having a few more bods at the crag allowed me to get some pics. Below is a photo of Gav on his new route Grumpy Old Men (23), a hard boulder problem that could be very solid for the grade.The next two photos are of Gav on his unfinished line on the pocket wall. The route is hard (26?) though Gav was desperately close and the next session should see it done. I am putting Gav on notice that if this route is still unfinished by August I will do my best to coerce a belayer to the crag and try and steal the first ascent - this is an awesome line I would be happy to claim as mine.

Latest developments...

Well we've bitten the bullet and decided it was a good time to start toilet training Lachie! He has shown signs of being ready for a few months but with a new baby we felt there was no rush to start until everything had settled down at home - which it now has.

It's day 3 today and I have to say, he's doing pretty well. Still have a way to go but I'm hoping we have it sorted before kindy next Wednesday.

Ryan continues to do well and I just had to share a little video of him having a "chat" with me. Please excuse me in the background!

Lastly, here are some photo's before going to a birthday party last weekend...

Hmmm, got Lachie looking & smiling

Ok, got Ryan smiling but not Lachie

Best of the bunch - how hard is it getting

2 kids looking & smiling at the same time?!

Latest Bouldering and Climbing

I have been enjoying the cool conditions of Sydney's winter to do some climbing at Berowra and some bouldering at the Balkans and the Fear Factory.

Gav and myself have been doing a few routes down at Berowra, including a couple of first ascents, and hopefully more to come. Gav has completed one new route at grade 23 and is very close to doing a great line on the Bullet Hole wall that will come in at about 26. I have completed a new link-up of a 25 (Are You My Mother) and a 24 (Glamopus), I have graded the link-up at 23 as it by-passes the final crux on AYMM and the start crux on Glamopus. I have my eye on a few other hard lines at the crag and have made up stainless steel U bolts so will try and equip those routes in the coming weeks.

The bouldering has dropped off while I have been doing more climbing. I have had a few sessions at the Balkans and one outing to the Fear Factory. I have manged a few new v4s and v5s and Hollow Mountain Dreaming (v7) (pictured below), but most of my energy has been focused on trying to get some link ups and new problems established.

Update on Ryan

Ryan is now 18 weeks old!!! Where has time gone?!

Since my last post, he has really worked out his sleeping during the day. Last couple of days we've been getting a couple of 2 hour naps during the day! :-O Yesterday afternoon, I woke him from a 2.5 hour sleep as I was worried how it would affect his night sleeping.

When he's awake he's all smiles, when he starts showing his tired signs it's straight up to bed and off to sleep without a peep. Almost like he's glad to be there! He's feeding like a trooper. Still up once or so during the night for a feed but I really don't mind as it's quick and straight back to sleep for both of us.

Things with Lachie were never so smooth, even though he too was a placid, happy baby. We had much bigger battles on our hands when it came to sleeping & feeding. Or was it just us that had less of a clue first time around? Probably!

I keep wondering when Ryan's going to throw us a curve ball and change!! LOL

A very recent pic of my 2 beautiful boys: