MEC Club Night Presentation

Really psyched to of been asked to do a presentation for the Climbers Club Night at MEC Burlington. This is going down on June 4th at 7pm and all those who come out recieve 10% off at MEC and a chance to win great prizes from Sanuk and Sterling Rope. I'll be sharing lots of cool photos and tall tales from our wandering adventures across the globe and a video from our recent trip to Tasmania. I hope to see some familiar faces out there. Spread the word!

'Til Next Time

All good things come to an end unfortunately and though it was sad to finish up our great Australian adventure, I'm still really happy as it feels like the beginning of an injury free wave for me and Kyle. And the beginning of the Ontario climbing season, conveniently! Despite our bad luck with fires and record breaking heat this trip, you could say that it was mother natures way of taking care of us. The heat forced us to take it easier on our bodies and the fires kept me away from a hard routes that I dream of, and so more the reason to return as well.

Our last stretch had its ups and downs. Mostly the ups and downs of our own personal climbing peaks and valleys. I felt rather lost you could say after climbing my steep trad fantasy, Malice. I've grown so much as a trad climber this trip, but I was lacking any sort of confidence in my ability to sport climb hard still. It seemed only fitting to head to the famous Taipan Wall as it was just coming into season and I had heard from so many locals that "the rock there is unlike anywhere in the world". And after my first day there I was totally sold. The rock is probably the most solid and amazingly sculptured stone that I have ever climbed on. It has a style unlike anywhere. The routes are bold, with protection being a mixture of bolts and gear, but the climbs are so long that the falls are clean and huge! So fun. The climbing is surreal, consisting of mostly sloping holds, technical body positioning and power. And the cliff stands at a massive 70m tall.

The beautiful Taipan Wall and me coming to grips with the strange cruxes of Snake Flake



Beccasaurus Rex making great progress on the dynamic Snake Flake.
That is The Invisible Fist  all chalked up to the right.

A totally unnecessary no-hands on the immaculate Invisible Fist

After a great first day of hitting up some beautiful classics, my eyes started to wander to a route that is regarded as the best pitch of climbing in Australia, and maybe even the world. I was nervous though, as I haven't even tried a 5.13 in over a year (due to injuries), but I really felt that I needed to just go and see where I was at with regards to my healing/strength. And no better climb to have a play on then the world famous Serpentine. Heaps of thank-you's to Adam Demmert for these pictures!


Utilizing the 'Leslie Timms invent-a-hold technique'. You can see Kyle peaking out below!

Hanging in there for 40m of ultra-sustained rock climbing perfection.

Actually I did incredibly well on Serpentine considering.
Luckily my mind is really strong right now, so it made up for my lack of grip strength and endurance. I am proud to of hung all the gear myself, I  cruised the notoriously heady opening sequence and I made it to the top on my first try (after over 2 hours of belaying hell for Kyle).  And Serpentine is hands down the most amazing pitch of 5.13 climbing that I have ever touched in my life. The rock is perfect, the moves are perfect, and the mixture of bolts, cams and wires, well that is perfect too.

I put in 3 tries of work on it and I was completely obsessed. But I couldn't ignore what my body was trying to tell me either. I knew deep down that my hand wasn't ready for this route and I needed to take it easier, be patient with my healing and let this one go. So, I decided to be the smart climber I have never been and focus on long term healing, rather than a short term gain. It was a rather difficult decision to take my gear down. I pouted in the van for days.



Mmmm Serpentine.

Obsess much?? Yeah thats right, I wrote out 6 pages of Serpentine beta. This is gold.

We WILL return.

I'm glad things worked out as they did however because Kyle and I had an absolutely amazing last week of climbing together. We set a rule to ourselves to only climb 5.12c and under for the rest of the trip and we wanted to experience what Mt. Arapiles was like when it wasn't 40'C... AND IT IS AMAZING!!! The best part of all was that Kyle and I were actually climbing together again, injury free, trying hard, and for the first time in almost 2 years. Kyle was destroying routes left right and centre and I had to really try hard to keep up, after all, I can't let him think he is better then me! haha.

Kyle ready to pounce on The Fortress, a spectacular almost sport route.

Kyle makes The Fortress look EASY. I do not.

No but seriously, it was such a blast. And we also got to see the campground colours come out as there were plenty of people around now that the good weather had arrived. We climbed so many beautiful routes, I had some great onsights and flashes (something I have really struggled with since getting hurt) and Kyle was absolutely crushing!!! SO fun!

Luv :)

Our lovers rocks

We have had such an amazing time in Australia and we've felt so incredibly welcomed by both Kyles relatives and the local climbing community. The people here are so wonderful and we will surely miss all of their happy faces. So yes it is sad to leave but I mean it when I say that this is not a goodbye, but rather a see you later!

Thanks to everyone that we've met along our travels for helping us out and showing us the love. We are so appreciative of all the beta, gear, laughs, dinners, climbs and good times!!!

We love Australia!!! 'Til next time...

Adam Demmert on the amazing Henry Bolte Wall, Mt. Arapiles



Cath De Vaus crushing yet another route on the pocketed Amnesty Wall, Grampians.



Oh and this is the funniest video known to man kind. Please take the time to watch this immaculate performance of how not to climb the world class Kachoong in Mt.Arapiles. Take note that this route can be climbed very SAFELY with the use of climbing protection and footholds/technique. This is a classic example of when showing off goes terribly wrong. He was unharmed however, definitely shaken up though!


Hero to Zero from LestheMess on Vimeo.

Peace and lovin', Les

Malice and The Seeker of Steeper

 

My quest for rediculously steep trad climbing has become an obsession as of late. This search for maddening steepness stemmed from my personal 'Arapiles fantasy' of being pumped out of my mind, way above gear, pulling sweet rock star moves and screaming like an animal as I face a growing fall each move that I progress forward. Climbers that we have gotten to know had stopped reccomending nice sport climbs or face routes for me to try out. It had become increasingly obvious that I had no interest in the quick ticks, I wanted to climb the steepest trad route I could find.

Space Roof. Trippy man.

Since sending Procal Harum, I craved more of this style. However, the hot temperatures got worse and Melbourne eventually logged its hottest summer in history. We are so lucky to be a part of this historic year (note sarcasm). During the heat wave, I did try a few hard routes in desperation. Some mentionables were: India, which felt impossible in the heat, Masada, which was pretty cool and Cobwebs which I liked a lot and could do every move on, except for getting off the ground! But nothing was that steep trad battle that I dreamed about. And climbing hard in 35'C heat is HARD. Just so you know

So we found some other things to do in the heat....

Complaining in the van...

 

Hanging out with our good friend El Jimador

 

Waterfall showers

Sun tanning. Do you think I've had too much sun?



Did I mention this waterfall? This place is heaven!

We took a break while the heat continued (...again) and then hiked around the Grampians in search of trad steepness and found the testpiece of the dark arts, The Ogive, 5.13a. Little did I know that a play session on this route would pave the path to me finding my dream route and it all started with a guy named Adam Demmert, a man that I was obviously meant to cross paths with. Adam joined me for a go on The Ogive and later he reccomended a route that he put up, another massive 35m roof crack that he thought I would like.



Adam takes a spin on The Ogive, one of the wildest roof cracks out there.

"Im stuck in a sandstone cage of emotion!"

 

Malice is hands down the most amazing and challenging route I have ever tackled. Although not entirely a roof, it is mind blowingly steep and literally uses every trick in the book. It has the perfect mixture of powerful bouldering, technical trickery, funky crack climbing, exposure and adrenaline. Ground up was the only option on this route, due to its traversing/overhanging nature, and the first try I couldn't even make it to the top. It climbs very boldy sideways without the option to aid through most of the difficult sections and it was dirty and had barely any chalk on it. This style was kind of intimidating to me and I learned a lot just trying to wrap my head around it.

I was really happy that I didn't give up as I found it rather height dependent at first, and usually I would just move on. It had several sections that seemed more difficult if you're short, like a really low key foot in the crux, an awkward dyno right at the end and I invented about 5 holds to reach the key hand jam in the beginning. But the movement was so much fun that I decided to just embrace the challenge.



The Olive Cave, where Malice resides, sits on the bottom rock tier and just behind the olive farm.

The Olive Cave



Malice 5.12d takes the prominant left-most leaning crack, straight out/sideways to the black horizontal roof at the top.

It felt incredibly hard on my first two tries. I suprisingly one hung it on my third try, I ended up taking the whipper I feared on my fourth, and I could then relax and sent it on my fifth try...BARELY sticking the final dyno... I'm conviced that I levitated.

I really loved this route. It was perfect and I am so happy! I found out later that this was the first female ascent and just the fourth ascent too. Kinda cool to be a part of the first few on a climb that I will never forget. Despite not necessarily being the hardest graded thing I have ever done, it definitely felt like one of the best challenges I have faced on the rock. Huge thanks to Adam Demmert for putting up such a great line, and in really good style.



 

 

 Now things have cooled down it seems. Unfortunately though, a very large portion of the Grampians are closed right now (and probably for years) due to the fires. So the obvious next step in my steep trad quest is closed indefinitely. Boo :(

 

But we cannot complain, just going with the flow now and enjoying the days we have left! Kyle is crushing rocks again too, which is a blast to watch. Most importantly though, we are both very happy!

 

I guess the next post will be the last....as we are now on the final stretch!

 

Sweaty Sending in Mt. Arapiles

I'm going to be very Canadian for a moment and talk about the weather. It seems only fitting as it not only depicts the setting of the past few weeks here in Mt. Arapiles, but the current weather has also occupied nearly half of daily our conversations and most of my daily thoughts.

HOT AS BALLS is the most appropriately unappropriate way of describing it here. More accurately though, current daily temps have been averaging around 33'C, and upwards to 39'C. Nights cool down to a whopping 19'C by about 3am. SO sweaty. All the time. The first 10 days or so we were too psyched to even care. Especially considering we had the entire Mt. Arapiles, a world class cliff, almost entirely to ourselves. I guess we didn't get that memo.


What appears to be a steaming hot pile, is actually some of the best rock climbing anywhere. Although it is definitely steaming hot.

Mt. Arapiles, Kombiroo approved.

We have become creatures of shade, along with all of the other local creatures. We climbed tons of classic moderates, and I found a great flow in onsighting many of the classic trad routes between 5.6 and 5.11+. We've had an absolute blast on everything we touched. Giggles of sheer excitement are a daily norm. Regardless of the heat, the trad climbing here is the best I've ever done in my life. It is absolute heaven! It's STEEP, its juggy, there's sweet rockstar moves.... its kinda like sport climbing on gear!!!!

The climbing ethics here are incredibly refreshing and you place gear where there is gear (even if it is questionable) and clip bolts where there is no gear. It makes me realize how "bolt happy" people have become over the years. There are so many beautiful routes I can think of that could have been safely protected on gear, but are instead grid bolted for the masses. Kind of a shame isn't it? It makes me kinda sad that climbers are losing touch with this beautiful style of climbing.



Kyle having fun, me getting sun stroked.

Starting up Kachoong. 100% pure roof amazingness.

 

The perfect opportunity to be a huge poser for the camera.



Kyle joins the fun.

So fun, my smile is from ear to ear. Kachoong and Taste of Honey= MUST DO's!!

More steep Araplies fun. Try to find Kyle amongst the steepness.

After not being able to sleep in the heat for days on end, and quickly tapping out our shade moderate options, we split to the coast for a week. Looking ahead was a forecast of 35'C-39'C for a solid 5-7 days, not very inspiring. So we did the tourist thing and enjoyed some much needed sleep. We got to check out some beautiful sights along the great ocean road and we even went surfing which was an absolute blast!


My quintessential 'Im a huge dork' pose.

This London Bridge did actually fall down, note this missing chunk on the left.

Several of the 12 Apostles, though only 9 are still standing now.

Apparently these ones weren't cool enough to be numbered. At least they didnt fall down.



Its a KOALA!!! Holy crap I saw a sleeping Koala!

The Kombi looking pretty sexy in her surf attire.



Emu' are creepy dinasour birds. Close your mouth creeper!

Upon our return to the Arapiles, we were graced with a cool, cloudy day (30'C, wow!), but forest fires had spread throughout the Grampians and a thick smoke cloud covered Mt. Arapiles for several days. It was actually pretty brutal. But with rested bodies and high motivation, I actually had an amazing few days of climbing despite the conditions. I've finally started to find my flow again on the rocks! I have battled with a wrist and finger injury for over a year now and it has been ages since I have been able to actually try hard without fear of injury. So this week was not only amazing because I sent some great routes, but also because I got to try hard again!!!! So happy, words cannot express.

View of the fires at night. Mother nature is pissed.

Some nice relaxing yoga in the smokey haze. aka. Smoga.

First day back and I had a near onsight of a 5.12a trad route called Dreadnought (I read the route so badly and still nearly pulled it off). I cruised it second try and then made quick work of another lovely trad route called No Exit 5.12b, right next to it. However, the 5.11 that I onsighted on this wall was the hardest route I did that day!

Next climbing day was even better, I made quick work of a super fun mixed route called Spasm in a Chasm 5.12b, which has two helarious dynos on it, one above a #6 nut. So bloody fun! After that, I decided to get back on a route that I had tried once earlier in the trip called Procol Harum 5.12c. This route was really special to me as it was the first ever climb to be graded 5.12c (26) in Australia, and it was love at first sight. It is a massive crazy roof that finishes up a rediculously steep overhanging crack. Best part of all is that it goes entirely on gear and with no crack climbing necessary!! I was happy to return to it with new confidence. That day I unlocked a bunch of moves and somehow pulled the send out of nowhere on my second try. It was an amazing battle in the 33'C heat. I split a nail in half, I was greasing off every hold, I found like 10 sweaty kneebars in desperation and then screamed like a barbarian on the final buldge move. All this, with an audience cheering me on and plenty of play by play commentary on my part. I imagine it was incredibly entertaining to witness.


Psyched for some well overdue try-hard action.

I was so psyched with this rapid progression, but as climbing usually goes, something needs to stop and remind you that you still suck. Next climbing day was pushing 37'C and I didnt sleep at all that night. Im a totall addict, so we climbed anyways. We warmed up on the worst route in Arapiles, I nearly decked while simul-rappelling, then proceded to flip out on Kyle, then got on a 5.12c called Denim in the heat of the day. I got completely destroyed on the thing, then took a 20+ footer after my nut ripped out and the shitty piece below barely caught me. I was too rattled to climb after this fall and Kyle bailed me out while I cried to myself at the base. Oh and then he rolled his ankle and I had to hike him out. hahaha. Classic 'Les the Mess' style!!





A cockatoo that has absolutely nothing to do with whatever Im ranting about.

Cafe Kombi, open for business




Baby Grey Kangaroo takes a peek out of momma's pouch


No worries though as I got over this ego thrashing when I cruised one of the most fun trad lines ever yesterday... the famous Trojans (another stellar 25/5.12b) is out of this world! I could climb it like a hundred times. SO sick.

I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy. I will hopefully have more climbing pictures in the future as more climbers have finally started to arrive. Hopefully cooler temps will come with the crowds! Peace and lovin all around.