Vertical Life #38 by Adventure Entertainment

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND’S CLIMBING MAGAZINE

WINTER AUTUMN2021 2022• ED35 . ED38• AU/NZ . AU/NZ

REEL ROCK 16

RRP AU$9.95/NZ$9.95 (INC GST)

GETTING TO KNOW WILL VIDLER MUMS WHO ROCK BREAKING BETA WITH ACV

AL PI N E H IG H BY MIK E L EHM ANN | WIDE BOY Z O N T H E G R E AT R I F T | C ATCHI N G UP WI T H AN GI E SC AR T H-J OH N S ON

ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

AUTUMN 2022

AUTUMN 2022 VERTICAL LIFE IS PUBLISHED QUARTERLY

WINTER/SPRING/SUMMER/AUTUMN AUSTRALIAN MADE. AUSTRALIAN PRINTED. AUSTRALIAN OWNED. EDITORS

Coz Fleming Joanne Lee Sule McCraies team@verticallifemag.com

DESIGN

Marine Raynard hello@kaleamarinedesigns.com.au

ADVERTISING

Paul Robinson Paul@adventureentertainment.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Araminta McLennan, Michael Lehmann, Jeremy Shepherd, Yi Pei, Will Vidler, Angie Scarth-Johnson, Louise Shepherd, Andy Szollosi, Janelle Gow, Matt Eaton (Mountain Equipment), Lucas Marie, Leo Bi (Climbing Anchors), Liam Atkins, Dick Lodge, Amy Wong, Joy Black, Katariina Rahikainen, Nina Caprez, Olivia Hsu

PHOTOGRAPHY

Ben Sanford, Amelia Nikles-Ralph, Mitchell Scanlan-Bloor, Michael Lehmann, Jeremy Shepherd, Yvette Harrison, Yi Pei, Jared Anderson, Adri Martinez, Simon Bischoff, Botsy Phillips, Mojo Stoke Productions, Ellie Longshanks, Ray Wood, Steph Gooden, Euan Ryan, JNY, Keelan O’Hehir, Matt Ray, Kaluhea Laureta, Ellen Longman, Josh Vines, Kamil Sustiak

COVER IMAGE

Will Vidler leading pitch 2 of Telstar (19), Ikara Head, Blue Mountains National Park. Ben Sanford.

CREDITS IMAGE

Rosie Hohnen on Prince of Darkness (18). Simon Bischoff.

CONTENTS IMAGE

Krystle Wright, Sunset Sends, Amelia Nikles-Ralph.

PUBLISHER

Toby Ryston-Pratt Founder & CEO Adventure Entertainment. ABN: 79 612 294 569

SUBSCRIPTIONS

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

Vertical Life acknowledges and shows respect for the Traditional Custodians of Australia and Aotearoa, and their Elders, past, present and emerging.

The content in this magazine is the intellectual property of Adventure Entertainment Pty Ltd. It must not be copied or reproduced without the permission of the Publisher.

DISCLAIMER

Rock climbing and other activities described in this magazine can carry significant risk of injury or death. Undertake outdoor activity only with proper instruction, supervision, equipment and training. The publisher and its servants and agents have taken all reasonable care to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the expertise of its writers. Any reader attempting any of the activities described in this publication does so at their own risk. The publisher nor its servants or agents will be held liable for any loss, injury or damage resulting from any attempt to perform any of the activities described in this publication. All descriptive and visual directions are a general guide only and not to be used as a sole source of information. Climb safe

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VerticalLifeMag AUTUMN 2022

CONTENTS AUTUMN 2022 . ED38. AU/NZ

EDITORS NOTE

READ WATCH LISTEN

WIDE BOYZ IN REEL ROCK FILM TOUR

ALPINE HIGH BY MICHAEL LEHMANN

WEST SIDE STORY WITH JEREMY SHEPHERD

TALE OF WHOA BY LOUISE SHEPHERD

BREAKING BETA WITH ADAPTIVE CLIMBING VICTORIA HOW I GOT THE SHOT WITH YI PEI GETTING TO KNOW WILL VIDLER GROWING PAINS BY ANGIE SCARTH-JOHNSON

GRIT BY ANDY SZOLLOSI MUMS WHO ROCK BY JANELLE GOW A CHALKY AFFAIR BY LUCAS MARIE CLIMBING ANCHORS ON HOW TO TREADLIGHTLY

NEW GEAR

CAMPFIRE CRAG COOKING

BETA AND BREW

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EDITOR’S NOTE

RENEWING MY CLIMBING

Editor Sule having a good send day, but a bad skin day. Mitchell Scanlan-Bloor

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Vows

ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

If there’s one thing which has always drawn me to climbing, it’s the variety of it! It’s the sporting equivalent of an Arts degree, observers tend to assume everyone does the same thing, but internally there are more subgenres than reggae (or so I’ve been told by the Tonsai locals). As a kid, I had a tendency to bounce around between hobbies, usually right after investing in some spenno kit (sorry Mum). Needless to say, when I discovered climbing, nobody expected it to last long, not even me. In my head I always told myself if I got bored of bouldering then I’d move on to sport climbing, then trad, then ice climbing, then big walling, then alpine climbing, and so on and so on, until I’d finally be forced to try some aid climbing (eww). Well, it definitely hasn’t gone down like that! Though I did start expanding into other climbing disciplines, it certainly hasn’t been out of boredom. I’m not sure why my younger self assigned such hierarchies to climbing, the idea that anyone could ever ‘graduate’ from a climbing style is inconceivable to me these days. The one exception being Adam Ondra, I think anyone deserves to graduate after all that power screaming (at least give him a certificate or something). Having said that, I do think it’s easy to stagnate in climbing, like reaching the halfway point in a marriage (says the unmarried uni student).

We all hit plateaus eventually, comfort sets in, same crags, same routes, same rope (I see those flat spots ya cheap bastards). The kind of thing Slap Chop guy was talking about when he said those infamous words: “This tuna? Looks boring. Stop having a boring tuna. Stop having a boring life”. In these instances, my saving grace has always been the variety of climbing. In the last few years, my relationship with climbing has shifted, it’s started to feel more and more like those initial honeymoon years (again, unmarried uni student). Though I never stopped enjoying climbing, my psyche feels renewed. I’m suddenly bursting with stoke for any and all styles of climbing. Not for ‘graduating’ through them, but for experiencing as many as I can, as much as I can (probably don’t apply that to the whole marriage analogy… not that there’s anything wrong with that). Since lockdowns lifted late last year I’ve been clipping bolts, placing cams, wrestling pebbles, slapping wood, chasing FAs, paddling cracks… hell I’ve even started learning about aid climbing (just don’t tell anyone). It’s been almost 10 years and I’m more madly in love with climbing than ever before. I’ve renewed my vows… at least until my next pulley injury, divorce is always an option. Sule McCraies Co-Editor

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READ WATCH LISTEN

Read this BOOK REVIEW: JOURNEY TO ETERNITY

JOURNEY TO ETERNITY

know all the ence of ully ief and ho got ges.’

JOURNEY TO ETERNITY

and more stories of (mis)adventure on rock and in the mountains

EDITED BY WENDY BRUERE

Featuring Angie Scarth-Johnson Iris Vayzer Vanessa Wills Terra Roam Jes Layton and others

With foreword by Emma Horan

Inspiration to adventure comes in many forms and from many sources. But the inspiration to identify as adventurous, and the permission to build that identity in your own way and on your own terms comes along an awful lot less. Enter, Journey to Eternity. The follow up to More than it Hurts, this book is the latest anthology of enthralling stories from 13 women and gender diverse adventurers who share their tales of (mis) adventure on rock and in the mountains. Produced and edited by the indomitable Wendy Brune and Emily Small of adventure group Climb and Wine, I can proudly say I read the whole book in one day. Not because I had a rapidly looming editing deadline but because, well I couldn’t put it down. The title comes from the story shared by Xab de Sotto, and the engrossing retelling of how leading her first outdoor trad climb in the Blue Mountains set her on a path of

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self-belief in her own bravery. Setting the tone for the narratives to come, she draws you in with a little wisdom; ‘It’s funny how sheer self-belief can make one’s heart more bold and daring. Climbing is a discipline that relishes in one’s own capacity to believe in seemingly impossible things’. What follows Xab’s story are 12 further tales that each showcase in their own way how outdoor adventures can lead to impossibly fantastic experiences, growth, and belief in your own abilities. From an ode to a single sling and its role in building a climbing legacy in the mountains around Australia to an epic exploration in the Yukon to avoid a surprise birthday party, these personal stories traverse the world and its many terrains, not to mention a whole landscape of emotions. From frustration to elation as you follow Angie Scarth-Johnson on her journey from Olympic hopeful to being the first Australian woman to send a grade 35 in the Spanish mountains, to fear, anxiety, and heart-swelling relief as you relive the moment Aislinn asks her partner on the rocks of Dyurrite (Arapiles) to belay her forever, both on the wall and in life. If you’re looking for a little escapism, Gerda’s thrilling stories of traversing the mountains in Africa will leave you on the edge of your seat, or Gemma’s determined drive for first ascents could transport you to the ethereal scenes of the Indian Himalaya. With many of these stories written during COVID lockdowns, you can feel the yearning to get outside, and the more you read, the more you’ll be fighting opposing forces to continue reading or to put the book down and do just that. While the tone can change from story to story, one thing that comes through loud and clear in every tale is the importance of the relationships we build while exploring, and how these can help to shape your experiences. In her story ‘The Arctic to Armageddon’ with the help of essential strangers, Brooke traverses the snowy wonders of the Finnmark Plateau,

conquering the seemingly impossible and building friendships along the way. In the story ‘Himalayan Rite of Passage’ with the guidance of a welcoming family, Terra is afforded an unscheduled and otherworldly spiritual pilgrimage in India, redirecting her explorations and building impactful connections in the process. They say that birds of a feather flock together, and these stories really shine a light on how finding your people, or the right people at the right time, can set you on the path to adventure (or in some cases, keep you on it). A celebration of the grit, resilience, and courage of individuals who choose to take up space in the outdoors, these stories acknowledge the strength both physical, but also mental, and emotional, that drives these people and others like them to do what many would consider impossible. Whatever the reason that drives someone to explore, any adventurous spirit who chooses to pick up this book will find themselves quickly immersed in the stories that await within its pages. Because as Emma Horan so eloquently puts it in the foreword, whatever your adventure of choice we are greedy buggers. We crave those elated moments of fear-fuelled adrenalin, of discovery, of meditative calm amid spectacular landscapes. I hope that like me, devouring the many such moments within this book fuels you to go out on your own impossible adventure, whatever that might be. About the reviewer: ARAMINTA MCLENNAN | Minty (she/her) is an avid para climber living in Naarm (Melbourne) and stands as current Chairperson of Adaptive Climbing Victoria. She’s passionate about making space for climbers of all abilities at the crag and in the gym, and when not climbing she is often found pestering strangers to pet their dogs. Journey to Eternity is now available in Adventure Entertainment’s online store: https://adventure-shop.com.au/ collections/books/products/journey-toeternity.

ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

Watch this 14 PEAKS It’s got brave adventurers. It’s got spectacular climbing and breathtaking landscapes. It’s got emotional family stories and it’s got a healthy dose of socially conscious inspiration. Add in attempting 6 world records, and 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible is borderline essential viewing for climbers and sane people alike. The film balances life-or-death suspense with a message of possibility and highlights the ‘no climber left behind’ camaraderie that the community is built on. Giving space to showcase the comparatively underrepresented Nepalese climbing community, and their grit, good humor and incredible generosity both of resources and spirit, you cannot help but be captivated. Will the team climbers reach their goal to summit 14 of the world’s highest mountains in record time with no injuries or losses? Will the leader’s beloved but ailing mother survive long enough to see her son’s success? I guess you’ll have to watch and find out. 14 Peaks is available on Netflix

Listen to this THE CURIOUS CLIMBER PODCAST

The latest from much-admired climbers Hazel Findlay and Mina Leslie-Wujastyk, the hosts themselves pre-warn that ‘we don’t talk that much about climbing’. Varied and often thought provoking, the podcast offers an antidote to the typical and sometimes overwhelming audio tales of daring climbing feats. The topics covered are diverse and each episode will often leave you with as many questions as it answers, from chatting all things family and environmentalism with Alex Honnohold (yes, they do still cover the infamous El Cap free solo), to discussing sustainable community building with climate activists or training and pregnancy with physiologists.

What they do so well is cover so many things that relate to climbing, without always talking about climbing. Light, conversational and incredibly engaging, If you’re looking for your next content obsession I think these curious climbers have you covered. The Curious Climber Podcast is available on your favourite pod-catcher including Spotify and iTunes.

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REEL ROCK FILM TOUR

BRIDGE BOYS

It’s that time of year when the Reel Rock Film Tour comes out showcasing the best global climbing films. Vertical Life gets up close and personal with the Wide Boyz about their film “Bridge Boys”, undoubtedly the most unique of this year’s Reel Rock films IMAGES BY REEL ROCK/RAY WOOD Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker (AKA The Wide Boyz) are some of, if not the best crack climbers around today (and arguably have the best climbing YouTube channel). They’re also exceptional climbers in their own right, though both are too modest to admit it (google “Pete Whittaker The Complete Scream E8 onsight”). Tom & Pete first rose to fame in 2011, following their FFA of the notorious Century Crack (5.14b) considered the world’s hardest offwidth. They have since dispatched and established many of the world’s hardest crack climbs, including Cobra Crack (5.14b/c), Pura Pura (FA 8c+), and Recovery Drink (8c+), just to name a few. The Wide Boyz recently added to this list, establishing The Great Rift, a 760m long, dead horizontal roof crack big wall…under a motorway in Devon, England. Though it may sound comical, The Wide Boyz have said this was one of the hardest and best bits of crack climbing they’ve done to date, and is unlikely to see a repeat for a very long time (if ever). VL’s resident crack frother Sule sat down with The Wide Boyz to find out what makes The Great Rift so special. If you haven’t seen the trailer, go check it out now at reelrocktour.com

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REEL ROCK FILM TOUR WIDE BOYZ So Mark Bullock sent you a photo of ‘the crack’ back in 2018 and Tom started some recon in late 2021. Tell us about the early process leading up to your first attempt. Pete: Yeah Mark sent Tom a photo way back, I didn’t even know that he’d sent it to Tom. I think back in 2018 it wasn’t really applicable in a sense, but once we started climbing some local bridge cracks during COVID Tom and I started thinking “Imagine if there was a bridge crack that was multiple pitches or would take multiple days, just something absolutely huge”. So we actually started looking for a few of those bridges together and checked out a few locations, but they were never quite how we thought they’d be. Then, of course, I went to Norway for the summer and Tom carried on with the hunt. It was around then that Tom remembered or Mark re-told him to check out this bridge down in Exeter [Devon]. He went down, realised it was a good size, sent me a video, and there we go. From there it was just Tom doing a few recce trips to double-check it was the right sizes and climb out a little bit. Tom: It was just looking at lots of Google maps, seeing how long it looks, how good it was, then just going down there, walking under the bridge and checking how it looked. Pete: At that point, I was still in Norway, so Tom just tells me “I think this is on, let’s start training”, and I start training just off his word [laughs]. Then we met back up in early autumn of last year. We’ve seen clips of you guys cutting laps at Ma Dooley [a smaller bridge crack in Sheffield], what was your training plan for this project? Tom: It’s an interesting route to train for because it’s exactly the same move (more or less) 3000 times in a row, so the training is all about getting your strength in that particular move as high as possible and getting your fitness and recovery as high as possible, but all at the same time. So it was a bit more like training for a big wall, but a very repetitive big wall where you’re climbing the same pitch again and again. Pete: Yeah Tom was doing a bunch of training back home, meanwhile, I had a crack in my girlfriend’s parent’s garage in Norway. I was just going backwards and forwards on a 2-metre crack [laughs] it wasn’t even that many laps because the laps were so short. I was more so putting a bunch of weight on and doing some timed sessions for like 20 minutes. It looks like this route had some seriously specific kit and beta (like goggles and earplugs), what surprised you the most once you started trying it? Pete: I think the biggest factor was that the crack moved quite a bit. That was something that we had dealt with a little bit on some of the other bridge cracks, but not to the same extent. It was just really wide, then really narrow, then really wide again. It’s just so offputting, especially when you’re trying to place gear. Tom: Yeah It was definitely how much the crack moved when you were on it, that was by far the most problematic and disturbing thing. The bridge has a number of pillars all the way along every

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55/60m which support the road. In between the pillars where you’ve got the biggest distance from the next set of pillars, the flex in the concrete is pretty big. It flexes where it opens wider and it flexes where it offsets, so it makes the moves quite a bit harder. What was it like having the crack flex while jamming? Tom: You’re just like trying to sense what’s happening at the time, it’s kind of like climbing during an earthquake. Pete: It was all cupped hands, so when the crack expands you just have to squeeze harder, and then it contracts again and you’re like “ahh it’s a rest, brilliant!” [laughs]. It’s always really nice when it contracts. So…tell us about this plug pitch! Pete: Oh the plug pitch, yeah classic! Basically, there was this plug, I think it was a toothbrush charger, hanging down through the crack. We’d stopped a few metres away from it and it was Tom’s pitch so we joked “Oh, look it’s the toothbrush charger pitch”, but at that point the crack had started to become a bit more inconsistent. It went a bit wider, then a bit narrower, and it wasn’t working so well with our crack gloves, so Tom just said he’d get as far as he could and hopefully get past the plug. There was a car bumper in the crack as well, about 5-7m away, so he aims to get to that. Anyway, Tom sets off, messed up some sequences, got too tired and couldn’t go any further, so he just stopped and built a belay. He literally did a 3m pitch, I thought since he still had the rack on maybe he would just rest and carry on, but he fully pulls through the rope, I aid over 3m, and he just hands me the rack and it’s my pitch again [laughs].

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get something which was a bit thinner or a bit harder in that sense, but in terms of an overall route I really don’t think anybody will do something longer… or maybe they will [laughs] I don’t know. In terms of an overall route, it’s pretty tricky, the logistics of it as well. You’d have to find someone else who’s capable and psyched because you definitely need 2 people climbing to do it. Pete, you’ve done a decent amount of big walling, what can you tell us about the logistics of ‘Big Roofing’?

Pete & Tom living the big walling dream, pizza deliivery!! REEL ROCK WIDE BOYZ/RAY WOOD

For those who haven’t climbed urban cracks, how would you compare it to rock? Pete: I’d say the main difference is the really parallel nature of it. On real rock, even in Indian Creek, you still get those small flares or edges or seams or ripples on the inside of the crack, which really gives you some sort of constriction. Whereas on urban cracks it’s a lot more parallel, so the jams are more ‘active’ because you can’t find any respite in constrictions. I guess the friction is also a little different on concrete, some of the other concrete bridges we’ve climbed have been quite slick and we’ve even had a few cams rip out, which is actually quite unusual. I mean it can happen in Indian Creek, but it’s a lot more unusual, if it’s a parallel placement you’re not expecting a cam to rip out, which it definitely did on concrete a few times. But on The Great Rift we checked all that out and never had a cam rip, apparently there are different types of concrete! You’ve climbed the “boss level” routes of each other crack style (hands, offwidth, fingers), is this the “boss level” of urban crack, or do you think there’s further to push it? Tom: Yeah! It’s the hardest in terms of very, very long and hard to complete. There’s definitely harder in terms of pure difficulty of a single pitch, but yeah that’s where that goes. There’s not really any desire to push further, I mean it was hideous! It wasn’t that enjoyable, let’s put it that way.

Pete: We did it in a team effort kind of way, in terms of carrying all the gear and hauling, we didn’t do any of that. We did more of an ‘athletic climb’ in a way, we had some crew on the ground and the bridge is only 20m high, so we just lowered and pulled up all the gear like the portaledge. So really the only ‘big walling’ stuff we did was actually being up there, on the route for 4 days and sleeping on the portaledge. One difference with the portaledge is it doesn’t have anything to rest against, so it just swings around under this roof. Usually, on a big wall, the back of it would rest up against the wall, whereas this is only attached from one point. So if you’re not pretty still it actually moves a fair bit more than you’d think it would. It’s like this big swinging boat [laughs] it was quite funny. I guess if anyone wanted to improve on our style they could take everything with them and go fully self-sufficient. Lowering out haul bags and hauling back up after each pitch, that kind of stuff. But we just decided to skip that and get across it as quickly as possible. Is pizza delivery on a big wall considered aid? Tom: [Laughs] It should be, yeah! Pete: It’s definitely a bit of aid isn’t it. I mean we were getting aid from the ground support anyway, not aid in terms of climbing, but it’s definitely a bit of aid to help you with the big walling aspect, for sure. Like I said, if you wanted to be totally pure then you could go full start to finish without support, so there’s definitely room for improvement. It sounds like you had a really good experience working with the Reel Rock film crew (Brett Lowell and Zach Barr,) tell us about that. Pete: Yeah I mean Tom and I just had this idea driving back from one of the local bridges one time, kind of thinking “wouldn’t it be cool to film” because it felt quite relevant for the time and it was local and thought “ah maybe Reel Rock would be interested”. We already knew those guys anyway, so we just sent them an email with a proposal and they were dead keen right away. So that started, and then they hired Paul, who worked on the original Wideboyz film, to film with us while we were searching for cracks. Then for the first effort on The Great Rift Zach & Brett came over, but they couldn’t make it for the final effort so they hired Paul again.

Pete: Yeah in terms of athletic difficulty in a single pitch, it could go much harder. I guess you could just do a really long pitch on this one and it would be really hard, but we were doing pitches that were 7b+ [26/27] to 8a+ [30] just by pitch length. So you definitely could AUTUMN 2022

REEL ROCK FILM TOUR WIDE BOYZ

Tom attempts to ward off the dreaded thumb pump REEL ROCK WIDE BOYZ/RAY WOOD

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Did you discover any new jamming techniques on The Great Rift? Tom: Oooh that’s a good question, I feel like we did…oh I know! I learnt how to double foot jam bat hang, which is where you hang off 2 foot jams into a bat hang, but like only off the tips of your toes. I’d never learnt to do that before, I didn’t even know it was possible. We never used it in the end, it was just a backup technique in case we needed more rests on our hands. If you had to name it, what would you call it? Tom: Bat Jam! Tom, you’ve said this climb took you right to the limit of what you’re capable of and that you likely couldn’t have done it a few years ago, when you and Pete had already done the hardest cracks in the world. Could you talk us through the grade you arrived at (7b - 8a+)? Tom: There’s quite a lot of climbers out there who can onsight or climb at an 8a standard and it’s relatively hard, but okay if you’re a good climber. Now try and find a climber who can climb 50/60/70 pitches of that exact same grade, with exactly the same moves, back to back, never coming to the ground, never resting properly, big wall style, getting more and more tired, more and more dirty, shit in your eyes…it’s not so easy. That’s the difference! It’s not 5 or 10 pitches, it’s 4 days of non-stop, exactly the same thing. If anyone was going to get the repeat, who would it be? Tom: Hmmmm...Honnold could do it. I think Cedar Wright could’ve done it back in the day when he was really good at roof crack climbing. There just aren’t that many good climbers in that crack style (roof/super steep), there’s a relatively limited number. Pete: Or some up and coming young climber that we don’t know yet. Tom and I are getting old now, he’s 42 and I’m 31 [laughs] we’re still waiting for some 20-year-old youngster crack climber who’s keen to come through. I just reckon it’ll be somebody like that, I can’t see the older trad climbing/crack climbing people wanting to do that, it has to be somebody psyched and keen.

I’ve heard you’re off to Indian Creek very soon, is there another secret crack project in the works? Something about Ringlocks? Tom: Haha no there’s not, it’s not even that exciting. There is a crack project we’re going to try, which is a boulder crack that hasn’t been climbed yet, but it’s not really a secret. But it’s not really the focus of the trip, we’re just going to check it out and see if it’s worth putting more time into. Pete: I’ve never really done much climbing in Indian Creek, I only spent a couple of weeks there. Aside from ‘Belly Full of Bad Berries’ [5.13b] I’ve only climbed like 5.12, just pottering around after trips from the desert. So I’m just keen to go climb a bunch of different routes, finger cracks, ring locks, anything that’s hard really, 5.13 and above. Tom and I only set that ringlock crack in the garden because we haven’t done much of that style. Any plans for ‘Masters Edge’ this year? Tom: Completely forgotten about it this year, although to be fair Pete’s been out of the country or on a lecture tour for most of the time! Pete: Oh yeah, we should’ve already done it, it’s been both our birthdays but we just haven’t got around to it. Do you have any suggestions? [Embarrassingly, I didn’t] Pete: We’ve done so many, like 10/11 years of it. There have been so many fancy dresses so I’m not sure. We did it big walling style last time and set up a portaledge, but that one was also really late. We’re just getting later and later each year. What’s your favourite Jam? Pete: I do really like offwidth climbing, so I’ll go with a hand-fist stack. Tom: I love a bit of paddle hand

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REEL ROCK FILM TOUR WIDE BOYZ

READER QUESTIONS Sule: Tom, did you and Grimer [Niall Grimes] ever “manage to sell Ben Moon that lattice board? Tom: [Laughs] No he never picked up the phone. Will: How many wraps get consumed in a regular climbing trip? Tom: 3 per day, per person…+1 for lunch. So 4 per day, per person Pete: Yeah 4 each, so 8 a day total. Ab: Where do you see your YouTube channel going in future? Tom: It’s gonna take over Netflix for sure. I’m not certain, but more stuff for sure! Pete: Yeah we’ll see where it take us. I started doing that at the start of covid, during lockdown, I was just going through old footage and started posting some stuff on the channel. But then it picked up a little bit, so I got into it a bit more and started learning how to edit stuff properly. I saw it as a good way to help the other side of the Wideboyz business, instead of a channel in itself. I guess at the moment that’s still what I’m doing it for, to help spread the word of crack climbing and Wideboyz. I’m not sure where it’ll go at the moment, but it’s doing alright and we enjoy making videos. It would be nice to reach 100K subscribers though, we’re close! Dylan & Jo: Any plans to come to Australia? Tom: I would really, really like to! I think I know of a crack over at Lion rock (?) that’s supposed to be really good and hard. I’d love to come and do that, but I’m just limited on time, travel, and choices, so I think I might not have quite enough lives. If I was a professional climber who spent 10 months of the year traveling, I would’ve been there multiple times. But I just don’t spend most of my year traveling. Pete: I’d also like to, it’s always been on the list and I actually have family in Australia, so it makes sense to have a visit at some point. I haven’t got around to it yet, but I’d love to for sure. Ripley: How much wide could a wide boy wide if a wide boy could wide wide? Pete: I don’t know [laughs] maybe 1000m in a day. If I think about an offwidth, how much effort that is, and if there was one going up the whole of El Cap, then you could climb that in a day if you had to. So yeah, 1000m Tom: I think it comes down to the strength and endurance of your core, hip flexors and durability of ankle joints. If you had just the right boots and training maybe 500m or so in a day if it was 5.12 or so? But I think it comes down to 250m or less if 5.13, even if you’re the best OW climber in the world. Stay tuned for ‘Bridge Boys’ in REEL ROCK 16 and be sure to check out The Wide Boyz YouTube channel youtube.com/c/ WideBoyz (let’s help them hit 100K)

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Pete making good use of the goggle beta REEL ROCK WIDE BOYZ/RAY WOOD

Vistas are meant to be earned.

REEL ROCK FILM TOUR MORE FILMS

BAREFOOT CHARLES

BIG THINGS TO COME

CUDDLE

Meet Charles Albert, an opera-singing, cavedwelling, animal-skinning minimalist who tackles futuristic boulder problems in the forests of Fontainebleau. Not only is Charles the strongest barefoot boulderer in the world, but also one of the strongest boulders full stop. His resume includes Monkey Wedding (V15), Gecko Assis (V14, which he proceeded to downclimb) and most notable his FA of No Kpote Only (proposed V17, later downgraded) - all of which (you guessed it) he climbed barefoot. This year Reel Rock offers a glimpse into the man, the myth, the legend that is…Barefoot Charles.

The story of elite climber Alex Johnson’s decade-long journey to send The Swarm - a journey which broke her down and forced her to face her true self. The Swarm (V14) is one of the most iconic problems in Bishop, a crimpy, overhanging test piece with some wild moves. Alex first tried the problem back in 2011, hoping to get the first female ascent, little did she know where the project would take her. Join Alex on her journey of change, perseverance, and sheer obsession, all in the name of sending The Swarm’.

Childhood friends Tommy Caldwell and Adam Stack take on a massive, remote link-up of 17 alpine walls known as the CDUL (Continental Divide Ultimate Linkup). But when Adam struggles to keep up, Tommy sends him to the bench and breaks out the big guns…Alex Honnold. However when things take a turn, the dynamic duo are in need of rescuing, and who do you send when Climbing’s elites fail…well Adam Stack of course. Join Alex and Tommy for another adventure filled with hilarious, sketchy, and beautifully filmed (nice one Alex) antics.

Check out Bridge Boys and these other films featured in REEL ROCK 16 at a location near you. REEL ROCK 16 is touring Australia & New Zealand from mid-April 2022. The full schedule is available at www.reelrockfilmtour.com.au 26

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FEATURE

First Ascent of Expiry Date (21). Sid Tinney

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ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

Alpine HIGH

TALES OF SUMMER FA’S IN TASMANIA’S REMOTE SOUTH WEST BY MICHAEL LEHMANN

Looking down at 500m exposure in the valley below, tentatively balanced on 25mm of Nylon webbing. I could feel the tension of every muscle holding me in place, I managed a breath that felt like sucking air through a straw. I was equally elated and terrified and wanted to soak up every moment of it. I heard encouraging words from the crew, and found the motivation to keep taking hesitant steps forward. Each step felt like an existential battle, trying to quell my terror and maintain my focus. I had to wonder amongst the chaos, how remarkable it was that each event had fallen into place perfectly leading up to this moment. The perfect timing, weather, and crew on an impossibly challenging mountain.

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FEATURE ALPINE HIGH

Federation Peak is a fortress erupting from primordial Gondwanan land, it’s renowned for its volatile weather, remoteness, and up to 700m sheer cliffs. Fed has intimidated bushwalkers and climbers for generations. Posing a particularly difficult challenge for longer expeditions, with the need to carry extra supplies and climbing gear. These trips often require specialised teams to sacrifice sweat, skin and sanity. The approach has historically been one of the hardest in Australia. It can take several days to walk, crawl and climb 20km through the jungle to the base of the mountain. Our goal was to rig the first highline of Fed and develop new climbing routes. This summer the enigma of Fed drew in a keen crew of adventurers, creating an opportunity for new friendships to be forged in shared adversity. After 4 years of planning, and many previous expeditions getting to know the mountain, everything lined up and a weather window ignited our stoke. Seven of us came together for seven days. Harrie, Timmy, Antek, Max, Brendo, Gerard and I; a mix of experienced highliners and climbers. We met for the first time as a group at the trailhead to lay out the groundwork for our plan.

Approaching Federation Peak. Timmy Wong

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Packing our bags with four trad racks, 3 climbing ropes, a 50m static rope, 100m of highline webbing, anchor gear, and 7 days of food, our packs weighed over 30kg each. We threw in plenty of hope and enthusiasm to lighten our loads. The approach took us 15 hours over two days, finally crawling out of the vertical jungle of moss ridge at 7pm on the second day. Reaching our base camp at Berchvaise Plateau, an ancient alpine meadow at the base of fed, Brendo shedding a tear of exhaustion. Waking up to a glorious morning glow, we prepared ourselves to climb the 200m fortress of rock. Under a cloudless sky we organised our kit and scrambled to the base of the schist massif. Our roles divided, Gerard, Harrie, Brendo and I were the stoke carriers, gunning ropes up vertical chimneys and pillars, and the ‘safety officers’ Antek Max, and Timmy making sure everything was good to go. We rigged fixed lines at the top of the chimney for the crew to climb with rigging equipment in backpacks. The remaining gully was narrow with sheer walls on either side, rocks kicked loose plummeted over 500m into the seemingly endless valley below.

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Max sunrise highlining. Michael Lehmann

A terrified Max repeated a mantra of ‘I hate this, this sucks, why do I do this for a hobby.’, burdened with rigging ropes, soloing the sketchy scree towards the summit. Without knowing exactly where to rig the line, Harrie and I climbed the side of an exposed pillar at the top of the gully to build a potential anchor. An airy lead with marginal gear likely never conceived as a rock climb. Once on top we placed and equalised an assorted nest of slings, nuts and cams. The other half of the team soloed mossy scree with trepidation to rig the anchor on the far side of the gully. Semi cooked in the sun, Brendo, our chief scurrier ran the rope between the two anchors to connect the highline and finish the rig. Once the line was up, a ripple of anxiety began to shift the mood, we gathered our courage to attempt to walk across the gap. The feeling of terror from exposure walking on a thin piece of webbing between two cliffs is hard to describe. It feels almost like floating in space between life and death. Your instinct is to panic and flail, only practice and training can keep you upright. The crew passed around words of encouragement and with shaky hands one at a time tied into the safety leash. Once you’re on the line, falls are low consequence but the exposure creates a feeling of impending doom that is hard to overcome. Gerard was the first person to take tentative steps on the line, shaking like a dog shitting razorblades, his ability to perform under pressure shined through as he fought his way forward, each of us feeling the same trepidation.

Crew at second highline anchor. Gerard Kennedy

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FEATURE ALPINE HIGH

One of my fondest memories of that day was tying in, feeling terrified and anxious. Antek checked my leash knot and said ‘You got this man, I’ll be at the anchor and I’ll be with you the whole way.’ I was the first one to take a leash fall on the line. It was gut wrenching but also relieving knowing that everything held. It’s a fickle thing when no one falls, you know the rig is solid but no one has properly tested it. That played on our minds and I was all the more grateful to have solid support in such a vulnerable position. After several more falls I managed to calm my mind and maintain my focus long enough to walk the full length of the line. I returned to the safety of land, flooded with dopamine, and suffering mild heatstroke. We celebrated the team send at the summit with a stellar panoramic view. As I sat in reflection soaking up the events of the day, a striking prow of rock glowing in golden light captivated my attention. Streaks of illuminated schist and quartzite twisted in waves around an overhanging arete.

Michael on the final steps of a send. Antek Marcini

I couldn’t see any holds or weaknesses in the rock, but I began to wonder if a prow that blank and steep could be climbed. I resolved to suss it out the following day. Brimming with stoke I struggled to sleep, waking up at the crack of dawn. I grabbed a rope and with the enthusiasm of a child opening a gift on Christmas, rappelled down. I couldn’t believe what I saw! There was a broken crack system the whole way down the arete covered in beautifully intruding quartzite veins, creating improbable pinches and under clings, it looked remotely possible!

Michael climbing an FA to highline Anchor Pillar (15}. Timmy Wong

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The arete was in full sun, running out of time I left the gear in the rock. Tying in for the lead I was feeling nervous but set off with determination. Moving quickly to stave off the pump, I was surprised at how well the climbing flowed. Feeling the sun on my back, the rock was warm and my hands felt sweaty. I made it to a rest mid way and felt surprisingly fresh, entering a flow state as the holds steepened. Making it to the final overhung traverse, fatigue set in. I threw to a huge hold that should have been a jug but felt like a heinous sloper cooking in the sun. Slowly slipping off, I lunged blindly for the next hold on the lip. To my surprise I managed to hold on! The white quartzite was cold to touch, reflecting most of the heat. Stopping for the first time to take in the scenery I looked down at the exposure and yelled out in exhilaration. After a tricky mantle I made it to the top in total euphoria and relief, I hadn’t fallen, and the climbing had been mind blowingly good!

ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

Antek highlining, Ma x at anchor. Michael Lehmann

Resting up after the day of climbing and highlining, Harrie and I set our sites on attempting a first ascent of an unclimbed roof dominating the North Western Face. Without knowing exactly what to expect we set off early, questing up the initial slabs of the North Face. The climbing steepened on fragile overhanging flakes, I felt my biceps withering as the holds became thinner. Trying desperately to find a line of protection, survival mode kicked in and I panic placed gear as my fingers began to unlatch. I climbed upwards to a potential ledge throwing blindly for the lip, it turned out to be shitty sloper. Instantly realizing my mistake, I matched the sloper in desperation, threw a heel above my head and cranked with every muscle in my body.

Waking early to a stunning sunrise, we walked the line with new confidence gained from our time in the mountains, sharing the stoke and total trust in each other - it was our final time on the highline before de-rigging and booting out. Michael Lehmann (he/him) on the establishment of ‘Alpine High’ (23), ‘Expiry Date’ (21) and ‘Shit ya hands’ (15) - which he may or may not want to rename - on Federation Peak this Summer.

Adrenaline kicked in and I pulled through the mantle. I was established but my feet were slowly slipping in the dish, I was in serious trouble. I made a hasty choice, wrapped a sling around a tiny quartz crystal and using the last of my adrenaline, started to down climb. By some miracle I didn’t fall and managed to make a hanging belay. While pulling Harrie up I found a more logical line rightwards. Pushing through the fatigue, I continued the lead. Outrageously exposed 600m above the valley, I barely held a dynamic move to a blind hold around the main arete, something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. The steepness eased and the rest of the climbing flowed with relatively smoothly. Completing all our objectives, we spent our last night together on the summit. The fading red and pink glow of evening light danced around our silhouettes as we ate dinner. Recounting jokes and stories of our shared successes and struggles. The journey had brought us closer together.

Celebrating the final sunset as a crew. Michael Lehmann

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TOURING FROM MID-APRIL www.reelrockﬁlmtour.com.au | www.reelrockﬁlmtour.co.nz

SUBMISSION

West SIDE STORY “What’s going on out West”, we hear you ask? The East coast usually garners all the attention, but while the rest of us were stuck in lockdown, those westies have been getting up to some bloody rad stuff. This one is for all you slackers out there (and we’re not talking people who wear belay glasses). A group of highliners recently went for the record of the longest highline rigged in WA (240m long). Jeremy Shepherd wrote to us with some juicy deets and his reflections on their attempt.

Alex Clapplin walking on prime time

WORDS & IMAGES BY JEREMY SHEPHERD.

The standing record was a 150-meter long line at Mountain Quarry. The line was called ‘Walking with the Bulls’, named after a classic local climb -‘Running with the Bulls’ - which finishes near the anchors. Ollie Morrel was one of the first to start highlining in Western Australia. Ollie sent all the lines 8-10 years ago and now he’s passed on the torch so to speak. “Initially it was myself and Trent Potts that were doing new high lines and establishing new routes in the southwest and Kalbarri Gorge. Moses Rock, The Gap in Albany, West Cape Howe and Kalbarri. But I think some of the guys today have really carried the torch and have taken highlining in WA a lot further and from what I have heard they’re really pushing it and doing some really awesome things!”- Ollie Morrel. Ollie once set up rope swings at an iconic tourist attraction called ‘The Gap’ in Kinjarling (Albany), one can only imagine what the tourists were thinking watching it.

Nick Pokahontis sun dancing on the 240m line

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Matt Bray came back home from Canada and after living out of a van setting up highlines on snow-covered mountain tops: he linked up with Carmen Schoenjahn, Jack Gooch, Nick Pontin and slowly the sport has started growing to what it is today!

ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

Moments after rigging the 240 meter line at West Cape, stoke level through the roof

Highlining Cape

There were 13 of us camping on a massive bush block out at Wagyl Kaip (West Cape Howe). We had 10 days, so naturally, we picked the best day wind wise to rig the 240m line. We attached some fishing line on a reel to a drone. Once it had landed on the other side there was a lot of excited screaming going into the radios! We then sent over 3 sets of paracord, 70 meters in length, tied end to end - building it up with static rope. After that, the webbing got closer and closer. It came across and was tied into the anchors, on the other end we slung a big boulder as natural protection. Once the line was successfully tensioned, there was a lot of hugging, cheering and yelling - this was a big moment for highlining in WA! Jack fell twice on the first walk of the day, that was the best attempt of sending the 240m line. No end to end sends for anyone!

But for our group, highlining isn’t about breaking records or how good you are at the sport. It’s more so about having lifechanging experiences with friends, out in nature, camped out under a star-filled sky. Hopefully, this moment of growth for highlining in WA encourages more people to try the sport.

Joey at the Cape

The true dark horse and rising star of our group would be Joey Curry, who has a tremendous work ethic. He’s so determined and driven to push his highlining and climbing to the next level (he’s even giving up drinking).

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FEATURE

g n i k a e Br

BETA WITH ADAPTIVE CLIMBING VICTORIA IMAGES BY YVETTE HARRISON. WORDS BY ARAMINTA MCLENNAN

In many ways, climbing is the perfect sport for people with disabilities. No two climbers are likely to navigate a route in the same way even if they’re able-bodied. Each individual plays to their strengths when they climb, whether it be height, flexibility, strong (or long) limbs, using the knowledge of their unique biomechanics to achieve their climbing goals. The beauty of climbing is that those goals can look different too. Climbing welcomes adaptive approaches, so it makes sense that it welcomes naturally adaptive people too.

Happy days for all volunteers and participants at one of ACV Come and Try Day

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ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

The passion project of the indomitable Katie Kaminsky and a group of friends, Adaptive Climbing Victoria (ACV) came to life as the team saw a need to promote awareness around including people with disability within the climbing community. Completely volunteer-run, ACV creates pathways for people with disabilities to participate in rock climbing both socially and competitively. While climbing has been a part of the Victorian recreational landscape for decades, the relatively recent boom in climbing as a sport, particularly indoors, has presented opportunities for people with disabilities to explore adaptive climbing and its many pathways. Who is ACV? The ACV team are all passionate climbers themselves, with many of them working towards personal and professional goals that they would not have considered had they not found climbing, and the space to acknowledge and build on their unique athletic abilities. Take Sarah for example. A single-leg amputee that had dabbled in a variety of sports, Sarah started as a boulderer for strength and the mental challenge, later turning to rope climbing and finding a passion for competition, all within 3 years. Since becoming an adaptive climber, she has set her sights on international competitions and new outdoor goals. She also stands as part of the ACV team, proudly advocating for space for adaptive climbers both at the crag and in the gym. Without any movement or proprioception of her right leg below the knee, Sarah focuses carefully on body positioning and watching her feet while climbing, continuously working on building confidence in her right leg so she can trust it more on the wall. Or there’s Mike, ACV’s grants and governance extraordinaire. Having navigated a spinal injury while on duty as a young police officer, he found his way to climbing as a social and recreational outlet. With impaired endurance and mobility in his legs, he may not be the most flexible but he has learned to maximise the little strength he has in his right leg, and that of his core and arms to help with climbing. And our current committee Chairperson, Minty. After identifying athletic pursuits as ‘not for her’, climbing offered a platform for strength and mental training but also the chance to be a part of a sporting community. With cerebral palsy impacting her muscle range and strength in her legs as well as her balance, her natural upper body strength means that when in doubt she will just mantle or campus her way to new heights. Being able to confidently identify as an adaptive climber has seen her set new competitive goals, and ignited a passion to help make space for others like her, so that they may feel even half the stoke that she feels each time she’s on a wall, inside or out.

Sarah looking for trad gear placement on a climb at Dyurrite at the Women Uprising Trad is Rad workshop. JOANNE LEE

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FEATURE BREAKING BETA WITH ACV

So, how can we help? The biggest hurdle for adaptive climbers comes down to accessibility, both indoors and out in the mountains. We’ve all seen some of those sketchy paths to the crag, and you can imagine that if they present hurdles to able-bodied climbers, climbers with disabilities would certainly be challenged, often to the point of impossibility. And while many indoor gyms are working to make space for climbers with disabilities, some may be unsure where to start. So what can we do about it? Outdoors, well that presents a natural set of challenges, but there are certainly crags that could be enjoyed by people of all abilities with a little prior planning and creative problem-solving. Accessible paths to climbing areas are few and far between, which presents a massive physical barrier to those with disabilities. While some of us in the adaptive community can navigate the goat tracks to the local crag somewhat independently (maybe falling over a few times), this might be impossible for a wheelchair user, for example. We’d love for disability access to be at the forefront of any new climbing area developments, and of course to be considered in the discourse around access to established areas. Beyond breaking down the physical barriers, we need to work towards making the outdoors more financially and socially accessible, through support, education, mentorship, and representation. To help take adaptive climbing outdoors, ACV is working with volunteers and guides to come up with creative solutions to these problems, and is always looking for people with skills, bright ideas, and useful connections to help us along the way. When we turn the attention to indoor gyms there are many opportunities to create a welcoming, inclusive and accessible space, especially for new builds where accessibility can be considered well before you break ground. Considering inclusive design from the outset not only makes disabled climbers feel welcome, but it helps to normalise considering them as a part of the wider community, rather than a sub-category to be catered to as needed. ⁣⁣And for existing gyms there’s plenty that can be considered whether it be creating level access to bouldering mats with ramps, ensuring clear, flat pathways the full way around a gym, or setting problems that cater to a wide range of abilities and challenge levels. If you’re a business owner reading this and not sure where to start, feel free to slide into the ACV’s DMs, we’d love to help out.

Minty smiling her way up a gym climb at North Walls

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ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

Sarah learning how to set up an abseil under the mentorship of Aaron from Melbourne Climbing School

As an industry and a community, it’s critical that we level the playing field so it’s easier for disabled individuals to access climbing opportunities, both indoors and outdoors. Adaptive climbing encompasses so many domains. To overcome some of the myriad barriers we face, we need disability-aware coaches willing to run programming for every body and mind. We need every facility to consider universal design, preferably in the conception stages for new facilities. Nick and Jeremi teaching Ash to belay

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FEATURE BREAKING BETA WITH ACV

There needs to be a person-centred approach to planning: events, competitions, education... you name it. There needs to be a collaboration with regulatory and funding bodies. And we need accessible access tracks. There needs to be a seat for adaptive climbers at every single table. As a sport, climbing offers the perfect platform for people with different abilities to see their different biomechanics as just thata, different. Over time each can build a unique library of movement that lets them achieve their goals as they find a place in this incredible community. ACV is working hard to create more opportunities for adaptive climbers, but it will be through the acceptance and help from the wider climbing community that lasting change happens. One of the best parts of being a climber is the sense of community, and sharing camaraderie and mutual stoke, and with the help of willing volunteers and creative and considerate gyms, more and more adaptive climbers will be able to experience it for themselves both inside and outdoors. If you are interested in the work ACV are doing, want to help out or to learn more, you can follow the team on Facebook and Instagram (@adaptiveclimbingvic) or send an email to adaptive@sportclimbingvictoria.com.au

Sam looking unsure about the start of these moves

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HOW I GOT THE SHOT

Staring AT THE SEA

WORDS AND IMAGES BY YI PEI

Y MOM, WHO DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CLIMBING, USED M TO THINK THAT EVERY TIME I WENT TO DHARUG COUNTRY (BLUE MOUNTAINS) I WAS THERE TO CLIMB ROPES RATHER THAN ROCKS. THE DAY I TOOK THESE PHOTOS, I TEXTED HER “MOM, I ACTUALLY ASCENDED A ROPE TODAY… AND IT WAS AMAZING!”

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ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

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HOW I GOT THE SHOT STARING AT THE SEA

Mengdi tries to figure out beta for Staring at the Sea (32), Blue Mountains

That was back in September 2019, a few weeks after I tore my medial collateral ligament in my left knee. I wasn’t doing much other than rehab exercises and couldn’t go anywhere without my knee brace on. I was bored; I missed the mountains. So when my friends were planning on a day trip to the Wave Wall, I asked to tag along. You see, one of the perks of being a photographer is that when you ask to join a trip people usually say yes. Although I usually never failed to bring my camera to the crag, I’d only ever shot from the ground or on rare occasions, top-rope an easy route with my camera on my back. On that day though, I asked Mengdi to haul up a static rope and fix it to the anchor after he got to the top of his warm-up. I then jugged up the line using my unhurt leg and waited for the climbers to jump on their routes. It was my first time and as I said, it was amazing. I loved the new angle I found when I was hanging in the air. It brought out the massiveness of the wall and the endlessness of the green beyond. All I remembered to do was to click.

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When I look at the images now, I can see a lot of small things that I could have done better. But deep down, I am just happy that I showed up that day and let those 0.001 seconds of light pass through my camera shutter. I didn’t magically become a photographer who knows her rope skills in a blink of an eye. I learned how to set up a fixed line, how to ascend it, and much more from a 2-day photography workshop run by Kris Ugarriza in July 2019. Kris left this world in September 2020. He is a fundamental part of how I got this shot. The thing is, I was just a shy student from one of his workshops and he may not have even remembered me - but I remember him. I think of him every time I put the skills he taught me to use, with both grief and gratitude. Sometimes I think time is not a linear thing. If I can freeze 0.001 seconds into a photo and look back years later, maybe I can carry two days of someone’s existence into the rest of my journey as well.

WHAT IS ADVENTURE? For generations, adventure has been in our blood. It’s taken us to new heights and pushed us to new limits. But what is adventure? It’s in all of us but it’s different for everyone.

FIND YOURS AT MOUNTAINDESIGNS.COM

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B O R N O F T H E M O U N TA I N S

GETTING TO KNOW..

Will

VIDLER

HE/THEY, 21, BLUE MOUNTAINS

FUN FACTS: Favourite crag snack: Arnotts Saos (water cracker of choice) or a block of tofu Longest time without a shower on a climbing trip: 40 days Silliest piece of gear whipped on: A toothbrush Number 1 Sandbag: Chase the Lady at Centennial Glen (23) or The Easy Link in Tom’s crack cellar (7a?!?!?!) Best belay tick: Liz Chong on Hairline 2000 Dream Route: The Salathe Headwall Mega Pitch Number 1 get psyched song: Make Me Feel by Roco Bop (The Groove Train song) Number of times dropped out of uni: Two and a third is on the cards Will Vidler falling off Lulu in the Banks Gully Amphitheatre. Jared Anderson

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ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

How long have you been climbing and how did you start?

What experience do you think built the most ‘character’ for you?

I’ve defined myself as a climber for more than a decade now, despite spending a considerable chunk of that time not climbing at all. I started in 2011 at age ten at The Climbing Centre in Penrith and I have it on good authority that I was “annoying but just too psyched to ever really get frustrated at”.

Not long after my 17th birthday I took a trip to the Warrumbungles with my climbing life partner Harry Kadi. It was in the July school holidays of my final high school year and, having received a trad rack as a joint gift with my Dad (we share the same birthday), Harry and I spent weeks planning this five or six-day trip.

I mustn’t have been too bad though as the progenitor of that quote, Paul ‘Frothy’ Thomson, is to this day one of my best friends and a regular climbing partner. I did the competition climbing thing for a little while, was national champion in my age group for a year or two, managed the elusive goal of climbing double your age, and then, starved of adventure and lacking access to the reasons that I began climbing in the first place, I promptly stopped in maybe late 2013. Three years later having spent some time being a VERY angsty and pretentious teen, reading books, having had a few good nonclimbing adventures (my dad and I got lost in the Dolomites) and reinvigorated by access to a car (thank you to the Kadi family) I began again at age 16 and have enjoyed life on the mid-twenties grade plateau ever since. What piece of climbing media influenced you the most? One of my favorite stories to tell is that of a twelve-ish year old Will walking into Big John’s in Blackheath with my Dad back when Ben Cossey worked there and wasn’t busy lifting anvils and other strangely shaped things. Twelve-ish year old Will, all starryeyed, asked Ben which single climbing film he should spend all of his fifteen worldly dollars on. Ben’s sage response was “There’s this old bouldering film called The Real Thing. The boulders aren’t that hard by modern standards but it’s the one to watch.” Of course, Big John didn’t have this DVD and so I left empty-handed but with a mission to find this film. Fast forward a year or so later and, in a bargain bin at Mountain Equipment in Sydney, there lies this sacred text. Ten dollars says the sticker and I snatch it up, fish around in my wallet for coins, and buy it quick smart, promptly informing my family that we are to head home so that I can view this film immediately. To this day etched into my brain is the memory of watching Ben Moon and Jerry Moffat on the campus board and the first ascent of Karma, and I still regularly listen to its iconic soundtrack if the psyche is ever lacking. If this film and the video of Ben Cossey on The Groove Train were the only two films left on earth I think I would still be content.

We printed out topos, poured over route descriptions, begged borrowed and stole more trad gear (thanks Lewis); I’d never been more logistically prepared for something before, and I definitely haven’t been since. And, to accompany all of this wonderful research that we did, we managed a grand total of five (5) whole days actually trad climbing on rock. I wonder in hindsight if we may have been better off spending a little less time frothing behind a computer screen and a little more learning how to climb on double ropes, or realizing that four sport quickdraws clipped together do not an acceptable alpine runner make; but we didn’t and with the vigor and believed in immortality that only teenage boys seem to have we went off on this trip, got absolutely terrified, and somehow returned unscathed.

“Man, exams aren’t stressful, if I fail at least I won’t take a huge winger on questionable gear.”

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GETTING TO KNOW.. WILL VILDER

Will Vidler, Thin Line of Reprieve. Ben Sanford

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I could say a lot more about this week in the Bungles but I’ll condense it to a highlight reel: Finishing in the dark every single day, me getting swooped by an angry wedge tail, Harry leading out a choss roof on terrible gear in approach shoes because we had wandered way off route, finding the chopped rope and long lost snickers bar of a party that had to be rescued previously, down climbing two pitches so that we didn’t have to leave any of our precious gear behind, rapping off what is still by far the most heinous slung chicken head I have ever weighted, and, upon our return, Harry developing a stress-induced migraine that had such a severe aura that he thought he was having a stroke and ended up in hospital. Two days after this trip I had my first round of important exams for my final year of school and I remember sitting in that first exam completely exhausted and not at all prepared and thinking “Man, exams aren’t stressful, if I fail at least I won’t take a huge winger on questionable gear.” Which is funny because as I write this and procrastinate the uni work that I really should be doing I think the person I am now would prefer to be run out above bad gear than underprepared in an exam room, which I guess is why I keep dropping out to go rock climbing…. What kind of climber would you like to be? I’d like to be the kind of climber that can walk up to a route they would like to do and be prepared to give it a good go regardless of whether circumstances are favorable. You don’t always get to decide on the conditions under which you have to perform to achieve the desired outcome and, to me, climbing is about being able to rock up on any given day feeling any given way and try your best no matter what. I don’t think it matters what that ‘best’ looks like so long as I am able to really empty the tank when it means something to do so. And if that fails I just have to remember Lee Cossey’s wise words; “Will, don’t let yourself not do it.”

@PIRATELIFEBEER | PIRATELIFE.COM.AU

FEATURE

Growing

PAINS

The past 12 months have been an incredible period of growth for so many of us in our community, but for none more so than Angie Scarth-Johnson. To celebrate this International Women’s Month, Angie takes us behind the scenes of her epic send of ‘Victimas Del Futur’ (9a / 35) and gives us an insight into what it’s been like growing up as a professional climber. From Australia’s child climbing prodigy, to an incredibly grounded, compassionate and driven young woman - Angie’s insight into growth, change and what failure has to teach us is something we can all learn from. I have never been a journal writer, but something just felt right about pushing myself to do it this time. Set the scene, France July 2021, summer climbing trip in Ceuse. I was picking up some food for the week when I passed the stationary aisle. For no particular reason I looked at the notebooks and journals on the bottom right shelf. Without giving it a second thought I picked up the ugliest little purple notebook, nestled amongst a sea of pretty pictured ones. Growing up my mum would always buy me fancy looking journals to write in, but I never used them because I always thought writing your feelings down was silly and for the mentally weak. So to my surprise, here I was standing in the supermarket with an ugly journal in my right hand and the shopping basket in the left. Reflecting on the season I just had in Margalef, Spain, I’d come painfully close to sending my big project ‘Victimas Del Futur’ grade 35 or at least that’s what I thought had happened. In actual fact, I was missing the biggest piece of the puzzle that I needed to achieve this goal, and the notebook that I reached out for unconsciously was to play a big part in my road to discovery. When it started to get too hot in Margalef, I decided to head to Ceuse, France - an incredible cliff that’s known for its climbing history and hard accents. But even in this paradise I felt incomplete, I couldn’t stop thinking about ‘Victimas Del Futur’. I had unfinished business that really needed finishing. I knew that the next time I went back to Margalef I wasn’t going to leave any stone unturned, I wanted to send more than anything I took my new ugly notebook and put it straight into the top of my climbing bag. During the last few weeks in France, I forced myself to write in it. I wrote notes about my weaknesses and I wrote how I felt about myself. I wrote things like “ I’m not that good and I’ve never been that good”. I would write anything negative that came to mind, like vomiting all the bad stuff out of my head. Becoming the first Australian woman to send grade 35 had been a long term goal of mine. The thought of being physically capable of achieving this level of hard was mind blowing to me. It made me extremely motivated to physically push myself to the extremes to get there. Although this was THE goal, forks in the road presented themselves and I seemed to continuously hit setbacks.

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When climbing was announced as an Olympic sport, and last minute changes to Oceania qualifying event dates from the end of 2019 to the beginning of 2020 meant that I was of age to compete - my ultimate goal was detoured. Everything then became about competing and training. Covid and failure to secure the Olympic spot during selections, I started to feel like I had fallen into a hole. I really needed to regroup and take myself back to my happy place. To do what I loved doing - outdoor climbing. Unknowingly at the time, this had a huge impact on my mental stability and my confidence in achieving my goal. Fast forward to April 2021, I started to feel comfortable in my body and I was climbing better than ever. At this point I knew that if I was ever going to do it, it would be this year. I had every single move perfectly dialled, I could do all of it, almost flawlessly. At the very end of the 25-metre route there was one very demanding move. There I was, totally thinking I had it in the bag, now looking back I really had no idea of all the weeks of ass whooping ahead of me. Hours of work became days and soon, days quickly turned into weeks. “How could I be falling off this one move so many times?” I kept asking myself. The move alone wasn’t very hard so the first thing I told myself was that I wasn’t strong enough. I started training every second day after rock climbing, I started dieting and then I started running laps on the last 3 quickdraws every time I fell off. I really believed there was nothing more I could do to achieve this goal. I was angry, confused, frustrated and obsessed. Not once did I take a moment to think about how I felt mentally, I just wanted to do everything to be physically fit. My eyes would fixate on that final hold each time, like a predator pouncing on its prey. “Left hand up, right foot up and twist, left foot adjust, pull up and go”, I’d sequence in my head. No matter how much I knew the moves by heart, gravity would pull me right back down each and every time. Day by day I was getting more frustrated. I would ask for advice from friends who were projecting the hard routes in the cave beside me but nobody could tell me what to do to improve because I was perfectly capable of doing it. “So what the heck was the issue!?” I kept asking myself.

ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

Angie pulling hard on Pornographie (9a) in Céüse. Adri Martinez

AUTUMN 2022

FEATURE GROWING PAINS

Angie sporting her iconic purple send singlet, Céuse. Adri Martinez

August 21, 2021 “I’m angry at failure, I want to pull those walls down” To be honest I was uncomfortable writing these things because I felt embarrassed. I thought that I had accepted failure, like I had let the failure become real. I soon learned that I didn’t, I was learning to acknowledge the fear of it and move on instead of letting it bottle up . By the time I returned to Margalef, I knew exactly what was going on and why I wasn’t able to achieve my goal. I came to realise that I didn’t appreciate my own ability and not to sound cliche, I just didn’t believe in myself. You might be thinking, “Is that it? How boring and obvious”. But it’s really one of the hardest parts of being an athlete. When you really break it down it is very different for everyone as to why we don’t believe in ourselves but for me, it was about accepting changes physically, environmentally and mentally. Being brutally honest with myself and understanding how to adapt my mindset in order to make those changes work for me and not against me, was a huge piece of the puzzle. I have seen many athletes go through this time and time again, they perform at the gym and have a spurt of amazing achievements, but then something changes and they go through a period of plateauing, only to come back a year later better than ever. “Perhaps they’ve undergone a similar learning process that I underwent” I caught myself thinking.

Well, the issue was my brain was working at a grade 29 level while my body was trying to level up to a 35. I found that I needed to rebuild my mindset completely. Falling is all a part of the process, and I was falling, I fell so many times. Why? Because I mentally couldn’t process the idea of sending 35. So many years of dreaming about achieving it had caused me to dissociate mentally which prevented me from executing, removing my ability to turn it into my reality. I had just done all the physical preparation and I completely left my brain behind, I’d let my fire burn out. I was scared to send, and I was scared to fail. I soon realised that this was beyond sending 35, this was about rebuilding myself as an outdoor climber and as a person. I needed to accept the changes that had happened to my body and mind since the last time I climbed hard outside. People often overlook the massive changes girls go through, we gain hips , boobs and weight. We have to deal with monthly ups and downs both physically and mentally, and for me this led to long sequences of plateauing in successes as an athlete. To achieve my goal, it was almost like I had to retrain my body and mind from thinking like a child to an adult, and I had to give myself time and space to grow. To do this I needed a private space to express my feelings, reflect on these ups and downs and I found that this is where my little ugly notebook would come in handy. I was ready to start a new phase in my climbing. So, I did what little me would call ‘mentally weak’ and I wrote things down. I wrote down everything, even the uncomfortable things, the things I’d never say outloud and the things I was the most afraid of. August 4th 2021 “Do I sabotage myself? Do I hold my potential back? Where would you find the key to the magic level, am I holding it without even realising?”

So back to my sending story, the next time I’d write in my notebook would be 3 days before the send. I stopped doing laps, I stopped dieting and I stopped training after climbing. I told myself there was nothing more I physically needed. I pictured myself passing that move and clipping those chains. I imagined the emotions I would feel and all the pizza I’d be eating afterwards. I even started to look at the lines around me and think of what I’d do next. And there it was, I was thinking beyond sending ‘Victimas Del Future’, I had mentally sent the route and I was completely ready. I had been in the very familiar ‘Margalef’ area for a few days and I felt like it was time to give the project a good crack to start off the last season of the year. I remember that day so vividly. Arriving at the crag, sending wasn’t even on my mind. I had just had my Covid vaccinations and I’d spent the morning taking pictures of people climbing, cheering on others and just really appreciating the serenity of the mountains. I was enjoying genuinely being present in this environment that only recently I had felt so uncomfortable in. Sometime in the afternoon I tied into the end of the rope, chalked up and started climbing. Move by move I fell into a meditation-like state of mind and flow. As I made it into the last few demanding moves nothing came over me, I wasn’t nervous or stressed, complete placidity. I climbed over the top and I clipped those damn chains! Victimas Del Futur, Tick! Moral of my story? Get yourself an ugly purple notebook and write your feelings down! Don’t be afraid to take a step back and reevaluate, replan or even take a break and to overall accept the changes that happen in life. More importantly, never quit because the minute you quit, you lose against failure. Failure is there to help you, stop looking at it as a negative thing! If you don’t fail it’s definitely not a hard enough challenge. Angie

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TALE OF WHOA

Tale

OF WHOA

DOWN TO THE SEA IN SLIPS BY LOUISE SHEPHERD

Nick prepares to launch himself across a churning channel to gain the base of the Totem Pole. Mitchell Scanlan-Bloor

AUTUMN 2022

ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

In January 2018, a group of friends were climbing at Shipyard Shelf, a newly developed sea cliff on the north-west coast of Lutruwita (Tasmania). It was a mixed trad and sport climbing area about twenty-five metres high and equipped with lower-off anchors. In the afternoon, some climbers had left, leaving Audrey, Paul and Kam to tick the last route of the day. Down to the Sea in Slips (grade 19) is diagonal and a few metres longer than the other straight-up routes. By now the cliff was bathed in late afternoon light and Audrey decided to take some photos. Paul planned to lead the route and rummaged around for a rope.

AUTUMN 2022

TALE OF WHOA DOWN TO THE SEA IN SLIPS

“Hey Audrey!” he said, “where’s your rope?” “Huh? Weren’t you just using it? It should be there.” Paul racked up while Kam hunted for a rope. “Is this the one – blue with orange flecks?” “Yeah that’s it”. “Seems less than 60 metres” thought Kam. It transpired later that there were two ropes with identical patterns at the cliff that day. Audrey’s rope was 60 metres but someone had taken hers by mistake when they left earlier. The other rope had been chopped and was only 46 metres long. Everyone was tired, glad it was the last route of the day and well within his ability, Paul scooted up the route, clipped the anchors. “Hey Kam, have you got me?”, he called, before slumping onto the rope. He was partway down when the tail end of the rope whipped through Kam’s belay device. Paul fell seven metres to the ground. His body twisted on the way down and he hit the cliff on the side of his forehead and bounced when he hit the ground. Unconscious but still breathing and with a pulse, Paul was stretchered into a rescue helicopter within the hour, and was in ICU at Royal Hobart Hospital within four hours. Paul ended up with a hematoma (a type of brain bleed), spinal injuries, a punctured lung and broken pelvis. Every bone in his face was broken. Paul remained in ICU in an induced coma for a week, while surgeons repaired his facial bones. After regaining consciousness, Paul spent six weeks in a specialised spinal unit in Melbourne, then another year in a rehabilitation hospital. This was followed by another two years in a long-term residence for people with permanent head and spinal injuries. Compared with many of the residents, Paul was unusually motivated to stay as fit as possible. Audrey and Kam organised an exercise bike to be put in his room and he started racking up the kilometres. Four years after the accident, Paul now lives independently in a small unit by himself. His friends visit and take him out for drives and short walks. The rest of the time, he relies on a walking frame to get around. He has good days, but he knows it’s a far cry from the life he’d lived before the accident.

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Analysis and prevention Since the advent of sport climbing, climbers being accidentally lowered off the end of their rope has become astonishingly commonplace on cliffs all over the world. In staunchly trad climbing areas like Dyurrite (Arapiles), this kind of accident was almost unknown. However, in the last decade, lower-off anchors have become increasingly popular at many trad climbing areas. Lowering off is quick and convenient, and there’s also an environmental benefit. Fragile areas like descent gullies and cliff tops are spared trampling from hundreds of feet every year. But there are downsides: climbers are starting to be lowered off the end of their ropes. Two months after the tragic accident at Shipyard Shelf, a very similar accident occurred on Mari at Dyurrite (Arapiles). Yumi was lowering Joss off new anchors that had recently appeared just below the top of the route. They were using a 60 metre rope. For nearby routes of Megalomaniac and Electric Warrior, a 60 metre rope was easily sufficient. But the new lower-off anchors above Mari required a 70 metre rope. Joss was lowered off the end of the rope, landed on top of Yumi, and both tumbled several metres to the ground. Either one of them could’ve ended up like Paul, but they luckily escaped major injury.

What are the lessons we can take from this accident? The Association of Canadian Mountain Guides has addressed this and related human errors by instituting a policy in their courses and assessments of closing the system. This means that in every technical rope setting, the trainee must ensure that the end of the rope is secure. Ropes must be either tied onto someone, clipped into a belay, or have a knot in the end, unless there is a very good reason not to. There is a powerful argument that climbers need to close the system as a default position, and choose not to close the system as an exception. As climbers, we all make mistakes. We can make mistakes when we are distracted, tired, confused, or focussing our attention on one thing and not another. Sometimes we make mistakes for no apparent reason. Any one of us could be Audrey, Paul or Kam or the climber who unwittingly switched the ropes. Human error will never be completely eliminated. Always tie a knot at the end of your rope - it can prevent mistakes from becoming catastrophic.

NOTE: All climbers’ names have been changed. Some cliff names and some details have also been changed around, but the events themselves actually occurred. All of the climbers involved had decades of climbing experience.

About the writer: LOUISE SHEPHERD | Louise (also known as Lou, she/her) has been climbing for 40 years and guiding for 35 years. Back in the ‘70s, there was no trad or sport, it was all just climbing, there were hardly any women climbing, and the climbing culture was to toss beginners in at the deep end. Louise somehow survived this brutal baptism and got strong by hanging around and fiddling in another trad gear. She now teaches trad lead climbing rather differently than the way she was taught. Louise works with The Climbing Company in Dyurrite and is one of the few accomplished female guides amongst the crew.

SUBMISSION

Grit

THE WAY OF THE DIRTBAG WORDS BY ANDY SZOLLOSI

PHOTOS BY SIMON BISCHOFF

Danny Wade in a hammock at the base of Rust Never Sleeps. Simon Bischoff

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ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

AUTUMN 2022

SUBMISSION GRIT

The other day I saw the perfect case of a dog walking its owner. A solid French bulldog, dragging an equally solid man behind it, leash taut between them, wrinkled heads bobbing in unison. I have no doubt the man firmly believed he was taking his dog on a walk and not the other way around. Regardless of who was leading whom, I marvelled at the similarity between the two. My obtuse point is this; the company we keep shapes us. It’s not an unusual sight for pets to resemble their owners, this comes about through a process of osmosis, both parties gradually change over years to become more like one another. This transformation is subtle and may go unnoticed by the evolving parties. But it’s not just living beings that can influence our character, it is also the places we visit and the activities we undertake… so why not the rock we climb? Grit refers to the grade of coarseness, or the size of granules on a certain surface, usually rock, often sandpaper, and occasionally toilet paper pilfered from truckstop bathrooms. Dolerite, an igneous rock that is present mostly on the eastern half of Tasmania, is coarse in grit, columnar in structure and tends to have rounded formations. By comparison, the metamorphosed white-pink quartzites of South-West Tasmania consist of multiple layers of sedimentary particles that have been folded and cooked under immense heat and pressure from deep within the Earth’s crust. This tends to be reasonably pointy, sharp and much less grippy than dolerite. At this point, my contention would benefit from a comparison between these 2 rock types and the people who climb them, but I am far too wary of describing anyone who enjoys climbing cracks as resembling a ‘rounded formation’. Grit can also refer to a trait held by some humans. This too comes in varying grades and sizes. I believe the process of obtaining grit comes attached to a certain philosophy. It’s a way of looking at the world, which I refer to as ‘The Way of the Dirtbag’. I truly believe this philosophy might just be a path towards finding a cure for many of the ailments of our anxious, wound-up, consumerist society…and a path away from 6ply Silk’n Soft. The gritty path towards dirtbagging usually begins with a desire to invert the status quo, with rejection of the 9-5 being the most basic requirement. To thrive as a dirtbag quintessentially involves finding thrifty and devious ways of not spending money on things or services that are conventionally thought of as essential.

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Think of all the successful scavengers of the animal kingdom and you begin to understand how a climbing dirtbag may get by in life without working more than a couple of days a week. There is, however, a key difference between being a dirtbag and being a leech. For example, bringing a ‘Sara Lee chocolate swirl bavarian’ you liberated from the Woolies bins to a potluck dinner…Dirtbagging! Catching a ride to the crag and ‘forgetting’ to pay your share of the petrol…Leeching! Be resourceful, but don’t be an exploitative arsehole. A dirtbag will follow the path which offers simplicity as an eloquent solution, making use of everything that’s around them. If they tear a hole in their pants, the reaction won’t be: ‘Oh no, I need a new pair of pants, but rather, ‘How do I patch this hole to keep these pants going until they disintegrate?’. Instead of resignation, the dirtbag will choose resourcefulness, every time. In a way, to be a scavenger means to follow the path with heart. By making do with less, we are placing less strain on the natural systems that support our existence. Of course, grit isn’t just about patching pants and eating dumpster-dived confectionaries- the quality that underpins grit most is pure determination. To be truly gritty means to become like the rock itself, solid, unmoving and steady (unless you’re on the upper pitches of Ben Lomond). To be truly gritty means your intention needs to be anchored, to be held by an unbreakable chain. If one is determined to reach a goal - no matter how ludicrous it seems - a way can be found, but it requires the ability to persevere in the face of difficulty. Hesitation and self-doubt are the insidious forces that threaten to overwhelm even the most competent climber. Certain moves can only be executed with wholehearted commitment. They are so difficult that they require the complete focus of our entire being and the complete abandonment of fear. Climbing routes that ask us to be courageous tend to be the most rewarding undertakings. It is only through overcoming our fear of falling that we can grow metaphorical wings. If we focus on falling, we will fall. If we focus on climbing, we will climb. To be a climber simply takes wholehearted commitment to our undertaking in the crucial moment. Focus on what’s most important to you, and observe as the obstacles blocking your way slowly melt away. This is grit. This is the way of the dirtbag.

ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

Merry Schimanski on the SW Corner of Ball Rock (Flinders Island). Simon Bischoff

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SUBMISSION MORE GRIT

Liz Oh tyroleaning out whilst attempting the first ascent of Arrested Development (29). SIMON BISCHOFF

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ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

Danny Wade FA of The Horror (25). SIMON BISCHOFF

AUTUMN 2022

FEATURE

Grace Daff 26 weeks, Kayla Apostolidis 18 weeks, Jill Thomson 24 weeks. Mojo Stoke Productions

Mums WHO ROCK

STORIES OF CLIMBING DURING PREGNANCY AND POSTPARTUM BY JANELLE GOW

Mum’s Gone Climbing started as an Instagram account connecting and inspiring climbing mothers around the world. It has grown to offer support and resources, facilitate multiple local communities, and become the focus of a documentary film that celebrates women who adventure through motherhood. Vertical Life has teamed up with Nell Gow, founder of Mum’s Gone Climbing, to shine a light on mums who climb. Bringing together everyday crag mamas, elite athletes Nina Caprez, Oliva Hsu and Katariina ‘Kat’ Rahikainen, along with physio Katie Kaminsky and trainer Joy Black, to share stories, experiences and knowledge about climbing through pregnancy and into postpartum.

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ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

I lean out over the edge of the cliff face, securely rigged to the anchors as my harness takes my weight, and I steady the camera in my hands. We are at the summit of Mount Ngun Ngun in Gubbi Gubbi country. It is crowned with a cliff face of 40 metre pillars that are now soaked in golden afternoon light. Jill climbs into focus, a huge grin spread across her face, as Grace belays from above calling out encouragement. From the summit, some hiker dude yells “You girls have more balls than me!” and I promptly call back “We don’t have balls, we have BOOBS!”

In fact, some of those boobs currently feed little humans, and the two rad women climbers I am filming are in the first trimester of their second pregnancies. When we started production on the Mum’s Gone Climbing documentary we didn’t really take into account that half the cast could fall pregnant, but sometimes you just get lucky. In the last couple of decades, crags and climbing competitions around the world have seen a shift in gender distribution. The boys club of climbing no longer reigns supreme, and women crush crews have proved their grit and capability. Communities and events created solely for women are popping up around the world, while female climbers continue to push what was assumed possible. Laura Rogora climbed the 5.15b/c “Erebor”, at 14 years old Ashima Shiraishi ticked V15 boulder problem “Horizon”, and Janja Garnbret absolutely stole the spotlight during climbings’ debut in the 2021 Olympic Games. So, what happens if women who climb decide to have a family? Since founding the Mum’s Gone Climbing community in 2018, I have witnessed hundreds of women navigating motherhood and climbing. Their journeys are unique and inspiring. Some have needed to step away from climbing for a time, due to personal or medical reasons. Others climb through pregnancy, literally to their due date, adapting as they go and feeling great. There really isn’t a trip report for this crazy climb called motherhood, and honestly it wanders off route pretty darn often.

“Due to the lack of information and advice, I felt an enormous amount of guilt early on - thinking that perhaps I shouldn’t be entertaining the idea of trying to climb while pregnant… I don’t think I expected this constant mental to-and-fro with myself, around “Is this safe, is bub okay, am I sure I want to climb today” but at the end of the day, with a partner I trust, and some careful movement, there is no denying how good I feel when I waddle away from a session on the wall.” - Sydney Climber, Eva Rosenbaum. From elite athletes to local crag mums, women are proving pregnancy and climbing are not mutually exclusive endeavours. There is no cookie-cutter approach to climbing through pregnancy and postpartum as each experience is as individual as the mother and baby taking the journey. While this article shares considerations and tips that will be applicable to most uncomplicated pregnancies, it is important to connect with trusted health care professionals that can give advice on your personal situation. Boulder, Belay and Leading… Climbing inherently has more risks involved than say water aerobics, but many of these risks are able to be well mitigated. A study conducted in 2012¹ showed many health benefits for aerobic and strength-building exercise during pregnancy. That’s a win for climbing. However, it went on to say you should avoid any contact sport or sport that is associated with a risk of falling. A traumatic blow to the abdomen could cause injury to the foetus, miscarrage, or placental abruption.

“Women give up a lot more than men do. It’s just a physical fact. A women’s body goes through a complete change to grow a human. It’s really a miracle and amazing what a woman’s body is capable of. But in the end, a man’s body doesn’t change.. their abs don’t separate.. they don’t have to take any time off of climbing. I remember when I gave birth, 2 months later I taught a climbing clinic.. and I was still breastfeeding every hour.. and teaching how to clean an anchor with a baby attached to my boob.” - Olivia Hsu, professional climber and yogi. Reference 1: Exercise in pregnancy review by T.A. Horak and A. Osman https://journals.co.za/doi/10.10520/EJC128743#abstract_content AUTUMN 2022

FEATURE MUMS WHO ROCK

Risks with trainer and coach Joy Black: Different aspects of climbing pose varying risks, and the level of those will be different depending on the experience of the climber. The amount of risk you are comfortable with taking is your own personal decision. It should be what feels right to you, but here are some points to keep in mind;

Grace Daff, 12 Weeks pregnant. Mojo Stoke Productions

AUTUMN 2022

•

The risk of falls is higher when bouldering, so it is important, if you choose to boulder, that you do so within your capabilities, and consider having a spotter.

•

If you are lead climbing keep in mind that by 14-16 weeks the uterus has grown such that it will no longer fit down inside the pelvis, and it becomes especially important to avoid impact to the abdomen. By week 20, the top of the uterus, or the fundus, is generally around the height of the belly button. This is when most climbers tend to feel more comfortable in a full body harness, which is not compatible with lead climbing.

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When lead belaying there is the possibility of being pulled up and into the wall, once again increasing the risk of high impact. There are set ups and gear that minimise this risk, but if your leader is projecting or there is a possibility of a big fall, it would be best to find an alternate belayer.

•

Top roping with an attentive belayer gives you the greatest level of control when it comes to fall and impact risks. It’s good to keep in mind that if climbing outdoors, rock fall can be a problem, so choose crags that are well maintained.

ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

PREGNANCY AS ELITE CLIMBERS WITH NINA CAPREZ AND KATARIINA RAHIKAINEN VL: Starting a family has different implications for a female athlete compared to a male athlete. What is your approach to making post-baby career goals and objectives?

But I found it interesting how stoked friends who were already parents were on our behalf, so I figured there must be something amazing in having a child that I didn’t yet know about :). They were right.

Nina: It’s a totally different thing if you reduce pregnancy to physical aspects. But mentally I think it’s challenging and changing for both. I feel pretty happy about seeing my body changing; everything is softening up and my climbing feels so different but in a beautiful way. My main goal is to travel more to share the values of climbing and to bring those to people who are less fortunate. My ambitions are fitting perfectly with the fact that we’re going to have a kid on those travels.

VL: What is your training regime now through pregnancy and how has this changed since?

Kat: I only had the goal of returning to climbing hard within the first year, and see how psyched or busy I am and what I want climbing to look like for myself in the future. I think a new father can maintain their climbing level without having to deal with having your body ‘broken down’ by a baby and having to rebuild everything that has happened to your body and mind during the pregnancy and birth. Being less tied to a baby than a breastfeeding carer that is I guess the biggest thing to manage in the first year or so, or however long one decides to breastfeed for. VL: When you announced your pregnancy what response did you get from fellow climbers, sponsors, and the broader climbing community? Nina: The reactions were absolutely mindblowing. My partners and sponsors were super excited for me. As a professional climber, you’re holding so tight on your performance and your life as a free vagabond, that you can easily not catch the train of raising a family. I was very surprised by people’s reactions, by all the tears of happiness and the big excitement. Kat: I didn’t really ‘announce’ it at all, we kind of kept it quiet. I guess a previous miscarriage had something to do with it too - I wasn’t really sure it was going to happen or that something might go wrong until the baby was actually here.

Nina: No training at all. I don’t like the idea of having that on my schedule while pregnant. I simply try to stay active and to be in the fresh air and sun as much as I can. I climb up to 3 times a week, but not really hard and I play outside with my friends, doing easy and fun stuff. Kat: I was climbing until maybe week 35/36, but only once a week outdoors due to work and gyms being closed for Covid. At that stage I also started to have quite significant SPD (symphosis pubic dysfunction; basically pubic bone) pain and climbing and even walking was aggravating the pain quite a bit. I found that squats and deadlifts (and sometimes SPD specific yoga) helped; so I was lifting quite decent weights until around week 37 - then I only did some lighter dumbbell stuff as I didn’t feel like squatting or deadlifting anymore. I actually did a bushwalk, did a dumbbell training and light yoga on the day my waters broke, ha. I have now started to try and get my strength back via weight lifting and some hangboarding. Climbing-wise I have been able to start trying hard moves in the last month (around 4.5 months post-partum), which has been a really nice feeling.

About Nina: Nina Caprez | Nina sees climbing as a way of finding truth, facing herself with each move - the good, the bad and the ugly. Growing up on a farm in Switzerland, Nina feels most at home outside, having the sky as her roof and the earth as her bed. As a self-professed ‘bon vivant hippy’ she seeks an emotional calling to each project, but don’t for one second think that she is flighty. Nina can be as sharp as a Swiss knife (which is one of her nicknames), efficiently climbing, training hard, and expressing herself completely through her spot. She knows what a privilege it is to live a climbing life, feeling gratitude even on the days she doesn’t send. About Kat: Katariina ‘Kat’ Rahikainen (she/her) | Kat is a climber and an academic. She was a sponsored climber for about six or seven years after being the first Finnish woman to do a 8a+ (years ago!), but veered away from trying to gain respect by climbing hard and instead gained a doctorate researching sponsored and professional female climbers.

VL: If there was one aspect of the journey into parenthood you would share with other mothers or mothers-to-be, what would you love for them to know? Nina: I compare my pregnancy with my biggest multi-pitch ascents or big wall - it’s a project where I’m somehow the most responsible, but it’s also a partner thing. We share, we adapt and we listen. I try to explain my sensations to my partner so that he can adapt and support me as much as possible. Kat: Try not to stress too much before it happens, because being a mum is pretty awesome :)

Kat at 37 weeks, 4 days before her water broke. Ellie Longshanks

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BETA FOR CLIMBING DURING EACH TRIMESTER JOY BLACK is an avid rock climber, kettlebell enthusiast, trail runner, and mum of three. With over a decade of experience in training and coaching, Joy has combined her love of strength and movement with extensive knowledge on training during pregnancy and postpartum. She is on a mission to equip climbers with the knowledge that will empower them during their journey as a pregnant and/or postpartum climber. Here are some of the tips she shares with her clients about climbing in each trimester.

THE FIRST TRIMESTER (WEEKS 4-12) Relaxin Hormone - The hormone Relaxin, which acts on connective tissue throughout the body (but effects are generally felt in the pelvis and ribcage) will peak during the last part of the first trimester and remain relatively stable until after birth. For climbers, this can be important when we are considering the stability of our pelvis. There are no movements, in particular, that should be avoided, but knowing when this hormone peaks, and that you may (or may not) experience less stability is helpful to understand. Increasing muscular strength around the pelvis is one of the best strategies for giving the pelvis more stability during pregnancy. ‘Morning’ Sickness - This common side effect of pregnancy includes not only nausea, but also vomiting, fatigue, headaches, loss of appetite, and the list goes on! These symptoms are largely due to the hormonal avalanche that’s happening inside your body. Recognize that even though you can’t see it, your body is hard at work. Giving yourself more rest days, or decreasing intensity during your workouts is highly recommended if you’re feeling any of these symptoms. Olivia Hsu climbing on less vertical terrain. Botsy Phillips

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THIRD TRIMESTER (WEEKS 27- BIRTH) Climb Until? - There is no set date at which you should ‘stop’ climbing. This is a personal decision and should be one that feels good to you. What’s most important to keep in mind is that labour and delivery are extremely taxing physical events. Much like you would give yourself some rest before going out to try a hard project, you should give yourself some extra rest as you get closer to your due date.

Olivia Hsu in a Petzl full body harness for climbing pregnant. Botsy Phillips

SECOND TRIMESTER (WEEKS 13-26) Pregnancy Harness - During the second trimester, the uterus will no longer fit down and inside of the pelvis. This means that your regular harness may start to feel uncomfortable. In general, a harness that is worn above the belly button will not be pushing against the uterus until later in the second trimester but this does not mean that you have to wait until then to switch. A pregnancy harness is meant to allow you to continue climbing without putting pressure across the abdomen. Please keep in mind that simply wearing a bigger harness (i.e. rather than a pregnancy harness) should be done with caution. The harness needs to be worn and fitted correctly, and a loose harness is not recommended.

Braxton Hicks - These contractions are basically ‘practice’ contractions that some women experience and others do not. They are not dangerous but there are a few things you need to keep in mind if you are experiencing them. If they are happening while you’re climbing, once you stop climbing, they should stop within a few minutes. Make sure you’re hydrating very well, as many times dehydration can cause this to happen with more frequency or intensity. If you’re noticing them increase as you get closer to birth, decreasing the intensity of your activity can help keep the uterus a bit calmer. Finally, if you find that they are not stopping and coming at regular intervals, you should call your provider. Pelvic Floor - During the third trimester, the pelvic floor is under quite high demand due to the weight of baby, amniotic fluid, increased blood volume, as well as pregnancy weight gain in general. It is important to note if you are experiencing pelvic floor symptoms while climbing, such as peeing, pain, or feelings of heaviness (just to name a few, there are many more) this is a sign that your pelvic floor is not handling the demand of the task you’re asking it to do well. Seeing a pelvic floor physio is a great way to be proactive about your pelvic floor health. They can help you understand if you need strength, endurance, coordination, relaxation, or a mixture therein to restore optimal function of your pelvic floor.

Steep Terrain - As the belly starts to expand more during the second trimester, the muscles of the abdomen become more lengthened. This length means that these muscles are not able to generate as much force and power as they used to - which can really make an impact when climbing steep terrain. When climbing routes or problems that have steeper terrain, be mindful of breath-holding (this creates more pressure on your core and pelvic floor) as well as any discomfort in the abdomen (stretching or pulling sensations). Balance - You may start to notice that those techy climbs with tiny feet and balance moves feel much harder than they used to and with good reason. As the pregnancy progresses, your centre of gravity changes, and the balance that you once had is thrown completely off. For terrain that tends to be more technical, making sure that you’re not only relying on your balance but also keeping tension throughout the body to help guide you through these movements can be really helpful.

Derry Ryan 6.5 months pregnant. Euan Ryan

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Steph Gooden at 12 weeks postpartum, first time back on the wall jug hopping and feeling good at home.

POSTPARTUM AND THE PATH BACK TO YOUR “OLD SELF” A BRIEF GUIDE BY KATIE KAMINSKY. The healing process

Getting back to activity

Soft tissues can take anywhere from six to twelve weeks to heal. Different birthing experiences and methods can result in different healing time frames. For example, consider a cesarean section, which involves an incision through the abdominal muscles, versus a natural birth without any muscle or soft tissue disruption, versus a perineal tear or significant anaemia due to blood loss, versus the effects of hormones on ligament laxity for up to three to four months after birth.

A lot of people report feeling different in their body, or that their body “isn’t their own”. Getting back to moving and to activities that you love can be a key in promoting your sense of confidence and comfort in your body. It might not happen overnight – some people feel different for a few months.

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Your body has been through a significant and amazing change in a short period of time. Aim for a gradual, consistent, and comfortable build back to your previous activity levels and be kind to

yourself in the process. Current guidelines recommend waiting for your six-week postpartum (post-birthing) check-up with your doctor and physio before starting back with any group or gym exercise, including climbing. Between 8 and 16 weeks, aim for a guided and gradual return to climbing-specific training. It is recommended that you see your physiotherapist to establish your readiness to return to heavy workloads that involve abdominal and pelvic strength – i.e. climbing! Aim to build to previous climbing training after around 16 weeks.

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COMMON POST-PARTUM EXPERIENCES Pelvic Girdle Pain / Dysfunction (PGP): previously known as Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction or Pelvic Instability Our pelvis is inherently stable. However, up to 44% of pregnant people experience pelvic girdle pain. This can present as pain, sensations of instability, difficulty in weight-bearing tasks like getting in and out of a car, and muscular symptoms. Consider seeing an exercise professional to come up with a plan to build your confidence in comfortable movement. This might involve short-term measures like a sacral belt or taping, as well as consistent and simple exercises to encourage movement and muscle function to promote comfort and help you build back to your desired climbing ability. Diastasis of the Rectus Abdominus Muscles (DRAM) Separation of the abdominal muscles along the centre line of your tummy, or the “linea alba”. Most people will experience some separation through pregnancy, and approximately one-third of women will find this persists at three months postbirth. Training your lower and deeper abdominals before the “sit up” or “sixpack” muscles is recommended.

Pelvic floor dysfunction / Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) Carrying a baby is hard work for your pelvic floor muscles, which act to support the contents of the pelvis and abdomen, as well as to maintain continence. Any pelvic organ descending down through the pelvic floor is termed “pelvic organ prolapse” and can include the bladder, uterus or bowel. Starting pelvic floor exercises before or during pregnancy, and continuing them after pregnancy in the long term, is the best way to keep these muscles healthy and working well. Over 50% of Australian women have some evidence of pelvic organ descent, which can be influenced by many factors including pregnancy (regardless of birthing method), genetics, ageing and physical activity. Early heavy abdominal work has been linked to increasing pelvic organ descent, so speak to your health professional before getting back to climbing that involves straining the abdominals, before impact activity like running or jumping, and before heavy lifting.

General recommendations: Start small. Easy climbs. If experiencing pelvic girdle or pelvic floor or continence issues, prolapse, consider small steps with your feet. This reduces the workload and transfer of force from feet all the way up to your torso and upper body via the pelvis. This could look like starting on vertical climbs or easy corners that allow you to take weight more evenly than super high steps or wide stemming. Low angled walls require less abdominal strength so starting on a roof might be a significant challenge. Downclimb before starting to jump down off boulders, and consider starting with route climbs that you know you won’t fall on – top rope falls will involve less force than lead falls. Gradually build back to falling and jumping down, ensuring your pelvic floor is keeping up with increasing impact. Treat this recovery as you might a sporting injury – take care of yourself and build back gradually, and you’ll be climbing as soon as is realistically possible.

“It took me a while to realise that I actually didn’t like being pregnant. I thought that maybe I’m not motherly enough, or maybe I’m too selfish to become a mom. But if you’re physically active, you can’t exercise in the same way, you can’t eat in the same way, so really…what’s to like? I love that feeling of learning your limits, and then finding ways to overcome them. Through pregnancy, I have had to learn to work with my body and all of the changes, and learn how to love climbing without pushing to the max.” Olga Kuznetsova, Queensland Climber. Derry Ryan 6.5 months pregnant. Euan Ryan

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FEATURE MUMS WHO ROCK

WHEN CLIMBING BECOMES A COMMUNITY OF SUPPORT For those who like to push their limits, train hard and strive for their goals, the pregnancy and postpartum period can be frustrating and heartbreaking. Olga, from the Mum’s Gone Climbing Documentary, was hooked on climbing since her first trip outdoors; she loved the movement and flow, that state of meditation you reach when climbing at your best. As a former gymnast and competitive skydiver, she thrives on physical challenges and found it hard to accept how quickly her climbing was affected after falling pregnant. “It took me a while to realise that I actually didn’t like being pregnant. I thought that maybe I’m not motherly enough, or maybe I’m too selfish to become a mom. But if you’re physically active, you can’t exercise in the same way, you can’t eat in the same way, so really… what’s to like? I love that feeling of learning your limits, and then finding ways to overcome them. Through pregnancy, I have had to learn to work with my body and all of the changes, and learn how to love climbing without pushing to the max.” - Olga Kuznetsova, Queensland Climber The fact is, your climbing is going to change. There is no getting back to pre baby, to your “old climbing self”. Your body will change, your routines will change, your goals will have an extra level of complexity. It’s going to be challenging, you will likely cry more than anticipated, but you will also be shocked at everything you can achieve.

My own struggles with mental health through motherhood led me to create a space where women could make time to climb, to find that stoke and fill their cup, while being supported by a group of people who understand how freakin’ hard this gig can be. This is why the Mum’s Gone Climbing community exists. But we are far from the only space that climbing mums will find support. Over the past four years I have seen just how welcoming the climbing community is for mothers who are carving out time to climb. Sure you get the occasional rude individual, but more often than not you will get huge grins and highfives. We’ve worked with gyms to create meetups, and open their doors out of hours so babies are safe while mums get their climb on. We’ve designed accessible outdoor workshops with guides who understand the time constraints of parenting, and even been backed to film, produce and screen a documentary by individuals and brands who saw the value in amplifying the stories of women. Motherhood is a lesson in acceptance. But acceptance doesn’t mean defeat, it just means that you learn to constantly adapt. The challenges that come with motherhood may mean you need to exercise a little more grit to chase your passions, but the challenges fuel you along the way. Each moment spent climbing inflow is just that little bit sweeter for the effort it takes. Our generation is redefining what motherhood can look like, and before long society will realise that you don’t need balls for badassery; boobs and bumps will do just fine.

Mum’s Gone Climbing can be seen as part of the Women’s Adventure Film Tour 2021/22 exclusively on ADVENTURE+: https://adventureplus.com/programs/waft-iwd-2022

GEAR FOR HERE Paul “Frothy” Thomson Life without meaning (28) Banks Gully Amphitheatre Photo Ben Sanford

SPONSORED CONTENT

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MOUNTAIN EQUIPMENT BY MATT EATON Mountain Equipment is the oldest, continuously operating climbing and mountaineering retail business in Sydney. Founded in 1968, Mountain Equipment has witnessed, and even been responsible for, some significant changes in the Australian outdoor market. During this time it has adapted and evolved and therefore retained its place as the pre-eminent outdoor, climbing and mountaineering store in Sydney. Whilst the telemark skis and canoes on display in those early days may have disappeared, the choice of the latest gear and equipment available for the modern climber and mountaineer has increased exponentially, from boulder pads to ropes, from the latest in gym climbing shoes to the lightest of tents. With just two stores, in Sydney CBD and Chatswood on the North Shore, Mountain Equipment is still privately owned. Following Jurgen Zingler’s retirement, the company was bought by its current owner, Geoff Chapman, in 1993. Geoff’s philosophy is to provide quality products backed up by expert advice from experienced, friendly staff. Passionate about the outdoors and its benefit for society and communities, Geoff has funded and supported the development of The Great Himalayan Trail in Nepal and Andrew Lock’s successful mission to become the first Australian to climb all fourteen of the 8,000m peaks.

Simon Alsop, Mountain Equipment’s General Manager, has been with the company for nearly twenty years. When asked how the industry has changed and what excites him about it these days, he says “It’s great to be part of a more sustainable and environmentally friendly industry. Only a few years ago we saw the first fully recycled waterproof garments come to market. Now companies such as Outdoor Research, Prana and Rab have whole ranges which are nearly exclusively recycled and fair trade certified. It’s companies like these, as well as the climbing companies such as La Sportiva, Edelrid and Sterling who are really pushing the boundaries of producing marketleading equipment using more eco-conscious and ethical designs and manufacturing processes”. He continues, “It’s also great to see the growth and broader interest in climbing, along with the increasing number of gyms, which means that more people are discovering the amazing lifestyle it can bring. Climbing has always been a great excuse for an adventure and reason to travel and explore, whether that be locally or abroad. It takes you to some fantastic and exciting places - some right under your nose, some on the other side of the world.”

Mountain Equipment retains this focus on community with sponsorship and support for climbing competitions, at both the state and local levels, a commitment stretching back almost twenty years. The names of climbers who have been supported by Mountain Equipment, past and present, reads like a who’s who of climbing in NSW and includes the like of Saxon Johns, James Scarborough, Lee Cossey, Ben Cossey, Samantha Berry, Axel Tritton and Carlie LeBreton, amongst many others.

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FEATURE

Lucas Breaking at The RedBull BCONE Competition, Sydney. JNY

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A Chalky AFFAIR BY LUCAS MARIE

LUCAS REACHED OUT TO A BUNCH OF LOCAL AUSSIE CLIMBERS VIA SOCIAL MEDIA AND ASKED: WHAT OTHER ACTIVITIES BESIDES CLIMBING ARE THEY INTO? WHAT WOULD THEY SAY TRANSFERS BETWEEN THEIR ENGAGEMENT IN SAID OTHER ACTIVITY AND THEIR CLIMBING, AND WHAT DOESN’T? WHAT HURDLES AND/OR CHALLENGES HAVE THEY FACED AND HOW HAVE THEY OVERCOME THESE (OR NOT)?

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FEATURE A CHALKY AFFAIR

I’ve been breaking (aka ‘breakdancing’, a popular Hip Hop dance) for over two decades. This and climbing are my main two hobbies, however, I’ve always found it difficult to balance my time and effort as both a dancer and a climber. I’ve found that the time I spend away from climbing—practicing, teaching and performing breaking, traveling to jams and events overseas—hinders not only my progress as a climber but also my motivation and psyche. And the same can be said about my breaking. Both require a lot of physical and mental commitment. There are undoubtedly many transferable skills between being a dancer and then becoming a climber; general fitness, body awareness, flexibility? Although I feel they require quite different types of bodies: my climbing body is more controlled, strong in the shoulders and fingers, requiring more slow and precise bodily movements, whereas my breakdancing body is more wild and dynamic, requiring more a free-flowing and fluid type of movement. I started breaking in 1999 in my hometown of Perth, WA. Whereas rock climbing is a more recent activity of mine, having started only 7 years ago back in 2015. These two activities do somewhat complement one another in terms of cardio fitness, mobility, strength, and focus. Culturally and historically, the breaking and climbing communities are very different worlds, with different kinds of people occupying their spaces. I feel that I am somewhat more of a ‘breaker’ than I am a ‘climber’.

Lucas Breaking at The Destructive Steps Breaking Competition, Sydney. JNY

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As I reach my mid-30s competing in breaking competitions, it is becoming tough to sustain as I deal with ongoing injuries. Due to these injuries I feel more of a pull towards outdoor sport and trad climbing, two activities I see many in the late 30s and beyond continuing to excel at. There are of course many climbers who don’t just ‘climb’ but are also deeply engaged in other kinds of activities like myself. Some things like yoga, slacklining, swimming and running seem (from my outsider’s gaze) only to help and be complementary to one’s climbing. Although I was interested in hearing what others had to say about this and also what other kinds of activities climbers are into and why. These seemingly simple questions led to a really interesting and diverse range of discussions about how age, gender, injuries, motivations, the weather, work, family, socio-economic status, plus a myriad of other factors can impact one’s choices to engage in things outside of climbing. Also, how this can change and develop over time. These discussions also brought about some deep thoughts about what climbing is, and how one might wrestle with this question over time. Rather than summarise these discussions here are some of their responses from those who kindly reached out and shared with me their thoughts and experiences.

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FEATURE A CHALKY AFFAIR

Liam

ATKINS

MANAGING RISK, INJURIES AND COMMITMENT THROUGH DIVING Liam Atkins, who, prior to climbing, was a competitive springboard and platform diver for 8 years. For the uninitiated this involves completing somersaults and twists from boards ranging between 1-10 metres. Liam also went on to do high diving/cliff diving, which is much the same as traditional diving, however the heights are somewhere between 20-27 metres. Liam says that diving has given him a lot in terms of transferable skills to climbing. Something which he’s sure many dancers, yogis and gymnasts will recognise is the mobility that acrobatic sports are able to provide. In his words,“Having done a lot of varied movement I found that I had a really good sense of how far I reach, how far I can jump, and how I can balance on a hold. But this is definitely something that develops over time and, I think, is also closely linked to the specific skills of the given sport. So, while it gave me a great start into rudimentary climbing, my ability to backflip did not mean I knew how to back flag or why that would be an optimal position in a given situation.... For that I needed YouTube.” “Undoubtedly, my strongest asset in climbing and the best transfer to climbing is my head game. Both diving and climbing have an inherent amount of risk with potential for high consequences if things don’t go well. You have to deal with the nerves that come with those risks, and not knowing what the outcome will be.

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Diving is like stepping into the unknown, particularly when you are learning a new dive from high heights. While you can change, to a degree, how fast or slow you are rotating, there really is no going back. The hardest part is committing to taking off from the platform. Before a dive, you sometimes wonder whether you’re prepared to handle whatever happens once you leave the platform, and the consequences if it doesn’t go to plan. A wellexecuted dive is a great result, but anything other than a vertical landing can result in pain or injury, leaving a very narrow window for success. Having been exposed to these situations for years has set me up well to cope with similar situations and feelings in climbing.” One of the biggest challenges Liam’s faced in both sports is dealing with injuries. With a recent finger injury and an ongoing injury from his diving days, Liam says that he is trying to learn how to see injuries in a more positive light, which has been an ongoing struggle for him. “We can control a lot of the risk we take, but sometimes things don’t go as intended. A fear of falling is such a valid thing to be scared of, but like a lot of things, perhaps we’re just afraid of what we don’t know or feel we aren’t in control of. I’m looking forward to taking these learning points back to the pool soon and to influence my diving.”

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Liam diving from the local 20 metre platform. Keelan O'Hehir

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FEATURE A CHALKY AFFAIR

Michael

BLOWERS

THE TRANSFER OF CARDIO FITNESS & FOCUS THROUGH MOUNTAIN BIKING Michael Blowers started mountain biking 3 or 4 months ago, whereas he’s been climbing for the past 8 years. He says that there are a few things that transfer between the two really well. Physically the extra cardio fitness transfers well, especially on long leads. But more so mountain biking has really helped Michael increase his power-to-weight ratio and his ability to remain focused for a long period of time.

“When I’ve been riding more downhill oriented tracks. Some of the runs can be pretty long, requiring a lot of focus, and being able to snap your focus, filter out the noise and hold it until it’s over is so helpful for climbing. I’ve found it’s made a difference in my climbing, mainly in redpointing projects or trad climbing, especially when it starts getting scary or intimidating.”

Michael Blowers on his mountain bike. Josh Vines

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Michael also talked about injuries and the risk associated with mountain biking. He’s been pretty lucky and all of the crashes he has had have been very minor. However, he has recently seen friends suffer some pretty horrific injuries that definitely make you ponder the risk and how hard you want to push it.

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Michael Blowers on Slap Dancer (27). Scott Roberts

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FEATURE A CHALKY AFFAIR Dick Lodge dancing his way up the Totem Pole, Tasmania. Matt Ray

DICK LODGE: FINDING BALANCE, REST AND COMMUNITY THROUGH MOTORCYCLE RACING Dick Lodge, who has been climbing for 30 years, has also been motorcycle racing for the last 7. Dick says that for him it has been good to take a break sometimes from obsessing over climbing for both the mind and the body. That climbing is intense and being able to focus on something else is beneficial. It has also broadened Dick’s friend network beyond just climbers. A big hurdle for Dick is mainly just managing his time. Trying to prioritise and choose whether to race or climb can be tough when conditions for both are good.

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Amy making her next moves on a climb in Dyurrite. Kaluhea Laureta

AMY ANGELA: A CONNECTION TO THE ROCK THROUGH CIRCUS & CLIMBING Amy Angela started doing Circus (silks and trapeze) a year ago and was instantly hooked. Amy says that she found it has been improving her climbing immensely in terms of upper body strength and flexibility. Amy attends weekly Circus classes in Naarm (Melbourne) and is now able to do pull-ups, which has helped her in being able to climb more overhung routes. Since doing circus training she has more confidence in trusting her hands and feet. The main challenge between the two activities is that circus classes are only on at a set time and place, and given an opportunity to climb outdoors would be more of a priority rather than attending the circus classes.

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FEATURE A CHALKY AFFAIR

Lucas climbing ITP (25) at Little Babylon in NZ. Ellen Longman

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Although it isn’t possible to share everyone’s thoughts and comments I really want to thank all of those who reached out to me and shared their experience and perspective. Listening to the kinds of activities different climbers are into, and why, and what specifically (for them) transfers across from other practices into climbing, if nothing else, is quite interesting and may be useful to hear for those of us who want a more diverse range of activities in which to engage. What these short snippets provide, if nothing else, is how diversely talented climbers around Australia are. What seems to resonate across many peoples accounts is how one’s motivations, goals and identity ‘as a climber’ is constantly shifting and evolving over time.

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REFLECTIONS

Lee Cujes during the first ascent of The Watchers on the Wall (20, 23, 25, 25) in Pierces Pass, Blue Mountains. Kamil Sustiak

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Recycling CLIMBING SHOES

CLIMBING ANCHORS LAUNCHES SHOE RECYCLING INITIATIVE WITH TREADLIGHTLY

Upgrading from an old pair of shoes can feel both needed and a wasteful experience. In many ways, climbing shoes are vastly different from walking shoes simply because they need to fit tightly and wear like no other shoe. Replacing climbing shoes can be as frequent as replacing your socks, but what do you do with the old ones? We sat down with Leo at Climbing Anchors to chat about a new recycling initiative and answer questions that the community had!

Jo: I love my shoes. I find a pair and stick to it. I’d resole them until they can no longer be resoled or somehow grown too tight for my liking and it’ll get given away to the youth team #smallfeet. But I love my climbing shoes and as someone who gets really attached to their shoes, it makes me sad when I can no longer use them. What can you tell us about the climbing shoe recycling initiative and how that came about? Leo: Like yourself, we’re climbers and outdoor enthusiasts who are very much conscious of our environmental footprint. Having owned and retired several shoes, we have always wondered what to do with retired shoes? This sparked an idea to find a solution to keep our shoes out of landfill.

We are excited to announce our climbing shoe recycling program! We’ve partnered with an organisation called TreadLightly to provide a place for our community to drop off climbing shoes that can no longer be used or resoled. Jo: Turns out I wasn’t the only one! Why TreadLightly? Leo: Finding the right recycling partner was a big factor because it had to be local and quite a few “recyclers” out there will ship the material overseas or use it to fuel furnaces.

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We felt that this defeated the purpose of reducing our environmental footprint. We opted for TreadLightly because they take old shoes and turn them into new products (i.e. high-traffic flooring) in a factory in Naarm (Melbourne). The cycle repeats itself as old flooring can be returned to the factory and turned into fresh new ones! Pretty cool. Jo: Are there any incentives for people recycling their shoes through this program? Leo: Our goal is to make recycling shoes easier for our community. We aren’t offering “trade in” incentives. Though there is a cost to recycle each shoe through this program and we’re covering that cost for anyone who wishes to recycle their shoes. We hope this service will be valuable for our community and the environment.

Also, it’s important not to use this service to dump unwanted, illfitting shoes. As a community we should seek to clean and donate unwanted shoes to friends, local climbing clubs, and not-for-profit organisations. Jo: Love that. I’ve got more questions from our fellow community members so here goes!

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Q: What makes a climbing shoe last longer? Does the type of rubber or thickness of the sole matter? Rubber is usually the first thing to wear through on climbing shoes. A thicker sole will mean the rubber will last longer, but it will decrease sensitivity and the ability to feel your footing. The rubber sole on a climbing shoe can be between 3 - 5.5 mm thick. Most shoes will have a ~4mm sole and is probably a good place to start if you’re not sure. Rubber hardness also affects longevity. Harder rubber compounds last longer, but don’t feel as grippy. Soft rubber has a better grip on surfaces but wears quickly. Finding the balance is tricky, and choice will come down to your climbing priorities. Many people forget about taking care of the shoe itself, like keeping shoes clean, stored correctly, and resoled before a hole appears all affecting the longevity of a climbing shoe. If you’re interested, read our guide by scanning the QR code.

recycle your old climbing shoes As part of the TreadLightly Initiative, you can now recycle your old/retired climbing and active lifestyle footwear in our stores and divert tonnes of waste from landfill.

together we can step into a better future

Check out the shoe care article by scanning here Q: How many times can a pair of shoes be resoled until they’re deemed “unresoleable?” It’s hard to give a number as it varies with the construction and level of care. We recommend resoling a climbing shoe before a hole appears in the rand. You can get a greater number of resoles on a pair of shoes if the rand is maintained in a good condition. I find that once you need to repair the rand, it will be good for one more resole. Besides wear and tear, there are other factors that make your shoe “unresole-able” e.g. smell. Wash or disinfect your shoes before sending them to a resoler or they will definitely send them back saying “these are unresole-able!”. Q: What parts of the climbing shoe are recyclable? Also, can we recycle approach or hiking shoes? Fortunately, most climbing shoes have materials that can be recycled: leather, textiles, plastic, and rubber. Approach shoes and hiking shoes can be recycled too! Just make sure there are no steel caps.

Scan here to find TreadLightly Locations Q: How would I know if it’s ethical? Is there a way for me to track where my shoes end up and see the end product? TreadLightly program is audited yearly by the Australian NZ recycling platform, where they track and report on the products made from the collected & recycled materials. Their next report is due June 2022 and will be viewable on their website. https://treadlightly.asga.com.au You can even purchase the mats! Find out more info at Save Our Soles (saveoursoles.co). Maybe, next time you’re in a retail store you’ll notice the floors made out of recycled shoes. Q: How is this program different from Clean Climber in the Netherlands which also recycles shoes into rubber mats?

Q: Where could we drop the shoes off? Climbing gyms would be a great space to be part of this!

I believe our program shares similar values and goals with Clean Climber. TreadLightly is still new comparatively.

You can drop off your shoes at our collection bins at Climbing Anchors Alexandria in Sydney, and Climbing Anchors Fitzroy in Melbourne. Our rental shoes used in climbing gyms will be covered under this program as well. As the TreadLightly program grows, we hope to see more collection points pop up.

The end goal for TreadLightly is to have the majority of retired shoes recycled through this program Australia-wide, and all shoe manufacturers to cover the costs for responsible recycling of their products at the end of its life.

If you want to recycle your shoes, but not near a Climbing Anchors, you can also drop your shoes off at any TreadLightly partner. https://treadlightly.asga.com.au/collection-locations/

We are just getting started and we can’t wait to see this initiative grow.

AUTUMN 2022

NEW GEAR

EVOLV SHAMAN Question: How many Shamans could a Sharma Shaman before a Shaman could Sharma Shamans? Answer: 3. Introducing the latest iteration in the Evolv Shaman lineup. Unlike the original Shamans which were more aligned with steep sport climbing/bouldering, the latest model is one of the best technical all-rounders Evolv has produced to date. The combination of a stiff front end and soft midsole provides the ideal mix of edging and flexibility on routes. Other changes include a slimmer, more precise heel, less bulky tongue design, comfy lining at the top of the heel, a variable thickness toe rand, and Trax’s “sticky as shit” SAS rubber. Don’t worry though, much like Sharma’s signature goatee, the beloved Shaman ‘Love Bump’ lives on (that small plastic insert that fills dead space under your toes). Bonus: Rejoice my fellow flipper footed friends (wide toes, narrow heel), the new Shaman fits like a dream.

RRP $289.99 IN STORES NOW

THE NORTH FACE CINDER 55 The Cinder55 is back and it’s meaner and greener than ever before. Seriously, if this bag was a person, it would be Rocky Balboa (but without all the bruises and stuff). There aren’t many bags in this weight class that can withstand being dragged up and down El Cap without falling to pieces (one could say El Cap is the Ivan Drago of big walls), and yet the Cinder has stood strong time and time again. Which begs the question, how do you improve on a bag like that? You add stripes! You may have noticed some new, colourful patterns on the updated pack. Those aren’t some snazzy ‘go faster’ racing stripes, but rather the result of TNFs new ultra-durable recycled face fabric design. Unused and discarded fabric scraps are collected from the factory floor and integrated into the fabric, resulting in unique striations that give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside (also they make you climb faster…but not really). Other changes include an improved lid design for easier access and an internal zippered pocket for storing guidebooks, snacks, or your signed copy of Rocky IV. Bonus: With such a bomber pack design, you’ll never feel guilty about crushing your cams again. RRP: $350 MORE AT thenorthface.com.au

MAD ROCK ROVER

Did you know NASA has over 5 rovers on Mars… well now Mad Rock has 1 too, introducing the Mad Rock Rover. An accumulation of 20 years worth of technology and innovation, the Mad Rock Rover is one small step for climbing shoes, one giant leap for climbing shoe manufacturing. What the hell are we talking about? Compression moulding buddy! Unlike traditional manufacturing, which involves gluing together several flat pieces of rubber, compression moulding creates a single 3d piece of rubber. This means Mad Rock can add extra rubber where it’s needed and less rubber where it’s not, allowing for 50% more durability and 25% less manufacturing waste. Take this concept, wrap it in sticky ‘Science Friction 3’ rubber, add heel ridges, and you’ve got a shoe fit for Neil Armstrong himself. Even with all these features, the Rover is as much for entry-level climbers seeking comfort, as it is for experienced climbers like Aussie Mad Rock athlete Mattias Braach-Maksvytis, who may be seeking a performance all-rounder. And at $139.95, they are astronomical value! RRP: $139.95 FOR MORE INFO HEAD TO bigjohn.com.au

AUTUMN 2022

ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

STERLING XEROS QUEST 9.6MM Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No wait, it’s the new Xeros Quest 9.6mm! It may not be faster than a speeding bullet (which probably isn’t desirable in a rope anyway), but the new Xeros Quest is certainly breaking barriers when it comes to dry rope technology. As everyone knows a wet rope is a weaker rope (approximately 20-40% weaker in fact), water is indeed ropes’ kryptonite (also true for witches). This is why we have dry ropes, however, traditional (exterior) dry rope coating isn’t perfect, it can wear out after time and the process is often more costly and labour intensive. Well, Sterling wanted to do better, so they spent 3 years developing an entirely new process. Xeros technology is not a coating, nor a bath treatment, but rather a new step in the manufacturing process that makes each individual nylon ﬁbre water-resistant. The result is a dry rope that blows traditional ones out of the water! Superman without kryptonite. Bonus: It’s a Sterling. RRP: $449.95 FOR MORE INFO VISIT expeditionequipment.com.au

RED CHILLI SENSOR When it comes to the SENSOR, the name says it all. This shoe is more sensitive than your tongue after ordering a Thai green curry “non-tourist level spicy” (don’t do it). This shoe has been specifically designed for high-performance indoor bouldering and extreeemely overhanging routes. Ingredients include a minimalistic midsole, high asymmetry, powerful downturn, and an innovative new system with a double slingshot that prevents pre-tensioning from waning over time. Add a dash of Vibram XS Grip rubber and you’ve got yourself one spicy send shoe. Bonus: Look at the size of the toe patch! RRP: $249.95 COMING SOON TO STOCKISTS NEAR YOU

WIDEBOYZ CRACK GLOVES

Though not strictly ‘new’, we couldn’t help but talk about The Wide Boyz new crack gloves! When the world’s best crack climbers design a crack glove, you know it’s going to be good (it’s like if Gordon Ramsay released a book of curious & creative insults). If tape gloves are moccasyms, then these things are like TC-Pros for your hands. Speaking as someone who owns 4 different pairs of crack gloves, these offer the perfect combo of all my favourite features. Not too thick, not too thin, rubber in all the right spots and a beefy wrist strap that isn’t going to fail after 50 pitches. Plus if you’re ever unlucky enough to be hanging bodyweight off a teacup jam, then you’ll be thanking crack Jesus for those extra long thumb loops. Bonus: If the XL can fit Pete’s sausage fingers, then they can definitely fit yours. RRP: £30.00 + Shipping AVAILABLE AT wideboyz.com

AUTUMN 2022

CAMPFIRE CRAG COOKING

Campfire Crag Cooking Mitch’s Crag Bars Muesli bars have helped fuel many of my climbing days, from easy cragging sessions to the just-a-bit-too-long sea cliff epics. As a convenient snack packed full of goodness, there isn't much competition against the humble bar. My only gripe is that paying $5 for some squished oats and nuts felt like a rort and all the packaging wasn’t aligning with the ol’ moral compass. After way too much trial and error I came up with a fairly low effort, no-bake bar that is sure to spark the ol “just one more, then I’ll stop” lie.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup cashews 2 tbsp cocoa powder 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted ½ cup dried cranberries 1½ cups pitted dates (unless you’re feeling dangerous) ½ cup desiccated coconut ½ cup oats ¼ cup peanut butter (get the good 100% peanut stuff) A dash of salt (white, pink, or otherwise)

METHOD

STEP 1: Melt your coconut oil down. I use a microwave for about 30 seconds. STEP 2: Throw everything in the food processor. Chuck it on high for a few mins until a thick paste has formed. STEP 3: Use your squishin’ spoon (anything big and flat will do) to flatten out the paste into your lined tray. I try to make sure everything is bonded well by pushing down fairly hard. Treat it as a much needed workout for those protagonist muscles.

AUTUMN 2022

GEAR

Food processor Tray (I use a slice tray) Baking paper Squishin’ spoon Fridge

STEP 4: To the fridge! A few hours later the bars are solid, ready for chopping up and bringing out on the next mission. Ye be warned though that these bars don’t hold up well in the heat so eat them early on the warm days and keep any leftover bars in the fridge.

ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM

ALPINE BETA: I know what you’re thinking, “Look at all these sport-craggin’ softies with their fancy microwaves and food processors. Microwaves aren’t alpine!”. No they’re not, but you know what is alpine? Fridge temps. Oh yeah, who needs a fridge when you’re basically climbing in one. So here’s what you do: [ALPINE] STEP 1: Melt your coconut oil down using your nalgene and a sleeping bag (just make sure you don’t accidentally use the piss bottle). [ALPINE] STEP 2: Throw everything in dry bag and smash at it with an aid hammer or your #6 camalot for several hours, until a thick paste has formed. Alternatively hand your belayer a rescue knife and check back on their progress in 12-24 hours. [ALPINE] STEP 3: Use your squishin’ hand (spoons aren’t alpine) to flatten out the paste into your lined tray (believe it or not, trays are alpine). Make sure everything is bonded well by pushing down fairly hard (what the hell is a protagonist muscle?) [ALPINE] STEP 4: Remember, you’re basically climbing in a fridge! So leave those bars outside the tent and check back in the morning. Now chop them up, weigh them, and only bring 1 for the summit push (every gram counts).

Everything tastes better with chalky fingers! Mitchell Scanlan-Bloor

AUTUMN 2022

BETA AND BREW

BETA:

To serve 3 sleepy climbers simply modify this recipe by using 60g of coffee and diluting with 450-550ml of hot water (650-750ml total), this may take some tweaking. TOO STRONG? » Use more water to dilute » Grind coarser » Steep for less time » Use lower temp water TOO WEAK OR ACIDIC? » Use less water to dilute » Grind finer » Use hotter temp water » Use more ground coffee » Steep for more time TASTES BITTER OR ASHY? » Use lower temp water » Make sure you’re plunging SLOWLY! » Check your coffee isn’t a ‘dark roast’ (if it is use a much lower temp)

AUTUMN 2022

The Press Is Crux

ISSUE 38 | VERTICALLIFEMAG.COM.AU

BETA & BREW The ’No Cranky Partners’ Aeropress Recipe Much like an adrenaline-fueled parent lifting a car to save their baby, or Adam Ondra screaming his way up ‘Silence’, coffee addicts will demolish anything that dares to stand between them and that which they hold so dearly…their first cup of coffee! Camp etiquette dictates this person holds the proverbial dibs on the first brew (usually me), but birds of a feather flock together and occasionally you may find yourself face to face with someone of equal caffeine deprivation, someone who wants that first cup of morning brown just as much as you. Paper-scissors-rock can solve many things in this world, but it can’t solve that! This recipe may not bring about world peace, but it’s damn sure a start! - Sule (VL’s Resident Coffee Nerd)

BEST FOR: »

Making 2 coffees in 1 go

Keeping your cranky

STEPS: 1.

Place 3 filters in your Aeropress cap and position the Aeropress over your brewing vessel with the plunger removed (if you’re using a Nalgene, brew into your cup first).Note: Using 3 filters will prevent water from dripping through during the steep.

Place 40g of medium-coarse ground coffee into your Aeropress, if you don’t have a scale then fill up to the middle of the a mark. Note: Remember to adjust your grinder if your coffee isn’t tasting quite right, alternatively ask someone else to grind it then blame them if it tastes like shit.

Cover grounds with boiling water (up to the b mark) and stir thoroughly for 15 seconds.

Top up with more hot water, about halfway between d mark and brim of Aeropress (up to 240ml if you’re measuring).

Give a gentle stir, moving back and forth in a ‘cross cross’ pattern instead of in circles, then wait 1-1.5mins while the coffee steeps. Note: ‘Judy Is a Punk’ by The Ramones plays for 1:31 (less confused now?).

Insert the plunger and SLOWLY plunge the Aeropress (almost painfully slow...like it should take about 1 minute). Note: SLOWLY!! If you rush this it will taste bad (“patience is a virtue” - someone’s mum).

Add 250-350ml of hot water to your brewing vessel (pour up to the 450-550ml marker), then stir thoroughly.

climbing partner happy »

Coffee bandits with 500ml thermos’

YOU’LL NEED: »

Aeropress and 3 paper filters

40g of good coffee, ground medium-fine (you can grind this yourself or buy it pre-ground)

[Optional] Coffee grinder (No, a peppermill still won’t work)

Something to stir with (grab your trusty nut tool or unsoiled twig)

500-600ml of hot water (adjust to taste)

A timer (or access to the song ‘Judy Is a Punk’ by The Ramones)

Scale [Optional]

A brewing vessel: 500ml measuring jug or a Nalgene with volume markers (and a cup)

For those without measuring jugs, brew the concentrate into a regular cup, then pour it into a Nalgene and dilute using the volume lines as reference (also works great if you enjoy your coffee shaken not stirred).

AUTUMN 2022

DIRECTORY | We have introduced this new section to make space in Vertical Life for our community partners.

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