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General Climbing Discussion

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Burnley Climbing Wall

climbingjac

28-Mar-2006
11:27:25 AM

Hi everyone,

I need 6 helpers to assist on a working bee this Saturday. You'd need a pair of gumboots and a shovel. If you can help, please send me a PM, stating your full name, email address and phone number (mobile preferred).

Thanks everyone!

Jacqui

climbingjac

28-Mar-2006
3:58:02 PM

Hi everyone,

350 viewers have read the note above, and noone has replied! Come on people, we need you!

Jac

28-Mar-2006
11:19:22 PM

Would love to Jac but am committed on Saturday. Will see you on Sunday though. Looking forward to it.

wyt91t

29-Mar-2006
3:01:37 AM

i know this might sound stupid to some but if it was such a pain to move the tralier why didn't you just drive the dingo to the site and push the tralier empty.
drop the attachments off and go back and get the other attaments


Hatman

29-Mar-2006
7:16:47 AM

yep sounds stupid

climbingjac

29-Mar-2006
9:09:31 AM

On 29/03/2006 wyt91t wrote:
>i know this might sound stupid to some but if it was such a pain to move
>the tralier why didn't you just drive the dingo to the site and push the
>tralier empty.
>drop the attachments off and go back and get the other attaments

Because the attachments are massive and heavy, and on account of this the idea of pushing the trailer up and down the hill is not an option. Also I think (not sure, I was not the site expert on the dingo) you can't undock the attachments without the dingo, so it would introduce a whole lot of unnecessary and timeconsuming mucking around. :-)


Peacey

29-Mar-2006
10:06:51 AM

I can bring my car and reverse the dingo/trailer into the site, or will that not work?

climbingjac

29-Mar-2006
12:08:43 PM

We used the dingo last weekend. We do not require it again.

gfdonc

29-Mar-2006
8:51:16 PM

For the benefit of many, worth posting that we have *no* idea what you are talking about.


Sabu

29-Mar-2006
10:42:15 PM

lol should pay attention in class gfdonc!!!!

climbingjac

30-Mar-2006
8:25:03 AM

On 29/03/2006 gfdonc wrote:
>For the benefit of many, worth posting that we have *no* idea what you
>are talking about.

Sorry - If you refer to the previous page of posts, you will note pictures of the bright orange dingo complete with caption.


Peacey

30-Mar-2006
9:21:34 AM

Anyone know if it is illegal to carry a shovel and a sledge hammer on a train? My car has died and I will have to take the train. I cant really fit the wheelbarrow onto the train. I guess that it will be early in the morning, so I might just have a go and take my tools on the train. I could also get my mate to bring his concreate pump so that we don't have to use the wheelbarrows. What is the vehicle access to the overpass like?


cheesehead

30-Mar-2006
10:39:20 AM

I'm no expert, but if you can get away with ice tools, shovel shouldn't be a problem. So long as you don't look like a threat. Many people may be alert - but hopefully not alarmed (if they obey their fridge magnets).
Watch out for agent Smith and his buddies though. They may well get on at the next station if a mild mannered conformist informist dobs you in.

climbingjac

30-Mar-2006
11:24:27 AM

Tristan,

We already have a pump organised. The wheelbarrows are for "just in case" and for moving concrete to awkward spots.

Jac

gfdonc

30-Mar-2006
4:19:56 PM

On 30/03/2006 climbingjac wrote:
>Sorry - If you refer to the previous page of posts, you will note pictures
>of the bright orange dingo complete with caption.

Oops, fair comment Sabu. Sorry, it's been that sort of a week. Got over the worst of it this afternoon fortunately, and hurrah! got Monday + Tuesday off for climbing ..

climbingjac

3-Apr-2006
12:55:43 PM

Dear climbers,

On Saturday, we poured concrete bases beneath each of the three climbing walls. Why? So we have something heavy to glue the shockpads down to! Burnley is in a flood zone, and we don't want our lovely shockpads floating away :-)

It was determined that to purchase concrete in bags and mix it onsite was not only a cumbersome process with massive potential for us to mess up, but in fact it was also far more expensive than bringing in pre-mixed concrete. So the decision was made to bring the concrete in to the site in a series of minimix trucks. Big trucks could not be used, due to access issues beneath the freeway. Additionally, it was decided that moving concrete from minimix truck to slab zone in wheelbarrows was exhausting work, and possibly too slow (the truck will only stay for free for 25mins. After that it costs a lot of $$$ per minute they are kept waiting, so you can't afford to be slow). So we decided to bring in a mini pump. This is basically a long pipeline that transfers the concrete from the truck to the slab zone.

I located a minipump operator that was incredibly helpful. Rod Northover became fascinated with our little project, and keen to help. He went straight down to the site to review things and ensure that the proposed plan to use minimix trucks and a minipump would work. He also filled us in on modern concreting concepts - we didn't need to muck around with rio (steel reinforcing). This project would be able to instead have fibres added to the minimix instead. Yay! One less task for us. Rod then proceeded to negotiate a ridiculously low rate for our concrete with Hanson, a concrete supplier he deals with regularly. He also dealt with placing the order, determining how frequently the trucks should arrive, and communicating to them how to locate the site. "Wow" is all I can say. Rod did all of this out of the goodness of his heart. And if that wasn't enough, he also organised for a colleague of his, John Murray - a concretor, to be present at the concrete pour and help. Gratis. It doesn't get much better than that!

So anyway, the morning of the concrete pour arrived, and the respective members of the team dragged themselves out of bed at the crack of dawn after a flurry of sms-messages went out to let them know we were still on, despite the overnight rain.

We arrived at the site and opened up some worksite fencing in a neighbouring park to allow the trucks a means of passage. Rod Northover set up his minipump, and the team lay in wait for the first of the trucks.

climbingjac

3-Apr-2006
1:02:56 PM

And here it is. Truck number one arrives.

Transferring concrete from truck to pipeline.

John Murray operates the pump. Marcel Jackson (left) lays in wait for the concrete to be pumped in, after he will assist with spreading it through the footings. Also pictured from left to right are Nigel Preston and Daniel Moore.

The magic man himself. Rod Northover, donning a photo-approved orange worksuit. Also pictured are Shaun Kratzer (aka "Shaggy"), John Murray, Nigel Preston, Daniel Moore and Marcel Jackson. Shaun Kratzer has patiently taken phone call after phone call from me, asking questions about how on earth we would go about installing concrete. He was the first person to visit the site and formulate a suitable plan on the manner in which things should occur. He told me what equipment we needed, how many people we'd need, how long the concrete would take to set – you name it, Shaun knows it. I was very scared of the whole concrete phase, and Shaun was excellent. He explained everything and assured me that it would be easy. He was the first one onsite on the day and the last one to leave. Thankyou Shaun!

climbingjac

3-Apr-2006
1:12:16 PM

John Murray levels things off, while Marcel Jackson is communicating the next steps to other team members (who are not pictured)

As the concrete was setting, we were required to go over it with an indoor brush to give it some texture for the shockpad glue to adhere to. Here I am pictured attaching broom heads to long pieces of wood so we can reach far enough.

Go team go! Everyone pitches in to get the slab below the 45 degree wall in place.

David Barton gets down to business, with spreading the mix through the footings.

Shaun Kratzer with a very impressive item from the toolbox, smoothing things over.

Roger Brand, after helping me toss ideas around about the best plan of attack with regards to softfall, turns up to help make things come to life. Roger was also responsible for identifying a keen candidate for the carpentry work (Steve Ford).

Ta da! It's that orange jumpsuit again. Rod Northover is having a ball. Also (clearly) pictured are Jamie Reardon, Roger Brand and Nigel Preston.

How's the supply going? The concrete truck driver from Hanson uses a torch to see how much concrete remains in the truck. The drivers communicated via mobile phone all day long to ensure the arrive time of each respective truck was perfect.

The day is progressing beautifully. How many trucks is that we've had through now?!

The all-important catering. Igoitz Garagarza prepares lunch for the team.

Jamie Reardon (new to Victoria, ex-NSW) demonstrates the weight of the pipeline, assisting Rod Northover. Marcel Jackson and David Barton also pictured.

climbingjac

3-Apr-2006
1:14:29 PM

David Barton uses a trowel to assist with final touches

Level it… level it… John Murray gets close to the end of things, finishing off the slab below the vertical wall.

The 45 degree wall stands proud, slab below

climbingjac

3-Apr-2006
1:24:38 PM

What to do with the leftover concrete… stabilise the retaining wall! Shaun Kratzer pretends to be camera shy. Tristan Peace assisting with the task.

Creating texture.

Seems we don't need those crappy modified brooms after all! John Murray came to the rescue with a super supreme broom! Shaun Kratzer pictured using the fancy broom.

The texture itself

Shaun invited the team to "christen" the slab. Although all the writing will later be covered by rubber shockpads, we'll all know what really lurks below, on the left hand end of the 45 wall slab.

Shaun has advised us that a section of the wall must be left blank with no holds. It shall be known as the v20 route!

Nigel Preston leaves his mark

My signature

And Igoitz…

And Roger Brand…

And the climbin' man!

There are 456 messages in this topic.