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Hardrock in the city at last


simonu

23-Aug-2007
12:06:11 PM

Got to say that after 3 visits am still disappointed with the place. Kudos to the people who put it up, but the spinning hold situation is out of control.
I'm just echoing what other people on this thread have already mentioned, but its not going to be a place that I visit very often - it just doesn't offer the same challenge that climbing at Altona does. I can spend 3 hours at the city gym and still feel that I haven't actually done much, the same time spent at the 'hanger would leave me feeling knacked the next day.
Just my 2 cents.
Simon

TLockwood

23-Aug-2007
12:18:41 PM

On 23/08/2007 Cool Hand Lock wrote:
>Maybe you should do some jambing. It's easy once you know how.

I'm not a gym monkey, I know how to jamb, I've onsighted the rack, christian crack, eurydice, mari, 20th century fox. perhaps i was just having a bad day. who knows who cares, just get out there.


Sabu

23-Aug-2007
12:43:37 PM

*laughs at the idea of a Lockwood being accused of being a gym monkey....*

gfdonc

23-Aug-2007
1:21:49 PM

Paid the place a visit last night.
In brief, one broken hold - my partner broke off a foothold while *leading*, fortunately held on with the other 3 points - and about 4 spinners in about 6 routes.

Otherwise no major complaints - the wall looks great from the street, there are lots of routes to try, and lots of lead-climbing. The space seemed to handle a crowd OK.

So Neilo - in th' tradishun of th' HEX - mebbe time to flex th' ol' BRAIN instedda th' BRAWN


nmonteith

23-Aug-2007
1:26:08 PM

I don't go gym climbing to flex my brain.


cruze

23-Aug-2007
1:30:48 PM

On 23/08/2007 TLockwood wrote:
>On 23/08/2007 Cool Hand Lock wrote:
>>Maybe you should do some jambing. It's easy once you know how.
>
>I'm not a gym monkey, I know how to jamb, I've onsighted the rack, christian
>crack, eurydice, mari, 20th century fox. perhaps i was just having a bad
>day. who knows who cares, just get out there.
>
>
That's nice, and I don't mean to have a go but I think that the rack and euridyce have about one or two compulsory jams between the three pitches...


Diablo

23-Aug-2007
1:39:19 PM

i agree cruze, the rack (which i also lead) didnt really demand too much jamming, but knowing how certainly helped simplify things. as for tim and jamming, well, hes been climbin long enough to know how.. not to mention he practicly taught me crack climbing in general. but seriously, back to topic, where else has feasable jam crack climbing on a rainy day...

TLockwood

23-Aug-2007
1:42:55 PM

On 23/08/2007 cruze wrote:
>That's nice, and I don't mean to have a go but I think that the rack and
>euridyce have about one or two compulsory jams between the three pitches...

no probs, they're probably climbs that can be climbed without jambs at a grade or so harder, or like u said, one jamb to crank through a move.
Jumping on thundercrack for the first time when i head home for the mid semester break! :D shush shush on the beta now, wudnt wanna ruin my onsight!


cruze

23-Aug-2007
1:56:52 PM

Speaking of indoor crack climbing, I had a brief look (ie realised it was too hard for me and started using all of the footholds) at the crack on the right side of the slab at Altona last night. It is nominally graded 24, but in its present state, I would love to see the type of footwork a climber would use up the top. The sides of the crack are seriously polished, and it consists of pods of finger size (youch!). The only saving grace is the slabby angle!

Oh, and I mean the one on the slab proper, not in the corner to the right.


nmonteith

23-Aug-2007
2:23:02 PM

Middle crack felt grade 20ish. More an excercise in pain endurance than climbing ability! I actually found
the pocketed route a bit harder, although i think i kept getting all messed up with my sequence, always
leading with the wrong hand, then having to match in those slimy pockets!


Cool Hand Lock

23-Aug-2007
3:55:58 PM

Hey Coolhandlockwood: Maybe you found it harder because you forgot to bring chalk. It helps with grip. (sic)

TLockwood

24-Aug-2007
12:52:10 AM

real climbers dont use chalk, chalk is for little girls who play hopscotch :P


billk

24-Aug-2007
11:26:26 AM

A few more observations:

They really need to get some staff up on the walls tightening the spinners for a few hours each day before the evening rush starts. The friend I climbed with last night said he won't come back until that's sorted.

It felt pretty claustrophobic last night with a big crowd in. Worse than either Nuna or Altona on their busiest nights.

The music is just awful. It's all generic dancefloor stuff, which wouldn't even be enjoyable if you were actually dancing. At least at Nuna and Altona you get some variety.


nmonteith

24-Aug-2007
11:46:17 AM

Where's DJ Christian or DJ Corey when you need them? NWA at full volume the other night at Lactic was
classic...


Bluey

24-Aug-2007
1:27:30 PM

I think the music's crap too. But onto more worrying things.....

Re staff not being climbers - (as a fairly experience belay slave, if not climber) I got told off for belaying correctly but not standing directly over where the brake device strap was connected to the floor....fine....I fix......but seems a bit worrying when last night I watched a staff member apparently surveilling the floor for bad-belaying wander straight past a guy with both hands above the belay device trying to hold his frequently falling partner by the rope directly! Maybe experienced climbers would ignore the irrelevant things and check if people are actually being belayed at all!

Don't worry, a friend stepped in to give the "belayer" some advice....

Incidentally, who gives a crap if the strap is at the right height and I'm standing right over the strap connection point? - I tend to find it pretty hard to attach myself to the ground directly under my feet when belaying outdoors!

And the spinning holds....freaking hell. How long does it take to fix? Clearly a fair while because now they have holds with "loose" written next to them in chalk. I've got an idea, while you're up there writing the word "loose" why not whip the screw driver out and actually fix the thing??


billk

24-Aug-2007
2:00:16 PM

On 24/08/2007 Bluey wrote:
>Don't worry, a friend stepped in to give the "belayer" some advice....
>

Unfortunately, some "belayers" will only take advice from someone who is wearing a shirt with "instructor" written on it. So the people wearing those shirts really need to be dispensing the right kind of advice.


Dom

24-Aug-2007
7:03:54 PM

Talk of the spinning holds makes me wonder about the bolts

Fish Boy

29-Aug-2007
7:46:17 PM

Tim can jamb...should have seen the monkey hanging out on five fingered mary (that's jambing craphandlock)....he even threw his helmet away.

wyt91t

29-Aug-2007
11:39:18 PM

are the holds countersunk


garbie

30-Aug-2007
11:10:00 AM

You'll always get a few spinners on brand new walls, unless you go to extraordinary lengths, because the "virgin" t-nuts are not bedded into the plywood at the back properly - you really need to tighten them again after a period of time. They have a few things working against them with the type of walls they build: the cement render surface is not perfectly flat, so if you try to tighten the bolt enough to stop the hold spinning, the hold can crack especially if its not urethane. Secondly you can't easily put a small screw into the corner of the hold like you can with a plywood surface, and also if the surface of the new wall is sandy there's no friction to stop the hold spinning. So they pretty well need someone tightening all the bolts again, or a good system for reporting spinners & fixing them quick. One little trick we've learned - spit on the hold's washer to stop friction between the washer & the bolt head reducing the amount of load you can apply to the bolt - but if the wall is not flat & the hold is weak, you will break the hold!

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