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20th anniversary of Serpentine February 23/24 Feb

simey

25-Feb-2008
3:53:05 PM

Great photos Neil.

The shots of Shai-Hulud are particularly memorable (as are the ones of Ado).

A top effort by Macca and Zacca on repeating Shai-Hulud. I'm sorry I missed seeing it, but it sounds like it will go down in folklore. Not to mention the 2 hour flash ascent of Serpentine by Ben Cossey.

Nice work by the NSW crew for making it all happen.


mousey

25-Feb-2008
3:55:07 PM

well the Big Mac certainly doesnt mind the odd toke, thats for sure :) nothin wrong with that in my books
great shots neilo, are we gonna see a CRUX writeup? hot tip: get someone else to write it!!!!!


nmonteith

25-Feb-2008
4:03:06 PM

On 25/02/2008 mousey wrote:
> hot tip: get someone
>else to write it!!!!!

It's always easier if i just do it myself! Anyone else want to take a crack?

My mustache was all real!


mousey

25-Feb-2008
4:35:19 PM

ask guys who were there!! macca can turn a phrase quite well... im about to ring him anyway
or what about malcolm?

ps. that moustache was AMAZING


nmonteith

25-Feb-2008
4:47:27 PM

Ask Macca for me if you can. That would be rad to get his own warped view of proceedings.

Onsight

25-Feb-2008
5:54:45 PM

Excellent work Neil.

Fish Boy

25-Feb-2008
11:47:49 PM

Fark me dead! Respekt Macca! Oh my God....I wish I had of seen that...that's the shit! Rock on....

Neil, that is the be mo I have ever seen.

-peace-

Bob Saki

26-Feb-2008
11:45:01 AM

Great shots Neil!

Well done macca, that is seriously berserk, how long is Shai Halud?

BTW probably a really silly question but after Malcolm topped out he did a "victory jump"
was he jumping on to a bolt or trad gear? Does this mean that he will have to reclimb the last 15 of Serpentine?


nmonteith

26-Feb-2008
11:55:40 AM

On 26/02/2008 Bob Saki wrote:
>Great shots Neil!
>
>Well done macca, that is seriously berserk, how long is Shai Halud?

Ends up being 3 or 4 pitches depending on what you link together. Pitch 1 is something on the right side of Spurt. Pitch 2 is the death choss pitch as pictured. Pitch 3 is a bit more choss then some big runouts on medium quality rock. Last pitch is classic Taipan quality rock up an awesome grade 22 corner,

>BTW probably a really silly question but after Malcolm topped out he did
>a "victory jump"
>was he jumping on to a bolt or trad gear? Does this mean that he will
>have to reclimb the last 15 of Serpentine?

It's a bolt. He was having another go anyway...


Dom

26-Feb-2008
11:58:40 AM

Awesome shots Neil. I'm pretty sure, seeing as how your mo gives you hard man status, you should stop stuffing around with your day job, go to LA and replace is guy:

hipster

27-Feb-2008
9:20:54 AM

Firstly, thanks to everyone who showed up for the weekend and on the Saturday, awesome effort. A crew of 9 from the NSW down for 4 days shows the esteem in which both Taipan Wall and Serpentine are held. A big crew from Melbourne and Nati also showed up..top stuff. When Malcolm was on the second pitch there were people scattered at any vantage point down the bottom to catch a glimpse of the action, and it was well worth the trip.
The sight of Macca perched on a chossy ledge, squatting down and chanting to himself, fists clenched,eyes closed, with his weird "Death in the Kitchen"music in the background, prior to launching into the overhung crux on Shai-Halud...absolutely legendary!!
I'd be calling Ben Cossey's ground up on Serpentine an onsight too. I watched the entire ascent...in fact it would have been quicker to watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy!! It was awesome. It was also clear right from the start he had no knowledge of any of the moves..or Lee stitched him up with the worst beta ever!!
So what next, you ask?? Guess which route has it's 20th anniversary next summer?? That's right, Ozymandias Original (Free version). So the plan at this stage is to commemorate it with a North Wall festival in February, 2009. Clean up and repeat some of the North Wall classics that haven't seen much attention lately. El Supremo, Lebensraum, Rough Justice, Fuehrer Direct..the list is endless!! Plus watch Steve repeat Ozy!! Surely Crux will come up with some cash for a new free route ground up or the freeing of an old aid line??

Ado


Pat

27-Feb-2008
9:46:43 AM

I'll chip in $100 for the first onsight free ascent of Clouded Queen. Any takers?


nmonteith

27-Feb-2008
10:23:53 AM

A belated congrats to Mr Will Monks for finally linking his girdle traverse of the left side of Taipan into Lawrence of Arabia. On the weekend he climbed from the belay of Sirocco all the way across to the Seventh Pillar (grade 25?). It would now be 5 pitches of girdle from Dinosaurs Don't Dyno to Naja.


manacubus

27-Feb-2008
10:51:39 AM

I still think the mo should have been put on eBay, with the proceeds going to Safer Cliffs.

qman

27-Feb-2008
11:25:18 AM

Neil, Re: Photo of the week

As always great photos of the action and in general awesome climbing photos.

I am puzzled however by the use of the one selected for photo of the week, out of the 75 in your album from that weekend. It doesnt even rate in my top 10 favourites out of the 75. A quick run through and 26, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35*, 39*, 42, 43, 45*, 47, 52 etc... are all better photos of the man, the route, the climbing, and tell the story better. I would actually say this is one off my least favourite out of the entire set.
(* = the ones i would have chosen)

The body position is "relatively" awkward and uninteresting and the facial expression is weird. The context isnt well expressed for anyone who isnt intimately familiar with the route.

IMHO, a bad choice of a set of great photos.

I dont want to be seen to be bagging the photos as they are awesome.
I just think that a photo should tell a story for all veiwers and that this one leaves me cold when compared to a number of others in the set. Am i missing something in this particular photo.

Great photos. keep up the good work


nmonteith

27-Feb-2008
11:32:55 AM

On 27/02/2008 qman wrote:
>I am puzzled however by the use of the one selected for photo of the week, ect

Firstly, I don't choose the pics of the week for this website, Micheal Boniwell does that! I gave him a shortlist and this is the one he chose.

I quite like it because it shows the size of the route when you see - the belayer (the black dot), the audience on the ground and the white banner on the cliff that Ado built. Photo selection is very subjective... at least this angle hadn't been seen before in other peoples photos.


westie

27-Feb-2008
11:52:09 AM

here here,

pics here of Will on Arabian Mint: http://www.flickr.com/photos/westie08/

(two pics from the start of the climb)

Neil - I think I got a coupla snaps of Malcolm at exactly the same time as you from the ground. Just on the 7.1 megapixel cam though.

qman

27-Feb-2008
12:00:20 PM

Thanks Neil,

I think to some extent the impact of this particular photo is reliant to much on people already having an understanding of the crag, the route, the climber and ascent on the day. Ie it is more meaningful to those who were there.

For most people they couldnt look at this photo and say thats taipan wall, thats serp, thats pitch #?? or what ever. Therefor the photo has to show the veiwer as much as possible.

In my opinion there are at least 10 photos in that set that do a better job of capturing those things and add context for those who were not there and did not watch every move of the ascent.

Just MHO of course.

Once again, love your work, dont want to detract from the photos.

Which one was your favourite? Which one is going to be on the cover of the next crux?


nmonteith

27-Feb-2008
12:04:21 PM

Nice meeting you Warren! BTW i wasn't off route on my rap rope for Serp, i just didn't feel like free hanging for half an hour waiting for Steve and Malcolm to get their shit together on belay!


nmonteith

27-Feb-2008
12:08:04 PM

On 27/02/2008 qman wrote:
>Which one was your favourite? Which one is going to be on the cover of
>the next crux?

Without a lot of thought (im busy editing other peoples photos!) - i quite like these three as well...
http://neilshaulbag.smugmug.com/gallery/4400820_EKQnE#258469577
http://neilshaulbag.smugmug.com/gallery/4400820_EKQnE#258469854
http://neilshaulbag.smugmug.com/gallery/4400820_EKQnE#258470064
http://neilshaulbag.smugmug.com/gallery/4400820_EKQnE#258471051
http://neilshaulbag.smugmug.com/gallery/4400820_EKQnE#258470219
http://neilshaulbag.smugmug.com/gallery/4400820_EKQnE#258470745
in no particular order!!

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