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20-Apr-2004 3:46:20 PM
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Sometimes the distance between experience and articulation seems too big to span. Particularly with something so all consuming as a climbing road trip where you and your climbing buddies travel around in a bubble that contains your own culture, language, humour and actions that are spider webbed together with the threads of subtlely beutiful moments.
here is a collection of those moments in no particlular order
*the grose valley - this place is a must visit for all climbers. Abseiling into the valley is both commiting and exciting. I now have little desire for anything else in climbing except to tick every climb in this valley. It is a testament to mikls vision and hard work. In he's article in rock a while back he commented on the combination of technology and adventure and this captures beautifully what the Grose is about.
*while in the Grose Dan had a massive hissy fit and accused Jan and myslf of being dumb and stupid and he hated us both...it was one of the funniest moments ever. Dan then went on to say that surely theres not that many rules to setting up a belay...it was an alltime spit and i feel quite sure the dummy is yet to land.
*when the rope is between your legs and your belayer says if you fall you will nacker yourself dont always assume you will not fall...
*when walking along seaside cliffs in the quiet of the night blow holes that you dont know are there can be very scary
*Chiks on climbing trips are amazing. After the second day of the trip burps and farts were almost as extinct as the dinosaurs(what would a dinosaur fart b like?)
*When you dont have a bottle opener nut tools can be used to open bottles of Heiniekin
*The Nowra hamburger shop is the bomb...not only are the burgers the size of dinner plates but you get free verbal abuse instead of fries. These two hilarious hard faced woman payed the crap out of us, labelling Dan a little smartarse and Jan a Tart who should b working in the local brothel. Somehow i managed to escape unscathed...
*Watch out for two Newcastle climbers. We first meet them at the grotto and all seemed fine. The next day they decided they couldnt b bothered walking out of thompsons point and so climbed out up Gunbarrel Highway with they're hefty packs while we were on Diddy Kong . While Newcastle one was halfway up the cliff Newcastle two(on belay) phone rang. He promptly asked Newcastle one to just make himself comfortable and answered the phone, chatted for about ten minutes...hung up and told Newcastle one to continue climbing. They're short cut out of there didnt quite work when they're car wouldnt start and they had to come back to us to see if we had jumper leads.
*There is a patch of grass in Kiama, right beside the beach that is beautiful to camp on and watch the sun rise in the morning. Just b aware though that it is also along the walking track where all the locals exercise each morning and they will b more than happy to give you a morning greeting sign.
*In a certain outdoors shop in Katoomba you will see one of the dirtiest mullet haircuts with matching beard. Makes Jason Gilespee and Fraser Gherig look like glamour boys, but it's all cool coz "i've been climbing in the blue mountains for ten years mate".....yer whateva
Overall our climbing road trip was an amazing week of fun. The climbs were bomb (that was the word of the week) the company was brilliant and it was surely an experience none of us will forget. I just want to thank Dan and Jan for accompanying me. Jez for lending us the Kingswood. Helen, Zac and Vincent for letting us camp in your back yard and all the chockstone crew who gave out Beta in the week leading up to the trip. My parting words are 'go to the Grose Valley now'
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20-Apr-2004 10:43:41 PM
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yeah WORD! The trip was bomb.
oh yeah it wasnt a massive hissy fit, just a little one!
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21-Apr-2004 3:49:16 PM
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massive
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22-Apr-2004 4:25:15 PM
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EPIC! Word that fellas... BOMB trip... jan ; )
and yeah it was quite a hissy dan!
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22-Apr-2004 6:53:47 PM
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*Watch out for two Newcastle climbers"
Sounds like Chris and Nick strike again!
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22-Apr-2004 9:39:23 PM
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Thanks for the great press! Yes that was me on the phone, but Chris was on a ledge with the bold above his waist. Honestly we aren't that bad all the time. ;)
Thanks a ton for the jump start (silly european cars!), that was only the beginning of our epic, your welcome to a "thankyou 6-pack" if we see you again.
Nick.
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23-Apr-2004 12:48:38 AM
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"Chiks on climbing trips are amazing. After the second day of the trip burps and farts were almost as extinct as the dinosaurs(what would a dinosaur fart b like?)"
What what what what what?????? Whats WRONG with you boy?
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23-Apr-2004 11:19:08 AM
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last time I was on a climbing trip with female company there was no let up in the toilet humour whatsoever. There were complicating factors, namely a steady diet of dhal bhaat & bad dehy lamb fettuccini. We tried a 1 day moratorium on the toilet humor, but poor beefy found that day so hard that he went home early....
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23-Apr-2004 1:35:52 PM
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yep - bring it on. toilet humour is the way forward.
I did have to catch a plane - thus the reason for leaving early.
chicks on climbing trips rock - especiallly when the car is chockas. they tend to fit better and allow room for other people with big shoulders (not mentioning any names) . they tend to be a bit more cuddly too and not so stinky -mmmm
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23-Apr-2004 1:39:36 PM
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"... they eat less, and smell nice" - Leslie Nielson, The Naked Gun
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23-Apr-2004 3:01:33 PM
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Hey Jan,
welcome to Chockstone (ooops nearly left out the 'h'). Ness waddya mean whats wrong 'whats wrong coz i stopped burping and farting coz there was a girl there' or 'what,what,what? please be more clear in the difficulty you are having with me so i know exactly what part of my manner to reconstruct
cheers
adz
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23-Apr-2004 3:13:00 PM
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ness is better at farting and burping than any of the guys on climbing trips. i think that is what the what what what??? was for.
nick- i believe i met you at bowens the other day. what did you get up to at nowra.
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23-Apr-2004 4:44:00 PM
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Steve,
Nowra was tops, although we did burn out after 10 days! We had a few newwer climber with us so we didnt rip it up a whole lot, I managed spinning blades on second attempt which was great and got most other 20's onsight there is some mighty fine stuff around that grade there and 21 seems a whole lot harder than normal! ao much so i didnt eve bother getting on any 22's. If i see Mark Woodard about I might have to have a word about some of his grades, talk about thin, but they are fun! how did you manage your holiday?
Nick.
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23-Apr-2004 4:47:47 PM
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farting is great, it makes you climb harder!
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23-Apr-2004 5:14:41 PM
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yeh go the farts.. i dunno about this holding off while girls are in camp bit tho. its a natural part of life! ;-)
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23-Apr-2004 5:20:24 PM
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I named a new route Adrenaline Gives Me Gas...
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23-Apr-2004 5:23:34 PM
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this conversation can only but end in tears, but I will add that the girls were "...cursin' like troopers...." Even I was shocked.... it was unrepeatable, I didn't know whether to laugh or what....
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23-Apr-2004 5:30:43 PM
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ahh nothin like no showers and hard slogs up hills to turn a girl into a soldier ;-)
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24-Apr-2004 3:58:24 AM
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My point was it shouldnt make a difference if you are a girl.
f--- the stereotype dudes.
PS - farting is OK if it doesnt infringe anyones capacity to breathe - burping is always ok in my book - especially at the crag
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24-Apr-2004 2:52:35 PM
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Hey Ness,
Sorry about the stereotype, i had no intention of implying all girls hate farts, some chiks i know are veritable farting machines and could power a small town. Jan who was on the trip with us objected to the constant stream of fart juice eminating from my ass and asked me to call it quits. In the interest of maintaining our friendship i did so and that's what i was writing about, it was all contextual so please dont remove it from the context of our trip and apply it to some stereotype feminism argument. So girls fart until your hearts are content...by the way i heard an urban myth that the gas that comes out of our ass is actually odour free and what we smell is poo particles...can anyone add any credence to this?
adz
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