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Burnley Climbing Wall

Dalai

11-May-2006
5:03:49 PM

Didn't say steep must = hard. Interesting and flowing moves should though be the primary aim. The old Burnley wasn't that hard but had interesting moves. It would have been less visited if thought wasn't put into the sequence and was just a straight jug-fest.

PS I didn't think much of Spinning Blades was a good climb. Steep yes but boring...

Nottobetaken

11-May-2006
5:04:51 PM

On 11/05/2006 obsessedclimber wrote:
>Hey neilo,
>
>In the mean time you can come train on the Moon Board in geelong. its
>a nice 40 degrees overhung... and everything is easy.... honest!

..or alternatively you can come and work out 'in the land that time forgot' - where we have a nice little number at 55 degs, specialising in tracking problems. Nothing harder than 'Wood 2.5' ...


nmonteith

11-May-2006
5:09:12 PM

Will any of the old classic burnley holds make an appearance? I know we retrieved several from the river
and below the wall after the great Citylink crusade of 2003. It would be great to see a memorial route
established!

Bob Saki

11-May-2006
5:23:27 PM

if you look at hard the old Burnley was you can clearly see exactly where the old holds were


Super Saiyan

11-May-2006
7:31:40 PM

On 11/05/2006 Boardlord wrote:

>..or alternatively you can come and work out 'in the land that time forgot'
>- where we have a nice little number at 55 degs, specialising in tracking
>problems. Nothing harder than 'Wood 2.5' ...

hehe good old tracking problems! at least you dont have to remember where the foot holds are!

climbingjac

12-May-2006
11:12:25 AM

Hi all,

Glueing stone holds on a concrete wall has its associated fuss. Cutting the back off the rock to make it flat. Grinding back paintwork on the wall. Preparing the surface. Mixing messy epoxy resin. Putting hold on the wall. Trying to get the darn thing to stay there while the glue dries… As I mentioned in a previous post, we are not 100% satisfied with the stability of the glueup solution and as such the vertical wall will be wooden as per the other walls.

Getting a stone hold onto a wooden wall has a separate set of fuss. You've still got to get the back of the hold flat. You've got to try and get a bolt hole through it without cutting your fingers off, and without shattering the hold. And after all that, you've created a lovely hold that spins a lot on the wall. All in all, it is far cheaper in terms of both dollars and time to get a resin hold.

Now for the old Burnley holds: There was so much glue, concrete chunks, rusty bolts through the middle of them it was not a manageable task trying to revamp them ready for service on the new walls. While it would be nice to hang on to nostalgia, I'll tell you right now that if we tried, you'd be lucky to get a third of the volume of holds on the wall that we plan to give you.

Now for the easy route argument.

We are creating three walls that in general are supposed to cater for everyone. The vertical wall will cater for newbies and people not keen on steepness. The 30 and 45 walls cater for everyone else. Both strong and not so strong climbers. Please find below an inventory of the routes already on the wall, and those definitely scheduled to go on within the next 2 weeks:

Black 18
Pink 22
White 23 or lower (scheduled)
Green 23
Pink 24
Purple 24
Yellow 25
Yellow 25
Stone 25
Red 26
Blue 29

Plus some up problems. Plus an absolute truckload of extra holds so you can design your own adventure.

I do not make decisions on what goes on the walls by myself. I have a panel of "advisors" that I consult with about the matter.

The old Burnley offered one route at say grade 25. We have provided 5 routes below this grade. We can't plaster the walls with only hard routes, as people not strong enough to climb them would be left out. Conversely, we can't plaster it with only easier routes, as the stronger people would not be catered for. So we've gone 50/50 down the middle as per the above. Over and above that, what's wrong with having a session where you'll design your own problems? Try to remember more holds get added each week, and that I have a good collection of jugs in random colours still waiting in the shadows to get put up on the wall. The wall will be so covered in holds by the time we're done with it, it shall be almost ridiculous. We cannot add the holds all at once – it has to be done incrementally.

The "panel of advisors" feel that yes, it is great to provide a kit of routes. But then we should fill the wall with random stuff so you can make up your own problems. Otherwise we face a scenario where people don't get creative about making up their own problems, and complain that they are tired of the routes already after only a couple of months, and want them changed over…

Thoughts people?

Jacqui Middleton
Burnley Project

climbingjac

12-May-2006
11:38:54 AM

Hi all,

Thankyou to Mathew Dixon who has donated funds to the Burnley Project.

Jacqui Middleton
Burnley Project


nmonteith

12-May-2006
11:49:16 AM

Sounds great Jaq! Am I to presume that these 'routes' will stay the same for quite some time (years?). I
reckon that would be good so we can work a project over a long period of time!

climbingjac

12-May-2006
12:07:14 PM

Hi Neil,

Yes, the routes will stay there for quite some time.

It takes a lot longer to set at Burnley than it does in the gym. This is because:

* We have to take holds offsite to wash them – in dishwashers around Melbourne.

* We utilise routesetters that are giving their time for free. As such we can't demand they turn up at a certain time and stay for hours. We need to be flexible and work around their paid jobs and other commitments.

* Security measures that we have to adhere to in order to deter theft.

For reasons including those above, it would not be feasible to reset the routes every few months. Certainly when it comes time to reset, it will be a much faster process than the first round of setting that we are currently taking on. This is because the bulk of issues with bolt holes, teenuts etc will already be sorted. Also we will have all the bolts in our possession in all the right sizes, so we don't have to puzzle over that again either.

People like to be able to work on a problem for a while, so it will be nice to have the routes up for a while.

Glad you are happy

Jacqui

climbingjac

12-May-2006
2:30:28 PM

Dear climbers,

Tomorrow we will commence work tee-nutting and painting the vertical wall.

Please note that the 30 degree and 45 degree walls will remain open for climbing during these works.

Regards,

Jacqui Middleton
Burnley Project.

climbingjac

15-May-2006
11:46:42 AM

Dear climbers,

Over the weekend we did some work on the 45 degree wall. We got half of it tee-nutted and painted, and aim to do the other half next weekend. Please find below some piccies...

Jacqui Middleton
Burnley Project
-----------------------------

Louisa Iacono marks out where bolt holes need to be

Meily Effendy preps the surface for painting, by removing surface dust and wood burrs around the bolt holes

Olivia Pantelidis busy painting the panels

Not a bad day's work for a small team. Half of the vertical wall is tee-nutted and painted.

climbingjac

15-May-2006
12:08:27 PM

Hi climbers,

Please find below some pics of Sunday afternoon's bouldering session at Burnley!

Jacqui

---------------

The route descriptor signs are now in place at the end of each wall

An afternoon outing for the whole family. Lachlan Adam representing kids at the crag.

A lazy Sunday afternoon at Burnley. People coming and going all day…

Sharing beta. What to do about this pinch move??

That's enough chitchat. Time to get down to business. A climber attempts the yellow route on the 30 degree wall.

Ben Wright puts the wall through its paces.

Clarke Vincent and Ben Wright show that there's plenty of room for multiple climbers on the wall at any given time.

Greg Callus has some quiet time with the 45 degree wall all to himself.

The current view of the 45 degree and 30 degree walls respectively. The people in the foreground help to give some perspective on the size of the walls. More holds to come…

darkxst

16-May-2006
5:30:10 PM

i think the green 23 seems a bit easy for the grade..

climbingjac

17-May-2006
10:09:44 AM

We've rejigged the grade of green to 22. The top row of pink is 23. These ammendments have been made online, but not on the signs at Burnley yet

climbingjac

22-May-2006
9:33:01 AM

Dear climbers,

Over the weekend we finished "construction" on the vertical wall. This means it is now fully tee-nutted and painted. We are now waiting for the last of the holds and bolts to arrive for this wall.

We also added some "up" problems and a new main route. Please find below a list of new stuff:

New main routes:

White grade 20, 45 degree wall.

New "up problems":

Brown, centre of 45 degree wall. Moderate.
Pink (monster jugs), right end of 45 degree wall. Extremely easy.
Purple & yellow swirlies, hangboard configuration, left end of 30 degree wall.
Purple & yellow swirlies, easyish up problem to the right of the hangboard configuration.
Light orange, left end of 30 degree wall. Hard.
Dark orange, centre of 30 degree wall. Super hard.

The Burnley "crag" had a really good vibe over the weekend. We had people moving in and out all day both days, and in the afternoons, there were around 25 people there at once on Saturday afternoon, and more than 30 on Sunday afternoon. Very social, very fun. The afternoons seem to be most popular. Tim Le's portable mini stereo added nicely to the ambience on Saturday.

Thankyou to Clarke, Kate, Olivia, Bec and a young chap that I don't even know - who all helped keep the lovely new grade 20 on the 45 degree wall in check as it was being set. Thanks to each of you – you've helped us to deliver a great quality line.

An updated version of the Burnley "guidebook" is here

When we've finished tinkering, I'll get my act together and create a downloadable pdf guide.

Best wishes,

Jacqui Middleton
Burnley Project

climbingjac

22-May-2006
9:44:02 AM

Dear climbers,

A big thankyou to Jill Gara who made a donation to the Burnley project over the weekend. It's been really great having appreciative climbers approach me "at the crag at Burnley" and offer to donate. It is these additional contributions that are enabling us to put more and more routes on the walls each week. Any funds I receive in the coming fortnight will go towards a route for the 45 degree wall, of difficulty in between that of the white route and the purple route. If you'd like to see this happen, please feel free to donate!

With regards to previous donators, it should be noted that the contributions of Mike O'Brien and Mark Marriott helped us to put the white grade 20 on the 45 degree wall. Thanks guys!

Jacqui Middleton
Burnley Project

climbingjac

23-May-2006
12:58:35 PM

Dear climbers,

Please note that a pdf guide for Burnley is now available. Click on the "Guide" link on the left side of your screen.

Jacqui

drdeviousii

23-May-2006
1:53:05 PM

>Please note that a pdf guide for Burnley is now available. Click on the
>"Guide" link on the left side of your screen.

what, no photo topo's??!?

dalai

23-May-2006
2:01:48 PM

Step by step photo sequences for each problem are available for sale. Funds going to additional hold purchases.

climbingjac

23-May-2006
3:15:37 PM

On 23/05/2006 dalai wrote:
>Step by step photo sequences for each problem are available for sale. Funds
>going to additional hold purchases.

Ha ha ha!!! Love it!!!

Hi Dr Devious, my priority is to get some sort of guide out to cover people over for now. It will have to be updated a few times before we're finished routesetting. At that time one of us should have time to add photos. Right now it is not my priority. My priority is to get all three walls open and get all the holds on the wall.

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