H: So I first came to Australia about seven
years ago, and had an amazing trip. So for
three months. And uh, like I definitely wasn't
at my best then. It was seven years ago so
I definitely wasn't as strong as I am now,
but had an amazing time. Did loads of climbing,
lived in the Pines. And then, it took me like
six years to come back again, and it was mostly
because my dad now lives in Natimuk. And had
to visit him and it wasn't that big a chore
because of all the amazing climbing that he
lives right next to.
A: Pretty much all of my friends have been
to Australia. And everyone says 'best rock
on Earth, so amazing, blah blah blah.' Like
this Winter I had dinner with Peter Croft
and said Arapiles was the best soloing on
Earth. I was like, 'strong statement from
Peter Croft,' you know? And um.. yeah I mean
everyone was just like 'it's SO great, it's
so amazing,' so you know, I had to come. And
this year Hazel was like, 'I'm gonna be there
for a bit and you know, stay with dad,' and
I was like 'that's pretty convenient', having
the full local hookup and just yeah - Hazel
has facilitated the whole process.
H: Yeah.
A: Hasn't done much herself.
H: (laughs) It's probably true.
A: But kind of made it all happen.
H: You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me.
A: Yeah that's true.
B: Have you done much free soloing this trip?
A: Mm-m, I've soloed a tiny bit. Just so that
I can go back and tell Peter that I didn't..
that I at least sampled the soloing here?
B: What did you free solo?
A: I dunno, like nothing. I did like Tiptoe
Ridge and we did a couple of like 18's and
19's. Nice faces. I basically have done what,
probably like seven pitches while I've been
here. I just haven't really had the heart
for it.
H: Probably the same amount as me, pretty
much.
A: Yeah no, I'm here for the trad climbing..
actually no I'm here for the sport climbing.
Screw the trad climbing! I don't even like
placing gear. I like sport climbing.
H: (laughs) there's been some good banter
with the sport climbing, cos Alex isn't really
the whole like 'mixed scene'. Like, if there's
some bolts he's like, 'why not just bolt it
all.' And like if you have to place any weird
gear he's like - 'just bolt it.' It's not
really fitting with the local ethic.
A: It's doesn't really go with the 'hard man...'
H: Or the hard man repertoire you've got going!
A: The whole like 'extreme free soloing!'
and I'm like 'add more bolts.'
H: Everyone's so shocked when you say stuff
like that.
A: I know, it's just because media, you know?
You just watch films and you're like 'all
he does is free solo the biggest walls with..
you know-
E: We're just getting the mic..
H: Oh, sorry.
A: God, Hazel, you ruined it!
H: Well he started talking shit, so-
H: Well, I first heard of Eureka wall from
Steve Monks, who I think was the first person
to find the wall and name it. And Steve Monks
is like, my dad's best friend basically from
back when they used to climb together in the
UK. And so when I first came out here, Steve
actually picked me up from the airport. We
stayed at his house for a bit before getting
shelved into The Pines. But yeah, so he took
us out here one day and was like you gotta
see this crag, it's amazing. And yeah it definitely
lives up to the name, you're just like 'whoa'
when you see it, you know. It's a really impressive
crag. And uh, it climbs really well.
A: I like the Eureka Wall. I mean uh, I didn't
know.. actually no a couple of my friends
had talked about Archimedes Principle or something
and so I'd seen a couple of photos.. I think
a North Face ad of uh.. ran an ad of Cedar
or something climbing Archimedes Principle.
I was like 'that's a nice looking face.' And
so, like some of my friends have talked about
it but um.. I don't really know anything about
it and didn't really.. you know, to me it's
just another wall in the Grampians, there
are like so many walls here and they're all
really good. But it's nice just to come out
and sample and like, one a day, you know?
Try and do some good routes and go like 'wow,
that's pretty cool..'
H: There's an eagle behind you!
A: I know, I saw it! I didn't want to turn
away but I was like holy f$#! there's a huge
bird flying by! Did you get the shot, there's
a f$%^&@ng big bird!
As a smaller person do you worry that it might
take you away?
H: It probably could!
A: I'm pretty sure in Chile we saw a condor
take away a goat.
H: That's f$!@ed up!
A: It was pretty full on, like this little
goat? We were climbing this multi-pitch and
it's kept braying or whatever and like, a
pitch later it was gone and there were all
these condors circling and we were like, 'where'd
the goat go?' (laughs) Holy shit.
A: The upper headwall is pretty unique, like
it's overhanging jugs.. or sort of slopey
jugs. Uh.. it's a nice face, I mean it's like
a 35 metre pitch of like, glory. It's cool.
B: And what about the crazy stemming on Pythagoras?
A: Aw, Pythagoras.. I didn't really like that
much, but I don't really love stem corners.
A: Bueno?
H: Bueno.
A: I think that shit's about to get kind of
real here.
H: Okay, I'm watching.
A: Which I'm not really that excited about, actually.
H: It looks fun.
A: I mean, yeah, it does look good but.. I
hate stemming. I don't know if you knew that, but..
H: I didn't know that! I thought you liked it.
A: No, I hate it. I find it very scary.
H: You're pretty good at it!
A: Yeah, but.. I hate it.
H: Come on..
A: I really thought that I'd be able to sort of like, face climb it while stemming.
Not actually stem where you're just like pasting your feet on blankness.
And I was like, nope, turns out you have to just paste your feet on blankness!
And I was wearing, like, soft downturned shoes you know for sportclimbing
and you're like stemming, and you're like
'oh this doesn't really feel that sweet.'
A: Sorry I'm all gripped.
H: You can do it.
A: And I got, really.. my calves got really
pumped. It's a nice route though. And I can
see how especially for Australia it's probably
a pretty unique style.. like it doesn't..
I haven't seen anything else here where you're
like fully friction stemming. So I was like,
yeah that's pretty cool.
H: Nice, well done.
A: Aww.. jesus christ.
H: Nice.
A: So I had, three goals coming out here.
They're not really goals but I had to at least
try soloing at Arapiles, I had to climb at
the Taipan Wall, and I had to try Punks, just
for like history's sake. And um.. so I did
my three goals. I mean those are very easy
goals you know cos I didn't even care about
sending Punks though thankfully I did so that's
kind of cool. But like um.. yeah I just wanted
to sample. I felt like I had to try that route,
I had to like try soloing at Arapiles because
people say it's great and I just had to see
the Taipan wall. And so I did those, it was
nice.
B: What did you get on at Taipan?
A: Nothing, I sucked at Taipan. I did like
two days there. The first day, what we tried..
we did like Tourniquet and Venom. I tried
to go up Groove Train but there was like no
chalk on it and I couldn't even get to the
first bolt. I was like, that didn't really
go so well. It's hard to commit to any big
projects or anything on Taipan because um..
we just weren't really in much of a pattern.
You know? Like it wasn't okay we'll climb
there two days then rest and come back. It
was like maybe we'll go there one day and
maybe we won't come back at all. So it's kind
of committing to leave your gear up some fifty
metre pitch. But, I dunno..
B: How about you, Hazel? Your plans kind of
got derailed by the shoulder...
H: Yeah, so.. before coming on this trip,
I was like, thinking I was recovering from
a shoulder injury. And so my goal was just
to like, try and climb hard. And I tried to
climb hard and it didn't really work out.
A: So you succeeded in your goal.. you tried,
and you failed. But it's a good effort.
H: Yeah. And I guess I got an MRI scan.
A: Yeah, that's a big one.
H: That was like a goal! So I succeeded in
getting an MRI scan and now I have to go home
and have surgery, so..
A: Yeah, I definitely will come back to Australia.
I mean, part of the reason I've never been
here before was that I'd always thought that
when I came to Australia I'd come for like
six months and get a van and like, fully tour.
But then I just have never had six months
fully open where I'm like, let's move to Australia!
And um.. so then this year when Hazel was
coming I was like well I might as well just
come for a month. Sample for a bit, see how
it is. Yeah, so I would love to come and tour
more of the country. Even to see stuff like
the Great Barrier Reef you know? Do the touristy
stuff..
H: Do you think you'd come for longer than..
maybe three months?
A: Well now that I know some folks here I
can imagine doing like a van swap or something..
using somebody's car while I'm here.. like,
whatever. I can see maybe coming for like
six weeks. Or do what you did this year and
go to Tasmania for like two weeks and then
stay here for a month.
H: Yep.
B: Do you generally try and do a bit more,
kind of, just normal sort of sightseeing and
travel kind of stuff rather than just be in
that sort of just climbing..
A: No. No, no.. I do like..
H: He won't see the Great Barrier Reef.
A: No, I would, if I knew how to scuba dive
I'd totally go.
H: You don't know how to scuba dive!
A: I will someday. Come on. I've done some
touristy shit! I did like a day in Athens
after Kalymnos. You know?
H: But the Great Barrier Reef is kind of like
an effort to get to from here.
A: Yeah, no totally.
H: (laughs) It's like just as far as Morocco
is from the UK or whatever. You know? It's
like, 'I'm climbing on the gritstone, I'll
just nip to Morocco!'
A: Yeah, but it's one of those things though
if you were here for like two months.. you
know what I mean? If I did another three weeks
of just climbing in the Grampians I'd be stoked
for a week of something different.
H: Yeah, that's true.
A: And especially if I was with a chick or
something. Like.. a cool chick. Not like..
(coughs)
H: (laughing) You heard this??
A: Yeah.
H: One that likes fish.
A: Yeah, one that loves fish. Anyway, I'll
surely come back. I'm already sort of scheming
about next year. Also season-wise it's nice
because there aren't that many like, great
sport climbing destinations in like March/April.
I mean you know, there are a lot of good places
in Europe but they aren't like.. probably
not as sweet as the Grampians in terms of like world-class climbing in the right climate at the right time.
