Ahh the world of trad climbing! Quite new to me and yes, it still scares the panties off me. It is now fully into Frog* season, world class concentrated crack climbing with a 5 minute walk-in! Wooohoo to a non hideous walk-in. So I had a couple of goes at crack climbing last season (winter) and lets just say, I found leading a 15 was super hard. Trad climbing just didn't really interest me at this stage.
This season I was up for the challenge of sticking my fingers, fists, arms; anything I can think of into the crack. Got to climb with Duncan Steel on the weekend, he is a fantastic man and an experienced one at that. Duncan chose a few climbs for me to lead and they were fantastic. I seconded Barbed Wire Canoe clean, Dunc did a fantastic job leading it, as it had very marginal gear!
Liza popped her first bit of gear and came to about 30cm off hitting a ledge. I was leading the climb to the left of her and got all shaken up. I started placing more gear and then had to run it out at the end...
What an amazing day!!! Can't wait to do it again :)
*Frog Buttress Crag on Mt French, Boonah
This season I was up for the challenge of sticking my fingers, fists, arms; anything I can think of into the crack. Got to climb with Duncan Steel on the weekend, he is a fantastic man and an experienced one at that. Duncan chose a few climbs for me to lead and they were fantastic. I seconded Barbed Wire Canoe clean, Dunc did a fantastic job leading it, as it had very marginal gear!
Liza popped her first bit of gear and came to about 30cm off hitting a ledge. I was leading the climb to the left of her and got all shaken up. I started placing more gear and then had to run it out at the end...
What an amazing day!!! Can't wait to do it again :)
*Frog Buttress Crag on Mt French, Boonah