QLD climbing: The Search For Shade!

Well, the weather is warming up. We've had a hell of a winter season, it's been fantastic. Cool, even cold conditions for many months, and the rain was largely content to hit the weekdays, leaving weekends in prime condition for weekend warriors such as myself. But now with the temperatures rising into the mid to high twenties, we have to say goodbye to the crags that have sustained us over the winter, and look to locations that offer the two vital components which are vital to sane QLD summer climbing: shade and breeze.

So with that in mind, Aaron and I headed up into the Tibro Summit Caves on Saturday. I'm always impressed with how breezy and exposed the cliff is. Another bonus is that because the east facing cliff goes into shade around lunch time, you can have a lazy start. For aspect, imagine the Coolum cave, perched 150m above the ground. Peregrin falcons check you out as they cruise past with little animals in their talons - it's wild.

I've done a bunch of the routes in the sector but this time I was keen to check out The Beast From The East, a very overhanging 29 established by Adam Donoghue last year. It's currently the hardest route in the Glasshouses, and didn't dissapoint offering some burly climbing, only one rest, as well as a couple of really slick and hard-to-hold grips. I put in three shots and actually came pretty close on the second try. The grade seems about right to me (maybe it's lower end 29) - regardless - it's refreshing to feel the difference in difficulty between this route and Shadenfreude. It's certainly one I'll be popping back to try to nab before we head to Kalymnos in a few weeks for the Upskill Coaching training camp.

Below is a short video of our novel descent from the route - a 10m swing into space off the route's anchor.