Prime Evil

It's been almost a year since I've been to Mt Coolum. But last weekend there were some huge storms predicted and apart from an indoor gym, Coolum is the only possible option. There's been a few routes go up since I've been gone, and one of them is Prime Evil (29/8a/13b). This (like a bunch of other routes) shares the start of my 2008 first ascent Evil Wears No Pants before breaking left and taking in a series of boulder problems and outright rests. Very stop-start, and in true Coolum fashion, pretty weird.

I put a couple of burns in with Jimmy who had already done the route and was kind enough to swap some beta (he was working my route Bite The Hand That Feeds). I did some good links, and it is always fun remembering how to climb the tricky, 70 degree overhung start of Evil. Yesterday, I dispatched the route on my second try - fourth all up.

John O'Brien was there with the camera and captured some of the action, and some of the sitting around...

This is the handy kneebar you get at the end of the first section of Evil. It's bomber.

The Wildcat move. Slippery slide out of kneebar, catch horn, swing gracefully towards Marcoola.

Yep, this is a complete sit down on a horn. Throw in a kneebar and toe-hook and all you're lacking is a cool beverage.

I think this is my fave shot. You take a three finger pocket with your right hand and roll around a kneebar to snag a big sloping edge.

You can fall on this move, it's a bit wacky.

My bro, JJ!

Evel Knievel

Only a few days to go until Kalymnos 2011, so time to get some training in on something steep. Frey Yule's route Evel Knievel 29/8a at Coolum was a likely target. It starts up Evil Wears No Pants 30/8a+ with a burly, 70 degree overhung, 11 move boulder to a good kneebar before cutting a traverse directly left for several bodylengths and then a transition back to "up" climbing to finish up the last three or so bolts of the route Ground Control.

I'd been on the route in March this year while conditions were too warm for other crags. At that time I had to re-learn the Evil section which felt hard. The Evel Knievel section actually felt pretty okay. This lulled me into a false sense that the route would be a quick tick, to be squeezed in amongst other routes or when I was struggling to find something to do. Not to be.

In April I turned up to the crag ready to send, only to find my quickdraws (which I had left on the top half of the route) had been stolen. This completely ruined my psyche for the day, and I didn't return to the crag for three months. When I came back I got stuck into bolting and doing some FAs and I'd almost forgotten that Evel Knievel was still patiently waiting for a third ascent.

Today I decided that I would approach it differently. Seriously, and with respect. I spent my first burn re-learning and refining beta on the second half of the route only. On my next burn (first redpoint attempt of the day) I went through the Evil start, through the traverse only to have the tank go from three quarters full to empty in two moves. WTF? Moves that felt easy bolt to bolt suddenly felt impossible on link. So I ditched some toehook beta I had previously refined in favour of a strange heel-toe which felt super solid with the awesome heel of the Boldrini's, and on my next burn I made it through. Hanging on the jugs above the hard climbing I began to lose it. My vision was flicking between black and white and I felt like I was going to pass out. Erik told me later I'd done the entire section of climbing up to that point without breathing. Not ideal.

Anyway I managed to claw up and get a kneebar, rest a bit, breathe a bit, and finish it off.

Odd route, but worthy climbing! And good abs training for the steepness of the Grande Grotta. Coming soon to an Upskill blog near you :)

A way to burn heaps too much energy. Good for training.

The end of the traverse section where it's time to get to grips with things.

Sinking the subtle heel-toe lock which for me was pretty key.

Cruxing.

All done. I am pumped.

Tribute to a cool hold

You know when you see a particular rock feature and you just really want to climb it? Well, with this hold at Mt Coolum it was love at first sight. I knew I wanted to hang off it. And I can tell you, it is just as good, and fun, as it looks.

Welcome to The David Lee Roth (25/7b). Or the Wrath Of David Lee?

And 25. Who doesn't like a good 25?

To hang off this cool hold, climb up The David Low Way (if you dare) and then climb up out. And if you're feeling stumped by the first crux, well, might as well jump.

Did you know David Lee Roth was a climber?
If you're under 30 do you actually know who he is?

Red Tag Scumbags

My friend Will Monks decided to move from Victoria to Queensland. He moved his family up, got a house, got settled, bolted a great project on Mt Coolum, and then decided to immediately relocate to the Blue Mountains. Nobody knows why. I suspect it may have to do with the hygiene habits of his Queenslander climbing partners.

At the Coolum Sendfest, I peered across and saw the red tag was still on, swaying in the breeze mockingly. I emailed Will asking his intentions with the project. Would he come back and finish it, or would he open it for all comers to try?

In answer, and to make it fair for everyone, he posted an "Open For Business" announcement on qurank, the Queensland Climbing Forum. The race was on. We drove the 1hr 45min the very next morning and I raced up the hill expecting a queue. A first ascent going begging! Surely the hoards would be swarming all over it?

I needn't have worried. We were the first at the cliff and on the second try after some chalking and brushing, I sent the new route at the modest grade of 26/7b+. It has some of the wildest holds of any route, anywhere - just see the photo below.

Will did all the hard work, he has naming rights.

Thanks Will, you're a gentleman.

jjborienclimbing has the full story and all the pics here

Will has named the route Nuts In High Places

Tee: CLIMB T-shirt by boulders+nuts
Shorts: Thailand Billabong knock-off's
Left leg: New, Hybrid Kneebar Pad by Upskill Climbing
Right leg: Upskill Undersock and Friction Kneebar Pad
Harness: BD Chaos
Shoes: Andrea Boldrini Talisman Lace

Video: The Apprentice

Our latest film sees young Queensland climber Matt Schimke well outside his comfort zone on the power endurance testpiece Beautiful Thing (28/7c+) at The Pulpit. Matt has only been climbing since 2008 but rapidly progressed through the grades culminating in his 2010 ascent of Evil Wears No Pants (30/8a+) at Mount Coolum. Still in school, with a mad obsession for climbing and no car has seen Matt's efforts concentrated at Mt Coolum, his local crag. The local style is super steep and chock full of kneebars and other tricks. All his hardest sends have been at Mt Coolum. This has been the first time he's ventured onto a hard project a long way from the comfort of his 'local'. The angle is new, the style is new. Grades don't matter now. It's just you against your weaknesses. And the fiercest battleground is in the mind. Enjoy. 

Video: Save Coolum: Lee Cujes Speaks

We are about to lose one of our premiere sport crags Mt Coolum due to Government bungling. Please watch the video and I'll explain in person:



We need everyone to write one email. That's all! 
It must be sent before April 4 2011

(edit: deadline now past, thanks everyone who responded, we'll keep you posted on the progress).

HOW TO WRITE YOUR EMAIL

To: parkplans@derm.qld.gov.au
Re: Response to Draft Mount Coolum National Park Management Plan 2011

Attention: The Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability

Dear Madam

[perhaps introduce yourself, say where you're from and give some short background to your interest in Mt Coolum or climbing in general]

I am writing to respond to the Draft Mount Coolum National Park Management Plan 2011.

[Now here comes your writing. There is just the one action we need to concentrate on:

Action A28: Declare cliff-based activities a special activity under the Nature Conservation (Protected Area Management) Regulation 2006 in the area shown in Appendix A, Map2.

The key points to discuss:

Point 1 (good), you agree/support/think awesome/ the idea of managing the park for its unique/cool/awesome/magic conservation values. You absolutely support the development of climbing as a sustainable activity and would chastise/beat-up/persuade fellow climbers who did otherwise. 

Point 2 (bad!), the way in which special activities are managed using permits, insurance and compulsory peak body membership is "at odds with how the climbing community works" / "just plain sucks" / "will be ignored" / "will cause conflict with the rangers" / "will set climbing back twenty years" / "will impede the progress of our young sports climbing athletes" /"is at odds with the declared aim of promoting nature-based recreation" / "is at odds with the Premiers Q2 Vision by placing barriers to outdoor recreation" / "discriminates against climbers as valid stake holders in the outdoor recreation community" / "a bureaucratically lazy way of dealing with the management issues" / "set to fail"]

[Feel free to elaborate as you like, but this simple two part message is the key]

Yours Faithfully

[Your name]

Enjoying the social scene, enjoying nature. This is what climbing life is all about.
Pic is of me trying Evel Kenevil 29.

Coolum 2009/10 Summer Wrap-Up

By Lee Cujes and Matt Schimke

South East Queensland is an interesting place to climb. It’s generally hotter than the southern states for most of the year, and in summer the humidity rarely gets below 70%. A few years ago, most climbers would just give up and go surfing from October until March, but now we have a place to go — that place is called Mt Coolum.

Read full article on Whipper.

 

From top left, clockwise: Matt Schimke on Weapon Of Choice 27/8, Oliver Rickford on Caught By The Fuzz 25, Matt Schimke on Antipump 27, Matt Schimke on Space Oddity 29, Allan Spadijer, Old Ian Elliot on Three Men and a Ladder 26, Terry. All photos © M Schimke or O Rickford.

 

Top L quarter clockwise from top L: Sasha Juvan, Lara and Aaron Jones, Helen Day sending Wholly Calamity, John O'Brien and Duncan Steel. Bottom L quarter from L: Lee Cujes on Bite The Hand That Feeds 31, John O'Brien on Evil Wears No Pants 30, Tom O'Halloran, Crag Crew on Australia Day (BBQ included!). Top R quarter: John O'Brien on Evil Wears No Pants 30. Bottom R quarter: Antoine Moussette. All pics © L Cujes except the one of me courtesy C Glastonbury.

Bite The Hand That Feeds

Yesterday I managed to do the first ascent of my summer project at Coolum which I've named Bite The Hand That Feeds. Grade proposal: 31/8b.

In a cave where link-ups probably outnumber actual routes, this is one of the last remaining ground to top, independent lines of the cave and for this reason, I'm super psyched to have done it.

I equipped the line in October 2009, and have worked on it anywhere from a couple to a handful of days per month for the last five months. Fifteen days all up, including a couple of days equipping.

The climb starts about five metres right of Evil Wears No Pants (in fact, you can see Vince working Evil in the photo below) and has a hard boulder right off the ground (see pic). You have to shove a couple of fingers into a slot, torque them, and load it up with close to full bodyweight to do the next move. That section culminates with a dyno to a sloping horn, and a powerful mantle to get established in a big scoop.

Bunched, crossed up moves lead right, and then the second hard problem - a body-tensiony move to snag the arete and a crap crimp and get your feet sorted without cutting loose. This was a move that was very hard to predict for me. One day I tried it three times and did it twice. The next day I tried it 10 times and failed every time. Good bridging flexibility helps here too. A crazy kneebar above the head allows you to roll around somehow onto the "slab" and a shake stance.

The slab is actually about 10 degrees overhung, but it does feel like a slab when you're up there. It has one tricky deadpoint which I would often fall on, and then you make it to the final steep headwall of the route. There's one mega kneebar where you can chalk up, and then you move up into a crescent shaped undercling with your right hand. Problem is, you need to get your knee in there, so you end up doing a dynamic hand-knee switch. It makes me laugh almost every time. I can't believe you have to do that, I've never had to do that move before on another route. If you botch it or the knee doesn't stick, you're gone.

The final hard moves are on these really sloping, perfectly smooth and flat, large edges. The key to using them is to have toe-hooks locked in. If you lose tension, you're gone. As you work up to higher flat edges, you have to bring your toehooks up, but they are blind, so you do a blind stab with your foot and hope you nail it. It's a cool move in itself. And then the finale is a punch to an incut rounded bucket where you can cut loose and celebrate.

Thanks to everyone who has held my rope on this, particularly on the start where I would endlessly fall off and crash into my belayer (JJ, Duncan, Aaron, Sasa, Matt S). Thanks to Dazza and Gareth for the early work they did bolting a bit of the start and finish of the route - that made it easier to establish.

I think it probably is that next step up in difficulty from Evil (which is top-end 30), but it's quite hard to grade these kind of bouldery routes, so time will tell.

Evil Wears No Pants - 3rd ascent

On the weekend, top Aussie climbers Vince and Helen Day made a flying visit to the cave at Coolum.

After a quick warm up, Vince smoothly onsighted the long and pumpy Wholly Calamity 26/7, the first onsight of this route. Helen also dispatched Wholly Calamity without much fuss. Vince then turned his focus onto Evil Wears No Pants 30 (8a+). With support from the locals, Vince made quick work of sussing all the moves, before moving into redpoint mode. On the second day, it all came together and Vince completed the third ascent of the route, which he described as "The best route outside NSW I've been on [in Oz]". He confirmed the grade at "Hard 30".

It's always fantastic to have climbers from out of state travelling up to Queensland to climb our hard routes. It helps us to bed down grades, and get a bit of outside perspective, not to mention motivation!

Vince locking horns with Evil © L Cujes 2010

Young guns on the takedown!

There's been some impressive and motivating climbing happening lately by two of Queensland's young gun climbers. With 30+ degree days and high humidity, it's supposed to be the off season, but someone forgot to tell these guys.




Matt Schimke (pictured left) is 15 years old and lives within a bike ride of Mt Coolum. Unlike most young climbers, Matt didn't start climbing in the gym. He's been climbing for about two years exclusively on rock and has been steadily working his way through the cave's lines. This last month alone he has done the third ascent of Call Of Duty 28/7c+, a remarkable second shot ascent of Spoonman 28/7c+ and the first ascent of Space Oddity 29/8a which eliminates the batman start from Adam Donoghue's Ground Control. How many people climb 8a within two years of starting climbing? Matt will be broadening his climbing horizons on the Upskill Climbing Camp in Kalymnos Greece this April. Limestone look out!

Tom O'Halloran (pictured right) has just finished school and is finding more time to hit the crags. On a recent trip to the Blue Mountains he flashed Lactictoc 26/7b+ and onsighted(!) the full version of The Way Of All Flesh 28/7c+. This is the equal hardest onsight by a Queensland climber ever. He's also done a few sessions at Mt Coolum and has quickly despatched Full Metal Traverse, Gonna Fly Now and Grazed Anatomy, all 27/7c, and all second try. Both Weapon of Choice 27/8 (7c/+) and Spoonman went down in a matter of a couple of tries, A Kneebar Too Far 29/8a in five shots, and now he's set his sights on harder things.

And of course it's not just these two who are climbing well. It's exciting to see this wave of younger climbers coming through who will climb all the current testpieces, and then push standards even higher.

8a before age 50

After 11 months and 72 attempts over 31 days, my friend JJ O'Brien ticked his project, A Kneebar Too Far (29 or 8a) at Mt Coolum on Sunday. This is his hardest route to date and fulfils his "8a before age 50" challenge he set for himself.

I won't bore you with details of finger injuries and chronic elbow tendonosis overcome, suffice to say that this is a very well deserved send for a very well respected member of the Queensland climbing community. Well done JJ! (And hey, love that shirt!)

"Sometimes it's hard to get my mate Matt to keep an environment conducive to concentration. But that's what tape is for, huh?"

Some thoughts on beta

One characteristic of my latest climb, the first ascent of Evil Wears No Pants (30) at Mt Coolum was that I didn’t have any beta (information) on the climb, and had to work out all of the moves myself. I hadn’t seen anyone on the climb, and the only pointers I had was some telltale chalk on some of the holds.

The majority of hard routes I have done in the past few years have been climbed in tandem, with another climber also trying the route. You work as a pair, sharing beta, watch the other person climbing and generally feed off each other’s energy and experience. Moves get refined and the easiest sequence is solved much more quickly than working alone.

Sport climbing cliffs with dedicated locals and regular traffic often lend themselves to the beta feed phenomenon. The cave at Mt Coolum is a case in point. The contributing factors are a limited selection of routes, few easy climbs, highly specialised and abstract moves required & enthusiastic locals keen to share their knowledge.

There is no doubt that having the beta fed to you as you climb makes the process of sending a route much easier. Fewer shots are required. This is great on a roadtrip when you have limited energy to expend, and want to return home with a bulging scorecard of ticks. But what does this do to grades?

We can roughly equate Mt Coolum’s development to that of Rifle Mountain Park, America’s preeminent limestone sportclimbing area. During the 1990s, as increasing amounts of kneescums, kneebars and other “trick” techniques were brought to bare on the routes, the grades across the board began to be “condensed”. This has occurred at Coolum with routes such as Wholly Calamity (27) and Grazed Anatomy (28) each having a grade knocked off recently.

So do we grade for the onsight, or the worked redpoint? And more topically, do we grade for the seasoned local, or for the new, unfamiliar climber? My impression would be that routes up to grade 25 (7b or 5.12a) are graded for the onsight by the new, unfamiliar climber. And routes 26 (7b+ or 5.12b) and up seem to be graded for the worked redpoint by a person with some experience at the cliff.

So what does all this mean? Well, routes are easier with beta. That being the case, you cannot compare the first ascent to a beta-riddled repeat of the same route. The circumstances are entirely different, and the former far eclipses the latter in difficulty. Some cliffs provide more onsightable routes than others, particularly those with easy to read, generic, gym-like pulling. The more unusual the climbing, the more chance of downgrades by savvy locals. And if you’re climbing at Mt Coolum, it’s de rigueur that you’ll switch your brain off and plug in to the beta stream.

Evil - my hardest route yet

So, for those that hadn't picked up the hints on qurank, or seen it on CragTV Ep. 2, I just wanted to confirm that on Sunday I completed my longest-running project yet, being Evil Wears No Pants at Mt Coolum. Adam Donoghue was the visionary behind this amazing route, and working from the top-down, climbed 95% of the severely overhanging 20m line cleanly before he moved interstate to Tassie earlier this year. I simply worked to unlock the boulder problem start and link it with Adam's existing line to give a 'from the ground to the top' climb -- the 'new' Evil Wears No Pants at grade 30.

And it's awesome. In my mind, right now, I truly think it is the best climb in Queensland.

In order to complete this project, I drove 2430km and spent $467 on fuel. I injured my shoulder, neck and groin and spent $117 on massages. I hit the ground once, and swore many times. I shipped in new shoes from the States for the heelhooks. My 60m rope needed to be chopped four times, leaving me with a 43m rope. I went through a roll of sports tape, three belayers, half a kilo of chalk, 10 Red Bull's and two packets of sour snakes.

It is my hardest climb, and I loved it. Clipping the anchors was bittersweet as it closed the book on this particular journey. Thanks to everyone who has supported me, given some encouragement, or sent some positive energy my way - it really makes a difference.


© Chris Fox 2008

A Kneebar Too Far (29)

On Sunday I made the third ascent of A Kneebar Too Far (29) at Coolum. First climbed by local Matt Eaton last year and repeated by Adam Donoghue, the route climbs out one of the steepest and most 'cavey' bits of the Coolum cave. I tried the route for the first time one week prior, putting in two good shots. Even though the line is very steep, there's surprisingly not too much very overhung climbing, because the section of rock you climb is mostly perpendicular to the ground, and you simply traverse from left to right. I think I counted 27 moves. I love routes which traverse, because my training wall at home is so short, I end up doing a lot of traversing, so it's great when a route actually matches up with what you're training. Nevertheless, I was really sore after trying it due to its burly moves.

My second day was on Thursday and I put in three good shots, coming very close to sending it on the second try, falling off right towards the end. I was very surprised and happy, and was feeling very positive about the next day. So after two days of rest I was back. On the long drive up to Coolum, Neil Fewtrell and I were talking about how cool it would be to have stand lights to light up the recesses of the cave for photos. Neil pointed at the generator in the back of the ute and said "Whatdaya reckon?" After a quick stop at Super Cheap Auto we had our lights and were ready for the easy-walk-in-turned-epic with a 35kg generator and light-kit.

When, drenched in sweat, we emerged at the cliff, photographer Phil Box could only point and laugh. Then it was out turn to point and laugh as we watched Phil desperately aiding amongst savage bees with the use of the four metre pool cleaning pole, hooking his rope over horns and gingerly jugging upwards to get into the primo spot for shooting.

Phil in position (c) N Fewtrell

After warming up on other routes, my plan was for my first attempt to be the 'photo lap' where I would hang on bolts as necessary to get some photos, and complete my warm up. But as I launched out into the business, I felt pretty good so just kept going, despite cutting loose on a few sections ("bad feet!"). Once making it past the route's signature inverted kneebar, you're pretty much home and hosed as there is a very restful double kneebar right before the anchors. As I sat in the double kneebar, I had a headspin from lack of calm, even breathing. My whole body had been held taut to maintain the right tension through the lower moves. I reached out and clipped the anchors, and then climbed out past them to satisfy the shortie Matt who couldn't make the clip from where I did. Didn't want him to say I hadn't done it properly! Psyched!

Under the belly of the beast! (c) P Box

Phil was keen to get another angle on the route, so I agreed to have one more burn on it for him and was on such a sendage high, that I managed to do it cleanly a second time. Cool! It's now a lap route! Well maybe not quite =)

Exiting the signature kneebar for the final section. (c) P Box

It might be a long drive, but there's no doubt that Coolum is a place you can get both humbled and strong. Usually in that order. Plus, where else can you climb in the pouring rain?

Project success - Grazed Anatomy

On Sunday, I sent my Coolum new route, Grazed Anatomy. The key to unlocking this route was building the strength to get through the hard bouldering in the first half of the route efficiently, as well as learning how to get the most from the rests on the route (there's a sit-down rest as well as several kneebars!). The only real way of doing this was trying the route repeatedly to build up route-specific strength and endurance.

Me on the send (c) JJ O'Brien 2008

During the couple of weeks I was focussed on this route, I was careful in my other training to focus on short, hard training (anaerobic endurance), rather than endless laps on easier things (resistance).

Generally, your training should mimic the kind of routes you want to do.

New Coolum project

I enjoyed the Full Metal Traverse (aka Four Metre Traverse) so much, a week or so ago I decided to equip an extension. From where I am in the photo (see previous post), the new climbing goes up past five clips to the very top of the cave. In fact, you can mantle the top and stand on the lip of the cave, and then jump off. This will be the obligatory sendage finish.

I've made about four attempts on it so far. It's pretty hard! Something I want to get done after Easter...

Full Metal Traverse

I had a nice day climbing yesterday with John at Mt Coolum. Because I have plans to get straight back into my Schadenfreude project at the Pulpit, I need to work on my finger strength and power. It seemed like Frey Yule's Full Metal Traverse (27) would be the route to try. It is very short (only about 8m), and quite brutal and bouldery along it's whole length.

I had tried the route before going to Europe. On the third shot I fumbled the rope clipping the anchors and fell - so close! This time I needed four shots to put it in the bag. It was really working my weaknesses, which is what you need to keep improving. Fun stuff!

Me sending Full Metal Traverse (27), Mt Coolum (c) Frey Yule

Self flagellation

It's been a big week of climbing for me. Wednesday at Slider (volume), Friday at the Pulpit (projecting and destroying skin) and then Saturday at Coolum (finishing off any remaining skin). Managed to somehow get away with the send of Gareth's Wholly Calamity 27. It's a jug haul the whole way, but being 12m overhung, it's an exercise in simply hanging on endlessly. For JJ, it appears to be an exercise in getting from one kneebar to the next.

After that I was feeling exhausted beyond belief, but I reckon sometimes you have to give yourself a good thrashing. A couple of days rest after a thorough whipping usually leaves me feeling fit and strong. A good remedy for general malaise?

I did grab a few decent snaps of Paul and JJ and they're up on my flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brucelee/tags/mtcoolum/