Travel , Climbing and a bit of everything

I feel like 2014 has been a bit of a frustrating year climbing wise. I felt I wasn't getting out as much as I wanted. But in retrospect it wasn't such a bad year.

I aslways had in mind to try to onsight Katchoong (21) the most famous roof climb in Australia and probably one of the most photographed as well. Well I ticked that goal in February and earned some bragging rights, unfortunately I don't have a photo of it. A good trick is to do Golden Echo (18) first so you can get a look at the lip.

I also started looking a into training for climbing a bit more seriously. A tried different things with mitigated success, it takes some time to figure out what works, and it's also hard to know what one should be working on. I don't think I have an obvious weakness, so I am still trying to figure out what to focus on. I also started using a fingerboard, which was usefull in increasing my finger strength.

Thara putting a good effort for at the Victorian State Title 2014. I fell on the first bolt ...

Competition wise, I had an interesting start, I competed in open A for the first time at the victorian lead title. Well I am too strong now to compete in open B, but I am still at the lower end of the scale in open A. It was interesting... I didn't get very far falling on at the first bolt on one of the qualification route. Well plenty of room for improvement. The Australian national lead title were held in Victoria in 2014, that's why I ended up competing. Fortunately, the grade limit dividing Open A and B was a bit higher and I was able to compete in open B. I came away with the 3rd place ! Looks like my attempt at training was paying off. I didn't do very well on the final though, missing some crucial jugs, but I was feeling strong coming out 1st after the semi-final.

A few shots from Anthony's website taken during the National :

• Getting higher than everyone during the semi-final
• So close yet so far, falling off the final route
• Podium

2014 was also the year I took a ground fall which resulted in a small concussion. I was glad I wore a helmet because it could have been a lot nastier. I was attempting a route called Legal Aid (21), which pretty much start with a roof. I was using some pre-clipped gear that my Friend Sean had placed. Unfortunately, one of the cam popped when I was resting on it, resulting in me hitting the ground. Nothing too serious, I was back climbing after a week of rest. It was a while though before I was back trad climbing, but after my first fall on gear my head was good again.

A summary of my climbing in 2014, the helmet is actually cracked

I also went twice to the Blueis, so in the end I did quite a bit of climbing in 2014 even if it didn't felt like it. Durring my second stay in the Blue Mountain, I redpointed my first 24 ! Holly leaping short arses, Batman, a Mike Law route that has a bit of everything. A crimpy start into a slab , to a roof. The slab was the crux for me has I am quite short, but once I worked a way to do it I ticked the route on my first red point shot.

A shot from my friend Anthony, looking at the roof on Holy leaping short arses, Batman (24)

So in the end it was quite a good year climbing wise, I also quit my job so I could focus on climbing a bit more. I should have plenty to talk about soon.

My profile on the crag if you want to see what I have been climbing : https://www.thecrag.com/climber/griou