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Hot Cross Bun
July 2009 |
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The Hot Cross Bun |
Leo, Dan, Roman. |
Mushroom Boulder |
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Read the story below |
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The Story:
It was the beginning of winter in Sydney when I first ran into Dan at Harbord Beach's North end, where the freshwater Sewerage pipe rubs gently against two of the most outlandishly boulders found on any beach in Australia. The first one is the obvious Mushroom boulder with its base washed away over the years by the rising tide leaving behind a nice undercut 'head' almost all around its 360 degree circumference. I have spent many afternoon hanging of this mantle and moving across it with my children. The total traverse is quite sustained and probably clocks in at anywhere between v5 to v7 depending on how hard you try. One distinct shallow slot makes for a nice distinct crux move which can be avoided with under-cling moves. Yet when I first ran into Dan he was trying the second much more massive boulder leaning against the side of the beach at a steep angle and exposing its round underbelly to the rolling sea, with some of the best slopers in Sydney. This is beach climbing with a sandy landing at its best - at least before the rain washed all the sand away. Dan was attempting a complete traverse of this huge boulder and had worked out all the moves; if it could be linked it would indeed be an impressive feast with some 30 moves. I had admired the line myself before but never considered a total link up possible. There were two spots in particular that I could not decipher at all. It was Dan who provided the clue for these two sections. The first one starts from a 'good' double handed sloper onto a hideous open-handed pinch which is only possible by wildly flagging ones right leg under the boulder. Letting go off your left hand and bringing it across to match is a fantastic momentum move that arguably unlocks the crux of the traverse. This is followed by a sharp iron stone edge which provides some rest to swing your feet across and move straight into the second crux. A large hole in the boulder serves as a bucket for your feet to take some weight off while you throw across wildly to another sloper made in hell. Swapping feet and matching marks the end of the second crux. But that's only the cruxes.
I started working the problem with Leo and Dan just at the start of winter 2009, in early June. It took one week to work out all the different sections. The second weekend was spent on the cruxes; making them smooth and as efficient as possible. Dan was using a high super slopey hold in between the first crux which I could not repeat and instead opted to move my hand even further across onto the pinch before matching. This worked better for me but made the move a little reachier. By the end of the third weekend the individual parts of the problem had all been completed. The first part is a series of about ten moves of nice positive crimps around the first corner of the boulder and finishes on the first real sloper of the traverse (a nice problem in itself going at about V4?), just before the half-way mark of the traverse. From the first sloper the second section of the problem starts with three consecutive hard sloper moves with bad feet that form the gateway to unlocking the entire sequence. The two crux moves are in this section. Once through the sloppy section there is a third relatively juggy section leading to the exit high ball crux. It is the exit crux that really makes this problem quite unique because after pulling horizontally from crimps across slopers one ends up staring at a blank vertical section with hideous landing. Spotters for this final crux are absolutely essential; the landing is back-breaking here. The holds on this final section are virtually non-existing, with the exception of one very good edge up high. This edge has a weakness running through it, which will mean it will pop if you put your full body weight on it ? pulling gently is the key here. Put it all together and you have one of the best hard traverse problems in Sydney.
Week four came quickly and all moves had been tried and trimmed as good as was possible. It was now redpoint time. I had tried the problem in two sections the previous week and felt fairly comfortable but now it was time to link and send. There is one other unique aspect to this problem which is that you get no more than three serious shots on the long traverse in one session after which you are down to the last layer of skin because of its abrasive and sloping nature. I went through one large bottle of aloe vera a week trying to get my skin back in shape for next week's session!
My first serious burn in week four got me as far as the first crux and then it was game over after some shoddy footwork. Second shot was not much better and I decided to go back to the drawing board and started working the individual sections rather than trying to send the problem. Leo and Dan did not fare much better and dejectedly we left vowing to come back stronger a week later. This is when the rains started and did not stop for two weeks until just before the end of July. The problem never left my mind and I had been dying to give it another try so much so that I kept rehearsing the moves in my sleep. Finally Saturday the 27 July came with yet another forecast of rain but I had enough and hoping for a one hour window period Leo, Dan and I headed down to check the conditions. Huge black clouds rolled in, but the rain held off and the rock was perfect. Dan and Leo had a try each and I was next. I was terribly nervous and completely psyched. I had already done a quick warm-up on the individual sections and everything felt right. Sucking the air into my lungs the first section felt easy and I got through quickly, a quick shake on the first sloper and into the crux, cut loose on the crux pinch but 'just' stuck the match, into the second crux, rest on the sharp ironstone edge and put your foot into the large bucket at waist level, take as much weight off as you can and throw to the last sloper, finish the mid-section crux with a powerful shoulder-crunching match. Heal-hook on, now breathing heavily, finish the last juggy section with two good handholds. I am going to try the exit move: two spotters below me I throw my left hand as high as possible to a ridiculously shallow pocket, it sticks, same hand again, higher to a tiny crimp, it holds again, finally I grab the good edge and gingerly pull myself above the lip of the huge boulder. It's done and Hot Cross Bun is born - come and get it.
Roman
28 July 2009
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