The Fozuly World Tour 09/10

There's no place like home...

2010-07-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

We said our farewells to Yosemite, California, and headed north with a relaxed agenda of climbing.

On our way to Squamish we stopped in Leavenworth, WA for some bouldering. The drive through the Cascades was impressive and the view of the roadside rock created some anticipation, once again. Once in Leavenworth, we tried out a classic trad line, enjoyed the forested camping and the interesting boulder problems in two of the concentrated boulder fields.

Our hearts were longing for Squamish and to be back in Canada. We stayed in Squamish for only a few days. We played around in the boulders, enjoyed the pool and hot tub at the rec centre, and battled at the tennis courts.

We continued with our bug of travelling and checking out new rock and took the BC ferry to Horne Lake on Vancouver Island.

The camping and scenery at Horne Lake was beautiful, and the climbing was worth the visit. Due to the old and recent shoulder injuries we took in some hiking on the Pacific Rim and views of the beach before cutting our trip on the island and out west short.

Our drive to Ontario was a mission...we drove for 48 hours straight with only a few stops for swims and sights.

Recently, we have been enjoying time with our parents in Ontario and Montreal. We are resting our climbing injuries for the last two weeks and have taken up other activities we enjoy (golf, tennis, swimming).

As our world trip has completed its cycle this will probably be our last post. Thank you for joining us and reading our blog. We will let you know about our next adventure...and hopefully we have inspired you to travel the world and discover new things, even if its in your own backyard.

Going back to Cali

2010-06-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

We survived Yosemite Valley once again...and let me tell you, it's no vacation! The traditional lines are stout and most of them involve more than a few pitches of climbing with an aerobic hike on either end of the adventure.
Chris and Mike from Toronto joined Callum, Dave and I for some Yosemite challenges...one of them was finding a campsite, which was almost impossible, but we did get lucky.

The Valley in Spring is absolutely beautiful with its many raging waterfalls. When the Sierra Nevada Mountain range begins to lose its snow it rages into the valley down the Merced river.
I was looking forward to a few easy classics that we didn't climb last fall, like Snake Dike (Half Dome), Nutcracker, and Free Blast. Dave and Chris were on a mission to climb the Regular Route on Half Dome in a day.

Half Dome's Regular Route climbs the vertical face you can see from the valley floor. The route consists of 23 pitches, over 2000ft of climbing and aid climbing up to 12b. The top of Half Dome sits just over 8000ft in elevation...very impressive! But wait, to get to the base takes over 5 hours of hiking, or 13km with strenuous elevation gain.

During Chris' original 10 day stay, Dave and Chris made two attempts to climb Half Dome. They left our campsite with 50lbs bags to bivy near the route and climb the next day. Both attempts were unsuccessful as a dangerous snow col and cold weather got in their way.

The boys were definitely disappointed getting shot down without even touching the rock on Half Dome. Chris extended his trip and the plan was made for one more attempt with hopes of melted snow and warmer temps. I got to tag along and enjoyed the overnight camping under the stars, and taking photos of their journey and finally their summit.

Dave is still recovering from the battle...cold winds, 14 hours of climbing, and some cuts that tell the tale of their hard work.

We are back in Portland to collect our things we stashed at Callum's and we are on the road again to Washington and Squamish.

We are coming home soon and look forward to seeing family, friends, and home sweet home.

Spain to Smith

2010-05-29T13:25:00.001-07:00

We made it back to America! After some long flights we made it to Portland three hours later than scheduled. Our second flight from Brussels was delayed and the plane had to fly in different directions to avoid the ash from the volcano in Iceland. We ended up seeing the volcano out of our plane's windows and captured some photos.
Iceland is not just a clever name for that country!

Once in Portland, back with our buddy Callum, we were anxious to see how our road machine, Sylvia, would handle after being under Callum's care. Well, to our surprise the van is still in great condition...minor repairs got her on the road again to Smith Rocks (where sport climbing all began) and Trout Creek (the west's answer to Indian Creek).

Despite our cold and rainy weather at times we were still as psyched as ever to explore new crags, rock climb new routes, and to enjoy more of the world's best scenery. I surprisingly enjoyed Smith's off vertical, technical, run out pitches on volcanic rock, and Dave flowed up Trout's burly, sustained, hand/foot torqing trad climbing lines.

After two weeks at Smith and surrounding area we are now earning our keep back in Portland with Callum.
In a few days we are off to Yosemite Valley for a couple of weeks and meeting friends Chris and Mike for some Valley climbs. Dave and Chris are planning Half Dome in a day and Callum and Mike are pushing for El Cap. I think I might enjoy resting and hiking this time.

Rockin' Rodellar

2010-05-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

Before our trip back home we drove from Siruana to Rodellar, Spain, another world renown climbing destination in our crazy Space Invaders van. The trip was a twisty three hour drive to the Sierra de Guara National Park and climbing area. Rodellar's climbing sits inside a long gorge on both sides and crossing the cool river was sometimes tricky...thankfully I only got one soaker.
The climbing is much steeper than Siruana and there are many crags to choose from. Each sector has its unique character and climbing style and we sampled routes from most areas. The weather was still unusually cool and although we had some rain it never really stopped us from climbing.

On one of our climbing days we spontaneously took a trip to Riglos, a small town and climbing area most people told us to go to on our trip in Spain. We were told the climb was like "climbing on potatoes", very steep, 250 meters tall, and very pumpy...all of which were true.
From a distance you could see the clean line meander all the way to the top so our approach to the cliff was easy and we ended up climbing it in 5 hours from car to car. I don't think either of us has experienced such forearm pump before...we we're almost "coming off" and almost took some big whippers.

Back in Rodellar we reconnected with some of our friends we met during our travels. We met Miguel, a climber we met in Ceuse, France six years ago; Masha, a girl we met in Kalymnos; Kent, an Aussie bloke we met in Thailand; Jess, an old friend from Toronto who was on her honeymoon with her new hubby John; and we were still climbing and hanging out with the South Affi's whom we met in Siruana.

Our last two weeks in Spain were spent with our Space Invaders van camping in the town parking lot. Life couldn't be much better. "Don't worry about the bylaw signs, the area is there for people to camp in." Rainy evenings were spent with the eclectic mix of world climbers at the Kalendraka Refugee, or in the van playing Cribbage. Erin and I were a bit sad to give back the van but are well over it now that we have Sylvia (our Dodge) back.

Siurana Sunshine

2010-04-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

Ola!
We have been in Siruana, Spain for about two weeks now. Our arrival in Spain sent us a little curve ball with a missing bag...but it arrived late the next afternoon. We picked up our wicked campervan...fully painted and reads "Space Invaders"! The van sticks out like a sore thumb but everyone seems to know who we are...Canada invades again! One afternoon, we were quietly reading our books in the van and we heard a french family talk about the van and take pictures beside it. We eavesdropped on the entire photo shoot and laughed silently. Although an eyesore the van is very comfortable with bed, inside table, kitchen sink, lots of storage, and camping amenities.
Our climbing in Siruana is humbling...after swinging on stalagtites in Kalymnos, crimping and standing on your feet in Spain is challenging. We are quickly improving our finger strength and pain tolerance to send our latest 7b+, which was almost 40m long. The rock reminds us of Lion´s Head, back home, but there is way more of it here. Siruana is beautiful and we are finally getting good weather after days of rain and cloud. The climbing is growing on us and we will stay in the area for at least another week before we try and head to Rodellar...which might be too cold and wet to climb there this time.
It is an international climbing scene once again and we´re meeting great people. We have been playing poker with some Germans, Urig and Yacob, chillin out with three South Africans, Orion, Mickey and Andrew, and meeting new acquaintences at every cliff we visit.
We are doing well and enjoying the easy life.
We miss home and everyone there! Saloo (cheers) until next time.

Kalymnos Countdown...4 days left

2010-03-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

We have a week left in Masouri, Kalymnos. Time went way too fast! We
enjoyed the last three weeks chillin in our studio, eating fantastic
Greek cuisine at different restaurants, cruising the town of Pothia
and its little shops of bakeries, cafes, and vegetable stands.
We
satisfied our "need for speed" on our scooter rides around Kalymnos as
we explored ancient ruins, churches, panoramic views of the island,
islated beaches. and hidden cave systems littered with
stalactites, stalacmites, and gigantic columns (millions of yeard old!)

Since the last post, We have continued our
climbing spree and flashed both of our first 12d's.

The climb named "picolous" was at least 35m of steep roof climbing using pockets,
sidepulls, tufas and stalagtites of all shapes and sizes.

The route weaved to and fro, had one definate crux, and it was necessary to
manage some serious
pump, and to manipulate the stalagtites; to get in behind them, on top
of them or smeged inbetween them to get the most of rests offered along
the way. I
It climbed out of the famous "Grande Grotto" of Kalymnian
crags.

The patio season at our studio is getting better by the day.
The sun is warm
and sets right before our eyes.
We changed the clocks ahead one hour
so we're looking forward to more sunlight during the "Golden Hour", the
most beautiful time to climb for pictures and sending.

Our buddy, Kyle, Leslie's hubby has joined us a few days ago. He
brought some more energy to the crew and more night life, which Dave
is enjoying way too much.

We have enjoyed our stay in Masouri and have met some fantastic people.
Andonis is an amazing Mini Market owner with a genuine heart and
great at conversation. Dimitrius is another great Kalymnian local
who rents us our scooters and tells us stories of his travels to
India and Thailand. Jose, from Spain and now from Germany joined our
crew of three when we first arrived. He is a true gentleman and very
kind. He enjoys our Canadian antics and we enjoy his Spanish ways...
accent, attempts at English, jokes, and his cooking. He has made
some amazing meals that we have never tried before. In the dish tonight
he is using garlic, onion, zuccini, carrots, potatoes, eggplant, eggs,
cheese in various creative concoctions.

We have a few more days of climbing and one more rest day.
We have set plans to visit Athens during the Easter weekend and we hope
that the city will be open for at least a few days.
Our next destination is Spain and we have rented a Wicked Camper van,
complete with sleeping and cooking quarters. The van also comes with
a crazy paint job that we'll show you later!

Adeio=Goodbye in Greek

Krazy in Kalymnos

2010-03-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

"Yea su" is hello in Greek. We made it to a little island
named Kalymnos, population 15,000. Their motto here is "everything for the climbers". Everyone including our taxi driver to the mini mart owner, Adonas, will do backflips to make us feel welcome.

We are staying in the very small town of Masouri, home of studios and motorbikes to rent, friendly
restaurants and mini marts, and the strip is all overlooked by the huge
cliff above.
Leslie, our buddy from home has met us and We have
rented a spacious studio overlooking the Aegean Sea.
Our landlords, Adonis and Poppy, are extremely friendly and have
cooked us some excellent Greek cuisine from the heart.
We all do our best to communicate with this lovely, traditional couple.

We have been steadily climbing with a rest day between two climbing days.
The routes are long, steep, pumpy, and filled with adventurous movements
over tufas and stalagtites of all sizes! We are climbing well, onsighting
and flashing upto 12b.

Canada is definately making a statement here with
climbing skills and friendliness...we are neighbours and climbing
companions with other Canadians from Canmore, Michelle and Don...ironically
enough Leslie met this couple in Joshua Tree last year.

The weather is chilly with Spring like temps but it's great for climbing.
The season is just starting here so we will
have a few quiet weeks at the crag before the crowds of climbers come to
rage in Kalymnos.

On our rest days we have already explored the island on speedy motorbikes,
and have explored the major town of Porthia, the Port of the island.
Today we are not enjoying the rain too much but Les and I did enjoy
winning in Euchre against Dave and a new friend from Spain, Jose.

Right now we hear Canada is enjoying warmer weather Greece, so don't be too jealous.

One Paradise to Another

2010-03-03T20:59:00.000-08:00

Swadeeka=Hello in Thai!

We are down to our last day in Thailand. We have stayed in Tonsai for our entire trip, enjoying life here way too much. We have sent all of our climbing projects and are taking it easy as we prepare to go to Kalymnos in Greece.

During the last couple of weeks we enjoyed a four-island snorkelling tour and deep water soloing. During the snorkelling tour we explored colourful corrals, schools of thousands of fish, and other sea creatures that are most memorable: moray eel, trumpet fish, puffer fish, jelly fish, sea urchins and clown fish.

The snorkelling trip finished on an isolated beach during sunset with huge pots of Thai curries. Our last stop before home that night was a late night swim in phosphoresent waters, and everything that moved in the water sparkled. The day was beautiful!

The deep water soloing trip was also a blast. We climbed up steep lines and jumped into the water from 5-15m.

One deep water solo climb we both enjoyed started steeply grabbing tufas, then stemming out to one stalagtite and hugging it, then stemming out to another giant stalagtite and moving to it. I jumped into the water from there and Dave enjoyed more of the climbing above on the stalagtite. The crew we were with loved the climbing and jumped from crazier distances!

We will remember our time here of good eats, fun new friends, great climbing, new experiences, romantic sunsets, and oceanside relaxation.

We are satisfied with the amount of climbing we have accommplished and we are getting ready for more in Kalymnos.

Paradise in Tonsai, Thailand

2010-02-12T22:57:00.000-08:00

Life in Tonsai and Railay is amazing! We enjoy breakfast, head to a cliff in the morning to beat the heat and enjoy the shade, then relax on the beach and wade in the water before ordering a mango shake and some lunch. We have indulged in massages, reading books, personal yoga practices, and snorkeling. We have landed ourselves a comfy bungalow with buffet breakfast for a fair price of $23/night. We have made ourselves at home by adding a hammock to the front porch, enjoying a pre dinner cocktail at our favourite bar, becoming regulars at our favourite restaurants, and meeting new friends at the cliff.
Climbing has been spectacular with a variety of routes of many styles.

We have seen most of the crags here and have enjoyed roof, tufa, face, and bouldery routes. We warm up on 7a’s and have sent a few projects of 7b+ and 7c. We have a great schedule of projecting, climbing, and resting…and we are motivating each other to send…or waiting for each other to send…always a sending train with us. We are half way through our trip in Tonsai with still so much to climb and experience. This will definitely be a place to visit again and enjoy everything that life on the beach and at the cliff has to offer.

Cat Ba Island, Vietnam

2010-02-03T22:19:00.000-08:00

We were millionaires! But as they say, easy come, easy go.
After getting great beta at the Sydney Airport from Slo Pony’s climbing website we were off to Vietnam. Upon arriving, Dave bartered for our first cab ride to a bus station in the city, and after an hour wait for a three hour bus, 40min bus, 40min boat ride followed by a final 40min bus we landed on the streets of Cat Ba. Although the trip seemed epic we got completely excited when towering limestone walls and islands began to appear in the night shadows.

Our hotels were comfy costing only 150,000 dong per night, which works out to $10, and our motorbike rental was only $4/day. I think we were renting someones personal bike for the day, because once we returned the bike at night the gentleman was waiting and was probably finished work for the day.
Beer was $1, and Vietnamese style meals (Pho, noodles, spring rolls) $3…life was even cheaper if you were good at getting bargains.

Due to the rain and drizzle we climbed at Butterfly Valley most days, with completely dry 20-30m routes from warm up to project. We were psyched to flash our hardest grades, even though they were a bit soft…we’ll take it!
Another great climbing day included a boat trip near Halong Bay, to an island called “The Face”. We kayaked to The Face and danced our way up two 30m climbs, 7a, 7a+. Our new friends, Peter (South African), Dennis, Dave, and Mat (Aussies) shared in the adventure of boating past small viet floating villages, being amazed by the limestone features, and climbing melting limestone features. We hung out with these good blokes often, bar hoping, playing games, climbing and dining.

We experienced lots of culture including cooking in a Vietnamese kitchen (in hindsight, not a good idea), singing karaoke in a local kitchen to a Vietnamese family, motorbiking around Cat Ba Island, drinking “snake juice” at the local bar, being cracked by a Traditional Viet. Massage Therapist, and visiting the Hanoi night market and dodging traffic to cross the street.

We survived that adventure and have started another one in Thailand. Now the vacation starts with climbing, beaching, swimming, eating delicious thai food for $2 and relaxing all of the time.

More on Thailand later…we need a refreshing swim.
xo

Last Days in Tazzie

2010-01-20T20:56:00.000-08:00

It always takes less time to drive across Tasmania then you think it's going to, even with the dirt "tracks" the island is just so small. Ben Lomond is basically on the other side of Taz from Hobart and it only took us a couple of hours to get there. Ben Lomond was absolutely stunning... except for having to eat dinner in our tent because of the density of mosquitoes, our time there was very special. The camping area had four sites and most of the time it was just us. The approach to the cliff was just over an hour of hopping over huge boulders, we felt like we were on the moon. The lower part of the cliff offered some of the best crack climbing we have ever done followed by some of the most dangerous crack climbing we have ever done. We compared the lower pitches to the best of Yosemite, and the upper pitches to climbing on china plates that would pull off at any moment. Due to the physical nature of the climbing mixed with the mental battles of loose rock and the hairy descents we only climbed there for two days. Next time we will bring helmets to Taz.

After a few short stops to climb at Bare Rock in Fingal and back to Freycinet to climb at the Hazards we decided to head back to the Tasman Peninsula to wait for a weather window to climb the famous Totem Pole. With only four days left and the weather looking rough we started to worry that we wouldn't get a chance to climb this world renowned feature.

The Totem Pole sits at the south tip of Tasmania in between the mainland and an island called the Candle Stick. It rises almost 100meters out of the ocean and in 2x2 metres at the top and only 3x3 metres at the base. To get to "The Tote" you make a full 70 metre rappel off the main land, swing across to the pole and anchor into the side of the cliff less than a metre from the pounding waves and shark infested waters. Once you are on the pole there are little options but to get up it and make a tyrollean traverse back to the mainland.
With normal 40 knot winds in the area, and the easiest free route on the tote being climbing grade 5.12b this had us sleeping uneasy with some scary to weird dreams. The very next day we hiked out to the pole just to check it out. We planned on leaving our gear there and returning when the winds were calm and the skies blue. After the hour and forty minute bush bash we discovered that our window had arrived.

If there was a seven wonders of climbing the Totem Pole would definitely be one of them. We hooted and hollered with joy all the way up as the face climbing was amazing, the position spectacular, and each of our climbing game was on. The cold Arctic air and the howling winds were no match for the pumping adrenalin and the long underwear we wore. This will be something we remember for the rest of our lives.

After climbing our last climbing goal for Tasmania we settled into vacation mode and were happy to do anything that came our way...it just so happend that our friends, Brett and Jana found us out of the blue and suddenly more climbing was on the horizon.

Today we are off to Vietnam...a little bit sad to say goodbye to Australia but we have had the most amazing time anybody could have.

Cheers Mates!

Canadian Devils in Tasmania

2010-01-11T17:04:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago we said farewell to our Mom and Dad, Jen and Tony, who spent 10 days with us in Tasmania. We had a wonderful trip with them camping, climbing, hiking, and so much more. On our first days we took a shopping trip to the local camping store and loaded down our 4WD, ready to explore a few areas in Tasmania. Our first stop was The Tasman Peninsula, an East Coast destination with many different climbing areas, such as the famous Totem Pole. Our campsite was right near the ocean and some beautiful, long hikes lead us to our climbing areas. Jen and Tony hiked with us and took some amazing photos of our climbing adventure. We climbed the Moai, a 30m pole with 3 classic lines ranging from 18-24. While we were climbing we had very close coastal views and we were constantly hoping the swells or the tide would not come up on us. The amount of Jelly Fish in the water also surprised us and kept us out of the water. The next day we climbed at another area named Pardiso, with more hiking, coastal views and sprays! The bolted climbs here were amazing and on one climb we had to run across a gully to avoid the waves crashing into the wall. Jen, our photographer, made it across to...brave lady!
Frecinet was our next stop on the eastern coast. Our 4WD made it into our free camping spot with clifftop coastal views and more aussie wildlife to enjoy.

The "Taj Mahal", our tent we acquired from the purchase of "Puff", housed the four of us comfortably with beds and suitcases too! Snoring was kept to a minimum and the night stars were viewed throughout the night from the surrounding windows and doors. Jen and Tony finally saw their first Wallaby and kookaburra here which added to the list of viewed wildlife. Tony had an encounter with a Possum that wouldn't back down from our garbage and we saw a Paddymelon, a smaller version of a wallaby.
The climbing in Frecinet was equally amazing with fantastic trad lines and this time no hiking was required. Jen climbed her first 12 (5.6) ever, climbing 150ft and taking out trad gear as she went. We were proud of her ascent and she definately has the climbing bug now.

After a full week in the tent we were due for more hotel life. Our last night together was enjoyed with a great meal and the casino.
Thank you so much for coming to visit us Jen and Tony. You gave us a great vacation from our vacation and we had such a great time with you. We will miss you and hope to see you again in our travels.
Now that we are back on our own, we have rented a new little car and are off to Ben Lomond National Park to explore Australia's "best" crack climbing.

A Kiwi Christmas

2009-12-31T15:51:00.000-08:00

After our last blog we successfully sold our Toyota touring van in two days and Dave sold his first vehicle exclusively in French. Hopefully “Puff” will drive well for the two girls from France who are road tripping through Australia.
With the van off of our mind and our pockets deep with cash we went directly to a travel centre and purchased flights for the next part of our trip around the world. Looking for holidays? Maybe you just miss us? Here is our flight itinerary if you want to visit us somewhere: Hanoi & Halong Bay, Jan. 21-31; Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Feb. 1-Mar. 6; Greece, Mar. 6-April ?; and then Spain. We’re looking forward to our new adventures in the new year and are currently loving the new adventures as we finish off 2009.
Parents, Jen and Tony, arrived in Sydney on December 17th full of energy for their holidays, which is good for what we had planned for them. On their first night we toured Sydney Harbour in style on the Showboat Cruise. The cruise offered a three course meal, all you can drink, classy showgirls presenting dances and fashion from different countries, and beautiful sunset views of the Harbour Bridge, Sydney’s Opera House, and the city’s skyline and surrounding coast. The next couple of days was dedicated to exploring the Blue Mountains’ scenic views, towns, and the most memorable Empress Canyon. Although Jen and Tony put their wetsuits on backwards before we entered the canyon, they proved their athletic skills and sense of adventure as they scrambled through rocks and waterfalls, jumped into pools of water, swam and slid down natural rock slides, and abseiled 30metres down the final cliff. It was a fantastic day and we thank our good bloke Ken who provided us with most of the equipment necessary to make this outing possible. Cheers Big Ears!
By mid-afternoon the next day we arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand. Our hotel was nestled in the town’s Cathedral Square and city centre. We enjoyed delicious meals at local restaurants, shopped at the nearby market, won some spending money at the Casino, and rested our heads after very busy days. We spent two days bouldering at Castle Hill and were impressed with the view. Limestone boulders littered the vegetative foothills of the Southern Alps, a very beautiful place especially if you like mantles.
After our visit in Christchurch we were off to Takaka, at the far North end of the South Island.

We spent 5 nights, including Christmas Eve, at a lovely rental house with Jen, Tony, and our friends Brett, Jana, and Derek. Mom made an amazing bird and the Texas Holdem’ proved to be very exciting. Our adventures in Golden Bay were non stop including swimming and climbing at Paynes Ford, hiking and sea kayaking the Abel Tasman National Park and collecting shells on the beach. A highlight of our kayaking trip was watching seals swim and play on Adele Island. We got a little scared when a seal jumped into the water and charged our boat, missing us by only a couple of inches.
We took our time driving back to Christchurch for our flight back to Sydney. We made an overnight stop in Kaikora to watch more lazy seals and enjoy the views off the coast.
Back in Sydney we enjoyed dinner with Oli and his family at the “Braza”, a Brazilian BBQ restaurant that serves more meat than the cows we saw in New Zealand. It was a great meal in Newport that will keep Dave’s carnivorous appetite happy for a few days. For two nights, we stayed at a great hotel in the Darling Harbour and watched an amazing firework show at 9pm right out of our 8th floor window. We continued ringing in the New Year with dancing shows and music bands, and a midnight display of fireworks with a panoramic view just minutes from our hotel. It was a show that will never be beat.
Today we fly out to Tasmania for more world class climbing, camping, and Aussie wildlife.

Happy New Year! All the best to everyone for 2010!

Blue Mountains

2009-12-13T05:43:00.000-08:00

For the past two and a half weeks we have been staying at our buddy Ken’s place who invited us to move in and make ourselves at home…and we did just that. We enjoyed the indoors for a change and took full advantage by watching movies, cooking in a kitchen, taking a shower regularly, and playing poker without headlamps or candles.
Ken was not only a great host but a fabulous tour guide. He showed us around a few climbing crags in the Blue Mountains and gave some recommendations for later. The Blue Mountains offered beautiful views of rocky, treed valleys, and featured, varied sport climbing on sandstone. Each crag offered something new and once again we enjoyed the multi-starred classics of each area. We had great climbing days that included flashing 25’s and sending a few 26’s and 27’s second go.
The routes were usually long and pumpy with short cruxes, decent rests, and superb movements.
Due to the textured, sometimes sharp rock and the harder climbing we took a few more rest days for our bodies to heal. However, one rest day included canyoning at Claustral Canyon which tired us out more than our usual day of climbing. The canyon was filled with beautiful ferns, dark caverns, and cold water. We hiked an hour to get down into the canyon and then began jumping into pools of water, abseiling three pitches into waterfalls and more pools of water, swimming down tunnels and chambers sometimes over 30m, and scrambling over rocks, boulders and logs. Even though we wore wetsuits we were still very cold by the end of the canyon and looked forward to the hour and a half hike out to warm up. It was an awesome experience and adventure that will be remembered as a highlight. Thanks Kenno! Just before we left the Blue Mountains we toured a smaller canyon with a short hike, water slides, a 3m jump into a water hole, and a 30m abseil into a waterfall and pool. Because this canyon was short and sweet we are planning to take Jen and Tony down this canyon when they arrive in Australia. We hope they enjoy the adventure as much as we did.
Right now we’re in Newport, Sydney at our buddy Oli’s house, a good bloke we met in the Arapiles at the start of our trip.
As our first introduction to Oli he played a good Aussie joke on us. Oli and his mates planted a rubber snake near our campsite and upon our approach to this snake we freaked out. The Aussie blokes watching the gag broke out into laughter, signaling something was up.
Today, Oli showed us around Manly (beaches and market), and took us climbing and bouldering in Palm Beach. For our second day here in the Sydney area we have already sampled a handful of great restaurants and pub life and are looking forward to more tours with Oli.
The selling of our van is looking good. We have had some interest and have showed it to some potential buyers. I think “Puff” will be off our hands in a few days and hopefully will give someone else a great road trip through Australia.

The Great Ocean Road, Nowra & Point Perpendicular

2009-12-10T23:16:00.000-08:00

G’Day Mates!
It has been a long time since our blog has last been updated. We are now in the Blue Mountains (close to Sydney) and have been very busy planning for the arrival of Jen and Tony who will be meeting us in Sydney on the 17th of December. We have a great couple of weeks planned with them in the Blue Mountains, New Zealand and camping in Tasmania.
Internet is not always easy to come by and neither is accommodation or rental vehicles. Give us a break, climbing for a living is tough work.

After leaving the Grampians early because of a 50 year heat wave we decided to see a little more of this amazing country. We drove down to the Great Ocean Road on our way north towards our last major destination on the main land, The Blue Mountains. The Great Ocean Road blew us away and was far more spectacular than we could have imagined. Sandstone towers stood tall out of the turquoise waters of the Southern Ocean. We checked out many of the sandy beaches and cooled off in the refreshing but very salty water. We took a small detour along Cape Otway which is the most southern part of Australia to see the Koalas. After seeing the lazy bears hardly move except to put the gumtree leaves in their mouths, it was no surprise that there were no Koalas in the Grampians because of the fires in 2005. BBQ.

Our next stop was Nowra. We stayed at a water ski park and canoed to the cliff each day. The climbing is steep sport, similar to Kentucky with less routes. Erin and I climbed our first Aussi grade 26.

The wildlife in Nowra gave us some surprises… we were woken in the middle of the night because our car was rocking back and forth. At first I thought it was our buddy Brett; however, after looking out the curtain I couldn’t see anything… yet the car was still shaking. Then we saw it. A Wombat (a small furry pig like creature) was scratching up against the side of our van. We also saw water lizards, a Goanna Dragon over a meter long, and baby birds being fed by their mother.

We lasted 5 days in Nowra while we waited for the Aussi Navy to finish shelling the seaside cliff we would visit next.

It was great to meet up with our friend Timmy, an Aussi who we met in Yosemite. He would be our local guide to the Point Perpendicular area. Point Perpendicular was one of the most beautiful climbing areas we have ever seen. It reminded us of our home crag Lions Head, in which you rappel in from the top. The climbs were along the seaside cliffs of the Pacific coast and were stunning. As promised by climbers we met in the Araplies, we had quite the adventure there. Humpback Whales were fully breaching out of the water just below our climb. We also saw Dolphins swimming below as we climbed high above our protection on the fragile white rock.

After a few days of great weather we had some rain in the forecast so it was time to finish our journey to the Blue Mountains where we would meet up with our good mate Ken, who we also met in Yosemite. Currently we are staying with Ken in Lithgow, climbing, canyoning and taking in the sights.

Stay tuned for the Blue Mountains update soon to follow.

Mount Arapiles & Grampian National Park

2009-11-11T20:02:00.000-08:00

We have been in Victoria, Australia for a month now living in Spring and Summer temps. We have been loving our life of living outdoors and rock climbing. We spent three weeks in the Arapiles climbing almost everyday. We soaked up most of their two and three star classic climbs from 1-3 pitches in length. The climbing was facey and steep, pocketed and ledgey, and always exciting! The atmosphere was very laid back...we would wake up in the morning, look at the rock from our doorstep and decide where to head for the day. Wildlife was at our doorstep too with visits from Stumpy tail lizards, noisy wakeup calls from the Magpies, and close encounters with jumping kanaroos. We have yet to see the Koala but we'll keep looking.
During our three week stay at the Araps we met some great "blokes" from Aussie that kept us well entertained. We will never forget Danny's, Oli's, Paz's, and Stu's antics and good humour. We learned how to kick and throw the footy from the boys as well as other campsite games (thankfully they all ended without anyone getting hurt).
We are sad to leave the Arapiles but can see us visiting this destination again sometime in our lifetime.

The Grampians was our next climbing destination, home of the famous Taipan Wall. We could see the glowing red Taipan Wall from the Arapiles and looked forward to our visit. We soon discovered that life in the Grampians was a little more remote, adventurous and tiring. We stayed at great campsites around the different climbing areas and found our way to each crag after some steep, bushbashing hikes. Each climbing area offered something new...sometimes trad, multi-pitch, steep, sport, or off roading fun! We once again enjoyed the three star climbs of each climbing area.
Our friends Brett and Jana joined us in the Gramps. They've quit their jobs for now and are taking to the road for travelling and rock climbing. We watch each other climb on neighbouring routes, get competitive in cards at night, and enjoy other little adventures or disasters everyday.
We have seen a little more wildlife in the Grampians.

The possums came out at night to eat what might have been left behind, a kookaburra paid us a visit every morning to enjoy big roaches we would find for him, and the kangaroos and wallabees came closer than ever.

Today we are off to the southern coast and travelling a few days to get to New South Wales. We will meet up with our friends and find some more rocks to climb.

Hopefully our next post won't take so long but we are in the bush out here!
Always safe, always having fun!
Cheers!

The Land Down Under

2009-10-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

Dave and I have been around the Melbourne area for a week now. We have been fortunate enough to stay with two friends from Guelph, Brett and Jana, who welcomed us and our luggage! They have been living and working in Melbourne for a year, and have tentative plans to travel and climb with us.

Dave and I took two solid days hunting for a van that would be suitable for our three month stay here. The last van on our second day was the van for us. Now we will be driving and camping out of our ’92 Toyota Town Ace, its name still unknown. It is complete with a comfy bed and a roo bar in front; metal bars to protect your car from jumping Kangaroos! Dave has done well test driving these vehicles, on the opposite side of the road, on the opposite side of the car and shifting gears with his opposite hand.

As a break from the city Brett and Jana drove us to the Arapiles for the weekend. They recommended some great classic routes to climb and showed us around the area. We have already seen some local wildlife and experienced the style of climbing the Arapiles has to offer, pumpy face climbing on traditional gear. The rock is Quartzite; it is red like Kentucky and wavy like the New River Gorge. The gear is very “sporty”, and the placements can get very creative.

Tonight we finally get our van and tomorrow we are off to the Arapiles (3.5 hours from the city). There is cheap camping right under the cliff that’s three kilometers long, so that will be our home for the next couple of weeks.

So far we are jumping right into Australian life and lingo.

Cheers Mate = Thank you
Bloke = guy
How are ya going? = How are ya doing?
No worries Mate = No problem
Flat white = coffee with milk
Eski = cooler

Portland to Los Angeles

2009-10-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

We were able to share a ride with our English buddies Rob and Robin to Portland, OR. We drove non-stop to reach our destination in the morning. We went to Callum & Rebecca’s house to prepare for our trip to LA and AUS, and to leave Sylvia (our Dodge Grand Caravan) in good hands. We’ll keep you posted how the couple did with our car when we return in May…pressure’s on C & R.

This time in Portland we had some friendly competition to keep us entertained. Rob and Robin were psyched to find out that we play tennis and golf. Sure enough the match was on! After a day of warm ups and games England managed to win the tennis belt, but not before Canada took the belt in golf. “You have to give some to get some”, isn’t that our motto?

We left our friends behind in Portland and met up with another great friend, James (best man at our wedding), who was a great host and tour guide in Los Angeles. We toured Venice Beach and all its attractions. The beaches in LA are surprisingly clean and beautiful for such a big city. There is something for everyone at the beach including swimming, surfing, biking, hand-ball, basketball, riding at the skate park, jamming with other musicians, painting on graffiti walls, and browsing shops and vendors. Later that night James surprised us with tickets to a show. We saw the famous conductor Gustavo and the Phil Harmonic Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. He conducted many of Beethoven’s classics which sounded beautiful in the outdoor theatre that is literally situated in a bowl like landscape. We are not huge symphony fans but this was a great experience and opportunity.

Thank you Callum, Rebecca, & James for your hospitality and showing us around your new home.

Farewell North America...Australia here we come!

Yosemite Highlights

2009-10-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

Our last few days in Yosemite will be as memorable as the rest of the month. We enjoyed some farewell BBQs, the Yosemite Face Lift party, and some great rock climbs that were still on our to-do-list.

Yosemite is a unique climbing destination. It hosts classic lines that were established in the 60’s and requires a determined, adventurous spirit to hike and find your way to the base of the route and to climb multiple pitches, often at your limit. Our favourite long classic lines in Yosemite include Central Pillar of Frenzy, Moratorium to the East Buttress of El Capitan, Northeast Buttress of Higher Cathedral Rock, Serenity to Sons of Yesterday, and the Rostrum. On most climbs we alternated the lead, unless it was a scary off-width pitch (Dave’s lead), and we made all summits in the daylight with time to spare for the descent. Most of our long routes were 8-13 pitches long, with a 1-2 hour approach and descent. Most climbs required an early 5am start. At the end of a hard day’s work a beer and a gourmet camp stove meal was a great reward as well as sharing stories with buddies at Camp 4.

Yosemite’s single pitch climbs were also a highlight: Outer Limits, Catchy and Catchy Corner at The Cookie, Bookem’ Danno at Pat & Jack’s Pinnacle, Lunatic Fringe at Reed’s Pinnacle, Moby Dick and others at the base of El Cap. There is more rock climbing for us in Yosemite and we’ll be back in May to climb Half Dome’s Regular Route when the days are longer and hopefully the line-ups are smaller.

Farewell Yosemite...we'll be back in the Spring!

Family and friends visit in Yosemite

2009-09-28T14:44:00.000-07:00

It was a pleasure to have our parents, Jen and Tony, come and visit us in Yosemite. To start our adventures with them we met in San Fransisco. We enjoyed an amazing day biking around the San Fransisco Bay, crossing over The Golden Gate Bridge, and finishing in Sausilito where we took a Ferry back to San Fran. Renting bikes was a great way to explore the waterfront and other scenic views.
Our next stop was Yosemite Valley. In Yosemite we hiked through Mariposa Grove, home of giant Sequoia trees that are thousands of years old. These trees are a rare treat to see. The largest Sequoia in Mariposa, named the Grizzly Bear, stands just over 200 feet tall with a base of 30 feet in diameter. Another tree, named the California Tunnel tree, was cut in 1895 to allow stagecoaches full of tourists to pass through.
Jen and Tony were blown away by the view at Glacier Point and just beyond the Wawona tunnel, where the Yosemite Valley landscape can be seen. Our parents were very easy to please. They hiked with us to various climbing areas to watch us climb. Tony enjoyed reading and relaxing at the cliff while Jen took pictures and cheered us on. We stayed in a little tent cabin by the Merced River. We saw a family of deer every morning, a peregrine falcon, and a bear swimming on its back with paws in the air.
It’s always a special treat to have your family visit and take interest in what you do, and to spoil you in little ways. We enjoyed some meals out and a bbq feast at Camp 4 with all of our new climbing buddies. We were sad to see them go but we look forward to seeing Jen and Tony again somewhere around the world.
Dave and Dennis, two friends from home, came to Yosemite for a week. They were keen to do some traditional climbing, and climbed well sewing up the classic 5.8s and Half Dome’s Snake Dike. Together we spent a day in Tuolume, bouldering some classic Kauk and Bachar problems. With 45 minutes until sunset, Dave and Dave, ran up a two pitch climb named the Hermaphrodite Flake, and they made it back to the car just in time. It has great meeting up with friends from home on our trip and we hope we will meet up with more as our trip continues. Make plans everyone!
We only have a few more days left in Yosemite Valley and we plan to make the best of them.

Yosemite Life

2009-09-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

We had our fill of Camp 4 life these past two weeks. The good part about Camp 4 is meeting instant climbing buddies from around the globe…the bad part is dodging rangers because you’ve stayed longer than your allotted seven days. We were very sly and sneaky with our Camp 4 living arrangements so we were only confronted once. Camp 4 will be memorable thanks to new friends Rob, Robin, Duncan, Kate, Simon and Hannah (England and Scotland), Ken and Tim (Australia), Yan and LP (Montreal), Robbie and Alyssa (Oregon), Julie (Georgia), and the Czech team.

We have been visiting many single pitch crags and testing our strengths on crack climbs of all sizes. The off-widths cracks (cracks that fit different parts of your body like your arm, knee, or entire body) are like nothing we’ve experienced. We have found those climbs and sections of climbing to be the most challenging and desperate. Inch by inch you literally “thrutch” yourself up the crack, out of breath and completely worked.
“Welcome to Yosemite”.
We have lots of multi pitch climbs left on our to-do list as our first and sometimes second attempts have seen line ups…even so early in the morning. With risks of getting stuck on the top of a climb at night, we always decide to bail and to try again another day. Our days here are running out but at least the weather is beautiful, the swimming is refreshing, and the climbing is never ending.

Stay tuned for more adventures in San Fransisco and Yosemite with parents, Jen and Tony.

Yosemite – Climbing, climbing and more climbing!

2009-09-10T14:35:00.000-07:00

After leaving Portland we drove the Oregon coast on our way to California. On recommendations we stopped at Cannon Beach, where they filmed some of the movie “Goonies”. The drive was beautiful with amazing coastal views, big trees, and twisting roads.

Now that were in Yosemite we are camping at the famous Camp 4 where climbing history begins in North America. We have been climbing for seven days straight on classic climbing lines established in the 60’s!
Camp 4 is home to many international climbers seeking out similar adventures over rock as us. On our first climbing day we met George, a 58 year old Czech climber, who visited Yosemite 30 years ago. We may return here when we’re 60, just like George.

Yesterday, Dave and I had our first encounters with the bears. While we were belaying each other, on two separate occasions, bears were less than 20 feet away from us looking for food. They know climbers packs are full of yummy calories. Our noise making and other tactics slowly deterred them but left us paranoid for the rest of the day. Hopefully, Yogi and Boo-Boo don’t find us again!

The climbing continues to inspire and challenge us everyday. Tomorrow, an 11 pitch classic is planned, starting our journey at 6am to avoid line ups like Canada’s Wonderland.

Rockin' Squamish

2009-09-01T17:57:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody!

We’ve been in Squamish, BC for the past month of August. This may explain why it has been so long since our last post. The friends, climbing, swimming and tennis kept us away from the connected world. At one time in Squamish someone counted 50 people from Ontario, most from the greater Toronto area. Squamish is a home away from home. The atmosphere while your climbing and the people you meet or re-encounter is friendly and encouraging. Our trip itinerary has received more beta than we could use, we’re psyched about all the new places we’re off to visit and ROCK CLIMB!
We succeeded in meeting some of our climbing goals. We climbed some old favourites, that I led this time, and some new climbs that we’ll add to our favourite list. We both pushed our limits climbing trad and feel great heading to Yosemite Valley, where more classics will be experienced for the first time. Some memorable moments in Squamish include visiting Sonnie and Lydia and seeing their new pad and Yoga Studio, camping with Martine and Vincent and hiking the Chief where we saw Jeremy Smith slack line 100ft across the North Gully (800ft drop), rope swinging and swimming at Brohm Lake, and playing (competitive) tennis matches. Erin’s birthday was celebrated on August 26th by climbing a long route climb called The Millennium Falcon followed by a trip to a local Indian restaurant. Thanks to some of our buddies who served as climbing partners and doubled our fun. Chris, Richie, Callum, Rebecca, Pam, Sonnie, Lydia, Bryan, Alisha,Colin, Megan, Guido, Mike, Neil, and Trevor.

Today, we are back at Callum and Rebecca’s place in Portland, Oregon recovering and preparing for our trip to Yosemite. It also happens to be the day we would have had to report back to work.What a feeling, our dream is finally here.

From 6 to 106

2009-08-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

Tied 100meters up the side of the cliff, freezing in a hail storm, and Dave with no shirt on was all enough to precipitate change. We decided to leave Colorado and head to the more mellow Vedauwoo, Wyoming.

Vedauwoo is known for a style of climbing that Erin and I are not that familiar with. The cracks are really wide and you have to put your body in the "off-width" crack and worm your way up the cliff. The temperatures dropped to as low as 6 degrees while we were there climbing, also the routes were very hard and falls were plentiful. So we decide to head for Oregon to see our good buddies Callum and Rebecca.

On the long drive from Wyoming to Oregon we couldn't drive past a favourite climbing area we had been to in the summer of 2005, City of Rocks, Idaho. We had an amazing day of climbing, starting with breakfast at the local Inn with lots of country culture. After a great day climbing 7 routes and enjoying the sun we were ready to get some R&R at our friends in Oregon.

Callum and Rebecca have an awesome little house across the street from the park in the north part of Portland. We have been here during a heat wave with temperatures getting to as hot as 106 last week. Fine dinning,slack lining, yoga and river floating take up most of our days now.

Tonight we are off to Squamish...we are hoping for sunshine.

Thanks to Rebecca and Callum for their hospitality and entertainment...see you in a couple of weeks.

Colorado

2009-07-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

We have been in Colorado for a week and have had an amazing time. On our first climbing day we met some new friends who welcomed us and took us in like we were two stray cats. Thank you Jamie and Allan for being so hospitable!

The climbing in Colorado has been adventurous. If we were cats we might have used up two or three lives already. We have climbed at The Palace (sport crag) where we had to fight our way across the fast moving Pouder River. Lumpy Ridge in Rocky Mountain National Park has been our favourite climbing area so far. Despite the hour walk in, 30min straight up, and the worrisome weather that comes in really fast, we have climbed two classic trad lines. The granite cracks and gear are bomber. We have been on the wall while a t-storm came in 1km away, and yesterday we experienced a hail storm that started to sting.

Today we will enjoy some Colorado Brewery tours at New Belgium, O'Dell's, and Ft.Collins, along with some R&R.

In a couple of days we are going to check out Vedauwoo in Wyoming, visit with Callum and Rebecca in Portland, OR, then up to Squamish, BC.

We're thinking of everyone back home,
luv ya!

On Our Way

2009-07-21T07:05:00.000-07:00

We have been homeless since Friday and our new home is our faithful silver dodge, aka Silvia. Dave and I had our last weekend at Old Baldy and Lion's Head; enjoying the company of our friends and climbing old favourites. Some missed a spectacular waxbomb and the open bar, but there could be some left over for next weekend.

We spent Monday touring Chicago and today we are on our way to Colorado.

Cheers!

2009-07-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

Before we could leave for our world tour we needed to say goodbye. Goodbye to our parents, friends, neighbours, neighbours pets, and of course our home cliff, Lions Head. We had a great start to our vacation and managed to visit with as many as we could. We will miss you all and hope to you can join us on part of our adventure!

Going off the Grid

2009-07-14T21:08:00.000-07:00

It's July 15th 12:11am and we are unofficially off the grid. Our phone and internet conection are to be disconected sometime today. Erin and I are sitting in our half packed office squeezing in some last minute research on our first destinations in Colorado. We can still be reached on our cell until October so I guess we are kind of cheating. We can't believe it's almost here.