April Climbing trip

On Saturday 7 April Mum, Dad and I left for a week long climbing up north. Our first big stop on the journey was at Ohakune, where we met up with Kristen Foley and climbed at White Falls on Mount Ruapehu. I did Krakatoa (25) and worked on The Wraith (28), and Kristen sent his long term project, Retaillack (28). Mum did a 19 and both Mum and Dad worked on Krakatoa. The sun was setting as we walked back to the car and we drove up to our accommodation at Mangakino in the dark.

Sunday 8 April

We climbed at Waipapa. I worked Hands Christian, a hard 23 slab, and sent this third go. Next I had a go at Handsome Julio (Direct) (28). After skipping out the crux and finally reaching the chains, I decided to leave my draws up and work on this the next day.

Monday 9 April

After warmimg up I had a couple of go at Handsome Julio (Direct). On my second go I managed to work out, with some help from the picture in the purchased-that-day guide book, the crux sequence. The sun was on the route so I decided I would go for the send the next day and rest for the rest of this day. Mum sent her project from our last trip, Name Game (21), and we went back to our accommodation.

Tuesday 10 April

I sent Handsome Julio (Direct) first go of the day. Next we decided to head over to Froggatt and work on Burn (28). I put the the draws up then had one redpoint go and fell off on the crux.

Wednesday 11 April

I spent the day working Burn, but kept falling off on the crux.

Thursday 12 April, rest day

Friday 13 April, last day of trip

The rest day worked and I sent Burn first go of the day. Next I did Hold on to Your Face (26) second go then tried Double Leaning Jowler (28). I felt good on Double Leaning Jowler and would have had another go, but it started to rain so we packed up and went home.

Photos:

1: Krakatoa
2: Hands Christian
3: Mum on Terra Incognito (18)
4: Burn

NBS Turakirae

On Saturtday 25 February I headed out to Turakirae Head to compete in round 3 the National Boulder Series. As soon as the comp started I headed over to Thor's Hammer (V9, FA by me) and started working on this. I was making progress, but before I could get really close it started to rain. After huddling in the Bronx cave until the rain stopped I did Sour Mash (Left) (V5) and Sour Mash (Right) (V6) which apart from the top outs were both dry. I then went around to Noir Désir (V9) and started working on this. The top, post crux, holds were still wet so I took a short break and did Game On (V5), Speed King (V7) and Speed King's extension Pro Series (V8). After many attempts and much time I managed to do Noir Désir and could move on. I tried Brassneck, a V8 starting as for Thor's Hammer, but I was too tied to do this so I went over to Rotund boulder. Within a few attempts I had done Über Alles (V8) and Über Rotund (V7). I moved on to Sawn Off boulder and quickly did Conundrum (V8) and Sawn Off Right Variant (V7). With not much time left in the comp I tried Über Huck (V7). It took me a few goes to recall the beta, but I ticked this one off as well. The comp finished and my top eight climbs were V9, V8, V8, V8, V7, V7 V7, V7 giving me 1021 points, enough for me to win the comp. All the climbs I did I had done before, but it was nice to do so many in one day. Mum and Dad both had a good day too. Mum repeated her hardest climb to date, Game On, and Dad repeated all of his 8 hardest Bronx climbs. A week or so later when the series had ended I found out I was the winner the series. Full results are available here.

NBS Froggatt

On Friday 17 February Mum and I left for round 2 of this year's National Bouldering Series at Froggatt Edge. Half an hour into our journey we realised we had left the boulder mats behind! Since we had barely started the journey we went back home to collect them and added an hour to our trip. After a long car ride up to Froggatt we set up camp at the school camping ground and went to bed early.

Saturday 18 February, day of the comp

After registering and receiving our topos we waited around for half an hour before the competition started. For most of the day I climbed with Wiz, Josh, Peanut, Isaac and Kaze, all guys from my age group at the indoor comps. We warmed up in Animal Biscuit Valley and I sent a V4, V5 and a V6 second go. After struggling on Power On (V7) for a while, I moved on to Toilet Block, sending another V5 along the way. At Toilet Block I flashed two V6's and a V5, as well as redpointing Double Trouble (V6). We then moved on to Riverside and worked on Duck Fat 2.0 (V9 in the comp, but felt like V8/7 to me) and after a lot of goes I managed to send this. The others thought I went off route but later I talked to Liam, who did the first ascent, and he thought my sequence was fine. Next we did Kiwi Kiwi Attack, a V6 dyno to a sharp jug. I needed tape to send. The others moved on but I stayed until the horn blew and time was up.

At the end of the day I came second in the Expert Male category with a score of 576 points comprised of my top eight problems: a V9 (233 points), five V6's (55 points each) and two V5's (34 points each).

Sunday 19 February, route climbing at Froggatt

I worked on Burn (28) but I was too tired from the day before and kept falling off on the crux. Mum had a good day though, flashing Monsterpiece Theatre (20).

Monday 20 February, Waipapa

I felt too tired to climb well at Froggatt so Mum and I decided to check out Waipapa. At the crag we met Bryce and Jamie, who had both put up a lot of new climbs there recently, and they showed us around. Mum did the third ascent of a 17 that Bryce had bolted that day, and I sent a couple a 26's: Utopia (third go, third ascent) and Yoda (second go, second ascent).

After climbing we hopped in the car and made the long journey home.

World Youth Champs Summary

Because of exams, which finished some weeks ago, I was busy and didn't get around to updating my blog. So here's a summary of the World Youth Champs.

Wednesday 17 August

We had a one and a half hour train ride to a different climbing gym with a ten metre speed wall. When we got there we found out they no longer had the speed holds up on the wall (we found some of them in the boulder room), so we did onsighting instead. After some not great first attempts Ken gave us a team talk about how, after going to the swimming complex the day before, we were in 'holiday mode' and needed to switch into hard climbing mode. After Ken's motivating talk I was putting more effort in and getting further on the climbs.

Thursday 18 - Sunday 21 August: last days in Munich

We had three more days in Munich. We went to the Dachau Memorial Concentration Camp and watched the semi-finals and finals of the Boulder World Cup at the Olympic Stadium. One night we watched as more and more people arrived outside our hostel to film a scene or part of a scene for a movie. On Sunday we caught a coach to Imst, Austria.

Sunday 21 - Wednesday 24 August: Comp prep in Imst

We climbed on the indoor wall on Sunday and Monday (the Comp would be on the outdoor wall) and met some of the other competitors who were also doing some last minute training. On Tuesday we went up to the Alpine Coaster for the third year running but the ride didn't seem worth the money so I sat around instead.

Thursday 25 - Sunday 28 August: The World Youth Champs

My first qualifier went ok but I think I could have got further. The climb was very cool and I enjoyed trying it. The next day on my second qualifier I psyched myself out about a move low down and fell off there. I was very frustrated and disappointed about that climb.

In the speed qualification I did better than last year's time and got under 20 seconds.

The team's results were

Junior Male

Daniel: lead: 54, speed: 26 (16.99)

Youth A Male

Christoph: lead: 34, speed: 27 (18.76)
Sam: lead: 65, speed: 33 (22.08)
J.J. (me): lead: 67, speed: 30 (19.80)

Youth B Male

Josh: lead: 39, speed: 27 (21.23)
Kaze: lead: 46, speed: 32 (33.36)
Peanut: lead: 49, speed: 28 (22.90)

Youth B Female

Tayla: lead: 39, speed: 29 (34.29)
Aiyana: lead: 45, speed: 32 (46.05)
Alex: lead: 61, speed: 31 (45.93)

The next day it was raining. The semi-finals were in the morning and we all went down to watch. I got very cold and wet but I stuck it out to the end. In the afternoon the clouds cleared and the mountains all around were covered in snow. In the evening we watched the finals and then the medal ceremony.

On Sunday, the last day of the competition, we headed down to watch the speed finals and trade some of our team uniform. I ended up with a Swiss hoody and a Singapore singlet. We went to the after party that afternoon but the only countries attending were us, the Ausies, South Africa and Japan.

Monday 29 August - Thursday 1 September: Heading back home

We had another long coach ride back to Munich. In the afternoon we did some shopping and I somehow managed to get left by myself in the climbing shop. Because Glenda told us not to go off on our own I made my way back to the hostel and waited there.

We left Munich the next day and travelled back to Auckland with a short stop in Singapore. We arrived in Auckland at 11:00 at night so there were no domestic flights until the next day. Most of us were met by family but Glenda, Sam, Christoph and I all had to stay the night and fly out the next day.

The next day I arrived in Wellington and Mum, Dad and Tessa were waiting for me. I was Home.

Photos:

1. Peanut on his first Qualifier
2. Josh on his first Qualifier
3. Sam on his second Qualifier

Friday 12 August

We had a rest day and went climbing gear shopping. I bought a pair of 5.10 Arrowheads and some of the others spent almost all their money.

After lunch we took two trains and a tram to Nymphenburg Palace and I took lots of photos.

That night Daniel and I did the video diary.

Saturday 13 August

During our first two days climbing we took it easy because of jet lag, but were back to training hard now.

Sunday 14 August

Because it was Sunday almost all the shops were closed and the gym opened late. After hunting around for some time we found a bread shop and had sandwiches for lunch.

Monday 15 August

This was a public holiday so the shops were still closed. Training today was all about getting the boom (German slang for pump).

Photos:

1. Nymphenburg Palace.
2. Josh, Aiyana, Tayla and Alex outside Nymphenburg Palace.
3 to 5 Alex, Aiyana and Kaze training at the gym.

Munich Day 1 & 2

Wednesday 10 August

When we got to Munich we caught a train to our accommodation and had breakfast there. We couldn't check in to our rooms until 2:00 so we went for a walk and played hacky. After lunch we went to the climbing gym and climbed for a while. The climbing gym was massive. It had two indoor, NZ-climbing-gym-sized rooms and an outdoor wall. There was a boulder room downstairs with set problems and another one up stairs with campus boards and other training stuff. That day, though, we just climbed in the first room.

Thursday 11 August

On the way to the way to the climbing gym we went to an old church and some of us went up to the top of a bell tower and took photos of the view.

Photos

1. View of Marienplatz from bell tower.
2. Peanut, Tayla, Aiyana and Alex in the bell tower.
3. The bell tower.
4. The team at Marienplatz.

Christchurch to Munich

On Tuesday 9 August I left Christchurch, via Singapore on Singapore Airlines, for Munich, Germany, along with the New Zealand Youth Climbing Team. The members of the team were:

Adults

Ken: Coach
Glenda: Manager
Ari: Manager

Junior Male

Daniel

Youth A Male

Christoph
Josiah, JJ (me)
Sam

Youth B Male

Kaze
Josh
Adam, Peanut

Youth B Female

Alex
Tayla
Aiyana

After training in Munich for a just over a week, we would head to Imst, Austria, to compete in the IFSC Climbing World Youth Championship.

After saying good bye too our parents we went though security and boarded our flight.

On the first flight I watched five movies: Kunfu Panda 2, Source Code, Thor, Kunfu panda and Hanna.

At Singapore airport we had a five hour stopover before our next flight and I sent an email back home.

On the second flight I had three seats all to myself! I slept for most of the flight and only watched one movie: Red Riding Hood.



Photo: from left to right top to bottom: Ken, Ari, me, Tayla, Alex, Aiyana, Christoph, Sam, Daniel, Kaze, Peanut, Josh, Glenda.