Some slacklining

Hey all,

Here's another little video of me and a few buddies slacklining in Yangshuo Park on a rest day. Ray had a GoPro camera so there is a mix of footage in there...
The winter is slowly arriving here, it is getting colder and greyer but we are still climbing like crazy. I have also started my winter training, psyched to get super strong over the winter and crush some rigs in the spring! I might have some cool news soon too, a little writing project to do with my other blog, www.athletebychoice.blogspot.com - watch this space :)

A few routes at Lei Pi Shan

Hi again guys and gals,

Here's another little video from a day out at Lei Pi Shan recently. It has my good buddy and local strong man Aniu doing a lap on the uber classic 'Singularity' 5.12b as well as JJ having a shot on the tough 'Honky Tonk' 5.12d.

Sorry about the shaky camera again, I had a mishap with my tripod and had to hold the camera by hand again  :)

Enjoy!

Duncan

Finally, the breakthrough I've been waiting for...

So the autumn season is slowly creeping in here, albeit slowly. The leaves are changing colour and the weather is getting much better for climbing and, more importantly, sending.

Finally I have reached a breakthrough point in my climbing that I have been aiming at for a long time and I think it is of course all due to the training I have been following which has been working a charm... a few days ago on the 2nd of December I sent my first 8a+ / 5.13c / 30.

The route was one out at White Mountain called 'Gin & Tonic'. It is probably a touch soft for the grade but it is a great intro to the grade as it is my style (endurance with lot's of short boulders separated by decent rests.)and it is a 3 star route, awesome fun. I did the route on only my 9th try and while putting the draws on, I felt great and no where near my limit so I am super stoked knowing I'm not at my upper limit by a long shot yet!

I have stacks of other projects around town that I am close to as well and have more to try now that I am feeling confident and strong so today it's off to Lei Pi Shan to go try another project today.

Good times. Psyched!
D.

Another 'Y Files' - A Touch Of The Moon

Hey guys and gals  :)

This week the weather has been hot which is crazy for this time of year... I should be in a down jacket but instead I'm working on my tan... crazy! So because of this I abandoned my project at White Mountain despite being super close (fell at the last move... it would be my first 8a+ [Oz grade 30] if I had got it... argh!!!) and I have gone to hide in the cooler conditions at Moon Hill for the week until the weather improves again.

Here's a little clip of some fun routes at Moon Hill. The route in the movie, 'Red Dragon' is what I am working on up there now, it's also my Vimeo profile pic so you can see it a bit there to.

Alrighty, here's the video, enjoy!

The Y Files 1: Morgan Gerlitz - Caveman

Hey guys!

Here is my first attempt at a climbing video with the new camera. Please forgive some of the shaky filming and editing, it's my first attempt!

The video is of my wonderful girlfriend Morgan rocking out the classic 'Caveman' 5.11a at White Mountain.

Enjoy!

'The Y Files' are coming...

So I got myself a little HD video camera recently and I'm going to be bringing you guys a series of shorts all about Yangshuo, it's people and the climbing. I'm far from a professional videographer and only just learning to use editing software but I'll do my best... it should be fun :)

Enjoy!

A little photo project...

Here's a little collage I did yesterday. I wanted to take photo's of interesting colours and shapes and textures while riding to the crag and make a collage out of it. I took all of the photo's on the way to White Mountain yesterday and put them together to print up for our house. Here it is... enjoy :)

(click on it for a larger copy)

Emily Harrington sending Wacka Flocka

Here's a nice short from Andy Mann and Evolv of my buddy Emily Harrington sending her hardest route ever - Wacka Flocka 5.14b / 8c

Nice work sista! :)

Another cool short...

Here's a nice short bouldering clip from Louder Than 11...

Some videos for the morning...

Hi all :)

Here's a few cool short clips I watched this morning that I thought you might like... enjoy!



A cool bouldering short from Spain:




An except from the Scene, chatting with Dave Graham:




Enzo Oddo interview and climbing.. met this kid at the Roc Trip... he is smooth and S.T.R.O.N.G.

Petzl Roc Trip

Hi all!

So I am back and all settled in after more than 3 weeks up in Guizhuo Provence living in the amazing Getu Valley for what was the most fun climbing event I have ever been to.
The 2011 Petzl Roc Trip was a stunning success and the more than 500 people that came along for the ride had an amazing time. We climbed, we ate, we partied, we caught up with old friends and new... we had a blast.

Some of the highlights included seeing Gabriel Moroni crush his first ascent of 'Coup Du Bambou' 9a, Dani Andrada on his epic first ascent of his 8 pitch 'Corazon de Ensueno' with pitches up to 8c and including an 8b+ down campussing pitch... epic!

I even managed for easier things up to a few 7c+'s so it was a great trip all round for me too :)

It is hard to descibe just how fun it was so here are some pics and videos and links for you to check out to get a taste of just how it was... all the pics and vid's are courtesy of the Petzl website.

Dani Andrada on his epic "Corazon de Ensueno" - 8 pitches of up to 8c

The main hard wall inside the Great Arch - undercling pocket resistance fest's galore!

"Lost In Translation" - No explanation needed...

Here are some links to check out:

A nice photo slide show...
http://petzl.com/en/outdoor/petzl-roctrip/china2011/photos

And the update archive from the Petzl website that has updates live from the festival...
http://www.petzl.com/en/outdoor/archive/all/2011/10

And of course some videos :)

Big News, Big Plans, Good Times!

So first news is first... I just sent my first 8a (or 29 for you Ozzies)!!! Super psyched!
The route was 'Tsing Tao Beer', a route that was originally 7c+ but is considered good 8a these days. So happy! And it only took me about 10 shots so that's super encouraging.

And sending that put's me in a great frame of mind leading up to the Petzl oc Trip up in the Getu Valley in Guizhuo Province at the end of this month. We are heading there tonight for 3 weeks or so of tearing it up... Can't wait!

Finally, here are some pics my friend Hans took of me on the amazing 'Red Dragon' 8a+/30 at Moon Hill. I am doing well on it and I think it may go after we return from Getu.. So psyched! See you all in a few weeks!

Red Dragon... Mid crux...

Setting up for the last move to the chains...

The awesome double toe hook bat hang rest two thirds of the way up the route :)

Cool clip for today...

Morning folks :)

Here's a cool clip I just saw posted today. I spent a little bit of time here in Yangshuo with Sam last year when he and Emily came to Yangshuo for the climbing festival here. Great guy, lots of fun, super strong... check it out :)

Sam Elias on the seldom repeated Tomfoolery in Rifle Canyon. A route at 8c put up by Tommy Caldwell circa '96 or '97 is rarely climbed yet attempted by the best. An ultra bizarre style gets you up this route and Sam Elias made a repeat in the summer of 2010.

Shot and Edit: Joe Kinder
Camera: Canon T2i
Lenses: Canon 16-35 f2.8
Canon 85 1.8

Good friends doing great things!

This last week has been a great week for news from friends. Confirmation of an Oz contingent coming next spring to my new home here in China for a visit is top of the list and is followed by good friends doing amazing things all over the globe. The most amazing of these has to be the following two awesome sends...

Firstly Mayan Smith-Gobat, my good friend from New Zealand, absolutely crushing it in Yosemite Valley lately, climbing the amazing streak line of 'Peace' 5.13d in Tuolomne Meadows and capping things off with an absolutely amazing acheivment of freeing the 'Salathe Wall' 5.13b on El Capitan. She is an amazing person and athlete and I am so stoked for her.

Congrats Mayan, so well deserved!
Check it out on her website: http://www.mayanclimbs.com/

Mayan in front of El Cap (pic courtesy of http://www.mayanclimbs.com/)

The second amazing send of the week is that strong little monkey from the Blue Mountains in Oz, young Mr. Ben Cossey doing the ultimate Grampians bopuldering test piece 'The Wheel of Life'. I'm not going to mention a grade for this as it is sort of one of those 'great debates' in climbing but it is without a doubt one of the most amazing lines I have ever seen and is brick hard regardless of a number. Massive congrats to Ben for such a great acheivement. This is the 5th ascent of this testpeice now after Di Koyamada, Chris Webb-Parsons, Ethan Pringle and James Kassay. Mad props Ben, mad props :)

Ben Cossey on 'The Wheel Of Life', Hollow Mountain Cave, Grampians (Pic from 8a.nu)

That's about it right now. Just thought I would share some of the good news that's keeping me psyched right now! Now, out to the crag!

Peace, D.

The Season - An awesome video series

So I just got put onto a cool video series called 'The Season'. Well, 'The Season 2' to be precise. It is their second series of this cool story telling video format that is being shown on the Arc'teryx website (http://www.arcteryx.com/?EN) and at http://www.theseasontv.com/

Awesome footage, beautiful settings, excellent story telling; all in all an aweome watch.

Go check it out, there are 7 episodes of the Season 2 up online now with much more to come. The first season can be watched on ITunes by following the link in their 'about' section on the website.

Enjoy!

A nice Font video

Here's a nice little video from Fontainbleau that I just came across... nicely shot and edited, enjoy :)

A few pics from Wine Bottle

The sun came back out to play today giving a searing hot blue sky day for us to play in out at the crag today. With the recent reopening of access to Wine Bottle it was a perfect (albeit hot) chance to go play on some fantastic routes in the sun.

Here's a few photos of my buddy Jon Graham ripping it up on 'Where's The Jug?' 5.11a

Enjoy :)

Chinese Mountain Shenanigans

Check out these cool short videos of Kyle Dempster and Bruce Normand doing some epic first ascents in the amazing montains of Sichuan, China. Inspiring stuff!

http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=38596

The season begins!!!

So after months of temperatures in the high 30 celcius range and humidity peaking out near 100% the good temperatures and conditions of the autumn are finally peaking their heads out from under the steamy blanket of summer.
And with good temps comes more visiting climbers and more psyche and the town is starting to feel like a climbing town again with great folk from all over the world popping in on our early season to crush routes all over the place.
Psyche is high and the season is looking to be a great one already! In the last week I managed a quick ascent of 'Paper Cut', a great 7c+ at Lei Pi Shan as well as the amazing 'La Liao', 7c, at Banyan Tree (sans one move that I use a draw on as it tweaks the heck out of my old shoulder injury and we don't want a repeat of that now do we!)
So I am also going to try and be a little less lazy with my camera and get out and take some pics of things around here as things go down. I got out to Lei Pi Shan yesterday and snapped a few shots of my friends Fabrice and Leon on the amazing 'Da Bao Yu' 7b+, check them out :)

Fabrice Vanbecelaere from Belgium on 'Da Bao Yu' 7b+

Fabrice again... pocket pulling!


Leon Khazanov from Israel pre crux on 'Da Bao Yu'

Leon crushing mid crux

The amazing main wall of Lei Pi Shan... it's all steep up there! :)

Shan Xi Climbing Festival

So the other week I headed up to Shan Xi province with my buddy Jake to attend another crazy Chinese climbing festival.

It was the usual crazy event with nice hotels, police escorts everywhere we went, massive ceremonies and the usual political hulabaloo.

But it was great to see a beautiful new part of the country (despite the fog and rain) and to catch up with a heap of friends from anound the country that also came up for the event.

Good times all round really :)

Here's a couple of pics...

The foggy view from our hotel room to the cliffs

Police and military security for the event


Military everywhere...


At the drizzly opening ceremony


Ola with a pretty insect friend

The 70 metre high toprope routes that the comp was held on... pumpy!

Starting off up a route...

The finalists...

My good buddies Ryan and Kata

The drizzly closing ceremony...

These things always have lot's of good food :)

A few videos for the morning...

Hi all, just a few videos that I watched this mornning that I thought I would share...




A nice bouldering short from my good friend Richard 'Sticky' Dale


And this is a cool little website: http://www.youclimb.de/ - go watch the slacklining video on their front page, awesome!

Enjoy!

Back home and back to it!

So the crazyess of another Chinese Climbing festival is over nd I am back home in Yangshuo and heading out to Riverside today to try some of the new projects I bolted out there recently.
I will have some photo's of the festival I was just at up soon but for now here'sa cool video from BD about Alex Honnold... enjoy :)


http://vimeo.com/27728779

The Amazing Arnaud

Last year while bolting routes with the Petzl Team up in Guizhuo in preparation for the Petzl Roc Trip happening up there this October I had the great pleasure of bolting and climbing with some of my climbing heros, two of which were Arnaud Petit and Stephanie Bodet. They were inspirational to me in my early climbing years and still are, if not even more so today.
Here is a really nice video that I just saw of Arnaud doing the mega enduro 'Black Bean' 8b at Ceuse in France... on trad.
Epic.

Check it out and be inspired!

A few nice videos

I have been surfing around watching a stack of climbing videos online lately and thought maybe I would try and share few of my favorites every now and then. So here's a few for you today, enjoy!




Here's the trailer for the new Australian climbing film 'Smitten', it's out now, go get it :)





This is a short from the upcoming Chuck Fryberger film 'The Scene' which looks like it will be another great film from Chuck, look out for it soon.





And some straight up climbing porn... James McHaffie repeating 'The Big Bang' 9a recently at Lower Pen Trwyn in the north of Wales.

Hangboard Workouts

Just a quick one for you all...

I have put some hangboard routines that I am using at the moment up on www.athletebychoice.blogspot.com

There are 2; a pull up workout and an endurance workout. The hangboard is the only climbing specific training I am doing at the moment (aside from climbing on rock most days of course) alongside my strength and conditioning training and it has really been working a treat and I am seeing enormous gains in a short time frame... check them out :)

Duncan.

Training!!!

So the Fall season is coming up and right now is the time to ensure we are in top shape for the good conditions!
I am training like mad to get in shape and it seems to be working well. I am doing a large amout of cross training and developing some great cross training programs that are helping with my shoulder problem (my shoulder injury from a few years ago was playing up recently and now since my cross training programs it is all but perfect again!). The cross training is focussing on strength conditioning and I am feeling stronger and stronger every day and losing weight too. I am putting the programs and circuits on a new blog I have set up... check out:
http://athletebychoice.blogspot.com/
I'm working on some hard routes in preparation for my project out at Fuli too and getting good progress on routes up to Oz grade 30 so I'm feeling great right now!
Speaking of, I'm off to the crag so I'll see you all later!
D.

Home Sweet Home

Hi all!

So After a slight visa hiccup I had to bail from Taiwan a little early unfortunately. I had a great time climbing over there and catching up ith friends. Big thanks go out to the amazing Matt Roberston for his endless hospitality and to Adrien and Ya-Ping for the good times :)
I will be back to Taiwan one day soon for some more climbing, some surfing and maybe a mountain or two as well. So much to do in Taiwan!

I headed off to Malaysia for a few days to get a visa in Kuala Lumpur and wow, if you need a Chinese Visa but it in KL... 2 year multiple entry up to 6 months per stay... awesome, I don't have to worry about visa's for a long time now. Psyched!
I got to hang out with my great buddy Wei-Yeen who lives there in KL and is doing amzing work in the jungle with Sun Bears (her work sounds incredible!) and I got to eat great food relax for a few days then it was off home to Yangshuo.

I arrived home to find things are going great guns here. My fantastic flat mates have been bolting a new wall out near White Mountain which will have a stack of excellent routes, mainly over 5.12, all really long (read like 35 to 40 metres long) and gently overhung... super excited to try them out!

So it's back to training hard and getting in perfect shape for the upcoming fall season. Speaking of training check out www.bodyrock.tv - it is a website with free almost daily workouts done by a super fit girl who is distractingly cute. Her workouts are killer, try one of the bigger rep workouts or challenges... soooo hard. I am going to try to do one per day fr a few weeks to get in killer shape. Lets see what happens :)

Ok, I'm off to the crag soon, have a great day all! Go out there and get it!

A little touch of Taiwan...

Here is a little video of life here in Taiwan... it's not awesome as it is just filmed on my Ipod, but its better than nothing :)

And here are a couple of pics...

Ya Ping... music at the crag

Not a bad backdrop for a lazy sunday afternoon...

Life is hard... Adrien doing it tough

Taiwan - Tai Hao le!

So I am settled in here in Taiwan now and will be for another 5 weeks or so. My good friend Adrien and I are looking after our buddy Matt's apartment and his dog Skippy. We live in a place called Hsinchu which is a few hours drive from the amazing climbing out at Long Dong but we have a nice training facility here at the IClimb climbing gym so we are psyched. We headed out to Long Dong on the weekend for my first taste of the amazing sandstone sea cliffs they have on offer and I was super impressed.
Beautiful golden sandstone walls rising up out of the waves, quarts crystals coating sections of the walls and shimmering in the sunlight, blue and white waves crashing against the rock shore, friendly people everywhere and amazing food galore. I could get used to this place :)
Here are a few pics...

The view from our camping spot on the cliff tops

Sunrise over the ocean, this is what we wake up to from our camping spot

Luxury camping - roll mats and a pink mosquito net under a picnic shelt

Just in case we weren't aware...

That is our picnic / camping shelter up there on the cliff

Adrien taking skippy across the rope traverse to some of the sectors at Long Dong

Me on a fun little solo

Me and the stone and the surf

Another Long Dong classic completed

The infamous Skippy

Taiwan here I come!!!

So, news of the day is that I am sitting in Guanzhuo Airport waiting for my conne cting flight to Taipei, Taiwan! Super excited to be heading to a new place, seeing old friends (and making new ones no doubt), eating awesome seafood and climbing the heck out of some wicked coastal sandstone!

The last few weeks in Yangshuo have been good too. I had a slight incident with a hammer being introduced to my thumb so I didn't climb much but I have been bolting like crazy and have opened up a stack of new lines at the crag 'Riverside'. Super excited to get back there after Taiwan and finish that crag up, should be 40+ routes by the time I'm done :)

Watch this space for pics and stories of my adventures in Taiwan soon!

Psyched!!!

Not much to report...

So it's been a few weeks between posts again as there hasn't been alot to report really. Well, there has been a little, but not lot's.


So the weather is getting hot, hot, hot... and humid. It's sweaty good time out at the crag already and it's not even full summer yet. Crazy. But despite this things are slowly getting done. I have managed to get up a heap of the 5.12's on my list ( I wrote a list of all the 5.12's I hadn't yet climbed here in Yangshuo and I'm going around getting them done) and even a 5.13 too, my first in a while now and with attempts going well on some others I should be able to drag my ass up a few 13's in the fall I hope :)


We just got in the new Shaman's and Geshido's here at Evolv so I am rocking out in a pair of Geshido's thos week to see how they go. So far so good but I'll write up about them properly later. So far they are great on gently overhung stuff, loving them. Here's a pic of what they look like...

Only other news really is that I'm going on holiday soon. Yep, life here is tough so I need a holiday haha. I am heading to Taiwan with my good friend Adrien to house sit for our buddy Matt, look after his dog Skippy and head out for a heap of amazing trad climbing at the sandstone sea cliffs of Long Dong (I know, I know, but Long Dong means 'Dragon Cave in Chinese, so no jokes haha).

Super excited to check out a new place, plkug some trad gear and swim in the ocean for a few weeks... should be a treat :)

So that's about it for now. Gotta get my gear ready and get out to a nice shady crag for the rest of the day!

Always psyched!!!

Some pics from the Chicken Cave

Here are a few pics courtesy of my good friends Shane and Alon from climbing in the Chicken Cave.

First some pics lapping the really fun 'White Tiger' 7b+/5.12c/26

Then some pics of me sending the amazing, burly 'Grevious Bodily Harm' 7c/5.12d/27

L'Echo Des Montagne

So the weather has been getting much better around here. The rain is gone, blue skies abound and climbing is the name of the game every day. It's warm, like 30+ degrees celcius every day, but its great being outside right now! Climbing, swimming in the river, cycling around: life is great at this time of year!
This week has been great. I sent a 5.12a, 5.12c and a 5.12d in 2 days climbing and then did an amazinly fun 5 pitch 5.8 with my good buddy Brian. So much fun!
Check out the pics below for a taste of what life is like here when the weather is good ;-)