 |
| Giada, Kindergarden (AUS). Photo Giulia Paoletti |
This
time I was together with Giulia and we rented a cozy cabin in Wartook, instead
of staying in Stawell which is quite far away from most of the areas. Wartook
is in fact an awesome place where to stay: located quite close from the North
of the park, it is also reasonably handy for the Vic range in the South. Moreover,
this little hamlet is placed in the middle of the wildness, with kangaroos that
jump left and right in the backyard and the enjoyable sound of the birds which
hosts you every day. It was gorgeous to feel this Australian atmosphere right
next to the home door.
I chose to
come back to Australia for several reasons, but the main ones were two: checking
the Northern zones and climbing the new boulders in the South which have been
established last August. I was very excited to check the new stuff in the Vic
range.
As
probably some of you know, most of the Northern areas had been closed during my
first visit in 2015. This was due to a fire which hit the Grampians the summer
before; then climbers, hikers and tourism needed to let the wild gain its balance
again. I hence couldn’t see most of the classic sectors like Project wall,
Hollow mountain and Kindergarten.
Kindergarten
was actually the first I chose to check this year. It was ages that I wished to
climb on this wall and I couldn’t resist despite the thick mist of the first
morning. The rock is quite rough, but at the same time awesome: The texture
feels nice and the shades on the wall are beautiful: the right side of the wall
looks like a 3D painting drown ad sculpted by mother nature.
Sad
but true, there aren’t any real boulders to climb: all the problems can’t top out
and it is similar to other sectors where you can only make drop-off or forced
connections.
Afterwards,
we went to the famous Project wall, where I managed to sent the tall classic “Parallel
lines” V11 and made a reasonably quick work on the powerful benchmark “Mana”
V13. Both boulders have a gymnastic and funny style and, by the sunset, the Project
wall shows its best bright and orange shades! That was brilliant!
Finally,
we saw the Hollow mountain cave, first for a check then for a climbing day.
That
area disappointed me a lot since there are tons of lines which aren’t very logic:
connections left and right, climbing loops and problems which start somewhere
and end in the middle of the roof. For this reason I chose to grab only a flash ascent of “Dead can’t
dance” V11, letting all the other lines aside.
What
made me even more disappointed about The Northern Area was definitively the poor
ethical side of the community, especially seeing how the rock is dirty and
soiled. It wasn’t cool to see several climbers who often let the problems in
the craziest and dirtiest ways I have probably ever seen.
Kindergarten
and Hollow Mountain cave don’t get rain all year long and you could imagine how
the rock and the holds could be. Despite the infinitive doses of tick marks, several
holds have a super wide and permanent chalky halo around. This halo is often a
white, thick and irremovable crust. Right above this, there is usually the
fresh chalk left from the previous climber.
It
wasn’t always like that and obviously not all the people behaves with the same
approach, but that happened quite often. By the way, in these Northern sectors,
the sandstone has some wonderful bright orange and beige shades with some nice grippy
textures. It was a pity to see that most of the holds haven’t any of these
features anymore and the good rock is just part the blank side of the boulders.
Coming
up from Castle Hill, where everyone has an impressively sense of respect
towards the rock, it wasn’t the most lovely thing to see.
But
luckily, the wild and unknowing Victoria range in the South isn’t like that.
Down there, all the hikes are harder and most of the climbers doesn’t spend a
lot of time.
 |
| Mana, Project wall (AUS). Photo Giulia Paoletti |
This
side of the Grampians is basically unknown for the wide part of the community. The
paths are wild and covered by thick bushes. Sometimes they are also steep and
slippery and there isn’t any guidebook which can lead you into these areas. If
you put all of these elements together, it is clear that many climbers stay
away.
In
the south, I could enjoy the real Australian bouldering and the previous trip
in 2015 helped me to keep the expectations a bit lower.
It
was crazy to note how the rock was different from the North; not only because
of the natural rock conformation, but also because it hasn’t been ruined as
much as it was in the North. In fact most of the rock is still at its natural
statement.
One
of the things I have learnt during these years is how much the climbers’ traffic
depends on the fame of the areas. Once you need to get information, find the
boulders into a wild zone or go for some unknown problems, a wide part of
climbers usually lose the interest in it.
That’s sad
and amazing at the same time; but it is honestly more amazing to me! This is
why the Southern zone should stay protected a bit longer.
The
Vic range was the place where I mostly wanted to go and where most of the
inspiring problems are located. The first of the list were “Trillion Dollar
Coin” and “Wave Swoop”, which have a totally different style from each other.
For a reason or another, I only had one single session on both, where I wasn’t
able to get the proper feeling. While you are on the trip you never really know
how the plans could roll and how the agenda might change.
“Wave
Swoop” is very sharp, but definitively worthy. After a couple of goes I could
link it from one move in, but obviously all the problem is pressed into the
first action. A move which is quite far from my style and it involves a lot of things
that I am not used to do like having tough skin or climbing with stiff shoes. It
is also pretty hard and excited at the same time, but I somehow wasn’t ready to
invest a high dose of time for that.
“Trillion
dollars coin” is different and harder than the wave in Mt. Fox. It deals of
another problem I removed, but also another problem I added for my next trip!
Beside
these two lines, I really wished to see tons of other stuff but obviously I
hadn’t enough energies and time to check all of them.
“Survival
of the Prettiest” and “Golden Rule” have been definitively the best ones I have
climbed. Not only from the trip, since they can probably be among the coolest
ever.
The
end came always quicker than what you usually want and I unfortunately had an
annoying heel injury for the last part. I think it should have been bizarre
seeing me limping with two pads, among the bush and damning every step I did. I
could anyway stay positive, enjoying the rest of the days out (despite the
hikes, obviously J ).
This
last section have been spent upon a beautiful hill, trying a super hard and
amazing piece of rock called “The stepping stone”. One of the hold on Stepping
stone is in my opinion a contender for the best pinch in the Grampians and the
rock quality stands out from all the rest: This made me falling in love very
quickly. Beside the rock and the climbing which are awesome, It is also located
in an amazing area. Well, you might probably don’t like the path to get there,
but once you reach the edge of the hill, the location is stunning and it has
been good to spend four days feeling out of the real world. The problem is
hard, hard and hard, but definitively enjoyable! On the last day I also got
some progresses, but one move was still missing.
There was
nothing I desired more than grabbing that pinch, but at the end I couldn’t.
I Hope to
come back stronger one day, both to try it again and to check all the other scattered
gems of the South. See you next time OZ!
 |
| The Golden Rule, Australia. |
 |
| Survival of the prettiest, Australia. |
 |
| The X pinch, Australia. Photo Giulia Paoletti |
