G Man v. Frosty - A tale for those who love happy endings...

Keep going mate, you're almost at the first bolt!

Graham Fairbairn attempting Frosty, circa 1993.

Photo taken from the first Nowra Guidebook.

A story that has been over a decade in the making came to a happy conclusion at Rosies a few weeks ago. Frosty, now a classic 29, was the first route bolted at this crag in he early nineties shortly after the crag was discovered by Paul Westwood. 

Little Graham standing below Rosies on the day the crag was discovered! No Bolts, no chalk, just potential!

Jarred McCulloch put the bolts in and originally envisioned the line going right to the top of the crag (the finish still hasn't been climbed). At the time, Jarred's dreams were haunted by the sinister figure of Frosty the Bondage Clown who had a fetish for the colour orange! And so the route was named. After departing the Nowra scene to start breeding, Jarred bequeathed the route to Graham Fairbairn, then commonly known as Little Graham. Graham sensibly decided to route should finish at the obvious break, below the 8c finish and threw himself at it for a while. During this time the route became controversial as a bottom-feeder tried to steal the first ascent. To prevent this, a tyre was padlocked to crux bolt for a while! Graham then burned himself out and abandoned Frosty, Nowra and climbing all together. 

As this saga was unfolding the real estate around Frosty was increasing as every other piece of climbable rock at Rosies was bolted, cleaned and climbed. Frosty went from lonesome figure on mighty wall to one of a number of classic lines. But Frosty sat idle and unloved until Andrew Bull took up the challenge and made the first ascent. A few years Graham, now known as G Man fell in love with climbing again and has jumped back into the sport with he same passion he had a teenager 15 years ago. Frosty still called G like a siren luring a sailor onto the fatal rocks. But this time a more cunning navigator was on the bridge and the G Man sailed safely to the anchors!

News Update

Things continue to buzz along at Nowra with plenty of ascents of all the classics. JJ got the coathanger out in the Grease Cave and busted into the Vehicle Of Hate 28 for a well deserved tick. At Bartondale, Christina Bedard found joy on the smooth stone of Krusty 28 while nearby at Rosies, Al Price made a rare ascent of the punishing Beefmeister 32 and Andi Richardson cruised up Frosty 29. Al's been going bonkers with the bolt drill, so watch this space for more new route action! (As always, please keep off the routes until they're climbed.) There's been plenty more happening, but as we've been unable to make it down for a few weeks we haven't had our finger on the Nowra pulse. So if you've done anything or know of anyone that has, let us know. Email us at climbsomemore@yahoo.com.au and we'll put it up. We don't want this blog to only be about hard routes from a select few.

More Good Times

Before departing our shores for more limestone endowed places Vince and Helen Day spent three weeks getting into the traveling climber lifestyle at Nowra. Where else would you start a world tour of classic sport climbing areas? Helen added Shocked 26 and a second ascent of Chuck Steak 26 to the list of routes previously reported and Vinnie made the third ascent of Tramp Stamp/Trailer Trash 32 in the Grease Cave. There's a bit of confusion about the name of this route because even Zac's not sure what he called it! He told some people Tramp Stamp and others Trailer Trash. He likes to keep us on our toes!

Meanwhile Zac Vertrees has been working his harder version of the Grease Cave roof. This one goes up White Trash to just before the chain then follows a rib leftwards to join Tramp Stamp about halfway through the roof! This one's so good it's going to need at least three names!

Al Price's insatiable appetite for tickage has continued unabated with a recent ascent of Black Parasite (now considered more like 31 than the original 29!) and a flash of Comin' At Ya Pundy 29 shortly after redpointing The Para. 

Lauren Chandler continues to work her way through the classics with recent ascents of Sid Vicious 26, Games Burger 25, Abdulmajid 24 and How Much Can a Koala Bear? 24.

At Thomo's, Chris Webb-Parsons made a flash ascent Vehicle Of Hate 28 and ticked the now fashionable Still Life With Chalk Bag 26.

The much talked about project of the moment is Al's monstrosity over at Cheesedale. This route climbs Metamorphosis 30 (a route first bolted by Brian Rattenbury, ground up, and climbed a few years ago by Pete Tosen after Rat took up fishing) and then launches through some crazy boulder problems and lots of very steep territory. As the route follows the biggest, steepest line at Cheesedale, people have been sniffing around up there for years. At about the same time Cheesemonster was being bolted, Tony Barten put the first dogging bolts in, bolting down about a third of the route before deciding he had bitten off more than he could chew and abandoning the route. Some years ago, Zac continued Tony's work, added more dogging bolts and drilled a few ring slots, but didn't come back. In finally fully bolting the thing and starting work on it Al has invested his own time, effort, funds and vision and deserves a fair crack at it. Please respect that and stay off the route.

We've added a blog sidebar which links to other Aussie climbing blogs (let us know of any more) including JJ's new Nowra Of The North blog which highlights the goings on at the fabled Goat Cave. Check it out.

Season 08 Hots Up

Season 2008 at Nowra just keeps getting hotter! Actually, I mean cooler. Literally that is. Cool temperatures, southerlies and clear skies have meant that the holds have been sticky and the sendage is happening. The Al and Andi show rolled into the creek on Saturday and left all routes in their wake. They warmed up at The Grotto both sending the now classic Funky Gripsta 27, Al flashing the route. Funky G also received a quick ascent from Dapto's own Paul Mehag. Onto the creek,  Al cleaned up Mr Bubbles 29,  Sideshow Bob 27  and flashed Krusty 28 at Bartondale, and did Aloha Paradise 30 at Rosies. Not one to be left out, Andi, having put Physical Graffiti 31 to bed midweek, also got in on the action with a fast send of Mr Bubbles.

Meanwhile, over at Thompson's, Helen Day got her world tour off to a flying start with ascents of Still Life With a Chalk Bag 26 and Cowboy Junkies 25. Blueys Hard Women Jarmila Tyrril put her fingers of steel to good use and  sent Skin To Skin 29, following up her recent ascent of White Trash 27.

Sunday was also exciting, with Chris Webb-Parsons ticking the stout Beefmeister 32.

It's a bit off topic, but there is a buzz on the street about the "Nowra Of The North", The Goat Cave at Buladelah. This fine piece of crazy stone has been a closely guarded Newcastle secret for at least the past 100 years. Justin Jefferson and Dan Wilde have finally given up ignoring the longest, steepest section and have some wild pumpfest projects on the go. You'll need to pack at least 16 draws for these ones! The classics are getting lots of repeats, so watch this space!

Andi Richo

14 Hours

20 Energy Gels

1 Coffee

2 pieces of raisin toast

500mL of Endura Max

5 litres of sports drink

20 Routes

4 days to come down afterwards!

Andi Richardson at the 24 Hours of Power...

Priceless!

24 Hours Of Power - The Movie

Hot out of the editing suite, all the action (actually only some of the action) from 24 Hours of Power can be seen when you click here. Enjoy!

The Aftermath

In the week after the 24 Hours of Power the pace has continued strongly. The day after 24 Hours of Power while the rest of us were nursing tired and sore bodies, Tom 'The Butcher' Farrell made 2nd shot ascents of Slip Slop Slap 29 at Thomo's and the stout Evil E 27 (28?) at The Hood. Oh to be young and able to recover so quickly...

Last Saturday Al Price continued to work his way through the harder Nowra classics, flashing Cheese Monster 30 at Cheesedale.

On Sunday the it was standing room only in the Grease Cave as many routes were fondled but very few chains clipped. Sexy Is The Word saw a bit of attention, Mark Withers gave it a bash after a morning well spent ticking the new improved Jug To Jug V11? at Cheesedale. Ren Bombala ticked Pulling On the Porcelain 23 on his first visit to the cave after a monumental first attempt which saw him denied with the chains in reach. I tried to popularise the little top-rope problems below the start of Lost Weekends, the 22 is a classic! Andi Richardson added to his Grease Cave resume, Cruising up Love Bug 27 and Inflatey Katey 26. 

There was strong Canberra contingent at the crag backing up after the bouldering comp there on Saturday. Tick Of The Day went to Ester who climbed the hardest 25 in the known universe A Very Nice Piece of Cake (this opinion maybe influenced by the fact that we're both short and shit on slabs). Strong Canberra lad Joe Horan made an impressive ascent of Top One Thomo 27. Great stuff!

JJ has up loaded some photos from the 24 Hours of Power BBQ. Check them out here.

Carlie is working hard on the 24 Hours Of Power Video. Watch this space...

Thanks to Lauren Chandler for your really positive comments on the ACA forum. We'll hold you to your promise to be in it next year!