50 shades of green

I spent most of my time in Germany marvelling at how insanely green everything was. I am used to the steely bluish-green of eucalyptus leaves.  I am used to the faded green of tired sun-bleached sugar cane.  I am used to dark green sea-weed on white sandy beaches. But the bright greens of the forests…

Bumbling round the ‘bungles

It all started on a dark and stormy night. The rain was closer to horizontal than vertical when Bekket and I locked the front door of our sharehouse behind us. We exchanged cheeky grins and  a quick thumbs up, then sprinted down the street to the spot where Bekket’s car was parked. The back of the car was…

Achtung Kamele: Climbing in northern Germany

Earlier this year Dirtbagjens was invited to speak at a conference in Germany. It was the perfect opportunity to visit his family and check out his native habitat.  I immediately booked flights and did my best to squeeze as much German into my brain as I could. I found one really great podcast called Coffee Break German, which I listened to…

Lacquerhead – a tale of projecting, training and video making

Last weekend I sent my project, a short and dynoie climb called Lacquerhead (25) on the central coast. It was super fun and I learned a lot during the process. Firstly I learned that structured training for climbing works really well. The weeks before I climbed Lacquerhead was the first time that I actually stuck…

Coastal climbs and boutique beer

Dirtbagjens has been experimenting with film lately. I can sense a new obsession developing. We had to buy a box for all the batteries, SD cards and camera lenses that are multiplying in our tiny apartment. New attachments and other gadgets are being 3D printed as I write this. Last weekend all the cameras made…

Climbing through the monsoon

Earlier this month I switched from being a corporate dirtbaglawyer to an environmental dirtbag lawyer. In the gap between jobs, dirtbagjens and I made it over to Thailand for a week of climbing on beautiful limestone. We also experimented with film for the first time.  Dirtbagjens turned the trip into our first short travel film:…

Stupid grins

‘You have to try the tree jump. It’s awesome.’ That’s when I saw that worrying grin spread across Starkey’s face. ‘Seriously, you’ll enjoy it’ The grin got wider. It’s the kind of grin that warns you that whatever he’s suggesting is slightly mad, somewhat terrifying, possibly painful and probably survivable. I usually see that grin at…

Manchmal ist es zu kalt zum Klettern

My first two days of climbing in the Frankenjura were spent brushing snow off of hand holds and coaxing my frozen fingers into tiny pockets in the limestone. I was quickly revising my mantra from ‘Es ist nie zu kalt zum Klettern’ to ‘Manchmal ist est zu kalt zum Klettern’ By the end of the…

Es ist nie zu kalt zum Klettern

“I’ve just thought of another phrase you need to learn” said Dirtbagjens as he threw our haulbag into the back of the car. “Alright, what is it?” “Es ist nie zu kalt zum klettern” he said, grinning. “Es issst nee tsoo cold fur klettering?” I hoped that I hadn’t just said something terribly rude in…

Agamemnomnom

If  you drive out of my hometown, and head south-west for exactly 1,234 kilometres, you will reach Arapiles. Australia’s trad climbing mecca. If you walk a few hundred metres from your car, you’ll find a route called Agamemnon. If you look in Simon Carter’s guidebook, you’ll find this classy and sophisticated shot of a climber…

Climbing with girls

Last weekend, I went climbing in the Watagans National Park.  There were six of us there that day.  Three guys, three girls.  At some stage during the morning we split off into two groups to climb at two different ends of the crag. Girls at one end. Guys at the other. I started up a…

Bunny Bucket Buttress – Round 3

Bunny Bucket Buttress is a 270m climb in the Blue Mountains. I had climbed in twice over the course of 2014. The scoreboard was sitting at: BBB: 1 Dirtbaglawyer: 1 In May 2015 the opportunity arose to climb it again. I welcomed the chance to settle the score. I realise that thinking of a climb in…