Australian Editor’s note to issue twelve of Vertical Life. Download the Vertical Life App from iTunes or the Kindle Fire App Store here. Tyranny is a four-bolt route on Spurt Wall. The crux is at the first bolt, past a back-three undercling pocket that you muscle up into, but even after you’ve surmounted that a sting in the tail awaits a metre or two above the last bolt. Here the route kicks back from overhanging to a slab, the holds get small and greasy, and you have to make a…
Tom Hoyle talks to Derek ‘The Dispatcher’ Thatcher, the self-confessed climbing nerd, master of the slopey, frictionless Castle Hill top-out, and indubitably the most productive New Zealand climber of the last ten years BANNER IMAGE: Daniel Jenkins Derek earned his nickname ‘The Dispatcher’ a long time ago. The moniker’s due to his uncanny ability to send things no matter how unlikely the solution might seem. Since earning the handle he has relentlessly refined this ability to solve climbing problems, applying his…
Elizabeth Cuskelly profiles Queensland climber Matt Cochrane, for whom 2014 was a cracker of a year This year has been a big one for Matt Cochrane: he’s done a grade-30 trad ascent at Mt Coolum cave, taken out the Open division for both the bouldering and lead Queensland State titles, had trips developing new blocs in Macintyre Gorge and has generally been a bit of a climbing beast. If Australia had the equivalent of the all-American stereotype, Matt would fit…
In the world of hydration there is a lot of hype and hyperbole, VL‘s expert on feeding and fuelling for performance, Amanda Cossey, gives you an effective sports drink you can make yourself. In fact, courtesy of the eminent nutritionist, Alan McCubbin, here are two do-it-yourselfs that are perfect for long, sweaty days; For Amanda’s complete article on hydration download Issue 12 of VL here. Recipe #1 (contains no fructose so has a milder flavour and more suitable for shorter days)…
Trent Searcy has been throwing himself into The Hole again – this time plumbing its dark depths for the The Wormhole Search.
