We speak to Sam and Liam Healy, identical-twin crushers from Sydney who prove that no matter how similar two people may be they will still not climb boulders the same way. Sam and Liam have been climbing extremely well of late. At home in Sydney, recent ticks for Sam have included Double Demerit (V13; which seems to have dropped a grade of late from V14), One of a Kind (V13), Deep Blue Sea (V12; down from V13), Tyler Durden (V12)…
Ryan Siacci outlines the beauty and the (tips) carnage of the upcoming Passchendaele V2 Bouldering Festival, which is happening the weekend of 20 October. Exactly a century ago, the Allies and the Germans were engaged in a terrible and titanic struggle as they fought for control of the land around Ypres, Belgium. Some of the bloodiest battles of the Great War took place in the apocalyptic hellscape near Passchendaele, a small village reduced to a smouldering ruin by years of…
Precious Object JJO’brien – Coolum Cave Community Stick-Clip It could easily have been my knee pads: shared amongst so many of Australia’s climbing illuminati, they contain enough genetic material to breed a one mutant super climber. Or my Dr Dre’s that keep the madness at bay. My Red Chili’s, my Volleys. But truly it would have to be, and it’s not strictly mine, the Coolum Cave Community Stick-Clip. Without it the cave would be just an inaccessible stack of dangerous improbabilities….
Break the routine – A route setting masterclass with Jacky Godoffe WORDS: Garry Williams, IMAGES: Simon Madden A gym can have community, a gym can have yoga, it can have chill vibes and all the best coffee but if it hasn’t got good setting then it’s done for. The explosion of climbing gyms means route setting is becoming a serious business, Garry Williams – head setter at Northside Boulders and The Lactic Factory – went to French legend Jacky Godoffe’s recent Masterclass, looking…
Yi Chao Foong on the first ascent of the Cape Pillar Trident’s final prong, 44 years after Mendelt Tillema and his merry men climbed the first two prongs WORDS: Yi Chao Foong, IMAGES: As credited 10th December, 2016 I stare at my feet, ignoring the drizzling rain as I focus my centre of gravity over a shallow toe jam my trembling right foot is in. In my peripheral vision I spy my two RPs behind a flake that looks unlikely to…
Matt Farrell gets into trouble in the mountains of Pakistan WORDS & IMAGES: Mat Farrell I wake up in a bed. I haven’t slept in one in a month… two months? My fingertips are swollen, split and stiff. My feet a mass of blisters. My lips burnt and tender, but I’m otherwise fine. Sergiu is more or less the same. I still woke with the sun at 5.30am. I can’t be in bad condition then, although I feel that I ought…
