Oz comp climbing hopeful, Oceana Mackenzie, has been awarded a sought-after Olympic scholarship designed to help participants in fringe sports to qualify for Tokyo 2020. In the run up to each Olympics, the Australian Olympic Committee petition the International Olympic Committee for the scholarships, which are designed to help participants in less-well funded sports to qualify by relieving some of the financial burden. Because the three Australian recipients of the Rio Games equivalent scholarship all qualified and went on to do well, this…

As the temperatures have dropped in recent weeks so the steady number of big ticks has risen. Tom O’Halloran sent a project he bolted three years ago at the Underworld in the Blue Mountains, giving it the very uninspiring name of Sack o’ Woe (33/34).He says about the route, “It’s ultra short and powerful, the holds are all pretty good but they are just a touch too far away to make things easy and are tilted at funky angles to…

The World Youth Championships is about to begin in Guangzhou, China, head coach Will Hammersla gives us a preview On 4 November the best young, strong and hungry competition climbers from across Australia will board a plane for Guangzhou, China, to take part in one of the biggest climbing competitions on the IFSC calendar – the World Youth Championships. Coming off the back of what was an amazing World Championships in Paris, expectations for the event are sky high. Last year’s World Youth Championships was the…

Katariina Rahikainen reports on this year’s event at the North Black Range in Tallaganda National Park, NSW, near Canberra. All photos by Jogi. When I flicked through my Facebook news feed and saw an invitation from North Black Range Boulder Meet, I hoorayed. I went to my first North Black Range Festival two years ago and had a lot of fun. Not often do you get to climb those mysterious granite boulders with zero friction (if the weather is even…