Angus Taylor reviews The Dawn Wall, which is currently showing around Australia. At first light, the Dawn wall is illuminated on the towering ship stern of sheer granite that is El Cap, and it holds all who see it in awe. The Dawn Wall film, in a similar way, shines with the brilliant light of Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson’s burning desire to climb it. The result is much the same – awe. In what some called ‘the moon landing of climbing’,…
Dispelling the myth that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, Simon Madden and Denby Weller find out that they both live happy and comfortable on Planet Drago Simon Madden I like the Drago a lot. Light and soft, as sensitive as a 19th century English dandy. Not to big the shoe up too much but it has shown me that you can teach an old scarred insensate to feel again. Firstly, a little about me; I am a…
A Vertical Life review by Steve Kelly ‘It’s easy when you’re strong.’ Ben Moon So, you’ve decided to build a Moon Board, or perhaps you don’t know what one is but have heard about it. For those that haven’t seen or used one, the bare bones of it are this: the Moon Board is a 40 degree overhanging ‘woody’, built to spec. The angle, T-nut spacing and hold alignment are mapped according to the Moon Board specifications available for download…
The Edelrid Ohm – one climbing partnership, two body types, two views, one review “I dunno, I’m not 100% sold. It can make it a little bit more difficult to pull rope through to clip. I guess if it stops me from hitting the ground that’ll be a good thing.” S Madden, oscillating between 75-80kg of not-exactly-lean muscle. “Shut up Fatty. I love this thing.” J Davis, 50kg (when dripping wet). Climbing partnerships where one climber weighs considerably more than…
Just how bleak can a film about adding a new grade to bouldering be? Everybody knows that Nalle sent a 9A/V17 – The Burden of Dreams. And, naturally, there is a film about it. The thing is, though, that this is not like other bouldering films. It is a grim doco about persistence through the emptiness of solitude. It’s a movie about an individual’s frustration in which blips of progress illuminate a stuttering path through a quiet expanse of bad weather…
For the last year or so, VL‘s Simon Madden has been testing the Aweseome Woodys Cliff Board Mini. Here’s how he found it. This thing could just as easily have been called the Cheap Motel Board, the Mining Camp Donger Board or the Airbnb Holiday Board – but it’s called the Awesome Woodys Cliff Board Mini. The VL Massive and its sometimes large entourage have used the Cliff Board at loads of different crags: under the hard routes of Nowra, to get things moving in the freezing…
