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’,…
Ross Taylor on why running and climbing are a match made in heaven. When I run I often think about climbing. When I am climbing I never think about running. There is something about this dichotomy that makes running and climbing perfectly complementary – the yin and yang of exercise. When I run my mind is like the washing machine that noisily bangs away in the laundry, constantly rotating with the dirty smalls of my day, thoughts roiling around in…
The Highest and Mightiest of all the Land – we tap into local knowledge to unearth the contenders for the best big blocs in Oz Here they are, ten of the most tremendous highballs from around Australia, one from each state and (nearly every) territory (except the Northern Territory because it’s a land of mystery and should remain so). This list is not like other lists, which are completely subjective, instead this one is filled with FACTS. Because, as people…
In ‘Mindful Eating’ Amanda Watts exhorts you to pay attention If you have ever groaned, ‘Ughh I ate too much…,’ if you’ve had to unbutton your jeans post meal or lie on the floor, then this is the column for you. How aware are you of what you eat and drink? And by aware, I mean how much do you notice the food actually going into your mouth? We get so much information about what we should eat, even when…
In ‘The bridges everyone else is jumping off’ Simon Madden gets drawn into the zeitgeist My brain is a big, whirring association machine. In 2017 every time I wasted precious lifeforce scrolling through Instagram, caught snatches of gym conversations or heard people plotting at the crag, I started singing the theme to Rocky under my breath. Like a dog salivating over a pavlova. That was because invariably I was either looking at or hearing someone talking about Eye of the Tiger…
Can you give us the Eli Mercado 101? Hello! I’m Eli(jah) Mercado, just turned 19. Part-time engineering student, part-time hold washer and all-of-the-time boulderer. I’m 168cm with an ape of +14cm. How did you get into the funny business of climbing rocks? Hahaha. So I used to be really into computer games, mainly one that involved tapping the keyboard to beats of music. My forearms kept getting pumped though, so I thought to myself ‘Hey, I need to train my…
