Ω Apparently (so I discovered on the weekend), the Chewbacca Defence is the dying art of obfuscation, the ability to say lots about nothing at all, the practice of running interference when you have nothing to report or something to hide. And, on reflection, it was (more or less) the editorial policy of 41174.org.nz, at least for the last year or so of its life, because we (Kopp and I) had no real news to report.
Well, now I do have something to report. On Sunday I climbed an “all world” boulder problem at Turakirae Head. As far as I know, it was a first ascent. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the best boulder problem at Turakirae Head, and in Wellington it is rivalled only by Seaward Arete V0 and Big Black V5 for quality and grandeur. As far as you’re concerned, it’s on the Rubicon Wall, it’s somewhere between 5-7 metres high, it starts with a deep lock to a pocket, it then opens up with a series of big moves between opposing slopers as you climb a gently overhanging shield of grewacke, it culminates with a wild slap for the sloping lip off a small left hand sidepull and a right hand undercling, it’s called Seamonsters and it’s probably about V7.
Check back next year. I’m bound to have unearthed another decent “pebble” in Wellington by then. In the meantime, keep “wrestling” Ω
Ω What better way to kick off the 3rd generation Powerband bouldering portal than to take you back to where it all began……Wellington! As best as I can recall, my very first post on the original Powerband website was reporting great deeds of strength and endurance at Baring Head, then the crucible of hard bouldering in New Zealand.
Times have changed.
Nobody goes to Baring Head anymore (except me and Richie Rich). And the crucible of hard bouldering in New Zealand is now Castle Hill basin. Still, new and exciting stuff continues to happen (if rather infrequently) in the Wellington bouldering scene. Certainly the New Zealand bouldering scenes is as strong (if not stronger) than ever.
After a partially successful experiment with the ‘coordinate’ blogs (41174 and 43171), it’s time to reignite my dreams for world (climbing website) domination. This time I will be more-than-ably assisted by Richie Rich (Minister of Information), Gomez (editor at large), the Koppulator (large editor) and hopefully you. Please send us your news, images and videos. We wont bite (well, we wont puncture the skin).
Anyway, back to the real point of this post,which is my AWESOME new problem at Turakirae Head. It’s big and bold, with long pulls between good holds. It’s everything you could want in a modern boulder problem at the grade. It’s the next generation. On reflection, I probably should have called it Powerband! Ω
Ω Apparently (so I discovered on the weekend), the Chewbacca Defence is the dying art of obfuscation, the ability to say lots about nothing at all, the practice of running interference when you have nothing to report or something to hide. And, on reflection, it was (more or less) the editorial policy of 41174.org.nz, at least for the last year or so of its life, because we (Kopp and I) had no real news to report.
