vo·yeur/voiˈyər/

Ω Noun: A person who enjoys seeing the pain or distress of others.
Vegan phenom JJG has climbed the Prolapse project in the Bronx Cave, Turakirae Head. This Allison In Wonderland-Into-Speed King link has been tried by many, and now climbed by one. He’s named it Through The Looking-Glass V11. Take that, weaklings. Good job!! Ω

Seduce & Destroy

Ω Something of a late season boon, you might say. Zac Orme has climbed the Seduce & Destroy project (presumably named after his ex-girlfriend?) at Flock Hill. 11 points is the call, although it could be harder. Ormesome!! Ω

Allez Les Blacks!

Go you good thing.

Up Norf

Ω Mr Eight Days On & Still Busting Out The Opening Moves Of A Show Of Strength brings you new bouldering near Auckland:

Development!!! from Jase Whitaker on Vimeo Ω

Kurth

Ω Some Vimeo action from the one they call Stoo:

Cederspine 7C, Rocklands from Beast kong on Vimeo Ω

The Vapour Trail

Ω Peter Allison + the second ascent of the Vapour Trail V10 = much stoke, smacktalk and beers. Job Ω

It’s All Happening

Ω Been busy lately, but a quick scan of the interweb tonight reveals all sorts of news:

Stuart Kurth, Auckland-based Castle Hill local and aging Young One, has fired off his first V13 in the Rocklands, South Africa. See www.stuartkurth.com for more.
The Froggatt Edge revival continues: Liam Dickson has climbed a new V9 there called Duck Fat 2.0.
GEJ (that Auckland-based strong-fingered acronym) has climbed a new V9 on Waiheke Island, Man O’ War. He describes it thus: “Possible FA. Traverse from right to left on the Tiger boulder. Was shown this a few years back as a project eyed up by Scott Mooney. Uncertainty as to whether he did it as there is no name, no record of it and not in the guide. A 3 star traverse with powerful cross throughs and the shit feet; it took me 6 sessions/ 40+ goes to get so I think it’s around 9, but at the lower end. Start with hands matching on jug on the right hand side of Tiger Boulder, then traverse left staying low (no higher than the crux two finger pocket). 12-13 moves will see you coming to the far left runnel - top out and mantel above this. Really nice just like a Waiheke wine.”
And last but not least, on a recent visit to the Rak, Liam Dickson claimed the second ascent of Tyrant V9. He says its soft.

Summer is nigh, pebble-wrestlers, so get those last minute sends sorted PRONTO! Ω

Agent Orange

Ω Last month, special secret service agent, Ewan ‘the Ginger Ninja’ Sinclair spyed a “new” line in the Bronx Cave. Not a pure line, but not a pure eliminate either (although he is an Aucklander). Starting on the Speed Freak flake it is possible to pretend that no holds exist above the obvious crack that runs across the front of the cave, and thus a sequence of steep compression moves is revealed, leading to the razor edge on Ryan VH’s obscurity Calypso And The Barnacle (WTF?). From there (still avoiding the crack) a final lunge to a perfect sloper-edge and then the lip nets a long, power-endurance problem.

Dubbed the Agent Orange project (in deference to its creator), Ewan and I have being trying this line furiously ever since. It took a few sessions to unlock the sequence, then the redpoint attempts began in earnest. You can watch the output from one of those sessions here.

Anyway, yesterday, while Ewan was being gassed (literally, he was being gassed as part of his pre-deployment training for a secret mission abroad!) I trudged out to the Bronx Cave on my own (Richie Rich bailed, Lewis was sick) in a developing spring storm and dispatched the first ascent. It didn’t go down without a fight, I got to the razor edge 4 times before finally sending.

The grade? I was initially thinking V9. None of the moves are desperate, but there are a few hard ones in a row at the end. Definitely a lot easier than Allison Wonderland V11 and Fatal Discharge V11. And harder than Passive Attack ;-) So I’m going with soggy V10 (a la Mr Olympia). That might lure the hot shots out. Time will tell.

The best bit? The potential for link up madness is almost unlimited: Allison Wonderland V11 into Agent Orange; Fatal Discharge V11 into Agent Orange…Black Out V9 into Sideways V6 into Agent Orange Ω