Ω Went out to the Rak early on Sunday to shoot photos of Ewan climbing Seamonsters V7, my one FA more than 2 feet tall. He was brave, and took a number of falls from the crux but sadly didn’t send. Still, he survived and will be back for the third ascent (probably). I’ve got a bunch of photos here.
And although it was a touch warm, I managed to scramble up Ivan Vostinar’s unrepeated line on the Attack boulder: Massive Attack (or perhaps it’s called Passive Attack, I can’t be sure). He proposed V10 but I think his mind might have been elsewhere at the time. Seems like V8 (especially for a beast like Ivan), with a slightly dodgy landing. Here’s a little video demonstration:
Ω A few years back, Lucky Chance (the artist formerly known as Toby) all-to-briefly applied his outrageous talents to the boulders in the Castle Hill basin. The results were amazing. Bold solos and impressive highballs were the order of the day, including a solo of Moment Of Greed!
More latterly, Lucky has been BASE jumping, off just about anything. You may have seen this short from SMITTEN. Sadly, Lucky recently has a serious accident in Europe and his friends & family are raising funds for his recovery. You can donate here Ω
Ω It’s been a while since my last missive. While the often-acknowledged feature of the Palmersutra columns has been unprecedented levels of side-splitting humour, wit and irony, this time I want to talk about something serious. Because, like Jamie Emerson, I am an artist. And climbing blogs are my canvas. I try so hard, perhaps more than some V15 try hards. And I like to think that it’s not all for nothing (love those double negatives).
And here is the topic of today’s rant: what’s your grade point average? By that, I mean what is the weighted average hardest V grade that you consistently “climb”?
For those of you who didn’t fail Year 10 mathematics (all 3 of you), a question will immediately spring to mind: why am I reading this shit? The answer is probably that you have no life outside of climbing and have nothing better to do.
The next question that will likely spring to mind is: what inputs do I use to calculate my grade point average? Good question! Here’s my suggestion for international benchmark climbing-related GPA calculations:
Spot Grade Point Average (Spot GPA): calculate the average V grade of all climbs done on your most recent bouldering session. The Spot GPA is not especially revealing (in terms of your overall climbing ability) but it can be useful for rubbing it with your mates if you’ve just had a RAD day at the crag.
Short Run Grade Point Average (srGPA): calculate the average V grade of your 10* hardest climbs in the last 30 days. Your srGPA should give you a good sense of where you are “at” presently, in terms of climbing performance. However, it wont be great if you haven’t been climbing for more than 30 days!
Medium Run Grade Point Average (mrGPA): calculate the average V grade of your 50* hardest climbs in the last 12 months. Your mrGPA should give you a good sense of what kind of climber you are: fine arts or arts and crafts!
Long Run Grade Point Average (lrGPA): calculate the average V grade of your 100* hardest climbs, ever. This calculation is mostly for old bastards who can’t crank anymore but who want some basis for the incongruous feelings of superiority they have in the presence of younger (more talented) climbers.
*Don’t count V0 or below and if you have less than the specified number (say 28 climbs instead of 50 for the mrGPA, then add those together and use 28 as your divisor). Ignore repeat ascents (except you can count repeats for the Spot GPA).
By way of example, based on the information on his 8a scorecard and my recollection his last climbing session, Powerband contributing editor Gomez Gonzalez’s GPAs are as follows:
Spot GPA: 3.666666666
srGPA: 0 (Gomez has been trapped in an industrial exhaust vent for over 4 weeks, and has a blown little finger pulley)
mrGPA: 4.04
lrGPA: 6.86
All of which proves that moving to Wellington in the last year or so and doing lots of abseil access work has not helped Gomez’ climbing.
Ω Someone was asking for a copy of the old Froggatt Edge bouldering guide the other day. Well, I found it squirrelled away on the 25MB hard drive of my old Compaq “laptop” - you know, the one’s that were even cheaper than they were slow (ie. very) and that gave you deep vein thrombosis if you actually used them on your lap for more than 2 minutes. Anyway, click here to live the Froggatt Edge bouldering dream! Ω
Ω James Field-Mitchell is leading a fashion revival at Froggatt Edge. He reports:
“I recently put up a new problem at Froggatt, which is actually pretty good (no pockets), about V9ish (could be easier). I got some good footage that is being cut up, its called the Vagabond King. I also repeated The Mission V9 I think it is the second ascent? and last week I did Col’s Traverse from a stand start. I have no clue if this was ever actually a problem, but I did it anyway.”
Ω For all the hot shot out-of-towners, here’s a list of V8+ unrepeated problems at the Rak (based purely on my recollection):
Fatal Discharge V11, Bronx Cave.
Deadline V10, Bulkhead
Massive Attack V10, Bronx
Tyrant V9, Bronx
Boilerplate V9? (unrepeated since the crimp reduced in size)
Arcadia (and Arcadia Left) V9, Back Blocks
Supersonic V8, Bronx
Bulk Modulus V8, Bronx
Liquefaction V8, Styx
And there’s a few easier ones like Kompressor Arete V7, Bronx that get zero attention. I predict that none of these will have seen a second ascent by the end of 2011 Ω
