rock climbing ( sdl instruction )

on the 15th to the 19th of August i had the opportunity to help out with my old high school CSC on their year 13 rock camp in Dunedin.
so i took the week of tech and went down to Dunedin. the camp went from Wednesday till Saturday. the class was made up of 15 year 13 students and 7 exchange students. they had done some indoor climbing through school before the camp but no real rock.
the first day was raining so we went to some of the local schools who have indoor climbing walls. as good made is easy to sharpen up their belay skills.
the next three days were spent down at long beach. the head instructor Dave set up all of the climbs on sunny side but got me to lead and set up top rope on some of the climbs and the caves.
my role was just to help out so i didn't do any instruction in front of the whole group but did alot of teaching in smaller groups of 3 or 4. We slowly progress the student to climb grade 14 with good technique. this ment they got an Achieved. 3 students were able to get a Merit witch was grade 18 or 19. One student tried real hard to do a grade 20 to get an excellence but was unable.
though i didn't do much group instructing i do think i improved on working with clients and i was working on being an instructor more than a mate going climbing, as i feel with kids i'm sometimes too easy on them and loose there respect. i think i did good with this particular group.
in the end it was good experience and i even got in some cool as climbs.

rock climbing (sdl)

Monday the 11th to the 13th of June Rob, Kieran, Arie, Jake and I went up to Paynes Ford for rock climbing. the first day we got 8 climbs in and it was a real good day starting at sea cliffs  then after lunch we went to paynes. On the Tuesday we didn't get as many climbs in because we went kayaking down the  grade 3 section below the power station on the Takaka river in the morning. Wednesday was cool I showed the guys the sweet overhang I found last time I was there. its a grade 19, 3 bolts and a chain, nice sequence of moves and rather pumpy if you don't do many overhangs. it was great because all the boys were at that level and struggled but made it up. And if that wasn't cool enough since i had been climbing real clean and good I went and had a good go at a 22 i was struggling with last time and got it. fell of once after climing the first bolt but came down and started again and got it clean. Before the 22 we also did a 25m 20 wicth was a real good climb plenty of 20 moves with small rests in between. Another wicked trip to paynes!!! couple fotos to end :) 

rock ( sdl )

On the 23 Ekies, Kirsten, Rebecca and I drove up to Nelson. The next day we got up early and drove over to Takaka and went climbing at paynes ford. We went in to the hangdog campground and brought a guide book (only 10 bux)
It was a beautiful sunny day and we got some good climbs in. Ekies and I started on a climb that Ekies said was a 18. I went first and was really struggling. I asked Ekies if he was sure it was a 18 and he said he was, so I assumed I just wasn't used to the rock their as this was my first time there. Once i got down we checked the book again and it turned out to be a 21. So i didn't feel so bad. the rest of the day went well. I set up a lot of top rope climbs for the others as i felt the first bolt always seemed real exposed. This is also why i didn't push myself too much.
That night we stayed at hangdog and climbed the next day till lunch with the girls. At lunch the girls went home and Ekies and I kept climbing. There was a wicked over hang ( rawhide ) I wanted to try but the first bolt at the end of the over hang and the ground was uneven and would be hard to spot. but luckily one other climber ( Pablo ) did the climb later in the day and asked if we wanted to give it a go on top rope. I was so stoked, and gave it a go. It was such a cool start, got some sweet heel hooks. And getting over the end to the up right is another sweet move. I was the end of the day so i didn't get much further.
On Thursday I wanted to do another over hang. We looked around for good 40 min and found a 19 that had a first bolt wasn't too exposed. It was soo mean lead it the first time and set up top rope for Ekies. He gave it a good go but didnt have the strength. We will deffintly give it another go next time. While it was still on top rope i had another go choosing a different line, and i found a no hands rest on the over hang and we got a photo too.We were going to do some more climbs that morning but we got yarning to some NMIT tutors then got a little lost for 20min when we got out of the bush we were back at the van so called it a day as we had to drive home that day too. We found it didn't have many easy climbs for bignners but if you getting into the 18s and up its a great place. Cant wait to go back again.

no hands rest

Kirsten on sweet 18

Ekies going for it

Rebecca getting the feet right

Ekies ready to go

checking out the new route 

rock (tec)

On the 19 drove to mt summers and walked up to the pinnicals hut. 20th to the 22nd we climbed. first day we just did bolted climbs but on the next two days it was all on trad. the weather was good most of the time. we walked out on Friday the 23rd and drove back.

It was another good as week of climbing rock in beautiful places. and learning lots of cause.

                                         

rock climbing (sdl)

On Tuesday the 21st i went climbing at the sea cliffs by paynes ford with Kristy Kelly Harvey and Chris.
i hadn't climbed all summer so i got saw fingers quickly but it was good to get back in to it.
i also went climbing on Thursday in the gym at greymouth as apart of the alpine club, i'm keen as to go more this year.

rock climbing (tec)

12 of June I took a trip out to castle hill for a day of bouldering with Adrien, Grace, Nick (Smegal) and Kat.
We left grey and it was pissing down but over the hill it was beautiful blue sky's. We got there and got climbing around 12 30 bouldered till 3 30. Was a great day  Smegal knew allot of climbs so he showed me around. I was working on a climb was having real troubler, Smegal showed me how to do it and i eventually got it it was cool as. And it turned out to be a V4 so was real stoked.
Got back from world class bouldering,castle hill at 6  flat mates cooked stir-fry on rice. now thats a good day.

rock (sdl)

Sunday 24th went up to wanaka,met Mikey had 3 lead climbers,was a bit windy but not too bad.met astro that night.stayed the night in my van.then spent all Monday climbing.was a beautifully sunny day.all climbers were lead, astro did real well, since she hadn't done much. we tout her to absail down after a lead all went well. since it was a public holiday there was allot of climbers out.though this was fine since there was so many climbers out there. got some cool photos too...

rock week 2 (tec)

The first day we went over the pass to the world renowned castle hill for bouldering. it took around 2 hours to get there so we only had 3-4 hours on the rock,witch is enough if your hard out bouldering.its all line stone so the holds were smears and finger pockets.i liked this for my hand holds but found it real hard to keep my feet on.
day two and three we went to Charleston and did allot of setting up anchors top rope rescue.got a few climbs in,me and Kerrin also practiced lead climbing natural pro with a top rope as safety.
on the Friday we went out to Punekaiki and did some sweet as lead climbing and abseiling down. was real good i had a climb that pushed me but the other climbs were good for sum of the less experienced climbers.

another good week of learning.

rock climbing at charlston(tech)

my first week of rockclimbing with tpp
this started at the indoor wall in greymouth.this was a chance to find out what level we are at and a chance to get back in to in.some of us also got a chance to do some lead climbing.
the next day we went out to charlston to learn about climbing, using natural pro gear and setting up anchors for top rope climbing. also worked on our technique.
it was a real cool climbing right beside the waves crashing against the rocks.
we camped for 2 nights was only a 15 min walk to the rock.
most of the climbs that we set up were not much of a challenge for me but was a good start for some of the other students that hadn't done much rock climbing.
on the last day it was raining so we went back to greymouth,and went on the indoor wall.at indoor wall we worked on abseiling. on my last climb i tried leadclimbing the big over hang which went onto the roof,didn't make it all the way but made it 2 clips further than the first day. this would have been one of the highlights of my week, used up all my my energy but was worth it.