Tuesday, October 11, 2005

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Why climb? The next generation muses... Brian Moes (from the late 1990s) : The great thing is that whether you’re climbing 22 or 31 or 14...

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Attitudes to climbing through the years...

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Michael Groom (from the 1970s) And people say, ‘Well, what are you going to do now with your life?’ But I feel so content with what I’v...

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Scott Camps (from the 1970s) I guess it became more of a personal journey—that’s what I really liked doing. I think it’s very importa...

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Robert Staszewski (1970s to present) The cornerstone of rockclimbing is that the climber must bring himself [sic] to the standard require...

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Ian Thomas (1970s to present) Climbing gives you the time to sit down and minutely examine your immediate surroundings—a ledge, ‘There...

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Dave Gillieson (1970s to 1990s) I think that climbing and caving gave my life purpose and developed strong self-reliance and toleranc...

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Marion Darveniza (nee Speirs) (late 1960s and 1970s) [Climbing gives you] a wonderful sense of achievement and freedom. It certainly tes...

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Greg Sheard (late 1960s to present) I guess climbing’s something that gets into your blood. You always enjoy going back to it. I gave i...

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Rick White (late 1960s to 1990s) It doesn’t matter if you’re a Grade 15 climber or a Grade 30 climber—there’s always something you can’t c...

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Donn Groom (from the early 1960s) I’d define myself as a mountaineer more than a rock climber or bushwalker. My whole life has revolved arou...

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Ted Cais (early 1960s to the present) Improvements in rockclimbing standards mostly result from some creative individual having the ap...

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Les Wood (1960s to 1980s) A lot of it's chicken and egg, isn't it? I don't know where things start—whether you end up being...

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Pat Conaghan (late 1950s to 1980s) It must have been the adventure, I guess, I don’t know. I guess I was always a sucker for seeing wh...

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Ron Cox (late 1950s to 1980s) I was much attracted by the adventurous aspects of it and the danger, of course. It wasn’t really danger...

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John Comino (1950s) Look, I think the thing that it gives you, as you well know, is this beautiful sense of freedom. That’s what i...

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Hugh Pechey (1950s and 1960s) You ask my wife— ‘Not another bloody rock!’ She doesn't usually use the word ‘bloody’, of course. ...

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Graham Baines (1950s) Motivation, satisfaction…getting to the top was satisfying but I realised there’s a shortcoming in that respon...

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Neill Lamb (1 st new climbs on Tibrogargan after World War II, 1950s and 1960s) You’d often be for some time on some tiny little s...

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Marg Kentwell (left) (1950s) Earlier on, people went because they knew what they were doing. And then we get all the leisure industry a...

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Alan Frost (1950s and still climbing) And I guess when you start doing that [climbing], it never leaves you really, does it? Everyth...

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Peter Barnes (late 1940s to the present) …as one of many animals that are most closely associated and tied up with the environment...

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Russ Kippax (Co-founder Sydney Rockclimbing Club: late 1940s to 1970s) Camaraderie was always important all through the bushwalking ...
Sunday, October 09, 2005

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Raoul Mellish (late 1940s and 1950s) We started on our own bat, Reg Ballard and myself. As far as I was concerned, it all came back to that...

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Jon Stephenson (late 1940s to present) [It was] partly the people but it was largely the places—and largely the environment. But over the c...
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Bert Salmon (1923 to World War II: ‘the spiritual father of Queensland climbing’) Why do they climb? I have often wondered…but I have never...

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Nora Dimes (Regular climber throughout the 1930s) Should you believe, with Addison, that the proper study of mankind is man, you may have me...

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L. M. R. , Sunday Mail , 1932. What is it that makes city toilers expose themselves to the dangers, hardships, and discomforts that must ac...

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Why? Rockclimbing has become more and more part of everyday society, as the cover of Qantas's Frequent Flyer magazine (above) demons...

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Where do we go from here? The very nature of sport climbing, along with a huge increase in the numbers of climbers, has led to some perhap...

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Changes... Early in 2005, the strange hiss of an electric bolt drill echoed around the overhangs on Tibrogargan. I’d just finished Promethe...
Friday, October 07, 2005

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Climbing for adventure Wendy Steele and sister Katie ( closest to camera) high on the north face of Leaning Peak making the 1st female asce...

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Bolts and the Buttress The first bolt was placed at Frog Buttress in 1981 in a climb called Yodel up the Valley . It was repeated shortly a...

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Women’s place By the mid 1980s, as female climbers in Australia were beginning to establish themselves on the hard sport routes. Louise...

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Challenges for Rick White Rick White returned to the Himalayas for a second time with Michael Groom in 1991 to climb Everest, but the tri...

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Twenty years ago today... The 'discoverers' of Frog Buttress (from left) Rick White and Chris Meadows, with Jane White, prepare to c...

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Challenges for Michael Groom Queenslander Michael Groom (pictured) had decided that climbing would be a big part of his life at an early ...
Thursday, October 06, 2005

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The East Pillar of Shivling In May 1981, Rick White and Greg Child joined Britons Doug Scott and Don Whillans, along with Frenchman Geor...

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New games: new names Kim Carrigan’s and others’ adoption of European sport climbing techniques and training strategies set up a framework fo...

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Climbing high For almost a decade, Fred From was a significant force in Queensland climbing. He refused to use either climbing boots or c...
Wednesday, October 05, 2005

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East Barney solo Robert Staszewski (pictured) made the first and only known solo ascent of the east face of Mt Barney in March 1979. ...

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Climbing solo Rick White made the first solo ascent of Ball’s Pyramid in 1979 in one hour 45 minutes while on a trip there with members of...

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Climbing by numbers In Australia by the mid 70s, another generation of young climbers was filling in the gaps at Frog Buttress and var...
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White punks on chalk Over the Christmas-New Year period in 1974-75, Rick White and Robert Staszewski made a bold attempt to climb a new rou...

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Bootlaces and Beerwah Ian Thomas (pictured) and Robert Staszewski teamed up in 1973 and almost immediately took on the hardest classics i...

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First Australian ascents in Yosemite Rick White at Frog Buttress in 1973 shortly after returning from becoming the first Australian to clim...

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Into the maw of The Minotaur One of the strongest memories of the Porter’s Pass climbing meet for Ted Cais was his second ascent with Rick...

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Porter's Pass climbing meet With the interstate climbing ‘war’ at its peak, a large contingent of Queensland and Victorian climbers joi...

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Beyond the Buttress The first recorded climb on the Girraween granite near Stanthorpe— Late Afternoon Flake (pictured)—by Dave Gillieson a...

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Coomera Gorge: 1st descent In December 1972 in the heat of another Queensland summer, Donn Groom, Ted Cais and I decided to try something en...

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Queensland takes the lead...again From the early 1970s, Rick White continued to push the boundaries of hard aid and free climbing in A...