Shipley Mini TR

My Saturday lunch engagement got moved to Saturday night, so I tagged along with Tim and Owen to Shipley Upper. The weather this last week has been stunning, and Saturday was no exception - probably about 16 degrees max, almost perfectly clear (although a bit hazy later in the afternoon) and just about dead still. I even got sunburnt!

Owen and Tim warmed up on the 21 just right of "Hold Onto Your Hats", while I warmed up on HOYH and then the 21. We then had a brief discussion about the grade - it's definitely NOT 21!!! In fact, I thought it was much of a muchness with HOYH, so I've given it 18 (and it's not even hard for 18!).

Tim and Owen then jumped on a 24 called "Form One Lane", or "No Right Turn" or something, on the black wall between the slabs and the orange stuff. While they were hanging around on it I went back to the car to grab Tim's camera and on the way soloed the "Giles Bradbury Memorial Stretch" (18). Surprisingly it's actually quite fun! The move up and over the surfboard would be outrageous if it was high on a route - multiple heelhook moves, jugs, mantels, you name it!! The 10m crappy dinner plate wall above wasn't so nice, nor was the festy fungous covered crap that someone had "deposited" on a rock just back from the edge (complete with half rotted toilet paper etc. etc.). I mean the dinner plates were scary, but not that scary! :-)

Tim spent quite a while working the 24, while I snapped photos of him whenever he pulled a free move (which was pretty rare! :-)

I wasn't too interested in the 24, and seeing as we were running out of time we decided to head around to do Hot Flyer. That area was packed, but luckily Flaming Flamingos was free, so I jumped on it instead. It's very reminiscent of Hot Flyer and Jack High et al - hard moves off the ground, then easier moves up gorgeous orange rock to a final hard move to gain the ledge below the lower off (I only did the first pitch). I'd probably give it 20 I reckon - the moves at the start are probably as hard as the hardest moves on Jack High and Hot Flyer, but it isn't as sustained as JH. Worth at least 1 and maybe 2 stars, although the three routes (FF, JH & HF) are all very samey.

I was pretty happy at having OS'ed it - I dicked about heaps at the start but once I'd worked out the sequence it all went pretty easily. I think the couple of visits I've had to the gym in the last couple of weeks might be paying off - I certainly haven't felt that strong in quite a while! Maybe the gym isn't such a bad place! :-)

Anyway, at that point we called it a day and headed back to Sydney. Tim was in a hurry since he was going to the Kylie Minogue concert at 8pm and still had to iron his cheekless leather chaps and white bonds T shirt (3 sizes too small, of course!).