J Paul Vagabond - On the loose in America: January 2014

Once again, It has been a while since you've heard from me so happy 2014 everyone, I got there a day and half ahead of most everyone I know. It's a little strange communicating from the future but it gives me a real appreciation of the relativity of time. I have been busy working on Ervin the Urvan and am almost finished, it remains true that the last 10% takes 90% of the time. I'm taking lots of photos so when he is finished I'll do a timeline post. In the meantime, I've been doing a lot of yoga and now climbing; J Paul is a happy boy. I got an intro deal to "Apollo Power Flow Yoga" which is a little different than I normally do. It hasn't killed me yet and I am getting stronger and more flexible; it feels really good to be back into yoga. The "Flow Yoga Studio" reopened on the 6th after the holidays so I went down to check it out. A lot of businesses here close from Christmas through the first week of January as it is prime Kiwi summer holiday time. Flow Yoga has more variety than Apollo so I tried a Yin class which is more stretching and less power, it felt good after all of the climbing. I'm not giving up on Hamish at Apollo though, He is great and I like the workout so now it's a matter of scheduling and what my body is up for.

My friend, and temporary flat mate, Tasha invited me to go climbing outdoors on Sunday, I was very excited as it has been since November 2012 that I climbed on "real" rock at Red Rocks, Nevada. I wasn't able to climb at all after the accident because of the nerve damage in my foot. A few months of going barefoot and wearing my five fingers shoes fixed that and it feels great to climb again. I feel that I am fully recovered from my injuries and am starting to get my conditioning back. Another friend, Lauren, picked us up and we headed to Britten Crag on the western side of the Port Hills.

Christchurch from Britten Crag

Another view from the Crag, there were sheep hanging out in this little cave when we got there.

Tasha getting ready to climb with Lauren belaying

Tasha Black and Lauren Brown, makes me feel like I should be J Paul Grey

Almost at the top, fairly steep rock. It reminded me a little of Big Block for my New Mexico climbing friends although it is volcanic; the Port Hills are part of a huge volcano rim. The crag is undercut at the bottom and then steep. Climbs do range from moderate to hard, the rating system is different than I'm used to but the same as Australia. We climbed routes in the 17-19 range with Lauren tackling a very overhanging 21.

A view looking down at Britten Crag from Cattle Stop Crag. Not a bad view of New Brighton Beach which is basically a suburb of Christchurch.

Our fearless leader Lauren. He looks young but is old school, cut his teeth on English gritstone and Scottish winter mountaineering. He carries more hexes than cams so is my kind of climber.

Another climbing butt shot of yours truly.

Monday evening we met at the climbing gym, "Roxx" because we can't get enough, but ended up driving to the East end of the Port Hills and doing some traditional or "trad" climbing on Gibraltar Rock. We were prepared to climb in the gym so had on our Jandals (flip flops), no jackets, etc. I didn't have my camera so no photos. It was a fun crag with a nice view of the city. We did a few lines including a pretty hard face climb, grade 21 or so. At the end of the evening all 3 of us were on top where we had to do a short abseil down to an anchor and then another on down. Tasha had not abseiled before and it was getting dark and more than a little cold, so it was exciting. One of Tasha's New Years resolutions was to get out of her comfort zone more so Lauren and I are helping her out. Walking out at dusk, about 10 PM, was fun as there are no real trails, just hummocks of grass with rocks in between and the ubiqutous sheep shtuff.

Tuesday evening Lauren invited me to go to Transmitter Crag and although it was the third day in a row, I could not say no. DId I say that I am really enjoying climbing again. Transmitter crag is in the central Port Hills in the Pine Forest. All of the rock here is of volcanic origin and the Port Hills are part of the crater rim. The transmitter crag was steep and undercut at the bottom which makes for interesting starts. Often the crux is in the first few moves, sound familiar?

This is the view through the pine forest from the Transmitter Crag.

A nice profile of Lauren belaying

This is Ashton who has been climbing about two months. She learned by bouldering in Oregon and Idaho and was climbing strong for a newbie. I'm definitely meeting more foreigners than Kiwis here, could be because there are only 4 1/2 Million people in the entire country. That's part of the reason that places are still so wild here.

Ashton climbing the overhang on Transmitter Crag

Me working through the opening moves, love the vegetation growing on the wall, it reminds me of climbing in East Tennessee.

I'm getting on up there.

I made it to the roof just before the finish.

Lauren leading just below the Cabbage Trees.

We took Wednesday off from climbing, my arms really needed a break. Tasha organized a Pizza party at the house and invited about 10 people, mostly English and mostly all climbers. We cooked, ate, played a game called Articulate and had a generally fun time.

On Thursday, it was up to Cattle Stop Crag and back to climbing. This is a little higher in the Port Hills with a nice view down to Britten Crag and New Brighton Beach. Parts of this cliff band fell during the earthquake and some climbs are closed but it is generally solid climbing. Lauren talked me into leading here for the first time in a couple of years. I lead three routes and really enjoyed it. Time to get my head back.