Castle Hill! Truly one of the greatest bouldering areas on earth! I've really only been to Quantum Field and Spittle Hill, and even there, I've really only scratched the surface. I'm really hoping to get to Flock Hill (supposedly one of the greatest single collection of boulders on earth, with more climbable features than Quantum and Spittle) and to Prebble Hill. Perhaps one day soon...
On Good Friday we went to Castle Hill with our good friends Rocio and Christian (and their little girl Violeta) to hide easter eggs amongst the boulders for Aya, Rowan, and Violeta to find. It was perfect climbing (and easter egg hunting) weather - sunny, a bit windy, and probably 18C. Christian and I had a great time doing easy highballs around the Perfume Bottle. The features on the problems on Spittle Hill are AMAZING. AMAAZZZZINNG. Rocio and Christian headed home around 2:30, so S,A,R, and I headed over to a cluster of boulders near the car park, where the well-known V6 Tricky is located. There were a handful of friendly Australians there, and one of them was trying Tricky. He asked if I wanted a spot, so on went the shoes... I'd tried Tricky before, but couldn't do the crux move. I tried it a few times, but failed again. They wanted to try some of the other problems on the boulder, notably Halloween (V6). It's a blunt arete that climbs entirely on pockets that range from sloping 4 fingers dishes to deep monos. I managed it after a few tries. Such an amazing line! The rock in Castle Hill is so aesthetic, both to look at and to climb. They wanted to try Horror Show, another brilliant V4 pocket problem on the boulder. I managed to get up that without too much problem, despite the slightly spooky topout.
The Aussies were from Melbourne, and were super-friendly. I felt really blessed to have run into them, and to share some of the greatest problems anywhere with them. One of them was named Trent, as well. We agreed that Trents are really solid people. ;)
Anyways, here's a picture (taken earlier in the year, as evidenced by the green - rather than brown - grass) of Aya and I looking over the backside of the Tricky Boulder.
It's a little frustrating to be SO out of shape when I climb at Castle Hill. Its such as technical area, I think I could climb to V10 or so without too much problem here if I was in good shape. As it is, I feel lucky to climb V6 here! It doesn't really matter how hard you climb at Castle Hill, though - the problems of all grades are amazing.
More later! Take Care!
Trent.
