Boulder cicuit established

Sunday saw a number of problems sent, some more projects put up and an area of good quality bouldering finally established. Following four weeks of trips to the area, there are now 4 boulders with around 15 problems developed not all of which have yet been successfully topped out.

The first send of the day was Anja Crabb's Pleashure Cat which takes the line furthest right on the White Boulder. This follows a groove up and left onto the high slab to the top of the boulder.  She puts this as one of the best problems she's done and gives it a grade of Font 5B.

Anja on Pleashure Cat

The move of the ground involves a high step, then through delicate technical climbing left and a high reach and step up, a stable position is established on the high slab. From there, it's a quick trot up the slab to the top of the boulder. On the first ascent, the down-climb hadn't been finished and Anja had to wait for me to clear the path so she could come down.

 Padding up the high slab

The right-hand sitter to Simple Pleasures didn't yield despite a continuous assault, the sun moved and we lost our precious shade, so Anja and I decided to check out the pair of high ball boulders up the hill again. 50m up the hill from the White Boulder, we found another area with three boulders, both with shaded areas that provided our afternoon entertainment. An enourmous boulder has split at some point in the past to leave these two curiously formed pieces of rock; one takes the form of a tidal wave, leaving the other as a steep, blank slab. 

On the Ombak Boulder there are two problems. On the left-hand side of the block is a very clean 6A arete problem. It really is an impressive line. Here, Anja is on the arete problem. This tackles the arete from a standing start and follows it up to a clean top-out.  

Anja on Ombak Arete

On the right end of the block is an equally impressive but more challenging line. This problem  starts low down underneath the overhanging prow and from a sit start, climbs up the double-arete and onto the face of the wave itself. The problem slaps up both aretes until a good pocket on the right hand edge. From here, you rock onto the top of the block, round the back. I think, just to be in keeping with the way things have been going of late, the problem resisted, leaving me yet another problem for yet another day.

Underneath the prow

Moving up

Last Sunday we were back in the Lembah Parang, this time cleaning holds, cutting back jungle and sending, well sadly just the one problem, but sending problems.

The rock is andosite, which is igneous rock and sits right in the middle of the igneous spectrum. It feels like a fine-grained granite. In places it is almost pure white, in others it is a darker grey. It tends to be finely featured, lending itself to bouldering and perhaps sport climbing and the boulders themselves are on the large side all of which should make for some quality [as yet, unclimbed] boulder problems.

The whole area is heavily vegetated and so far, we have concerned ourselves with the baldest looking boulders that are within easy(ish) reach of the path. Development on three such boulders has begun; two very large ones and a third which is a short way down the hill and the first to have been dispatched. The White Boulder, has some very good lines up it, both hard and easy and even has a newly forged down-climb. The first problem is on the right hand side of the boulder. Simple Pleasures goes at Font 6C. There is a direct SS to be added to this, coming straight up off two fine undercuts that looks to be about 7B and another in from the right that continues up and left from where Simple Pleasures tops out, which should be about 7A+. Further right is Anja's first problem, as yet unnamed and ungraded which tackles a short groove via some sharp holds and a rock-over.

Progress is slow at the moment as we find our feet, clear bush and so on. Hopefully we can arrive before the full impact of Siang next weekend and have a decent couple of sessions before the rain comes. Photos to follow.

Tomorrow in the Battle think on me. Javier Marias

This was handed to me by Gary Crabb when I had run out of good books recently. It is written by Javier Marias who is a well-known Spanish author and translator. The book follows a short period of time in the life of a man who has the misfortune of being on a date with a woman who suddenly and unexpectedly dies in his arms. The title conjures up images of war or struggle and references the man's inner struggle with having to deal with the consequences of having an affair with a woman who dies the first time they meet up for a date, a woman who he barely met.

We find out very early on that the woman is both a wife and mother and that the narrator, although invited round, is in fact almost a stranger in the house and an imposter in his place at her death bed. As the death occurs within the first few pages, the bulk of the book deals with the the way that this woman's death plays on the narrator's mind and his obsession with her and with his desire to learn more about this woman, her family. The reader follows the twists and turns of his mind and somehow Marias manages to create sensations of utter excitement but also of horror, suspense; I suppose what we are reading is the narrator's own sense of guilt and the process as he moves through this. There are dark undertones throughout the book which at times I took to be a thickening sub-plot of another side to the main character; something that certain events in the book perhaps allude to but which I think, upon finishing the book, one realises perhaps simply reflect the human mind and dark places that we all have.

In the battle certainly ranks very highly in the list of books I have read. It is simply unlike any other book I have read. Rivas' ability to write in a manner which is so like human thought, at times it is scary. We move through his thoughts and feelings and find ourselves judging him for decisions and errors he makes. The book stayed with me for some time after finishing it.