don't believe the hype

Here's the latest picture, all that remains is to mark and drill holes, bash in T-nuts (i got 300 @ 20c each), get some mattresses and screw on the holds (which should be arriving next week).

Went to the Rock today. Early start after Andrew turned up at 6.30 (he forgot to set his clock back because daylight savings ended last night). Grabbed some food and my gear and we were off... After a punishing walk up to the cliff I was first on the sharp end - we chose a grade 12 called Honourable Harry. I struggled for a while (I like to think it was because I was a bit rusty), and got the Elvis leg going but it was OK after finding a hidden handhold. Then we hopped on a 19 called Temptation with a bolt to help protect a blank section. We both thought the crux was fairly strenuous even though we did it differently. After some lunch we walked around the corner and I led up a nice looking corner which was harder than it seemed and was very enjoyable. Andrew finished off climbing up a slabby alcove. All in all a good day out which was great after a long time between climbs. Also leading a few trad pitches helped my head a lot too.

The wall is actually starting to look like a wall now. As with all construction projects, once they get going they don't take that long. Here's a couple of pictures... the first was taken Saturday morning and the second on Sunday night. As you can see the frame is almost complete.

Well, construction has actually begun - today we finalised the design and started construction. Basically there will be a 2.4m x 2.4m wall at about 20 degrees overhanging, and then a 1.2m x 2.4m wall at about 45 degrees overhanging. Originally we planned to make the steep wall also 2.4m across but the garage is not long enough.

We also realised we had not bought any bolts to fix the header beam (which the joists attach to on the roof) to the rafters. After a bit of trouble (not enough space to hold the drill between the roof and the header beam) Dad managed to get the header beam in place - it is really solid. Great to get under way!!

Tomorrow I hope we'll cut the remaining joists and attach them.