BAFFLE DAYS - Australian Climbing

Dave Jones is one of the rare ones. Growing up in Victoria, he quickly ended up spending many of his early climbing years making his way out to Arapiles and The Grampians. It wasn’t long before Dave started finding his own lines to climb, searching out unclimbed features which caught his imagination. Some of his notable First Ascents include Punks Addiction 32/8b+, Somoza 32/8b+, Academia 31/8b, Feather Boa 28/7c+ and Shai-Hulud 25X/7bX just to name a few. Dave also spent some time in England, checking out the infamous Gritstone, which landed him in one of the best climbing films of all time, Hard Grit.

Dave is also and artist, creating mind bending sculptures. He says the inspiration he found in finding new, improbable lines to climb is similar to what inspires him with his art. He wants to create pieces he isn’t actually sure he can pull off. To have to really problem solve and work out how to make it all come together.

Dave is also part of the Gariwerd Wimmera Reconciliation Network, a group formed to help bridge a gap between Traditional Owners in the area and climbers. The group is doing a fantastic job in opening communication between the two parties and hopes to continue to learn and build understanding. https://gwrn.org.au

You can check out Dave's art via his website http://www.transience.com.au/wp/

As many of you may know, there is currently (June 2021) widespread climbing bans through the Gariwerd and Wimmera area. Please stay up to date with where you are and aren’t allowed to climb through this time. You can find out info at https://vicclimb.org.au as well as speaking with locals.

Check out more episodes, news and grab yourself some Baffle Days merch at www.baffledays.com.au

You walk into a climbing gym, look around at all the nice fiberglass shapes, the funky volumes and order yourself a coffee. A coupe hours later you walk out having had a blast of a time with your friends and a few layers of skin down. In a few days time you'll be back and do the same thing again. You are a climber and the sport has taken over your life, even if its just for a few hours each week. How good is it!

What really goes into making this sport and life so good though? Well a large part of it is the product of the setters and their creative flow. They dream, concoct and set the things that make you smile, drive you insane and keep you coming back.

In the Baffle Days studio today we have Pat Banda and Dan Gordon two head setters from the uber massive Urban Climb. Dan's official roll is actually 'Head of Climbing,' how cool is that! Anyway in this ep we dig into the ins and outs of the indoor scene. We talk setting, comps, creativity, holds and much much more. It's a super interesting insight to a world we really only see the top layer of.

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I'm almost certain many of you  have done one or all of these things. A generation ago, employing some of these tactics may have resulted in being chased out of the crag. Perhaps there are still a few strong holds which keep the torch burning in a quest for pure ascents. The question is, do these tactics sit within the lines of fair play or have we pushed the boat out too far? Are those who shun these ideas just the beard stroking class of yesteryear, too lost in tearing people down to actually evolve with the times. Or is there legitimacy to their cries.

Helping the Baffle Days team to unpack our chosen ethical quagmires is Lee Cujes and Helen Day.

Check the Baffle Days website for training books from Climb Strong and Power company climbing, as well as Baffle apparel. https://www.baffledays.com.au/shop

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On 19-20 December 2020 at Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym Villawood, the Oceania Climbing Championships were held, giving one last chance for a ticket to the Tokyo Olympic Games for one athlete per gender from the region. Tom O'Halloran qualified for the male category and talks to us  about his journey.

Tom talks about his early climbing journey, (unknowingly) meeting Adam Ondra for the first time, competitions and transitioning from outdoor to indoor climbing. We also get into the decision making process to go for the Olympic spot, headspace in the lead up and during the competition. Tom went through a very dark mental headspace prior to the competition which nearly ended with him pulling out. We talk about what got him through it and how it turned around for competition day. Plus, what it will take for Australia to get onto the podium on the world stage.

Oceana MacKenzie qualified for Australia in the female category.

Tom is currently fundraising funds to help pay for the next 7 months. All donations are tax deductible https://asf.org.au/athletes/tom-ohalloran-tokyo-2021-olympics/

You can follow Tom's Olympic journey through Instagram @tom_ohalloran and YouTube.

Check out Baffle Days on instagram and a find more content on our website.

Music: Somerville and Wilson - Red Wasps

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Each one of us tells a story of a time we stuffed up a send. Hopefully through talking about a few of these things, you'll learn from our mistakes and navigate your way around them. If you have experienced them before, feel comforted that you're not alone. It happens to us all.

Here's the video Tom references for his big dummy spit 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H3OkmWqNCY

Baffle Days https://www.baffledays.com.au

Follow the gang on Instagram

Leah Dempsey - @leahmdempsey

Matt Norgrove - @mnorgrove

Amanda Watts - @a.mandawatts

Tom O'Halloran - @tom_ohalloran

Baffle Days - @baffledays

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Duncan Brown has been a climber for decades now. He has travelled all over the world in this time, including a stint in China as part of the big  wave of development 10 years ago. He was apart of the team being flown across the country being paid to bolt the countless limestone caves, granite faces and sandstone walls. What a dream!

Duncan is also the man behind Athlete by Choice, his climbing and mountain sport coaching business based out of Canberra. He's coached everyone from weekend warriors, psyched week night gym climbers to the Australian Sport Climbing team. He'll be the climbing coach of the Australian Olympic team when that happens in 2021. Just recently he's acquired his own gym space in Canberra to set up a dedicated facility to really help develop his clients. Be on the look out for Mountain Strong in Canberra in early 2021!

Athlete by Choice:

Athlete by Choice website

Athlete by Choice facebook

Athlete by Choice instgram

Mountain Strong:

Mountain Strong website

Mountain Strong facebook

Mountain Strong instagram

As always you can check out Baffle Days for more podcasts, articles and news.

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It’s easy to believe the popular overseas destinations are the bee’s knees. They’re in the movies, on the posters and clogging up your instagram feed. But what about back home, in the land girt by sea? Turns out it’s pretty darn good!

We talk the progression of our sport in the last decade and predictions of things to come. A few years ago we’d have never thought that 33 was going to be a trade route for the masses, now it is. So what’s going to be the 34 trade route?

Bolting projects and climbing hard first ascents is also on the agenda. What are we looking for and where are the next hard ones hiding? New crag discoveries or fresh eyes on old cliffs.

The lads also get into the indoor scene and how the new school bouldering gyms have changed the direction of climbing. Are we going to see Australians consistently on the World Cup podiums? What’s it going to take to get us there and what can we learn from those who came before us?

It’s all this and more. We love Australia!

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Mum climbing life with Amanda Watts, Andrea Hah, Helen Day and Carlie LeBreton. This group of crusher climbing mums have over 80 years of combined climbing experience, bouldering, sport and trad climbing and competing at the highest levels. For each of them, finding a balance between climbing and mum life was important for their mental health and quality of life. Climbing is what makes life feel normal. 

They talk about everything from climbing pregnant, to travelling and climbing with kids. Their pre pregnancy expectations, compared with the reality of mum climbing life. Injuries and barriers to climbing and training, their motivations and drive and balancing climbing dreams and goals as a parent. 

There are some tips and hints to successfully getting to the crag, through a training session and 24 hours of flying with a baby. They hope that sharing their stories and experiences will help climbing parents find it a little less daunting to get back to the cliff with their little monkeys.   

Follow:

Amanda on Instagram: @a.mandawatts

Helen on Instagram: @helendayknight

Andrea on Instagram: @andreahah

Carlie on Instagram: @carlieclimbs 

Links

Thrive Nutrition & Dietetics - https://nutritioncollective.com.au/thrive/

Baffle Days - https://www.baffledays.com.au

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Madeleine Crane started Climbing Psychology out of a passion. She is a professional psychologist, specialised in sport psychology and has experienced the pinnacle of competition climbing, having competed for Austria at World Cups. She wants to help you find the tools to give yourself every opportunity to express yourself fully on the wall.

In our chat we get into the dynamics of men and women in the climbing scene and why it can be hard for some people to step up and climb to their full potential. We discuss positive and negative self-talk and how we can reframe when things don’t go to plan. We also jump into visualisation, the positive outcomes of a bit of friendly competition and dealing with dips in motivation.

If you don’t already, give Madeleine a follow on instagram @climbingpsychology. She has some really good discussions there, digging into some topics we don’t often see raised. You can also head to her website www.climbingpsychology.comto read her articles and book an appointment.

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