Hey folks!
I’ve decided to do a write up about life back in Perth after my holiday and my addiction to crack… Splitter cracks..
It wasn’t so long ago that I was writing to you from Indian Creek.. The place where I got my first splitter crack fix and was deemed a serious addict =)
I remember the first day back I visited my local climbing gym and stared at the bouldering wall… I looked at the colours and thought…. “Are you serious?.. Plastic…”… nevertheless, the guys at the gym have been doing weekly resets of sections so it definitely helps keep the psych up!
I guess the biggest thing that I took away from my trip was a change in mindset. I used to be all about grades, projects, goals and numbers… Maybe not like religiously but it was definitely on the back of my mind… After the states I’ve kinda taken a new focus and realised that its the people who you spend time with that count… So what if I send an awesome climb but I don’t enjoy the company… It just won’t be fun or memorable. Life is too short to not enjoy it and climbing should be all about having fun.. Even if the climbing is ordinary having amazing people makes it all worth it.
So with my new found philosophy … i was a bit hesitant on entering the City Summit Lead Comp … nevertheless … i thought about it over and over again and eventually convinced myself to enter as it’ll be good to see what the lead comp format is like.
The qualifiers involved 10 climbs … they were set a bit easy so most of the men got similar scores. I was lucky enough to make it into the Intermediate Mens Semis. The mens open and intermediates had the same 2 routes. One on the Tiki wall which was balancy and one of the bridge.
Here’s a few shots the professional photographers at City Summit took of me on the Tiki which i managed to top out… i didn’t do as well on the bridge but managed to scrape into the finals. All the finals climbs were on the dream catcher … the intermediate mens climb was a bit easy and 3 of us finished it … we then had to get on the open mens. I was lucky enough to place 1st. huge thanks to City Summit for hosting and the sweet Tendon Rope ! going to save it for my adventure next october!
So after a weekend of plastic … the rock was calling so i got in contact with the Margaret River legend Rob Crowder for a climb at Wilyabrup. Coincidentally, Gareth, Erin, Brian, Gesa, Remi and Tony were all going to make the trip down on the same weekend! Party Time! Erin was so nice and let us stay in her uncles SUPER SHEDDO!
Super rad! had showers, kitchen … everything!
The day before me and Rob were discussing things we’d like to jump on and I didn’t have anything in particular in mind …. however i was googling the night before and read about this climb called Blondes Have More Fun (21/22) … it was described as “roof hand crack” … two words that get me really excited =)
Me and Tony drove down and met up with Rob and the others and we had a blast!!
Brian jumped on a potential FA called “Arc de Try-Oomph” ! super rad line! Rob was super nice and let me second the climb
I jumped on a few other climbs such as Dolphin Smiles direct which was pretty scary for me and followed Rob up One for the Road.
… it was then time! Remi had set up an anchor for KGB which shares the finish with Blondes Have More Fun. It was so inspiring to watch Brian moving through the roof of KGB ! he was super close on his second go and i reckon he’s got it next time when he’s fresh. Remi gave it a solid go too! those guys are so hardcore
watching them got me totally psyched for Blondes so i taped my hands up the same way i did everyday at the Creek and off i went to give it a run for it’s money
Peter Zhang on Blondes Have More Fun taken by Rob Crowder
On the first go i had some gear in but couldn’t really move through the jams …. i rested on my cam twice before i found this intermediate jam which made things click. after getting the intermediate jam, i was able to keep moving through and finish the climb. I gave it a rest and then jumped on again. I placed my first cam in the roof and then swam to glory =) WOOO!! that definitely made my weekend!
the next day we all hung out at Smith’s Beach and it was a super fun atmosphere, just enjoyable and social =)
my mind was ticking the day and my palms were craving for a bruising …. i need more crack i thought to myself as i was eating my dinner wednesday night … in Perth, we have a few climbing gyms that have cracks,
1. Rockface – wooden “crack” that’s the same size all the way up
2. The Hangout – Short hand crack into the roof that turns into a # 0.75
3. Urban Ascent – 1 hand crack that splits and a finger crack .
I decided to go to the Hangout and give the crack a go.
Peter Zhang on the Hangout Crack. Photo stolen off Brian Tan’s Facebook
So the crack was pretty easy … even the roof section until the #0.75 section where i just couldn’t get anything in there. Still fun nevertheless! next time i gotta go check out Urban Ascent’s finger crack.
So speaking with my crack companion Em.. She’s suffering from the same addiction… So much so that this weekend she is driving 2.5hrs just to go to an indoor climbing gym that had a finger crack… I thought I was keen…
So yesterday i was thinking about something … crack related =) i think i have a little mission that i have to do. Here’s a little sneak peak.
i was thinking about cracks so much that i’ve decided to put together my own guide … useful when you cant see the crack … can use it to determine the right cam size based on feeling =)
Have fun folks!
Z
travels of a zhang 