How good is Yangshuo?

jjobrien on "Call of Duty" 28
Having a bit of a lie down half way before switching to endurance mode.
Photos: Phil Box

Call of Duty 28, Coolum Cave, Queensland Aust.

Photo: Phil Box

Beautiful winter conditions, steep, steep rock and my favorite lap route.
Antoine is on belay for this lap at the "Coolum Sendfest" 2010.

"Evil Wears No Pants" 8a+ (30) Project

Such a lot of hard moves all stacked on top of each other.

73 shots got me to the point of linking all the moves from the hang start to the top.

Now the hard work of getting off the ground begins.

My money is on 150 shots.

Rock in the suburbs

cover photography: Lee Cujes    

click on the photo to enlarge.

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"Spoonman" 28.

Six moves into the eight move sequence of the crux traverse, up with the right then out with the left to the horn and clip R.

Then follows a tough slog to the final heart breaker, a long lunge off the left with high feet.

Trying to convert the drive from the high feet into lift after all that hard work is the clincher.

Wearing my professional helmet as an adventure consultant, this time at Ballymore stadium. Photos: Lee Cujes

jjobrien - poster boy for Crux 5 splash page

"Queensland - The Steep State" The Crux Magazine story

Featuring the Phil Box photo that went to number one in the U.S. for 3 months on rockclimbing.com

Click on the story to enlarge and read.

The Rock! mag story

Poster that appeared in Crux 4

Photo: Neil Montieth

"Call of Duty" 28 Coolum Cave The very long and very steep "Call of Duty" is an extension of the original Gareth Llewellyn line "Weapon of Choice".

Photo: Antoine Mousette

"A Gaze Blank and Pitiless as the Sun" 30 Summit Caves, Tibrogargen

project

Photo: Lee Cujes

"Gasoline Rainbow" 28

My first climb at the grade. Gas Rain is probably still my favourite line at Coolum, it's a second pitch start, steepening up after the second bolt. I took so many plunges from the crux of this route, some of them beauties with an armfull of rope out to clip, just falling into clean air.
36 attempts finally acheived a tick.


photo: Phil Box

"Screaming Insanity" 26

"Screaming" is without a doubt the crag classic. A vicious little start then big horns through steep country to a pumpy finish. At the time of bolting it was unclimbable by any Queenslander. Now even with it's extension "Wholly Calamity" it's a warm up route for locals.
I've clocked well over 100 ascents.


Photo: Lee Cujes

"A Kneebar Too Far" 29 Coolum Cave

I could have died happy after ticking this one.
73 attempts and several cycles of injury and recovery. The swoop out of the roof really spooked me the first few times, a few people had collected the wall on the other side. Then once my focus had shifted away from the fall and toward the next moves it was pure joy.

photo: Phil Box

Ultraviolet 25 Coolum Cave Queensland Australia

Big long moves to good holds and exposure to burn. Nothing too technical, just keep hanging on untill the top.


Photo: Phil Box