2011 started well for me. My training was paying off and I was feeling fit and strong and I was feeling fluid on the rock. But then unfortunately in March my finger flared up and I ended up taking two months off from climbing as a precaution. I think that turned out to be a good move. In May I was able to quickly regain my fitness and hook back into a project – Tuckered Out – which I’d been working earlier.
I first looked at this route several years ago when I climbed Super Duper Goo (29) which shares most of the climbing of Tuckered Out (30) but escapes off to the left before the roof section. I had seen the guys doing the roof and it looked like awesome fun to swing around like a monkey, free, up high, in the roof which caps the main wall at Diamond Falls. At that time I gave the roof a shot but I was literally overwhelmed and too intimidated by the committing moves and run-outs.
Earlier this year I got psyched again after seeing Zac cruising through the roof. This time, being braver and savvier with working out moves, I managed to find my own sequence through the roof. Then, on red-points, I was twice quite literally blown off the route in gale-force winds ( I kid you not). Then, I waited two months for my finger… And then finally (on the 10th May), second day back on the route, in a last ditch effort which was really only to get my quickdraws off, with nothing left in the tank, my eyes staring into the sun, I sent the route — much to my amazement.
It was a personal victory for me, as the route posed some real mental and I thought physical barriers (which weren’t really there; I just had to work it out for myself). It is always satisfying when you can overcome such hurdles and enjoy the process.
Tuckered Out (30), Diamond Falls, Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia.
