Howling Ridge Article

Howlin Ridge

On Thursday Ped and I did Howlin Ridge. Got up early to avoid the worse of the heat but still got baked on the walk in. Racked up but didn't use rope or climbing shoes. It felt more like a scramble than a climb thought there was a few tricky sections.

Route finding is pretty easy there is pretty much a path. Took about 2hr15 including a lot of photoshoots en route.

Having done it in such beautiful conditions it seems like it would be shame to do it in shitty weather.

As for the grade, I would say Diff rather than VDiff.

For climbers it's a scramble. For scramblers it's a climb.

Muskrat Ramble

Went to back to Luggala with Andy on Saturday, started early so we were leaving as the day was really starting to heat up. Andy wanted an adventure and decided on Muskrat Ramble, the three star, three pitch HVS.

As we geared up a few midge lurked and I was worried but there was a decent breeze all day. Andy set off immediatly going off route as the guidebook start looked very dirty. He pulled quickly through some tricky climbing that didn't look that steep from the ground, an optical illusion, as it was steep and hard on the blunt end. The finish needed a good clean but overall decent pitch.

The belay was at this big oak tree and would be a great spot for a bivvy. The second pitch is the star. Steep and really really exposed. It made me feel like a beginner, nervous, overgripping and a little wobbly. Andy shot up it no hesitation. The same couldn't be said of me.

We belayed on the pine tree. Sensational spot, the rock dropping steeply beneath.

Andy decided on the last pitch of Crevasse Route rather than MR as it looked very dirty and probably isn't done very often. The start is a pretty hard, for VS, mantle onto a slab. I had trouble higher up, rushing a bit and getting all wrong handed.

We walked off and drank the beers Andy had stashed in the stream on the walk in. I was impressed with Andy's leading straight off the couch. The route felt hard and it appears that my goal of getting really solid on HVS is still a good bit off.

Oh and I spotted at least one very nice boulder problem.

Bouldering book title

Have been doing a decent bit of climbing but haven't blogged about it as I have been occuppied with finishing my bouldering book. It's pretty much done bar the cover and deciding on a title.

I have been trying to think of a good title for over a year now and I had hoped one would just fall out of the sky but it hasn't happened.

So I would like some help settling on one.

First some background on the book. It's bouldering how-to/instructional manual aimed at beginner and intermediate climbers. It's starts pretty basic and is focussed on movement and strategy rather than training. There are lots of great photo so it has a coffee table flavor - judge for yourself - see the photos below.

I think it's pretty comprehensive, it's not just a beginners book, so I don't want a title like "Bouldering for Beginners" or "Start Bouldering" (this was my working title for a while) as they suggest that experienced boulderers won't find anything to use to them.

I would like 'bouldering' in the title. I think this is important for search rankings and so on.

There are two options - just plain old bouldering with a subtitleor something bouldering or bouldering something.

I have tried to write down all the options. A lot of which are pretty chessy and generic. I'm open to left of field suggestions (for example I really like the title of "Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills").

The Bouldering Handbook

The Bouldering Manual

The Complete Guide to Bouldering

Complete Bouldering

Essential Bouldering

Learn Bouldering

Go Bouldering

Start Bouldering

Bouldering Basics

Bouldering Explained

Bouldering Uncovered

Bouldering Essentials

Bouldering for Beginners

Bouldering for Everyone

Bouldering: A guide for beginners and intermediates

Bouldering: How to

Already taken

Better Bouldering

Bouldering: Movement, Tactics and Problem Solving

Anyone have any opinions on any of the above titles?