ADVENTURE MAG EDITION 1 - OE EDITION 56 39AUSTRALIA’S BEST CLIMBERSjust the occasional outlier.
Where are your favourite climbing
areas and why?
AMANDA: In Australia, Mount
Buffalo in Victoria is a definite
favourite. The area is just
completely beautiful because of
the climate. Huge trees, lush grass
and big boulders and cliffs. It feels
like adventure as soon as we hit
the top of the windy road. I also
love climbing next to the ocean. It’s
pretty cool climbing above crashing
waves. Overseas, Yosemite Valley is
pretty special. It would be amazing
to go back there again with more
time with a clear agenda.
TOM: I love a small quiet crag in
the Blue Mountains called The
Underworld. There’s something
about it that feels special; I’m not
sure what it is. It’s also home to
my longest project to date, Hump
of Trouble. I’ve spent probably 70
days trying to climb it! I also love
Elphinstone in the Blue Mountains.
Internationally, I love Ceuse in the
south of France. It’s a beautiful blue
and white streaked wall that crowns
the top of a mountain. The entire
cliff stretches for kilometres. Some
of the most famous and historical
routes in the world are there! Plus
the view from the cliff out across
the French countryside is awesome.
ANDREA: My favourite climbing
areas are The Grampians and Mt
Arapiles because they represent
the climbing lifestyle I wish I had,
instead of the normal grind of
work, laundry and bills needing
to be paid. The climbing at these
destinations is world class, with
everything from hard challenges to
cruisy easy multi-pitches.What is your fitness and nutrition
regime before and during a trip?
AMANDA: From a fitness point
of view, it is about having as
much consistency with training
as possible. The training may be
tweaked a bit depending on the
areas we are going to e.g. if its
trad, slab climbing then there
will be more emphasis on that
style of climbing. In contrast, if its
powerful pocket climbing, the finger
boarding and boulder training
would incorporate more of that. We
generally try to leave the country
as strong as we can as your power
drops off without that training.
Nutrition wise, we are pretty routine
no matter where we are. What you
eat and drink sets a rhythm for
your life. We aim for 3-4 cups of
vegetables or salad every day, try to
have a few vegetarian meals a week
and make sure we have a good
protein and carbohydrate portion
at every main meal. We aim for an
extra hit of protein after a training
session or straight after a long day
at the cliff. We steer clear of the fad
diets, because as a sports dietitian
I know too much to be drawn in to
hype of them and we make sure we
eat the foods we really love eachweek. When we travel we do the
same, just with some more food
experimenting thrown in!TOM: Before a trip, I will usually
have a goal in mind for what I want
to achieve. That may be climbing
a certain number of routes at a
certain difficulty or just one route
in particular. To achieve this, I train
hard in the lead up to be in the
best shape I can be. To train that
hard, you need to make sure you
are putting the right fuel in. Your
training is nothing without the right
nutrition! I’m super lucky that my
partner is a sports dietitian, so I can
always ask her what I should be
eating to perform my best as well
as recovery for the next day! I love
checking out the local foods when
I’m in a new country. I’ve been to
a few countries which have a very
different type of foods they eat, so
checking them out is always fun!
For me, though, skin preservation is
the number one limiting factor on a
trip. Making sure your skin doesn’t
blow out is massive.ANDREA: My fitness regime before
a trip is usually quite specific to the
kind of trip I am going on. Before
bouldering trips, I will focus on max
power, but before Yosemite I was
going out for big days and trying to
get comfortable on obscure crack
climbs and trying not to get scared.
Nutrition is always constant and a
balanced diet of vegetables, rice,
pasta, beans, coffee and chocolate.TOM O’HALLORAN, Photo Credit Kamil Sustiak“The problem
solving, improvement
and physical
challenges are
addictive!”