Experience the Thrill of the 12 Hours Of Mountain Quarry Madness 2022

Henry McNamee

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12 hrs of Mountain Quarry Madness 2022

On Sunday, the 10th of April, 44 competitors arrived for the inaugural 12 Hours Of Mountain Quarry Madness competition.

 

A great range of climbers took part in the event, from 14 yr old young crushers Dylan, Zac and Andy to our oldest competitor Dave Ladkin (70).
It was awesome to see some legends in the likes of prolific first ascensionists Mathew Rosser and Danila Zonta, who repeated some of their climbs during the comp. We were also lucky to see CAWAs’ founding president Mike Adams and one of the ex-presidents Phil Calais, stop by and check out the event.

With check-in starting at 7 am, plenty of climbers were up and ready to go. Many were already in varied costumes, from grandmas to formal attire, Nemo and Dory, and even some brave Baywatch lifeguards looking very cold. After a quick briefing, climbers started to get ready; many tied-in and ready to go waiting for the call. At 8.00 am, everyone was off! Most teams started up on the easier climbs of the Playboy Wall, whilst a few teams keen to hit some big points early started up the multi-pitch mixed routes on the Main Wall. With the weather forecast looking a little questionable for the afternoon, everyone was smashing through the climbs.

The coffee van came at 9 am, but most climbers were unwilling to waste precious time taking a break for a coffee. Hence, a few volunteers and spectators started doing coffee runs delivering coffee to some very happy climbers throughout the quarry. Remi from TNUT Climbing came down and set up his stall with a range of excellent climbing holds, shirts and pots to buy.

As the day continued, many eyes drifted up to the ever-darkening sky, and the talk about the chance of rain started to spread across the quarry. Eventually, it began to rain. However, many climbers pushed through the drizzle with some honourable mentions being Louis taking his shirt off a mid-climb to dry the crux holds of Playboy and Mike Bortoluzzi putting in a strong performance crushing Shut Em Down (22) in a downpour. Unfortunately, at 3 pm, the intensity of the rain increased, and climbing was put on hold for an hour and eventually cancelled.

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12MQM2022

12hrs of Mountain Quarry Madness 2022 comptetition

12MQM2022


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Despite the disappointment of the day being cut short, it was great to see everyone sticking around and hangout as a community. I was particularly appreciative of everyone who went out of their way to help collect all the carabiners left on the anchors of many climbs.

At 4.45 pm the prize presentations took place. The winners included Louis Blake with the hardest climb of the day – Sweet Pea (27). The best costume was Cedric and Seb of team Quarrymen, who dressed in a mix of grandma wigs and lycra. Natalie and Dave won the best team name with the very creative “In Quarryntine for 12 hours” as well as the most metres for the intermediate category. The two Markos of team Gronks took out the most grades for intermediate, and Maddy and Chris of team Groove Train won the metres for mixed category. The two “Not So Magic Mikes” took out both the most vertical metres and grades combined in the advance category. However, Louis and Vicky of Dawn Wall 2.0 came in second for both and hence won one of the prizes.

All winners received awesome prizes, including shoes from Butora, backpacks from Wild Country, vouchers and a Stirling Rope from K2 base camp, t-shirts from TNUT Climbing, subscriptions from Vertical Life magazine, and discounts at Wild Earth, as well as prize packs from Climbing Anchors.

After the prize presentation, Matilda’s Cooking Fremantle had finished cooking up a storm, and all the hungry, tired climbers got stuck into an amazing Kotlavina for dinner as the sun began to set.

All in all, it was a fantastic day for the Perth climbing community, and we are already excited for next year’s events.

Proudly supported by

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Henry McNamee

One response to “Experience the Thrill of the 12 Hours Of Mountain Quarry Madness 2022”
  1. Vicky Alexander Avatar
    Vicky Alexander

    I don’t think it’s a stretch to call Mountain Quarry Madness a hit, and considering that it got rained out about seven hours into a twelve-hour comp, I think that’s a huge credit to the organisers, primarily Henry and Jiri. Despite the impending rain, competitors were having fun while giving the comp a red hot go.
    The atmosphere was upbeat and social, and I’d like to thank everyone who volunteered their time to help out; you created a great day, and I hope we can give it a full twelve-hour go next year! I could waffle on about stats, who came where, and how the points were calculated, but I’d rather tell a tale.

    So Louie and I were eager to hop on the grade seventeen trad route in the corner that everyone knows as we had foolishly given up our prime position on it earlier in the day to try to climb on the back wall while it was in the shade. We were about to hop on something else when it freed up. We were stoked and didn’t waste any time. It was Louie’s climb, so he racked up, tied in and took off. No sooner had he climbed high enough to get a decent bit of gear in than it started raining, just a sprinkle, so Louie pushed on. He placed a few more pieces to get him about 2/3 the way up the route, which finds you in a bit of a stemming position. At this point, Louie copped a heavier shower. It would have been very reasonable to lower off the route and wait for it to dry, but credit to him, Louie took his time standing on two reasonable feet and one handhold and assessed the situation. The next move involves stepping up on a smeary semi-high foot above your gear which, when dry is fine, but on wet, slick granite didn’t seem at all appealing to me. Louie then proceeded to wriggle his free hand and head out of his shirt, match hands and remove the shirt from his remaining arm. It seemed like an odd choice at the time since it had just rained, so it wasn’t like it was so hot that he absolutely couldn’t bear climbing in a light cotton t-shirt for another second, but he very cleverly used it to dry the smeary foothold.

    By this time, a number of people were watching, and most climbers had packed it in during the last shower, which meant more spectators. I’ve gotta say I was pretty fucking impressed with his tenacity and creativity (don’t tell him, or he’ll get a big head). Ok, so Louie tests the foothold, drys it one more time and prepares to step up on it. He’s getting very vocal support from the crowd, which is great; we’ve got a real mini-drama unfolding in front of us. He’s ready; he throws the shirt away, places his foot, readjusts and begins transferring his weight over the smear to cheers from the crowd. Just before he stands up, the sky opens up and absolutely pisses down. All of the built-up tension in the crowd is relieved as we laugh at the ridiculous end to the drama; Louie clips a bolt on a neighbouring route, and I lower him to the ground. A fitting end to a very fun day at the crag.

    Vicky

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