In late 2017 I started to build my boulder wall with the help of Craig, and it was Craig and Geoff that then helped me set the 150 odd holds I had bought. Looking back at the post (https://sandbagged.blog/2019/01/06/finally-my-boulder-wall/) the wall looked shiny and new but also the spread of holds looked very sparse. I was lucky in to get back in touch with Eric in late 2018, just about when he decided to sell all the holds from his boulder wall and so I could remedy my concerns with an additional 150 plus holds which Geoff, Nana and Craig helped to place:
With the arrival of Easter 2021 and the promise of the “busiest tourist season ever”, I’d already decided that there was no point in using the car even with would four days off. Instead the idea came to mind that it was time to spring clean the wall. As such the Wednesday before I opened up the shed for a boulder it was to be the last session on the old look wall. Friday morning arrived and the task began. I started early and was later joined by Tomski and Alan, and using tools to avoid manually removing all the holds it was quick work:
I’d already spent several hours at it before the boys had arrived so was more than happy for them to take the tools. This allowed me to sort the holds they took off for easier use later on. The three of us operated like a well-oiled machine and we had sped along with the job, and were getting more done than I had expected. By mid-morning the wall was stripped and 300 plus holds were laid out in neat piles ready to be put back up:
It wasn’t all work, work, work although when we were in the shed I was a pretty ruthless task master. I’m not one to dilly-dally on a job that needs completing, so can become a little driven. However, today we did have a morning tea break. Lisa had kindly stopped at the shops the day before and brought Easter goodies to feed the crew that had offered to help me out. Today however we indulged in Jaime’s amazing sticky date pudding. The poodles tried but failed in getting a taste, which is probably a good thing:
Then it was back at it, time to reset the wall. Lisa and I were due to head round to the neighbours for the afternoon so we still had a few hours left to crack on. The plan was to get all the holds on the roof and then to start setting all the footer holds. There were previously a few holds on the roof that rarely, if ever, got used and we consciously only put the jugs back up. We never go too hard on this wall so there was no need to make the roof stupidly hard. I’ve also got about four sets of holds that are great for footers and we soon had them evenly spread:
We had noticed before how a few of the early routes had become a little trickier after bigger holds had got in the way. This had resulted in recurring bash elbows and knees, but we never moved them. So with the advantage of resetting all the holds in one hit we then put back the bigger holds, which allowed us to also set a few routes. When I posted an image or two of progress Rongy, Craig and Jake were probably getting nervous that there wasn’t much left for them to do the next day. But their needn’t have worried:
With Alan and Tomski’s help we had done a great job in having the wall ready for the serious route setters to come in and do their thing. Saturday morning arrived and it was time for the larger sets of holds were to be placed, and this meant that the boys spent a lot more time thinking about which set of foot holds they wanted to use and how they would place the holds. The sticky boots came out straight away so they could test each move. It was a much slower process but it’s not the sort of thing that can be rushed:
With four of us setting routes it got quiet congested but we managed to work round each other well, the idea was to ensure that there was a range of difficulties. But every so often a remark would come out that “oh that’s a great move but it’ll be tricky”. I have to admit that it felt like we wouldn’t get the job done, despite the boys being available to help till mid-afternoon. The more thoughtful approach required, plus all the chit chat, was slowing things down. So I applied a little pressure when relevant and kept the tea and snacks flowing to keep them going:
By lunchtime it was done. The setting of the last few sets of holds became quicker, not due to lack of thinking of how to do it but due to the lack of places to put the holds! Nearly every t-nut was used up and we even had to drill a few extra holes to put some more up. There was also some time to try a few of the routes. It was surprising just how tiring the task had been and I didn’t get back on the wall on Sunday or Monday. Wednesday evening came and opening up the shed we tried the routes and most of them felt on the hard side. No stress it is good to have finally reset the wall after three plus years, and we now have some problems to work at:
Sandbagged 