25 Grade 25’s in 2025

“Every decision you’ve ever made has led you to this moment.”
This is something I’ve found myself pondering multiple times throughout my life. Usually when benighted. Nothing breeds reflection like misfortune after all.  In this instance though I find myself twenty metres off the ground, upside down in a double knee-bar with nothing but air and wind surrounding me, and the inverted view of the Atlantic ocean stretching out before me. The sheer sensation of space is wild and surreal. And in that moment I can’t help but freeze and think ‘How the heck did I find myself here?’ And then in my wonder I promptly slip out of the knee-bar and blow my onsight. Typical.

Goals are funny things aren’t they? A strange conflagration of wants, desires and needs that guide our lives, both in achievement and in failure. Back home in Adelaide I work as a youth climbing coach, helping guide the next generation of young crushers to realising their own dreams. When someone comes to me asking for coaching, I always ask these questions:

What are three short term goals you’d like to achieve within the next twelve months?
What is your long term goal?
What are three things in life you strongly value, climbing or otherwise?

The answers to the goals are usually quite predictable – climb a certain grade or win a certain competition – and thus while important are not what I am interested in. It is the third, the values that define the individual, and these make all the difference.

Left: The 2025 list. Image by Ryan Gaskon Right: Trojan, 25, Mt Arapiles. Image by Caleb Skirrow

Some people say their family, their friends, others say hard work, honesty, kindness etc. These answers I feel are so important because they are what both drives us to achieve our goals, and supports us along the way. The other thing I try to impress upon is the idea of outcome vs process oriented goals. Outcome based goals are dangerous, subjective, usually influenced by things outside of our control. I found this out the hard way a decade ago in a failed quest to make the Australian Youth Team, and those consequences still affect me mentally to this day.

Process based goals are different, they focus on the journey, progression and learning. Instead of our worth being defined by a black or white result (e.g making finals at nationals), we can ask How has this made me a better climber, or even a better person? Again, this links back into our values.

This year in a moment of numerical inspiration I set myself the simple yet ambitious goal of climbing twenty five routes of grade 25 in 2025.

This actually originated a couple years prior, when I planned to run that many laps of a local 25 for my 25th birthday. Unfortunately a torn lumbrical ended that goal prematurely. The following year I wanted to do twenty six laps of a 26 variant. This time the weather decided to drown the crag instead. I doubted my ability to up the grade again upon turning twenty seven, so instead I tweaked the numbers and came up with this instead.

My own values I identified after much meditation and internal reflection to be Freedom, Connection and Expression. My goal was set, my values identified, and though I didn’t know it at the time, I launched into what would become very possibly the best climbing year of my life.

It began on New Year’s day at Mt Arapiles, with a second go send of the classic trad line Trojan, a route that I never envisioned myself attempting, let alone sending so quickly. Back in Adelaide, it became apparent that I wouldn’t be able to climb all those routes new, so I allowed myself to include repeats and quickly swelled my list, ticking off local routes and link ups. At this time, I was completely in love with being outdoors and moving and feeling so in flow with my body and the rock.

Left: Nose Job, 24, Mt Arapiles. Image by Caleb Skirrow Right: Pole Dancer, 22, Cape Raoul. Image by Jessica Rae

Freedom.
Subsequent trips to Arapiles saw more new ticks with Henry Bolte, Gay Olympics and Golden Gaytime, basking in sharing catches and campfires with friends old and new, including one of my Australian climbing heroes in the wonderful Lucy Stirling.

Connection.
I really found my groove in the middle of the year, where trips to Moonarie and the Blue Mountains saw memorable onsights of Buzzard Arete, High Tension and Vespatian’s Wall (which I barely clawed onto by the very tip of my bleeding fingers) Back at Arapiles I sent both Punks in the Gunks and Bienenstich second go and had never felt so in tune and confident within myself.

A lot of people wouldn’t consider climbing to be art, but what is art beyond a representation of our creativity? When I’m up high on the wall, I feel totally alive and able to be my truest self, unburdened by external pressures and expectations. I don’t feel caged, I feel free, free to be myself and nothing more.

Expression.
And thus my journey led me to my upside down knee-bar, just outside of Cape Town, South Africa amidst my first international climbing trip. It had been the most incredible month, exploring a new country, experiencing a new culture and pulling onto some truly special routes, accompanied by my effervescent local friend Chloe who could very well be the loveliest human I have ever met.

How did I get here? I asked myself in that knee-bar.
Well the answer was simple – It was my goal. But more specifically, it was the journey I’d been on in pursuit of it.

Climbing is a beautiful teacher. Adam Ondra once said that every climb, no matter how easy or hard, classic or choss, has the ability to teach us something. I found myself reflecting on this on December 30, as I approached the top of a poxy Adelaide link-up Trespassing, my final 25 for 2025.

After clipping the chains, I asked my belayer to let me simply sit there a moment, with just the wind, the birds and the sunset for company, so I could think back on the year that had been. Yes, I’d achieved my goal, but the real growth had come from the journey, the process.

Left: Athletica, 26, GFC, Sydney. Image by Jamie Chen Right: Eddie Misses The Point, 25, Norton Summit, Adelaide. Image by Caleb Skirrow

Over the course of this year, I’ve learnt so much about myself, as a climber and as a person. I developed new skills, travelled to some unforgettable locations and met so many wonderful people (too many to name here but you all know who you are, and I’m so thankful to know you and climb with you!).

And not just the 25s but so many other routes too. A fourteen hour adventure to climb Pole Dancer at Cape Raoul, my first visit to Point Perp, claiming the sixth ascent (to my knowledge) of the three hundred metre Green Pillar in Montagu, South Africa, followed the day after by my first 28 onsight.

These memories and the people I shared them with will stay with me forever, and for these I am so very grateful. If the joy and self-fulfilment I’ve felt from climbing this year is any indication of the future, then I hope it may continue to hold me in kindness and discovery.

For one of the other things I try to teach my young students is this:
Whether you win or whether you lose, never lose the lesson.
And who knows? Maybe this year I might even try for twenty six 26’s…

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