PATH TWO

Rob Ferguson - 5.5 secs

Chris Lange (17) - 5.5 secs

Ron Ahl - 5.7 seconds

Nathan Smith - 6.6 secs

Craig Wright—7 seconds

Brad Marshall - 7.2 secs

Nathan Muller - 7.8 secs

Jake Haskard - 8 secs

Nick Irwin-Parsons - 8.1 s

Craig Newton - 8.2 secs

C H R I S T M A S 2 0 0 7

The Oreo Made me do it - Dave interview World's First 5.16 climber!!! - Posted by rocturtl@ix.netcom.com

Bird's (nest) Eye View an interview with Chin Chuan and Niles Goodman

Sixty feet up an overhung wall utterly devoid of features, the 96-pound, 20 year old pauses to contemplate his next move. The route, when he finishes flashing it, will proba-bly go 5.15, though, since nobody else in the world yet climbs that level, it's hard to say. He reaches into his chalk bag and pulls out . . . an Oreo Cookie??? Chin Chuan burst upon the climbing world just five months ago, and has already established himself as the premiere free climber in the world. None of the 32 first ascents Chin attaches his name to have yet been seconded: Most are believed to rate in the 5.15-5.16 range. Chin was discovered in a tiny Chinese seacoast village by National Geographic Explorer cinematographer Niles Goodman. Because of the language barrier, Niles acted as trans-lator for this interview. And, in all fairness, this story is as much about him as about his phenom protege, Chin. Climb On Magazine: Niles, tell us about the circumstances that led to your 'discovery' of Chin? Cont….page 2.

“The Oreo Made

me do it”

Special Special Special Special

OfferOfferOfferOffer

Page 2 N O G R V I T Y N E W S

The Oreo Made me do it!

Continued from page 1.

Niles: Well, I was in southern China working a film assignment for Na-tional Geographic. We were filming the local villagers who gather birds' nest soup nests from the local sea caves. These guys are phenomenal! Some of the caves are 500-600 foot up sheer sea cliffs. They climb up or down bamboo pole bundles they've lashed together each and every day, just to get to work. Then, when they finally get to the caves, they climb around a regular spider's web of the same sort of bundles to get to the nests, which the birds build high up on the cavern walls. The only light these guys get comes from candles they carry in one hand.

C: So basically, all the villagers are accomplished climbers.

Niles: I saw a 60 year old man climbing routes with a candle in one hand, one handed!, that would make most of the young bucks currently putting up firsts puke their guts!

C: So Chin was the best of these nest collectors?

Niles: Actually, they wouldn't let Chin collect the nests. The village eld-ers considered him too young. They had him doing all the dirty work, like putting the bamboo scaffolding in place. The first time I saw Chin, he was climbing 200 feet up a cavern ceiling, hauling a fifty-kilo bundle of bamboo!!! I knew instantly that if I could get this kid on the international climbing circuit, he'd tear it apart. So I got him to one side and tried to convince him that his future lay with professional climbing.

C: Obviously he agreed with you.

Niles: Not at first.

C: Chin, Niles said that you were initially didn't want to become a profes-sional climber. What changed your mind?

Chin: Oreo Cookies.

C: Oreo Cookies???

Niles: I had a bag of Oreos, and I gave him a couple. He'd never tasted refined sugar before, or chocolate for that matter. I guess they taste better than fish and rice every meal. Anyway, Chin asked if he could have Oreos if he became a professional climber, and I said yes. It seemed a simple enough thing at the time.

C: So the entire reason you went into professional climbing was to get Oreo Cookies?

Chin: (shrugs, as if to say "It's a good enough reason.")

C: So what happened next?

Niles: Chin needed a sponsor, so I took him to Bend, Oregon.

C: Why Bend?

Niles: Because several big companies...are home based there. It's a target rich environment. Plus, it has Smith Rocks nearby, which means lots of tough routes. You gotta remember, I was footing all of Chin's bills myself, so I had to get him sponsored fast. I knew, once people saw him climb, we'd have to fight off the sponsors, but first I had to get him expo-sure. So, literally the day after we flew into Seattle, he was on the rock strutting his stuff for several reps.

C: I take it he impressed them.

Niles: (laughs) I'll say. We were at the base of Face, setting up below Just Do It (5.14c). I'm getting all the gear set up and Chin asks me where he's supposed to climb. I pointed the route out. Before I knew it, Chin was halfway up the spire! By the time I realized he wasn't wearing a harness or even tied in, he was above Just Do It and onto the un-climbed rock! He just flew up that rock!!!

C: (to Chin) You climbed without a rope???

Merry Christmas to all of our customers is the past year. As we say every year,

geez that went fast! Well, we have enjoyed every buzzing minute of it and predict

an even bigger year in 08. With so much happening in the Shire, with growth and change, it is set to be a challenging

but interesting year for business. Front page image: Channel 9 studios, Mt Cootha.

SAYING: The Secret of success is constancy of purpose. Unknown.

Chin: (looking apologetic) I didn't know I was supposed to use a rope. I never had before.

Niles: That wasn't the amazing part. The amazing part is when we all panicked and started shouting at him. He DOWNCLIMBED the route!!!

C: You downclimbed a 5.14a???

Chin: They were yelling at me. I thought I'd done something wrong. So I came down.

C: Amazing!!!

Niles: Needless to say, we had no trouble getting Chin sponsored.

C: I understand you've had difficulties in international competition, though.

Niles: (he grimaces) It's been one minor disaster after another. First he got disqualified at Snowbird, then we had troubles with the French gov-ernment .

C: (interrupting) Tell me about the disqualification.

Chin: I didn't know you had to clip the rope.

Niles: He walked out of the ready room, looked at the route, then flashed it. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn he was climbing the speed route, not the difficulty route. He didn't clip a single 'draw on the way up. Then he downclimbed it. He got DQ'ed for passing a clip (laughs). It's my fault, I didn't explain the rules to him. I mean, I have a hard time remembering that this kid who's ripping the rocks apart never climbed using any gear before, not even a safety rope!!!

C: Tell us about Arco.

Chin: No Oreos.

Niles: Yeah, that pretty much describes it. We landed in France and they confiscated most of our Oreos. Left us only one bag, and that they slapped a tariff on. Seems that Oreos are 'American Culture' which threatens the traditional and culturally pure French Pastry Industry. Well, Chin went through that bag in about a day. (laughs) If he doesn't ease up on the cookies, pretty soon he'll be so fat, he'll only be able to climb 5.14's like the rest of humanity. Anyway, we tried to find some more Oreos. Nothing!!! Not one God Damned Oreo in the whole of France. We couldn't even find a decent substitute! So I asked Chin if he'd climb without 'em.

Chin: (in English, angrily) No Oreos! No Climb!!!

Niles: Yeah. Anyway, we tried to get some more FedExed from the States, an Oreo airlift, if you will. The first batch got confiscated at the airport. And the second, and the third. We were running out of time. So we appealed to the French government. What a joke. No help there. Frankly, there's a rumor about that some of the French climbers com-plained to their government that they couldn't beat Chin in a fair climb, and that's why they blocked our cookie imports. I don't know if that's true or not, but . . . (shrugs).

C: So Chin didn't climb Arco?

Niles: Nope. No Oreos, No Climb. I suppose that's fair. After all, I did promise him Oreos when he climbed.

C: So, what's next?

Niles: Well, it doesn't look like Chin'll be climbing in France very soon. On the other hand, Nabisco heard about the incident, and has offered Chin an extremely generous endorsement contract for Oreos. Seems that not too many junk foods can claim to be the main power source for a world class athlete!!! (laughs). But for now, there's plenty of competi-tions around, and we'll be doing much better, now that we've worked most of the kinks out.

C: Thank you for your time, and good luck.

Niles and Chin: Thank you.

C H R I S T M A S I S S U E 2 0 0 7

the�silly�season�-�heaps�of�families�will�hit�the�highways�to�“get�away”�for�the�holidays.�

1. ‘Fantails’ - these chocolate coated morsels of caramel keep the offspring entertained for ages, by reading the 101 use-

less facts about movie stars and the famed. It also provides blessed periods of silence as they masticate and harvest

caramel out of their teeth. Works on bothersome adults also.

2. Toilet stops - for children over 14 (especially females), it is no-longer cool to get caught peeing on the side of the road.

Don’t mentally scar your retirement fund/s for life - two words “SERVICE STATION”.

3. PASSENGER COUNT! Or “kid count” if you have small humans traveling with you. Count these beings yourself, do not

rely on other siblings to warn you of a missing kid. Failure to perform a Passenger Count can result in a screaming mini

human and later and an embarrassing 21st birthday.

Check out the No Gravity

website

www.nogravity.com.au

• Photos

• Events

• Climber of the month

• Testimonials

• And more

Updated by WEB-STA

The weak point behind the modern car is the

squigy organic bit behind the wheel. Top Gear. ABC.

Page 3

Sarah (4)

tried really

hard to climb

our rock wall

at the Ca-

boolture

Shire Council

Social Club

Christmas

party.

Great Effort

Drive safe this

Christmas

Due to NO GRAVITY’S commitment to the local

community, we would like y

our nominations for a char

ity or not for profit commu

nity group, that

would derive the most ben

efit from a 2 hours FREE h

ire of our mobile rock wa

ll WORTH $480.

One lucky organisation, w

ithin the local area (North

Brisbane to the Sunshine

Coast), can use our rock w

all to help raise funds inco

rporating us

with an existing external e

vent or having us as part o

f a special event being run

by the organisation thems

elves.

HOW TO NOMINATE

1. Email NO GRAVITY at manager@nogravity.com

.au. Include you Name, ph

one, postal address

and the organisation you

are nominating (please inc

lude their contact details to

o). Or fill in the

online form at www.NOGRAVITY.com.au/giv

eaway.html.

2. Summarise in 200 words o

r less why you think your

nomination deserves havi

ng

NO GRAVITY to attend their event.

3. If your nomination is one o

f the first 10 received, we w

ill call you and send

you your FREE movie ticke

t as a thank you.

4. We will contact the wining or

ganisation to notify them.

5. Results will be in the Janu

ary Issue of NO GRAVITY NEWS.

Help us to support someon

e special. *Conditions A

pply

Bribie Island

COME�CHECK�OUT�WHAT�

Bribie�has�to�offer�

over�the�school�

hols.�Swimming,�fishing,�boating,�

icecream,�fish�‘n’�chips,�parks,�

bbq’s,�pelicans,�dolphins,�water�

sports.�Not�only�will�you�see�us�

there,�over�xmas,�you�might�even�

catch�the�banana�boat�rides,�

paragliding�and�jet�skies.�

0438 012 232 manager@nogravity.com.au www.nogravity.com.au

Entries OPEN

1st December

Entries CLOSE

20th December

KIDS up to 15

years of age

NG staff will

choose the

most creative +

colourful

entry.

The winner

will feature in

our next issue.

Help your parents with the pressie shopping this Christmas Help your parents with the pressie shopping this Christmas Help your parents with the pressie shopping this Christmas Help your parents with the pressie shopping this Christmas

and colourand colourand colourand colour----in our Santa Scene.in our Santa Scene.in our Santa Scene.in our Santa Scene.

SPECIAL OFFER

Due to fluctuating cost of fuel and increase in ongoing running

costs, we are unfortunately forced to increase our prices slightly in

the new year. For booking by February 30th 08, No Gravity will re-

ward all past clients and current No Gravity News readers with 2007

prices. This will equal an approximate 10% saving on our 2008

prices. Book early for this offer and to secure your 2008 event.

Details

Name: Name: Name: Name: _______________________ Age: Age: Age: Age: ___________Ph: Ph: Ph: Ph: ___________ Address:Address:Address:Address:______________________ QQQQ ____

Post�to:�

10�Churchill�st,�Caboolture.�Q�