All About Anna

Anna Veronique L’hoest is a 22 year old Christian from a little village in Western Germany. She had just finished a Bachelors degree majoring in History and after saving a bit of money working as a Judo instructor, she left Germany to fulfil her lifelong dream of exploring Australia. She arrived in Melbourne on a long weekend in March 2009 but after one night of drunken backpackers, she was over it! So she packed her bags and took a bus to Araps. All she knew about Arapiles was that it was a popular climbing area. She had spent the last year climbing weekends in the gym in Dusseldorf and had with her shoes, harness and belay device. 6 months later she on sighted Wizard of Ice, a burly grade 20 crack. If you don’t know about this climb, ask someone. It still spits out people with 30 years climbing experience. She also managed to “redpoint”, (placing gear on lead) a few classic trad lines, Squeakeasy (22) being the proudest.
Another shot of Squeakeasy 22


If her passion for climbing is impressive, her love of dirtbagging is even more amazing! Hanging out with Crazy John, Grug and Deano in the Pines, we introduced her to bin-diving and the underworld of getting by on the dodge. In short time we turned this innocent young Christian German into a raging dirtbag climber! She even appeared in a music video about bin diving (soon to be released).

Her first climbing road trip was up to frog buttress (where we narrowly survived THE stupidest and lamest rangers in Oz) and back down via Nowra (where we lived in a cave) and the Blue Mountains (14 in a 2 bedroom holiday home in Leura then bandit camped at centennial glen). On this trip she consistently onsighted grade 19 trad and redpointed 21 sport. For a girl that could do maybe 2 pull-ups and with only 6 months lead-climbing experience, I reckon this was quite an achievement. Our road trip landed us back in (you guessed it!) Arapiles! Another 3 months and many climbs later the weather worsened in Vic but got good in Tas, so Anna was off to Tasmania!

It was as if all of her climbing experience had led up to the moment she touched the dolerite cliffs of Tasmania. For her first climb, one day after stowing away on the ferry across the Bass Straight, I introduced her to Ben Lomond. She onsighted the three pitch megaclassic Raja 18. Her next climb was her first new route. The second pitch to a 3 pitch climb. It is a 20 meter grade 17 fist crack called Between Heaven and Earth. Gerry N. is happy to know his Christian naming convention is still alive… Our next trip to Ben Lomond was to Africa where Anna attempted a ground up first ascent of a 140 meter cliff on the Asgard buttress. Since we had forgotten our nut tools, Anna was scraping out gear placements with a tent peg. She pulled through the 21 crux then slipped off. She lowered down, pulled the ropes and back up she went! After she fell again, I took over and was amazed at her effort. I took the lead and Anna followed the rest of the route with only one hang. It turned out to be a spectacular climb! We called it Ragnarok 22. Besides Roxanne Wells, Anna is the only female to lead first ascents in Ben Lomond. Instead of “Men of the Ben”, The new guidebook will need a section titled “Women of the Ben!”

Back in Hobart, Anna on-sighted Atlantis 21 at the lost world. She then redpointed her first 23 at a local sports crag in Hobart. She is very motivated to go back to Africa and climb some more new long routes, ground up (we leave in a few days). We will go to Yosemite Valley in May and climb El Capitan.

In less than a year, Anna has become one of the leading women in traditional rock climbing in Australia. She is also hearing impaired and deaf without hearing aids. Keep dreaming Ozzie girls! There’s more to life than bolts and plastic.
Bolts and Plastic :) Bad Habits 23 Jed Parkes took the shot.