When you have made plans to go out for a climb and then the weather forecast changes and there is suddenly a severe weather warning of gale force winds, high tides and damaging swells what you do?
Steve and I, being used to being out in inclement weather from years of conditioning in England were not put off by the possibility of less than ideal climbing conditions and met as agreed at 6:30 to head down to Willyabrup sea cliff, um:
Despite the wet drive down when we got to the car park, while there were puddles everywhere there was no water coming from the skies so we walked in. We arrived at high tide and the swell was predicted to be 6m and it was fair to say the water looked angry:
Fortunately the cliff is high enough and far enough from the water so we carried on regardless. There was a strong on-shore wind so we thought there would be a risk of salt spray and wet rock:
As Steve led up the first pitch of Sirius (14 – about 4b) I was wave and cloud watching and wondering whether we would make it up the first pitch of the day dry:
Following up I was very pleased to find out that the rock was in great condition, with no spray (I still don’t get why) and bone dry despite areas where there was seepage coming through:
With minimal fuss I was off and got up the second pitch (again 14) relishing the dry rock and invigorating atmosphere. The wind picked up the higher I got but fortunately was blowing me onto the rock and not off it:
The only way we could figure to show what the wind was like at the top of the crag was this, I reckon and we could have flown a kite with the climbing rope:
So after two great pitches we decided to keep going, but stick the more reasonable grades in case things turned nasty. So Steve set off up Hope (again 14) and while armed with cams this was the first time he led the climb without using them:
I was again wave and cloud watching as he got higher, and once again the dark clouds seemed to be rolling in:
However the rain never came except for a few tiny drops, so we celebrated by doing a bit of ‘leaning into the wind’ which Steve with his nautical experience put at about 40 – 50 knots as it funnelled over the top of the cliffs:
To end the morning session I decided to head up Verbosity (13 about 4a), the start as you can see was pretty damp (to be expected in a corner in late winter) which added to the excitement:
The top half however was in the sun (when it was out) and the rock was wonderfully dry making this 30m plus pitch the perfect way to end our morning on rock:
Best of all, despite the threats of being drenched we packed everything away completely dry J:
As we walked out there was not a sole in sight, so we wondered how many people thought about it and decided not to head out. There loss as the weather and setting provided a brilliant and very atmospheric day out:
Sandbagged 