We have just had a long weekend here in Western Australia and it was likely all the places were packed with campers, so Chris and I decided to head off on the public holiday, Monday for a few days, and head out after the manic period:
After carefully watching the forecast we plumped for a central Wheatbelt climbing spot some 250klm east of Perth, over the southern coast due to the predicted winds still being fairly high. It would seem a strange place to head as the landscape out there is as flat as a pancake (other than low undulating rises and valleys):
However, 7hrs after leaving home (a late start as I wanted to have breakfast with my girls J and then even later as Chris had vehicle trouble before he got to my place) we finally spied our destination, Eagle Stone Rocks:
We didn’t bother to unpack but grabbed the climbing gear and wandered up the hill to see what was in store for us. We spied a couple of longer grade 17 (VS 4c) routes that were basking in the evening sun so went to work. The rock is a hard fine grained granite, so fine that the smearing can be very hard. The holds vary but tend towards edges from the ultra thin to great crimps:
We managed to bag two fine routes just in time to watch the sun set as we descended back down to set up camp, a mighty fine way to start our mini-break:
Eagle Stone Rock as you see below sits in an island of flatness so how it came to be is anyone’s guess but we are glad it is here. To the north and east the rock is surrounded by Lake Campon, a salt lake usually, but due to our unusually wet September there were areas with water and the sometime brilliant white salt crust was not as obvious as it may sometimes be:
We set up camp and made dinner efficiently in the dark and wasted little time eating and drinking our fill before heading to bed for an early start:
Morning brought a crisp blue sky and wonderful lighting for a few happy snaps before we got down to business:
Most of the climbing here is bolted but there are some trad lines, so we plumped for a couple of easy grade trad routes to get warmed up after all we had all day. Chris got the wheels in motion with a short but fun grade 10 (Diff) crack and then I jumped with far too little gear on a grade 14 (HS 4b) crack that was harder than it looked, so had to down climb to get some more gear:
We climbed the morning away playing on a variety of fine lines, some really short 6m routes and some longer lines around 15m. Above Chris is at the crux of a fun but short 20 (E1 5b) and below on a fine 16 (VS 4c) with me showing my usual ingenious belaying techniques to mange to get images while keeping Chris safe:
The route that really caught both our eyes was a fine face going at 21 (E2 5b) that looked to have the holds you dream of, so off I set, then I bailed and Chris went up, then he bailed and I went up and between us we managed to get up but not in the best style. Chris then had a bash with the rope above him and even then didn’t manage to get it clean (as a fun video we took proves). Me, I was wasted so we had a short break just so Chris could dash down to get the sun cream and I could look out for some local wildlife:
As an interlude from more climbing images here is a very funky bug I spied, no ideas of the name of the lizard above or the bug below but so if anyone out there does let me know:
We managed a few more climbs but by 2pm we were both stuffed so headed down to get a bite to eat, sitting down was bliss and we dawdled for probably an hour or so before dragging ourselves back up the hill. We wanted something in the shade and so Chris plumped for this thin and balancy grade 20 (E1 5b), a vey nervy lead and he did very well to keep his cool (I put the camera down for the next few moves!):
I had a bash at one of the project lines, a fine looking flared jam crack (if there can be such a thing), not being fooled this time I took plenty of gear and had a fine if slightly scary time. Based on the grading so far that we had encountered we reckon it probably went at about 18 (HVS 5a):
After a long and warm day on the hill and bagging 13 routes we decided to head down event though there was still some light left, taking time to walk down and onto the salt lake while enjoying a very deserved beer:
As we wandered back to camp the sun was setting and gave a great chance to take a picture of the awesome natural feature that Chris liked the look of but was too scared to try. In part due to fining the place pretty tough and secondly it looks like a smooth strenuous arm jamming crack going at a cool 23 (E3 6a):
Back at camp and a chill with one more beer before calling family and then getting dinner ready, we were not feeling too bad after the day out but our finger tips were certainly a tad tender and raw:
I had a play with the camera not really being very successful, but wanted to take a shot to show everyone the myriad of stars that were out each night for us:
Morning came quickly, a good nights sleep in a very peaceful place, we were greeted by the very thin slither of a moon as daylight took over. We had a cup of tea while watching sun rise over the salt lake and then got stuck into it:
We decided the day before to leave two fine looking lines for our departure morning, one a mixed route 19 (E1 5a) with a great looking flake at the start and another a project that looked equally fine. I started off up the flake with my wires in hand, it was a tough and slippery start and took several attempts to warm up and get going but once into it enjoyed the line immensely:
As Chris followed me up I looked out over our camp site and the lake behind it marvelling in just how peaceful a place this was:
Soon it was Chris’s turn for the last route of our trip. By now we were accustomed to fine feet and small crimpy hand holds, I couldn’t resist taking these images and just knew that Rhys would love them:
No words needed other than to say these holds were starting to make our fingertips scream:
Put them together anything is possible, Chris concentrating hard on those two holds (noting his left and foot are on nothing) and balancing his way up to get established for the next equally balancy and thin moves:
Nearing the top of yet another fine line, this images shows the 19 (E1 5a) flake and face I climbed, and we reckoned that the project route was probably of equally grade. Um… but maybe in hindsight it was more like a 20 (E1 5b):
Atop the mighty Eagle Stone Rock for the last time we were very satisfied and were ready to head home with sore arms, shoulders and fingers after bagging 17 of the possible 32 routes at this place:
Breaking camp didn’t take too long and we were out of there several hours ahead of schedule allowing us to take a slight detour on our way into Perth to just glimpse a couple of the quarries were the main climbing can be found near Perth. Having now finally seen them I know where I would rather climb:
A big thank you to Eagle Stone Rock and Nadia, Lisa and Moo for allowing Chris and I to indulge in our rock fetish for three days:
Sandbagged 