Mount Frankland

The last few weeks have been pretty wet but there seemed to be a break in the weather so Steve, Leanne, Chris and myself decided to head out for an overnight climbing trip to a place called Mount Frankland. The is a huge granite monolith with great long slabs which start in the Karri forest floor and then emerge above the tops of these tall majestic trees. We were taking a risk going our mid-winter but it all turned out ok:

We arrived early Friday afternoon to find the rock damp and in places running like a waterfall, after the rain of the last few days:

It was straight into it finding a few lines that were dry enough to all does small holds to be useable. It took a degree of self-confidence to use and trust them but the friction at Mount Frankland is great:

Chris got the top of the first climb, calves burning and head exploding from focusing very hard to get up the damp line:

The second line we bagged was better and after the first 10m was dray and and in great condition:

By now Steve and Leanne had finished walking round Mount Frankland and also up and down it, having felt on arrival to the rock to be too wet for them. Steve decided to head up to bag at least one line on the first day:

While Chris followed me up a line that had water just about running down it Steve and Leanne were topping out as the light faded:

For a moment it seemed that the rope might not want to come down but with a bit of grunt and Steve finally helping out there was a sigh of relief:

Chris meanwhile was enjoying a final decent of the day in the dark:

We walked out in darkness and set up camp. Steve was determined to light his one match fire and tried very hard:

Unfortunately the wood was a little damp, and it seemed for some time that he produced more smoke than flames, leaving poor Leanne to get colder and colder:

Eventually, with five matches, some tissue, a bit of card and also some sizable fire lighters Steve was successful:

We were up and the crack of dawn, being welcomed by a dry morning which was a promising sign:

On the walk in we spied some great mushrooms and I couldn’t resist taking a photo:

Chris set off on the first lead, the rock was much drier but also very cold this early in the morning, and his fingers felt it as he crimped down on the small holds:

Steve and Leanne were not far behind us and soon we were both heading up a couple of great three pitch routes:

Yesterday all the routes were single pitch, so today we purposely picked some multi pitch routes to get above the trees:

It was Leanne’s first multi-pitched climb without someone helping her at the belays, and she was relishing the experience with a great big smile:

Steve was also a very happy bunny as despite being mostly a bolted area be was able to use his newly bought toys a rather large number of tri-cams:

Leanne was climbing really well – tackling the tricky slabs, using the small holds and trusting her boots on some quite technical and sustained slabs:

Chris and I fired up one more two pitch climb as Leanne and Steve descended, as a true couple side by side (how romantic!):

Finally Chris topped out on the last pitch of the trip, quite exhausted. On the walk out we found more intriguing fungi so yes I had to stop again:

Back at the camper we sorted the gear, made a cuppa and food for the road and then drove home to get back in good time before dark. So in the end we scored a great mid-winter trip: