Today we had a great sunny day forecast after some wet cold days so a few of us headed out to Bob’s Hollow for a bit of a climb. It’s a steep limestone cliff with some hard lines, but today we were not feeling that way inclined so headed for the very southern end to bag a mob 17 – 20 grade routes:
We had three ropes on the go so it looked a bit like a spaghetti junction at time, but we managed to stay on the right lines and not get confused. Here Kym and Steve are still working out their routes on lead, while Lou is following up the route I started on:
I jumped on the easiest of the lines (which explains Kym and Steve’s tardiness in the image above). Both Kym & Steve picked lines with exciting finishes, Steve’s in particular certainly tested him as the last stretch got steeper and quite runout. He kept his cool and having had the sense to drag up some tricams he managed to get through the scary bit with a bit of extra pro:
Leanne hadn’t climbed too much of late so did amazingly well getting up a couple of the lines. Even these lower grade routes are steep and sustained, as this image shows so when you are not fit they can be quick to spit you off:
There was one line I was were keen to jump on as it had given me some jip in relation to figuring out exactly where it went, which I need to know for the guide I am preparing. I went up first and teetered my way up past a half cut rope and some long runouts while unsuccessfully trying to find the three bolts. Leigh in the image below did a much better job, taking a sling to back up the dodgy rope and finding all the bolts:
On this climb I came across a beautiful baby Carpet Python curled up in a pocket while enjoying the morning sun. So when Leigh and then Steve went up I told them to watch out for it. As Leigh went up he put his hand on a hold and it felt wet, and then it felt like it was moving. He slowly pulled up and saw not a baby but full grown Carpet Python slithering along the horizontal break and right over his hand. Steve went up next with camera in hand only to realise there was no room left for any more images, so you’ll have to put up with an arty shot from me instead:
We were getting tired and it was time to head off, but not before Lou had a bash at an old favourite, Puk Puk Sen. She left it a little late in the day but managed to struggle up it despite having some wet and slimy feeling holds. With that Steve, Leanne, Lou and I headed off and left Leigh, Tom (who had been saving himself for silly hard stuff) and Kym to keep going:
On the walk out Steve and Leanne found out just how unfit they really were, due to lack of climbing and exercise in general, as on the short ten minute walk they got jelly legs. It’s a good job it wasn’t a longer walk out or we may have had to carry them out:
One of the things about Bob’s is that it is a bit of a mission to get there, it’s not quite the furthest crag but it takes the most time, as there is a 3km bush track to drive along. Most of this is OK but there are rocky sections that require care and at times there isn’t much room. Steve was very happy to drive in and as such while the climbing had stopped it wasn’t quite the end of the adventure for him:
I volunteered to take images of some of the sections as we drove out, but it was hard to capture what it was really like. It was the first time Steve had tackled any 4WDing like this and he did a great job managing to avoid any crunching sounds as he negotiated the rocks:
In some sections the bush is really closed in and you need to pull your wing mirrors in and close your windows, or a not so friendly branch might side swipe you. As you drive through these you can’t avoid the stretching sound as the branches scrap along the side of the car:
As photographer, and to avoid delaying the trip too much, I rode on the front bull bar. I simply couldn’t resist taking this selfie with a very happy Steve in the driving seat:
Below is the evidence of the what harsh Australian outback it will do to your 4WD if you use it as it was built for, i.e. 4WDing. Too many people have their big shiny 4WDs and never take them off road, that said Steve will be giving his car a well-deserved T-cut to polish it up a bit:
Sandbagged 