Well after three months of my on-again off-again travel proposal for a conference in Brisbane it was definitely on, and only just in time with less than a week before my departure date. When the opportunity came up Lisa and I talked about me going over early to get a weekend of climbing in, so that is what I did. A Friday night red-eye flight and taxi ride later I was knocking on Mikie and Helens house in South Brisbane at 6am. They were in the throes of final packing and we were soon (after a very much needed two cups of tea) on the road to Moogerah Peaks National Park, in which Mount French is located and on which Frog Buttress, the holy mecca of Australian crack climbing can be found:
As the walk in above shows they have in recent times undertaken a controlled burn to manage the ever increasing fuel loads of the Australian bush. The path from the carpark was the dividing line between the starkly different burnt and unburnt sides. Due to the burns formerly relatively sound boulders and ground at the top of the buttress could have been made less stable. As such climbing was only permitted on the northern sector (well to be picky north east!):
As we descended the numerous steps I was getting a little light headed, but was not sure if it was a result of the 3hrs sleep or the thoughts of entering the holy grail of crack climbing. The steep decline made you concentrate on your feet rather than look round too much, but soon I noticed walls creeping higher and higher on either side:
Then finally after months of eyeing up the free cheap and nasty guide to Frog I was there. The walls towered above us with climbs up to 40m. Some faces were clean and straight with splitters ranging from fingertips to body widths, others were more broken but littered everywhere were cracks:
There was no mucking about and Mikie threw me onto a not so great named climb Shit Heap (14), my first real taste of a hand jamming crack – ever! I’ve been up some cracks but never one where you have no choice but to jam your way to glory. I brought with me my mid to large cams and hexes and with Mikie’s gear we had enough to stitch our way up:
Helen is not an avid climber, but does enjoy bagging a route or so a day, so she followed up second. While she was struggling and grunting her way up (sorry Helen) I enjoyed the view through the tree tops. This climb is not very long but it was a great introduction to what to expect:
Mikie came up third and with his taped up hands put my jamming techniques to shame. Maybe the tape helped him lessen some of those more painful jams but I still didn’t tape up, not that I’m calling you soft Mikie:
You’ll have to put up with a lot of climbing shots I couldn’t resist taking pictures just because the place was so different to what I have become used to. Mikie floated up this great corner with a fine narrow finger jamming crack called Winston Alley (16). I was certainly warming to the climbing style but was I ready for what was to come next:
Before that though the whole time we climbed there everywhere I looked I noticed these little ants. While Mikie was on Winston Alley I noticed one doing a yoga pose and it seemed to have a droplet on its head. It seemed to be stroking its antennae, head and bum but why I cannot even fathom:
So back to cracks, seeing I passed the test of the first two it was my turn to jump onto a 16 called Century. There was a tree at half height that was near on impossible to avoid but even with that it required full commitment to the crack and I start to relax and just trust myself. I surprised myself and was actually getting to like jamming:
It seemed like a good grade 16, giving me enough of a challenge but not sand bagging me. However, for Mikie he wanted to test himself a bit more so he jumped on Side Pocket Alley (17). He made short work of it and was certainly climbing very well:
After his lead Mikie was getting hungry but in my usual way I managed to convince him that 6 was a much better number of climbs to stop of lunch on. Seeing it was me up next I plumped for Electric Mud (13), just because it looked so fine. The rope belies the route and much as I did try to get up the blank low down corner on fierce and painful finger locks I ended up skirting round it:
It was a lovely climb and Helen was keen to give it a bash, she did it in great style but of course still left all the gear in to make Mikie work that bit harder:
So last one before lunch, this little number had shut down Mikie’s brother Chris when he came over. In fact he had taken a good fall on it, Erectile Kingpin going at 17 certainly was a test piece. Mikie got up to the crux flake in good style, and then it was time to committee to this crack that was too narrow for a fist and too wide for fingers:
He went in hard and almost bagged this feisty number but his foot slipped and the tape on his hands didn’t help his forearms and elbows from which he took some bark off. Undeterred he hit it again and made it up in good style, I wonder if I had allowed him to have a spot of lunch whether he would have got it clean. It was a great climb and I also slipped at the same spot but with the safety of the rope above me came away unscaved and ready for a nibble. Only to find Mikie had spied a high and exposed line for me that started off the top of his last triumph called Wizards Back (16). While it had some jamming it was more of a very delicate face climb which on an empty stomach made me feel nervous (was it Mikie’s revenge I wonder) :
The climbs were getting higher each time and the view from the top was great. The clouds which did give us a sprinkling of rain (but didn’t stop us) made for specky rays of sun that hit the leaves and made them sparkle, with a backdrop of a patch work quilt valley sewn together by rows of trees it was bloomin’ marvellous (damn I should have been a writer):
Refilled and energised I jumped onto an awesome climb called Materialistic Prostitution (16). It looked very daunting fist sized crack but I jammed my way to glory and thoroughly enjoyed it, even thinking it was too short. The line went up to the left of where Mikie is climbing and then where the crack ended joined the climb he is now on which is Electric Lead (14). Yes he was slowing down, or was I working him too hard:
I was keen for ‘just one more’ climb, so he humoured me and sent me up the very fun Horse Drawn Zepplin (16) in which I did the ultimate sin of over camming a cam! So I had to rap down and retrieve it and fortunately it was not too hard to get out. It was yet another great climb and the tenth of the day all of which had one of more stars and deservedly so, by which time Mikie looked exhausted so it was time to hit the long stairs out, which made our legs burn:
Time for sleep was coming fast so we pitch our tents and then headed down to the nearby town called Boonah, in which the infamous climbers meeting place of the Dugandan Hotel can be found. Locally called Doogs it offered fine ales and healthy portions of bar meals that went down a treat. Mikie confessed to be shattered, I had in fact worked him hard and we had bagged more lines that he would normally hit in a weekend at Frog:
Next morning Mikie was not sure how he would fair but we were there so why not give it a go. So we ambled down and agreed to start on something easy, so not even having got to the bottom of the stairs Mikie jumped on a very pleasant Parson’s Pleasure a fantastic 2 (out of four) star grade 11. Here is Helen following up on second it really was a great climb:
Seeing it was my lead Mikie was more than happy for me to jump on something a wee bit longer. So I picked out Theory (15) a corking and long corner with some interesting features. There was an epic looking 17 that was 40m which I liked the look of but we only had a single 70m rope so wouldn’t have got back down, noting that there are rap anchors all over the top of the crag. Mikie is coming back down after my climb, it was amazing and had some real funky moments that are still vivid in my mind including where I got my foot stuck – twice – and had to down climb and start again. I was on fire again:
Mikie too came off that last climb feeling fired up so he sought out Fat Mattress (17) which was recommended to us by another couple of climbers we saw down there. In fact it was a bit strange as the day before we only saw one other party and today also there was only one other party on the rock down our end. Mikie reckoned that it was normally much busier than this, maybe the closure of the southern end kept people away. That said we did see more pries at the carpark and walk in so they were probably risking the $300 on the spot fine for climbing down the southern end:
While Mikie made his way up I watched the little six legged critters again. What was so special was their glowing golden colour, the image doesn’t do it justice by it really looked like they were glowing when the sun hit them:
Back to Mikie who was slowing down, this next bit looked tricky and he was thinking and working hard. At one point he said he was going to rest and asked me to take. My response was non-committal and I told him he should at least give it a go before he rested. So he dug deep and went for it and managed to claw his way up in a very impressive situation. It was a very sustained climb and pretty tough at the grade, Mikie even felt it was the hardest trad route that he has led, so hats off:
While Mikie was catching his breath and setting up a belay I kept looking round, the lizards were too fast to capture on film so I focused on the rock itself. The colours were quite striking and so I couldn’t resist taking this image. After Mikie’s impressive and exhausting lead it was my turn and we were running out of decent length easy routes so I aimed for Sabrasucker (16), a finger crack that was said to have good feet to compensate for the barn door feeling the climb gave you. Well it certainly took everything I had to stay on maybe because I stitched it up so well but my forearms were burning when I got to the top. Mikie was in the same condition when he got up so we decided to call it a day:
Now you may have noticed that Helen only features in three climbs so you may wonder what she was up to all this time. Well she enjoyed the peace and quiet (except for Mikie and my occasional grunts and shouts) reading and knitting. Notice she also kept her helmet on, which was wise as at one time a few small stones did in fact rain down on us:
So with two days and great climbing under our belts we decided to take a short walk to look at some of the views from Mount French. It was getting overcast and a few drops of rain were falling so the light was not the best but the views were quite striking and had great contrast between the different belts of vegetation, distance hills and sky:
It was a lovely walk and good to stretch the legs before we got in the car but we were all completely bemused as to why they decided to build this pretty big platform out in the middle of nowhere just to put a bench on it that gave you no better view. No plaque or sign, so they must have realised it was overkill and didn’t want to be named and shamed. Still it deserved a photo with the happy couple:
So finally back in the turtle mobile and back to Brisbane, which was only a short one and quarter hours. How amazing to have such a great crag so close, and I only got to see a fraction of what it had to offer. Next time twin ropes are definitely needed to hit the longer climbs, but that said I have no complaints about any of the routes we jumped on every one was really good and my views of jamming have changed forever:
As light was fading I was at my hotel and having to sort my head out to focus on work. It started well when they gave me a room with someone already in it, oops. Luckily they were decent. Then they gave me the wrong room service order and promptly spilt apple juice all over the floor, but the people were great and friendly so none of that mattered and the view from my 16th floor room was awesome:
As morning came in the view changed significantly but was equally specky and so started the reason I was able to get to Frog, three days of workshops, meetings and a conference. Lots and lots of networking morning, noon and night, in fact so much that it was coming out of my ears and my brain was hurting from it all:
Then when the last meeting was over at 7pm on Wednesday (my earliest finish of the three days) Mikie came back and pick me up, and we travelled along to Kangaroo Point. The lights were blazing all over and it was certainly a sight to see. Mikie was sore after the weekend but had recovered sufficiently for another session, but it was not indoor climbing at this late hour that we were after:
This is Kangaroo Point, a 300m long floodlit wall of bolted and a few trad routes up to some 20m high. It is amazing, lit all night and free to climb even with free parking! It is right off the river and you can park just on the other side of the fence, what an amazing outdoor climbing gym:
We got there soon after 7 and stayed for two and half hours but we managed to squeeze in five climbs and I did the last one twice because it was sooooo good. Here Mikie is on the third lead of the night, I did the first two (18 and 20) and they were both great especially the second one. This one was a bit cheeky as the hold were well and truly hidden in part due to the night climbing with the mega bright spot lights blaring up at you from below. Mikie cruised up but I failed at the last moment not finding those elusive holds (one you may remember Chris), it was still a great climb and my ego was not dented in the least. It was after all a 21:
I then went up a fun 18 from which a block had recently fallen, but it kept the grade. It had me foxed for quite a while at one point but after that it was all good. We were keen for more and Mikie was generous enough to let me bag another lead. I spied this great upper wall and couldn’t stop looking at it, only problem being is that it went at 22. So seeing it was the last climb in Brisbane I jumped on lead and it was every bit as good as it looked and better, the only problem was I wasn’t good enough to get it clean. No harm done the super fingery upper wall kept going for some 6 to 8m and was superb, so good after Mikie had been up I went again on top rope. No good my body was wrecked and I again had to take a rest, with my fingers complaining:
It was time to head off and back to the hotel, as I had an early start to get to the airport. But not before I took in the grand sight of the awesome Kangaroo Point for one last time. The top looking like a hanging garden of Eden, how good is that place and right in the middle of town. So Mike dropped me off and after thanking him yet again it was time to pack and get ready for an early start:
So after leaving the hotel at 5:15 I got to the airport admittedly early, as I wanted a breakfast and had some work to sort out. Then 11 hours later I was rolling up the drive home to be greeted with this wonderful sign on the door. It was great to climb at Frog and Kangaroo Point and catch up with Mikie and Helen (and to travel with work) but the best part was coming home to Elseya and Lisa:
Sandbagged 