This weekend seems to be the first in a long time that the forecast for both days was for clear sunny days. So Glenn, Lou and I decided on a trip to Willyabrup. As we walked in there were more flowers out than our previous trip and these beautiful red blossoms were springing up all over the place – spring is definitely on its way:
We don’t need a reason to get but Glenn was super keen this time, as he wanted to use his new cams. So for once I think I can be forgiven of taking a bum shot, just to show off his shiny new Camelot’s. His rack is looking very healthy now and he has more than enough to tackle anything in our area. That said he has taking a liking to my tri-cams and I think he will be adding them to his next order:
In view that we had come to scratch Glenn’s gear it was only fitting that he jumped on first lead. So I picked Tom Thumb for him which is a relaxed, fun and varied climb. It also allows great shots from different angles. Lou was previously put off from leading this one due to the lack of gear at the start, but the climbing is never that bad and Glenn made short work of the start and the rest of the climb:
This was his first placement and of course it was one of the newbies, good to see he placed it with the wide lobes facing down. I did pick up, but forgot to tell him, about a few placements were he placed the wide lobes up, which if possible should be avoided (so I’m telling him through this email!). Glenn is relatively new to trad climbing but has a natural knack for it preferring it to clipping bolts, but this is not the email to starting getting into that:
It wasn’t long before he was nearing the top of the climb. You may notice someone in the top left hand corner of the picture. There was an elderly bush walking crew from over east that had been dropped off, and they were going to walk the 15km’ish south to Gracetown. Problem was they had no map or book to give them directions so needed help to find the right path, next problem was they lost one of their members so we had to scour the base of the cliff just in case. We found no bodies and by the time we got to the top of the cliff again they were gone, so we could only assume they found the missing member and path. I’m going to listen the news tonight as some of them looked quite old and unsteady on their feet(!):
No Lou didn’t have long to stay out and after the first climb was keen to lead something, but what. So I suggested the second pitch of Sirius as she has not been on that before. She had however led the first pitch, and the reason she hadn’t been on the second pitch being that from the belay there is also a great but harder face climb that she did last time. So naturally it was only right to offer the first pitch to Glenn, which he eagerly accepted:
The first pitch is a bit of a dog leg, with a great slanting crack followed by a traverse. For those who know this climb they will recognise where Glenn is at. The traverse for the most part isn’t too bad, the hands are a bit slopey in places and the feet occasionally get thin but not both at the same time. Well not until the last bit before the shelf, which is where Glenn is at in the image. He hung there for some time figuring out the best approach and didn’t sort it out in time. Instead pumping out and slipping, but the climb has great gear and he didn’t go too far. After a quick rest and he polished the line off:
I came up second with Lou tying in the tail end. She seemed to be tracking well until midway through the traverse and from there on she seemed ‘all out of kilter’. When she got to the belay stance she confessed to feeling queasy L. So while she sat holding her drink bottle focusing on not being sick, Glenn was lucky enough to bag a third lead. No pictures of this bit but I can say that after mounting the pedestal he had a bit of a shock with the exposure on this next pitch. Undeterred he led the pitch clean and Lou managed to follow up leaving me to come third and clean the gear:
Lou was always intending to head home early to study, but it was a shame to leave without having had a lead and feeling ill. That left Glenn and I to continue to enjoy the amazing conditions, after most of the recent trips out being windy and/or wet this felt luxurious. Glenn was strangely feeling a bit tired and was more than happy to let me lead something, so I plumped for a slightly trickier climb call the Unbolted and the Beautiful. I could get back to that hot topic of bolts and trad, which had a lot to do with why I named this climb as I had but I won’t go there:
Having moved it up a few notches was not a bad thing and we both really enjoyed the line, but it was not the most sensible choice for giving Glenn a rest. He was pretty spanked and while he contemplated another lead, he decided better of it. This was probably a good thing as we plumped for one of the crag classics Hope, which was in full sun so felt a little greasy (and no Rongy I didn’t use any chalk!) plus we climbed out with packs. This was the only climb on which his new cams didn’t get used, as I decided to stick to passive gear only:
It was a fitting end to a great day out, and too top it off just as we finished a decent sized pod of dolphins frolicked in the waves even surfing a couple for us. We sat there for a while just taking in the great sight and soaking up the sun before leaving them to continue to mooch about out there:
As we packed the gear we noticed the slightly greasy salt feel on it, so I think Glenn might be cleaning it tonight. Having climbed with packs the walk out wasn’t quite as torturous. I find the first part from the base of the cliff is the bit that makes my legs burn after a good session. Then finally back at the car we were greeted with a very rare sight of not one other vehicle. Other than the bush walkers we didn’t see a soul, which is everyone else’s loss as it was an amazing day and near perfect conditions:
Sandbagged 