Cosy Corner

This weekend Howsie and I had planned to head down to the Stirling Ranges to bag some big multi-pitch routes on the mighty Alpine style Bluff Knoll. However, this spring has been a tad fickle weatherwise and we kept an eye on what was to unfold. Eventually deciding that with the likelihood of a high 30 degree day on Saturday and a possible wet start to the Sunday it was probably not the best idea. So instead we went for plan B, an overnight camp down at Cosy Corner allowing for a big day on this little crag. Seeing it is a place that I haven’t sent an email about recently I thought you may like another update on my lucky life of climbing in the SW of WA:

We left Bunbury at 4:30’ish, after work and headed for Peppy Beach. There we picked up Lofty (our campervan), my gear and much to our surprise a big pile of homemade wedges for the journey down (that Lisa had made for us). She also knocked up a quick rice and veggie meal for later that evening too (that we didn’t eat as we were full on wedges – well I was). How lucky were we! It is only an hour and a half drive from my place and we managed to get there just in time to see the fading light and the beautiful changing colours that signalled another day coming to an end (as the image above shows). The next morning we were up at 5 with the moon clear and visible high in the sky. First things first, I put the kettle on:

Armed with packs, food and sippy mugs full of steaming tea we beelined for the crag. With the tea too hot to drink we racked up for the first line of the day. Howsie used to come here as a kid but had never come back as a climber, so was very excited. The place offers wonderful mid-grade coastal climbing, nothing too long and some of it a bit broken but you can’t beat the setting:

Starting sensibly I offered him first lead, seeing the tea was still in the mug I hadn’t really properly prepared to climb. This route named Bland is a great warm up and we both took a relaxed pace to get used to the different style required on this fine granite with its super friction. We have been keeping up our early before work climbs at Welly Dam, which being a quarried coarse grained granite is very different to this stuff:

One of the fine aspects of this place is the outlook and I’ve included a few random images to show this. Here you can see the reef just below the water, and as low tide encroached during the morning this became more and more exposed. This is a place I would love to snorkel at, as I reckon it would be teaming with life having plenty of nooks and crannies to explore. The coastline is full of reefs and we saw several boats with people fishing or dropping cray pots, and no doubt wondering if we were mad. The forecast was for 2m swells rising to 3m, but with low winds and a receding tide I guessed we would be fairly safe:

I’ve only been here twice before, way back in 2006 and then again in early 2015 when I was gathering info for the new SW guide. On both trips new routes were established and this little chestnut called Bad Directions was put up by Steve and Leanne. It seemed fitting that I should try it on the pointy end and I wonder now if we maybe under-graded it. I remember Leanne not being too keen on it and we could see why she may have been a bit nervous. It has one large loose flake that is hard to completely avoid and makes you use smears which, despite the great friction, at the grade may be asking a bit much. That said it is still a mighty fine line:

In our usual efficient and eager way we were soon onto route number three, well at the top of it. Crystal Corner is a fine line and more technical than the two warm-ups. I was happy that Howsie was on lead as my head was still not quite there, which meant that after this line it was time to drink our cuppa. The reason I kept this image in the email is the wall that you can see to the left of where we climbed:

I’d been watching this wall while belaying. As I said earlier we have had a fickle spring, and it has been colder and wetter for longer than most. This has thrown out some of the our feathers friends and I noticed some swallow darting about catching the early morning midges. But then I noticed that they were taking their catch into the undercut flake just left of the vertical crack in this wall. So we guessed they may have had a nest there. The vertical crack also happens to be the hardest line at the crag, and one Howsie was keen to try:

After a cuppa and a few dunky biscuits (Arrowroot of course) it felt like we had a resurge of energy. So back down for the last climb from this abseil point. Crystal Cut, which we started from the lower shelf because the sea conditions permitted. This gives the climb an extra worthy five or so meters. Again a slightly more technical climb and helping us to mentally preparing for when we had to move onto the next sections which would test us that bit more:

The big question was where next, we were really keen on Pat-a-Cake and Petropunster (the second being the awesome looking crack that the swallows were probably nesting close too). So not wanting to upset the swallows and feeling refreshed from our cuppa, we decided on a bit of exploring. The obvious choice being the cleanest bit of wall that had no routes on it. As it was Howsie’s lead he went down first:

While he setup the abseil rope and slowly made his way down checking what may be on offer, I took a moment or two to take in a bit more of the scenery. Off the beach which is a very short distance to the south there are a load of limestone islands. They have been sculptured by the wind and waves into some pretty funky shapes like mushrooms, arches and bridges. Probably providing a safe haven for the birdlife of the area, of which we had seen mobs of this morning:

Then back to the rock, and after I rapped down we both agreed on the obvious line to go for. Howsie liked the look of it but was feeling a bit nervous. However, he is pretty good at on-sighting climbs and is probably better in those situations than when repeating climbs. So I gently persuaded him that he really should go for it, and he was not disappointed. Full on smears for footwork and a fine thin fingery flake made for an awesome and committing crux sequence that took him way above his gear – woohoo an on-sight first ascent in the bag named Away from the Nest:

As he was playing and taking his time to enjoy the route I was being distracted by another possible mob of new lines. This little crag was mentioned in an early guide as being a potential, but needing boat access. It was hard to gauge what it would be like but there was definitely a great looking corner that I reckoned would go:

Before I could think too much about the next place it was my turn where we had the rap rope set up. So I left Howsie to enjoy the fabulous belay position, with the sea lapping a few meters below his feet, a comfy protected belay stance and a great outlook:

Double woohoo, another on-sight first ascent with a nicely consistent climb that stayed interesting and had solid rock; despite me being a bit nervous about some of the flakes I used for wires. We called this one Three Little Birds. With both of us sat at the top of the crag we agreed that these were probably the only two worthy additions in this area so we set our sights elsewhere:

Despite feeling good and confident, lucky for me it wasn’t my lead! So guess who had to go down first and assess if we should go for it. As the image shows the wall was very steep and if we couldn’t climb out we would need to prussic out. Also due to the swell and south westerly’s the bottom third of the wall was sopping wet. To put the final nail in the coffin the most probably line was crawling with midges, which if disturbed would swarm about us:

Not surprisingly we decided we needed a calmer day to explore that crag. So seeing we were at the northern end of the crag the obvious line to go for was Sink or Swim, an impressive traverse on a rounded crack with barely enough footholds. This was a line Craig and I put up way back in 2006, and I have been keen to get back on it ever since. If you look closely there were a couple of swallows hovering about, but we saw no signs of a nest:

With only marginally more than smears for feet in many sections Howsie tried some desperate measures to find better holds. The wall rounds off below the traverse and falls into space above a cave in which the waves are continually crashing. All you can see is moving water as you look down to find feet, while your hands rely on slopey holds which were thankfully dry:

Finally realising that feet had to smear and stay low he inched his way along, remembering to protect both himself and his seconder (me!) with regular gear. It was a top lead and again I wonder if it is a climb that when it was established we may have under-graded. A tough call and it really needs more people to try it and give feedback. One thing was for sure we both had very big smiles on our faces (when we finished the route):

At the end of the traverse you have three options: reverse the traverse; a dull roped scramble; or the Escape Hatch (again put up by Craig and myself). The obvious choice was to head upwards, so I led the Escape Hatch. Once again we were impressed with the rock quality and thoroughly enjoyed the moves and positions up the steepening wall. Nearing the top I managed to get a sling for protection, which I managed on a few climbs here. Placing these pieces brings back great memories of climbing in the bigger hills of the UK, especially when out with Bob in the Lake District:

Seeing all we had consumed that morning was a cuppa a few dunky biscuits we felt it was time to take a break and have some more food. So we found a cosy spot to enjoy the scenery and nibble on some trail mix and rehydrate with water. Our original plans were to climb all day but we had already bagged eight glorious routes and it was only 10:30. Um maybe we wouldn’t last the whole day:

After setting up the rap rope we were back down. The three lines in this spot are for me the best collection of routes at the crag, being a bit longer and that bit more sustained. Howsie was, again, first up and I gave him the choice of the lines which are all a similar grade. It might look like he is climbing complete choss, but the calcified start of Indecision is actually pretty cool. Much as it looks like the solid granite to the right provides holds the climb forces you onto the limestone until the big flakes can be reached:

As I sat at the base of the cliff a crab kept its beady eye on me making sure I wasn’t going to harm it. Not that I could reach it, as it had stuffed itself deep into a crevice. The last time I had sat here to belay Dan up these routes I was being watched by a Carpet Python, I looked around a fair bit but this time I wasn’t lucky enough to see one:

For my lead I jumped on Chick Point which is a climb I have never led, I knew it was going be a bit thin both for gear and holds so was a bit nervous. It certainly had me working hard to stay on while finding the gear and working out the moves. Maybe it was because I was tiring, but the sustained nature meant that my arms were getting pretty pumped. The great hanging layback corner helped work then that bit more and I finished with jelly like arms:

Chris followed up and seemed like he still had gas in the tank, so back down we went to tackle Loose Lips. This is the only climb on the cliff that we gave two starts in the guide, that may be a bit of a rough deal in all honesty as a number of other lines here are pretty damn good. As we rapped down we came down directly over the line and I took this image of an insitu-wire, which from memory I clipped in 2006 when I led this climb. But ten years on it was looking a tad worse for wear:

Howsie worked his way up loving every second of it, whether he feels it was better than other routes there I didn’t ask but he certainly enjoyed the lead and the two stars it gets are very worthy. We were certainly fully trusting the smears by now which made the crux moves yield that bit easier, even still we were tiring. Whether needing to get up or feeling more confident on smears he even sprinted up the final hanging corner, running it out way above his last piece of gear:

On the way up he touched the insitu-wire and subsequently knocked it off, but the deteriorated head is still in the rock. The wire however now sits in his house as a momentum from the day, I did wonder whether to leave it to the elements, but as there was plastic on it I didn’t want to do that. Instead tucking it in my pocket and handing it to Howsie at the end of the day:

When I followed up I must have been panting a fair bit as he remarked on how he was probably feeling how I sounded. Fatigue was setting in and we only had three lines on the crag that we hadn’t tackled. One being a bit scrappy and really not worth it. So we sat atop for a bit and watched the waves wash over the sand bars round the limestone islands, with the tide out these were now pretty exposed giving the view a whole new feel:

After a short break for more water and a quick tally to show that I was one lead down on him, we decided to rap back down and scramble across to check out Pat-a-Cake. We were hoping that we would not get too close the nest, if there was one. So back down we went and then had to scramble across the black basalt rock, which due to the low tide was nice and dry bit still felt a bit sketchy in places:

I’ve led this climb before I knew it packed a serious punch. The thin rounded finger crack was near the swallow’s nest, which did happen to exist, so I didn’t want to hang about. With forearms already tired it was a battle, but I held on and didn’t slip even on the elephant arse top out above the finger crack (which is where Howsie is at below). Better still, as with the rest of the day, all with no chalk – hope you are happy Rongy(!):

Howsie followed up, and here he is eyeing up the final moves of yet another very fine line. He then told me he had taken the time to have a quick look and saw three chicks in the nest (hence the names of the new climbs J). Swallows are pretty hardy birds and us having passed their nest would not have worried them too much, but we agreed that once was enough:

It was now coming up to 2 and we decided that was enough climbing for the day so with an even number of leads under our belt we headed back to the camper. First things first, I put the kettle on and then we eagerly tucked into the remains of the very welcome and tasty rice and veggie dish that Lisa had prepared for our dinner last night (a very big thank you!):

It wasn’t a bad view as we munched away, the sea looking a beautiful turquoise colour and the limestone islands were reflected in the microwave. But before we finally packed up to leave there was one more thing to do:

Go down and check out Wave Wall, a short amphitheatre style crag located just inland. It has a number of pretty tough sport and trad lines and is an impressive sight. The colour and striking visual nature of the black and beige streaked wall reminds me of Welly Dam, but the rock type and steepness is very different. Howsie looked at the lines in awe but didn’t seem keen to try any, which I was quite relieved about. So we left the climbs alone agreeing they would give us a good reason to one day come back:

While it was not a two day trip and we finished early afternoon, I was very satisfied and also very happy to see my girls and be back at home.