Finally Sunday 12th March had arrived, and it was time to head to the Book Shelf for some fun on rock. A week and two days prior Lou was finally given the all clear to take her back and neck brace off, but more importantly was allowed to do some non-impact sport. This also happened to be a new crag for Howsie and he was a bit keener than most to get out there, so as one who is not known for his late starts I agreed to a 5:30 pick up:
If you read all my emails you will know that the Bookshelf is the ideal beginners place, so why not rehabilitation location for broken climbers who are on the mend?! It involves a lovely walk along the rock coast which some may say is not the best for a stuffed ankle. But having been to two physio sessions, got the low down on what I’ve done and what I can’t do, now wear an ankle brace I felt confident I could take the walk in on. Plus I was wearing something that many of you will not have seen me wear:
Of course we turned up there a few hours before anyone else so that allowed Howsie to jump on quite a few leads. Taking on the lines that appealed with me being the ever faithful belayer as the image below shows. While maybe I should have been spotting I went on the basis that as soon as he put gear on I should put him on belay, and due to his fitness and head space being so attuned with many a morning climb at Welly Dam I took advantage of his ballsie approach to the place:
That said even when I did have to put him on lead I kept an eye out to see what I could see watching me. I’m sure there was many a critter about but I was not lucky enough to spy the usual but still very beautiful crabs lurking in the dark recess of most of the cracks:
It had been forecast for possible rain, with high tide mid-morning and a swell of 2m… but a north easterly wind meaning off shore and perfect conditions. The sea was flat and calm and the temperature was great. So Howsie chewing up lead after lead while I diligently belayed him. The rain clouds did start to form but kept themselves north of us until midday and even then didn’t really threaten:
Eventually (what time do you call this!) the crew turned up and soon Glen jumped on lead, with Lou keeping as careful eye on his gear. Now you may remember the sorry tale of how Lou ripped her gear and decked out, so she had lots of questions with all the gear she saw and her confidence in the placements had not surprisingly taken a hit. Much as Glen has had good intentions to get on his woody other things distracted him (like sofas, TV, beer, etc.) that said he looked solid and didn’t muck about:
Geoff and Nana also came along (late… am I making the point clear enough?) so we had three teams beavering away. They have recently indulged on the most expensive aspect of climbing (assuming you don’t head out on remote, epic expeditions) and bought a rack. So were super keen to put some scratches on their shiny gear (which is something Howsie was not using much of):
After Lou ran up Glen’s climb (probably more from nerves and wanting to get up) she decided that she wasn’t up for a lead (which she wasn’t supposed to do anyway), but did want to place some gear. So she plumped for a low level traverse so there was no risk of an impact but it allowed here to put lots of gear in and then set up a hanging belay. It was a good way to put some gear in and hang on it to rebuild her confidence, and Alan had also turned up (even later than the others) so he gave Lou some more assurance:
Then it was Alan’s turn to jump on the pointy end, and for some strange reason felt the need to ask me and then trust me in my judgement about what might be a good line to try. After a few yoyos on the deceptive start he was up and away while Geoff and Nana seemed to be chilling after their climb and Lou was pottering about. It was certainly a very chilled but also enjoyable morning out:
Howsie finally decided to take on the piece de resistance of the Bookshelf, an eye catching roof that is as good as it looks. Up until now I had asked that he use only wires and tri-nuts on lead (cams being allowed for the belay), but with this beast I allowed him to use cams on the lead. For the first time he was not able to on-sight the climb so it was time to check the finger tips, take a few deep breathes and slow down. It was perfect timing as out to see we had a pod of dolphins cruise past:
OK enough mucking about, well in truth in this image he is taking on the right hand variant after having worked the left hand variant. By now he was starting to tire, not really surprising having to take on lead after lead and smashing out a fair number of lines:
After cleaning up the belay we found Lou doing what she wasn’t supposed to do, leading a route. But that said she had been super sensible and picked a chimney that wasn’t going to pose any risk of a fall, especially the way she wedged herself into it. It was great to see her back on the pointy end and enjoying it (unperturbed by the many watchful eyes):
Meanwhile Nana decided for a quiet, away from the crowd line for her second lead of the day. That said we caught her in the act and encouraged her to hang on even when the arms started to fail. She dug deep, held on, resting with straight arms in the right places and finished the route in good style, well protected and clean – nice:
So you may be wondering what did all day, well I seconded every route Howsie led (some with slight deviations) bar one. I purposely didn’t have a shoe on my bad foot and carried up a single sandal for the walk down. It was fun climbing one legged, hence I stuck to Drs orders (well physio) by not climbing on the bad ankle. A few more months and I should be back to two legged climbing:
It is safe to say that we all had a great day out. Howsie got to sample a heap of routes at a new crag; Geoff and Nana both bagged clean leads and scratched their new gear; Glen finally got out again and did it in style especially with his impressive second lead; Alan managed to beat the climb that previously had Jake stumped (while he trashed my brand new green cam); and Lou and I got back out there and did more than we thought we would and loved every second of being back out there.
Sandbagged 