With school holiday upon us, Elseya had a sleep over and so on Good Friday Lisa and I headed out back to the coast for a climb. We had arranged to meet a few people there and Rongy was the first there, and we found him under the shady bush looking out to see through a window frames by brush. There were some dolphins out in the waves bobbing about which he had been watching for about 15min. So that is where Lisa sat and then promptly didn’t move from for an hour or two:
So with Lisa in the shade of the bush below with an awesome view of dolphins and picture perfect sets of waves coming in, I took the first lead. It’s been three months since I’ve done any longer routes (relative to our patch), and before we got there I’d already decided there was one route I fancied bagging. The Unbolted and the Beautiful is one of mine but I’d never led in solely on passive gear, as it is easier to whack in a cam on the steeper territory. So today with one wire and tri-cams only (including two of Steve’s big ones) I did:
Steve and Karoliina had turned up soon after I had started, and not long after Geoff, Nana, Gav and Monica also arrived. As I walked down, with pumped but very satisfied forearms, Gav was starting up the Setting Sun. This is a route that is normally swamped with organised climbing or abseil groups, but today or at least the morning the crag was group free. With a high first bolt on crimpy holds he gingerly inched his way up. By the second bolt he looked back at me and mentioned that the dolphins were out:
I kinda knew that but instead of now bobbing about they were playing in the waves and full on jumping. The last time we came out to Moses we got to see them surf three sets of waves, which felt like such a privilege. Today however, there seemed to be several pods and they were all having a bit of fun:
Gav had made his way past the second and third bolt and had a comfy spot to turn and watch too. . Lisa and I reckoned on over fifty were out there, so I stopped focusing on the rock antics and took five to enjoy the view, which Lisa was also watched from her sheltered spot. Eventually I left him to decide on whether to climb or watch and wandered along:
Lisa hadn’t moved and seemed in no mood to up on a harness or shoes, and who could blame her, with a great view out into the watery playground. Time after time we would see them mucking about, and just when we thought that they were heading off to another part of the coast they would drift back again:
Steve had plumped for some Hope, a well-practised but also classic climb of the crag. Karoliina was belaying, which was her first time of taking on that responsibility, and was under the watchful eye of Rongy. So adjacent to Hope there are two contrived lines and Rongy was keen to try Faith, which then allowed me to keep a watchful eye on Karoliina’s belaying as Steve stopped posing and climbed on:
We were just high enough to keep an eye on the waves and I couldn’t help myself but snap just a couple more images. It was a day when I was really wishing I had brought by SLR but I was stuck with the little point and shot, which didn’t do too bad a job. Needless to say Lisa still hadn’t moved:
With Steve and Rongy on top, I wandered over to see how Geoff was enjoying his Peanut Crumble. It must have been good as he was chewing his way up this long pleasant slab, and had nearly topped out. I then jumped on second to see what all the fuss was about on Faith, I have a vague recollection of trying both these lines eons ago with Craig and dismissing them as not worth it:
Karoliina was already following Steve up and had got to the magic flake section of Hope when I caught up height wise. Steve had duly put in rock solid gear mostly comprising tri-cams and she had done well to get them all out except one under the flake, which I helped with. She then had to surmount the flake being careful of the resident Carpet Python, but that didn’t seem to faze her:
Just in case you missed it here is the fella, I’ve seen a Carpet Python on this flake probably one out of five times I’ve climbed this route and I’d like to think it is the same guy every time. But after some ten plus years of climbing here he probably should have grown a bit more so maybe he had been a she and then he or maybe a her a few times. Below Lisa had spied the surf life rescue helicopter, which often flies the coast looking for sharks in the more popular areas and was keeping a watchful eye out:
She had been hoping to see a shark today, but despite the helicopter staying a short while it wasn’t lucky enough to see one. Eventually I topped out and Rongy and I agreed it was contrived and not that great. It is possible that some holds have fallen off but at the two bolts it was impossible you stay on line unless you were seven foot tall. Still it was considered a good adventure time:
When we got down Lisa had moved! However, it was not to join in with the climbing but to find some sun to warm up, it seemed the dolphins may have eventually moved on. We had has an almost two hour show which was spectacular, but now it was time to catch up with the others while watching the waves and soaking up the rays:
Gav was well on his way up his First Climb. Another long route up a slab with a fine corner system, he had a bit of a nervous moment when getting established in the corner but had overcome his fears and pushed through. So while he was topping out everyone else was back down wondering what to do next:
There seemed to be no rush and it seemed like a good excuse to browse the guidebook looking like we were trying to decide what to do; when in fact we all know that is just a way of not having to exert ourselves with climbing. The wind which had been westerly had started to shift a bit and there was a slight onshore now bringing in some of the spray making for slightly misted views:
Rongy was going to head off early so I was more than happy to offer him another lead, which I was very happy to say resulted in a Pocket Full of Nothing. Another of my creations originally called Hollow Promise until I realised there was another route by that name at Bob’s Hollow. I’d never heard of anyone repeating this line and had found it quite intimidating myself, but he had prepped his head well and cruised up:
Just as I was about to follow up I noticed Lisa was testing the start moves of Hope, but I felt her to muck about and didn’t want to ask if she was thinking about… I made my way up to the headwall and the slopey pockets that led the way through the crux sequence. I teetered up but felt like I was pulling hard and the arms were tiring. I managed it but found it tough going, shamefully after three long climbs was feeling pretty spanked:
Back on deck and Rongy was off, Lisa while having played on the start had no interest in climbing which I wasn’t so upset about as I was feeling the effects of the morning. So we watched people watching, and here Gav is giving his brother Geoff some advice on the climb he had just led. So Geoff had plumped for First Climb as his second climb, as Nana (nor Monica) seemed that keen on having a lead:
Steve meanwhile was styling, without poising (in this image at least) on Road Trip. He wasn’t sure what to climb but wanted something not too hard and with good gear, foolishly he listened to me. It must have been my old age but the gear was a little thin in places, which was beneficial as I was able to get in the best position for some good shots as the sun had crept round and I was no longer battling with the contrasts. I was however right about the climbing and there was nothing too serious:
With Steve up and Karoliina about to follow I was no hankering to do any more but felt I should stay and make sure all Steve’s gear would come out OK. So it was my turn to do some watching, and I was watching Gav now barefoot halfway up the crag providing advice and support on the section that he had got spooked on. I asked if this was ploy for not getting on the pointy end himself, but he retorted with the fact that he had led two climbs, and seeing I had only led one I thought fair enough:
Soon Geoff was at the top, and seemed not to have any problems other than running out of medium cams. He really should listen to his brother sometimes, eh Gav J. Not much to say at this point as we were ready to head off, soon to be followed by Steve and Karoliina and then no doubt the motley crew of four. So we were going to leave the crag in her same order we had arrived:
Steve’s gear mustn’t have been too bad to get out as Karoliina was close to finishing up when I found Lisa relaxing in a her first rock armchair of the morning. But it was a pretty low grade one so it wasn’t; hard to get her out of it so we could make our way up the hill:
At the top there was just one more farewell to say, Geoff was busy setting up his belay looking pretty happy and content. So he should another fine steady lead, lots of great waves, heaps of dolphins putting on a show and a great temperature giving us yet another great day out at Willyabrup:
Sandbagged 