This morning 4:20 felt way too early to be getting up. However, within ten minutes I was in the car heading out at 5:45 rolled into the carpark. It was still dark a sure sign of summer being over and autumn being here. Denis and Justin were already there, so without further ado we shouldered our packs and started the short ten minute walk-in. There was very good reason for an early start here, as we didn’t want to local residents to be too awake during our visit:
We started on one of the more gentle routes at Wallcliffe, a nice long slabby route called Working Bee. Denis was all fired up and we didn’t even discuss who would jump on lead, before he racked up and was raring to go. As the image indicates we had timed things perfectly, light had started to come in during the walk in (it never takes long here) and by the time we were climbing dawn was well and truly upon us:
We pulled the rope each time and all three of us led the first route. It’s a fun line, nothing too serious and after today we may think a tad over graded. The rock was sharp, being a newer line on which the limestone edges had as yet not been worn down. After that route and with everyone a bit warmed up I suggested to Denis he jump Flow Selecta next, a definite bump up:
One reason for suggesting this was that as the morning started warm up I knew that the local residents would get more lively, and this particular climb crossed over a few of their homes. I’ve found that the bees here are pretty placid, and if you leave them alone they do likewise. That said it is best to climb here in the early morning, and preferably on cooler days when they are more subdued:
The location of the hives change yearly and you never know when a route will be out of action, and there had certainly been some changes since my last visit here which was in June 2016 with Kym. Denis had to do some off-line manoeuvres to avoid a hive half way up the bottom wall. He seemed very relaxed climbing round and at time over the hives (this one being in the pocket above the bolt):
He worked his way up the route, having to weave about a bit more than usual so he got pretty gassed. Luckily for him his go go gadget arms helped him past the crux, which is the short wall below where he is in the image below. Having got past the crux and steep lower wall he got to take a break and admire the view:
This crag is one of the few local south west ones that is not a coastal crag, it sits on the side of the Margaret River not far from where it meets the ocean. When the sun is out it hits the north facing wall early and becomes an oven. But today was cloudy and wonderfully cool, helping also to keep the bees in a very happy gentle mood:
Next up we jumped on Motion Builder, which is protected low down by a steep bouldery move over the initial roof/bulge. It’s a fierce move before the pace eases, but has the ability to sap a lot of your strength. At the top there is a left traverse, which today was right over a protruding hive. It was not a place to fall, so I didn’t:
Both Denis and Justin were showing signs of tiredness, which may seem strange as this was only the third climb. However, Wallcliffe is not a forgiving place, being steep and technical and for most routes pretty sustained. As such the climbs tend to have long sections of full on climbing with limited chance of rest, so will take advantage of any sign of weakness in your style or headspace and smash you:
Justin was pretty shattered and there would be no more leading for him, he had left blood on this last route and narrowly missed crashing into that bee hive at the top. It was a near and lucky miss. Denis however reckoned he may have enough to give one more climb a good shot. So what better than to put him on The Sting:
Being an older route it has carrot bolts, so he had the joy of also needing to fiddle the plates on before clipping the bolt. The first attempt on the first carrot was unsuccessful and the plate landed on the deck. So he had to go again, this time with the plate ready to use in his teeth:
This climb is un relenting and may seem harshly under graded, especially when you are fatigued as Denis was. It keeps you working small flakes and crimps on a steep territory, while continually needing to equally work your feet. Despite resting several time due to exhaustion, he confessed to really liking the climb. That was however only after finishing it off and getting back down to ground:
So with the two of them looking pretty worn out we decided to head back to the long slabby section we started on and do one more route, Borrowed Souls. Justin went up second opting to second rather than lead it. This route is probably one of the most gentle and relaxing at this place, read into that easiest but also in that the angle of most of it is very forgiving:
Denis also said he’d second it and looked pretty uncommitted when he first started off. That said he climbed it clean and I think the change of pace was a good way to finish the session off. Next time however I may have to push them a bit harder as there are number of high quality (harder) lines that are simply calling out to be climbed:
Sandbagged 