The Frenchman got back in town a few days back after having had a bit of a sware across a few continents. On his return he was greeted by what some may hope to be the last of the coldness of winter. The cold didn’t put us off and with today being the first day of spring we made our way down to Wilyabrup, with a bit of that in our step. It was the earliest start for a long time, but not that early. As Denis was leaving home Tom had a good old laugh at just how “late” a start is was in comparison to my usual expectations:
We met at 7am at the carpark and wandered down in the fresh morning air, there were puddles as we had driven in but the sky on the most part was clear and bright. We plumped for a relaxed start, or at least that was my intention when I jumped on “The Unbolted and the Beautiful”. I’m not sure if it was a flash pump thing or whether it was because the rock felt cold to touch meaning our fingertips became numb, but the first route felt hard and there were several times I almost took a fall:
I did remark to Denis when he topped out that I had vague recollections of previously finding this route that bit more pumpy than expected. It was however a great one to kick start us into action. While I was belaying Denis I heard a hello from behind to find Mick draped in ropes and gear. We had a bit of a chat before he headed off to the usual suspects on which we was going to setup top ropes for the crew he had coming down. What I do like and appreciate is that every time we see him here he checks out our plans for the day to avoid getting in the way:
He told us that he’d been down at Wilyabrup every day last week and on Tuesday and Wednesday it had bucketed down. It was so hard that he had got soaked before the crews had made it down and claimed that there were waterfalls coming down some of the faces. It was not hard to visualise this, as only last weekend the majority of lines were dry and in perfect condition. Today water was still running down heaps of them, but that didn’t worry us as there were plenty of other options to keep us busy today:
Denis was not warmed up enough and was still feeling a bit weary, so I jumped on lead again and did another old favourite. The image below should be familiar enough to most for me not to need to spell it out. After the first lead I was surprised at how good I felt on this one and ambled up not needing to second guess any of the holds. Denis too made short work of it even lay-backing up the main flake in true traditional style. He did have to stop and think about the top headwall but with his lanky reach was able to get the best holds that bit easier than most of us:
Mick had set up all the lines and I was surprised to see he had even set one up on Fat Chance. It made more sense when we found him climbing that one himself; before the crew had arrived. It’s a line I was encouraging Denis to thinking about when we first came down. He hasn’t placed much trad gear, but this one only requires a couple of easy to place pieces in-between the bolts so I reckon he’d be fine. Today however was not the day and we’ll save it for another time when he has more of the climbing fitness back:
Instead we aimed for Steel Wall, but keeping things reasonable I took the first pitch of “Sirius”. Steve, I hate to say it but the pin on your tricam is starting to rust, so while I still clipped in I had two pieces relatively close either side. It’s difficult to find routes that are harder for tall people, but this line does have somewhat of a compression move. It was pretty good watch Denis struggle just a little bit at the tricky move at the end of the traverse, where you have to mantle onto the ledge. There was no reaching past that with his go-go-gadget arms:
The aim today was not to complete pitch two of the line I started but for Denis to finally get on the floppy end. For this to occur we needed a sport route. There are not too many fully sport routes at Wilyabrup, which were at a grade that suited the mood of the day but “Unclaimed” was a good choice. Denis thoroughly enjoyed this fine flaky wall, as did I with a rope finally above me. We had a bit of a chat and decided that we need to get back to Steel Wall when things warm up and repeat some of the other great, but harder, lines:
Mick was still waiting for his crew to turn up, so had been sat atop “Hope” like a garden gnome watching the shenanigans on Steel Wall. He had managed to help me encourage Denis to have a crack at this line and I reckon that Denis was very pleased we had. He was also pleased to hand the lead rope back to me. Not wanting to clip any bolts myself today I plumped for what I reckon is the true classic mid-grade trad line of Wilyabrup:
I have not been on this line for some time. “Golden Buttress” is one of the true greats with variety and exposure by the bucketful. I have to admit to having been a tad nervous at the start, as the traverse into the corner felt pumpy and I knew what lay ahead. Denis hadn’t been on this one before and seemed to be going great guns until he got to the airy and scary bottomless blunt arête. It took a few goes for him to commit to the flat slopey holds and then above he grimaced hard while trying to avoid barn dooring, which for the leader is high above the last runner:
He finally managed the tricky sequence and then romped up the last face on flakes that can only be described as suspect looking. They are pretty well all there is and you have to fully commit to them… fortunately they are good. As we climbed this lien a few drops of rain had fallen but the sky was mostly blue and we knew it would pass over. However, from the way Denis had struggled at the crux section I kinda guessed this would be the last route of the day. No matter, and as he reached the final holds we were both chuffed with having had a grand morning out:
As we walked back up the crag with our packs Mick was busy with his crew, so we waved at them as we passed and left him to it.
Sandbagged 