The Guns of Navarone

Dean has been absent from climbing for some time, two years in fact, so it was not certain how much or what we might do on our Sunday trip to Willies.  One thing was for certain there would be no cams used, I’d brought the usual passive gear with the hope of making use of my hexes.  So my first image is of one of those bad boys placed on the first climb.  I’d be keen to know if anyone can name the climb before they scroll down:

It was a glorious day, overcast but warm and only a light breeze.  The rock was dry and the friction was perfect.  So it was a little surprising that on our 7am arrival we were greeted to an empty carpark.  In a way I was pleased not to bump into Mick and one of his tour groups today, as I intended to hover round the lines that he would normally throw his ropes down:

Tom Thumb was for me an obvious first climb, a low grade that provided climbing that was not fingery or pumpy.  Although that can change if you try to avoid jamming, but Dean followed me making use of the occasional jam and topping out in good form.  So I decided to bump it up a grade, again a climb made easier if you jam and of course another one that took hexes.  Any guesses as to which one this may be:

It looked like he was going to style the jamming as he hit the crux move of Twenty Questions, but try as he might those hands just wouldn’t hold.  So Dean restored to the face holds which makes the route a tad harder.  He didn’t falter and managed to pull off clean ascent number two.  Now normally I would encourage going lead for lead, but I was feeling kind seeing it had been so long since he’d climbed plus the fact that he has not done any trad leading before:

While Mick still wasn’t showing any signs of bringing down a tour group we jumped on another fun line he usually makes use of.  Seeing how well Dean had cleaned the last climb the hard way we bumped up the grade a few notches this time on Setting Sun.  He was adamant when he looked up that there were no holds, but gave it a crack even going for the fingery direct start.  He then proceeded to cruise past the crux moves:

It was still overcast keeping it a nice temperature, but the lack of sun might also have meant that our chances of spying a carpet python (or two!) would be reduced.  Our hopes were raised however when we saw a king skink basking in what UV was breaking through the clouds.  He was even lively enough to scamper into cover when we got any closer than this.  So we had a bit of hope in us as we went for the next longer route:

We started on Hope and this time the hexes stayed on my harness, with wires being the preferred arsenal.  There was no sign of our scaly friends on the flake, but the last few times it had been the sister climb we had seen them on.  Dean followed up and had to stop and think about the crux move half way up.  He attempted going left, right and straight up the crack each time backing back down to have a think.  After a quick shake out he took the right side and managed a fourth clean ascent for the morning with no evidence of tiring (although his toes were starting to complain):

So next we jumped on Glory, the roof near the start had him stumped for a bit but he pulled through.  Unfortunately, despite it being warm enough for the king skink we didn’t get to see any carpet pythons on this climb.  No matter it was a fine line and more impressive Dean managed another clean ascent even going directly up the last wall, making use of all those slopey holds.  He did confess that his toes and fingers were starting to feel it, but was keen for one more:

I reckon it is always good to finish a session on a positive so I picked something I have not climbed in many, many years.  I know at least one person will be able to tell me the name of this route from the following image.  No doubt as you can see the hexes came out to play for the last climb.  It may surprise some people that I had practically no memory of this route, so I wasn’t just using muscle memory and going through the motions that I do on so many other routes:

Sinuosity proved that little bit trickier than I expected and the gear was also a little sparse.  If I had cams (big ones) there would have been ample gear, but I didn’t so it made it a very cool climb to finish on.  Dean had trouble with a wire low down in the initial crack, so I told him to leave it and enjoy the climb.  I was hoping he would manage sixth clean ascent, and he almost didn’t as the last few moves get a bit more technical and fingery and he was hurting:

He did manage to pull it off but his fingers looked red and his toes were clearly telling him enough was enough.  That only left me to rap down and get that pesky wire out.  Then enjoying the fine moves and holds on this line one more time, as I self-belayed up the route.  We walked back down and a couple of climbers appeared following us down.  After a quick chat we packed up our gear and left them to enjoy the peace of the place:

After walking out, getting that usual tree-trunk leg feeling that climbing up the faces doesn’t seem to give me, Dean spied a whale.  So we sat atop staring out to sea and spotted a few big ones far out to see and a pod of four or five a bit closer.  They were not moving anywhere fast but we did eventually have to get back on the road so we left while they continued to play in the bay:

I’ll have to make an effort to bring the hexes more often, as it was great to use those big guns again (I’m guessing the link to the title probably only makes sense to the older generation)…