T’was the morning before the night before the night before Christmas and while many of you were tucked up in bed a few of us were up at the crack of dawn. The almost full moon was out and lit up the driveway as I walked to the car. By the time I was just 5min down the road the sky was waking up:
As I drove up Pile Road and made my way up the hill the moon was slowing inching its way down behind Bunbury and it was full daylight. Normally on a trip out for a before work climb, which would only have been half an hour earlier, I would have seen many cars but today there were none on the entire trip:
After making my way up the hill only to drive down into a hole, a way that Collie was described to me when I first arrived in WA, the sun was peaking over the horizon. It had been 18 degrees when I got in my car and it hadn’t changed much during the hour journey. As suspected it was going to be a warm one:
Dan rocked up with Jo and his dad and we decided to start sensibly on Block and Tackle, seeing these lines would soon be in full sun. While we had the place to ourselves there were the tell-tale signs that other climbers were not far away. This and six other lines having draws on every bolt, and that was way too much crag booty for it to have been accidently left behind:
Jo was nursing a pulley injury on her rude finger, and dad well he was sporting all the usual old age issues of a body that has been worked hard during its younger years. So as not to tire them out too quickly only Dan and I played on the next line of Shock Therapy, again making use of the draws already there and again bagging a line before the sun hit:
Welcome to Edges was the next line to fall, again on someone else’s gear, and at that time Jakke turned up. It was to be his first experience of climbing outdoors. This route has a fitting name for that prestigious occasion, which was made even more special seeing he was christening his new shoes and managed a clean ascent:
Soon after Steve and Leanne rocked up and not surprisingly Steve plumped for his favourite route of the area Raging Torrent. He too was sporting injuries and alignments. While he managed the first clip without complaining about its height (but only just), he didn’t have the strength to pull off the last crux moves:
As Jakke was enjoying the edges and Steve battled with his alignments I sent Dan up a line that didn’t have pre-placed draws. Attack of the March Flies seemed a fitting one to test him on seeing he was climbing so confidently. He pulled through the multiple cruxes and only had to reach for the glory jugs at the end but slipped at that final moment:
Leanne has not been out climbing for it could be a few years so it seemed a little ambitious to be setting off on what some regard as a sand bag route. Being a traditional style climb it only really seems a sand bag route for gym junkies and sport climbers. That said there is certainly an advantage with height on this one, something Leanne is lacking a little:
Another, self-confessed vertically challenged person, Jo managed to get on the floppy end taking on This Murky Corner of my Mind. It took a little mind control and talking too to encourage her up this line, but she managed it as did dad. This line too had pre-placed draws and the owners had still not appeared, maybe it would become the biggest haul of crag booty ever:
Dan picked was drawn to the aesthetic quartz layback arête of Savage Sausage Sniffer, and there were no complaints from Steve or I on that choice. We kept a few top ropes up and Raging Torrent was the climb that had the most attention, it also proved the most problematic for most. As the fun continued I direct Dan towards Taj Vs the World after which I jumped on Ebony Road:
It was not until we were on these final lines that the owners of the draws started to drift in car after car after car after car. I lost count of how many people rocked up but I’d guess over 20. City Summit was having it’s Christmas do and they had arrived and climbed by torch light last night, and then partied hard at Potters Gorge hence the late start. The crag suddenly felt like a crowded house with ropes going up all over the place:
It was coming up to 11 and the mercury was over 30, so one by one we drifted off leaving the big crew to crank on. It was a great morning and no doubt to be repeated next year… if not before.
Sandbagged 