I canned a Saturday trip to Wilyabrup on what promised to be a perfect spring day just minutes after organising it, due to my daughter asking if we could head to Perth to go to the aquarium. A place where we used to go on a regular basis when she was younger and haven’t been to for many, many years. While I may seemingly live and breathe climbing, when you get a rare opportunity like that to spend time with your teenage kids, then climbing takes the back seat. So instead it was on Sunday that I left home, as the sun was rising:
It was a glorious morning with just a bit of mist making the morning sun glow that golden colour for longer than usual. I couldn’t help but stop at the bridge out of Peppy Beach (above) and then again the bridge over the Capel River (below) to take in the view. As I drove onto the second bridge two pelicans had left the flock and flew just feet above the car, geez they are big birds! The winds had turned today and the sea cliffs were not likely to be the best option, so I was heading to Bunbury to Pick Steve up before then heading out to Welly Dam:
By the time I’d picked Steve up from his new digs and drove to the National Park it was a clear sky with only a hint of clouds about. The forecast was for a good morning, rain threatening after midday. Welly Dam offers great access and with fully equipped routes you can knock a heap off pretty quickly, if you have the stamina. So with no need to rush, we took our time and even stopped to move this unfortunate Echidna, which had fallen foul to some inattentive driver, off the road. I’m not sure how they couldn’t have seen the poor creature:
We arrived at the same time as Mario. I met him sometime last year and have kept in touch, but never climbed together. He’s been away for a while and not climbed much so was keen to get back into shape. In fact he is so keen that this was his fourth consecutive day to climb at Welly Dam. The previous three have all been top-rope soloing missions. So I wasn’t quite sure how we would go, while his previous visits had been only for a couple of hours this place isn’t easy and four days on the trot was going to be a tough challenge:
Steve settled into one of our beach chairs. Everyone who has used has used these claims they are the most comfortable beach chairs out there. From this prone vantage point he was able to enjoy the show, have a good banter and rest up as he has been instructed to since his operation. With that I was on first lead and took on the delightful Barbie Q, a fingery climb and maybe a tad feisty for a warm up climb. Mario then wanted to get take things easy and get his leading head back into shape, so jumped on This Murky Corner:
We moved Steve’s chair about the wall as we picked lines in the middle, then right, out left and back in the middle again. While he loved the chair he was also conscious that he does need to move about a bit and so he also walked up to the toilets when needed. Being in parent mode I made him message me at crucial times such as arrival and departure to make sure he was going ok. On his return he found us on Shock Therapy, so settled on the old light foundation which provided an idea prone position, so as not to crane his neck:
Next up was Welcome to Edges, Marion was going great but his arms were starting to tire. Shock Therapy had been a little damp making us pull on the holds a bit harder, other than that the rock was in great condition and this was boosted by the fact that there was minimal humidity in the air. He was looking strong, from below, and was soon at the top only needing to clip into the last anchors. It seemed like he had it in the bag but then he dropped the rope, he tried clipping again before shouting I’m done and coming off and took a good fall:
After shaking out he finished the route off and then we decided it was time to put Steve to work. He soon had the kettle went on and while we were waiting for it to boil I jumped on a route that Steve had said he would like to watch us climb when we first arrived. How could I say no to the crag classic and so we climbed Ear of Fear and finished just in time for when the teas were made and ready to sip. Mario was feeling it now and so we stopped for a natty before carrying on, he admitted he would struggle leading but was happy to second:
So with that we moved Steve and the chair to the next location and ticked Savage Sausage Sniffer. I was feeling in good shape and Mario was enjoying building his stamina up, so with that and seeing it was close to Steve we then ticked Victim of Authority. A route that would normally give me the hee-bee-gee-bees on lead, as it has some pretty exposed run out sections that could result in a nasty fall. But today I was climbing well, and it all fell into place. We decided that Mario needed to get on the floppy end again and so it was over to the carpark slabs:
He climbed Old School and seeing we were there I climbed B Young. Topping out I thought we were done for the day, some great routes and we had finished on an even number. But I got it wrong, as Marion rightly pointed out, so after making doubly sure of the tally it was time for one more route. And, independently of each other, both Mario and Steve suggested Ebonie Road was the one to finish on. One for me to lead as Mario was getting really tired now, although you would never have guessed it with how he cruised up that last line:
I don’t think it will be long before Mario is back up to full strength and he will be dragging me up the harder lines. We then packed up and headed out, Steve and I drove out the scenic way, both because it is nicer but also because Frank was having his birthday party down at Big Rock. We popped in to see Frank and the gown ups, included Ram and Howsie. After a good catch up and declining the offer of birthday cake we kept moving. Steve was starting to flag so I dropped him straight home, leaving the beach chair with him as he kinda grew attached to it:
Sandbagged 