The Mechanic

Last weekend I bailed on a trip out, mostly due to having work done at our house but also due to not feeling that great.  It had been a busy few weeks and life stuff had simply got in the way of climbing, which for me is pretty unusual.  Lisa and I tend to cram stacks in during the week and attempt to keep our weekends as free as possible for the fun stuff, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way.  This weekend I was keen to get out and the conditions were looking good, Rongy jumped at the chance and Craig was a last minute straggler:

We plumped for Wilyabrup, there was some discussion going on with Glen and Lou.  However, they seemed content with a later start, somewhere more cruisy, and were also eyeing up proximity to a brewery for an after climb beer!  So while they were probably fast asleep we were stood on top of the cliffs at just past 5:30 on Saturday, watching the dolphins seemingly playing dangerously close to the reef and risking getting stuck.  There was one car in the carpark already but as made our way down it was evident that we were the first climbers of the day:

We parked our gear in the usual place under the capping roof near the classic of Hope.  In the path lay a very big rock, and we were umming and ahhing about where it had come from.  It had the obvious signs of impacts so it had come from above, but there were no obvious rock scars on the face above of a freshly fallen block that stuck out.  The only possibility that we could see was a niche on Glory and so it was that Craig put forward that he would climb Glory to see if we could find out.  However he was not all that keen on the first lead:

Now we would normally start a day relatively sensibly, by warming up and then increasing the pace as we went.  But I was keen to jump on a few things that I haven’t climbed in a while and so we set ourselves that task.  Thinking about the criteria I headed for the Unbolted and the Beautiful.  At grade 16 this probably is not that bad a grade, but some would no doubt question the warm up nature of this route.  It’s a little bit of a sand bag but having put it up I was fully prepared for the delights it had on offer, taking my time and hanging on holds to stretch out:

Once we were all up we Craig was probably getting his head into gear for Glory, a much more sensible warm up climb.  However, as we sorted the gear and coiled the rope I noticed the tell-tell signs at the top of Glory, clearly someone had rolled a rock along the top and pushed it over the edge.  We looked down and it was pretty clear that is where the rock had come from, you really have to question the sense in what they had done.  But more importantly it meant Craig didn’t need to climb Glory simply to find out where the rock came from:

So it was that we found ourselves, after a bit of coaxing from Rongy and myself at the base of Fat Chance.  Last weekend Howsie had put the word out that he was bring a few newbies out to throw a couple of lines down and give them a go.  Craig joined them, and more for him than them he threw a rope down Fat Chance for a play.  As such he had done a couple of laps on this fine route just recently and was feeling like he might be able to pull off a lead.  He also has two distinct advantages over us mere mortals and made the route look like a cake walk:

His first advantage is reach, whist not overall tall and just a smidge taller than myself he has a crazy ape index that can give him several inches greater reach.  Obviously this results in him bypassing tricky sections by simply getting the next hold.  Next is his mechanic forearms, working on forklifts day in day out he has remarkable grip strength and so can hold onto things that others struggle on.  Now while he was keeping pace with Rongy and I today, keep in mind that he has only been out climbing a handful of times this year and does no training:

The great thing about climbing with three is that I got to bring my rap rope to allow me to check out a few different camera angles.  It hadn’t been used for the first or second route, but I carried it up on this one as the next line would offer some opportunities.  For Craig’s route I was able to use some long slings and simple hang off them over the edge of where Rongy is sat as he watched me struggle a bit on this route.  While Glen didn’t join us today I thought he would appreciate this image of the first placement of my newly purchased small cams:

When Rongy first jumped in to say he was keen he had two places in mind, Smiths Beach or Willies.  The first purely because we don’t go there very often, as it is pretty damn scary, and the second as he (and I) both had unfinished business here from our last trip.  So it seemed only natural after Craig had jumped the grade up to 20 with Fat Chance, that Rongy take on Stormbringer at 22.  He knew what to expect and needed to get the bottom section clean but also in an efficient way to conserve his energy for the middle section:

It was not to be, and he took a couple of falls on the lower section and eventually worked out a new approach to make the long reach up to the side pull.  It looked powerful but he was happy with it, and so he pondered going back down to get the whole route clean.  So he started from the deck and again struggled to get this move in one hit.  This time he didn’t go back down and made his way to the ledge beneath the next steep wall.  While there is a ledge it provides very little comfort or rest, as the wall above leans out to push you back:

Worse still the holds are rounded and marginal, that is the case from the very first holds until some way past the third bolt.  So it is a good six meters of very steep, sustained climbing on insecure holds for both your hands and feet!  He was way too pumped from the bottom section and ended up taking some good falls giving it everything he had.  Finally he got to the last third of the climb, here it turns to trad and easies off.  You just don’t realise it, as by the time you get there your arms are screaming with pain:

I was next up and tried the bottom Rongy’s way coming off spectacularly and with rope stretch brushing the ground as I swung down.  So I tried to recall what I did last time, which seemed so easy.  Second attempt and I worked out what I had done, much easier and more secure.  I don’t mind admitting that I struggled on the middle wall, I had to rest up and on the second attempt just went for it, slipping off the last few holds.  I was climbing in a style that would not have got up there on lead!  Craig however seemed to float his way up this route without a fault… um:

Now there was no way we could keep inching up the grade, forearms were starting to feel it.  I instead continued on Rongy’s unfinished business approach so went for Mid-Wall Crisis, knocking a couple of grades off to come down to 20.  Craig hung off the rap and so I took a bit more time to rest up until he was in position.  This line seemed not to offer too many difficulties, or so it seemed both from below and Rongy and my memory.  My failing last time was to climb it after five pretty full on routes and to have missed a crucial hold that I now know off:

Sure enough while there were some long reaches and moves of trust, but things flowed.  Then came the traverse and I found myself hanging on small hand and foot holds, some very delicate moves were required, and while there was a thank god hold in sight, it was several moves away still.  I’m not sure how I held on but I did and managed a clean ascent, and was very pleased.  Even more so when Craig and then Rongy who also both managed to climb it clean rated the route but also reckoned it was worthy of the grade:

Craig was probably tiring but we convinced him to keep the charge going, even if the pace was slipping a little.  With talked about routes, and avoiding the obvious Glory, came up with two options Fishing With Dynamite at 19 or Blubber Boy at 18.  Two very contrasting routes one a steep wall and one a slab, one fully bolted the other all trad.  He went for the latter, which I found interesting.  My thinking being the insecure nature and small gear, while being a grade less, made Blubber Boy mess with your head way more on lead… and so it did:

The middle section is a slick slab with micro wires for gear and even they are hard to place and a little more spaced than you would like.  This really played on Craig’s mind but he eventually made his way up and we know the wire placements, while small, were good as he rested on a couple.  While we were keen on routes we hadn’t done too often, Rongy and I had climbed this last time, but his thinking was that this would only be his second time on the route and secretly he is probably building up his confidence to take the floppy end on this line next time:

Craig kept his cool and finally got the reward of the upper section, bigger holds more gear and a light at the end of the tunnel.  It was a top effort after the first four routes which all provided a more than adequate strength sapping experience.  Rongy lapped up the line, inspecting the gear as he went and probably storing important beta in his memory for when he leads this one.  I then followed up and we pulled the rap line to move on for one last climb.  An even six lines with two leads each seemed a nice way to finish the morning:

So after all Craig’s dreams of being able to climb Glory as one of his leads, Rongy plumped for that very line.  This was in part due to the morning wearing on, this way we could dump a heap of gear at the top of the line to save hauling it up, and we could climb with our packs to avoid the walk back up the steps.  All very worthy points and so it was he set off with just my tri-cams and slings.  The route was in full sun and it was biting, we wondered if Lou and Glen had made it out and what time.  They don’t seem to mind climbing in the heat and sun but it’s not for me:

I came second cleaning the gear and checking for our friendly carpet python.  No joy he was not around, and as Rongy said it would have been too hot for him in the sun by this time of the day.  As I made my way to the last wall below the top the evidence of the rock being pushed off kept coming.  The holds were all sandy and dirty, but we pulled off the last few moves and once all atop packed up walking out by midday.  All feeling very good about the morning we felt like we deserved a treat so stopped in at Carbunup for an ice-cream on the way home: