This was supposed to be the first yarn to be placed on my new blog. Lisa had worked for many hours to get a first draft of the site set up, surprising me with it on Christmas Day. Today I spent a good number of hours working the software out, only to discover one slight issue. I’m not able to upload my previous emails with text and images, of which I have one or two. This is an issue for me and so the blog will have to wait until I can overcome that hurdle. Hence, this trip out with Dan, Jo Lee and Craig on Monday this week comes to you in old fashioned email:
Dan and Jo Lee are over from Melbourne for Christmas with the family, and it is customary for me to get to meet up with them for at least one climb during their visit. I offered Dan the choice and he was keen for somewhere he had not climbed before, and so it was we found ourselves heading to the Northern Blocks. Due to not having a car they were reliant on a lift to Capel, which got them there at 6am. Take note Glen and Lou a reasonable start time! Craig however was keen to get out early, so he made his own way down and met us there:
On our arrival he was laying on the rock shelf by the water’s edge, kicking back. When we rapped down we found out that he had arrived well over an hour ago, and in that time had visited the Book Shelf. There he had spied a piece of crag booty, real gold! The sling of the No.2 Camalot shone against the relatively dull granite and he had to have it. So he solo’d the line, and we still have no idea what it was as it sounds and looks like nothing in the guide. There he chiselled away to claim his trophy, just in time for a hand hold to break and send him down:
The Camalot was well and truly munted, the lobes were stuck at maximum extent and the wires were all corroded. So was it worth it… well if it was me I’d be with Craig and say absolutely! We will however need to get back to this area and figure out if there are any worthy lines here, as the image above indicates there maybe. Craig came out of his adventures unscathed, but was still more than happy for me to take first lead. I plumped for Corpus Delecti, which you may recall was the line that saw me lose my bottle and hand every lead of my last visit here to Rongy:
I’m pleased to say that despite a bit of a clunky start, up to the first shelf and then the awkward corner, I climbed the flake with no fear. I even took my time and checked out possible placements, neither of which were really any good, but I put them in regardless to enjoy the exposed and runout stance. While I was climbing this line Jo Lee was getting fully stuck into the peapod of Banana Split, which is the obvious warm up climb. She hadn’t climbed outdoors since May so it was only right to allow here the proper warm up climb, while I reclaimed my dignity:
It was then Craig’s turn to jump on Banana Split, despite my many efforts to steer him to another line that I know he really would have loved. Jo Lee and Dan rapped down as Craig was entering the peapod, and as such he got to have a much better image taken of him than Jo Lee did. Craig may claim that he hasn’t climbed all that much, and that is why this was the perfect grade for him. This was however his fifth time out in a matter of months so he really can’t use that excuse any more. That said it is a pearler of line and we both thoroughly enjoyed it:
As soon as we had arrived here and rapped down, I showed Jo Lee and Dan the lines on the main buttress. It was obvious which one Dan wanted to bag. I too think that Use No S.L.C.D.’s is the best line here, an awesome finger crack followed by a fine flake and then face climbing. I waited for Craig to set up the belay and chatted to Jo Lee to see what she had in mind. She was keen to jump on a two star corner she had spied in the guide book. That could only mean one climb and as such we decided that we would haul all the gear out and shift the rap line:
For sensible people like Jo Lee, Dan and myself we rapped down and left all the gear at the top. Craig however had walked down and as such had his pack with water, a thermos of tea and climbing gear at the base. So I followed him up with his pack pulling me backwards, it certainly changed the route for me and I could feel myself holding on that bit harder than I should be. At least there are rests on the route, and so I was able to hold on and watch Dan on the more exciting and steeper sections of his line, where his lanky features definitely gave him an edge:
Craig and I pulled the rap line and set it up to access the Terrace, where Jo Lee’s two star “corner” was to be found. So while they were finishing off their line before rapping down Craig and I got a head start. I didn’t fancy anything too silly so plumped for the very fine Thrice Bitten. A line that keeps you holding on and has some exciting sequences where you have to keep moving. It always takes me a few moments to collect my thoughts at the base of the bottomless groove, knowing that once you go for it there is no turning back (or gear for some time):
Craig certainly enjoyed himself following up on that one. Once on top he did a quick time check. He had to be back by midday to pick his boys up, so was on a time limit. He reckoned there would be enough time for one my route, so we jumped on the rap line to go down. I however held things up and hung there for some time as Jo Lee was enjoying the so call “corner” of Silver. It is in fact a steep hanging flake, which is what the editor of the guide had described it as. No matter she looked to be very focused and, in that strange way climbers do, enjoying it:
It’s another line that keep throwing it at you till the end, so one you really have to conserve your strength for. It was very impressive to watch her work her way up the route and eventually with a huge sigh of relief and joy top out. The on-sight was a pretty damn good effort for someone who hasn’t climbed since May! There was no time for lots of congratulations and chit chat, as we needed to get down so Craig could jump on another lead. So we left Jo Lee to set up the belay and headed back down:
Craig knew the clock was ticking and so decided not to go for the vague seam that he had spied, as he was checking the place out before we had arrived. On close inspection that seam, not a line in the guide, didn’t look to have any worthy gear and in view of limited time he decided on Thin Crack. It looks deceptively easy, but the middle wall get steep and requires good technique to get up and to hold on while placing gear. I think this may have surprised Craig, in a good way and he relished the challenge. I scampered up making sure I didn’t waste any more time:
We hauled the gear and rope back to the packs and to save him some time I told him to leave most of it for us to carry out, sending him packing with a light sac. This allowed him to jog out and when I got home I saw that he had managed to get to the boys at 11:57, so it seemed that he didn’t lose more than a few minutes of the time he had available to him for the mornings’ climbing. While he hoicked his way out, I went back down to meet Dan and Jo Lee. Before following Craig up I had pointed Dan to a route I thought he would like and I too was keen on:
I got down just as he was topping out of Bearded Dolphin, I was shocked to see him already finishing off, having assumed that this line would have stumped him a little bit. I’ve only been on it a few times and only once on lead that I can recall. It’s fingery, reachy and pumpy all at the same time. There are a few somehow rests but not really until you get to the upper wall. Jo Lee was next up and as she had been belaying Dan the wind changed direction and got really cold, and she was starting to shiver needing to get into the sun:
It took her a bit of time to warm up, as on the Terrace there was no escaping that wind and it was sucking the heat from us. She is much shorter than Dan and was really struggling with the roof and overlap, long reaches between good holds made the sequences that much more powerful and tricky. As it was Dan had been able to reach past some of these difficulties and both of us cursed his lankiness! There was just enough rope for us to both climb out without throwing it back down, a good job as the wind would have made that tricky:
I came up last and much as I tried to get a clean ascent the lower roof had me foxed. I missed a crucial hold and was well and truly spat off. Tall people could keep their feet on the wall under the roof, while shorties such as Jo Lee and myself had to smear them up on the roof. This resulted in a super compressed position from which it was hard to move up due to small and the spaced holds. Soooo much fun! We decided that while we did not need to watch the clock ourselves, it was getting too windy and so we followed Craig out almost an hour behind him:
Both Dan and Jo Lee managed impressive on-sights, so I’ll have to think hard about where to take them next year to see if we can’t do it all again.
Sandbagged 