Speed Climbing

From outset it was agreed that both Craig and Howsie would need to be home by midday to ensure they were balancing their time and got some quality family time in, as well as quality rock time.  This meant we had to be walking out by 10:30, which in turn warranted an early start.  Howsie had crashed at the Willyabrup car park due to having band practise in Margaret River the night before, and as Craig and I arrived we found him making a brew.  The day was only just waking up as we walked towards the crag, and the moon was slipping below the horizon as we rapped in just after 5am:

Howsie had set himself a challenge for 2020, he wanted to bag every grade 20 in the guidebook.  This had helped set the scene for today, and we were focused on the iconic Steel Wall, a crag that has been included in many coffee table climbing picture books.  We of course needed to warm Howsie up and Craig started the proceedings with the first pitch of Sirius.  He climbed well and never looked in strife, and soon the three of us were on the ample belay ledge from where I had a choice of pitch 2 of Sirius or one of two grade 18’s:

I asked Howsie which one would be best to make sure he was properly warmed up before he started his 2020 challenge.  The second pitch of Sirius at grade 14 was never considered and he plumped for Unclaimed, a clean sport line that is far more fingery and sustained than the second option of pitch two of Delving Devoids a climb that provides a spicy traditional experience.  As Craig came up third on this line, Howsie was already getting ready to rap back down and commence his preparations for his first lead.  Time was short today and we had to keep moving:

Howsie had decided on two routes he wanted to tick, Simply Suicide was the first.  He had considered Pascals Route, one we had climbed together a while back.  He had gassed out on that route back then, and hadn’t managed to lead it clean.  The reason for going for Simply Suicide was that while it has moves just as hard, it is not as sustained.  There are however bigger runouts so requires a calm and collected approach.  He ate up the bottom wall and was soon at the ledge, which is about one third of the way up.  This meant that the first crux had been completed successfully:

The second crux is the meaty one, above the ledge there is a carrot bolt and from there it’s a steep and sustained fingery wall that requires good footwork and technique.  He got past this and was not surprisingly very happy with himself, the route is far from over but the difficulties after this point reduce.  The hardest moves are over but this is where the route gets runout, so if you start to tire on these upper sections the potential for big falls can play games with your confidence.  Howsie however took the rests when they came and inched his way up methodically:

This image give you an idea of the runouts, the last piece of gear can be seen well below him just over the lip of the bulge.  There is nothing of worth between that and the next piece that his eyes are fixated on, just above him.  Underneath the following image I’ve decided to copy the route description for Simply Suicide, it is a route that several people lay claim to.  The reason for including this description is that today the line sported one new ring bolt and there seems to be an alternate line on which another new ring bolt has been placed, muddying the history and line of this climb even further:

This is taken straight from my guidebook: “This climb shares the second pitch of Ulster Madness and has a bit of a chequered history.  The first ascent of the upper section was claimed in May 1983 by McKenzie and Cartwright as mentioned in the description for Ulster Madness below.  Then in March 1986 Carrigan and Marshall approached it by traversing up and left to the ledge, so avoiding the hard start of Ulster Madness and named it Simply Suicide (19).  Next and only one month later in April 1986 Wagland and Gommers approached it via the Sirius traverse, and this time it sported 1 BR (plate required) to protect the start moves from the ledge.  This suggests they ascended the steeper section of the upper wall and named it Still More Steel (20). Today there are 2 BRs before you reach the ledge and 2 BRs (plates required) for the upper wall, who placed the additional three is unclear.  That said if started as Simply Suicide but using the more direct line of Still More Steel this is a grand climb although regardless of all the BRs the top half of this climb still feels pretty run out”:

It is important to note that the challenge that he has set himself is that he must climb each grade 20 clean, no falls are allowed.  While in theory it was my lead next, I had felt somewhat clunky following Howsie up so was in two, if not three or four, minds as to what to climb next.  Craig too was being non-comital and indecisive, so Howsie had decided he would lead back to back climbs and jump on the second line he had in mind to bag today.  Due to this, while the time restriction weighed on our minds, Craig pulled out the compulsory flask of tea:

As the boys sipped tea to allow Howsie a moment to prepare, Steve dropped in on us.  He had hinted that he may join us, as having started his next round of chemo just last week he was in need of exercise and fresh air.  The early start and thought of harder lines on Steel Wall had not been very appealing to him, so he arrived later and had brought with him his fishing rod.  His timing was perfect and the banter started, as I started to drop a few comments about needing to get ready to keep moving.  Soon Howsie was racking up once again:

His second grade 20 to be tackled for his 2020 challenge was Mobjob.  This is a very classy route, completely traditional, both in that it has no bolts and it requires tradition techniques of bridging and lay backing.  It has a bit of a reputation for being hard because of this, but it really is only a grade 20.  Some time back I heard mention that a hold had come off and grade was more like 21.  I didn’t mention this to anyone and decided to see how things went and if I could find that broken hold:

The start to Mobjob is the crux, and is awkward.  Howsie cramped himself under the first roof and after placing some bomber gear he prepared to turn the roof.  It’s a nervous move as you can’t see what’s above you, but he made it look smooth and straight forward.  I noted that he had smeared his foot on the right wall under the roof to balance himself, something I have not done before.  It looked a much better way to tackle it and sure enough it unlocked the crux making it feel the smoothest I have ever climbing it:

There are two more rooflets to negotiate.  Although the pace eases the climbing is superb and the position is always full of exposure.  After Howsie had so elegantly climbed the crux and second rooflet it was interesting to see that he had forgotten his traditional techniques making the last rooflet much harder than it should be, by not bridging.  He still managed to pull it off and having reached the belay he had made it two out of two and bagged his second grade 20.  There was no broken hold in sight and it is definitely still one a grade 20:

I particularly like this route as it reminds me of Swanage, a place I used to climb at along the Dorset coast in England.  Towering 50m vertical walls that stretch for miles of blinding white limestone.  That crag is full of corners and roofs that have the sort of exposure that you can see below Craig, as he launches for the holds above the final rooflet and the welcome belay ledge above.  Once he arrived we organised the gear before Craig set off above us:

The second pitch goes at grade 14, and is a sustained and very fine corner.  Before Steve had left us to go fishing he had handed Craig a set of wires that he believed really needed to be used today.  He had a similar fascination with these wires at Welly Dam last weekend.  So Craig, aiming to satisfy, used the all of these wires on his lead.  They have a strange curved shape that almost makes them lock in like a camming device.  While Craig did place everyone he later claimed to not have trusted most of those replacements, sorry Steve:

As Craig was setting off I had noticed that we only had just over an hour before we were to be walking out.  As such after he had set up the belay I gunned up the route and pulled all the gear of his harness, rapping down before Howsie had even started to climb up.  As we had left our packs at the base we had two choices walk out or climb out with packs, and the latter appealed more.  So I decided to lead up Hope with all the gear, which was way too much, as they followed up with the packs.  I sorted the gear as the other two finished off the climb and rapped down:

Conscious of time we cracked on and too our surprise all three of us were at the top of Hope within just fifteen minutes of me starting to lead it!  So we eased off the pace as we pulled the rap line and sorted the gear, which included the crag booty that Howsie had claimed.  A gold ultra-light camelot, that was at the belay of the first pitch of Mobjob.  It looks almost new and was not hard to get out, so it seems that someone had just forgotten it.  An expensive oversight:

Needless to say the boys got back on time for some quality family time, having bagged two leads each and Howsie having started his challenge with a bang knocking off two great leads.