The terminator

While you may laugh, in recent times it feels like I have lost the confidence I used to have on lead.  The likelihood of being able to get out with anyone, to be able to build that confidence back up by leading climbs, is very slim to non-existence for months to come.  With that in mind I’ve set myself a routine on my boulder wall.  The aim is to build my stamina and contact strength, without risking reinjuring the joints that I have been foolish enough to damage on indoor boulder wall in recent years.  In the week gone I had three sessions, so for my weekend trip out I felt that I needed somewhere not too hard and just fun:

As I was making Lisa a cuppa at just gone 6am I could see the sky was a glorious red turning orange.  By the time I drove out of the driveway the oranges had turned to yellow, and as I left Peppy Beach they finally faded into a mottled white.  The high clouds didn’t seem to suggest any rain would fall and despite being a bit of a non-descript colour they still made for a spectacular sky as I drove towards Moses Rocks.  On arrival there were a few cars in the carpark, and several people were on the beach fishing as I walked towards the rocks:

I view Moses Rocks as the friendly crag, some don’t like it here due to the rounded nature and often flared cracks.. This can make it, at times, fiddly to place gear but as I was going solo today that wouldn’t be a stress.  Another reason I like it here is that it gets you that bit closer to the water and more times than not, even with just a slight swell, the waves come in crisp and clean.  They look amazing and the booming sound of the barrels as they collapse brings the place to life.  Today I walked past the Hand’s Up Wall and continued south, I decided to leave that for another morning out:

I unpacked my gear and was slowly getting myself sorted.  I had made a beeline for Rumpoles Rocks, and if I was smart this place would allow several lines to be picked off from each set-up.  And in the end I only had to move the set-up four times.  I wasn’t in a great rush, so stopped to check out the waves for a bit.  I had my eye on the barrels in the bay to the south, with Wilyabrup in the distance.  Then out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of eight or so dolphins surfing in on a wave very close to me.  They jumped high out of the back of it as the wave crashed into a mass of tumbling white water:

They came on the next wave for a second run, and I was too wrapped up in watching them only just remembering to grab my camera at the last moment.  As such all you get is one not very good image of a single dolphin escaping out the back of the second wave.  That was the end of their playtime and they then travelled north out of sight.  I finished off getting the rope ready and rapped down to start the session.  Going left to right meant the first line was Rude Awakening, and that it was.  It felt hard and I slipped off the crux on the first lap:

The last time I came here was with Mikey, Rongy and Craig and the place was wet.  The pool at the base of the crag was full of water and there was a risk of big waves sending spray all over the belayer.  Today the pool was dry, as mostly was the rock.  That hadn’t helped me on the first line but thankfully the next was Rarely Wild, a much more forgiving route that allowed me to relax a bit more.  That got me back in the right mood for Moses’ rounded holds, as I next manage to unlock Hexed relatively easily.  A line that had got Rongy thinking on the last trip when he led it, mind you he also had to battle with wet rock:

Next up was Burning Both Ends, which the rope below is set up for.  It’s one of the original lines and is a bold lead.  Today it definitely felt like one of the more sustained routes, not only was the flared crack testy but the overlaps above kept you working.  I’m not sure if was all the plastic I had been pulling on my boulder wall but the tops of many of these routes felt steep.  Next was Yogurt and I then skipped Hot and Spicy as it is a bit of a ramble and shared the start of Yogurt.  Also I felt that if I did every line here that may be a bit much:

Five lines in and the dolphins returned, at least I’m guessing it was the same pod as before.  Finding a comfy rock armchair I kicked back and watched them, hoping that they were back for playtime and not just to cruise past.  They seemed to loiter in the area that I had seen them surfing, but this time they didn’t follow any of the waves in.  Instead, after a while they did a complete U-turn and headed back north from where they had come.  Disappearing, once again, from sight.  Bit of a shame but all the same it was great to have been able to watch a good sized pod twice in one day:

With the dolphins gone I jumped back on the rope.  The routes at Moses are relatively short, and at Rumpoles Rocks the first five of so meters are a bit of a stroll.  So with shorter lines I wondered just how far down the crag I could make it before time caught up with me, or my body started to suggest I should call it a day.  Next in line was Chillies and Garlic, followed by Jugs Galore both of which were quite simply just good fun.  The latter is one of mine, in fact this crag only had six routes when I first climbed here and since then I’ve been lucky to have been involved in putting up another six with Wiggins and Kym:

Above was the only wet hold I came across, not that I needed to use it, and with the water drying up the salt was forming.  None of the other holds I came across felt salty, and to be honest I couldn’t have asked for better conditions.  The rope was moved for the third time as the lifesaving helicopter came into view.  I carried on setting up as it flew overhead, and then it came back round over the ocean directly in front of me.  They were obviously intrigued to see what I was up too, I guess the sight of a climber makes a change to looking for sharks and surfers.  I wondered if they might recognise me, as I’ve certainly seen them fly past dozens upon dozens of times:

I then tackled No Spinach for Popeye, a route with a very thrutchy start.  So much so that I did wonder if that would be the time my body would say enough.  However I managed my two laps and then decided that I would miss out Wiggins’ Square Cut, as it used the same hideous off-width start and having done it twice today was quite enough.  That only left me two lines, for which the rope had to be moved for the final time.  The lower wall of Olive Oil fell much easier than when I followed Howsie up it last time.  I’m not even sure why it felt so challenging last time.  The hold are big and positive, not the normal rounded Moses holds but with good clean edges:

It was then time for the last line of the day Finger Licking, and it was absolutely Finger Licking good!  In view that I had a rope above me I decided to climb the unprotected arête of the tower instead of the southern face, and damn it was good.  Nice exposure and good holds, it’s a shame there is no gear on it.  There is something wrong with the image above and I’m intrigued to see if anyone can spot what it is.  With ten routes under my belt it was definitely time to call it a day, I took my time to pack the gear so I could take in the great position for just a bit longer.  Finally I hit the track out, and I could see ahead of me that the main beach looked reasonably busy with surfers in the water and fishers on the beach, all observing their social distance:

Unlike my last trip, and other than the dolphins, I didn’t see any creatures worth including in this post.  No roos, skinks, lizards, dragons, birds or interesting insects.  It was not for looking about, and I guess that being so close to the ocean while creating a great atmosphere also has a down side.  I retraced my steps and when I hit the first sandy bay the encroaching tide had already washed away half of my footprints.  By tomorrow they will all be gone and there will be no trace that I was ever here, but I’ll be back: