So following on in the Howsie tradition, Chris has set himself a challenge to lead every grade 20 in 2020. There is a big end goal in sight that aligns with some big landmarks both in time and place. You won’t however hear about the end goal for another four years assuming I am still keeping this blog up to date, haven’t bored you senseless by then, and am part of the glory run. The recent self-distancing requirements put a bit of a spanner in the works on the challenge, but now we are able to fire things up again. That is why today the goal was to hit five grade 20 at three crags:
The last route of the day was to be Ain’t No Slouch, on the Approach Wall at the Northern End of Wilyabrup (above). An unusual climb for this area, and one that was put up by Kym some five years back with the assistance of both Craig and myself. So it was fitting that today Howsie would be encouraged along in his pursuits by both Craig and myself. Before we were to tackle Kym’s route we had to walk all the way to the Playground. The first route of the day was in fact a solo I put up seven years back, it was however sensible to first warm up on some of the many other solo’s that this place offers:
We hit the usual lines here some recorded and some not, and maybe got a bit carried away knocking one, two, three, four and then five fun lines. The fifth was Slime Ball, and only Craig managed to get up that one. Despite the conditions being good I chickened out at the final hard moves, and Howsie seemed to struggle to really get established on the long start moves. With that we decided not to keep trying this particular problem, but to get on with the line that we had come here for… Locked and Loaded:
Interestingly both Howsie and Craig considered, when they first looked at this line, that it seemed easier than some of the problems that we had been playing on already. I was happy to observe, as they gave it a crack, and ran around the top of the crag getting various angles for you to decide if it looks easy. Seeing it was Howsie’s challenge he had the first go, I think Craig thought he knew how to unlock this one so didn’t want to jump on first. So up Howsie went finding out that the holds were a little trickier than he expected:
Resulting him going back down rather rapidly. The sandy landing here is ideal for this kind of malarkey, and he tested that numerous times. Each time just as he thought he unlocked the puzzle something would give and he’d be hurtling back down. After several attempts he needed a rest and it was Craig’s turn, he too went up and then came back down quicker than expected. This yo-yoing continued, Howsie and then Craig but with each attempt they started to figure out the best approach:
Craig managed the first clean ascent, and was closely followed by Howsie. That then meant I had to have a bash, for no other reason that I wanted too. I too struggled and it took a few goes to bottle up the courage and also work out why the approach that they had used simply didn’t work for me. Eventually I sorted it out and it was all in the name… a slightly uncomfortable finger lock that neither Craig nor Howsie had used. So once the that was locked and loaded the rest all fell into place. With the first grade 20 in the bag it was time to move to the next crag, and we had to tell ourselves not to stay here longer to enjoy a bit more bouldering at the Playground:
Our next destination was back towards where we had come from, at the Book Shelf. Here there were three more grade 20s to bag, and Howsie wasted no time in jumping on the first one. It was a route that he had been on before so knew what to expect, and he made short work of it. Smear Factor is a fine, but again short line. Most routes would be, with only the last one being of any length. Both Howsie and Craig have a longer reach than me, so managed to pull the crux sequence off with not quite so many exciting moves up the layback flake. Their loss I say:
I had wondered if, with winter approaching, whether this crag would have been accessible and in condition. It is certainly one of the crags that is closer to the ocean, and with the rougher winter conditions the rock platform that is mostly dry in summer can become a tad dangerous. Today however the swell was reasonably low and there was practically no wind to stir up big waves. So while it may seem in some images, such as the one above, that we were taking a risk being here, we were never in any danger of being washed away:
To give Howsie a break between his grade 20 leads Craig decided to jump on Bronze Medal. I’m not sure how much of a break it really was, as the start and bottom half of this climb was certainly a tad steep and pumpy. It even had Craig, with his envious reach, stumped for a bit as he tried to work out how to get established on the wall. However, once he sorted that the rest flowed with relative easy. Howsie and I followed him up and then it was time to get back to business, and we headed over to the main attraction (for us) of this crag:
There are two ways to tackle the widest part of this imposing roof. Craig and I established, and graded both routes 20, when we put up some 30’ish new routes at the Book Shelf during two visits here in 2015. Those two trips were however sadly not written up, so are only in our memories and the pages of the South West rock climbing guide. The two approaches are called Monkey Bar and Grease Gun, and Howsie was heading for the latter which we reckoned back then was the classier line. It was going to be interesting to see if that was really the case:
I did my usual run around looking for the best angles. I reckon the one above is the best one, despite it being a little washed out by the sun that was just peaking over the hills. Howsie was hanging on and on and on, he made it to the outer lip of the roof and eventually gassed out and had to come back down. After looking up at the gear options and with a bit of encouragement from us he went up again, and again, and again. But it simply seemed to have him foxed. Then the biggest wave hit and Craig got just a little wet, it was time for Howsie to have a rest:
So it was my turn to have a lead and I plumped for One Too Many, one of Craig’s creations. It felt steep and pumpy and I could feel my arms stretching out. Of note this is the climb that I probably pushed Gav a little close to breaking point on, which I alluded to in my post about the Peppy Crew. Even though he chose to lead it without any encouragement from me, I was pretty vocal in persuading him to keep going on it. This, in part, resulted in Gav taking his first ever trad lead fall and the experience is written up in Getting Back on the Horse. I have to say going up this route today it felt steep and strenuous, and I did feel a bit guilty about my past crimes. I’m truly sorry Gav:
It was then time for Howsie to give Grease Gun another bash. This time with the gear sorted, he made quick work of getting out to the lip and placing the gear. Then came the crux, a funky move to get established on the lip. This requires putting your left foot up level with your head and then working some slopey side pulls in a vertical crack to get your weight transferred across to your foot. It all sounds so easy! But until you work the moves, you are left hanging on your arms with the only footholds under the roof and your body in a horizontal position:
This time Howsie managed to get up, it was however not clean ascent. He fell on his gear, then rested on his gear, then fell and then rested but eventually worked out a sequence that got him up. Seeing he got up Craig and I took advantage of the rope above and both jumped on the line. What a cracker! We both got up, certainly not in great style but we had managed it. Loaded with lots of ideas and suggestions we piled them onto Howsie as to what he could do on his next attempt, in truth this probably only confused him even more:
Needless to say that his next attempt wouldn’t be for a while, so Craig and I indulged in a few quick climbs. We knocked off A Cracking Line, Good Flake, Bad Flake and Cheeky Money. It’s interesting that looking at the grades we gave these climbs, as given in the guidebook, especially in view that during our walk out Craig said that the lines we had picked off in-between Howsie’s battles with his grade 20s “hadn’t been push-overs”. Well either we had under-graded everything or they were push-overs, with Good Flake (below) getting a lofty grade 13 and being the hardest of the four:
With each climb there was the down climb, and this place offers lots of choices of varying difficulty. Chimneys, faces and corners all begging to be used. This makes for the ascents and descents being equal fun. Now I include this image for no real reason other than I find it hilarious, you will just have to believe me that it was definitely not staged. One of those magically instances that the camera captures, and those in that fateful image hoping that it never sees the light of day. Unfortunately for Howsie and Craig I have control over which images I use:
By the fourth interlude climb it was time for someone to decide what we would be doing next. And while that someone was not 100% sure, we managed to be the voice of reason that convinced him that surely with all the intel on the gear, moves, holds and best sequences it was obvious that one last attempt should be made. What could possibly go wrong, and with that we came back down and sorted the gear even stripping everything he didn’t need to make his harness as light as possible:
And once again we found ourselves in that similar position… The lip of the roof was reached, the gear was placed, the left foot was positioned high and then it was time to crank on the rounded side pull to transition the weight onto that high foot. All the while the rest of the body flags in open space being of no use and just acting as a dead weight pulling downwards on your poor tiring arms. Needless to say, as my words might indicate, Howsie’s arms just would not listen to reason and that last move, while so tantalising close, was just too far away and not meant to be (today):
He had yet another sit in the harness and then play with the holds and options. This only ended up wearing out what little juice was left in his arms and while he did managed to finally get up, there was simply not enough energy or will power left for him to have another last attempt. Seeing another opportunity Craig and I again took advantage of the rope above us. This time we did both style it, making it look relatively easy and probably not making Howsie feel any better about all his failed attempts to get that elusive clean lead:
So after that we walked out. The Monkey Bar and Ain’t No Slouch would have to be attempted another day, maybe when we come back so Howsie can bag the Grease Gun. Back at the car Craig broke out the second flask of tea… gold! Now while Howsie only managed to get 2 out of 5 grade 20 routes today, I feel that it is very fair to say that he wasn’t a slouch. With more attempts on that roof than either Craig of my arms could endure collectively, Howsie certainly gave it everything today. And after all if the grade 20 routes were all easy enough to allow five to be bagged in one day (along with ten or so other routes in-between) then where is the challenge:
Sandbagged 