Today was the calm before the storm. The remnants of cyclone Mangga will be bearing down on us tomorrow and so Andrew, Steve and I made the best of the good weather and headed to Wilyabrup. While they had both joined in with the recent climb at Welly Dam, neither have climbed much and so it was going to be a “breaking back into it” kinda day. Steve being on the road to recovery after surgery and Andrew well just to get back into climbing, and also aiming to get climbing fit for a possible down south trip later in the year:
To get the muscles warmed up and after learning from the error of my ways with Rongy earlier in the week, we started on something sensible being the fun climb called Glory. To make things a bit more interesting and much to Steve’s delight I led this purely on tricams. Andrew came up last and had the honour of taking the gear out. One was particularly problematic, but after much mucking about he managed to pull the offending piece of gear free. As Andrew topped out he came up with the idea of getting 20 push-ups in after each climb. Telling us he had a target of 220 to do today, as part of the push-up challenge:
We toyed with various options for the next climb. In view that the regional border with Perth was now open we anticipated a few climbers would be down. So we determined that while we had the place to ourselves we should jump on Sirius. Steve is still on his no leading probation period with me, and Andrew was certainly not keep to lead this one so I went up first. However, being a traverse all three of us had the prospect of an equally big fall, and because of that I laced the traverse to reduce the risk for them:
Sure enough and as predicated, the first sign of other climbers came along as they followed me up or should I say along the traverse. Two parties set up on the easy but fun slabs. It seemed like there were a couple of newbies being introduced to the wonders of outdoor climbing, as there were lot so instructions being given out. Andrew made the traverse and then it was Steve’s turn, his face was looking serious and did I detect just a hint of concern. He later admitted that he felt a tad nervous on this pitch but managed to pull it off, and avoid a fall. Something he hadn’t managed the last time he was on this route:
I set off up pitch two, it has been a while since I’ve been up this second pitch. Most times I have been up the first pitch we have then climbed one of the two grade 18’s on the face, so it was nice to get back onto the proper second pitch of Sirius. As I set myself up with a belay that gave me a bird’s eye view of them coming up, I noticed that Andrew was doing his next set of push-ups… yes on the belay ledge! He eventually finished the set off and I’m not sure if he was aware of the tourist who had also started to appear, looking on at his antics:
Like I said I wanted a bird’s eye view of them following me up, and as such had a great hanging belay with nothing but space between me and the ground some 35 meters below. I do like to be able to watch people as they follow up after me, plus it is much safer as you can observe how they are going and quickly see when they are starting to get into strife. That thankfully didn’t happen for either of them, but you could tell they were both a little nervous stepping round the arête to get onto the slabby face. That is when the exposure hit you:
After doing the obligatory push-ups Andrew settled himself down on a comfy perch, as I belayed Steve. And more people started to appear. Some out for a wander and some possibly just looking for that perfect insta-image, as they wandered round observing the world through the lens of their phones checking out the best angles. I previously mentioned that Andrew needs to get back into climbing, he has a goal to climb a route on the south coast later in the year. It’s a classic grade 18 that he has seconded many years back, but this time he wants to lead it. So it is probable that he will be joining in more of our trips out:
Steve came up last and pulled the gear, for this and the last pitch there was a selection of wires, cams and tricams. I decided no tot just use tricams, especially on the traverse as they can be more fiddly to get out. I didn’t want to risk tiring either of them out, which could have resulted in a fall. Only one wire gave Steve grief, which was thankfully at the belay ledge. In this image you get a real feel for the exposure as you come on to this slabby face. The bottomless corner just drops away into space under you, giving the sort of experience that I love. You might also notice below another party that had turned up, who were eyeing up something on Steel Wall:
As we wandered down Steve said that he had made a decision that he wouldn’t climb any more today. He was happy with what he had done and didn’t want to push things any more, indicating that he felt like he was climbing like a cabbage. Not that it had shown, but we respected his decision and I quietly wondered what had happened to the real Steve who wouldn’t normally come across as so sensible. Back at the base we bumped into Mick with a family of four that he was showing the ropes, it was his first tour for a while as he couldn’t take people out due to the various restrictions in place. It seems that people are now getting back into things and he told us he even had a second group coming out in the afternoon:
With Steve on the sideline it was up to Andrew as to what we did. I’m happy to say that he was keen for more and not only that but he was keen to jump on the floppy end. So we went in search of something not too hard, gave enough opportunities for protection and looked fun. When you are looking for less than a grade 14 that meets all three criteria it is actually quite hard. Usually the routes are scrappy or they do not have much in the way of protection. It was however Steve that pointed to and suggested Orryjohn:
As Andrew was getting, quite literally, stuck into the delights of Orryjohn I found a tiny pocket in the rock that had been made into a home. I kept an eye on Andrew as he wormed his way up the chimney, first facing one way and then the next, and also watched the home hoping that the occupant might pop out to say hello. Sadly no one came out, but on the plus side Andrew figured out the best way to tackle the chimney and managed a clean ascent. It was a good start on his road back to climbing fitness, which is just as much if not more of a mental thing than physical:
I didn’t check if he did his push-ups after that route but I could tell that he was keen for one more route, and of course I am nearly always happy to get just one more climb in. He was also keen to follow me up something a bit more spicy from what we had been climbing today. So we decided on a project that Steve has in mind to complete this year, Inner Space. It’s a route that used to be a regular on the tick list when we would come down, but in more recent times I haven’t been on it so much. I could feel that we had turned it up a notch, needing to pull a little harder to get the moves and having to hang on a bit more placing gear:
While we were climbing Steve had gone walkabout. I spied him down amongst the big boulders doing a bit of digging and then seemingly playing in the water. He told me that he has been getting more and more interested in the geology of the area, you may recall in a past post There’s Gold in Them There Hills that he had, back then, started to show an interest. Well it seems that this has moved up a level, and while he knows there isn’t any gold he was certainly looking for something. But I don’t know what:
While Steve searched, Andrew made his way up the fine route. He was half way up and starting to look tired, I could tell as the arms were starting to stick straight out instead of being locked down and his body positions looked more strained. I thought he was going to fall but he pulled through and was soon just a couple of meters below the top… which is also where the crux is. Talking him through what to expect I really thought he was going to make it, until the last move when his arms gave up and his hands slowly but steadily slipped off the final holds:
Needless to say he was still very happy to have got up to literally the final holds in such good style. He was also looking smashed and just rolled onto the ledge, a sure sign it was time to wrap things up and head out. Rather than haul the rope and gear back to the base, only to have to walk it all back up again. So after he had done his push-ups we sorted the gear, coiled the rope and stashed it for collection on the way out. When we wandered back to the packs we found Steve tucked away in a corner, trowel in hand, searching through the soil. I really should have asked him what he was hoping to find:
It took us a while to get out, this time it was my fault. I went to say goodbye to Mick, but he likes a yarn and he and I kept going probably a little too long. His clients didn’t seem to mind so we kept going Eventually we broke free and walked back up the track, and I almost forgot to stop and pick up the gear we had stashed. Steve plodded on at a steady pace, as Andrew and I loaded the gear. It was midday and as we walked back towards the carpark we passed several groups coming in, another seven climbers who were hauling in an esky:
The early start had paid off, we got to pick and choose the lines we wanted. Had the joy of having the place to ourselves for a while, but also had a bit of a social with some of the many crew that had turned up. Back at the carpark there were twenty odd cars, more than the spaces could handle. Some were parked in the bush off the track. No doubt tomorrow will be a different story, as the cold front marches down on us bringing high winds and lots of rain. The wet weather is set to continue all week, so there will be no midweek climb for me. But hopefully we might sneak out again next weekend:
Sandbagged 