Something to come back for

A month or more back Howsie had been camping at Denmark on a family trip. During a walk with the family he stumbled across a rock face and after staring at it in wonder for ages, he finally found what he was looking for. There were bolts… and after he posted about them on our local WhatsApp climbing group I mentioned that it was a location that I had been wondering about visiting for many years. A mini-guide existed for the area, but both Kym and my recollection was that climbing was not allowed there, which was one reason I had never ventured there:

Upon investigation neither Kym nor I could find reference to climbing being banned there.  That plus the fact the mini-guide was still publicly available on the Western Australia climbers association website rekindled my interest.  So a week back, when I noticed a pocket of high pressure predicted to provide two clear days down on the south coast, Howsie, Rongy and I hatched a plan.  An overnight trip was rapidly planned, but with a sensible start and return time.  That would still give us two half days of climbing.  So it was that we arrived at our destination shortly before midday on Friday and were preparing lunch:

Rongy had been in charge of food and he had come very prepared, all the salads were chopped and ready for use making lunches very quick and efficient.  There didn’t however seem to be a sense of urgency, we hadn’t left Bunbury till 8am to allow Howsie to have breakfast with the family before Fergus was due to go to school.  I was very glad that Howsie had been here before, as while I’m sure we would have found our way the junction of the highway wasn’t marked and it looked like a four wheel drive track.  So we might have missed it:

This particular access track wasn’t even indicated on the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions’ website, the government agency that manages this and many other parks.  By now you will have finally twigged that we were heading to Mount Lindesay, or if you didn’t you have not been looking closely enough at the images.  This area has several rare and threatened species and care is required when accessing the area, die back being a constant threat.  So we diligently washed the soles of our shoes as we entered:

We had of course read the mini-guide before coming out.  There seemed to be two climbing locations and we decided to head for the one Howsie had stumbled across.  This was in part due to being able to find it easily, but it also had the more gentle grades.  Something that is always sensible to think about when you visit a new areas.  Not only can the local grading vary a bit, but also the rock and therefore style of climbing.  This place was described as having crystals that can be measured in centimetres, giving a hint as to what style to expect:

We began the climbing with the lowest grade route on this buttress, and were aiming to knock them off in escalating grade order.  This meant starting with The Womb, a strange climb which ambled at a relaxed pace up a wide rounded chimney.  Padding your feet up on one or at times both sides, using friction on the coarse grained granite.  All the time looking up in anticipation to where there may be gear and where you have to exit and access the slab and crack above.  We almost dismissed this route as it didn’t look anything special, but I have to say I’m glad we did climb it:

The crystals that were mentioned in the guide were evident.  Not in the great numbers we had thought they might be.  Every so often there would be one sticking out of the rock.  You looked at these pieces of quartz wondering if you can put a foot on it and fully weight it, and often you had too.  It was quite a nervous experience but as we climbed here we got used to trusting them.  The occasional one did pop off, but it was a rare occurrence.  Howsie unlocked the exit and Rongy and then I followed up, happy to be able to test those crystals with a rope above us:

Rongy was next up, if truth be told I was feeling pretty weary and uncoordinated almost falling over my own feet several times on the walk in.  The first route also didn’t fill me with confidence and my state of mind wasn’t that great.  It was not from the long drive.  I have probably mentioned before that the journey this way is very relaxed.  Sitting at 110km/hr in cruise control on mostly straight, traffic free roads.  With less towns to pass that fingers on one hand.  Having three of us meant I could relax more but also run round the area taking images, and this place offered some great vistas:

Rongy was heading up Crisp’n’Crimpy, an aptly named route and certainly a significant step up from the first line.  It really gets you working the crystals and smear holds from the start, hanging on up the vertical wall to gain a rounded crack.  The crystals being much smaller on the face, and you need to trust the tiniest of footholds.  Then slowly straighten your legs to reach upwards to the next marginal small crystal pulling hold.  Gear where it wasn’t bolted was also interesting to find and trust, the water and wind had carved the cracks into wonderfully flared features:

Windchannel Wall was where we were climbing.  It offered 20m routes up the west facing wall and sits high and exposed.  On a windy day we could only imagine what it would be like.  Today however, it was reasonably calm.  There was just a bit of a breeze and this wall seemed to attract every bit of it, that along with the lack of sun made it feel chilly and we stayed rugged up.  All the routes conveniently finished at the highest point, and we had come prepared with a rap line allowing us to not waste any of the time we had here:

I was up next, while I really wasn’t feeling it the boys wouldn’t have allowed me to get away with no leads.  So bumping it up just one grade I started up Left Side, nervous to start but soon putting all that to the back of my mind.  It’s that strange phenomena that when you are on the pointy end, the holds feel bigger and more secure.  Each move came naturally, there was none of that stuttering that had been occurring when I was on second.  The route flowed really well and while it did require delicate footwork and had small handholds, I stayed focused:

The backdrop to the crag was stunning, the land stretched miles into the distance.  So much of it was forested, with patches of vivid green created by the pockets of pasture.  On a clear day they say you can see the coast from the summit, but not today.  In the immediate foreground boulders were littered everywhere, we allowed time to look out and saw many which had splitter cracks and it was tempting to just go out exploring.  There was however no time for that on this trip, we would have to come back another time for that and probably allow more time:

Looking east we could make out the Stirling Ranges and Porongurup’s, familiar land forms for us.  The tops of the granite monolith we were on had pools full to the brim with water, we are after all in the middle of winter.  There were also patches of bright green moss littering the rock, it was hard to work out where they were getting their nutrients from but they seemed to be flourishing in this harsh landscape.  The sun when it did come out made them glow and shine.  The granite faces were however dry and in perfect condition:

Howsie was up next, and he had the pleasure of climbing Crystallography.  The guide indicating that this was the best route on the crag and I am tempted to agree with that.  Much the same of what I experienced, but it felt a bit more sustained and longer.  By now we were all getting used to trusting even the smallest crystals, both for feet and hands.  We did wonder how our fingers would fare with two half days on this rock.  Many of the holds and crystals were sharp and our fingertips were well on the way to being worn down:

For now we put the thought of our fingertips to one side and got on with business.  As the day was inching towards the end of light, the sky started to clear.  The temperature was dropping but so had the wind and better still the sun had come out and was on our backs, compensating for the change in temperature.  What a glorious day to be out!  We kept a sharp eye out for any critters but hadn’t seen any so far, the occasional Wedged Tailed Eagle soared on high but no other birds were evident in the shrubs or trees at the base of the crag:

This place obviously gets plenty of rain.  Moss and lichen covered many of the more horizontal and gently sloping surfaces creating colourful mosaics.  The monolith was not a simply dome of granite that you could easily walk over.  Water had over millennia carved deep, smooth and  rounded crevices.  These were filled with vegetation, seemingly hiding from the wind as they rarely grew higher than the top of the rock on either said of it’s safe haven.  It creates is a very special landscape, one that is hard to capture in an image or fully describe:

There was one last line on the crag, the hardest yet and it was aptly Rongy’s lead.  Being a granite face with minimal natural features such as cracks or flakes the only way to be able to safely climb was to have bolts.  Most routes had a mix of trad but mostly bolts and these were glued in machine bolts.  The small hexagonal heads were at times hard to spot, even when you are on lead.  Once you find them, it is best to keep your eye on it until you get the plate on it.  It certainly adds an extra element of excitement to the more normal sport route approach of placing ring bolts or fixed hangers:

Nobody Likes A Bogan was three grades harder than any of the other routes on this wall.  The holds and steepness certainly made it more intense and Howsie seemed to be extra vigilant, as Rongy was having to use the tiniest crystals on which you could only place the tip of one finger.  It was on this route that one such hold blew, and sent Rongy flying.  When you crimp so hard on such a hold there is always a risk that you take the top of your knuckles off when you come off, but fortunately that didn’t happen today:

Eventually Rongy figured out the route and got onto easier ground.  Here he could give his fingertips a rest from having to hold on with grim determination as the crystals bit deeper and deeper into what remaining skin he had.  It was an impressive lead indeed, but it was a bit of a shame that the bolts had been placed to lead you in a bit of a dog legged path to climb the hardest sections.  This took some of the charm of the climb away, as it didn’t follow the obvious line that you would expect.  Something that I guess you can do when you bolt a route, but it did seem strange:

The sun was really getting low and the trees silhouetted beautifully against the wall that was starting to glow orange.  Howsie made his way painfully up the line, struggling to hold onto the small sharp holds.  Then it was my turn to tie on for the last lap of the last route for the day.  Low down before I really got to the difficulties a small crystal snapped off under my foot and I to didn’t manage a clean ascent.  After that however it all felt really good and my grogginess from when we had started had definitely been dispelled:

This time we couldn’t rap down, as even the anchors were carrot bolts.  So we coiled all the ropes ready to find our way back down to the packs.  This required navigating a few of those crevices that I mentioned before, and as such it was not a direct line and meandered this was and that.  Just when you thought you found the way, another crevice would appear.  The narrow ones you could jump over but often that was not the case.  As such the walk back down took us down separate paths as Rongy and Howsie got distracted:

They wandered off to see where the other crag was, scoping it out so we could easily get there in the morning.  We had thought to leave all the gear up here overnight, but there weren’t any shelfs to stash the bags under in case the weather did come in.  That plus it was not entirely clear what path we might end up taking to get to the next crag, meant we shouldered the gear and wandered out as the light really did start to fade.  The path is fortunately easy to find and we found ourselves back at the car in darkness:

First thing first, and we made a cuppa and munched on a snack to replenish the energy levels.  When we arrived we were not sure if we would camp here for the night.  But we decided to as the area is pretty remote and we hadn’t seen a soul, plus there were no signs of any other vehicles having been on the track before us or during our stay.  So up went the tent in the conveniently sized parking bay and then we got food on the go.  Rongy had it all sorted and we soon had a pan full of pasta brimming with veggies and tuna:

It was a relatively early night.  In part due to Howsie forgetting the beer but also as there was no camp fire to sit round, that and we were all fairly smashed from our afternoon of cragging.  Next morning I lay awake for an hour before getting up at 6am to get the kettle on.  The bright moon of the night before had dipped below the horizon so it was dark when I crawled out of the tent.  The wind was howling overhead but at ground level it was calm.  It didn’t take long before the sky started to lighten up with mottled shades of blue, red and grey:

With a cuppa ready the boys were up, breakfast was made and we were soon thinking of getting ready for another morning of cragging.  The wind continued to howl on high making us wonder what it would be like up on the higher ground.  If yesterday was anything to go by it was not the day for shorts and t-shirts.  We were still at camp as the sun came up, and a mostly clear sky prevailed.  Again there didn’t seem to be a sense of urgency to get going, and we didn’t pick up the packs and hit the track until 7:30am:

After smashing out five routes yesterday we walked in full of confidence that we could do likewise on our second day.  I had already baggsed a particular route, and the way the morning would pan out was already forming in our heads.  We wandered up the incline through the jarrah trees keeping an eye out for anything unusual or interesting, again we didn’t see any birds but did stumble across quite a few mushrooms including this particular specimen that seemed to be covered in a sticky, gooey slime:

As we approached the rocky sections, where the trees started to thin out we saw our one and only creature other than ants.  Just past the shoe cleaning station a roo was quietly munching in the scrub, we wandered past not saying too much and only stopping a short while to watch it, hoping not to scare it off.  We had all admitted to feeling a bit sore and achy after yesterday, and the walk up the hill felt that bit harder today.  This is not unusually and once you get into it that feeling normally passes, so we walked on being hopeful:

As I said before the way we would access the crag was a little uncertain.  Much of the granite boulder was angled and water flowed down it creating wet slippery sections.  Some were vegetated but others just had that black slick look, and you knew to tread very carefully.  We stopped a few times to get our bearings and at one point the boys took the lower path, on steeper rock.  I didn’t like the look of it so took a higher path and became thwarted by crevice, after crevice, after crevice:

As it was we converged at the same time, they too had come across a few obstacles.  The light out east was really pretty and we stood for a while trying to make out the individual peaks of the Stirling Ranges.  While very hard to see in the image below we could just make out the vertical face of Bluff Knoll, at the far right hand side.  It was then time for the final push, we had to enter a large vegetated gully and needed to get through that to finally reach the top of the crag.  The walk in had been a bit more work than we excepted, but the sight that greeted us when we got there made it worthwhile:

The cover image of the mini-guide is of an amazing and very striking arête, the angle of the image in the guide really doesn’t give away just how spectacular it is.  Based on the image in the guide we were all keen to give it a bash and had talked how we might just pull the ropes so we could all lead it.  But standing there looking at it, the bravado of before was gone and the sheer prospect of tackling this intense 30m line certainly gave us a chill.  Before we could think too much more about it we had to find the anchors to get down:

The description of where the two carrot bolts are placed makes perfect sense, when you know where they are.  But they were so well camouflaged that it took us over quarter of an hour to find them.  The rap line was thrown down and we rapped in.  The mighty wall on the left of the image below is blank and steep, with only two lines one being the arête and the other only going part way up the face up a flake further to the left.  Another line goes up the wall that Rongy is rapping down and then there is the warm-up crack on the right face of that wall.  It all felt very steep and intimidating:

The guide says, and we completely agreed, that Caterpillar Crack was the obvious warm up climb.  And seeing it was my lead I wasn’t going to complain about jumping on what was by far the easiest line here.  We were in the sun but the wind hadn’t eased off and was hitting us full on, we had again come prepared and were all three rugged up even more than yesterday.  The start slab was fun, more crystal puling but at a gentle angle so as not to feel the holds biting into the skin.  This then led to the crack, which ended at deep water runnel in which the rap anchors were located:

The crack looked quite reasonable and felt it too.  Although there was one section that all three of us ended up jamming with hands and feet.  The crystals pushed into the back of my hands as I weighted the jam, luckily it was short lived and I was soon on more generous holds once more.  I have to say that I really enjoyed the gentle ramble, a nicely consistent climb with a couple of good exposed moves.  Steve I thought you would appreciate the pink tricam below.  While it was a perfect placement Howsie managed to find an even better placement on his lead:

We rapped back down, trying desperately to find the anchors on the line we were rapping down.  This was the route that I had so set my sights on, and the wall looked great.  But it was the same grade as the hardest route on the first day, so not one to start on.  We finally found three of the five bolts, and then gave up.  Looking at the guide again, this line like yesterday’s didn’t follow what seemed to be the natural path.  Instead the bolts took you rightwards to steeper and harder ground, which is probably why we missed those two bolts:

All the steepness and lack of obvious bolts had cemented Howsie’s mind.  He decided to head round to the east face where two more reasonable sounding lines awaited.  This meant scrambling round a slippery slab and rock hopping up large boulders to avoid the vegetation.  He and I had chatted about the one he choose before, and I had remarked that if the chimney had the same crystal formations it would make it quite possibly a little painful.  He had forgotten that conversation and started up the route anyway.  El Coño is described as having an “awkward wide section” at mid height and this seemed to have him stumped:

He soon got into the rhythm of the moves.  Being just wide enough, this section allowed you to more easily squirm your way up using traditional chimney techniques.  He popped out (above) and found a perch to sit in while he finally got some gear in.  His last piece was quite a long way below him, not that it would have been easy to fall off as you are wedged into the crack.  While this had taken some time to figure out the real fun was yet to come, described as a “squeeze chimney” and it was pretty well bang on.  None of us are particularly big, and all three of us only just managed to get into it:

As suspected the narrow cleft was all the more painful due to the course sides with its crystals poking out.  The chimney was so narrow it was hard to bend your legs and work your feet, and it was a case of squirming up inch by inch using the palms of your hands to press down, sideways or anyway that worked.  The friction of the rough walls made it hard to move upwards, but at least preventing you from falling out.  It was a great lead and Rongy and I, who have both climbed chimneys a fair bit more, both found this one to be less than comfortable and enjoyable.  I was knacked when I eventually topped out:

We scrambled back down and after that exhausting experience Rongy had already decided not to tackle the impressive mini-guide cover image arête.  Instead he plumped for the line just right of where Howsie had gone up.  While we were in the shade here we were at least protected from the wind that was still whistling through the trees tops.  The base of this side of the crag was more vegetated than the others we had been too, and we needed to tread carefully to avoid damaging any plants.  I kept my eyes peeled as I looked for different angles from which to capture the action:

Crystal Prophet starts up a fine looking flake, it looked juggy and fun.  I was some way up the hill and watching Rongy through the lens of my camera.  He made it look quite reasonable and I was looking forward to a fun bit of lay-backing up the flake.  He occasionally hid behind the system getting gear in and seemed very relaxed and at ease.  He placed a sling over the top the flake and was soon standing above it looking up at where the climbing got serious.  From here it steepened up and turned into a slab climb, and as there was no trad gear it had bolts:

Like Howsie’s route this line had fixed hangers, so at least you didn’t need to search out where the next bolt was.  His progress slowed down and I could almost hear him thinking his was up.  The hands would search round testing this crystal and that one, finally settling on the best one before working his feet up.  Tentatively testing each purchase before repeating the sequence.  It wasn’t until the final moves that he seemed to indicate that he was needing to make any effort, as he let out a big sigh and finally pulled himself over the top:

In theory it was my lead next so I tied in to go up second, so allowing me to have a rest before my lead.  As Howsie and I waited at the base we did the maths and it seemed that we would be pushing it to get another lead in and also leave at the time we had told our respective better half’s.  So we shouldered the gear aiming to take it up with us and then scramble back to the rap anchors, where we could make the final decision.  The flake that had looked so generous was far from it and you had to work hard, then above the slab it was thin and technical with small crystals that you had to bear down on.  It had certainly been a solid lead:

While I had felt good on my first lead, these two routes had certainly taken it out of me.  We broke the news to Rongy that we intended to head back to the packs and probably wouldn’t get another climb in.  I could feel him itching for one more route, but also accepting that it was not to be.  All the more reason for a return trip someday, there are still five lines for us to have a go at this crag, three of which are pretty stiff so we’ll need to make sure have our big boy pants on when we do come back.  As we were figuring out how to get to the packs we came across this impressive deep pool:

The aquatic plants looked established and the pool was teaming with tiny bivalves busily swimming round the clear water collecting what food they could find.  This pool was the deepest we found and we wondered what other life may be hiding in the thick plant growth.  In the background you can see the many crevices carved out of the granite dome.  As we worked out the best path back we managed to avoid most of the crevices, only needing to negotiate one large gully and one crevice which required a bit of climbing to get out of:

Back at the packs we were once again in the wind and didn’t fancy hanging about to long.  We checked the time and made the decision to head out.  As I pulled and coiled the rap line I took note of where the bolts were, just in case we do come back again.  Then joining the boys we sorted through and stuffed the gear into our bags.  It was once again time to figure out the way out, and I think we found the best way this time.  Hopefully we can remember that too next time, we only had to work our way through one large vegetated gully and the rest was all rock hopping:

Along the way we kept stopping to marvel at the rock architecture, above a relatively juvenile crevice was being formed.  Water was till flowing down this runnel from the deeper vegetated crevice above.  Below we kept spying fun looking jam cracks that looked inviting and would be worth coming back for.  Then there were the seemingly impossible balancing rocks, just waiting for that push to send them rolling down the hill.  The big question being how did they get into that position to start with:

Back at the car we didn’t hang about and set about breaking camp and throwing everything out of the car so we could go through it.  There was of course time for lunch and also to make a cuppa for the road.  We had previously agreed that the latest time to leave was 2pm and we made that with just 15min to spare.  There would have been no chance for another route but I’m not sorry about that.  Despite having high hopes of five more routes today we only got three lines in, what with the approaches and situation it had however felt like a big adventure.  Whereas the first day had felt more like we were cragging, it was a nice balance:

We were all pretty stuffed and it felt good to slump into the car seat.  Howsie was in charge of directions and we ended up going out a different way that was probably more efficient, but no less obvious that our approach had been.  Once we hit tarmac the cruise control went on.  When we packed the car we made sure our water bottles were full and there were plenty of munchies in the cab to keep us going, and we didn’t stop until one by one I dropped them off.  I finally left Bunbury as the last signs of the sun disappeared, the day was coming to an end just like our trip had: