I should start this with a happy birthday to Andrew! He put out a post to say he was heading up to Welly Dam for a climb and BBQ on his birthday and he managed to bag a magical day. Being his birthday he suggested a 9am start time, which was pretty sensible as even at that time as I rolled into the carpark it was only 4 degrees. No one else was about so I took a stroll to check out the dam from a few angles that I have not before looked at it. The reservoir stretches out for miles, in fact Wellington Dam is the largest dam in the South West and the second largest in Western Australia:
Built way back in 1932 the aim was to create jobs both in building it and then supplying water for agricultural land on the coastal plain. Being fed by the massive catchment of the Collie River it has in more recent times fallen foul of the release of salt from the upstream catchment that feed it. This is a result of the upstream agriculture, it is a bit ironic that the water supply for agriculture is being tarnished by the activity of agriculture. While this mighty reservoir with a capacity of 186,000 gigalitre (almost 75,000 Olympic sized swimming pools) is turning salty, the same could not be said for Andrew. After all today was his birthday:
The gathering was not just about the climbing but also a social, and as such Andrew soon appeared with Lachy and Rhianna closely followed by Rongy and Alana. The last time I was here happened to be with Rongy, and the walls were all dripping wet. Today while many parts looked similarly soaked there was a lot more dry rock than last time opening up more options. Despite that and due to the big walls being in the shade and cold we opted to play on the carpark slabs in the warm sun. These don’t offer lots of routes but enough to have a bit of fun:
Rongy started on Irish Stew a mixed route with one bolt and a horizontal break in which you would normally place a bit of trad gear. As it was we didn’t have any trad gear with us, so he climbed the last few meters with extra care and caution so as not to risk the ground fall. As we climbed here the non-climbers found comfy perches on the rocks to the side of the slab. Content to sit in the warm sun with their books and technology. After Irish Stew it was time for Old School, which I was staggered to hear that neither Andrew nor Rongy could recall ever climbing:
When Kym and I marked the bolts they were placed to allow two routes to be created. The tricky and thin slab to the left called B Young, and the arête to the right which is what we climbed. I did offer the lead up to the other two seeing they hadn’t done it before, but they both declined. It’s a great line if you only use the arête for hand holds keeping your feet on the main face. It is unfortunately all too easy to escape to the right, which makes it way too easy. Seeing it was Andrew’s birthday we did allow him to have a rest by doing this, but I refused to allow him to not complete the sequence up the wall itself. Each time he slipped off I would lower him back down, much to his disgust. He did to his credit finally link all the moves:
Mark turned up just as we were finishing off on the little slab. Rongy and Mark had not met before, which is true for many people on our SW climbers WhatsApp group despite the group having been going for a good number of years now. After a quick and customary socially distanced introduction Mark jumped on the end of the rope and caught up with our tally by climbing up a couple of lines up the slab. As he was on the second climb Steve drove in with Leanne, but we had already decided it was time to brave the cold and Rongy and Andrew had already made their way over into the darkness:
Andrew was belaying Rongy up Pocket Knife, a climb we had considered on the last trip here but it was running with water. The route is a reasonable grade that the others could sensibly have a crack at. When Mark and I joined them in the cold we plumped for A Walk in Central Park, right next to the others so we could keep the social banter going. While it was colder than being in the sun, it wasn’t too bad and the rock also felt reasonable to touch. We weren’t alone today and a crew of four other climbers had turned up, somehow we had all managed to congregate in the same area but the chit chat between the two groups was limited once we were done with our two lines we moved on:
Steve decided that he too wanted to enjoy a bit of rock in the sun, and Andrew and Mark were quick to say they liked the idea. So they set off back into the light in search of The Crack, which would allow Steve to play with his tricams. Rongy and I stayed in the shadows, while in the background we could hear the cowbell sound as Steve’s gear jangled about on his harness. It getting close to midday and there were now lots of people milling about. Not really surprising as it is the school holidays and it was a glorious sunny day to be outside. Most of the tourists were not watching Steve in the sun, but Rongy who was completely oblivious to all this attention:
He was having a bash at T3, a wicked climb that despite one ledge low down is sustained, long and technical. A tough proposition and one we do not jump on too often, which is a shame as it really is very good. I should have given this route a three star classic status in the guidebook, it only got two. Rongy took his time, hanging on the holds regularly shaking out, as the steepness of the route slowly depleted his energy levels. Eventually he made it to the top anchors with Popeye forearms and better still without a slip or fall. I managed to get up the route with the rope above me but not without several rests, one for me to come back to another day:
For Rongy and I it was then time to put the climbing gear away, and he set up camp with Alana next to Kaylenn and his family. In the background Andrew could be seen still at the top of the carpark slab and there seemed to be quite a queue of people wanting to have a go at The Crack. It was good to see Lachy climb it well, Rhianna however opted out climbing is not her thing. There were also others gathered round that I didn’t recognise, and it transpired that Steve had did what he has done before. Got talking to passing tourists and offered them a top rope so they could give climbing a go. This is all well and good but I could see Andrew like the reservoir of Welly Dam starting to get salty:
He was not getting salty in the way the slang version means, but as he was perched in direct sun with no shade or hat he was certainly looking pretty hot . It was by now a lovely 17 degrees with not a breeze in the still air. In these conditions the quarry can become a bit of a heat trap. I had only ever intended to stay a couple of hours, in view of having been out yesterday, but it was so relaxed and lovely today that my stay extended out to three and half hours. I did however now need to make tracks, so went up to wish Andrew a wonderful birthday and left him there in this sweaty state. As I drove out I was quietly hoping that his belaying duties would soon be over so he could enjoy the grub that was starting to be cooked below:
Sandbagged 