ELO

I rolled into Howsie’s driveway at the agreed time, and he came out through the gate staring at me and the wet windscreen with an expectant look.  It had been dry for most of the morning, until an hour before I was due to head out.  Driving into Bunbury to pick him up it had been steadily raining and by now the roads were soaked.  He soon however got the message that we would still be heading up the hill.  There has been a few trips to Welly Dam for me recently, but in these unsettled conditions it is a very convenient spot to take a chance.  As we rolled into the empty carpark at a little while after midday the roads were already starting to dry and Mr Blue Sky was making every effort possible to find the cracks in the cloudy sky:

Howsie had come up here just yesterday with Nadia, Fergus and Frank.  Fergus was keen to try his new binoculars to spot some birds, but for the three quarter of an hour walk they had gone on it had rained.  They had popped into the quarry and every wall was soaking, which is one of the reasons Howsie had been wondering if I was still serious about going up.  I offered to take first lead and wanted to redeem myself on Raging Torrent, which I managed to do after my last efforts trying to follow Rongy up this line.  It was however this time, amongst a bunch of other climbs dry.  Then for the second route, Victim of Authority, Howsie found himself heading up towards Mr Blue Sky who had managed to dispel most of the clouds:

For my second route I had intended to have a bash at Flight Simulator, but the top was running with water and we both agreed it was a dumb idea.  So instead it was time to try Slay Away.  During the worse COVID period, for our area, I managed to pull a hold off the crux while top-rope soloing this route.  It was the first time I had been on it since, and I had to try the crux sections several times, each time I down climbed back to the same position which really doesn’t give you any rest.  With arms burning I managed to unlock a new sequence on the third attempt and then kept going.  Where possible I hung onto the bigger holds shaking out, in my mind thinking about how Rongy had done this during his great lead of T3 the week before:

Howsie also had to work the crux sequence.  Being that bit lankier than me he was able to miss out a move or two, but his arms still felt like they had been worked hard.  It was still his lead next and as he sat on the boulder trying to get the blood to flow through them and reduce the pump, all I could see were the dark clouds forming in the background.  Mr Blue Sky was being pushed to the background again, and the air temperature was starting to drop.  As he had come down from Slay Away I’d somehow managed to convince him to leave the draws on the top anchors, preplace all the draws and then pull the rope on Ear of Fear:

So with the clouds rolling in there was only one thing for it, jump back on the rock and get up that route.  It was again time to climb up and then back down at the crux, with his arms still tired from the previous route.  I’m glad to say he stuck the heady crux moves on the second go and then moved up with an increasing number of groans and sighs. A sure sign that he was getting more and more worn out.  He finally got to the top, later admitting to feeling like he was going to pop off the wall several times.  While he was very happy to be back down and rest his arms, there was no time to waste and he put me on belay, as Mr Blue Sky was showing no sign of working his magic.  As I got to the top the rain came in:

You’d think that was it for our quick dash up the hill, but after we had crammed everything in the car ready to head out Mr Blue Sky was forcing his way back to us.  The clouds broke and so we pulled out the essential gear and headed to Murky Corner.  Each time the sun had hit this corner we had looked over and the water running down made it look really pretty.  For some reason it had been calling out to be climbed since we got there.  So I found myself tip-toeing up from dry patch to dry patch, occasionally needing to trust a wet hold.  Half way up the seepage started to concentrate and veered off to the right, and above it was nothing but beautiful sunbathed dry rock:

It felt only right to jump on one last quick route, so I pointed Howsie to Old School.  Like Rongy and Andrew last week he also wasn’t sure if he had ever climbed it, which again surprised me.  He started up the slab in glorious sun but the clouds were again rolling towards us, blotting out Mr Blue Sky once again.  Howsie relished the route and was very pleased to have squeezed in just one more lead.  I quickly followed up and as we stuffed the gear in the car just in time before the rain again started to fall.  This time it poured down and there were no breaks in sight, so we rolled out leaving the empty carpark as we had found it: