With one day left before Lisa and I head back to work, after a great relaxing two weeks off, Craig and I headed out for a climb. I groaned a bit when he suggested a 5:30 pickup time at his house, and dreading the drive out in the dark I was a little surprised that it was already light when I got up. The sun was well and truly up when we rolled into the carpark, and I can foresee the start times only getting earlier and earlier for the next few months:
Both Craig and I had managed about five hours sleep the night before, so we were both a bit slow to start and spent time walking up and down the crag trying to decide what we should climb. It was going to be one of those days when the brain doesn’t want to make any decisions, and just have someone else make them for us. Problem was we were both wanting that. In fact I was feeling so lazy that I didn’t take any images of us climbing, and the camera only came out four times:
The first was the carpark shot because the sunlight streaming through the trees looked so cool and the second was as Craig was getting ready to lead his first route, and only then because we spotted a couple of whales cruising past. Due to the lack of images of the day I have gone through my archives and thrown a few images in that I feel show the experience that each of our chosen routes provided. I started on Golden Buttress and above Rongy is making the nervous moves up the super exposed hanging arête, with the closest gear well below his feet:
It was a muggy start to the day, and that combined with the lack of sleep made the route feel harder than it should have. I was dripping in sweat at the top, wondering how the rest of the session would go. Before we headed back down we looked out at just the right time to spot a big pod of dolphins, some thirty plus, surfing in on the clean and clear waves in great numbers. They jumped out the waves and waited for the next wave, next wave and next wave. It was a great spectacle but sadly my camera was at the base of the crag still in my pack:
Finally after stopping at the top of my route and then at the bottom of Craig’s, he jumped on Hitching. Trad was the order of the day and we were after routes that gave that real trad style climbing. This one has a great technical and thin runout section, which Steve is showing us above how to avoid. Craig however likes these situations and kept a cool head sticking to the arête. As he was setting up his belay the camera came out for the third time, to try and get a good shot of the Bull Ants carry our materials from a new nest they were building:
When Craig and I were organising this trip I hinted that either Willyabrup or Moses would be good. But then suggested that maybe Mob Job was calling us, which Kym is climbing below. When we first arrived we inspected it and it was looking wet. But a plan is a plan, and despite feeling tired I jumped on lead. This three dimensional climb requires muscles that some will have forgotten exist. It was a huge battle and felt pretty sketchy in places. Digging deep I managed a clean ascent, finishing with Popeye forearms that were complaining intensely:
Craig led up the second pitch, of which I have no images of anyone climbing it other than Craig from earlier this year. So instead we will jump to the fifth route of the day, which Dan is displaying below. This is starting to sounds like a swimwear ad! I’m not sure what possessed me to climb Stainless Steel, however I suspect it may have been Craig hinting that he really enjoys this climb as we were walking in. Again it was a slow plod with ever tiring arms on a steep technical line that never seems to relent. I’m not really sure how I held on for the entire route:
Below the final capping roof I was nervous, it used to stump me. As I launched up it the first holds felt good and I just kept talking to myself that I have previously and can climb it cleanly, and this seemed to work. Craig was toast after that climb. I had hinted he should finish on Verbosity, to which I can hear those that know the climb groan. But he decided to be sensible and instead we climbed out up Hope, with our packs. A less mentally demanding climb, but one that is consistent and fun. Craig managed a safe ascent but like me was done for the day:
The camera came out for the fourth and final time as we packed up, below. We could feel the bite of the sun and it felt hot on the walk out, however we were not lucky enough to come across any Carpet Pythons on Hope today. This was fine as we were content with the surfing dolphins and whales we had seen. Car to car we were out for six hours, so we really had taken our time to bag what I would regard as six great trad pitches. We hadn’t even stopped to drink a cuppa during the session, but did fill the cups up for the walk out:
Sandbagged 