After missing out on our recent trip to Bobs Hollow, Howsie was keen to get out this weekend to get back into it with thoughts on maybe hitting one or two grade 21s. With that in mind we headed to the Northern Blocks of Wilyabrup, which has four grade 21s. Two I’ve led, one I decided to abort while leading it resulting in a new route being established and the last I’ve never bothered with, as it leads you to a dead end and it’s a pain to then have to retrieve your gear. Already conscious that Howsie has not been out much I wondered how things would go:
There are a few lower grade routes here, but the real charm of the area are the longer routes that are graded 18 upwards. I was a little surprised to hear that Howsie had never led any of the longer lines here, and as such I offered him the rope on the first warm-up route. Corpus Delecti is a great fully trad line, but the final flake can be unnerving being a tad difficult to protect and also feeling super exposed. While I’ve led it numerous times before I have also been known to backed off it:
Howsie wandered up with great ease or so it looked from below, when I was actually watching. He indicated that he could feel his arms starting to pump out on the final flake, but just stayed calm and got on with it. That and the fact that he hadn’t led any of these routes resulted in me offering him the rope for a second lead. To the right of us the large roof, which Jug Abuse goes up, still didn’t look inviting to me. I was kinda pleased when Howsie didn’t seem to be drawn to this line either:
After scoping what was on offer he picked what I regard as one of the classics, which is saying something as nearly all of the routes here are gems. As Howsie went up again, and like before, I kept a watchful eye out for any signs of dolphins and of course held the rope. Use No SLCDs has a bit of everything on it, which is part why I like it so much. A steep start leads to a particular fun jamming crack followed by great steep face climbing that is hard to read. The only thing missing were the dolphins:
With two very fine routes under his belt it was time to decide whether he needed to get down to business, so once again I offered the rope. After leading all the routes last weekend I was more than happy to take a back seat and allow Howsie to enjoy the leads. We wandered round the corner to where two more 21s, of Green Stone and Power Your Mind are located. The first being super feisty and a bit run out and the second being the one I previously attempted and aborted half way up. Howsie looked at Green Stone and it stared back at him with an intimidating attitude, so he decided not today:
He did however like the look of Power Your Mind. Without the great ocean views I kept a watchful eye for anything unusual, of course while also diligently holding the rope. It may not seem all that exciting I did spot the above fly, one that I have ever seen before. It’s a Snail Parasitic Blowfly, and as the name suggests their larvae are known to be parasites to snails. As I observed the butterflies and flies, Howsie had already made his decision. Halfway up and after looking at the steep blank wall of Power Your Mind, like me 9 years before almost to the day, he decided that the natural line to the left was more appealing:
He was obviously tiring as he ascended this line, which I called Trust Your Instincts. It is steeper than the grade 21, but offers better holds and more gear so I gave it a grade that is a couple of notches lower. After making the decision to enjoy the natural line Howsie made his way to the start of the steep overhung blocks, where it took him a while to muster up the faith to go for it. As he was getting close to the end I saw him stutter, and his gear was some way below. Fortunately and with great relief he somehow kept his balance and made the final moves:
It was clear that he needed a break, which in his words meant dialling back the grades or me taking the lead so he could second a route. Having pre-empted this situation I was already prepared with my decision, which saw us heading back down the main wall to pick off the obvious route. The start is guarded by a slightly off vertical undercling flake, making for powerful moves before great technical and fingery climbing. Just my style and I was soon atop and as I was belaying Howsie up I was again looking out for dolphins:
Not a dolphin in sight, and I was now preparing myself to have one of those rare trips to the coast when I didn’t see them. Meanwhile Howsie was following up, very pleased to have a rope above him. Loving the line of Digital Delecti but looking super focused, the holds start to round off as you get higher. But he managed to find enough strength to hold on and work the final moves. Once standing next to me on top of the cliff, he claimed that it hadn’t quite been the break that he had been hoping for:
So to give him a break I pulled up the rap line and coiled it, suggesting we move across to the shorter lines on The Terrace. My intentions were immediately obvious, being to scope the fourth grade 21 in the area. To allow an inspection I even placed the rap rope right down line, giving Howsie the opportunity to check it out in detail and hopefully get sucked in. As he came down I could hear mumblings, and then as he came over the lower roof he let out a groan and something about that looking hard:
Despite these words, my cunning plan looked to have worked and he was soon giving it a go. This in my mind is the best 21 of the four here. It has more consistent and sustained climbing and being a fully sport route seems to be more reasonably protected. He got past the tricky start and the roof didn’t give him as much grief as he thought it might, but when he reached the second smaller overlap (below) his arms were really feeling it. As a result he took not one, but three decent whippers before he managed to figure out the moves and pull them off:
Despite feeling completed gassed and having battled for over half an hour on the route Howsie was sporting an ear to ear grin. Not surprising, while we hadn’t seen any dolphins he was rewarded with having got up Bearded Dolphin, which after all the climbing we had already done was a great achievement. We were not however quite done. It seemed rude to come here and not climb Banana Split, one of the original routes here that is nearing 50 years old and is a classic trad line. Howsie did however make it clear that it was my lead, which I was more than happy to take:
While we may not have bagged more 21s today, it didn’t stress Howsie and I get the feeling that his 2021 challenge will not be pursued with the same level of rigour as his 2020 challenge. I personally feel that is a good thing, and maybe just attempting one grade 21 on each trip out is enough. Today certainly had been great and every line was a winner. To top the morning off, as we trudged out with weary arms and legs, we came across a sand monitor. As we carefully took a wide berth round it, it just sat there allowing us to get a good look at it before we carried on back to the car:
Sandbagged 