During the week Tomski hinted that after this weekend he may be leaving the south west and heading up to Perth, soon after intending to fly home to Israel. For that reason, and seeing it was a long weekend, I suggested that we could head out this morning despite also heading out on Monday for a climb. Not surprisingly he was keen as mustard, and so for something different I suggested Castle Rock. My rationale being that the three day weekend would encourage the Perth crew to descend on us, resulting in the more popular spots being busy, but not here:
I let Jaime know of our plans, and she was also jumping for joy to hear of another rock excursion. We almost had to call it off when the Perth and Peel regions went into a snap three day lockdown. Many suggest that we should also have had the same, as all that happened was hordes of the city folk heading down to us before the lockdown came into effect on Friday night. As the days are getting shorter, with autumn building up momentum, we arranged to meet at 7am at the carpark. This allowed both of them a relaxed and lazy start today as they live just a few kilometres from this spot:
Even with what may seem like such a late start we still managed to watch the sunrise as we walked to Castle Rock. Above I continued to enjoy the spectacle after climbing the first route, as sitting on top of Castle Rock allowed me a magnificent 360 degree view. Meanwhile, below Tomski was following up Smear to Glory and I was torn as to whether to watch the light show or him. It was bit of a stiff first climb for the day with a tricky crux move that requires full trust in smooth vertical footholds. Your feet can slide off these at any time if you don’t pay careful attention, and both Tomski and Jaime’s feet did just that:
Despite the slippery start they both enjoyed the climb and we were soon back down ready for number two. Pursuits is Lou’s favourite climb and I had told her of our plans to be here. Sadly, she was to travel to Perth. Thinking about that now, as I type, I wonder if she ended up going what with the lockdown and if not whether she could have joined us? This time as I belayed from atop the sun was above the remaining clouds that were floating on the distant horizon, casting shadows across the landscape. The occasional runner using the coastal track came past but other than that where we were it was pretty quiet:
This is one of the original routes at this place, none of which have been claimed by anyone so it is unclear when they were established. It was graded 17, whereas when Craig and I established Smear to Glory in 2015 we graded it 15. This one presented both Tomski and Jaime with far less problems, so something is definitely amiss. After each route I asked them what grade they thought the climbs were, and the consensus was that the first two climbs should at least be on equal standing. I would hazard a guess that the first line is slightly harder:
As we enjoyed the relative peace of playing about on Castle Rock, the beach and nearby rocky coastline was teaming with people. Many had arrived before us, eagerly hoping to be lucky enough to be here as the great salmon run occurs. Rods were abound, off the rocks and beach and also from boats and jet skis. As we climbed a couple also came along and set themselves up near us. But in the whole time we were there we never heard or saw any signs of jubilation, which indicated that the salmon didn’t run past here today:
The next route on the agenda was Minty Freshness, which is how the air smelt when Howsie and I put this one up. The guide, or more correctly we gave it a grade of 16, so you might think it would have been a good route for Jaime and Tomski. It’s one I can safely say “always” makes me struggle. Steep, being off vertical, with rounded holds, nowhere to rest and a big move to get out of the flake system that protects the lower half. Jaime loved the initial start where she could wedge herself in, but after that it was a struggle and her arms were soon complaining:
Tomski then gave it a red hot go, getting all the way to the place where the big move is required. And it ended up being too big a move, despite him trying again, and again, and again. So began the great grade debate, by far it was the harder of the first three routes. Most people I send up it get a shock, and looking back through images I have similar ones like this one of numerous people flailing about including, Steve, Glen, Lou and Howsie at this stage. It is pretty hard to read the route and the holds are pretty average, so perhaps this one is a true sandbag:
Despite having arms calling out for a rest we marched onwards. Next was Stepping Up another original route of the crag and again graded 17. This one is a slab with small sharp holds ready to slice your fingers. Being a slab it was not a case of climbing with your arms, but balancing your way up on small fingertip and toe holds. While it is not a sustained route, with the crux definitely being the sequence to get up the bottom third, 17 may be reasonable based on the hardest move. While Tomski got very close to cracking the crux sequence it was his fingertips that finally told him to stop:
Castle Rock only has a handful of routes but they are really varied in style and also rock formations. Today Tomski and Jaime were getting a crash course of this on cracks, flakes and slabs and despite arms starting to pump and fingertips getting close to having broken skin we went for one more route. The easiest of the day, Cornflakes, coming in at grade 12. It was a nice way to finish off, with all three of us successfully getting up the route leaving a sense of satisfaction of another fun and enjoyable session:
So what should the grades of these five lines really be? I guess that would depend on who climbs them and even then each route requires a different approach and style. So it is hard to grade routes fairly when they are not climbed by lots of people or you have a preference for one style over another. For me slabs and technical climbing is easier than overhangs and rounded holds, for others it is the other way round. So while we did discuss the grades at the end of the day the tyranny of numbers, created by a grading system that comprises a single number, will no doubt never be truly and fairly be resolved at Castle Rock:
Sandbagged 