The house-elves

Similar to Saturday morning, as I drive out of Peppy Beach the sky was thick and soupy.  At times visibility on the road was down to mere meters.  This soon cleared, as continued my journey inland, and above the mist first light was creeping into the sky.  This morning I felt like I could have snuggled under the duvet and gone back to sleep, but it is sights like this that make early starts so rewarding.  It was the third and last day of our long weekend, and I had organised a social climb up at Welly Dam:

Welly Dam sits in a bowl in the landscape high up on the scarp, and as such the weather can sit here for ages.  Driving up the scarp it was clear and bright, but as I approached my destination the fog crept back in.  Tomski was rolling into the carpark, followed like a convoy by myself and then Alan and Jaime.  Today was likely to be Tomski’s last climb in Australia if everything goes to plan, which includes him selling his van and then getting a flight home.  That however remains to be seen, as some of the lock down restriction in Perth will continue into next week:

We set about climbing, conscious that some would need a gentle introduction to the place.  The obvious line was the traditional warm up climb.  I suspected that the rock would feel damp or smeary due to the fog hanging heavy in the air.  But it wasn’t and the conditions were really good.  You could say that this would provide Tomski, on his first experience of Welly Dam climbing, no reason to not get up the warm up climb.  However, this place has a reputation for good reason and the first moves of the deck proved that once more:

Steve was next to turn up, followed by Hana then Andrew and Michelle.  So being the only person leading, so I made use of the ropes available and popped a rope up on Pocket Knife for them to play on.  Tomski had a bash and scared the life out of me as he fell off holding his arm in a position that made it look like he dislocated his shoulder.  I’m glad to report that wasn’t the case but an old injury came back to haunt him, so he rested up and did a heap of stretching before trying anything else.  Hana, also new to this place, soon realised it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park:

It was a bit of a downer seeing it was Tomski’s last trip out, but as he rightly pointed out at least it happened during the last trip out and not one before then.  I went on to pop the next rope up on Murky Corner, which seemed the obvious easier line for people to try.  Michelle has not climbed before so it was the ideal route to try, in comparison to everything else this place has on offer.  About now Craig rolled in with the big bus and out jumped Henry and Charlie, and they were soon followed by their friends whose names escape me:

As the crew got bigger and the fog slowly lifted we started to spread from one corner to the other.  Steve after two successful climbs including a lead on Murky Corner was keen to jump on Savage Sausage Sniffer, so I obliged and went up that.  Steve took his time and rested where the route allowed, needing to get his forearms to relax.  And managed a clean ascent which was great work.  Alan also had a bash but the last two days had left him feeling weary.  Howsie and Mikey were next to pull into the carpark with their four boys in tow, and it looked like we have finally managed a social gathering again:

I’ve been attempting to get the crew interested since Christmas but it just hasn’t happened, so today it was great to see a happy mob out climbing a bit, chatting a bit and of course belaying a lot.  There was a lot of watching, helping and encouraging for the big people, a number of whom including Tomski and Hana were being introduced to the deceptive climbing to be had here for the first time.   And others who have only had a few experiences here, such as Jaime.  The more knowledgeable people pointed out the hidden holds to make their first experiences that bit more successful:

The ropes continued to go up as I took Steve up BBQ.  Mikey and Howsie also managed to sneak in a couple of leads, including Shock Therapy, as their boys mingled with the other kids about.  It seemed at one point that the big people were all down one end and the little people at the other.  I often found myself in no-man’s-lands in between on the taller walls, as I provided the more seasoned climbers such as Alan and Steve a few alternative challenges.  We then drifted back to where we started and jumped on A Walk in Central Park:

As the morning wore on it was surprising, or maybe not considering the lock-down in the metro areas, at how few tourists drifted in.  Also surprising was that the fog started to come back in, that said there seemed to be just a slight smell of smoke in the air too.  No doubt the result of controlled burns being carried out.  As midday came and went and more tourists rocked up, arms started to tire and the climbing activity slowed down till there were only a handful of people still keen and able.  The last climb to be bagged was by Mikey who discovered why you shouldn’t try Silverback when the sun is on it:

As the climbing activity had been slowing down Craig and Andrew had been busy cooking up the snags and there was a mountain of food laid out on the picnic table.  I hadn’t really taken much notice of what they were up to, similar to a few others, so it seemed like a scene out of Harry Potter when the table is suddenly and magically filled with food, just when you want and need it.  The timing couldn’t have been better, so a big thank you to the house-elves and apologies if there were others involved that I didn’t mention:

After three days of climbing and snorkelling I was getting pretty tired and home was calling me.  I was the first to leave and left everyone to enjoy the feast and party on, heading down the hill past the dam wall.  The parks management had no doubt expected throngs to turn out, eager to see the huge mural.  For the first time I have seen traffic lights were in place to control the cars crossing the bridge in front of the dam and mural.  I’d lasted six hours at the social gathering and some will recognise that is good going for me.  As I said my goodbyes I’d also wished Tomski well on the next part of his journey: