Friday heralded the day that I, along with approx. 180,000 other people in Australia, completed the 25 day push-up challenge. I was encouraged by Pat, a work colleague, to join the movement. I had not trained for it and the only exercise I’d been doing was my weekend climbs, so it certainly took a toll on my body. It also started to aggravate a few old injuries such as my shoulder and elbow, but it was for a good cause to raise funds for and awareness of mental health plus I’m a stubborn sort of person who wants to finish something they start. Needless to say I was after a bit of a relaxing climb this weekend:
Since my trip with Mario to Moses, he hadn’t been on rock again but by all accounts his knee had held up well after Moses. However, something had tweaked in his knee, non-climbing related, so he hadn’t climbed indoors more than once. He has that rock bug like me so this didn’t put him off and he was still keen to get out, and this time I drove to his patch for something a little different. Mount Cuthbert is a place Howsie and I planned to visit July 2017 when the weather thwarted us and we instead had fun at Dreaming Frog (https://sandbagged.blog/2017/07/09/bad-ethics/), and Cuthbert was left waiting:
This morning I left home at a very respectable 6am. Even though it was a two and half hour drive for me, being 200km away, I felt that meeting at 8:30 was reasonable. After all it is winter. It was in the last half hour of my journey that the temperature dropped to 1.5 degrees, and the grass in the paddock I passed was white with frost, justifying the late start. I pulled off the Albany Highway behind Mario only 5min after he had arrived, and I’m pleased to say it was a bit warmer but not a lot. We drove a little further to cut out half of the walk and parked up, shoulder the bags, and set off:
The walk started gently through the forest and I was distracted by stunning large sundews, made all the more pretty by droplets of water on their deadly (for insects) sticky tentacles, and fungi pushing through the leaf litter. Then the track started upwards toward the lofty peak of Mount Cuthbert and it continued like that for what felt like ages. Our legs were burning and it felt like a real slog, fair to say this indicated that neither of us have great cardio fitness at the moment. The slabs we were heading for were on the other side of the peak, so we had to go all the way up and over:
Mario hadn’t climbed here for six years and even then climbed the boulders at the top of the peak, so his memory of how to get to the slab which was out destination was just a little hazy. This resulted in us taking a lightly longer than necessary path, but we only found that out as when we headed back. It felt great to take the pack off, and we left them with all the food and water at the top of the slabs anchored into one of the many deep cracks. All the ropes, gear, shoes and extra clothing followed us down to base camp, from where we checked out what was on offer:
As with any new area it is worth starting gently, so I plumped for Fuzzy Bear. The main reason being the name seemed to be loosely related to the Muppets, although Fozzie Bear may not be too impressed with me saying that. It was also one of the more recently established climbs, and as such had more bolts than many of the others. One of the fixed hangers, as you can see above, had at some point fallen off. Not very reassuring, but at least they weren’t bashed in carrots like those at Boomer Crag last weekend (https://sandbagged.blog/2021/06/19/the-george-michael-effect/). Plus the route was a mild grade 14 so nothing too hard:
The east facing nature of this wall was perfect for today, the cold crisp start to that day would have had even more of an impact on our ability had this face been in the shade. The rock felt a little damp, or was it just the cold, on the first line. What with needing to rely so heavily on friction when slab climbing, as shown above, that really isn’t a good thing. However, after the first line it certainly felt much better. Our backdrop for the day comprised endless forest stretching out beyond the few sparse trees behind us, with an understorey of prehistoric cycad plants and grass trees. Bliss:
This place is miles from anywhere, and the only other signs of human life we came across was a faint sound of music. I guessed it was coming from a vehicle that was probably driving along one of the many tracks that criss-crossed through the expansive forest below us. That was only noticeable for a fleeting moment and Mario, who was focused on holding onto not much, hadn’t even heard it. That said we did come across three bits of rubbish during the day, which Mario stashed in his pack and took out. For me only three pieces is a sign that not many people come out here:
This granite monolith doesn’t have many features, so most of the routes here are fully bolted. Some of the these routes date back to 1990 and the ethics of bolting have changed considerably over time. Above Mario has just reached the first bolt on one of the many routes here that are R rated. An R rating means that it is sparsely protected and as such care is required. One line here that stretched 35m only had two bolts with no trad gear options, and was described as “good head training for confident slab climbers”:
Despite what some would call suicidal runouts, I was very tempted with the route with only two bolts but we didn’t get round to it. In fact I’ve been rambling on, while passing image after image of Mario and I bagging routes making no mention of them. Some lines such as this one topped out, and we had to rap back down but others have lower-offs below the large rock step that Mario had to negotiate on this route. You may notice his favourite piece of gear (https://sandbagged.blog/2021/06/07/totally-absorbed/) that he struggled to find a placement for it so he left it hanging on a bolt for me to haul up:
The rock step is formed by a monstrous flake that is perched like an onion skin, held on by friction alone. The cracks in which we had secured the bags and continuous crack underneath them were proof enough that these humongous hunks of rock were not attached. If you look back a few images you’ll see where one huge chunk ended up, and you’d be extremely unlucky to be here if another one like that ever slid down. I guess you could be a bit concerned about some other smaller flakes, like the one above, about but nothing we touched felt loose. After having a drink we decided it was too early for lunch, so back down we went:
During the morning we had climbed Fuzzy Bear (14, 50m), Hanger High (16, 25m), Morning Glory (16R, 25m) and Sliders (16, 36m). So when we came back down we decided it was time to bump up the grade. First up I hit the crag classic Quiver (18, 45m). It is supposed to be a heady climb with only four bolts but never felt too bad. Now maybe I have climbed too many classics in too many places, but this one didn’t shine for me. That is however not a reflection on the area and several of routes we did today were real standouts and I’d definitely come back here (hint, hint Howsie):
In fact the next four lines were all very, very good. Mario was the first to don the trad gear as he set off up The Drain (20R, 37m). This was very worthy of at least two stars but gets none in the guide. It provided completely contrasting climbing to the slabs, following a very strange feature that has small holds, layaways and bridging on smears. He worked hard on this route and I could tell he was close to his limit so stood underneath him in a prickly bush, as he climbed. It was on this route that a new favourite piece came to light, and we went from the big no.4 cam to his smallest of cams the C3 000:
Some routes had a bit of trad on them, but not many, and this tiny cam got used three times today. I was a little unsure after watching how much Mario had to work on this route. He did a lot of talking as he went up and admitted afterwards that was a trait of his when he got nervous. So I decided to second the route, which I soon regretted as it was a gem. But I made up for it by then jumping on Slipway (20, 30m), another mixed route starting on a fun trad crack and finishing up a super slick section of the slab. The image above shows just how slick it was and it seriously made me focus, and I nearly came off several times:
Mario, like me on his route, decided to have the safety of the rope above him. When he came back down he admitted to be tiring. It was his lead but he didn’t look overly keen with what he had in mind, so I jumped at the chance to lead Speeding Chicken (20 30m) if only for the name. This one was slab start to finish so no trad, and again very good. Despite being given same grade as the previous route I ran up it, either my slab head was in gear or it was easier. Whichever it may have been the result being that the way I climbed it encouraged Mario to have a bash on lead. And this time I didn’t stand underneath him so I could get a good backdrop in the images:
By now the sun was dipping lower and the shadows were growing longer. We were both starting to feel a little weary, maybe a result of all the climbing? Or was it the lack of not stopping for lunch, which we really had all intent of doing. Being at the base of the crag we needed to jump on one more line, and Mario already had in mind what it would be. There are a few grade 14s at the left-hand end of the wall and all bar one are R rated. I had bagged the non-R rated route at the start and the other one that stood out was Spaced Out (14R, 42m). Mainly because it had the most numbers of bolts, at three:
The first bolt was a few meters above where Mario is shown in the image below. With very committing moves to get up to it we wondered what was going through the heads of the people who bolted this line. Fortunately that trusty C3 000 cam slotted in nicely below to provide a bit more security, but after that there was no more trad gear on offer so he was at the mercy of the spaced bolts and his ability. It was a slow ascent, his mind like his body starting to become more and more weary. However, slow and steady wins the race and he made it without a fall:
I hauled the gear and clothing we had taken to base camp, as I followed up. It weighed heavy on my shoulders and changed my centre of gravity sufficiently for me to have to focus a lot harder that I thought I would. It was a great line, sustained, varied and interesting but poorly protected. Definitely not one I would suggest for a budding grade 14 leader! If you recall we then had to walk to the top of Mount Cuthbert, so rather than settle down to rest we carried all the gear up a 100m plus of slab, with calves burning and chests heaving:
Only then did we sit down to sort the gear, take a well-deserved drink of water and eat our long overdue lunch. What a stonking day it had been, but whether it was the relaxing climb my body needed I’m not sure. It also made me wonder if I’m going to be able to keep up with Mario, as he recovers and gains full strength in his knee and gets his old leading head back. For now however ahead of us lay a half our walk back to the car, and this time we found the right goat track off the peak of Mount Cuthbert. A well-marked and defined path:
It was a steep decline before we hit the flat wide valley floor and were engulfed by the trees. As we walked on the flat I once again got distracted by the things that many people pass by. It was surprising how many flowers were in bloom, and there was plenty to see, but we also need to get back to the cars so I had to resist the urge to spend too long looking about. We kept remarking that the path looked so obvious, so how did we miss it on the way in? That was until the last section when it seemed to peter out, when thankfully we had phone reception and Google maps helped us out:
On the last section we came across this plant, which intrigued us. Howsie, if you recognise it let us know. We didn’t hang about once we got to the cars, with a long drive ahead we said our goodbyes and went on our way. Eventually, 12 hours and 400km after leaving home, I got back just as the last light was leaving the sky. For once I didn’t jump on the computer to sort the images and get typing, it could wait a day and instead I caught up and chilled out with Lisa. This morning it was blowing a hooley, which woke me up and my mind started to form the sentences for this ditty. So unable to get back to sleep I was up and at it from 4am:
Sandbagged 