Another not so early start, and that can only mean I was climbing with Dan today. The sun was well and truly up as I drove to Capel to meet him. But to be fair, for me it is a short ten minute drive, while for Dan it is close to three quarters of an hour. We had already decided that today was a good day for Wilyabrup, a week of sun was hopefully enough to dry the steep hand-jamming crack of Blondes Have More fun. A thrutchy climb that starts up an overhung crack, which for some reason Dan would like to have a crack at:
I too had my eye on a route. English Ethics, and in true British trad style it is sketchy and serious and of course should only be climbed ground up so you don’t know what to expect. I’ve not had the gumption to lead it to date, having had several false starts on it over the years and always backing off due to lack of gear. But with some serious trad leads at Smiths under my belt from recent trips there, I felt better prepared. The question is who had the more crazy idea of what fun is. But as is sensible we started on something very much within our abilities to warm up on:
Jaime also joined us this morning. And the three of us wandered back down in full sun, after enjoying the more relaxed delights of an easy start to the days fun. Despite it being a stunning day, a long weekend and a late start we were still the first people at the crag. And as the day wore on, and we were there till well after midday, only two others climbers turned up. There was of course the usual “wandering out yonder” tourists, who probably would never have come here if they were allowed to travel more freely out of Western Australia:
Jaime is still adamant that she will never lead. Today I was willing to accept that, as she hasn’t climbed much of late. For this reason the second line I picked was one that had two approaches. A direct thinner and more delicate route for Dan and I, and easier line just a few meters to the left for Jaime. While the image below may not be all that exciting, it is the only images with Jaime in to prove she really did join us. Dan had some technical camera operation issues, which meant he managed to miss all the amazing poses I struck before I got to the stance where I could finally clip the first carrot:
The reason for Jaime not being in many images is in part due to her having the camera while the exciting activity of leading was going on. She didn’t intend to stay with us all morning, but while she was we picked routes that she could reasonably have a crack at. This was however not the case for where I suggested Dan go next. A wall at Wilyabrup that rarely gets much attention, maybe because the routes are broken by a huge picnic ledge. But they are still good fun and offer a style of climbing that is quite different, another possible reason people don’t climb these routes. Dan really enjoyed it but Jaime no so much, although while Dan was watching she did spot whales one of which fully breached numerous times so not all was lost:
It was as Jaime was attempting to climb the above route that Oliver and Yohan turned up, neither having climbed for several years so they were keen for some fun easy routes to top rope to get back into it. I pointed them to the obvious route, which happened to be right next to English Ethics. So while I was super keen to jump on it for my next lead, it felt a little weird to climb on a route literally a few meters from them when there is no one else at the crag. So instead I decided on a route that still feels bit gnarly but is also one I have led before. Dan loved the look of way I started up the bouldery bottom section, but I’ll come back to that later:
Jaime saw where the line went and decided it was worth hanging about to take images, and we are glad she did. Not just because of the images, but also as I forgot to take bolt plates with me plus I didn’t have my wires as a substitute for bolt plates. I hung about on the route while she raced to the gear, got all tangled up getting the plates of the carabiner, and then started to throw them up at me. The first didn’t reach me, the second I missed but I was very happy to say third time lucky and I finally had a plate. My arms were burning by now but I somehow completed the route without falling off, and I’m still not sure how:
As Dan topped out after following me, I declared that English Ethics was off the table for me. He too said that he had felt pretty pumped on the route and wasn’t likely to tackle Blondes Have More fun. So you’ll have to wait for another time to see how we go on those two routes, assuming we do eventually get onto them. Jaime left us at this point, and despite Dan saying he was pretty pumped he then climbed the highest graded route of the day, Mid-Wall Crisis, with amazing grace and composure. That was how it looked to me from below, however afterwards he told me he was seriously pumped on the route:
We again found that we had the crag to ourselves, but the sun felt too hot and we were gassed. Although I’m not convinced Dan really was, as before the last climb he donned his crack gloves and practiced for Blondes Have More Fun by climbing the crack below the bouldery moves of my last route. I videoed Dan, see below, and am glad he didn’t video me as I failed miserably when I tried. For the final route of the day we climbed out with packs, hoping to see a Carpet Python sunbathing at the top of the flake where I have seen one so many times before, but it was not to be this time:
Sandbagged 