It was way too much like hard work this morning, when at 4am the alarm violently shook me out of my deep slumber. When we had agreed the time earlier that week our reasoning was sound. The destination being just a wee bit further than usual, and the temperatures threatening to tip into the thirties. However, it had felt an arduous and draining week at work, and last night we popped up the road for a social at the neighbours. The one beer I had was enough to make the early morning, as it arrived all too soon, a little less inviting:
Rongy and I pulled into the carpark in Capel at the same time, and he too had found the early start a little challenging. However, once the light started to come into the sky our circadian clocks sprang into action and the morning was once again a wonderful time of day. The 80min trip led us to the most southern rocky outcrop worthy of climbing along the western coastline of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. Cosy Corner doesn’t have loads of routes, but it is a place that has a special feeling to it:
To gain access to the climbs on this cliff you need to abseil in, but neither of us had a plan for the day and were both a bit indecisive about which routes to hit. Instead of deciding, we went for a wander, first to the southern end of the cliff, to scope out if there were any new route possibilities. But there was good reason there are no recorded climbs on this section. It was very broken with big blocks that looked like they were just hanging there and could tumble into the ocean with only the slightest bit of encouragement, as shown above:
We then walked out to the headland, which is bleached out in the image above due to the contrast. I’ve looked down this shorter and steeper face numerous times, but there are no good belay ledges at the base and the wall looks wet even in the calmest of conditions. With no new sections worth exploring we rapped into the tallest part of the cliff, where we knew there were three worthy lines. However, Rongy’s eagerness for something different resulted in him scoping the cliff left of where the established lines exists:
Despite not having climbed for some time and not feeling climbing fit, he managed to weave up a sneaky but worthy line that included a couple of bold sections. The upper part of the climb eased off a bit, but not for him on lead. The crux move, shown above, felt very exposed and insecure. This led him to placing two pieces of gear close together, and after a quick discussion about whether to place a short or long extender on the red cam, we/he opted for a short one. And this decision was enough to create drag, as the rope ran round the bulge:
Now I wouldn’t say I was jealous of him having bagged a new line, but it did make my eyes start to wander. Not that they had to look too far, as just a few meters to the left there was an obvious corner crack. The start provided great thought-provoking climbing that at the crux seemed improbable. Above the corner there was a need for more reflections, when the climbed went up a section of the face covered in a sheet of limestone. This stuff can vary from solid through to complete choss, which can give way at any time:
I’m pleased to say it held. That said I can see Rongy’s line being repeated, but the limestone mid-section of mine might be enough to prevent anyone wanting to try it. We were both pretty happy with the two new routes, but my eyes were still searching. I pointed out a narrow section of rock on the headland that was bound by limestone on both sides, shown below. It even had a small platform at the base from which to belay. Rongy was not as convinced as me, so we decided it was time to jump on the established climbs:
We hit all three of them allowing us to compare them against the two new lines to confirm what we might grade them. We both agreed they were a tad harder, which was good as it meant we didn’t have to work quite so hard as we knock the first, second and finally the third line off. It was however hard enough to work Rongy’s unconditioned arms. And as he began to surmount the roof of the final climb he hinted that he didn’t have much juice left in the tank. Code to say “watch me”, which I did while continuing to take photos just in case:
Five lines may not seem like a lot of climbing considering the distance, and there was plenty of shade time left on the wall to allow more climbing. The decision to call it a day isn’t however always based on the amount of climbing, but also quite simply whether we feel satisfied with what we had done. And we both did, especially the new routes: https://www.climberswa.asn.au/topic/cosy-corner/. Our only regret was that we didn’t bring the snorkel gear. The water wasn’t flat but it was clear and as the sun rose higher in the sky the weed covered reef looked so inviting. Next time:
Sandbagged 