On Christmas Eve, when growing up in UK, I would be hoping that we might wake up to a white Christmas. Here there is no hope of that occurring, and in truth I still struggle to feel Christmassy in the heat of summer. But, as once happened twelve years back, I do quietly hope that I might experience another sandy Christmas in the zawn of Moses Rocks. There is no post of our trip in 2010 when, on Boxing Day, Rongy and I encountered this Christmas miracle. Allowing us to climb two new routes walls that have on every other trip here, since then, been impossible get on. And as evidence an image from back then is included below:
Today Ash and I had planned to get in the zawn, feeling that we would have had great conditions due to a reasonably low tide, small swell, plus a week of close to mid-thirty temperatures. Sadly Ash wasn’t able to make it, so undeterred I headed out to do a bit of top rope soloing. Feeling that the ocean conditions would also be such that it was even worth me bringing my snorkel gear to finally check out the reef here. However, the snorkel gear didn’t even make it out of the car. The view of the ocean, as I approached, made it clear there was no point in carrying the extra weight. Then as I walked in all the rock was damp, probably from the overnight sea spray and alluding to less than ideal conditions:
The above image is of the same wall that Rongy was climbing in the first picture. No sand and no dry rock. To top it off I had even forgotten to bring my ascender with me. This device would normally glide up the rope as I climbed and then, should I slip, grip the rope tightly to prevent me from plummeting back down. My only option was to revert to using my belay device with a prusik knot, which comprises a cord looped round the rope several times. This creates friction when the rope or cord is loaded, and stops the rope slipping through the belay device. Being a manual system it does not follow up as you climb, resulting in the need to find a good stance to pull the rope through the belay device, and then to move the prusik up the rope:
It means you have slack in the rope until you find a stance to allow you to fiddle about. And in the wet conditions it made for a slightly more exciting soloing experience than usual. It did not stop me, and I climbed a couple of routes on the wet wall before deciding to move the rope to the wall on the other side of the zawn. Here much to my amazement I spotted the above carrot bolt. It looked old and has no doubt been there a very long time, and despite how often I come here I had not noticed it before. Then, again to my amazement, I looked back across the zawn to find someone looking up at Hands Up Wall. To make the effort to get here it had to be a climber, and in seventeen years I have only come across other climbers here on two occasions:
After a quick introduction, it transpired that Rob had also come down to top rope solo a few lines. And he was equally surprised to find me here as, like me, he has not seen others here when climbing here. Between us we had enough gear and a lead rope, but Rob was just getting back into climbing after a bit of a break. Resulting in him being more than happy for me to take the pointy end, allowing him to reacclimatise both his body and mind to trad climbing with the safety of a rope above him. We hit a few of the lines on Hands Up Wall including this wonderfully flared and rounded crack, which I was quietly wishing I had my tricams for:
The climb he really wanted to get on was Wheely Things, another crack but more vertical and one that is deep enough to allow you to using a climbing technique call jamming. A great climbing skill but one so few are adept at, including me. So after three routes on the slabs we hit that one. Rob enjoyed it so much, despite getting pretty pumped on it, that I lowered him back down so he could do it again. The other line that Rob had in his mind to one day have a go at was in the zawn, being a fun arête. I set my rap line up again and we dropped in. With the sun on it the wall was drying up nicely, although the bottom being in the shade was still damp:
While he was keen to climb the arête, it was a line he wanted to lead. He had never been in the zawn before, which in itself can add to the fear factor, and was also not sure if he was ready to take it on. Plus, due to the access, it is not the sort of place you want to have an epic. So rather than spoil the opportunity to get an on-sight lead of the line, I climbed the face to the left of it. A route that really packs a punch at the grade, almost getting off vertical the higher you go. And all the time on slopey holds, all of which seems to slope the wrong way. We both thoroughly enjoyed the route, but the capability of the forearms to keep holding on had been somewhat reduced and we didn’t drop back into the zawn:
Rob was however still keen to have a lead, and the sensible option was to head back to the northern walls of Moses Rocks. Dry rock being in the sun, slabby routes to reduce the work rate of the forearms, easier grades and a sensible amount of gear all made it the obvious choice, where this time Rob did get on the sharp end and enjoyed it. With a successful lead under his belt, and one more than he was expecting to do when he decided to head to Moses, the bug was back and he was keen to jump on one more. Sadly however, the steeper and harder lines at Hands Up Wall had sapped more energy than he realised. Rather than forging onwards and risk a fall, he decided to bail on the second lead and end the session on the high of his successful lead:
Sandbagged 