As hinted yesterday, today was Rob’s day. He was keen to tick a few lines and continue to get his head back into the leading game. As Sam has been finding out, climbing is so much more than physical ability. The best indoor climber can come unstuck on the easiest of outdoor routes when put on the pointy end with a trad rack and no bolts to clip. I didn’t realise, but when I bumped into Rob at Moses on Christmas eve last year, that was just his second excursion out since he had decided to get back into climbing:
It had been a fair time since he had touched rock and he didn’t know any other local climbers, and so it was a fortunate encounter for him. Resulting in giving him access to a few people to get out with to help him on his journey. Today we visited Driftwood Bay, a place with some ghosts for him in particular his chosen first climb. Having come to climb here with a mate and his wife some years back, the day didn’t turn out quite as expected. In part due to not knowing where the crag was and rapping into the wrong outcrop, being The Organ Pipes:
But probably more so due to the lack of flexibility of his mate, who got a tad grumpy about it all. When they rapped down the right outcrop his mate spat the dummy, scrambled out, and left them too it. It is interesting and at times baffling what can tick off some people. This resulted in Rob setting off, not in the best frame of minds, up what they thought was Crab Slab. Placing a wire soon after which a hand hold came away. Not only did he fall but the wire popped and he and his wife then tumbled down the vegetated slope below. Lucky not to have done any more damage to themselves, that was the end of that day out:
So in a way today was about working on his leading head and a bit of redemption. It started well, a clean lead on Crab Slab, that included the use of several well placed tricams and being on the actual climb this time, no holds came off. Although I really should have taken an image of the occasional loose rock that he unknowingly dislodged, sending it down the direct line at me. This crag has quite a few ledges and there is loose stuff on them, so care is required. I’m fully aware of this so kept an eye out for this precise risk:
I could also sense his mindset was not at total ease, as he inched his way up. But up he went and he enjoyed it. I’d even go so far as to say there was as sense of relief in addition to the joy of having that route under his belt. We went lead for lead, and as my head came level with a horizontal break on Turkish Delight I noticed a tail slip down behind a big flake. Here I found two King Skinks (Egernia kingii), you’ll have to look closely in the above image to see the second. Sadly no other reptiles showed their scale today, and Rob seemed quite happy about that:
He then picked off Pick Pocket and was visibly more at ease, moving that bit smoother on sharp end. Another successful climb with the tricams getting more use; I think he likes them. I thought I undid the flow of the day when I decided Sure Footed would be a good idea, the bottom crack is a bit stubborn and had Rob a tad perplexed. After several attempts he worked round it, quite literally, and then relished the very fine upper name sake slab. Admitting he was a bit pumped, as he arrived at the belay, I ignored this and asked if he was up for Old Crate:
Later he told me that in his mind he was thinking not, until I asked him. And I’m pleased he changed his mind, as he certainly looked to be thoroughly enjoyed the third lead and seemed way more comfortable. As he climbed, the sun came further over the ridge hitting the vegetation at the base of the crag. Bringing to life the only other animals we found at the crag, flies. I have seen this type before, back then finding a web identification indicating it is a Snail Parasitic Blowfly (Amenia imperialis):
I am now not so convinced, as other sites suggest the body is supposed to have a metallic colour. So it might just be a Spotted Blowfly (Amenia leonine), but even then the silvery abdomen doesn’t fit in with the identifications I have found of that species. As is often the best approach with multiple choice exams, if we assume my first answer was correct, I have discovered that the Snail Parasitic Blowfly lay larvae as opposed to eggs. This is quite unusual, and these larvae are reasonably well advanced so when they are placed on snails they are ready to feats on their living host. Meanwhile above me Rob ticked off a third successful lead:
As we walked out I found another parasite, a tick. Howsie is a self-confessed tick magnate, but I rarely get them and this was a first for me at the cliffs of Wilyabrup. It had latched onto my wrist, and was yet to start feeding on my blood. There are two main types of ticks in Australia being hard ticks (Ixodidae) and soft ticks (Argasidae), the latter not often attaching themselves to humans. So by deduction, and based on the most common hard ticks found in Western Australia, I am guessing this was either an Ornate Kangaroo Tick (Amblyomma triguttatum) or Brown Dog Tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus), probably the latter:
Sandbagged 