It would seem that some people have very long memories. It has been over seventeen years since we left Alice Springs and we have not been in touch with Garn all that time. However, when his friends were planning a trip to Western Australia he suggested they should touch base with me. That they did, and I found out they had plans to spend four days climbing in the South West at the end of their two week trip. While I couldn’t swing four days to climb, I did take Wednesday and Thursday off to meet up and have a climb with Pete, Hannah, Laura, Ryan, and Ads. The timing also worked well to finally get out with Wiggins:
He has been climbing very little for a few years now. But while his focus has shifted onto other fitness regimes, he still likes the idea of getting out on rock. We aimed to take things steady, in part due to the time it has been since his last venture outdoors but also partly due to the place been a tad damp on arrival. Unfortunately, the timing for the four days on our local crags coincided with a rainy Monday, and even wetter Tuesday. At least this places dries up quick enough, and so while showers were forecast today we knew we’d get a line or two in:
The way things worked we didn’t climb with the Alice crew, but did stay in the same vicinity allowing a chat between routes and also when required providing a bit of local knowledge. It was clear that Pete was the keenest climber, jumping on a line immediately on arrival and you could see his eyes scanning the crag for the next line. It seemed he did not spending much time on the deck at all, something that I’ve certainly been accused of many a time. And I have to say guilty as charged. But today Wiggins and I were taking a slightly slower pace, and we didn’t even have a game plan, so in-between climbs we had to ponder what we would go up next:
Below Pete is belaying Laura, while Hannah having just followed up the route was now just sat atop soaking in the watery views. The waterholes and rivers, when they flow, in Central Australia are pretty special, but the ocean outlook from this landscape are obviously very different. As such and wanting to make the most of the views, the crew were keen to stick to coastal crags, which is fortunately where most are located. Appreciating and respecting where we climb is an important ethic of true trad climbers, and it was good to see today that everyone was of like mind on that point:
As such just watching the ocean is as much a part of the joy of coming here, as the climbing itself. That said, and regular readers will no doubt be fully aware, spotting the critters that live here is also a big part of coming out. On our second route Wiggins and I stumbled across a family of Southwestern Crevice-Skink (Egernia napoleonis). These creatures have had quite a few mentions in recent posts, so you may be wondering why I would bring them up again. Well firstly, it was the first time I have seen a family of four, or possibly more, all hiding in one crack system:
But also because we later spotted the below special sight of an adult with a juvenile clutching onto its back, which I was taking the below image of above. Only 20% of skinks are viviparous, meaning that they bear live young. But all Egernia species are viviparous, producing young in late summer or early autumn. Some research suggests reptiles which bear live young create stronger bonds with their offspring, and this can lead to more stable family groups. This aligns with other research I have mentioned on the Southwestern Crevice-Skink, which form monogamous relationships and are capable of identifying individual relatives:
Not wanting to disturb the above sight, I deviated off line a bit to keep my distance. Not that it helped and the pair slunk back onto the depth of the cracks. After that second encounter with the Southwestern Crevice-Skinks we didn’t see any more scaly friends, and so instead focused on scaling the rock. Some of the Alice Springs crew were relatively new to trad climbing so like us were taking it easy. This place has some very fun and worthwhile lower grade routes. Perfect for cutting your trad teeth on, as well as honing your trad leading skills, such as the line Ads is enjoying below after Ryan had led it:
You could say that, like the Southwestern Crevice-Skink most climbers will generally look out for, and help each other out. And when Wiggins and I spotted a couple of climbers looking a tad nervous, as they started up a route on Steel Wall, it only seemed right to check in with them. Sure enough the first bolt felt a tad sketchy for Ash to clip, so after checking with her and Becky they were happy for me to help out, that’s what I did. It is of course not always the case, and on occasion there will be those that would rather be left to their own devices:
We then went back to bagging a few lines, while the rains that had been threatening never really came to be. That is not until our time was up, and Wiggins and I jumped on our last route, climbing out with packs. We then walked out leaving the others to continue enjoying themselves. Hearing later that the pace reduced, and even Pete had to slow down. Jumping onto lines in-between the showers, and being grateful that the rock here is very quick to dry. Hopefully, there will be some dry spells for tomorrows fun:
Sandbagged 