Just can’t help ourselves

For me establishing ground-up first ascents is the best way to climb, having absolutely no knowledge of what lies above other than the assumptions you make from what you can see from below.  Tying in, racking up and then setting off with all the uncertainty of whether it can be protected, what the rock quality is like, how sustained and hard it may be, and indeed whether you are mentally and/or physically capable of getting up the line.  Ground-up is a traditional style and attitude to climbing, and one I cut my teeth on in the UK.  Then when I came to Australia came the opportunity to add to the extra excitement of ground-up first ascents:

I have been lucky to have lived in places where there has been an abundance of rock with no or limited record of any routes being established.  Alice Springs and the South West, and on occasion the South Coast, of Western Australia have provided ample opportunity to establish new climbs.  And I have probably climbed and named between close to a couple of hundred routes.  It’s certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, and most will want the security of having checked the guidebook to read up on the route before attempting it.  And even then some people will go an extra step of popping  a rope down the line to further check it out, taking away the surprise of what is to come:

It is possibly my approach to, and passion for, climbing that led me to write a guidebook for climbing both at Alice Springs and the South West of Western Australia, and sadly both of these guides are now out of print.  It is not a case of simply reprinting them, in part as there have been changes in both areas that have resulted in some crags no longer being accessible, for both social and cultural reasons.  Nothing new and if you are keen to read about some of the trials and tribulations linked to climbing that circle round every so often check out this post https://sandbagged.blog/2019/12/29/timeless-issues/.  Plus there are the new routes that have been created since the guides were written:

Not that there are new routes here that are not in the current guide, Lost Buttress was one of the places I was lucky to help establish.  And I was surprised to find out it is a place that Craig has never been too.  So when the opportunity came up to snag a morning out on rock together, I steered the group here.  As Craig has so few chances of getting out, even the threat of rain didn’t stop us.  And as can be seen above we had to climb in the rain, at least for the start of the day.  Again it is not something that is everyone’s cup of tea, but both Craig and I are quite OK with making the best of changing conditions.  I did wonder however if Josh and Sandra would be of like mind, and was pleasantly surprised when they too turned up:

The reward being that Craig brought two flasks of tea, so as shown above, in-between the climbing we had a well-deserved and very welcome hot brew.  We set up a couple of ropes for Josh and Sandra so they could enjoy the climbs without the thrill or was it  fear of needing to lead anything.  But Craig and I went lead for lead, I was a little surprised at this as last time he was happy to have a rope above him.  I’m sure he didn’t regret his decision, but there was at least one nervous moment on the climb below.  Physically he was more than capable, but he had to battle with his head before making the very committing step out away from the comfort of the corner, and traverse out above the big and airy feeling roof:

I’m also standing on a metaphorical edge at the moment, needing to make a decision about whether to dive back into the climbing guide for the South West.  It’ll need a rework, mostly because we have lost access to one climbing area.  That is a whole story in itself with lots of history behind it, although there is probably little point in digging all that up in the revised guide.  Then there are the new routes, not that there has been too much activity since the guide was published in 2016.  I have been involved in putting up most of the new climbs in the area, and truth be told we have pretty well climbed out most of the rock.  It would however be good to see the new lines in print, so I am tempted to step back into editing the guide:

A bit like the last, near, eight years since I wrote the guide.  Today’s time for climbing was coming to a close remarkably quickly.  So while the sky seemed to be clearing up nicely it was time to drop the ropes back to the base for the last time.  Craig and I managed six fun routes, and he bagged three very good ground-up ascents.  Meanwhile, Sandra and Josh had enjoyed four routes, with the exposed and steep finale of the last line shown above providing plenty of excitement for them.  Maybe in part due to tiring muscles, which probably resulted in their heads making them doubt whether they were capable of making the final moves:

There was still tea in the flasks, so a quick brew was in order while we sorted through the mishmash of gear.  Josh headed down to the ocean for his customary dip in the water, as Craig and I stuffed our packs with unfortunately still damp gear.  Meaning we would need to drape the ropes and hang the gear back at our homes, a price that was worth paying after another great morning out with such a specular backdrop.  Everyone seemed to be fumbling about taking their time, as if they were not really wanting to leave, so my eyes started to drift towards a fun looking boulder and Craig and I just couldn’t resist: