It’s the one day of the year that I really don’t want to be at work, and would much rather get out into nature and enjoy life. Luckily falling on a Friday I was able to encourage Howsie to join me on a little excursion to head to unfamiliar territory, just to make the day that little bit more special. For a day trip, the only direction for us to drive to discover new locations is Perth, which of course meant the drive was a tad longer than usual. Based on the closest weather station in a similar landscape we could expect temperatures of the low twenties:
However, as the week crept slowly forward the forecasted temperature crept slowly up. This meant we could now expect temperatures in the high twenties. This is getting pretty warm, and could be uncomfortable especially as the crag is in the full glare of the sun, with no shade until after mid-afternoon. We agreed an early, and then even earlier, start was warranted. By early I mean early, driving out of our driveway at 2:30am. The timing was to allow us to arrive at first light, so we could at least see where we were going as we walked in:
Driving out of Bunbury in darkness I was grateful for the extra light bar on my car. And out of courtesy, which is at times is not provided in return when on dual carriageways, I turn off my full beam off when a car is coming the other way. I wish I hadn’t been so thoughtful this time, because with the lower light and oncoming car we saw the kangaroo too late. It lopped across the two lanes, from the central reservation, right in front of me. Going 100km/hr it was too risky to abruptly manoeuvre, so all I could do was brake and brake hard:
There quite simply was not enough stopping distance, and sadly we collided. On my part the damage was not terrible due to the roo-bar, and we could carry onwards. For the poor kangaroo it was not such a good outcome. Not a great way to start the day, but it is a hazard that I have to accept what with all the early morning driving I do to feed my desire to climb. Fortunately a rare occurrence. Although I did wonder if nature was not on my side today, when before we started climbing two bull ants got up my trousers and bit me several times:
I’m pleased to say there were no more mishaps with nature from that point on. And Howsie and I relished the enjoyment of coming to a new location, needing to orientate ourselves. Firstly to find the place and then work out which line is which. We arrived at Wungong Slabs at 5:30’ish and the climbing began a bit before 6, with no sign of the sun, cloud in the sky, and a stiff cold wind blowing down the valley right across the slabs. Good slabbing conditions, and I’m normally pretty comfortable with the climbing style slabs require:
For some reason my footwork was not as nifty as usually at the start. I could blame the run ins with nature, or my hay fever that blew up today, but that would just be a feeble excuse. Slab climbing will include, at times, the need to trust nothing but friction. The hands really don’t help much on these sections. It is all down to the angle of your feet and the direction of the force you apply, to maximise the friction between the sole of the shoe and rock hold to hold you in place. Body tension is everything, and a couple of times I let that relax a bit too much:
I just had to focus a bit harder to make the smears stick, and as the morning wore on I did just that. And as time ticked along and the sky became lighter we also noticed the place wake up, while we beavered away ticking climb after climb. The warmth of the sun, which eventually burnt off the clouds, was well received after the cold start to the morning. Birds became a bit more vocal, and once the sun was on the rock proper more insects popped up. Other than the couple of pesky bull ants, the first insect of interest was this soft-winged flower beetle:
This family of beetles, Melyridae, is vast and at first I thought I had got it right away. Finding a couple of identical images that made me think it was a Black-headed Melyrid (Collops tricolor). Then I discovered this species has not as yet been recorded in Australia. I have since spent hours trawling my reference sites, and cannot find anything even close to it in Australia. There was once species I pondered but the elytra, or hind wing component of the carapace, had distinct grooves. The one I spotted did not being smooth with fine hairs, so I am at a loss:
As for the climbing, it was a lot of fun. The routes were a mixture of bolted, mixed, and full trad lines. The various guide books gave three of the lines either a R or X rating. R indicating the protection is dodgy or runout and a fall could cause major injury, and X indicating that a fall could result in death. Climbing is however all about risk management, and you need to consider the grade or difficulty of the climb, your physical ability, your state of mind at the time, and the conditions on the day. Despite my early foot slips, today we both felt good:
Fully bolted lines really should not warrant an R or X rating, so these lines were trad although one sported a single bolt. Howsie and I both prefer trad over bolts, so have the right mind set to take on such challenges. Above I’m on the only X rated route and I also led one of the R rated lines, both were absolutely fine and great fun. Howsie nabbed the hardest line of the day, which also happened to be the other R rated line. Several of the routes here were also contrived. Meaning the difficult climbing can be easily avoided, but we did them anyway:
Onwards we marched, regardless of the grade, rating, or contrived nature of the routes and each one had its own charm. While Howsie was on lead I took the chance to look about and spotted a few interesting and very small spiders, and I wonder if he was also looking about while I climbed. Some would frown upon my wandering eyes, suggesting my focus should only be on the climber. But as I said it is all about risk management and being aware of the situation. These routes for the most part allowed wandering eyes, which spotted the above Trapezoid Crab Spider (Sidymella trapezia):
The two stripes across the back of the thorax, and triangular shaped abdomen making it an easy identification. The find below has however foxed me, and I’m waiting for Howsie’s entomologists friend to come to my rescue. Clearly from the Salticidae family, but being the largest of the spider families claiming 13% of known species I’ve had no luck in working out which of the 6,000 plus species it is. These spiders have a distinctive eye configuration and unlike other spiders, assisted with the enlarged eyes at the front, they are forward looking:
Howsie and I also had a clear forward facing vision of how our day would map out in terms of climbing. There was a chance the heat of the day could have got in the way of that. While I was feeling too hot to care Howsie’s stubbornness prevented us from not reaching our goal and five hours after we started climbing we finished by topping out on a slightly pointless and very short line. With 14 routes under our belt, one of which being so good we both led it, we were very content and walked out, with not an orchid in sight, to find the car thermometer indicating it was 28 degrees:
Just for the records, as Howsie got confused on the way back working out the numbers, probably because we both led the crag classic Whisper:
1) Tramping on Roses 13 – led by Howsie
2) Dead Seal 17 – led by Krish
3) Juggamatic 14 – led by Howsie
4) Crossroads 18 – led by Krish
5) Freedom 19R – led by Howsie
6) Flake and Slab 15X – led by Krish
7) Whisper 17 – led by Howsie & Krish
8) Middle Line 13 – led by Howsie
9) Easy Street 14 – led by Krish
10) All Holds Barred (15) – led by Howsie
11) Mirror Mirror 17R – led by Krish
12) Strange Idea 14 – led by Howsie
13) Weird at my School 14 – led by Krish
14) Death by Cutty Sark 17 – led by Howsie
Sandbagged 