The body was weary after a reasonable session at Bob’s Hollow, and Josh almost missed the chance to get out today. Messaging me just as I getting ready to hit the sack last night. Despite being achy, the draw of another morning out on rock was just too appealing. He also got a surprise when I suggested a slightly later pickup time, to what he put forward. It doesn’t happen very often. So for a second morning, I was walking down the streets of Peppermint Grove Beach before anyone else was up and about. And this time got to see a lovely sunrise:
Josh has yet to get to Bob’s Hollow for a climb, but he’ll need to build up a bit more upper body strength and technique to be able to cope with the steepness. Today we were heading for more slabby routes at Moses Rocks, called the friendly crag for more reason than one. Inviting and grippy rock, interesting lines, shorter and lower grade routes, and a wonderful backdrop that instils a comfortable aura. As we walked along the beach a pod of dolphins surfed a wave towards the shore, jumping out the back before the waters got to shallow:
We stood and watched them for quite a while, as they slowly cruised southwards, every so often picking a wave to surf in on. Eventually, we decided it was time to continue the hike to the crag. And when we got to Rumpoles Rocks, the dolphins appeared once more to great us with more aquatic antics. We again stopped to watch them. Just as they were cruising past at a relaxed and leisurely pace, we too were in no rush. Finally we pulled our harness on, and covered the flapper on my toe before slipping my climbing shoes on:
I had preselected the routes for today, or at least the first four. Climbs that would provide enough of a challenge, and make Josh work on his body position and footwork. You can’t get away with yarding up on your arms at Moses, the rock while comfortable to hold is rounded in nature. This forces you to get into positions to make the holds more effective, otherwise you risk pumping out and possibly falling off. I hadn’t mentioned any of this to Josh, and then he told me he had come today with the intention of putting more focus on his technique:
We racked up the four intended lines. On each one he did really well in thinking about how to use the holds, and climb more fluidly and efficiently. After each route we sat at the top of the cliff to sort the gear and coil the rope. From our vantage point we also got to see the dolphins multiple times. They were lazily swimming along the coast to the north before turning back to head south, and so it continued during the morning. We too in a chilled way went up the crag, only to then go back down, before hitting repeat:
Josh was going well and keen to jump on another couple of routes, which meant picking slightly trickier climbs. He watched my approach, and with a bit of encouragement and some pointers climbed them in good style. By the time we topped out on the sixth route, his arms were jelly enough to call it. This suited me, as I was starting to feel yesterday’s workout. For a final time, as we went back down, the dolphins came past. A we finished our circular journey of climbing up and walking down, they too headed off not to be seen again:
Sandbagged 