Hanging about

Another Friday has been spent hanging about outdoors.  Howsie was keen for a quick’ish trip today as later on they would join the throngs of people on the road.  Being the start of a long weekend it was going to get busy for sure.  Despite the need to be back in a timely manner we opted for a civilised start time.  This resulted in the sun being well and truly up by the time we arrived at Welly Dam.  The air still felt cool and the shrubbery and grass was full of the movement of our feather friends, hopping and flying about catching bugs:

Last weekend Pontus was so impressed with the climbing here that he came back for more all the way from Perth, so he too added to the long weekend traffic.  A friend of his called Ari joined him.  As someone relatively new to climbing, he soon learnt why we have a bit of a love hate relationship with this place.  And as they climbed another friend, Angie, watched on.  Not quite ready to have a bash at climbing, and this is certainly not the place for beginners.  It felt a bit like the old days when we would have a bit of a crew up here:

The climbing may be hard but it is a wonderful place for a social catch up.  Today however Howsie and I were fairly focused, at least to start with.  Warming up on a couple of our regular grade 20s before he decided it was time to give T4 a go.  The only grade 24 here and a route I have tried just once.  Way back then I got to the first bolt and no further because it started to rain, and I had to retreat.  Hence I had no advice to offer beyond the first bolt, but Mario had said after a bouldery start it was surprisingly mellow in the mid-section:

Howsie bouldered up to the first bolt after which, and in its usual devious way, the walls of the quarry were not giving too much away.  Did the line go right or left? he tried both multiple times and got tantalising close to a clipping stance.  But not quite.  Each time tumbling back down.  I really thought he would run out of gas but he kept going, making so many attempts to crack the code that I lost count.  Eventually he conceded it was not going to happen today, leaving us to wonder where the ‘surprisingly mellow’ mid-section’ started:

Howsie said he still felt good, despite not managing to get too high and spending a lot of time trying.  We then wandered over to Peanut Brittle, which I noticed last weekend had lots of chalk on it, indicating someone was working it.  What I hadn’t noticed back then was all the bits of rock scattered across the ground, no doubt having been removed from the line by whoever was attempting it.  I’m glad to report they had not removed any crucial holds and the route flowed beautifully.  Meanwhile, Pontus took on Pocket Knife and on-sighted it in good style:

Howsie, still feeling good pulled the rope to give Peanut Brittle a crack on lead.  Starting well, and then getting completely shut down by a delicate move at the midway point.  And so the yo-yoing witnessed on T4 started again, but this time with less conviction.  As he attempted it I watched the birds.  The above Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis) were happy fluttering about on the rock face, as Howsie kept slipping off the rock above me.  Eventually conceding that just maybe his many attempts on T4 had drained his energy reserves:

There was only one thing to do.  Howsie and I wandered to the car, and as we waited for the kettle to boil we watched the birds chase insects on the lawns.  Mostly male eclipse Splendid Fairy-wrens (Malurus splendens), the term eclipse referring to the relatively dull plumage worn by males for a month or more in summer after breeding.  As Howsie had just experienced, Ari’s energy reserves were being drained as he followed up Pocket Knife.  Howsie’s eyes where however still sharp, but we have struggled to identify the skinks he spotted:

The closest I have come for the above one is that it may be a Pale-flecked Garden Sunskink (Lampropholis guichenoti).  Whether it was or wasn’t, the kettle had boiled and we headed back to the rock.  Howsie looked whacked, so I went back up the route and set it up as a top rope for him.  To keep him company Pontus went up alongside him on Savage Sausage Sniffer, looking good right until the end.  And just below the top is where they both hung.  Looking up trying to muster up the energy to finish their respective climbs off, which they eventually did: