The energy saver

Threats of rain, which never materialised, helped build up the moisture levels in the air this week.  It’s been a bit warm’ish but nothing too silly, although as a result of the higher humidity levels it has also been a tad sweaty.  I attempted to have a stretch on my wall midweek, but after a few laps I started to feel drained and the sticky boots were put away.  Maybe Mario worked me too hard the previous weekend, as I knocked of lead after lead.  But it is more likely my adversity to humid weather that was the culprit:

I’m not alone.  Humidity is known to result in many people feeling lethargic.  During these conditions oxygen, and also hydrogen and nitrogen, fill the air.  The upshot being our lungs have to work harder to extract the oxygen, and this is one reasons a lack of energy can creep across our bodies.  Some tips to avoid this include wear light clothing (tick); don’t exercise in the heat of the day (tick); and stay hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids including electrolytes (um…).  As Mario pointed out last weekend maybe I should drink more:

He’s not alone in telling me this, and all of those wise souls are probably right.  I’m not known to stop during a morning session on rock, to drink, eat, and/or chat.  Wanting to make the most of the contact time with rock, before it is time to pack up a head out.  This is usually before the heat of the day kicks in.  That said should a critter appear, or natural phenomena occur, I do stop and spend the time too marvel at these sights.  When others are happy to just see them in passing.  Howsie spotted the above, as Pontus, he, and I walked into Wilyabrup:

With Howsie help we have narrowed it down to a brachypterous female moth, meaning it has either undeveloped or very small wings.  This one looking undeveloped, as we couldn’t make them out at all.  Needless to say it was a flightless moth, but we haven’t been unable to pin down the family, genus, or species.  Pontus had come down from Perth again, tempted by the opportunity of three days on rock.  Based on his previous experience of being out with us, he had made an assumption that we would wrap things up by eleven or a wee bit later today:

This still allows enough playtime, and would hopefully not wear him out down too much for the next two days.  We started gently, and threw him on a mixed sport and trad route.  Seeing there were three us, for now, I brought a selection of cameras.  I suggested Howsie and Pontus made use of the epic belay ledge on Steel Wall, to set up base for two very fine lines that scale the left hand side of this impressive face.  Allowing me to do my best mountain goat impression and scoot round the rocks to get a few good angles:

I was initially a little distracted by a Bronze Rockhopper Spider (Euophyrine).  It was jumping about to get away from me, while not letting go of its prey that had no hope of escaping the spiders mandibles.  Unlike its prey the spider did eventually escape my eye, leaving me make like a mountain goat and take lots and lots of images.  Howsie started on the first line, a runout and slightly nervous trad line.  Seeing Pontus is still learning trad we thought it would be mean to throw him on that one.  In addition he too was noticing the humidity:

Quickly learning the hard way that we were not lying when we said the gneiss rock here had no porosity.  Resulting in holds becoming quite a bit less desirable when you are sweating.  It didn’t stop him taking on a grand bolted line, offering great images.  It did however result in him slipping off the next line, as he followed Howsie up.  I felt a little guilty.  I was chatting away to him, as he slapped and then slipped off the rounded holds on the steep start of this climb.  Due to the stretch of the rope that was above him, he fell all the way back down:

At least the elasticity of the rope tensioned as his feet touched the ground, so there was no harm done.  No blame was laid after all we were both chatting, and on his next and successful attempt I didn’t say too much.  Other than providing words of encouragement, to allow him to focus, as beads of sweat rolled down his face and coated his fingertips.  It was as we were wrapping up from this route that Craig finally made it.  He had told us it would be a late start for him, due to needing to get the kids off to school before he could make his way down:

Of course when Craig come to the crag, so does the thermos of tea.  It may seem strange after all this talk of being a bit warm and humid that we might want to partake in this tradition today.  But at least it can’t be said that I didn’t drink anything today.  After a refreshing cuppa, Craig and Pontus set off up a couple of lines not too far apart.  Craig picked the hardest line of the day so far, while we dropped the grade for Pontus.  That said we knew the line would test his mental strength being a trad line that can be a little tricky to protect:

Afterwards he admitted to being mentally exhausted from the route.  Finding the gear was certainly a challenge, but when he found it the placements were solid so he had been safe.  And while the grade was lower, he had also battled with the much reduced friction, further putting his nerves on edge.  In addition to being happy with the ascent that was a clean lead, he along with all of us were rewarded as we started to make our way back down.  When the above Rosenberg’s or Southern Heath Monitor (Varanus rosenbergi) made an appearance:

A bit like musical statues, as soon as we approached it froze allowing us a great view.  We then slowly backed off and found an alternative way down.  Allowing it to relax again and remain in the perfect basking location it had found.  Seeing Craig had only managed to get one route in Howsie and I found another couple of lines next to each other, bumping the grades up a bit.  The day was wearing on longer than usual, and both of us were feeling pretty hot by now. As Craig followed up it was clear he was weathering the sweaty conditions better than the rest of us.  No doubt having become conditioned to it from working up north.  Pontus however was getting very weary:

Craig now had to scamper and to be honest Pontus and Howsie were also happy to call it quits being past midday.  With his gear stashed in his pack Craig soloed up one of the easy slabs, while I managed to convince the other two we could climb out with packs, in the Hope of seeing a python.  While our local python had left a skin for us on top of the flake, I didn’t see the real thing and nor did Pontus.  Howsie, however took a bit more time to look about and spotted one buried deep in the flake.  While he missed out on the only just visibly snake hopefully Pontus managed to save a bit of energy for the next two days, but I’m not too sure: