In view that I have been off work for four days, it may be surprising I haven’t posted anything until today. In part due to the ocean conditions not being great for swimming with the fish off our local beach. But also due to yet another little mishap, which will get a mention later. I feel I have had more than my fair share of incidents this year. There have been several big falls, and a few encounters with the ocean that resulted in technology failing. I guess it is the price you pay if you get out as much as I do, but here’s hoping it eases off next year:
Today Adrian was keen to climb. Having driven down the night before to allow for an early start for which he didn’t have to get up to early. I found him pulling down his tent at 5am, and despite the extra hour in a prone position he looked just as bleary eyed as I felt. Our destination had changed several times. Starting with Bob’s Hollow, which he had a taster of with David last week and was keen for more. Then he changed it to Moses Rocks, where he and I had climbed recently, and finally I suggested Wilyabrup would be the better option:
The three places are very contrasting in terms of the climbing style, due to the varying geology and rock features and formations. I certainly feel very lucky to have such a broad range of rock types all within approx. one hours drive. I suggested Wilyabrup for today because it has the best range of grades and plenty of longer routes. The idea being to allow Adrian to crank and for me to kick back on any leads I might take. He’s only been to each location once, so there were plenty of classic lines I could point him towards for on-sight glory:
A gentle warm up was in order, as his head wasn’t on quite right. Feeling a little groggy from a restless night. The climb he managed fine, but he forgot his belay device. Resulting in there being a bit of faffing about, as indicated above. I won’t bore you with the full recount of all the ins and outs of why our first and easiest route took by far the longest. I feel that I cannot however go past yet another great word. To ‘faff’ about is suggested to have originated from the word faffle, the first recorded use being in 1570 and meaning to stammer or mummur:
In more recent times it has been used to describe something flapping about in the wind. This seems very apt in view of the image of the rope being hurled through the air. Not making it to the ground on the first nor a few other attempts, if you catch my drift. References indicate this use of the word is found in England and Australia during the 1870s. It’s use in Australia being a result of the convicts shipped over from England, with over 162,000 brought over between 1788 and 1868. This equates to approx. 10% of the population of Australia in 1868:
It would be reasonable to say that after the first route, Adrian was no longer trapped in a groggy head. This freedom resulted in him hitting, and very successfully on-sighting, progressively harder lines. On-sighting meaning to climb a route, without any prior knowledge or advice about the line and not taking a fall or rest on the rope. I was happy to point him toward line after line, and would only offer up advice about the route if he asked for it. A couple of times it sounded like he asked, but it sounded conversational to me:
My response each time was something like ‘whichever way looks best’ or ‘look about and you’ll find something’. Allowing him to figure it out for himself, which based on not being badgered for information seems to have been the right approach. And with each climb in the bag he was keen to try something a little more testy. Leading us to Steel Wall, a rock face in many climbing books, and one that justifiably attracts many climbers here. It was mid-morning and I was surprised not to have seen anyone drop a rope down this mighty wall yet:
There were a few other people who had turned up about 9am, they were however at the far southern end. When we first walked past them, one group assumed we had just arrived and asked if the car park was filling up yet. Not that we had any idea, but when we finally left it wasn’t even half full. This worked in our favour, but I was surprised not to have seen more people out. Needless to say Adrian was impressed with Steel Wall, and even happier to have got a clean ascent on the route he chose because he was starting to get a little weary:
Not overly surprising. In my usual fashion we kept moving. Plus having taken all the leads, his morning was physically and mentally more challenging than mine. But before we were done he was keen to sample one more line on Steel Wall, just not keen to push the grade. As such I offered to take a lead allowing us to access the big ledge half way up, from there he took on a mighty fine face climb that took us to the top. And just as the day had started a rope was thrown into the air. This time it was someone else, setting up a top rope:
And finally why we ended up here. Having realised a set of wires were left at Moses Rocks after our last visit, he suggested we go back there. I could visualise where they may be, so went back on Boxing Day. And managed to take a tumble when trying to capture a specky image. My phone flew out of my hand, slipped down the rock, dropped into a crack, landed in the sink, and died. Hence I have no images of that trip, and sadly that makes it two phones I’ve killed in one year. On the plus side I found the wires, as below, but was a little weary from the climbing I got in. Rather than revert back to Bob’s Hollow, I suggested Wilyabrup:
Sandbagged 