After today, as we roll into February, the year will start in earnest. The summer school holidays are coming to a close, which means the usual weekly routine of life for many will resume. For me, my ease into the New Year continued to the bitter end. I was not going to waste the last Friday of the first month of the year, and Howsie was more than happy to bag another morning out. It’s been cooking this week. Mid to high thirties every day, and this looks to continue well into next week. We are however not in the throes of a heatwave:
The night time temperatures have been dipping below twenty, providing some late evening to early morning relief. That still does not stop the day after day of hot weather slowly wearing down the energy levels. Howsie, was therefore in a quandary when I asked him what he had in mind. The location was easy. He wanted to climb, as opposed to have a climb and snorkel which can be quite nice on these hot days. So we needed somewhere that had a shorter walk in, longer routes, and maximises shade time. That would be Wilyabrup:
What he could not land on was what climbs to climb. After having pushed himself in recent trips out his head was telling him to continue to test his skills. To do that, there are a couple of 25s at the main area that he has his eye on. His body was however holding him back. Weary from several days of working outdoors in the heat. Reading the tone of his voice, as well as his body language, I suggested that maybe a fun day was in order somewhere that only had lower grade routes. The place that sprung to mind being Driftwood Bay:
There’s nothing hard here, allowing his mind to relax into the fun of the traditional and slightly adventurous climbing. I would normally bring a rap line for this place. But seeing we hadn’t decided on the precise crag until we had walked to the top of the Wilyabrup cliffs we would have to make do. It made us pay that bit more attention to our rope work when we belayed from above. Coiling the lead rope, as the second came up. Enabling it to be ready to be hurled over the edge, before we once more abseiled back down:
As we wandered toward the top of the cliff I asked how often Howsie had climbed here. I could only remember one trip with him. That was with Rongy and Josh, and we only managed one route before things went amiss https://sandbagged.blog/2022/05/28/chased-away/. He had a vague memory of having had a second more successful visit with Mikie sometime. Then looking up at the lines on offer, he couldn’t recall what they had climb. That is not a bad thing because everything today would feel new:
This place gets very little attention and I have never seen anyone else climbing here. We did however find the tell-tale sign of chalk on two routes to indicate recent visitors. My last visit here was five months back with David, so the chalk was not likely to be from then.. Not unexpectedly we had the place to ourselves today. Allowing us to enjoy the peace, and pick the lines as we pleased. Although I have to admit to steering Howsie toward two lines in particular, as I doubt either of them have had an ascent by anyone other than myself:
We were not entirely alone. I was hoping to come across a Carpet Python today, but it was not to be. We did however find a juvenile Mallee Grass Mantis (Archimantis sobrina), a bit under half the size of the full sized adult we spotted at Cosy Corner just a week back. Growing up to 4 inches long during their short 9 to 12 month lifespan, this species can be either green or brown. This one, unlike last week’s, was nervous. Keen to get away from us it adopted a technique that young mantises have before they grow wings, and that is to jump:
I first spotted the mantis while Howsie was relishing the crag classic. Part way up he paused for longer than normal, due to spotting a Southwestern Crevice-Skink (Egernia napoleonis). Skinks of the Egernia genus only occur in Australia, and are mid to large sized with a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of approx. 4 to 10 inches. The SVL includes the head and body, but not the tail. The two common species in our area being the little fella below and the King Skink (Egernia kingii), which can be up to 22 inches long including the tail:
Southwestern Crevice-Skinks are reported to often be curious. Even after initially being disturbed, they can be quick to pop out of their hiding place to check if the coast is clear. This one however didn’t move, not even after Howsie left it and continued on his upwards journey. When I came up on second it was in exactly the same spot, only being able to squeeze into the tight crevice by depressing it’s body. We went lead for lead today, and when I got to the top of my next climb the sun hit us:
We could feel it bite, and were only four routes in. Fortunately the west facing wall below us was still in shade. As such it was time to encourage Howsie to consider a route that if he climbed, I am sure would be only the second ascent. A face climb with no cracks for gear, so it is a little run out. There is also a very unusually sling placement low down, on a not overly inspiring small plate of rock somehow sticking out from the main face. It’s a nervous climb, and I can’t think of very many people I would ever suggest such a route:
It is however exactly the sort of climb that Howsie enjoys, so I thought he would go for it and that he did. The other line I was keen for him to have a bash at was a little more sane in relation to protection, but as with most routes here it looks scrappy and a little disjointed. I’ve led it a few times since establishing the line, and really enjoy it but was keen for a second opinion. Despite the sun starting to inch over the top of the cliff, making it hard to look up, I could hear sounds of delight as he worked his way up. Suggesting it was a good choice:
This was confirmed as such, when I made my way to his belay on high. It was time to even up the numbers, so the rope got thrown over the edge one last time. It was my turn to make sounds of delight, as I led us out on the last route of the day. We agreed that Driftwood had been a great choice. With eight climbs under our belt we were feeling a little weary but thoroughly satisfied. Despite the at times runouts, loose rock, and rambling lines it was a worthy place to visit, although our opinion on that is probably skewed by our climbing taste:
Sandbagged 