Get up & go

No we were not partaking in what is claimed to be Australia’s top breakfast drink.  Yet another packaged and processed way to start the day, which advertising will claim is good for us.  Instead a simple cup of tea sufficed to prepare Howsie and I for another Friday session.  It’s been a stinker of a week, and it wasn’t about to ease up today so we were aiming for shade.  And wanting to get to the crag at a sensible time.  It was dark as I drove out at just after 5.  The moon was but a sliver, wanning at 1%, and looking stunning.  Not that you’ll see it below:

Wilyabrup was our destination, and it was a lovely cool 13 degrees on arrival.  But as I have said so often this summer, it felt like the air weighed down on us.  Just two hours later the mercury sharply rose by ten degrees.  Continuing to creep up until we walked out in just shy of thirty degrees, well before the sun hit the west facing walls.  This didn’t worry me too much as I was going to take it easy on my leads.  The reason being that Howsie had put some though into what he wanted to attempt, picking a few goey lines that don’t get too much attention:

Better still he has only led each of the lines one or two times, so he didn’t know what to expect.  The conditions meant he needed to have an extra positive mindset and level of determination and energy.  Hence he needed a get-up-and-go attitude, as opposed to the afore mentioned product.  The term itself is self-explanatory, but I was keen to see if it had any history.  The first known, i.e. recorded, use was in 1871.  I am not however quite sure in what context it had been used in the Annual Report of the Indiana State Horticultural Society:

There was unfortunately nothing else of interest that I could uncover on the phrase.  I was however interested in getting a few good images today.  The three routes Howsie was having a bash on today each had a certain amount of spice.  All having a bit of a runout, sustained technical sections, steepness, and an extra dose of exposure.  As he climbed I wonder how much he was observing me, as I wandered this way and that.  If he did he never complained about it as he successfully weaved his way up the first and then the second line:

Coincidently The Weavers wrote and first recorded the song called Get Up and Go.  I couldn’t find a date but they recorded songs between 1948–1952 and 1955–1964.  The reason for the break being the lyrics of their songs were considered by the authorities as being ‘Un-American’.  This was during a period known as the Red Scare.  My easier leads meant I had no scares and also allowed Howsie a more relaxed climb in-between each of his routes.  Hopefully allowing him to recuperate a bit, so he had enough go-go juice for his next lead:

And would you believe the Go Gos did a cover of Get Up and Go in 1982!  On my last climb shown above and despite being in the shade while on the route, we could both feel the heat and the rock getting more and more greasy.  Not that this stopped Howsie taking on his third and hardest line, nor me wandering about below.  He did however watch my antics more closely this time, especially when his arms started to tire and he prepared for a fall.  The conditions were deteriorating fast, so we decided we would get up this route and go: