The car slowly came to a standstill. Having spotted them a long way off, the wallaby and it’s joey stood motionless in front of the car as it came to a stop. The intense full beams made brighter by the light bar, had either blinded them or confused them to the point they became statues. Instead of reaching for my camera to take a snap as they continued to sit there, I was content to just watch them until they lazily lopped across the road into the bush. Thinking it is better to see them sit on the road, as opposed to when they hop out of nowhere:
Another early morning, but not too crazy a start. It’s just as Lisa had remarked to me a few weeks back, the days are starting to wake up a little later. I was on my way to pick Sam up, who has not touched rock for just over a year and half. For this reason we were heading to a cruisy little crag, where he was keen to be reintroduced to placing gear and maybe have a lead. Wilyabrup has a few such small crags, which rarely get attention. Being Easter I also suggested here as we were likely to have the place to ourselves, while the main crag fills up:
Sam hinted that maybe I should take the first lead. His thinking that this would allow him to ease back into it, and also enable him to check out how I set up the top belay anchors. The latter part seemed to weigh more on his mind than jumping onto the sharp end. I could fully understand his thoughts, after all as I climbed after him I was putting my life in his hands. Belaying is a serious and a big responsibility. I however had faith in his ability, even though he hadn’t put the skills into practise for a long time. Even when he had, it was not that often:
It meant spending time refreshing his knowledge and understanding, and taking things slowly. Including when I climbed after him so I could check each piece. Happy to find that he had retained the basics. All the gear slotted in was well thought out and bomb proof, even when he was not so convinced. Interestingly his faith in the gear placements was tiered. Wires were great, tricam pretty good, but when it came to cams not so much. This trend indicated that as the hardware became more mechanically reliant the less trust he had in them:
I get it, my journey into trad all those decades back started the same way. And like me, several people I have climbed with over the years, would prefer a solid bit of metal wedged into a crack. As opposed to relying on springs and hinges to generate the friction needed to keep the gear in place. This did not however stop Sam selecting the right gear for each placement. As the morning wore on it felt the imbalance of faith started to even out. Helped by leading each route, when in my usual way I kept calmly handed him the rope and gear:
This was never questioned. He simply accepted the rope and climbed. As I had to trust in his belay anchors when I followed, he had to trust I wasn’t going to send him up something too silly. The route below, was his third lead. Having watched him climb and place gear I thought he’d be OK with it. Not that any encouragement was needed, the corner and sweeping arched rooflet piqued his interest as soon as I pointed to it. He did however tell me afterwards that it had certainly put him out there, and he had felt pretty exposed:
A position that conjured up mixed emotions of exhilaration while being nerve wrecking. The only thing to do in those situation being to slow down, breathe, and make purposeful and controlled decisions. Sam’s words not mine! I did however think getting him to lead the next route may have been a stretch too far. The line has a couple of decent runout sections, and a ground fall potential from quite high up. Again Sam’s words. Having said that to me after he had observed me on the sharp end and followed up, grateful to have the rope above him:
Four seemed a good time for a brew, seeing Sam had packed a flask. Coinciding nicely with the typical “time for tea” time of 3:30 to 5:00pm. A British tradition that started at the end of the 19th century when a close friend of Queen Victoria had a sinking feeling late in the afternoon. Needing something between lunch and dinner to replenish her energy levels. With our energy levels topped up there was time to squeeze a couple more lines in, one lead each. After completing his lead Sam looked over and spied the first reptile of the day:
I’d been scouring all the cracks and crevices without success. This made the sight of the King’s Skink (Egernia kingii) soaking up the sun feel like a privilege. Chilling out on a steep slab. Scampering for cover if we made any sudden movements, before coming back out. Making our roped climbing efforts today seem trivial in comparison. We were not however out for egos and high grades, just having fun. Ending the session in exactly that way, with a first ascent up another one of the fine easy angled walls to create Sunny Sidewalk:
Sunny Sidewalk (15m, 12), start-up Sunny Arête until you have the confidence to step left onto next pillar just above the undercut flakes to take the sidewalk up the pleasant slab (Seewraj, Avery 2025).
Sandbagged 