David has been a little absent of late, but jumped at the chance of a Sunday foray this weekend. I’d heard that he has been frequenting a new boulder gym in the area to pull on plastic, and has even been out for a few top rope solo missions on real rock. Understanding that there is a huge mental difference between that and leading; I did however think that with all of his extracurricular activities he may have got his mind more in tune for tying into the sharp end. I kept this thought under my belt, and I left him to choose our destination:
Moses Rocks it was and more specifically he was keen to check out the southernmost cliffs, Rumpoles Rocks. The weather for the whole weekend has been looking hit and miss. There was a glimmer of an opportunity for Sunday morning, but with it there was still a chance we may get wet. Sometimes you just have to chance it, so we locked the day in. As it got closer, the forecast looked to become more settled and quite possibly dry. The swell was also much lower than my last trip here, by three meters. Making me think Rumpoles should be fine:
It seemed however that the size of the swell wasn’t the only thing to dictate the size of the waves. The sets were clean and crisp as they came in, and when making contact with the rocky land mass we saw some shoot twenty meters in the air. David looked uncertain of our predicaments to start with. To ease him into it we stopped just short of Rumpoles, where we would be a bit further away from the water. I left him to look at the lines and decide what drew his attention. Once he had been drawn in, I suggested he rack up and tie in:
After all he had brought his new gear, a set of tricams that had not yet made contact with rock. It seemed logical he took the lead and then the next. Nothing too serious. He only had a slight stammer on the first climb. Then just before the moves shown a few images up, on his second route, I eventually had to give him a bit of a talking too. Once he committed he romped up. However, what with the waves booming behind us, the occasional spray hitting us, and the next routes being a notch up, he decided he would rather come up on second:
David only brought his tricams, as I had offered to bring my gear today. What wasn’t used and lay at the base of the climbs and this slowly on got a good soaking. Not from rain, as nothing came from the clouds. It was all the spray from the waves, which never relented. We could have avoided the smothering of salt by going to the higher walls, but what would have been the fun in that? I took a couple of leads, by which time we had cleaned up the small buttress. And while he looked nervous, it was agreed that we should head to Rumpoles to give it a go:
We watched for a bit before committing, in fact we did a lot of watching as nature just got on with putting on a spectacular show. Knowing the area well enough I knew that while the belayer may get a little damp, this wall was protected by a huge boulder so it was safe enough. I headed up leaving David at the base, anchored in just in case. Several huge sets came in and water burst over the boulder and boiled at his feet but he never got wet. Well no wetter than we had at the other buttress despite being much further from the action:
David made his way up, away from the excitement below. In the above image, he is already half way up the climb. Reaching the tope he was buzzing from the sheer exhilaration of the situation. Stating that one belay in those conditions was enough, and there was no way he fancied taking on a lead. Maybe on a calmer and drier day. He was still keen to jump on some dry rock, so it was time to walk back to the northern end. Here we were high and dry, the waves seemed nowhere near as intimidating, and there was not even a hint of any spray:
Even the sun made an appearance. And while we got to see a rainbow created in the drops of a light shower out to sea, those drops never fell on land. The rock here was in perfect condition. I’ve often said the rock at Moses holds its friction well when it is wet, this means it is super sticky when it is dry. Regardless of this, being a bit steeper and more sustained, David was happy for me to be on the sharp end for the three lines we gobbled up. No complaints from me, but next time I’ll leave the pointy end for David to tie into a bit more often:
Sandbagged 