After sweating through a near forty degree Christmas day it felt strange, when just two days later I was stood atop Wilyabrup looking out at a broody ocean with a stiff and chilly breeze cutting across the coast. Last night sat on the sofa doing my very best at being a couch potato, I wasn’t sure if I could be bothered to make the effort to get here for some solo adventures. Then the phone pinged and Josh hinted that he had an opportunity to get out and was keen. Being a time for being with family he had to get back for lunchtime:
That gave us enough time, in view that I needed to be sensible and not do too much. This saw us stick to a few fun grade 15 and under climbs, which are so familiar that I can almost rely on muscle memory to make the moves. The first few lines saw us rugged up against the cold, with Josh choosing his attire to do his very best at impersonating the big man in the red coat. Someone who should deservedly be slobbing on a couch somewhere about now. After a few climbs we shedded layers, not that we got to see even a glimpse of the sun:
Christmas time, brings the tourists out and also we also see the fair-weather climbers emerge. Being, in theory, the more reliably dry and warm time of year we tend to see more people head out for a play on real rock. Fresh from climbing indoors, where loading up their hands with chalk, as they pull on plastic, is the done thing. To the point that it becomes a natural reflex action to dip your hands into the magic white powder, regardless of actually needing it or not. This results in a light dusting on the rock providing a festive snow like appearance:
It felt great to be back on rock, popping wires into snug placements. It’s only been three weeks since my last climb, but it certainly feels a lot longer. Maybe because of work, at which I tend to find the build up to Christmas can feel like it is dragging somewhat. People hanging out for a bit of a break, but at the same time being in a bit of a frenzy to finish off or off load their inboxes. The end of year rush at work was made a bit more of a balancing act with twice weekly physio sessions; more medical appointments in a month than I can ever recall before:
There was no frenzy or mad rushing today. To start with we had the place to ourselves despite not getting here super early. This allowed us to pick and choose our lines, and I of course had a bit of a game plan. A few shorter routes to test how things felt, before jumping on a couple of the longer climbs. Picking off three beauties that Josh relished and climbed well despite, unlike me, having no memory about the climbs he may have been on before. It was not until we had finished these that other climbers appeared:
In our favour they set up on the area we had just finished with. When we moved along to the next spot it again felt like we had the place to ourselves. Here we looked for our scaly friends. Due to the relatively cold day and sun being hidden away, we were not overly hopefully of seeing them out but it seems they too may have moved on. With just a tiny bit of shed, or moulted skin, to be found behind the flake that we so often get to see them buried behind on cool days. Maybe they too have relocated to avoid the growing number of people on rock:
The feeling of solitude that we got today, was in part also because we brought a rap line with us. Resulting in not needing to wander past the other groups after we knocked off each line. The primary aim being to reduce the time required to walk back down between climbs. As such it was not that we were intentionally trying to be anti-social, it was more that today we needed to watch the clock a bit more than usual. If we really wanted to stay away from the crowds, there are a heap of small crags here that rarely get visited:
After we had wrapped up our session, and again not to avoid walking out past others, we climbed out with packs. There are however times when in the words of Charlie Brown, it is sometimes ‘too peopley out there’ for me. On days like that I would make a conscious effort to drag people to these more isolated crags. As such it may as such seem a little strange that I have decided to use my downtime this festive period to write up a bunch of mini-guides about these spots. I doubt it will change anything, but I’ll have fun writing them:
Sandbagged 