You gotta love public holidays, especially when they result in a long weekend. Rolling out later than I normally head to work, the sky was a mixed bag of not knowing what it wanted to do. Howsie and I were however prepared to take the gamble, but didn’t feel it was necessary to have an early start on days like these. We were aiming for Wilyabrup, where roofs would provide us with a bit of shelter if things turned. On arrival it would have been easy to have had false hope, as there was lots of blue sky and glorious bone dry rock:
Out to sea the clouds told a different story, and a moderate to fresh westerly was blowing it right towards us at a rapid rate. Managing to get to our usual spot to dump the bags and rack up, before it dumped on us. The worse of it skimmed just north of our location concealing the coast, but we got enough of it to make most people second guess their next move. Seeing I all geared up, and had already resided to hitting a few low grade lines the decision was made. Climbing Hope as the rain just started to ease off, with water streaming down the rock:
Howsie came up with no rain falling on him, and by the time we wandered back down the clouds were mostly gone and the sun was back out. The winds dried the rock quickly, allowing him to have a dry run up Thunder Thighs. He was feeling a little weary today, so was also happy with a chilled pace. Having had a few big days in Perth with the family, during which he managed to sneak in a ‘power’ session at one of the bouldering gyms. The reason for visiting the gym was not all selfish, as he also picked up a new climbing guide for me:
The guide is for the Stirling Ranges, and provides a wealth of information that is making it very enticing to consider heading to the proper big hills. I have not climbed there anywhere as much as I would like, in part as is a much bigger commitment to head there. It is a place where the weather can close in, and unlike here where we can hide under a roof when you are up on a multi-pitch route you need to be prepared. For today however, and as I geared up for my next lead we were able to wait for the next belt to ease off:
You’d never have guessed that we are in summer and just a few days back it was a toasty near 40 degrees. Today we were rugged up in winter gear and for my second lead I climbed Sirius in one big pitch, in wetter conditions than my first lead. Whether it was because the water washed the rock clean of all the chalk, salt, and other minerals deposited by the spray, or just my mental state I’m not sure, but the rock felt good and secure. Watching as water ran behind the wires, as I fiddled them into cracks, I lapped up the conditions:
The cycle continued as before, with Howsie again seconding up as things were drying out and then he got another dry run up the wonderful Verbosity. Partly encouraged to hit this line, the longest here, after my big single pitch adventure. Sat atop after this glorious line we pondered how it had been a bit of a stop starty morning, and sure enough being my lead again there was another cloud bank heading our way. Having thoroughly enjoyed our morning and the mixed bag of conditions, we decided to hop out of there with dry gear:
Sandbagged 