Timing is everything and today I didn’t quite get it right. Driving out on the eve of a full moon, three quarters of an hour or so before first light. Someone had snuck ahead of me, as we drove out of Peppy Beach through the at times kangaroo infested road. Not surprisingly it was dark and this resulted in the people in front having the luxury of using their full beams and spotlights to light their way. Whereas I, being considerate, was left with just my main beams. Luck was on my side in that there was not a kangaroo in sight, at least none that I saw:
I can’t recall the last start that has been in darkness like that. Today however it felt the right thing to do, as it was supposed to get pretty warm. Making an early start on rock worthwhile. Just before new year’s while Josh and I were down at Wilyabrup, we bumped into Darby. I’ve met him a few times at Willyabrup, and this time after a little chat I discovered he had bought himself a new trad rack. Asking what line and which crag he may scratch it up for the first lead, it transpired he wasn’t aware of the lesser visited climbing spots along the coastline:
As such we kept in touch, as I advised that I would soon be releasing a whole bunch of mini-guides for the area, which would help him discover more of the area. Word has spread about them and the page is the most visited on my blog over the past year. The guides have also been downloaded a bunch of times. That said we still had Moses Rocks all to ourselves today, and despite being a mere ten minutes from where Darby lives has never been here. Not even for stickybeak. As such I handed him the floppy end to sample the place the best way:
Being on lead. Several times he offered me the chance to get on the sharp end, but I was more than happy to follow up these well-rehearsed routes. As can be seen, for those familiar with the place, we went into the zawn. The full moon would be out tonight, and that meant the moon was the closest it gets to earth. A mere 225,000’ish miles. That is 14,000’ish miles closer than its average distance during the a synodic month. Being how long it takes the moon to complete a cycle from new moon to new moon, some 29’ish days:
Why is all this relevant, well the combined gravitational pull of the sun and moon is at its greatest. Resulting in higher high tides and lower low tides. Today low tide was at six in the morning. Added to this there was only a moderate swell. You could suggest that not just the sun and moon, but the very stars had aligned. The base of most routes were dry, and the risk of being wave washed was low. Making the most of this window of opportunity, four lines were gobbled up including the one below that in early December sent me to the physio:
Today I am pleased to say there were no slips, the dry rock certainly assisted. Seeing we climbed with Darby’s gear, two images up is picture of one of his recent acquisition. A slider nut. It is a piece of gear that I do not have in my arsenal but have at times pondered. They certainly got a work out today in the zawn. Next time we head out, assuming I will lead something, I might use them myself to see if I will be tempted to splash out. Some of my gear did come along today, and below I think Darby has been converted into the way of the tricam:
As he was just about to start the fourth route in the zawn, a surprise set of waves came in and we did get a little wet. A sign that it was time to move to Hands Up wall, which is high and dry. While the slider nuts got a workout in the zawn, the tricams took over as the most used gear on this wall. Their versatility and use in difficult to protect flared cracks won him over, and he suggested he will seriously look into getting some. As it started to warm up and I suggested that I would be keen to head out soon. But not before four more lines could be ticked:
For the last line, Darby’s eyes went back to the line that had piqued his interest when we first walked past this part of Moses Rocks. A feisty grade 21, that Howsie will be pleased to hear he went for. It is certainly by far the hardest line I have been on since my regular visits to the physio started three months back. The physio had however told me last week that based on how I was going with the rehab, I should be ok to test myself a bit more on rock. And thanks to Darby test it I did, and I’m pleased to say it felt pretty good:
Sandbagged 