Not again I thought, as I parked opposite the signs in the image below. Then called Jessi and advised that the road leading to our planned destination was closed, with no indication as to why. Other options would entail another half an hour drive to a crag that was going to be less friendly for what we wanted, or more importantly needed today. Plan B was to drive to the next coastal carpark and walk back along the path, hoping that wasn’t also closed off. We’d come this far so we agreed on that:
Some may recall my physio, now turned climbing buddy. Last time she joined Josh and myself at Moses Rocks, where after two climbs it was clear that was all she could manage. A long term shoulder injury, while having been subjected to a two year rehabbed program, was not ready for too much climbing just yet. That was in part due to the rehab having been for another sport with quite different movements. Since then, and because she got the bug back after the last trip out, the rehab exercises have been modified to also consider climbing:
Not that we were expecting great things today. Just some cruisy and fun lines to see how it is all going. For which Castle Rock, sat in the middle of the above image, was just the ticket. Having enough lower grade routes to pick from, selected based on how likely they would be to test that shoulder. Before that happened, we shouldered the packs and walk in the approx. 2km from Meelup Beach. A pleasant stroll, during which we spied a few Southern Right Whales (Eubalaena australis) leisurely heading in the opposite direction:
The path was open, phew. We then started and stayed on the West Face. First, a few shorter warm up routes to dip the toes in the water. Luke also tagged along, but was content to chill out at the base and observe. Jessi is keen to introduce him to climbing. Although suffering from hypsophobia, derived from the Greek words of hypsos and phóbos and translating to height and fear, it will have to be a gentle approach. A bit like she was having to control herself to do at the moment. That said she romped up the first routes with no issues:
Seeing everything had felt good, I pointed out a possible next climb. This one would however require summiting an overlap and fully committing to laybacking above this, with not much for your feet. Read into that work your shoulders a bit more. As she climbed I also kept an eye out on the waters. No more whales were about, the water however looked very inviting. Now that the more prolific period of orchids is quickly ‘drying’ up, it may soon be time to get wet and go for a snorkel. Today the conditions and water clarity here looked brilliant:
I’m glad to say she loved the line, so I pointed out the next possibility. This had an even bigger bulge to overcome, so would test the shoulder even more. While she loved it and I could see in her eyes an eagerness for more, common sense prevailed. Sensibly listening to her body that was saying that was enough for this time. No matter that was five routes instead of two, like last time, a good indication of progress. And even better Luke didn’t disregard the option of having a bash sometime, when I suggested we could head somewhere gentle next time:
