It’s been well over a year and possibly two since I have climbed at Wallcliffe, and there are several reasons. First technically it is illegal to climb here, but that said the local bye law that stands had been previously contested in parliament and thrown out so the current law may be on equally shaky ground. Second it is a heritage site and is protected, but then so is the river that runs past the crag and people still swim, kayak and paddle board on it. Lastly my memory of the place is that it is steep, pumpy and technical. But today Kym was keen to head out and plumped for this place, so I went along with it:

There have been a number of routes put up here since I last climbed, and so we decided today we would jump on the new stuff and it was kind of exciting to know we would be on routes that we had not attempted before. I didn’t mind the idea as I knew a number of them were grade 20 and less (UK 5b’ish), so should be quite doable. I started on the easiest of the bunch (the image above) and really enjoyed it; the rock was sharp and friction bomber. Also it had no bee hives near it, which can be a real hazard at this crag and the hive shown below was right next to Kym’s first lead:

Kym jumped a fun line called Thai Massage and when we climbed it the reason for the name became apparent. Part way up you can back and foot against a stalactite and it feels like a severe back massage, as well as (I’m told) being similar to the type of climb you might find in Thailand. It was another good route with good positions and exposure, but you had to watch out for a couple of small bee hives. The rock was again sharp and it wouldn’t be long before they started to sting:

As I followed Kym up on this one I came across another animals, well I found its home which was made of small sticks neatly glued together to make this conical home. I’ve seen these before but have never found out what they are called. It is only about 2cm long, but the engineering skill for such a small creature to get such a perfectly formed home amazes me:

I was up next and this climb Kym put up but I had never attempted. Named Head-butt due to the person Kym allowed to have the first ascent managed to head-butt the crag during that ascent. Another fun climb with a great flake at the top which can be climbed in a number of ways, but we all know you should lay-back flakes and this one is brilliant. The good thing about this route was the rock wasn’t as sharp and our fingertips didn’t suffer as much:

With three quality lines under our belt, and a desire to jump on new stuff we had little option but to push the grade and the next one went at 23 (UK 6a’ish). This part of the crag has great looking clean rock, and it is amazing that it took so long before anyone set any routes here. Kym had spied the potential lines some time back but was a bit slow in getting to them, so missed his chance. But that did mean we had three more lines neither of us had ever been on to attempt:

The first one above was very good, but only had one short crux sequence. It took a little working out but Kym managed to get up it after a few short rests to figure it out. Having watched him climb it gave me enough info and I managed a clean climb, albeit on second. It was certainly more in keeping with the climbs I expected to come across here and was pretty pumpy, as well as once again having some sharp holds that you couldn’t avoid. Before my lead I decided to rest up the arms and take a few snaps of some of the other nature that was out on this winter’s day:

I couldn’t put it off for too long so eventually started up the line to the left, that we thought was the same grade. It shared the same start but then headed up a beautiful clean face that yielded on pockets, underclings and layaways. A good number of the holds were finger cutting sharp and the tips were getting very thin now. The crux sequence, this time comprising several sections, also proved too hard and I had to rest up to figure it out. Kym did better than me on it, and we agreed it was probably a grade harder (and we were right):

We had saved the crème-de-la-crème till last, it was also the hardest line. The guide gives it the same grade as the last one but we both found it tougher and more sustained. Kym went up first and managed to get to the orange headwall, which is where I am in the image below. He was close to bagging it but after falling off, each subsequent attempt only sapped his finger strength. Eventually he came down and I gave it a bash and promptly failed at the same spot. However, between us we had a couple of ideas of how to get through the very, fingery section on the headwall. Kym got it in the end and with fingers shredded and torn we left a blood trail up the last route, which was also a sign to tell us to end what was another grand day out:

Saturday was a lovely, cold and crisp day with blue skies, so of course it made complete sense to head out on Sunday morning. Being a mid-morning start gave the clouds and rain that had been forecast and threatening a chance to get hold. As I was driving out to Castle Rock to meet Lou, Steve and Leanne I did wonder if they would actually turn up:

The rain abated a bit as I drove down the last road towards Castle Rock beach and I couldn’t help wonder if the surfers, paddle boarders and fisher people (I’m being politically correct here) had the right idea. It may have brightened up a wee bit but the skies looked like they would have a really good go at getting us as wet as the people in the water were:

Lou arrived soon after me and didn’t look too keen, I offered her first lead but she declined so I jumped on a thin slab and tip toed my way up. It was wet-as but the friction was still not too bad, in fact I climbed it in probably the best style I ever have. As with recent wet before work morning climbs with Howsie, I had a different approach of trusting the holds more than usual in these conditions:

Lou was not so convinced about the conditions, it was probably a tad too fingery and tricky as a first climb but there are not too many options at the lower grade routes here. While she was procrastinating, I said that seeing we had made the trip out she had no choice but to jump on lead. As you can see she was stoked (not!) and took her time seemingly contemplating what lay ahead, as the rain tumbled down on us:

Steve and Leanne turned up just after finishing the first climb. They were not put out by the rain one bit, instead revelling in being out. This recently newlyweds were brimming over with energy and enthusiasm, but did sensibly decided it was a bit wet for leading so set about organising a top rope:

Their energy must have been catching, as Lou went for it despite the rain. Her mind was only half in it, so having picked something not too hard was a good option. She got stuck in and I think enjoyed her lead up this fun flake system. It was hard to tell, as she didn’t smile as much as usual when I pointed the camera at her:

After I scuttled up, Leanne was also keen to give it a bash seeing Steve was taking so long to get that top rope sorted. She made short work of it and seeing how little she has been on rock for what seems a very long time it was great to see:

My lead next, so I decided to try a line that I had put up just before the guide went out. It’s a sketchy lead not from lack of gear but more the roundedness and flakey nature of the rock. I bit off a bit more than I could chew, but bumbled my way up with a few rests during which I had to give myself ‘a talking too’ (as Steve would say) before I had the courage for the next section. I do however wonder whether it is a bit of a sand-bag climb at the grade we gave it:

Lou was in charge of my camera at this point, and I think she found it assuming that I had six gear placements for the sustained bottom 4/5m. Both Steve and then Lou followed up and found it ‘very entertaining’. Then Leanne decided while there was a rope available, she would have an amble up too – but taking a line to the right that was somewhat less daunting:

Finally it was time to make use of the top rope Steve had put up, this was the hardest climb of the morning and it was a very wise choice not to lead it. The first bolt is high up and the landing pretty sketchy. It is also a full on climb that requires lots of body tension to avoid barn dooring. Steve, Lou and I played on this one, while Leanne passed on the offer:

We all agreed then that it was time to head off, we had done pretty well getting in four fun routes and the clouds were once again rolling in with the threat of another heavy downpour. So with soggy clothes and gear we made our way out, and were very happy that we had made the effort to get out and stick at it:

Last weekend I caught up with Ryan, he has been back in the SW for a few weeks now but we had until now not had the chance to catch up. We decided to head for Willyabrup for a variety of reasons: we wanted some trad, it has rooves that offer protection if the weather came in, it has longer routes, and because Ryan had been missing the old stomping ground during his last few years of globe-trotting/climbing:

He has been to quite a few continents and sampled the rock and lines they offered, so has now broadened his climbing styles and appreciations. It was interesting to hear that he feels while in the SW we don’t have the abundance of routes to pick from we do have consistently good quality rock. We were ken on trad so up he went on this neat direct line up the Dolphin Smiles wall:

The first climb (on second seemed a doddle) so I plumped for a grade harder but very well-rehearsed line on the Inner Space wall. The route after which this wall was named is great but it does have a bold and thin finish, oh and did I say that we had decided not to use chalk. So I had a bit of a yoyo experience on the top as the little holds all felt a bit slippy to me. When I topped out, fortunately, it started to slowly rain and got heavier and heavier:

The good thing about this place is the rock isn’t very porous, so it dries quickly but then when you get those sweaty fingertips it can quickly become discerning. I’ve used this image to show that the short sharp shower resulted in some wet rock (just above Ryan’s head) but we managed to work our way round it:

Well keeping the trad approach let’s see who can guess this climb, I’ll let interstate and international recipients off for not knowing. Personally I don’t rate the climb as much as others do and wanted to downgrade its classic 3 star rating. I relented on that quest after a bit of an ear bashing on the local climbers forum when I put the idea forward. As you will see only one climb later and all is dry and forgiven:

We were trying to keep the grade of routes on the level or rise, so we had kinda run out of trad lines so we ventured to a few mixed and one fully sport routes. This one has a fingery crux and I was impressed how the chalk-less Ryan managed to seemingly walk past the crux sequence. On second I could feel my fingers slipping away and am not sure how I quite managed to keep hold, but I did and was really tried afterwards. It was turning into a bigger than expected session:

After all my ranting in the past and to this day about trad calming I was the one who picked a fully bolted line. I’ve only put this image in as I love the wave in the background, they were big and impressive with wave after wave crashing in with the thunder like booming echoing off the walls. Made for a great atmosphere and luckily there didn’t seem to be a heap of spray coming up onto the walls. I mentioned that I was tiring on the last line so I panted my way up this one, back on Dolphin Smiles wall) with ever tiring muscles:

Ryan’s turn to choose and as I would be on second hell why not one more climb. So over to the majestic Steel Wall. It’s an awesome 35m face of great technical climbing that is on many a coffee table climbing book, it’s even on the front face of the new SW guide. I finally took an image of Ryan on lead that doesn’t look like he is on the same route in similar position, did you notice that about the last three images of him on lead:

Now yes I was tried but it just didn’t seem right to end on an odd number of climbs, does anyone else think like me? Well I have to admit to slipping up and dropping on my lead by one grade. But, I think I made up for it with the choice of climb which is extremely run out as this image hopefully shows. The run out sections are not too hard, but the holds are fingery and your head does play games when you get +6m above the gear and don’t forget today was a no chalk day:

Well Dazza you probably thought you wouldn’t get a mention, but here you are. We bumped into Dazza who happened to be down from Perth for a reunion with mates, some of whom he managed to convince to come out to Willyabrup so he could, well, show them the ropes. They were in fact the only other people with ropes down there, we bumped into lots of people walking or bouldering but no other climbers. Well it was there loss as it turned out to be a brilliant afternoon and we certainly worked hard and had fun:

Couldn’t resist one last image, as we were rolling back into our road a small creature ran across the road and I was able to get a sneaky picture of this cute Bandicoot in the headlights of the car. It was a grand way to end a good afternoon out, I thought I would be aching all over after what had been the biggest session I’ve had in a long time, but didn’t pull up too badly and the dreaded DOMS stayed away:

Lou has had her head in the books for a while now and was itching to break free and get out on some rock for a change of scenery. The weekend had started stormy on the Friday night and it continued right through on and off. So by mid-afternoon on the Sunday we made a dash for Castle Rock, and sure enough we got a mixed bag but with that came some great sights such as this rainbow as we prepared for the first climb:

Despite all the rain the rock was in great condition, and for the most part was dry although the cracks had a bit of moisture in them. It wasn’t really an issue as we had no intention of climbing hard today and we bumbled up some lines that I didn’t even feel warranted including in the guidebook, other than a line to say this part of the crag offered some short, fun easy cracks:

Right on cue as Lou was topping out the blue sky in the image above disappeared and the heavens opened on us. Fortunately the wind had a bit of oomph to it and I was on the ball enough to cover the rope, so things dried out nicely for me to throw Lou onto another lead. Having been a diligent student and studied hard her brain was a little mushy when it came to adventure, which showed as she piked out at the top of the next climb blaming it on lack of gear:

She then insisted it was my lead for which I already had a plan. When I last climbed here with Howsie he really struggled to get established onto the awesome face. After he tried soooo many times he offered me the lead, and I hate to sound boastful but I walked up it and loved every bit of it. So this time I started with great confidence and buzzing sensation of excitement for the divine face climbing that was to come. But…… try as I might I couldn’t make the move so it was my turn to pike out. Instead I headed up a fun corner system that was conveniently just to the side, so it didn’t feel like I had gone off route (too much!):

After all that palaver Lou insisted that we even up the leads, so I plumped for an easy ramble on another one of those nameless lines. Just to add to the excitement I picked a line that meant Lou had to belay a bit closer to the waves as they crashed in. I climbed it as slowly and thoughtfully as possible but she never got wet, the waves were simply not big enough. Still it was a fun line and fitting way to finish the session off:

The light faded pretty quickly and by the time Lou had followed me up and she was coiling the rope it was time to head back to the car. It was only a short ten minute walk but by the time we got there we were engulfed in darkness. Perfect timing and a great little session, but nothing too hard so Lou had plenty of energy to get home and hit the books again:

Inspired by responses to my last email I took my camera along with us on the end of the working week before work climb. Bit of a mouthful, but as both Chris and I do not have as much potential to get out on weekends, as we may like, we have been going to Welly Dam before work usually on a Thursday or Friday. In summer this worked great as it was light by 4am so we could get three hours in and still be at work for 8am, but now we are in the thick of Autumn and first light is at 6:30 when it is not cloudy making it a tad harder. So yesterday I left home at 5am, while most of the world about us is still in dreamland. I was hoping for the usual mob of kangaroos that I see as I slowly and carefully make my way to the highway, but alas not one showed up:

It takes half an hour to get to Chris’s house and then another 45min to drive up the hill to Well Dam. For those doing their maths we get there at 6:15 and yes it is still dark. As we have been here so many times we have got into the routine of picking a warm up climb based not on grade but how well we know it. Finding those hand and foot holds in the non-existent morning light becomes more important than grade, this image was only possible due to the camera having a torch function on it:

Pocket Knife is a grade 19 (HVS 5a) climb that we have done, like so many others, countless times; and some may think we would get bored with repeating the same climbs. However, while writing the new climbing guide for this area we really struggled to decide which Welly Dam climbs to rate with stars. There are not many that do not deserve one if not two stars and many in our mind are worthy of three. So it is no wonder that we never get bored of the routes here, and added to that with our early morning sessions we climb them in many different conditions so the way you approach them also changes. As any warm up should, it didn’t present any difficulties and Chris was up and down before first light started to peek through:

Both sun rise and set seem to happen very quickly here, if you blink you’ll miss it. Years back I was on a travel show and they wanted to film the sunset as part of it, after which they commented it was so fast that they wouldn’t need to speed it up for the final show. As such by the time I had been up my chosen warm up, Shock Therapy a short but punchy grade 20 (HVS 5b) Chris had the luxury of being able to see all the holds. Interestingly we were not sure that was of help, as climbing in the dark you had to trust the holds more by feel and with the encroaching light there was more chance of your mind playing games with you about just how good they were. That said we both made short work of what used to be one of Chris’s nemesis:

The native tress in our part of the world are evergreen, but when they finished quarrying the granite for Welly Dam they planted this picnic area with deciduous trees. Being autumn this big sycamore tree was in the middle of shedding its leaves, giving us a great colourful canopy and mosaic leaf littered ground. When the wind picked up there would be a flurry of leaves floating down which was very pretty to watch:

Being autumn also meant that the grass was sopping wet, and wet climbing shoes are not a good thing. Being a quick before work climb we don’t have the time to much about with taking shoes on an off to move about. So with a bit of adaption my everyday footwear of sandals became a somehow climbing shoe cover. Fortunately the walls have enough warmth to avoid being (too) wet:

Enough about the season and conditions, Chris’s next mission was a great climb called Silverback (21 or E1/2 5b). It starts on big holds which you have to pull hard on to keep going, before a super thin and balancy crux move to gain a slabby section. Chris has managed clean ascents of all the 20s at Welly Dam, so has set himself the task of bagging all the 21s now. This one proved a little too tricky and try and try as he did the crux had him beat. Me thinks more finger board and core muscle training is needed before he is successful on this one:

The images may have given the indication that the morning was clear and bright, but it was in fact foggy. This is pretty common for our morning sessions with the place being so close to Wellington Reservoir, which used to be the drinking water supply for the area. The fog helps in that the mornings are generally a bit warmer, today it was ten degrees when we got there. But it can make for some of the more lichen covered climbs to be a tad damp. If you look carefully you might be able to see Chris on the wall on the right preparing to clean the last climb:

My turn next, and seeing I had been doing my finger board and core muscle training over the last few weeks decided on another grade 21, Taj Vs the World. This is a devious climb that makes you guess on every move and hold. It is thin, balancy, technical and a tad run out at the top; in truth it is probably under graded. It is also one that we do not often do as it is a little scary and has a reputation for being hard. On this occasion it beat me and I was only able to make my way up it with a couple of rests, one of which was due to a hold crumbling on me and hitting me square on the helmet. I’ll have to train a bit harder and will have another bash on it next week:

As Chris seconded and cleaned that route we heard the loud harsh cries or krar-raak. It may not seem particularly nice, but when you hear it for real it is quite beautiful. We looked up and sure enough there we a few red-tailed black cockatoos flying overhead. These birds remind me of our time in Alice Springs, where we would see flocks with as many as several hundred of them. In this instance it also drew our attention to the specks of blue sky starting to peak through as the sun was warming the world up:

So onto the next route Rock Therapy, another 21. One of the more recently established climbs it is not one we have jumped on too often. Most of it is great fun with big hidden holds that allow you to gain overlaps and small roofs with exposed moves. Then the final headwall looms and everything changes, with pumped forearms the small holds and smeary feet of the final crux section become a real challenge. Chris started well but was getting more wobbly as he got higher; he eventually managed to reach the final anchors but not in the style he had hoped:

He was pretty stuffed by the end of that one, but we had to even up the numbers so I jumped on Slay Away. It’s given 22 (E2 5c) but I reckon is a bit soft at the grade, and is less consistent than some of the other routes. The bottom section is a lot of fun with funky and unexpected moves, then it is time to trust a sloper on insecure feet under a bulge. This is where most people come unstuck and the images shows Chris attempting to try and snatch past this, but there was no way that was going to work with the good holds being a foot higher:

You may be wondering by now how many climbs we did and what the time might have been. We normally only bag 4 climbs and try to get to work between 8:30 and 9:00, but today we had agreed to stay for a bit longer and so it was now just after 9:30. With six awesome climbs under our belts, a few project in mind to try again next week and that satisfying achy feel after a great session; it really was time to pack up the handy crate and head to work:

Welly Dam is located in a basin that is up on a hill, which is one of the reasons it is often cloudy and foggy for our early morning sessions. This is the sight that usually greats us as we start to descend back down the hill. Clear skies and a view of Bunbury and the ocean beyond it. Another brilliant morning, and with luck we may be able to keep these session up all year:

Hope you are all finding some time to get your rock fix.

It has been a long while since I have written a bit of an outdoor climbing email, so I thought it was about time I did and the only way to do that is to get out and climb. My last weekend climb was six weeks back and on that fateful trip I hit a roo, so I didn’t have the same keenness to document that trip.

So to remedy my long silence Lou and I decided to head out for an afternoon climb yesterday, and it was also to be the first time I would catch up with Glen. However, the forecast was looking a bit dicey and that morning the weather was on and off pants. As I drove to Busselton the rain came down hard and it was liking iffy. Lou pulled the pin so I went to see Glen, as we checked out his woody the rain was coming down hard on the roof and we almost resigned to having to boulder in the shed. That was until Kym sent me this text and we decided to go for it:

With a positive mind we drove down and while the rain came down here and there it certainly looked like we may be able to squeeze a climb or two in. Glen hasn’t done a huge amount of trad leading but is keen, has some gear and is heading to Arapiles in a week’s time to meet up with Leigh. So being possibly wet we plumped for Moses where the routes are a shorter but the friction and gear (on the lower grade routes) is more plentiful:

We were sand blasted as we walked along the beach all rugged up. With a strong northerly that made us lean forward as the trudged onwards. There were blue patches in the shy interwoven with dark looming clouds, and the ocean was pretty wild. Those who know the place will realise that with rough seas the rock can feel very greasy with the salt spray and that was a risk we took:

Due the northerly we started on the first buttress that was shielded from the wind. We had heard from Kym that it had rained down here almost every day last week and that had washed any remnants of salt from the rock, That with the strong wind provided us with the perfect conditions. To boot as Glen set off on his first lead at Moses rocks the sky above was a wonderful blue and the sun was out – it was T shirt weather!

I was keen to throw Glen on Hathersage a great grade 15 (VS 4c), but decided to start a bit slower and plumped for Stanage Youth at 13 (VS 4a/b). He did a fine job and soon learnt the great friction that Moses has to offer on these rare days of perfect conditions. The gear was a another story. While he found great placements, the outwardly flared nature of many of the cracks was a tad disconcerting and made him think long and hard at each placement:

It was a real weird day and as he was setting up the belay I took a peak to see what the northerly was brining, it didn’t look good. Basked in brilliant sunshine and watching the marching army of dark clouds making their hasty way towards us made me think we made the right choice with Moses, short routes and easy to make a run for it if we needed to:

Next up I decided to send Glen up a lower grade route that had more plentiful and probably slightly easier to find gear. So it was time for a bit of Easy Listening 8 (severe), he certainly chewed up the first half of the route until the ledge with well-spaced and solid gear. The T-shirts were still out but I was mindful of the clouds rolling in, that Glen was oblivious too:

The top of this climb which should go straight up had him baffled, as all the holds slope and the wrong way and the flared cracks made the placements seem less than secure. So he slowly drifted with the slope and ended up finishing up the fun chimney of Drop the Donk at the same grade:

Before leaving the northern end I couldn’t resist and jumped on Hathersage. This was the first climb in WA that I attempted, the only thing that held me back being that I was by myself and soloing and the top headwall is a tad thin and exposed. It’s a great climb full of character and is also named after a little village in the heart of the Peak District, the home of gritstone, where I have spent many weekends camping out and climbing. Glen had no problem on second and I think he will be back sometime to try his luck on lead:

We then decided to head to the main Hand’s Up Wall for some longer routes. As we walked along the cliff the wind hit us and we stared at the looming rain that was quickly approaching. So we doled up in a crevice and allowed it to pass, which didn’t take long. The best bit about the winds that day was a few minutes after the shower the rock was back to being bone dry, so with the next patch of blue sky we jumped onto one of the crag classics:

Wheely Things 15 (VS 4c) is an awesome jamming crack and if you don’t jam the grade goes up considerably. I was super impressed as Glen walked past the start which usually throws people off guard, but the next bulge had him worried so it took a bit of time and a rest before he finally managed to make progress and get over it. The only down side of the climb being that there is an escape at two thirds height to avoid the final steepening section, which is where he is at in the image below and he gladly took:

As we came back down a rainbow started to form over Wilyabrup, but I doubt there was anyone climbing there to get wet. Despite the temperature feeling like it was dropping we still seemed to have a fair amount of blue sky to make use of, so we went for one final line:

I decided on the roundest and most flared crack on the wall, Hands Up which is another 15 (VS 4c). Glen had not seen tri-cams before and so this was the perfect climb to show their true versatility, they can be used where no other gear will do such as on this climb. It’s normally a nervous lead but with all the saltiness washed away the friction was good and it was a fun walk in the park. Following up I think this may be another line that he’ll have his eye on for his next trip to Moses:

As we both topped out something was telling us that our time of dry conditions was running out so we packed up our still dry gear and wandered back out. This time with the wind on our back we didn’t have the strong of the sand and the slog through ‘the sand with a pack on seemed much more pleasant than it normally does after a climbing session:

As we reached the final dunes the rain caught up with us, not too hard but enough to let us know we had made the right decisions. It’s always great to catch those unexpected great days out on rock, which we wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for the local knowledge and encouragement of Kym, so thanks Kym and Lou we both reckon you lucked out:

While it was a fun climb we also spent a fait bit of time watching the sky, ocean and landscape rapidly changing with the unsettled weather. So much so that I took more images of the that than us climbing, so here to finish are a last couple that I particularly like:

Thanks for reading, and don’t be put off getting outdoor just because it feels like winter as hit.