Blue mountains climbing at Bell Supercrag
Hello again, it's about that time I write another blog detailing the epic adventures of the weekend! And by that I mean last weekend, man I'm really getting slack on this blog writing business. This time it was back to the Blue mountains and back to facing my fears in climbing.
Pat and I drove up on the Friday evening, getting in late. We left Canberra later than we had planned because of my last minute coding efforts to get my simulations running on the supercomputer (it turns out they didn't run in the end) before I could leave uni and head home to pack the car.
This weekend we were climbing in luxury, staying with our friend Michael in a cozy cabin in the Blackheath caravan park. Which meant cold beers, hot showers, decent sleeps and good food all weekend! Also, Bunk beds!
So after a great sleep in an actual bed and a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, bread and salted tomatoes (Yum!) we were heading out to Bell Supercrag, a climbing spot out on Bells line of road that I had never been to before. And of course we got lost trying to find the entrance off the main road. Its practically hidden out of sight!
We eventually found the crag, it was a pleasant 30 minute walk to the area (thats like the longest approach to a sports crag in the Blue mountains). First up was supposed to be my lead, guess what it didn't go as planned. All the flat face walls were wet, yuck. We found a climb -Aquadhere (17), with some of the start holds being wet but the rest was dry.
So I tied in and prepared to climb, trying to avoid stepping on the muddy ground in my climbing shoes. I hit a wet hold, gross, then as I tried to move up I slipped off and started falling. It was a pleasant fall, we had stick clipped the first bolt luckily and Pat caught me in the air, making my descent nice and slow, Phew! Somehow I had held on tight to the wall as well so I was hanging by my arms in the end, which was possibly not a good idea, now my hands were hurting from the sharp rock and I was shaken up after such an ordeal. But I tried again! This time avoiding the wet hold. And the move was too powerful for me so I backed off. Oh well, what a terrible start to the trip, first climb in and I was still on the ground. So Pat took the lead, then Michael, then I seconded up and cleaned the route. And it wasn't easy at all, the entire climb was sustained, what a sandbag first climb for me!
The rest of the day also didn't go so well for me, we were in an area with a lot of harder climbs, lots of roofs to climb and no dry face climbs. Also I had left my lunch back in the car so there was no eating for me, and the first climb had completely ruined me. So I sat around watching Pat and Michael climb some awesome looking roofs. It wasn't too bad, I really enjoy watching people that are way better than me climb. I wish I could be that good!
I did one more climb on the first day (top rope of course). Pat lead Belayers Root (19) and I cleaned it afterwards. It was such a hard climb, I was stopping after every strenuous move. But I figured out the moves for most of the climb. A lot of stemming was necessary to get up. The last move was definitely too difficult for me and it was pouring rain by this point so I pulled myself up the rope and cleaned it quickly. That was it for me! I needed to save my strength for the walk out.
At some point during the day, Michael realised that his friend that we thought was flying into Sydney the next day, had actually arrived during the day and was waiting for him to pick her up. So we quickly ended the day and went to pick her up from the train station in Blackheath. Then the night ended with cheese and wine and dinner at an Irish pub in Katoomba.
The second day came after another decent sleep and the group was large enough for us to split up. This time Pat and I headed to Duck wall to warm up and Michael went to Sunnyside, both were on the opposite side of the valley to where we were the day before. The second day for me turned into a day about bailing on what should be easy leads because my fear got the best of me. Once again I was caught in a terrible headspace, too afraid to lead because of the thought of falling and stuck hating myself because of said fear. I've come to realise that if I can't do a climb, I will start to hate myself and the frustration generally leads to me crying as I try to get a hold of myself, and thats hard, especially when I'm wasting my climbing partner's time. Lets just say that sometimes I'm a mess when it comes to challenging myself.
We started out on another lead for me -How Much is a Duck Worth (17). And I did the first move and realised the next move was a bit scary so I bailed. So Pat lead the climb and I seconded again. I took a few rests on the rope but I did most of the climb clean. I could have lead it, it wouldn't have been too bad if I did but I gave up. Having Pat there to fall back on because he was a better climber than me and I knew he would climb it for me if I asked. This was becoming a habit for me and I knew it was unhealthy.
So I worked myself up to leading the climb next to it which was Rabbit season, Duck season (16). The first moves were hard so I asked Pat to take in the slack so I could rest on the rope, giving up on the onsight attempt. But this climb was a lot shorter than the last one and should be easier so I didn't completely give up. I needed a minute to breathe some deep breaths and regain my focus and then I tried the moves again and got past the hard bit. The rest was easy for me, face climbing has always been my preferred style of climbing. I was in my element and before I knew it I was at the top of the ridiculously short climb. It might not seem like much of an achievement but for me it was what I needed right then and there. The small victory of not giving up and actually completing the climb was a large victory in my mind.
Next up, Pat was getting ready to climb Seamstress (22) at sunnyside and I brought lunch this time so I ate some food before belaying him. It was great climbing as always by Pat, he got through most of the climb effortlessly, took a long rest in the small cave half way up and kept climbing to the top. But just as he went for the anchor jug (last hold on the climb) he slipped off! He was so close to getting the onsight and one slip ruined it. Damn! He took a massive whipper off the wall and I went flying up a metre off the ground from the force of the fall. But he got back on and got the top.
After that, I wanted one more climb before we joined the others on the hard roof climbs so I went back to Duckwall to climb Gosling (18), another short face climb that shared anchors with the 16. Getting off the ground was a real struggle! There was no feet except for a really high foot that I had to pull into to launch my right hand for the next hold. I managed to stick it but I realised that it was going to be hard to move after such a powerful start so I bailed again. This time not as much out of fear but out of physical exhaustion. I knew I probably wouldn't be able to stay on the wall after such a move. So I got Pat to lead my climb for me once again. And once again I seconded up the climb. Again the first move was too powerful and I barely stayed on the wall. I got my right foot up and slowly moved across to the bolt and the good holds. There was a lot of heavy breathing as I did this, I was certain I was going to fall but I managed to stay on and not rest on the rope. And then the rest was my style, hard crimpy face climbing but with really good foot placements all the way up. I got the climb clean and realised as I hit the anchors that I should have tried harder to lead it. I could have done it if I had just committed to the hard moves. Why didn't I just go for it? Because I don't try hard things if I think I will fail. I don't try things that might be a bit scary. So I didn't go for it, I have yet another climb I need to go back and try for real, maybe I'll get it.
This weekend I'm having a break from climbing, chilling out at home and packing for the New Zealand trip which is coming up fast, this coming Wednesday we are off to new climbing lands in Castle Hill, New Zealand. Its been a long time since I tried any outdoor bouldering so we'll see how it goes.
In the meantime, before I start packing, I bought a graphics tablet the other day so I'm learning how to paint digitally instead of spending all my money on paints. This is just the first try, what do you think?
