Climbing in the Blue Mountains
It has taken me quite a while to sit down and write this blog post. I started writing it late on Thursday but realised sleep was more important than this. So its been over a week since my trip to the blue mountains and you haven't heard anything. So its about time I finished this...
Day 1
We got in to Mt Victoria late on Friday night, hoping to camp at Mt York (the usual climbers campsite). Little did we know that the highline festival was on the same weekend and the campsite was completely packed full of people and vans. I've never seen so many vans in my life! So we gave up and went in search of somewhere else. About 30 minutes of driving later and we arrived at the second campsite for the night- Cathedral reserve, Mt Wilson.
Yes! There was plenty of room to set up camp and we were in our tents by about 1am. I forgot my pillow so I slept terribly... But the campsite is beautiful in the morning so I guess that makes up for it.
Then it was Saturday and we were heading to Mt Piddington for some trad climbing. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of trad climbing, mostly because it involves putting your own protection into the rock instead of clipping the rope into bolts already in the rock and I'm scared enough of falling when I'm secure on bolts! I have done quite a bit of trad climbing but my lead grade is much lower than my lead grade in sport climbing. And I generally suck at jamming my hands and feet into cracks.
It started out alright, I decided we should warm up on something nice and easy since it was my lead and we were joined by Richard who hadn't been climbing for a few months. So I lead Faith (grade 8) which was pretty comfortable and well below my limit. Trad is fun, I can totally do trad climbing! The climb put me in a good mindset (which you really want to have when trad climbing) so I was ready to keep climbing things.
It was Pat's turn to lead next and he had an amazing lead of Flake crack (17), climbing it easily with style. I was so impressed by the climbing, I felt like I had to give it a go, so I followed him up the climb on second. This photo is of me pulling the last moves over the roof section. I wish I had some photos of Pat on this climb.
The first section of the climb felt fairly easy, and then came the second part of the flake. This was the hardest part of the climb for me and I really struggled with it. I had Pat above me yelling down advice on how I should jam my feet into the flake. Meanwhile I was also pulling with my arms in a layback position so hard that my elbows and biceps were actually in pain. I can't say I enjoyed this section at all but man I wish I could have figured out how to climb it. I had to rely on Pat pulling the rope tight after each attempt to get me up the wall.
So by the end of the climb I was no longer enjoying our day of trad. How quickly my mindset had altered after my failure to climb a crack.
I still had so many climbs on my ticklist in the area, the one I had most wanted to lead was Tombstone wall (15). While Pat top roped On the edge (22) to try it out, I had lunch and tried to decide what I would lead next. The guys wanted me to make a decision but I took about 40 minutes overthinking it and then started crying when I didn't know what to do. When my lead head falters, theres no getting me on the wall, I was simply too scared of falling to even think about trying it. So Pat lead Tombstone wall for me so I could second it. I think I made the right decision backing away from it. I found the crack at the start surprisingly difficult. But the rest of the climb was amazing so you know what, maybe next time I will lead it.
Day 2
Next up was sport climbing at Shipley, my favourite kind of climbing! It was a short day with just Pat and I climbing. Without a third person there we didn't get any photos but we did get some nice climbing in. We warmed up with Jack High (19) which Pat climbed on lead (and onsighted) and I top roped after. I normally can't warm up on grade 19 and the climb was difficult and crimpy so it didn't go so well but next up I onsighted The Bandoline Grip (18) and I was back to feeling amazing about climbing. By this point the sun was beating down on the walls of Shipley Upper so it was time to head over to Centennial Glen which was conveniently shaded. The last climb for the day was Pat's with a lead of Jaqueline Hyde (24). The lead wasn't clean, there was some falling but it seemed like a climb more suited to the shorter climbers. Pat couldn't really fit in the corner before the roof to rest.
After that we were pretty done with climbing for the day so it was back to camp for beers and a stroll to check out the Cathedral of Ferns. We're still not sure if we ever found the cathedral. The path splits off into half a dozen paths as you enter the forest. In the end I think we went down basically every path trying to find the cathedral.
We did find a circle of fern trees that I guess could have been a cathedral but it was pretty abysmal if it was the cathedral. Anyway it kept us occupied for an hour while we waited for Richard to join us again. And Pat found a soccer ball in the forest.
Once Richard was back I started making chilli for dinner. Of course the only spices I had for the chilli was chilli powder and salt and pepper which apparently is not enough flavour so it was a disaster. Thankfully there was plenty of packets of saucy pasta to get us through.
Day 3
Next up, more sport climbing! Yay! We were back to Shipley Upper, this time joined by Richard and also the ANU mountaineering club who were also in the Blue mountains for the long weekend. This time the warm ups were more reasonable for me and I got some leads in early with an onsight of Trinity (13) followed by an onsight of Stormy Monday (17) which was on carrot bolts! It was a good lead for me because it had some hard moves that were just below my limit because of how sustained it was. I thought I was going to give up or fall off when I was near the top, but instead of giving up I climbed through it and surprisingly held on to the rock.
Again I was in the best mood ever for sport climbing and I was brave enough at this point to attempt the first pitch of Hot Flyer (19) which I knew would be above my limit for onsighting. Pat wanted to lead it as well but he had done it on a previous trip so he let me try for the onsight (he wanted the quickdraws up for him). And... I got to the first bolt and got stuck. Wow! This is a hard move! I knew it would be hard but I didn't think it would be this hard! Damn. I tried to find a way to do the move but I wasn't prepared to commit to it. I knew I wouldn't get it. So I backed off... And then Pat tried the climb. And he got stuck at the same place... This must actually be hard if Pat can't get it. So Pat backed off as well...
One of the guys from the ANUMC was kind enough to take the lead on it for us so that we could top rope it to try it out. Pat went up and then I went up. I found it a lot harder because I'm not so great at crimping tiny holds but the climb was super fun and I'd love to go back and work it.
Pat also top roped Lardy Lady's Lats (22) while I was on Hot Flyer. Another amazing climb that I would like to hop on.
Meanwhile Richard was feeding a lizard some water, which it drank. So cute. He wanted me to put the story of the lizard in the post so here you go Richard.
Once again we were exhausted from all the climbing. It was time for some hot wedges and cokes at the pub. And then Pat and I were on the way home, taking the scenic back roads to Canberra. The weekend was amazing, and I climbed so much I had climber's elbow the next day which was pretty painful. But it didn't stop me from going for a boulder after work. This weekend we are going back to the Blue Mountains for some more climbing. Hopefully we'll get some more slab climbs in at Shipley Upper, the climbing there is just so awesome. Sadly its not another long weekend so it will be just two days of climbing instead of three. But oh well, it will be fun!
