29/8/2015
Alastair M and Garrett M
After initially wanting to head to point perp for the weekend we opted instead for some climbing in the Blueys. However, I was unsure if the trip would even go ahead after finding out that Alastair had gotten hit, and nearly run over, by a car while cycling around the city the night before we planned to leave. He assured me that he was fine and we finalised our plans for the morning.
We aimed to get the 7:24 train from central which called for both of us catching buses around 7 am. My bus was 7 minutes late and arrived at central at 7:23. I took off running through the station knowing that if we missed this train we would have to wait another hour for the next one. I heard the whistle blow as I tapped my opal card to get through the gates. I charged around the corner to see Alastair who, after seeing me, darted for the door to hold it open and I followed closely behind. If it hadn’t been for a group of tourists that were pfaffing about, the train would have left 5 seconds earlier and I wouldn’t have made it.
The weekend trackwork meant that we had to catch a bus from Springwood to Leura where we arrived around 10 am. We got some brekky, filled up our water bottles, and headed off to the crag. We chatted to an older woman on our way down Sublime Pt. Road who noted how much she loved the tinkling sounds of the draws clipped to the outside of Alastair’s pack. Then a friendly climber (Vincent) gave a us a ride for about the last 1 km to the car park.
We had planned to give Sweet Dreams (14) a go first since I hadn’t been climbing often in the last year or so and thought a nice easy multi-pitch would be a good way to get back into it. However, when we got to the crag there was a group of five that was just getting through the first pitch. We decided to do Whymper (19) instead. I wasn’t too fussed since Alastair was happy to lead it all.
Alastair leading 3rd pitch of Whymper (Photo by Bjorn B)
Garrett seconding 3rd pitch of Whymper (Photo by Alastair M)
We started climbing around 11:30 or so with Alastair sporting a few bandages over his fresh wounds from his bicycle accident the night before. 11:30 seemed like quite a late start considering we had both woken up around 6 am. Alastair headed up the first pitch with a tough first couple moves to which he noted, “Pritty stuff off the dick!”* The entire route was great with plenty of exposure. Climbing up the arête got the adrenaline pumping especially on the 3rd and 4th pitches with some really airy sections. It seems like people have previously had issues with crumbly rock but it all held together well for us. As I was climbing up the 4th pitch I heard one of the climbers from the group on Sweet Dreams call over to say that he had gotten a few good pics of us. Him and Alastair exchanged phone numbers and names. After hearing him yell across that he was Bjorn, Alastair responded with “Yeah, you’re the guy that organises adventure time” to which we could hear his group chuckle.
*Kiwi for “Pretty stiff off the deck”
Rene, Bjorn, Leith, Corrie and Emma on Sweet Dreams (Photo by Alastair M)
The climbing went well with no real problems other than me having to downclimb 2 meters on the 3rd pitch to get a bolt plate that I had forgotten to collect. We topped out around 2:45 and decided we had enough time to run around and do Sweet Dreams. After a quick jog down to the start and a quick lesson from Alastair in how to simul climb we set off up the route, Alastair leading again and me following about 25 m behind. It was a fun climb and perfect conditions with the warm sun at our backs.
Garrett in the crack before the traverse on Sweet Dreams (Photo by Alastair M)
We made it back to the top fairly quickly for a round trip of 1.5 hours. As we were cleaning and reorganizing our gear Vincent walked by and offered us a ride back to Leura Station. Perfect timing.
Thanks to Alastair and Bjorn for the pictures
-GM