With my parents away in Canada for five weeks, we were provided with lavish accommodation, so a group of us decided to head up to the Hunter Valley. The plan, not to sample its sumptuous semillon's, but rather to explore the coastal crags around Anna Bay - specifically, Morna Point.
After staying up late the night before to watch Le Tour, we all rose at around 8am and made preparations to head out. Shopping the night before meant that muesli was in great supply, and we had lunch sorted and ready to go (a delicious salad roll awaited Darcy, Lisa, Elise and I come lunch time).
With stomachs full, and Spiderbaits 'Calyspo' as the days theme song in mind, we jumped in cars and made the 50 minute journey out to the crag. We got to the 1 Mile Beach car park, spread gear out among everyone and began the scenic 15 min walk into the crag on the southern end of the beach. After some scrambling around the rocks, we eventually found the location described in the guide.
Although I had remembered to both print AND bring the guide for the area, it proved to be of little use. We decided to throw the guide into the ocean and start a day of grade guessing and on-sighting (Not literally, of course). Tim Hasnoot, you really need to provide a topo for that place, because we had no idea what anything was.
The day started with the usual grade 12 - 15 warm up ramble. It is at this point in the report that I would usually rattle off the list of climbs that we did, and provide a The Crag link to them, but since we weren't entirely sure, I will do my best to guess... Actually, fuck it - I have no idea. The best I can do is point to this photo and guess the grades.
Suffice to say it was a very family friendly day out near the slab.
Some bumbling by Dave in the morning assured himself of some fines at the coming Boree Log. The first offence was to fumble a bolt plate which saw it tumble straight into the ocean - plonk! The second offence was to (and I don't quite know how to describe this) Z - clip himself on the first draw by passing the rope through his safety sling. I don't really know how he did it, nor do I fully understand what he did, but it looked scary. We both agreed that he should climb back down, fix the mess and start again.
The morning continued with some notable on-sights by Wen Jun, leads by Laura and Alex and Elise's first outdoor climb!
During lunch, Luke and I started sizing up the grade 19 slab route. Unsure of how it went, I threw my helmet in the ring and agreed to have first shot at leading it. Thin-as-fuck, that is how it went. First clip was ok, second clip I took a fall, but got back on. Moved past the second clip and made it to the third. After getting a closer look at the upper section and realising it was much thinner than the lower section, and getting spooked by the run out, I decided to bail. Luke went up it after me and finished the climb in fine style - a ballsy lead.
This next paragraph requires some back story. About 5 weeks ago, Luke bet me $10 that he would be able to climb a 25 in a months time. Due to bad weather the week before, we couldn't get outdoors to for him to put his money where his mouth was, so I agreed to give him a weeks grace. How fortunate for him, then, that the hardest climb at this crag happened to be a 25 by the name of Rent Free.
After lunch and few climbs in the morning, Luke was beginning to tire. Noticing his waning interest, Micheal and I took the liberty of 'borrowing' some of Luke's draws, and headed into the canyon to get the climb warmed up for him. With the theory that Luke would be forced to climb it if his draws were on it, Micheal started to battle his way up Rent Free. Half way through his accent, Luke had caught wind of our activities and came in to the canyon to offer support / wuss out. Micheal competed the climb and cleaned Luke's draws off the wall - and I collected my $10.
At about 4pm, the tide started to roll in and the exit was beginning to be swallowed by the sea. We made the decision to head home and started the scramble out. We took the opportunity to take a few group photos on the head land in the golden sunset before heading back tot he beach. Despite the setting sun, and lack of towels, Luke, Darcy, Lisa, Alex, Dave and I couldn't resist the urge to jump in the water on the beautiful 1 Mile Beach before heading home.
On the way home we decided to cook a BBQ for dinner. A volunteer group stopped at the shops and bought ingredients for Kangaroo Burgers. Spear headed by Laura, a team assembled the ingredients, rolled them into patties and put them on the grill. A stroke of genius by Luke meant that he and I shared some Lamb chops for dinner. They were very tasty.
That night we made merry and played pool. Some tried to watch the Australia vs. Lions game, but were disgusted by the score so flicked over to Le Tour. A late night and a late morning meant that climbing at Monkey Face on Sunday was a bit sedated, but that is a story for anouther time.
Happy Days!
Time Started: 8:00am 29/6/2013
Time Returned: 6:00pm 29/6/2013
Trip: Morna Point Climbing
Area: Anna Bay
Attendees: David Waddington, Alexandra Boulgakov, Wen Jun Toe, Darcy Cherlin, Lisa Bergeron, Laura Shane, Lucy Morrison, Micheal Lee, Elise Vandermaat.
Leaders: Damon Vandermaat, Luke King