A hot weekend at Arapiles saw us baking in dry 40oC heat in the Pines.
Swimming in the fire dam, somehow avoiding death by rope swing, and not catching any fish
And hiding in nice cool caves (well I did anyway).
In conclusion: lying on cool shady rock on a 40oC is much cooler than sitting in my un-airconditioned apartment on a 40oC day. Climbing in the sun is not the coolest option.
Commencing trepanning in 4 seconds….
First time on rock in over five months (aside from a brief flirtation with the You Yangs for the sake of some advertising material; however, as that involved nothing more than standing around and looking like climbers, it doesn’t really count for much). It was a weekend of nearly full moon, no night climbing, but some night photography. Time spent lazing in the sun, climbing rock, watching other people climbing rock, and getting hungry due to the impact of the global shellite shortage on the Wimmera area supermarkets.
The photo below of the Plaque and view out to the south of Arapiles; taken around midnight on Friday with a camera so fancy it’s a wonder I even managed to work out which button to press to make the photo in the first place.
A long (long) Easter weekend was spent at Blackheath, in the Blue Mountains. The weather and climbing were both lovely, and the old house we rented for a week was interesting, particularly with 15 people staying in it. A sample of our adventures in the photos below. As per usual, when the most climbing was being done, there was no photographic evidence. Conclusion from the trip – Sydney climbers have it pretty good when it comes to quality rock nearby (also some other conclusions about Sydney being warmer, but Melbourne being a nicer city to live in, or something like that).
Helen manages the reachy crux on the appropriately named Pommy Filth (19), Mount York
Samantha belays Dave on Noodle (15), Mount York
Hannah slabs it up at Porters Pass
More blue skies as Ness does the first ascent of a newly bolted 18 at Mt Piddington
Jackie contemplates the crimpy crux of Cutopia (23) at Porters Pass
Jesse laughs in the face of those who climb without class
A warm sunny weekend was spent at Arapiles, as we took out a heap of beginners to play on the rock, and come multi-pitching.
Nothing quite like sleeping outside in the Pines campground, watching satellites before you fall asleep, listening to the guys in the campsite next door talk about their epics on past climbs, and having possums run all over the campsite, and over you in your sleeping bag, as they hunt around for food. And then getting woken up by the rising moon, before falling asleep again, and getting woken by the sun the second time around.
Clear blue skies, and noone fell to their deaths while rapelling. Not a bad weekend.
No, I’m not actually going back to Tasmania. Well, not at the moment anyway. But here are a few more photos from the trip, just to prove there really was some climbing, and I wasn’t just touring around notable Tasmanian climbing locations. Most of the places we climbed at, we were the only people there.
Boer heading up Cordon Bleu (15) at Freycinet
I second up after Boer on Cordon Blue – damning the stuck nut.
Bouldering on the beach at Honeymoon Bay. This rock was actually thoroughly manky, and swathes of sand and debris would come off any time you tried to do anything.
All throughout Tasmania, we kept seeing hoards of surfers. So many cars had surfboards on their rooves – it was ridiculous, I’d never realised Tassie was a prime surfing destination. Anyway, apparently this is one of the places the crazy people surf. And Cape Raoul, off in the background – I’d really like to climb there.
