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October 7, 2005
Climbing the Blue Mountains
WOW.
Just got back into Sydney after spending the last three days in the Blue Mountains climbing several different crags. Polk and Heidi have been climbing for a while so they offered to drag me along for an adventure. Best thing I've done so far. Guided tours might be fine for the average tourist, but I'm a horrible tourist. I'd much rather experience things hands-on, down and dirty.
We Started out at Mt.Piddington and hiked down to a set of crags there. Jamie's friends, Andy and Evan, joined us for the day. Beautiful country; even just getting down to the climbing spot was a bit of a trek. By the time we got to the bottom my knees were a little weak....I wasn't sure what to expect of the actual climbs after the descent. Of course, Polk and Heidi throw me straight on to a class 15 climb, the Carthaginian. I was pretty nervous at first, but once you're on the rock, you really only think about where your hands and feet are going next....and making sure you don't fall. I was tied in at all times and a fall is never further than a couple of meters, but at the same time it's a lot of pride to do it in one shot. After that, abseiled down the face of Eternity, a class 18 crack that is the most obvious climb in the world. I tried my shot at it later on, but hadn't recalled enough of my technique (it's been 3 years since I'd done any climbing, and then only indoors stuff) to get more than a third of the way up. Thus ended day one of climbing.
The second day, Polk and Heidi and myself picked up Polk's friend Chris, who later proved to be the craziest, most skilled climber I've ever met (Polk's stories of him were unbelievable...then I saw how he climbed). Chris took us to the Cosmis County crags. Another great hike down to the crags with some crazily narrow paths that only a mountain goat could love. Spent the start of the day on a route called 'How much is that doggy in the window', a nice class 14 climb with a beautiful view of the Megalong Valley. Did pretty well on this climb and got to test out my harness at one point when my hands decided I'd tested them to far....but with a little coaching from below and a change of strategy, I made it up after that. The rest of the day was belaying as Polk lead a class 18, 'I'd rather be sailing' and Chris conquered a class 21. Heidi tried to start a class 16 that looked alright but had the crazied overhanging, no-solid grip start that in-the end foiled everybody. Chris lead a class 19 with a similar start and ended up making it to the top, albeit with some sketchy gear placements that had us at the bottome in awe....he's really a crazy, good climber. The sun was setting so after that, we headed back to the car with headlamps guiding the way.
That night we camped at Mt.York so that we could make it to Leura early in the morning to climb 'Sweet Dreams', a relatively easy, but exciting climb that provides an incredible view of the Three Sisters, the postcard landmark of the Blue Mountains.
Again, there was a pretty crazy descent that had me thinking of the climb to come, even though it was mostly a class 10 climb. Just before we got to the bottom of Sweet Dreams, we had to cross the 'Death Traverse', a section of the path where you have to clip two draws onto a steel cable cause there's basically no footholds to help you get across. I thought it was gonna be a bit unnerving but it was way too cool to be able to look straight down with nothing but cliffe below you. We got to the start of the climb and commenced our ascent. It was a pretty sweet multi-pitch climb (you stop at several belaying stations while someone starts with a new rope clipping onto the next section of gear and bolts). The first two pitches were pretty much straight up through some cracks, followed by the third which was a huge 30m traverse across an open cliffe. These, along with the fourth pitch (20m upward climb), all had great holds which made for easy, but still exciting climbs. After the fourth pitch, we stopped for lunch and took some videos of the climb and the Three Sisters. The last pitch, a class 17 (Polk insisted we take it instead of the class 14 crack beside it) was pretty tricky. After Heidi lead the way and planted the gear and hung all the bolts, I followed, with a light rain starting. There was a tricky section where I fell a few times (somewhat scary when it's only a rope holding you up above a 200m cliffe) but eventually triumphed in my toughest climb to date. It was a pretty awesome feeling looking down and seeing a 120m cliffe that we'd just climbed.
Back in Sydney, I checked into a hostel in Glebe and just crashed out of exhaustion....a solid three days had done me in.
On today's schedule - playing some cricket, drinking some beers and a going away party for Polk and Heidi; they take off for more climbing in Thailand on Monday.
Posted by Dr.Unk at October 7, 2005 9:14 PM
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