Carrie takes the sharp end

I am happy to say that Carrie has caught the rock climbing bug! She doesn't exactly lust after new gear or stay up late researching new routes on internet forums like some people (ahem), but she was keen to climb on Saturday, and even more keen to lead.

Climbers normally work in pairs. One person leads the pair, installs gear in cracks for protection against a fall, does all of the route finding, and makes all of the decisions. The second climber just follows the leader and enjoys the climbing. Leading is harder, considerably more dangerous, but also more rewarding. Carrie wanted to lead. In climbing parlance, she wanted to take the sharp end of the rope.


The approach hike

So we woke up early on Saturday morning and made for Mount Hay- a climbing area in the Blue Mountains. We planned to climb Tom Thumb, which is a grade 13, 6-pitch, 150 m tall, moderate climb. With a 1.5 hour approach and return hike, this would make for a long adventurous day out with easy climbing.


After gearing up, we hiked through some beautiful dry forest and mallee scrub. Hiking 1.5 hours to get to a climb isn't too bad when you have such beautiful country all to yourself.

We weren't completely alone. We stumbled upon this red-bellied black snake sunning itself on the trail. Red-bellied blacks are pretty tame by Aussie standards (i.e. a bite isn't immediately fatal), but you still don't want to mess with them.

 This was Carrie's first snake sighting down under, so she was appropriately scared.

Down

You may have heard that some things are backwards in Australia, like the seasons and flushing of toilets. Well, rock climbing here is also a bit backwards, in that you often start at the top of the climb, rappel down to the base of the climb, and then climb out. Every time we climb this way it feels strange to me. I'd much prefer to look up at a distant peak for my goal and motivation, rather than start at the top, rappel to the bottom, and climb back up to the starting place. Oh well- "when in Oz".

At the top- ready to go

Carrie- mid rappel

We had a bit of a scare between the first and second rappel, as we managed to get our rope stuck in the anchor of the first rappel station. While I contemplated climbing the rope using friction hitches, Carrie just pulled hard, and freed the rope.

After three long rappels, we were at the base of our climb. This had the true feeling of an adventure; we were now in a secluded valley of the Blue Mountains National Park, with no man-made structures in sight, and there was no way out other than to climb.

Up

We found the small cairn marking the bottom of Tom Thumb, and prepared our equipment. As Carrie would lead the first pitch, she took all of the protection gear, while I took the backpack with our sandwiches, the water, and our spare rope.

"Hey Carrie- show me your rack!"

Carrie lead the first pitch, clipping bolts and placing gear with ease.  I was impressed. She finished the pitch, established a solid anchor, put me on belay, and I climbed up to join her.


The second pitch was a different story. It started with a particularly burly grunt of a move with no possible protection- a nightmare scenario for a beginning leader- so I lead the pitch. I didn't exactly show off my leading skills, as I managed to get lost for half an hour trying to find the non-existent bolts for the next belay station. I found a ledge that would do, built an anchor with gear, and belayed Carrie up.

Carrie took the lead for the next pitch, which finished in a cave with a nice view. It was a hot sunny day, so we enjoyed the short reprieve.

Shady caves are nice on hot sunny days

After a few more pitches of climbing, we made it to the top, collected our cache of shoes and water, and hiked back to the car.

It was a fun and fulfilling day the mountains. There's nothing quite like the feeling of standing at the top of a long climb, hands on your hips, and surveying what you've done.