The rains held off for a brief moment in time and the sun poked through, yes it was still up there somewhere between the clouds, so with a weekend before us, we seized the day and rushed up to the mountain for quick opportunity to play.
We checked out the Departure Area at Bells, but the Westerly was howling through the canyon and it was too exposed and windy on the halfway ledge. We escaped further down to the arrival area where the early morning sun was still competing with the shade for dominance. We had enough time to squeeze in a few warmups before the sun would disappear to the other side. Surprisingly for late October the wind-chill meant it was bitter cold and our down jackets came in handy.
Boysenberry Ripple (23*) most people warmed up on the nice rising traverse with a the crux being the first move of the deck it was not too bad with lots of rest and juggy climbing above.
Cock Blocker (21*) our traditional warmup and together with Belayer’s Root (19*) adjacent both are in the sun early in the morning.
Dirty 30 (25*) very steep long boulder across a roof to a slab that terminates in a sit-down rest. Then a funky driveby crux guards the juggy moves to the anchor.
By the time we finished on Dirty30 the wind was getting too much for us and we escaped into the Sunnyside at the other side of the canyon. The temperature difference was amazing as if we moved from winter into summer.
House of Suns (30***) three laps by Roman Junior to sort out the top crux. New dyno beta seemed to improve things a little but once it came into the sun it was game over. James also did a lap on it making some nice progression.
Troc de I’lle (24***) I put the draws on for Lucy and Kylie and blew the crux sequence. Such a great climb with amazing moves in the sun.
The Reality Disfunction (25***) one of the best in the mountains and another repeat lap to work on my endurance. Lost momentum at the half-way mark and tried to fight through the pump, but it was the first day on real rock in a long time, so not a bad excuse at all.
La Realite N’Existe Pas (28***) another mega classic through intimidatingly steep territory. Hamish and James kept taking turns.
Nobody else wanted to jump on Reality Disfunction so I ended up doing a cleaning lap on this magnificent line. The cleaning completely finished me off and by the time I was done the sun disappeared behind the Departure area around about 5pm. Since this was our first full day in the mountains our bodies really felt the wind, sun and bump. James and Jarrad prepared for another lap on Troc de I’lle as we climbed out of the canyon. The Archibald was waiting for us. |
