Like father like daughter

Will & Martha

Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're probably right.

It was time again for Glenda’s routine visit to the crags of the Blue Mountains and I managed to organise a small posse of climbers to join her in pursuit of tasty verticality. Easter was our playground and this time Jason, Alex, Josh, Mark, Leo and Roman joined up for a long weekend of climbing. The weather tried very hard to stop us with rain forecast for the whole weekend, mist in the morning and light drizzle throughout the day with occasional downpours. So it was time to visit the prime bad weather location in Blackheath: the steep overhanging Wave Wall near Centennial Glen was our first choice, since it is only a stone’s throw from Blackheath. Not surprisingly very few other parties braved the weather, only a few desperate overseas climbing visitors and even one of Glenda’s mates from New Zealand (Tom). So we were free to play all day in the swirling rain and the thick brume in the valleys below while protected by the roofs above.  We started on the nice and desparate warm up called Jaws (21**) with an apt name since the sharp edges on big overhanging jugs did feel like teeth biting in your flesh. Flash pumps for all of us to get started and the next grade was 23 and upwards. We did not have much of a choice since before long little waterfalls would start seeping up the edges of the cave so the steeper the better.

Wave Wall panorama

Glenda - Off the Lip (23**)	Alex on Split Wave(23***)	Girlpower	Binary Cave crew
Hazy double roofs at Binary Cave	Josh leading the way out	Roman on Grove Tube (24**)	Josh and Alex resting between climbs and rain
Jason on Split Wave (23***)	Leo Off the Lip (23**)	Menpower	Glenda on Grove Tube (24**)
Mark on Split Wave (23***)	Leo on Jaws (21*)	Wave Wall crew

I wish I could write that we climbed till the sun went down but there really wasn’t any sun all day and we just climbed until it got dark pretty much.  The Gardeners Inn at Blackheath served food and drinks until 10pm on Easter Friday so we gorged ourselves and headed back to the comfort of the house.  Glenda brought a climbing movie and we watched the history of Yosemite Valley climbing in front of a roaring fireplace before sleep nudged us gently into our beds. The tin roof received a beating all night and we woke to much the same weather only slightly worse. Heavy fog with lots of rain made us think long and hard about our options. It would have to be another cave or head down to one of the climbing gyms in Sydney, which would be packed anyway. So we drove to Leura to consider our options. A coffee warmed us up a bit and with lots of hesitation we decided to head down the steep descent to Sublime point and Binary Cave below. Surprisingly the way down was not too bad (read: wet, slippery and rainy). But the crag with its huge roof covering was “mostly” dry. The warm up 20 and 19 felt very tough on day two in the rain. Every once in a while a wind gust would drive in the rain while you were climbing provided some refreshment. A couple of wet holds added extra spice to the climbing so there was not much to complain about really, except maybe the wind and zero visibility but at least the friction was mostly great.

Sublime Lookout in whiteout conditions

Binary cave has a nice selection of medium to hard routes and is protected by two large roofs - the first is for climbing and the second provides a nice roof for the rain. We started our warmup on Flash Flood (20*) which felt hard for the grade and Birthday Bolts (19*) with a nice thin slab section. Then most of us moved to the far end of the crag past the roof climbs to where the easier routes are located: Socially Inept (21) which deserves two stars I think, Please Dry (20*),Whimiscial (21) with its thin crux sequence and Rock Snob (20). There was time for a lap on Taxi Drive (24*) but the top section was getting very wet so we bailed just before it got too dark for the long climb out back to Sublime Point.

Copyright 2005 Dr.Roman Rosenbaum. All Rights Reserved.