Reinforcements came early the next morning with Will and Jen meeting us for breakfast at the Victory café in Blackheath. I was getting a little restless but with Saturday looming large we decided to go to Mount Piddington for some trad climbing. Jason was keen to polish off the classic Flake Crack and I needed to get on a line somewhere fast. We found the track down to the Renitz pass viewing platform relatively quickly. The panorama of all the slacklines was breath-taking. The entire horizon was spanned by the monster 400 meter line spreading out before us. Suspended high above the valley floor and a total sag of some 30 meters it was hard to believe that somebody could walk this beast. But they did and all day long. The viewing platform was crowded with viewers but all the shorter lines were empty, I was finally running out of excuses.
 The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
I asked somebody whether the shortest line was free and people asked whether I had a harness, after that it was my turn to step up. This was going to be my second attempt at highlining and as soon as I tied into the short leash my state of mind changed immediately. The void was unbelievable with a hundred meter drop and a one inch threat spreading out before me. I had practiced the tricky first move to stand up on the line a hundred times but this was somehow different. There was no reference point and every move I made send a wave through the line that came rushing back at me. Luckily a girl (Kat) suggested I take a few falls to get a better feeling for the line. That helped a lot and popping up and down suspended in space calmed the nerves a bit. Getting up was an entirely different story, I easily maneuvered into position which was a massive improvement from last year but every time I tried to get up the line movement was just too much and I fell. I felt that had improved a lot from last year but still could not take a single step. Several falls later I vowed to come back for more but it was time to go climbing again and we found a nice rap point along the upper cliff edge of Mount Piddington at the Hocus Pocus Area with a rope and chain belay leading to Curtain Call 18**.
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View from Mount Piddington across the valley to Corroboree Walls onthe left and Renitz pass on the right. |
However long the night, the dawn will break.
From here is was a short walk to the Flack Crack area, where Jason and Will got to work on this three star classic both sending in style while placing the gear. Meanwhile Jen and Roman worked on another mega classic Tombstone Wall (15***). After we swapped climbs there was time for one more quickie before Jason had to leave so we did a quick lap on the amazing On Edge (22***) with its thin technical crux and nice slab finish.
After we farewelled Jason and Jen, Will and Roman had time for a quick afternoon session and were secretly hoping to be able to jump on a highline back a Corroboree cliffs. But the lines were still getting a good work out and we decided to go climbing again at the cliffs below. We polished 6 classics in under 3 hours and decided to head up for a final attempt at the highlines before the sun slipped away. It was not meant to be so we watched as people styled across the threads in space. We will come back and set up our own line this year that is a promise and it was sealed with a Falafel and beer back at the pub. |
