Sunstroke

A few weeks back .. or actually at the start of May, Meg and I spent a Saturday & Sunday out rock climbing.

On the Saturday we went to Wickerslack and did a few climbs while soaking up as much good advice as we could from Nic & Andrew. I led one of the easy climbs on gear and Meg “seconded” it (with a top belay) – it was good practice for Sunday …

We got going pretty early on Sunday and drove out to Booroomba rocks. We hiked up to the peak and then down the gully on the other side, then around to the base of the Northern Slabs.

The plan was to climb Sunstroke, a 4 pitch grade 9 – but we were giving ourselves the option of chickening out – in the end we decided it looked easier, and far more pleasant, than climbing back up the access gully – so off we climbed.

Most of the time we were busy climbing, so we didn’t get many photos, but there’s a couple from the third belay, and a few from the top. It was a great climb, nicely within my ability, and a short harder section on the third pitch with a bit of air behind you which was the mental crux for me.

We actually ended up climbing five pitches, or climbing four and scrambling one, because we weren’t sure where the top was. I even fell, over a half dead tree, on the final pitch so it was a good decision 🙂

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Posted by mike on Thursday June 25th, 2009, tagged with | 1 comment