A few weeks back we headed up to Mt Coree for the day. Penny had nicked off to Arapiles for the weekend, so poor lonely Andrew came with us 😉

The drive in was a bit rough, but we kept going slowly but surely. I’d heard to rode was bad so I was expecting to have to walk a fair way. In the end we got the car up to basically the 2nd last bend before the summit, though we probably could have stopped a bit lower. Still it made for a short downhill walk to the first climbs.

To start with we headed to the pretty backside area, not finding an easy route down the gully we walked around which made for a bit of a scramble. For a warm up we all climbed School Girl Fantasies (14) and King Cup No.1 (13), the latter was a nicer climb I thought. After a bit to eat we did Brillo Pad (15), though I would have said it was harder than that.

While climbing we’d spotted a fixed rope on the descent gully, so climbed back up that way. With a full pack and my brand new hiking boots it was a bit of a struggle, they are not very flexible yet!

Next stop was Wind Wall, to climb Jerusalem (19). We didn’t have the topo, so we just counted routes across from the left, and it should have been 3rd. Andrew started leading, only to find that he was on something different, probably harder, and bolted sporadically. Still he bottled it and made it up, clipping the Jerusalem bolts. I climbed it on top rope, and although it wasn’t terrible I was glad I wasn’t leading!

We spent the rest of the arvo on Jerusalem, Meg climbed it twice, Andrew lead it and so did I, but I’m not quite sure in what order 🙂  Still it was an awesome climb, definitely worth the attention.

There are definitely some more Mt Coree trips in my future.

ps. Most of the good photos (the first 10) we took on Andrews camera, and I nicked them off his picasa page 🙂

View the photos »

Sometime in November we found a spare Sunday and walked up to Gibraltar for a spot of climbing.

It was a funny day, sunny, windy, little bit rainy, but not too hot which was the main worry on the mostly north facing boulders up there.

We retreated to the summit boulders for lunch while it rained a bit, and then climbed My Name is Luka (14) – I think, with a really nice bouldery start.

After a bit of bush bashing we eventually found our way to the bottom of Juvenillies & Geriatrics (15). It’s a great Gibraltar climb, two pitches, but only about 25m high. Up one blank slab to a belay and then out under and over the boulder perched above the first pitch.

The top is pretty speccy, leaving you on the knife edge boulder (3rd last photo). The only downer was there’s no hardware on the bolts for abseiling off, so Meg abseiled on our gear, and then I threaded the bolts on the other side of the boulder and walked down from the top of the first pitch. Only problem was I’d forgot my shoes, so Meg tied them to the rope and I hauled them up – what a faff!

View the photos »

Back in November (before it was Christmas, how the hell did that happen!?), we went down to Nowra for a weekend. We were a bit late getting there owing to dropping the fam at the Bus for their Nepal trip, but we got down there by early afternoon.

We set the tent up at the Animal park and then headed over to Thompson’s point, where we met Andrew & Penny, and also a bunch of folks from the ANUMC on a club trip.

To start with we did a few short routes near the descent gully, and then climbed random things until it was pretty dark. Andrew kindly took photos of me dawdling up something with an awkward start over a cave, and while he was at it spotted a little native (?) mouse in the cliff!

A nice mash-up dinner at the Animal park was all we needed before hitting the sack in our new tent.

Had a pretty lazy start the next morning which was nice, and spent some time doing rope skills with Meg which was great practice. After a while we headed to the Grotto cliffline, which we hadn’t been to before, so it was an interesting change.

Meg & I wandered around for a bit and got lost. After a bit of scoping for bolts with my new Binocs, I climbed Beans on Toast (16). It had a nice unbolted ground-fall section in the middle, requiring a trad placement, though that made for some nasty rope drag. For extra fun there was a big piece of loose rock near the top. Meg decided not to follow, which I could only agree with 🙂

After lunch we climbed Blade Flake (13), which was good fun, and then walked back to the Belgian Tourist wall where everyone else was. Andrew & Penny had a top rope on Avocado Queens of Death (23), so I fell up it, thanks to Andrew for the (long) belay 🙂

To finish up the day Andrew lead an awesome roof called Spinning Blades of Steel (20), and I seconded it. It was pretty hot and I was not at my freshest, but it was still a great climb. I’ll have to go back and lead it one day.

A quick bite to eat in Kangaroo Valley kept us going for the drive home. A top weekend!

View the photos »