The Spherical Cow: Things I Will Remember About Oz

Gritstone is nearly perfect isn't it? All that friction, the fluid motion. A shame it's so small. Wouldn't it be amazing if there was somewhere with massive grit crags. Somewhere with a bit more variety; multi-pitch grit, steep grit, sport grit. A place like that would be all the rage, wouldn't it?

I've just returned from a two week climbing trip in the Blue Mountains. Alright, it's not Stanage, but the rock is as close to quarried grit as makes no difference. I'm sure geologists would quibble, but this is grit in all but name. Originally I had planned to write a few blogs whilst I was there but it turns out Australia isn't a civilised country and it's really hard to find coffee and wifi after 5pm, so I didn't bother. Instead I am blessing you with this summary of things I remember about the trip, in a handy list format.

The Blueys. Great rock, lots of trees. And a whole heap of rain.

The Scenery
Look out from Centennial Glen and gum trees recede into the distant haze, whilst black cockatoos screech from the branches. On the walk in we've navigated waterfalls, leeches, snakes; if a pterodactyl flew past I would be only mildly surprised. Charles Darwin was unimpressed, finding the scenery "exceedingly monotonous; each side of the road is bordered by scrubby trees of the never-failing Eucalyptus family; and with the exception of two or three small inns, there are no houses or cultivated land". Pff. What did Darwin know? He didn't even see a Kangaroo - which brings me to number
The Wildlife
Kangaroos, Snakes, Echidnae, Wombats, Cockatoos, Kookaburras. The wildlife in the blueys was probably the best thing about the whole trip. And the sounds of the birds from our campsite in the morning added to the whole 'lost world' vibe of the trip. Even the ravens sound exotic to british ears; their loud caws trailing off to a sigh, as if they've been punctured and are slowly deflating.

Roo spotting in the Megalong Valley
The Weather
Hmm. Less enamoured here. For the two weeks we were there we had two days without rain. And we had all sorts of rain. We had drizzle. We had bowel-shaking thunderstorms, which we got to watch from an enjoyable distance and a disconcerting proximity. We had monotonous downpours, sudden squalls and even one very isolated shower, when it rained from a 100ft patch of cloud drifting past us in an otherwise perfect cobalt sky. When it wasn't raining, we were treated to gritstone climbing in 20 degree heat and 100% humidity.

Lovely.

Still, thanks to the impermeability of the rock and general steepness we still got to climb every day we wanted. Which brings me to number
The Climbing
It was steep, it was rough, it was tough. There were rock overs, massive sideways dynos, the crimpiest crimps that ever crumped. I absolutely loved it. I also got completely and utterly shut down. I didn't climb anything harder than 29 (8a), didn't onsight anything harder than 27, fell off a few 24s. Worst performance ever, but some stellar routes made it a great trip. My favourite was probably Super Duper Goo - the route in the previous blog post. I didn't quite get the beautiful light that Steve Mac is enjoying in that photo, instead I swung through the roof in zero visibility and a raging thunderstorm, but it was epic and memorable nonetheless. Other favourites were the mega-steep The Way of All Flesh and Don't Believe the Tripe, and everything on the gorgeous and subtle vertical walls of Porter's Pass.

One taped finger for each day on.

The Tube, Centennial Glen - 24
Sydney
Probably one of the only cities I could imagine living in. We had some lovely days out in Sydney, with the only downside being the assault we received at the hands of the Seagulls in Manly.