The Blueys

Again, apologies for the long delay, it’s been a rather busy time. We have been in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, Sydney, Port Macquarie and Byron Bay since our last blog, so I shall try and recall them to the best of my ability! First off, Katoomba.

We took the scenic back road to the blue mountains, which gave us a bit of a change of scenery, seeing some massive wide open plains on the road from Canberra before heading up into the mountains. On our first evening after setting up the tent we took the short walk to the three sisters, the walk there was spectacular and the view over the valley is a sight to see, pictures really don’t do it justice.

- But here is a picture anyway.

-Sophie, Three Sisters and a yetti.

The next two days we spent our mornings climbing, the first at an overly popular crag (other people enjoying climbing are so annoying!) which was nice and gave us a good feel for the Blueys sandstone, which has lots of horizontal cracks and amazing friction. The second day we set off to do our first multi pitch climb (I’ll explain later) and after a walk up a steep hill through the jungle we realised that the Germans had beaten us to it! So we settled for some smaller climbs and got our first taste of ‘carrot bolts’, which are an Australian climbing idol.

The next day we got up earlier and found our planned route, ‘Mr Big’ free. A ‘pitch’ in climbing is a rope length, or more commonly a half rope length section of climbing. Up until this point we have been doing single pitch routes, which means you climb before returning straight to the ground. In a multi pitch you climb, stay at the top as the second person follows, before setting off again and repeating the process. Then you walk off the top or in our case abseil back down the route.

-Halfway up.

-View from the top.

We’d opted for an easy two pitch climb and and managed to get up it with no drama! On the way back down we (I) managed to get the rope jammed in a crack below us, but we (Sophie) eventually managed to use some problem solving skills to get it free again so we could return safely to the ground!

-Abseiling to retrieve our rope!

Climbing Log

We haven’t suddenly got really good, it’s just that the Australian grading system is different... Anyway this is more a historical record then for public interest!

Day 1

Karinya (16)

Matthew - Onsight

Sophie - Top Rope

The Arrow and the Song (15)

Matthew - Onsight

Sophie Top Rope

Day 2

Z3 (11)

Sophie - Onsight

Matthew - Flash

Astin Martin (15)

Sophie - Onsight

Matthew - Top Rope

Lotus Espirit

Both of us made an effort but couldn’t get the crux move

Day 3

Mr Big - first two of three pitches

Pitch 1 (16)

Matthew - Onsight

Sophie - Followed

Pitch 2 (13)

Sophie - Onsight

Matthew- Followed

We shall have to return at some stage to do the grade 19 final pitch...

Nature Watch

Finally saw a Kookaburra! Exciting stuff, nature watch!