Fun

Swinburne 3-4 May 2003

We got up early, for a Saturday anyway, collected the Boys and got on the road. Angus gave us a call to check that we were on schedule. Two and a half hours later we met up for breakfast at the House of Coffees. All eager to get our hands on some rock, we wolfed down our food and got on our way.

After booking our beds in the Barn, we drove up to the ‘Spearhead Boulder’ to sample some nice, convenient climbing. Young Darney or Danny B, as he became known, flew up anything he tried, being stopped only by a short, powerful 23, whose name escapes me. Little Sandy also did well, leading everything she tried, and not giving up on anything, until she was at the top. The day was topped off with Dave onsighting the aforementioned short but powerful 23. (Can you guess that I’ve forgotten all the names of the routes??)

We chilled while enjoying a few bevy-raagaas and watched the sun go down, before getting the braai fired up. Somewhere in the evenings drunken stupor, Dave and Angus decided to climb a 4 pitch 23 called ‘Skinny legs and all’ the next morning. At the time it sounded like a good idea. The plan was to be back in time for breakfast, although this meant getting up at “stupid” o’clock, before the sun, we were determined to do it. The morning was nippy, and without the sun to warm our faces, we cranked up the van’s heater. At the base, ready for the steep walk, we wished that we could stay inside for just a little longer, but we had a schedule to keep to. Stubbornly we pushed on, and started the trek, in the freezing, howling wind, which was only a breeze when we left the barn. Although far from it in reality, it felt like we were trekking in the high Alps, during a blizzard. Eventually getting to the base of the crag, we found a little shelter and sat down to watch the sunrise, over the now golden Free State. Despite being shelted on the lee side of the mountain, the route we wanted to climb was around the corner, also known as ‘Windy gap’ (we should have known). This put us in the full view of the unbearable, biting wind. It was not looking good, as in my experience, the higher you climbed, the windier it got. And we were still on the ground. After a very short debate (5 words to be exact) we decided to bail, and retreat to the safety and warmth of the van.

After breakfast we walked up to ‘Whale rock’ to try some safe, sheltered, easy sport climbing. Darney red pointed his first (23) and Dave narrowly missed onsighting 2 (25)’s, Triton and Poseidon, which he soon red pointed. Sandy continued her confident form by onsighting 3 other easier routes.

After much fun, sun and wind, we all took the long drive back to Durb’s. Some of us even had enough strength for a traditional Sunday beer at Stoker’s.

Dave Drummond

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