Lulu Down Under: April 2012

Nice and relaxed at Sweet Dreams...

With Oli here, we were both motivated to get back up to the Blue Mountains, two hours outside of Sydney, to spend the weekend climbing before he flew back to France on Monday morning. Oli went up Friday morning (while I had to work! So unfair.) and did an 8-pitch climb in the Grose Valley, an epic climb called Hotel California. The winds however were howling, and they had hours of battling strong winds. By the time I took the train up Friday afternoon, we had enough time for a few climbs at Medlow Bath, despite the intense wind. Barbecue at my mate's Nath's place before Oli and I hit the hay, gearing up for a big day on Saturday.

Ginger beer

Saturday morning we took our time in Leura, stopped for a coffee and croissant before driving to Sublime Point to start Sweet Dreams (14). We had tried a few weeks ago with Nath to do this multi-pitch, but by the time we got to the bottom of the crag along a narrow pathway on the side of the cliff, the climb was dripping with water from all the recent rains. This time we had our fingers crossed for drier conditions-- and it was perfect. Sweet Dreams is a rare find-- a long multi pitch, with gorgeous views (the Three Sisters in the background) but an easy 5 pitches, all graded low. We finished the 200m climb in less than 2 hrs, and still had enough steam and motivation to drive back to Medlow Bath and do another multi-pitch. The first pitch was a gorgeous grade 18, with big hand holds and really nice moves. The crux was at the roof, where you have to hoist yourself up with no footholds. I tried to make it in one move but needed to rest before on the rope. We topped out with a 15 and then walked our way back down barefoot (we left our shoes at the base, oops)

Olly on his new favourite climb

Sunday morning was gloomy and gray, so we relaxed the morning and drove back to Leura to a cozy café for our coffees. We waited for the rain to clear before we headed to Blackheath so Olly could climb a few hard 24 & 25 grades at Centennial Glen. The place was absolutely magical. Surrounding the glen were the crags, orange rock spotted with chalk marks. There wasn't a single climb under 20 (I've climbed so far up to 18 so this was out of my league) but the place was spectacular. In the centre of the glen is a small canyon, with a beautiful waterfall. We had to walk around the length of the glen to get over to the farthest wall, Wave Wall, but the walk was so peaceful and serene. Along the way, we met other climbers all working on their own personal projects. Wave Wall was wicked, with a low over-hanging roof. Olly nailed it, with 3 climbs in a row. I was belay-bitch for the morning, but I was feeling particularly unmotivated to climb, so it was perfect.

Olly sending a 25 at Wave Wall


Fuddy no longer so duddy!

Once the sun came out, we shot back over to Narrowneck peninsula in Katoomba, and got ready for our 3-pitch trad climb called.... Fuddy Duddy! Gotta love the name.

The chimney and 3rd pitch in Fuddy

It was my first time climbing entirely on trad, although it didn't make a huge difference since I was seconding on the rope. It just meant that instead of unclipping a quickdraw, I had to work to get each cam or nut out. Olly did the real work by placing all the gear!
The second pitch was all one big crack, Olly placed a cam every 2m or so but it was very particular climbing. I had to get out of face-climbing mode, and get into the crack by placing my feet on either slab and my hands in the crack. The last pitch was super fun, with a chimney so skinny at the top that you could baaaaarely squeeze your body in between! We finally moved out of the chimney on to the arête to top it out. Et voilá, our last climb in the Blueys before we headed back to Sydney and Olly caught his train the following morning at 6am.

Pour mes amis francais! Pour ce dernier week end de 3 jours avec Olivier en Australie nous avons loué une voiture pour aller grimper dans les blues moutains. Notre point d'attache se trouve à Katoomba chez Jimmy and Nathan. Nous allons faire 3 jours d'escalade pour profiter du superbe rocher que nous offre les blue mountains, le "sandstone". Vendredi Olivier grimpe seul une voie mythique "Hotel California" pendant que je travailles. Je rejoins en 2h de train Katoomba directement aprçs mon travail pour aller grimper avec olivier et mes potes le reste de la journée.
Le lendemain, samedi, on prends le temps de faire le petit dejeuner en ville avec un bon café et des croissants, no stress ! L'objectif du jour est une voie en 8 longueurs "Sweet Dream", magnifique mais plutot facile puisque ne dépassant pas le 5b... L'escalade est cependant magnifique et l'impression de vide très présente. Vraiment parfait ! Le soir nous allons faire une autre petite voie en deux longueurs que Nathan nous avait conseillé. Dimanche c'est notre dernier jour d'escalade et c'est aussi le dernier jour d'Olivier en Australie. On en profite donc au maximum et après le café rituel à Leura nous allons grimper à "Centiennal glen". Un site impressionnant mais trop difficile pour moi. Mais olivier a envie de faire quelques voies dures et ca tombe bien parce que ce matin je ne suis pas très motivée. L’après-midi après un bon pic nic au soleil nous allons vers le vrai objectif du jour : une voie en trad de 5 longueurs avec une cheminée étroite de 30 cm... C'est parfait et c'est pour moi l'occasion de faire ma première voie de trad. Ça ne change pas grand chose pour moi, il faut juste retirer le matériel qu'Olivier met soigneusement en place pour protéger l'escalade. Mais cela rajoute quelques choses et un nouveau jeux à l'escalade.
Nous rentrons sur Sydney vers 21h... olivier fait son sac, on se couche à 00h30 pour se lever à 04h00 et aller à l'aéroport !
Voila comment se termine très brutalement ces trois semaines ou nous avons profiter de tous les instants jusqu'à la fin pour grimper, rigoler voyager et vivre à fond !