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TR: Noobs on Bellbird Wall 11-Dec-2016 At 2:58:29 PM prozac

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After getting up sweet dreams a couple of times bellbird wall seemed to be the next easiest sport multi-pitch in the blue mountains so I was keen to get on it.

My partner for the day (herein referred to as R) and I don't climb much harder than 18 single-pitch sport. I expressed some feeling of trepidation in the car on the way up. R seemed unconcerned but that changed when we looked down at the first abseil.

After assuring R the flat overhand was OK and everyone on youtube uses it I set off. I'd gone with the auto-block backup and made a stuttering descent.

The abseil is a bit exposed. My calm focus came apart a little when I spun and faced the emptiness below.

We found the start of the route easily and had the crag to ourselves. R lead the first pitch. The climbing went smoothly. The bolt spacing is beginner friendly. R repeatedly exclaimed the pitch was long.

R made the top of the first pitch and realised he was a locker short for the belay. He whacked in a quickdraw snapgate on the back of the belay device which got us a stern talking to by a party that was heading down.

I got to lead the second pitch. I had spent time looking on the internet for pictures and knew something about the crux hand traverse (special thanks to David Noble's photos). I followed the chalk marks and clipped the bolt mid-traverse. I was carrying the second rope in a backpack and as I went to move across again it swung out. I didn't think I'd make the next move and called take. Luckily R could see me and I sat harmlessly on the bolt. The second attempt was successful though a bit desperate. The rest of the pitch went smoothly except for a little problem where the crack narrows and there is large tongue feature jutting out to the right. I couldn't decide which side to pass on and wasted some energy.

It was a bit difficult getting R climbing again. I had tethered inside the cave and couldn't see him and communication wasn't easy.

R got climbing and after a few minutes I heard a rapid sequence of "take"s and the rope went tight. After resting R asked if I could take any more. I pulled on the rope but couldn't move it. We tried this for a few minutes but there was no progress. I called to R would he like to lower. He agreed and I had a wrestle with my device but it didn't move. I was wary of completely inverting it and dropping R. I gave up and R went back to trying to make upwards progress. I attempted a Z-pully system but could not lift him. We switched back to lowering. I clove hitched the brake strand to a quickdraw on one of the ringbolts. With two hands I was able to lift the belay device high enough and it released. It went fairly controlled and the clove wasn't weighted. After a few more lowers R began climbing again and progressed upwards.

I was quite concerned about the state R would be in when he reached me. As he made the cave he seemed relatively calm and of course happy for the struggle to be over. In R's recollection, he had got into the hand traverse, thought it was a bit hard and called for take and let go. He hadn't considered the rope stretch and ended up swinging in near-free-space. He could touch the wall, but didn't have any good holds and wasted a lot of energy and forearm strength trying to get up from that position. All this was made more difficult because we couldn't see each other and could only shout simple commands or questions.

We had travelled up to the mountains with R's girlfriend who was going to have a snooze and a walk while we climbed. It was now about an hour later than the time we told her we'd return. She had tried to call during the struggle and R got her on the phone once he was in the cave. She was in a bit of a state but luckily hadn't called any emergency service.

By this time the leader of the second party was up in the cave with us. R was thoroughly burnt out and I got to lead the final pitch. While this is reportedly the most enjoyable part of the climb I was just focused on finishing. R said he was cold and wished he'd brought a jumper. I awkwardly moved out of the cave and was relieved to feel the jug on the outside face. R came up without a hitch.

So that's it. Thanks for reading. We are beginners and made some avoidable mistakes. It wasn't always a fun day out but am glad to have tried it.