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Buffalo Dance 10-Feb-2004 At 1:01:05 PM adamk

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Climbing is a merry dance. Different rock styles require us to bust a different type of move. So with the temperature soaring the decision was made to break out the jams and the smears and boogie our way up some buff classics. Sometimes i struggle to get out the door and so didnt get to Harold (crack - head) house till quite late. The trip to the buff was filled with conversation about bolting, and climbs to be ticked. We also spent much time discussing the quality of Grade 18 routes in Vic. In the last fortnight having done Cassandra, skink and Euridice we were primed to shimmy our way up Caligula.
Harold and i seem to be able to turn everything into an epic adventure and sure enough caligula would maintain the status quo. Since pulling gear all the way up 'angels' a few years ago i have been slowly exercising my crack climbing demons to the point that i raised my hand to lead the first pitch. After thrashing through the first five metres that resembled more of a bush walk than a rock climb i began to feel the love. A tricky corner leads to a line of sick ass jamming joy. Moving my dancing shoes in a style that would make Fred Astaire wish he was a climber i quickly used up all my big gear and then found myself in deep trouble. There was so much love that i climbed past the first stance, i thought i could shake my toush up to the next stance when i tried to donate a cam to the crack by overcamming it tighter than a male ballet dancers stockings. By this time the almighty was cranking up the termostat and the heat of buffalo suddenly seemed more like that place we all love in the wimmera. I managed to moonwalk my way to the second stance where with all the style of Michael Jackson i relised there was no way i had enough gear to set up a hanging belay. With a dance that now resembled Mr midnight oil i Peter Garreted my way back down the crack to finally set up a very hanging belay dead in the middle between the two stances utilising the stuck cam. Harry decided to take some photos of the belay even though there was no film in the camera...
Quick as a flashdance Harold was with me on the belay. We swapped gear and i downed some water which was much relief to this half man half pancake slowly simmering on the granite. With some grunts and a squeals of delight Harry was at the top. He also felt the love. I spent at least another hour slowly escorting the cam out of its new home and then climbed with the serenity and style of sunburnt hammer smashed jelly.
Our mission for Sunday was the status Quo. The weather forecast told us our mission should be Lake Catani. After a very average night sleep (sleeping bag is not good to forget) we were above the gorge sussing things out. It wasnt even light and already the temperature was like a disco inferno. So we decided it would be the last two pitches of beureucrat. After a botanical rap in you land on the ledge (bit of dirt around a rotten old tree unsuccessfully resisting gravity) and the architecture that makes buffalo such a wonderful sensory phemonemon causes you to breath a little faster. A slab leads up to an overhanging headwall with a crack in the middle. Harold traversed across the crack with the style and finesse of a J - lo booty wobble and laughed wildly as he revelled in the hanging belay that saw his bot bot flapping in the breeze above hundreds of metres of wild granite expanse.
Once past the traverse i laidback the crack/slab combo to a sickening steepining that was to sick and to steep for someone with my minimal granite crack dancing skills.With a lot of aiding and grunting i made it too the top to be greeted with stunned and misunderstood looks from tourists wondering exactly what i was doing and why. For a grade 15? it seemd awful tough but then smooth hand Harold climbed it without a concern. I guess i can blame it on the boogey?!
Both Caligula and Beuracrat only get one star which neither of us could fathom? The positions are bomb, the climbing sustained and the rock solid. Get your dancing shoes on and hit the buff with some of your own wild moves...