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TR - Kurin-gai Lost & Found Wall 23-Apr-2013 At 9:37:55 PM technogeekery

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Went up to Mt Kurin-gai on Sunday for a quick day’s sport climbing. No mess, no fuss – throw a rope and some draws into the topbox, fire up the KTM and head for the hills. It had been chucking down rain all Saturday so it was a big relief to see the sun come up in clear skies Sunday. No traffic at 7:30, so I shot through the tunnel and even the Pacific Highway went quickly. Soon I was winding my way through the Kurin-gai Industrial Estate (a most unlikely setting for a day’s climbing) and into the parking circle 30 minutes early. Quentin got there minutes later, obviously as keen as I was – and Adrian (a Chocky member neither of us had met before) rolled in soon with his breakfast of champions – a coffee and a vegetarian sausage roll. Into the forest past the motocross track, talking bikes and climbing, with the sun warming up the day around us, lorrikeets feasting on the gum flowers above us - all was well in the world.

It is a bit of a walk down to the Lost & Found wall, right down on the Berowra River. I’d never been there before, but Quentin & Adrian had, and it was good to have guides to avoid the inevitable wandering about lost aspect to new areas. We followed the cairns down and around, across slippery slabs and over a little creek. Everything was wet, and gently steaming in the sun. Eventually we crossed the stream again and slithered down a sloping sandy shelf under a big cave – the Lost & Found wall found once again. Many of the walls were running with water, others just damp – but a few lines were almost dry. We jumped on Dingbat (14) and Lactose Free (16) – perfect warm-up climbs, and almost dry. Closely bolted and pretty cruisy, they made a nice way to start off the day.

Quentin on Dingbat

Quentin on Lactose Free

Next up was Foundlings (17), which also fell easily enough – a really nice line, quite steep but with great little incut holds, laybacks and little cracks just where you need them – plus an interesting bulgy crux near the top – good fun for all.

Alex on Foundlings (Photo Adrian Batey)

Suitably warmed up, we turned to one of our challenges for the day – Lichen a Virgin Dog (18). The climb is not particularly special, but Quentin had fallen off it & scraped himself up quite badly last time, & was determined to get on it again. The climb goes up to the right of, then steeply over a little cave – falling off the crux can involve you quite awkwardly with a large pointy rock near the top of the cave, and Quentin has the scars to prove it. I gave it a crack – and found the moves out of and above the cave pretty scary – steep, fingery, and requiring real commitment. I backed off a couple of times before screwing up the resolve, and committing to 2 thin moves before clipping the next bolt and finding some big holds. Pull, scrabble, tenuous clip with sewing-machine leg, and up to the ledge above. Realise I’d been holding my breath for 3 minutes, and blow like a horse for a while, checking out the final kicker. The normally easy slab/face to the chains was not just wet, it was a little waterfall. I fell off it twice, cunningly preserving the onsite by landing on the ledge before weighting the rope. Eventually I worked out a way, and make it to the chains – hooray!

Quentin checks out his nemesis- Lichen a Virgin Dog

After seeing my very shaky display of how not to cruise a route, nobody else was keen on repeating this, so we wandered along the base looking for something else to climb. There are some impressive faces along here, with some really cool lines, but just about everything was running with water. We scrambled up to a slabby area (with the scramble proving one of the most hazardous exercises of the day) where there were three almost dry lines, so we played on The Meaning of Life(15), Intelligent Design (16) & Evolution (17), all short, well bolted slab routes. Probably shouldn’t be climbing sandstone when it is so damp, as I think we have added at least a grade to each of these by breaking off various hand & foot holds – nice enough little routes, but better in the dry I suspect. Neat little aside – Quentin points out some little flowers on a ledge that I’d thought were wind-blown detritus were actually tiny carnivorous plants, complete with captured insects. Sundews, I think – very cool.

Sundews - image lifted from the interwebs

Feeling stronger after lunch looking over the river, we decided to tackle It’s a Dogs Life (19), which runs up just to the right of Lichen, but goes directly up. I stuffed about a bit at the crux, drawn left to the security of the big holds on the cave, but eventually worked out that it needed to be done directly up via a thin side pull. Much to my annoyance I didn’t focus properly on the side pull and popped off on the first attempt – fear-induced rushing. Having had a little rest on the bolt, I re-focused and sent it – a very cool climb, and on my hit list for a clean ascent next time.

Adrian follows It's a Dog's Life

Adrian wanted to try a trad route nearby, a grade 15 crack line called Lost Property. It looked pretty damp early in the day, but was marginally better now, so he set off up it. 4m up at the base of the crack he discovered it was wet inside, and deciding discretion was the better part of valour, chose to leave it for another day. I borrowed his rack and headed up as well, but Adrian had it right – the crack was soaking, and my first jamb slid out, my fist coated with orange “rock” slime. Deciding to layback instead, I promptly pulled most of the lip of the crack off. Sometimes I’m slow to come to the right answer, but that was an unmistakeable sign - time to go climb something else.

But what else? Everything within our grade range was soaking. Except – there was a route up a steeply overhung yellow cave nearby that went at 19 – surely that would be dry – so off we went to look. Woken Furies (19) takes a direct line up some outrageous jugs in the soft yellow choss under an overhang. But when we got closer, the choss didn’t look so chossy – and it certainly was dry – so game on. The first move is a fairly delicate mantle up onto a little beak of rock, and you are starting from a ledge 10m up – so I stick clipped the first bolt (thanks Adrian for showing me how to improvise a stick clip!) and headed up into the steepness. Fantastic – huge jug, clip, feet up, long reach, huge jug, clip, repeat. Then a fun stem/ backstep around a bulge at the top, and to the chains. 5 minutes max (had to do it fast cos I’m weak) and its all over – huge blast of adrenaline and joy – nothing like taking on a steep scary route and finding it easy & super fun! If only it was twice as long it would be a 5 star classic. Quentin and Adrian both made it up as well, and it capped off a fantastic day for us all.

Alex on Woken Furies - wonderful photo by Adrian Batey

We sat for a bit watching the sun going down over the hills opposite, smoke from some campers drifting over the river, the only sound comi