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Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports
Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!
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3:13:55 PM |
Thanks for the company folks. I'm sure a TR will be forthcoming. | |||||
4:17:10 PM |
Thank you everyone for their generous help with gear, transport to M9 for his tutelage. :-) The Victorian Alps provided a stunning backdrop for the big wall adventure, and for this: At some point in the (still pre-noon?) hours, when two attempts at leaving the bivvy ledge (direction: top out) had already been made (and failed), much gear re-(...)-re-sorting was nearing (?) completion, and prospects of upward progress and transport were once again looking (potentially?) positive, calls came from across The Gorge: aaaaaaaaaaarererere yououyoyouou okayayayayaya. M9, in response to my query whether return communication should be attempted: "What are we going to tell them? 'Give us 10 minutes, guys'?" |
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9:17:08 PM |
Yep, great weekend in perfect weather. Sorry to have to head home at 1 on Sunday and not stay around to hear everyones stories firsthand. A few ticks for me: 1. Not completely freaking out high on the north wall. 2. Not dropping any gear. 3. Sort-of did the roof on Country Road (abseiled in and aided across to the wine bottle, didn't really have big enough cams but got the gist of aiding with your feet dangling in the air. Can now understand the need for 3 or 4 aiders!) Thanks M9 for gear, patience, and sharing your knowledge. Wish I'd timed it to sit around and talk aid with all the BAW mob, still so much to learn. Looking forward to the TRs. |
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6:13:25 PM |
We got two pitches up Lord Gumtree before bailing. Less than the previous attempt, though faster. Despite one fall (mine) before the 2nd belay, we encountered no unexpected difficulty. However Mikey citing an unshakable sense of impending doom lost his bottle, so we bailed. Upon further reflexion that evening, he cited the decision to leave behind a second rope, and hence make bailing harder, especially after the traversing m7 pitch, on a single 50m. I've been the weak team member plenty of times, and responsible for failures much bigger than this, so I've no position to get grumpy about it. However I would reiterate the need for clear communication of goals, expectations and comfort levels. I was not overly consultive with regards to my technical decisions to leave a lot of gear behind - I think its fair to say some people take a heavier rack and pack on angels than we carried on Lord Gumtree - and I am sure that contributed. What else did I learn? After picking up Owen and Dave's pack, I've resolved never to climb with one unless I can see no other way to achieve a goal. My claim to want to climb this stuff quickly out of sheer laziness felt a lot more sincere. I also got to climb with a prototype of TimP's Little Hammer - it works, the joy of new toys. Thanks everyone, especially Mike! PhillipIvan. ps. The very first carrot on Ozi, straight off the deck, is gone. When did that happen? |
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11:59:11 PM |
Just got home. Amazing few days. Ozy to big grassy then bailed. Epic walk out. Dave threw a tree at me. Will fill in the blanks in good time. |
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6:03:03 PM |
Am distracted by other life matters at the moment but enjoying short Chockstone escape sessions when I can. I'll get a TR together when opportunity arises... On 24/11/2015 phillipivan wrote: >ps. The very first carrot on Ozi, straight off the deck, is gone. When >did that happen? > There was a thread not long back about possible rockfall from Big Grassy. If that was the case it could've taken out that bolt? If so. Little evidence would remain as the chute below it would have funnelled the debris away. Although not essential it's a shame it's gone, as it was convenient for wet starts to aiding the pitch, as well as sorting gear. What will slow starters now say, as they can no longer easily claim descending and fixing up to the first bolt on the route before retiring back to camp for the night? ;-) |
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6:29:48 PM |
On 25/11/2015 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote: >What will slow starters now say, as they can no longer easily claim descending >and fixing up to the first bolt on the route before retiring back to camp >for the night? >;-) Long stick at the base of the route says recent ascensionists have been stick clipping. That counts as easy in my book. |
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9:29:19 PM |
So, has Mikey done Ozy yet? I believe there was an agreement in a pub a couple of years ago that if he doesn't hurry up and climb the thing with his l.d.s. mate, he's going to have to climb it with me.......including sharing a portaledge and spending the entire time answering difficult questions about his faith. ??? |
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10:38:15 PM |
Nope. Except pitch 1. Several times. | |||||
12:32:58 PM |
>I've been the weak team member plenty of times, and responsible for failures much bigger than this, so I Need 2 tell us more now U baited us. An on that theme oddyH should also laborate bout how long tha Q list is that hes gonna keep micky awake with. |
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1:06:16 PM |
Lost an ice axe on the approach to the Red Pilliar of Brouillard, where we had planned to climb the Bonatti route last year. Had to settle for some granite Multipitch on the Italian side as covering that much glaciated terrain without one would have been insane. | |||||
8:37:59 PM |
On 25/11/2015 One Day Hero wrote: >So, has Mikey done Ozy yet? I believe there was an agreement in a pub a >couple of years ago that if he doesn't hurry up and climb the thing with >his l.d.s. mate, he's going to have to climb it with me.......including >sharing a portaledge and spending the entire time answering difficult questions >about his faith. > >??? Alas Damo, Ozy has been attempted twice with a 0 from 2 average, same as for Lord Gumtree. During this LG attempt I was feeling pretty uninspired when reaching the top of pitch two and while I'd climbed the first 3 pitches fairly easily a year earlier, I wasn't feeling good at all about this attempt. At the time I couldn't effectively communicate my concerns to Phil and he was good enough to take me at my word. After a little cajoling and name calling the decission was made to bail, and so bail we did. The good thing about climbing with Phil is he likes to climb, as he puts it, the "lazy way"! He's too lazy to carry too much gear which is pretty fun. From memory we climbed Angels with 8 pieces of gear. For others that's probably ok though I would usually take a double rack to 6:) This "lazy way" also makes retreat physically easier, though mentally nothing about it was easy. I was bummed to once again let Phil down climbing wise and bummed with my own inability to push through the difficulties. With a family of my own, I realise these weekends away are a fairly complex and expensive undertaking, both time wise and financially... The evening after bailing I was pretty happy to give big walling away as the cost in time away from the family and money wasn't really making much sense to me but after talking to my wife and having a good nights sleep I woke up feeling rather bouyed. I have decided I'm done with trying to climb big walls, until next time. I reckon next time I decide to climb a big wall I'll do it in a way that I feel comfortable with. I really like Phil's fast and light approach though will likely aim to do whichever climb is decided on, in 2 days. I reckon this will give me plenty of time to deal with the heeby-jeebys if/when they creep up on me. So Damo, if you're up for it, I'm game; including the questions:) Probably early next year... |
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11:19:26 PM |
Sounds good mate, I'll be in touch. Sweet bail report, btw. So, regarding tricky questions......on a recent trip to the U.S. I had the pleasure of visiting the temple in Salt Lake. Wandering around the grounds I couldn't help but notice a bunch of, well, goons. No necks, earpieces, poorly concealed handguns, but also with the white shirt and cheerful smile common to all l.d.s. blokes (both goon and non-goon) Anyway, I was wondering. Do you know what the application process is to be a temple goon? And were you ever tempted to try out? |
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1:54:14 PM |
On 27/11/2015 One Day Hero wrote: >So, regarding tricky questions...... > >Anyway, I was wondering. Do you know what the application process is to >be a temple goon? And were you ever tempted to try out? Tx 4 answering my q re how long Ur q list is oddyH, as it must B really long if U have 2 start now. Ur in 4 an epic ascent M75. Pleez Don't 4get 2 TReport us afterwords as we look 4ward 2 sharing Ur fun. |
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7:04:15 PM |
Was Mr Rogers Nelson your English teacher? | |||||
10:37:27 AM |
Hmm. All this introspective reflection of bailing reminds me of a Gore Vidal quote... "It is not enough to succeed, others must fail." ** ☺ Despite the number of ascents the north wall receives, one statistic still holds true from the homework I have done and from what I have observed; and that is that amongst would be first-time ascentionists of said wall, the failure rate exceeds the success rate, ie more people bail than get up it. This is manifestly evident on the lower half of Ozymandias where there are double the amount of protection placements per metre than there are on the upper half, due to people using other placements than the beaten out old pin scars. Success when it comes is all the sweeter for any previous bails, and the learning experience is always an adventure that will remain strong in the memory from those bailed attempts. On that note; the party who inquired about Ozy being free of other contenders for the weekend just gone, possibly had an interesting time of it, as I noticed that persistent light rain fell on Buffalo from about 2 pm till 7 pm yesterday afternoon/evening. This would have coincided with their negotiating the upper pitches if they were behind schedule with their plans... |
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11:19:10 AM |
** However those of us who played on Defender during the Aidfestival succeeded in our endeavor. ~> a poorly merged photo as a teaser for my upcoming TR...  |
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10:20:17 AM |
My Buffalo Aidfestival TR for 21-22 November 2015. (It is broken into 3 parts to prevent Chockstone shortening it later with its anti-spam measures further down the track!) ~ If you see anything mysterious or unusual, just enjoy it while you can. ~ Leunig This is my topsy-turvy trip report being an unstructured collection of perspectives of it as I thought of them. It is a bit 'different' and I doubt it will read as everyone’s preferred flavour reflecting as it does, certain mindsets at the time. If read slowly it will perhaps enable others to savour some life moments and hints of life being about more than climbing... Perspectives: [L per through + specere; look] Of or in perspective; a specific point of view in judging things or events; the ability to see things in a true relationship; the appearance of objects as determined by their relative distance and positions; the art of picturing objects so as to show relative distance or depth. Granite Rain: [L granum grain + OE regn] Hard Person Wall-climber Supplement particularly useful for overnight bivouacs; rapid falling of many objects - generally anathema for wall-climbers - sometimes but not always accompanied by pleasant sensations; a charm-spell in a can! Again for a Buffalo Aidfest, it was an interesting blend of people with their associated skills and ambitions who attended the 2015 event. Numbers were slightly down this time with seven involved; possibly due to a different focus for this years event as it was biased towards intermediate/advanced, rather than the strong introductory component of previous Aidfests. This shift in focus resulted in a fair bit of behind the Chockstone-scene Private Messaging, as people teamed up, decided on their objectives, and strategies for tackling them. PI & M75 took on Lord Gumtree in 'fast as possible style', hoping for a sub 24 hr ascent but not being fussed if it took longer. We have since seen from their further elaboration that the non-fussed component extended to a minimalist backup plan if their objective was thwarted for any reason... ~> An interesting perspective when viewed from both sides of the event! MonkeyBoy & Dave_S teamed up for Ozymandias Direct in 'preferably three day style', though four wouldn't have phased them. A fuller account of their adventure is forthcoming, though with the benefit of hindsight they may for their next attempt, tighten up the 'what if' components to reduce the spiral that inevitably arises out of having flexibility (read too much gear), built into plans. The spiral referred to, goes along the lines of; covering for a 'maybe four day' ascent necessitates carrying more water, food, contingency wet weather gear, etc; which in turn increases the load and makes for guaranteed slower going, thus achieving the time-frame anticipated! I think that they too acquired a dual perspective from both sides of their adventure... TimP covered all bases by combining a family holiday weekend with getting some specific aiding objectives dabbled in. These included time on the gorge north wall to dial high exposure into his repertoire, along with solo top-rope aiding the roof of Country Road on the south side wall, to add the nuances of the roof-game to his growing bag of tricks. From post event conversation I have had with him, I know he has learned a lot from the weekends experiences about the mental components (mind games/strategies), required when dealing with, as he labels it, the 'false mental models' (I call perspectives), that can be involved. His bag of tricks has certainly grown, and his identifying 'adaptiveness' as a key coping-tool will stand him in good stead for not only climbing, but also in my opinion, for life in general. Indeed the mental components of climbing is a perspective that has captured me long ago; and I look forward to comparing mental notes with him down the track as he explores this aspect further. Euce set herself the objectives for this Aidfestival of expanding her previously limited experience of clean-aid climbing, jumaring, and 'walling' in general. This she achieved in great abundance by descending to the 5th pitch of Defender Of The Faith (includes the couple of pitches below Fuhrer Ledge), aiding back to the belay above it, then bivouacking the night on the minimalist ledge to be found there (more on this later). After this the jumaring of fixed ropes to negotiate/avoid the wandery and often slimy/vegetated pitches 6 and 7 (of Emperor) out of the gorge, also expanded her knowledge bag of tricks in great abundance. Background is everything; aaaaaaaaaaarererere yououyoyouou okayayayayaya(?); so here is the elaboration of it: With a background requirement of scheduling our topout to coincide with her transport arrangements back to Melbourne that day, she asked me while we were packing up our bivy, "How long will getting to the top take"? After quick consideration I replied, "Two hours". The quizzical half raised eyebrow expression this elicited, warranted further elaboration on my part, as it was probably not the answer she was looking for, due to having an expectation of hopefully doing more aid climbing before departing. I commented further to effect of; "All things flowing smoothly it will only take an hour for us both to jumar to topout and retrieve our gear, but if it goes awkwardly then it could take three, so I split the difference and called it two"! Communication on a wall is important, as efficiency is helped greatly by all concerned knowing what the plan is, and having the same perspective. The plan we devised was for euce to jumar out first wearing the back-pack wombat containing the lightweight but bulky bivy gear, with lead-rope strapped on top, plus dangling the ablution bucket, insulation mat, and empty water bottles underneath. I was to follow, wearing the heavy rack and trailing the equally heavy mini-wombat containing excess 200 m static rope. My following would allow me to keep some tension on her jumar line to make it easier for her, due preventing it riding up with each of her upward movements. Further background; euce was using borrowed equipment of jumars, mini-traxion, two ettriers and daisys; plus the jumar out involved passing two rope protectors and a re-belay, along with a couple of free-hanging-ish overhung sections. Her perspective of jumaring was based on one previous experience of a relatively short jumar that included a minor overhang, but without the third ascender to facilitate resting if required. Ok, plan communicated, and final nuance dialing of her jumar system to her size requirements inclusive of Parisian Baudrier chest harness with mini-traxion attached, she set off... It soon became evident that the heavy lead-rope secured atop backpack-wombat was not the best arrangement for her efficiency, as it tended to pull her away from the fall-line, causing the min-traxion to rise uncomfortably up under her chin and tighten/twist the chest harness equally uncomfortably. She wasn't far above our bivy ledge so I climbed up to re-jig her load by relieving her of the lead-rope. She continued higher but the dangly bits were hassling her progress. I again climbed up to help out by relieving her of those, and again valiantly she set off higher but found the whole backpack-wombat to be quite unhelpful for efficient ascent! "Can you down-jumar and I'll get the wombat off your back, plus shorten your chest-harness connection back to your sit-harness, to make resting easier"... Hmm. It was then that we found mini-traxions are not the best devices for reverse-ascending with. I don't own one, so my previous familiarity with same was minimal... "Hang about (heh, heh, heh), and I'll come up again to sort you out". Ahh, perspectives. Bear in mind readers, that all this is taking place in a deceptively exposed location with not much in the way of natural features to facilitate two people trying to half stand on, and take weight off, loaded rope devices. Deceptive because the start of that ascent is in an open groove-like feature, the rock masking the true sucking nature of the real void below... A perspective that doesn't bear too much dwelling upon if freaking out is not desired... Upon my arrival at her location she asks, "Can you get the wombat off"? "I can, but am reluctant to do so, as I can't down-climb easily from here with it, and I'm fearful of dropping it"; (with first bounce likely being 150m lower, and all spare connecting slings & karabiners to prevent same being packed away already) ... We disconnected the mini-traxion and this enabled a strenuous descent for euce back to our bivy ledge, where it was short-reconnected to her sit-harness and chest-harness. Repack backpack-wombat into full wombat mode, and I gave euce the option of trialing a short distance of ascending with it trailing-connected to her sit harness, but she declined the offer, as I think a touch of tiredness was starting to set in. It was about this time that we heard the; >aaaaaaaaaaarererere yououyoyouou okayayayayaya? yell. So, after about an hour of faffing around with aborted attempts and strenuous retreats to our starting point, my reply of, "What are we going to tell them? 'Give us 10 minutes, guys'?" had a meaningful perspective that euce immediately saw dry humour within; breaking out into a beautiful infectious laugh, that I too found beneficial in relieving the morning tension that was building from the frustrating exit events. You really should've been there... I'm glad I was at that moment! Hmm, too bad we had emptied our excess water out earlier, in anticipation of departure; as the morning sun was warming up, and we still had the task ahead of us... Ok, new plan / change of perspective. "I'll jumar out first taking rack, dangly bits, and trailing the lead-rope ready-connected to haul the wombat. In the meantime could you please retrieve the tail of the 200 m from it's wombag, reverse-flake it so it pulls to topout without snagging, after which you follow me; and bring the broken down belay with you when you come, ok"? "Ok. When do I start up"? "As soon as I haul the wombat. When it leaves this ledge you're free to follow (in case it snags). I don't know if I will haul from the top, or the re-belay. It depends on if the trailed haul line reaches all the way to the top".  The scene of euce's learning to avoid jumar-epics session. ☺ 40 minutes later (I faffed around at the re-belay that was located on slimy ground), I had topped out, and a few minutes after that I had the wombat sitting beside me. To my surprise about that time, PI and M75 arrived to join in the fun. Conversation arose as to our delay getting off, and I indicated that euce was probably feeling a bit wasted due to the mornings efforts. This resulted in another perspective change, and you should have seen the swiftness of it!! ... With an unencumbered exuberance akin to a Firey in training for a fitness challenge and given the opportunity to rescue a damsel in distress, M75 was full on for an assisted hoist as a minimum response! Even with a bit of tiredness and dehydration on my part I still noticed that our combined three-way 'how to' best-facilitate this (amongst other options), conversation, waxed and waned, but undaunted M75 set off downwards on a mission, no, it was euce's lead rope if I recall correctly(!); where, lo and behold, euce had already ascended to the re-belay located 15 m below us. She had made excellent time that I knew she could do but wasn't expecting, due I was in cruise mode myself. Ahh, the frustrations of our walling were truly off our backs and transferred elsewhere now... Thanks anyway M75. Heh, heh, heh. ☺ Soon after we were all atop Defender and basking in the warm afterglow of sweet weariness that accompanies a physical weekend away from our normal routines; ... even though the Granite Rain was now in need of replenishment, ... which brings to mind events referred to earlier. |
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10:41:21 AM |
Continued... The lead up to those shenanigans was the day before, when TimP accompanied euce and I down Defender, to obtain his wall aspirations fix. ... And an interesting kaleidoscope of perspectives that was too! After the initial breath-taking commitment to the abseil down Defender we re-belayed our fixed line so as to minimise rope-wear on the rough and rounded top-out, due the anticipated rope-jugging rope-stretch induced movement when we passed back this way again later. This even though the rope-protector had been deployed below the abseil station, as only one in that location is insufficient. So, bypassing the scungy sixth and seventh pitches, all three of us arrived at euce and my planned bivy spot atop Pitch five. We then agreed that TimP would descend on the 60 m lead rope with a knotted end loop in it, to the next belay about 50 m lower, that I described to him as consisting of two carrot bolts and a bit of trad gear off to the left side in a crack. The plan was that euce would follow him down once he had set the lower belay, she'd secure herself to the belay, I'd release the lead line, and they'd take turns leading and belaying each other on that pitch. Meanwhile I'd descend on the static and clean their leads of pro, be available for helpful advice if required, as well as general paparazzi duties, etc. A good enough plan, yes? No! The alluring yet mischievous whispering, or was it roaring(?), of nearby Crystal Brook Waterfall cast her magic spell over our feeble attempts at communication once we separated. I noted to myself that it was taking him a while to set the new belay, but couldn't see him when peering down the vertical face below, because the required belay is located under a lower minor rooflet. Crystal Brook must've thought he was OK, as she continued to thwart communication... Hmm, time to change perspective. Our plan morphed to rigging the remainder of our static as a loop below our belay, allowing euce and I to descend on separate strands, and then link up with TimP and the original plan, while allowing him the freedom to monopolise the dynamic he was on. As I arrived at the anticipated belay location as described earlier, I noted some things; ... Since my last time here, the belay has been upgraded to heavy duty stainless steel hangars and the carrots have been smashed-over as redundant, though if one knows where to look a lower original still exists. There are a lot more newly placed fixed hangars dotting the free-climb lines on this part of the wall. Oh, and TimP was nowhere to be found!  Where is TimP? (Far-out, I am saying... Heh, heh, heh.) Obviously the magic of Crystal Brook was alluring indeed, for she had enticed him to descend closer to her calling, and I could just make him out seemingly about a half rope length lower, below yet another sub-rooflet, but thankfully still a very long way above her clutches. It appears her magic was stymied by him running out of rope while trying to reach her! I found him recovering his composure by working over a cordalette system trad belay he'd set, to distract himself from such calling... I’ll insert his feedback here (from a week after that event), that post-trip freaked me out somewhat; ... after he'd got onto his constructed belay and detached from the abseil, it retracted up out of his reach!!! Hmm. I obviously did not allow for my own false-reality mental model (perspective), that I had of everyone always being attached by rope at all times while on a wall ... He had to aid up to its dangling end to re-attach himself! Now that her spell was broken and our communication re-established, I suggested that aiding the extra distance he was below us, was probably not worthwhile as we were comfortable on our own ropes safely out of her siren-call reach! He agreed and broke down his belay to come up and rejoin, or was that rejoice(?), with us!  After the spell broke!  TimP re-ascends to the skipped belay. After the reunion celebrations TimP decided that 'time' was a harsher task-master than being seduced by Crystal Brook, and it would be more expedient if he continued jugging up to the higher bivy-belay, where he could comfortably top-rope euce while she obtained her own aid fix, as her perspective hadn't suffered spell-warpage to deter her from it yet. A very wide perspective aid learning session it turned out to be too; inclusive of trusting 'progress pieces', ... read only two lobes engaged of slcd's, vs well placed protection; husbanding gear then back-cleaning, and leapfrogging pieces as particular sizes ran out; and discovering that combined free-style+aid moves are legitimate in aid, to enable high step access for upcoming placements.  Note: TimP's improvised belay was located about where my rope (lower right hand side) disappears...  Woo-hoo, two slcd lobes actually do hold body-weight! I was extremely impressed with her determination, resourcefulness and adaptability, as I don't believe many would want to learn those aiding skills in such a radically exposed location as the awesome Defender 5th Pitch, undoubtedly spell-bindingly beautiful as it may be! A full-on learning location and gutsy effort to say the least. Her heavy duty learning curve came to a climax not far below the higher belay, when she had to transfer from a widening crack to a smaller one leading up rightwards to the belay. From a high ett-step position in the wider crack she managed to wide-reach and hastily place a Metolius Link-cam in the narrow right hand crack, and clip her second ett to it. However her body pendulum move onto the newly placed ett caused the link-cam to rotationaly pivot in its placement and the twisting action caused it to ping free, releasing her from the subtle aiding spell that she had woven for herself! TimP deftly caught her fall and with rope-stretch euce ended up back at my level below her last location, where I had been enjoying the nuances of LittleHammer cleaning of securely placed protection items. With such a short distance remaining above it gave opportunity to re-assess perspective, and she decided to re-do the transition-crack move so as to stick it; then discard the couple of straightforward moves further above by jugging to the belay. This allowed TimP to jug out and rejoin his family in timely fashion, as the afternoon was now waning.  Happy Aidfesties! |
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10:41:34 AM |
Continued again... As TimP jugged out, euce and I set up our much anticipated bivouac for the night ahead.  Bivy ledge location in perspective. Look for the orange coloured circling of it!... It was great having the time to leisurely arrange our minimalist basics, rehydrate, and savour the colour changes of sunset on the alpine panorama spread before us, while simultaneously savouring the continued whispering of Crystal Brook. We kept her spell at bay with an excellent meal of home made muffins, chocolate, and a nightcap of PI's excellent purchase of scotch afterwards. I reflected again that meals always taste better on a wall. As we both lapsed into silent reverie of taking in our surroundings I reflected too, that quiet moments in such locations are a rare and much to be desired highly worthwhile commodity. I was extremely appreciative of our circumstance and perhaps for the first time in a long climbing career thought to myself that camaraderie of the rope, while being all encompassing, at the same time is an unjust description of intangibles that are so good to experience.  -  Perhaps I too had been seduced by Crystal Brooks spell, as although euce drifted off to sleep and I found myself occasionally dozing off, I also found my appetite to absorb this extended moment was insatiable. Normally I sleep well on a wall, and although comfortable and tired enough to do so on this occasion; this night I woke often, because I wanted to savour as much of it as I could. In short I couldn't get enough of it, as my recognition of the intrinsic value such experiences have sparked prolong periods of trying to stave off sleep as it tried to overtake my senses. I continued to drink in the subtle movement of stars, the setting moonlight receding up the south wall, the rising of familiar constellations, and after a while Venus, and then the incredible colour hue changes of approaching sunrise. My heightened senses finally found a balance point but not before I also noted that for the first time my observation awareness of star trails was actually a visually-measurable commodity. Time lapse photography clearly shows celestial light trail-paths, but to the naked eye this is generally imperceptible. However this night with the north wall in silhouette from my fixed point location, I was not only able to viscerally follow specific stars from east-rising and westward travel, but also their upward sweeping trajectory due to the earths rotation. I marveled that I had never actually observed this with such clarity and awareness before now. Was it due to heightened senses, or was it perhaps the magic of location and company I shared it with? Morning came far too soon.  Sunrise was great.  -  The view that the night-void masks... I intend to immerse myself in such experiences again, as a wall can be so much more than just the climbing of it. In the days that followed while sorting my climbing gear, photos, and writing this; I have had the chance to ponder the experience, and it returns in waves of varying intensity, but none so clear as the actual doing of it. Indeed, I feel the need to undertake such immersion again sooner rather than later.  Crystal Brook still calls for company... Although the planned bivouac was the major highlight of my weekend, I thank all the Buff'15 Aidfest participants for making it the memorable occasion that it was this time; as all the participants were impressive in their willingness to extend themselves to further their experience. Their adaptability, self belief, and inclusiveness of each other made it easy to enjoy such a shared experience, and I look forward to renewing our acquaintance again, as well as to the next Aid Climbing Festival planned for late November 2016.  Warm afterglow Mt Buffalo in hindsight... Oh, and the supplement!  Heh, heh, heh. |
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