Bouldering at White Rock Reserve

Taking a break from outdoor climbing, I spent a Saturday morning bouldering at White Rock reserve in Browns Plains.

Damien and I set out looking for some decent spots, and we settled on climbing at 'The Underground', a great sandstone cave that offered shelter from the sun.

Fun and pumpy bouldering, with the majority of the problems being mostly horizontal with featureless mantling to finish. Definitely a good workout, I'll be back to work more problems soon.

More photos here

Tradventure on Mt Maroon

Ever since I heard there was rock climbing on Mount Maroon I wanted to tackle a route. I have done the hike to the 966m summit before, but very few multi-pitch bolted routes exist on the rock so going trad was my only option.

Only one problem, I don't have the experience or skills to properly lead a trad climb. But I know someone who does!

Chris, Evangeline and I set off to Mt Maroon before dawn on a gorgeous Saturday morning, driving through farm lands shrouded in mist, until we arrived at the start of the hike.

Gearing up for the climb, we set off around 7:30 AM on the trail which would lead us to the east face, and the route we had selected to climb.

An hour later we arrived at the gully, we left the track at this point and scrambled around rocks and boulders until we found the start of the Ruby of India route.

 

I must admit my resolve was briefly tested when I saw the east face wall loom high above the ground, knowing that in an hour or so I would be placing my life in the hands of small cams and nuts placed in the many cracks on the wall. But fear is the mind killer, and I was with experienced trad climbers so rationality quickly overcame any doubts I had.

The described route had five pitches at grade 16, but with no bolts or anchors to follow we were able to choose our own adventure. Chris was leading all the pitches, and using his judgement he set the first belay station with only a few metres of rope left on belay. We climbed the harder variant pitch, roughly a grade 18, but nothing out of our range.

After Evangeline and I had joined Chris at the top of the first pitch, he set off again, setting another belay station over 60m above our ledge. The climb of the second pitch was even better, with lots of exposure and different types of climbing, and the higher we got, the more amazing the view became. It was such a thrill to look far below and see the ground through the haze.

One more pitch of about 30m took us to the summit, we climbed up and over the edge feeling exhilarated, it was a tremendous thrill to finally tick Ruby of India off my list!

After a brief rest we decided to abseil instead of making the hike down in climbing shoes. We searched for a set of ring bolts set into the rock and set about abseiling down. We tied our two 70m ropes together, and I set off over the edge, down the vertical, featureless cliff face. After untangling the ropes I scrambled along the cliff face until I found the next set of anchors, attached my safety cord and settled in for Chis and Evangeline to come down.

Once they joined me on the ledge we started pulling one end of the rope through the rings above. The aim was to pull both ropes down, feed a length through the second set of anchors, retie the ropes and abseil the last 60m to the ground. Halfway through pulling the ropes through we realised we had forgotten to until the safety knot (so we couldn't abseil off the end of the rope), which then proceeded to get stuck in the anchor rings above. We were unable to climb up the cliff (using the second rope for safety) as the cliff face was featureless.

We decided to abandon the stuck rope, fix the remaining rope to the current anchor and abseil down using a single rope. It was getting late in the day, too far gone to hike back to the top to recover both ropes, so we headed back to the car for an ice cold beer and returned to Brisbane, planning to return the next day.

Another early start on Sunday took us back to Mt Maroon where we set off at a fast pace to hike to the summit. I carried another 70m rope, we reached the top, freed the stuck rope and abseiled back down to the next fixed rope. Checking for any knots we pulled the ropes through, retied and abseiled back to the ground with all three ropes. Back to the car for another beer, then home.

After a weekend full of adventure I returned home on Sunday sweaty, sore and exhausted. I'll be back to lead and find my own way up Mount Maroon, but for now I'm content.

More photos here

Double Island Point Camping

After a rainy weekend of being stuck indoors courtesy of some cyclones bearing down on South East Queensland, I needed to get out and spend some time in the great outdoors. Luckily a friend of mine had just bought a 4wd and was keen to take it off road for the first time. The timing couldn't be better.

Needing no additional urging I threw a few things in the back of my Patrol and we took off north to Double Island Point for some beach camping. We arrived on Friday night, set up a small camp, had a celebratory beer and retired to our tents to the sounds of the crashing waves.

We were up bright and early on Saturday morning, it is hard to sleep in when the morning sun comes streaming into your tent. We fired up the kettle and sat down on the dunes with a hot cup of fresh coffee.

The skies were clear and the sun hot even in the early hours of the day. Naz was keen to get put some sandy kilometres onto his Pajero so after lunch we drive to the north shore while the tide was low. I went for a swim in the beautiful clear cool water, while Naz walked up the beach to do some fishing.

Twenty minutes later he pulls in a 58cm flathead, caught on soft plastics, which went straight into the esky for lunch.

We made our way back to camp, for another coffee and toasted hot cross buns and relaxed in the heat of the day. After cooking and devouring the huge flathead fillets for lunch, I took Naz for a drive into Rainbow Beach for supplies (ice and beer). We were back to camp in the late afternoon, and after a session of beach fishing catching nothing but small dart, we settled in for the night with some ice cold beers.

Shifting our chairs to the dunes we ate dinner in the dark, under clear skies, watching the lights of the trawlers out at see and listening to the crash of the waves.

Another early morning start as the sun came streaming in the tent, we took one more drive to the northern side of Double Island Point for a swim and some more fishing. Once again there were only small fish around, so we drove back to camp for breakfast and more coffee. Feeling the sting of the sun even in the early morning we decided to pack up camp and head home before the heat got too oppressive.

We made short work of the camp site, and were heading back to Brisbane while the tide was low.

A fantastic weekend, perfect weather to relax on the beach. Apart from the horse flies at plague proportions I couldn't have asked for a better weekend getaway.

More photos here