It was refreshing to wake to the cool crisp valley air, a nice change of pace from the sweltering mornings we've had down in Sydney of late. After coffee and breakfast we set off towards the nearby trail-head, and we off hiking by 8:00 AM. It was cloudy and cool but we soon broke into a sweat hauling heavy gear and hiking up the steep embankment to the base of Old Baldy Lower. We followed the faint trail and occasional cairn to the cliff face, then followed along the base until we arrived at 'Room to Move', (two pitch, 65m, grade 16).
I racked my gear and tied on to lead the first pitch, but backed off the first gymnastic move off the ground due to the still recent muscle tear in my chest. Or maybe leading trad just psyched me out.
Pete took over the lead and climbed the first pitch. I seconded without problem and soon arrived to a nice big ledge with a view out over the Wolgan Valley. We swapped leads, I made my way up the short crack without drama and then had to find a way up several grassy, dirty, loose ledges to a large tree to belay Pete.
We had made it up the Old Baldy lower section, and after some scrambling and searching found the base of an impressive crack route called Scimitar (four pitches, 91m, grade 18). It was now past 1:00 PM, with the longer and harder route ahead I left it to Pete to lead the entire climb. Trad climbing is much slower than sport climbing, we still had to get back down the mountain so finishing the climb before dark was imperative.
We scrambled up a short pillar with an even better view to the lower valley, and started up. Pete decided to string two pitches together to save time, he soon disappeared from view. I followed, the climbing was a mixture of cracks and face holds in an amazing position. I soon joined Pete in a cramped small cave, where after swapping gear he started up the final section. He made short work of the tricky chimney start, before disappearing from view once again. A little while later he was at the top and it was my turn.
I struggled up the chimney, not quite fitting, but then came out onto another beautiful section of climbing. I joined Pete at the top of the climb around 6:15 PM, took a moment to admire the view, then proceeded to set up the rappels back down.
We abseiled down adjacent to Scimitar in two rappels, by the time we arrived at the base of Old Baldy upper the light had almost faded. By the time we were at the top of Old Baldy lower the light had completely gone. I was carrying a head torch, but Pete's was back in his pack, so I gave him mine to set up the rappel.
It was both eerie and exhilarating to abseil in the dark, I soon found myself back on firm ground where we packed our bags to descend the track back to camp. This was a lot easier said than done, the path almost invisible even under the light of the head torch. After a few trips traversing the base of the cliff looking for the right gully to descend we eventually found the path and started down.
It was a much easier hike out, we were back to camp by 8:30 PM. Two cold beers and a big hot bowl of spaghetti was enough to knock me out, I slept soundly through the night, only waking occasionally to the feeling of both legs cramping up.
I awoke at the crack of dawn, seeing Old Baldy looming over the camp ground, the elation of the day before still strong. Coffee and breakfast followed as we broke camp, then drove the short distance to the Coke Oven cliffs, named for the decaying reminders of the coal mining days.
We hiked up the steep path to the base of the cliffs, it was my turn to lead so I sized up Grunter (two pitches, 51m, grade 16) and started up the crack. The first pitch was graded easily, but the crack was filled with dirt, loose conglomerate and leaves / bark which didn't inspire confidence.
I eventually got my head in the game and finished both pitches, trusting myself and my gear placements by the end I was starting to feel some flow. But it is slow going, by the time we got back down it was past midday and time to start heading back home. We get back to to the car, dumped our gear, stuck our heads in the nearby creek to cool off, then set off home.
It was great to send such an amazing climb, a classic of the area. I had wanted to get on the rock ever since I went canyoning there, it was great to realise that dream in such a major way.
I'll return to tick some more routes when I get back. Can't wait.
More photos here
