Another form of torture

Cathedral Ranges. Woke nice and early to make it on time to the meeting point and what do you know, there was only one other person was there early. By 8:30, the time we had planned on leaving, there were only 6 people out of the 20 people who was suppose to be there. Even some BWMC people were shocked but I pretty much knew it be that way. Old habits. By the time we left it was past 9:30. 


On the drive up people stopped for breakfast so it wasn't until 12:15 that we began climbing. And yes it was a climb. When I first heard about the climb and told how we wouldn't need equipment I was thinking 50-60 degree angle climbs. However once we started climbing it most of the climb was 70-85 degree angles. This was a real dread for me as I am scared of heights. Basically there were no man made hand or foot holds. All you had was the natural groves in the wall. To know where you could climb once in awhile there were orange arrows pointing the way. At times I would look at the arrow pointing straight up the rock face and I would think "how am I suppose to get there?!?" 

There were lots of difficult and scary climbs but I'll just recall some of the most "memorable". Start with the scariest. The mountain was on my right side at an angle of 85 degrees straight up with no ledge till more than 1.5m up. Around 30cm off the wall was a vertical rock formation 30cm wide that rose up higher than the ledge but had jagged rocks on both edges to use as hand and foot holds. I was able to pull myself up the rock formation but it wasn't until I got to the top that I looked on the left side. Let's just say it was a drop there that almost made me hug the rock formation I was on but stopped because it was covered in jagged rocks. I stayed really low and managed to get my foot onto ledge, crawling over onto solid ground. The next part was surprisingly easy. A man was showing a woman how to climb a vertical groove but the woman wasn't very confident. We waited for around 10 minutes for the woman to eventually make it up the climb so that we could move through. The couple had climbed on the outside, the wider section, but further in the groove met in a sharp corner. I got further in before I climbed directly up. I was able to push against both walls and get on top of the obstacle fairly quickly. Sometimes its good to be small. The most interesting climb was a crevice that cut through the edge of the mountain for about 30m. The walls get closer and closer together until you have to climb sideways to make it through. Another good reason for being small. 

With the climb to the top finished me and a friend who made it to the top first had lunch with the previous couple waiting for 15 minutes. The others who had gone the climbing path were spending a lot of time helping some of those who couldn't climb up by myself. I hadn't really considered people needing help because I'm not great at climbing but I still managed it. However the other group that took the easier way also turned back because it was too hard. For the next hour consisted of some people eating lunch, some people going down the easier path to get those who had turned back to climb to the top, and me trying to catch lizards. There was a really large one that kept coming out, however it was too difficult to catch because of all the rocks and spaces where the lizard could hide. Even without catching it I had fun. The next part wasn't as fun.

Rocky, windy, up and down path that seemed to be unending.The worse thing is I ended up being ahead of the crowd, well ahead of the others. This is because firstly because I had no idea how far there was left to go or if anyone was actually following me. Secondly I got to the point and waited for over 30 minutes before the next of our group made it to that point. I had no water at the time so that made it even worse, never been so thirsty in my life. Even at this point there was still an hour trek to the road then half hour run back to the car. Eventually a group of us got together at the road but we found out that the rest of the group was going to be hours late. The lack of water and the difficulty of the path contributed to this. It also got harder as it got dark and people started cramping up. We had planned on being back in Melbourne by around 6-8pm so leaving around 4-6pm. We ended up leaving at 10pm. At least everyone made it back safely, because when it got dark there was genuine concern for peoples safety. 

In the end it was quite fun and would be up to doing it again. I probably would of enjoyed it more of the "hike" if I had water. Got to be more prepared with water next time. Also be good to know the difficulty so know what to prepare for it but I guess difficulty is subjective.