"The Rock"I drove down from Canberra on Saturday afternoon, arriving at The Rock Nature Reserve a couple of hours before sunset. The car park is decently kitted out with good dunnies and a modern covered picnic area with tables, two free gas barbeques and a tap with town water.
Being a noob to the area and not knowing the tracks, I just headed off through the bush in the general direction of The Towers, which is the north facing end of The Rock escarpment. The climb up through the bush is not too bad, taking about twenty minutes, even if you do it by the direct route. The bush is fairly sparse and easy to navigate through.
As you get closer to the cliff face you start to notice that there is a lot of rock there. Heaps of rock. I was a bit dissapointed with the area that I arrived at first (north eastern facing cliff), which had plenty of potential climbs, but it is covered with a thick layer of moss and lichen. As you head further north along the cliff towards The Towers area the moss and lichen dissapears and the rock is quite clean. I had with me the guide book that was included with a 1998 edition of Rock magazine, and was glad to see that many of the climbs starts are well marked with white paint and have obviously withstood the test of time and the elements. The rock leans off to the right and has a lot of overhanging blocks, with every climb looking interesting and different. As I departed the cliff face, one of the nesting Peregrine Falcons spotted me and started to circle and call, so I made a mental note to watch out for them the next day.
I was back at the nature reserve at dawn on Sunday morning, and took the opportunity of the cooler temperatures to walk along the tourist track to the Main Face, which is the Southeast facing cliff of The Rock. Again, the walk was not too bad with the track switching back through open bush as it climbed up to the cliff face. As I got close to the Main Face I spotted the rare and endangered Senecio garlandii (Woolly Ragwort), so I now knew what to look for as far as being carefull of what I stomped on.
Don't stomp that Woolly Ragwort!The Main Face of The Rock again was very impressive, with many potential routes all over the face. Once I get used to the place I really want to attempt The Rock Face Route (120m, 15). The guide book notes that it is “a classic climb and the first done at The Rock”, and that “the exposure is a grade 15 on its own”. After taking a few photos I headed back down to the carpark to get my gear ready for the day.
The Main FaceSteve and Brad turned up in the carpark at about 9.30, and we discussed gear a bit, then headed off to The Tower area. It was already getting quite warm, so we worked up a reasonable sweat on the walk in. On arrival, we got our gear out and discussed what we were going to attempt first. One of the first things we all agreed we would do is get our helmets on. The base of the crag is littered with rocks, many of them obviously quite fresh – those numerous overhangs obviously let go of bits frequently.
We agreed on doing Mrs Fairy (35m,12) first, with Steve leading, me on belay, then coming up second, and Brad bringing up the rear. Steve was hassling hard to get me to lead the route, but I had never climbed there before, and the angle of the rock and the different conditions wierded me out. Steve knew the routes quite well so I was more than happy for him to lead while I got used to the place.
I soon found out how different the climbing is on The Rock’s rock. It looks like there are lots of holds and lines (it is often referred to as being quite similar to the Arapiles), but due to the lean in the strata, everything seems off angle and upside down. There are plenty of juggy holds once you get going, but there are also plenty that require laying off and and a bit of thinking. Mrs Fairy heads up a crack to a bit of a roof, you then step left onto a slab, then up the slab to the first belay ledge. When I got to that first belay ledge I felt like I had to re-orient my head as to what was vertical. I really liked the brain work of the climb though. I clipped in with Steve to the belay point, and sought shade and chatted while Brad came up last. You’ve really got to watch your footing too as there are piles of rocks on the ledges that are perfect for kicking onto your second’s head. Brad made it to the belay ledge, and then lead up a small chimney to the top of the climb. We all made it to the top, then admired the view for a few minutes (while getting hassled by our resident Peregrine Falcon) before rapping back down on some very solid looking stainless rapping points. Mrs Fairy was an excellent introduction to the peculiarities of The Rock and I was really getting to like the place.
After a quick drink we were ready to have a go at another climb. Steve was pushing for me to lead again, but I wasn’t quite ready, and Brad wanted a go at leading something easy anyway. We decided on Traverse #1 (30m, 10). The climb goes directly up a crack, but no-one could decide what the top of the climb was. Brad decided to make it hard on himself by going off route and finishing on a grade 15/16 bulge to the right of the exit gully. He feaked out a bit as he felt a bit exposed on lead going over the bulge, but cruised it in the end.
Brad leading Traverse #1It was a good one to lead, as pro placement wasn’t easy due to the flairing cracks, and the top belay took quite a bit of work to get set up. Poor old Brad was struggling a bit by himself up the top while setting up the top belay, but he got the job done in the end.
Brad on top belay Traverse #1I followed up behind, with Steve coming up on the end. It was a nice easy one to finish on, and I felt much more at home on the type of rock in the end. I felt I was now ready to lead, but it would have to wait until another day.
Steve on Traverse #1It was getting way too hot, we had been out in the sun for quite a few hours, and I didn’t want to test how cranky I could make my wife, who was waiting down in the carpark. I’ll just have to return another day with my cuzzi bro and drag his butt up a few of The Tower routes.
Steve topping out, Traverse #1Steve and Brad rapped back down, while I went down a gully further to the south as I wanted to see what it was like (it wasn’t until I read the Plan of Management for the place afterwards that it said that this was being discouraged due to the erosion it causes – doh!). I packed my gear up and thanked the guys for a great day and headed back down to the car park by myself. My wife was in a surprisingly good mood (considering she just spent the last five hours in the carpark), and we jumped in the car and head back into The Rock township. I noticed a pub just on the other side of town, so we stopped for a quick beer on some very green lawn before heading back to Canberra. This place was getting even better. Now, hadn’t I just spotted a small house for sale on the main street?
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