Trad Climbing at Mount Somers 10-12 Oct 08 (Photos coming soon)
On friday Morning Josh, Brett, Larissa and I packed Josh’s car and headed to Mount Somers. We had been told things like “good luck getting good weather†or “tell me what you see poking up from between the dark cloudsâ€, but it was a beautifully sunny that Friday morning and so we felt hopeful. We arrived at the carpark around 10.00am and began the tramp towards the Pinnacles Hut. The walk was beautiful, as it ran alongside the river and crossed over many tiny streams and amazing looking swimming holes (note to self, next time begin togs!!!).
It took us 2hrs 45mins to reach the hut and after lunch we headed up the Christian Principles Wall for our first taste or Mount Somers Trad. It was still a beautiful day as we traversed along a rocky ridge, the tracks at Mount Somers cut in and out and so approaching the climbs can often be bit of an adventure in itself. We reached our wall after 40mins – 1hr of tramping and scrambling. There we climbed two 15s; Sleeping with the nasty boys and Bring back the cane. The climbing style was quite different to anything I had encountered before the rock was pretty solid and stable with small face holds and mostly smearing feet but with awesome gear in the cracks between the columns.
The next day the boys headed for the Fortress and Orange Wall but seeing as I am not quite up to leading 17/19 on Trad I decided to make a beeline for Meat Grinder Wall, which promised some easier routes around grade 14. The walk up took Larissa and I 2hrs and was a bit scary in places as it is fairly steep and exposed and more like scrambling than walking. I led one grade 13 or 14 (different in each book) called Spare Rib. Some other lines caught my eye, however, given the gear was spread over two spaced cracks I will need to remember to bring double ropes or longer draws next time.
While we were cruising up Meat Grinder Wall the boys climbed some harder routes including Mississippi Mudcake 2 pitch 17 & 15, Hotline to Jim 18, Red Herring 16 and Have you been stung 19. They had a much more successful day than us however we were proud that we made it all the way up there and down again successfully. I was really excited to be climbing Trad again and I will definately be back as I have a couple of climbs I would love to try next time and maybe I will be strong enough to climb on the Fortress and I wont have to walk so far.
That night we shared the Hut with a very well behaved Scott group, well done to the leaders for keeping them under control. We had to laugh when one leader came into the hut and announced that if any of us need to go outside under no circumstance are we to act like possums “I've got 12 children out there who believe they are all destined to be possum hunters they all have sticks so don't even make the sound or you’ll have them all chasing youâ€.
On Sunday we headed to the Pinnacles for some lazy sport climbing. Brett and I did a two pitch 15/14 and then another 14 on the East Pinnacle and then Josh and Brett took on Rocky Road. The rock quality is generally good on these walls however some of the bigger hold can be a little crunchy. The bolting is nicely spaced and the view spectacular. A good afternoon adventure or last day cruise. Having come from climbing at Araps it was great to be able to do some multi-pitch again and to be able to have a little bit more of an adventure reaching the crags.
The walkout took the same time 2hrs 45mins and I’d have to say one of the best parts about the trip apart from the climbing was filling my drink bottle up at the stream, the water tasted amazing and it was nice not to have to carry the extra load. Awesome trip, we’ll be back.