Brooyar 27-09-2008 to 29-09-2008

Courtney Bryce

Friday

After an early 6.30am leave time planned by Adam, we finally left a bit before midday. Adam made lame excuses about stuffing up one digit in 18 pages of calculations. He then forced me to drive to Brooyar so he could sleep. As I expected, Adam didn’t sleep at all because he couldn’t stop talking. Surprise surprise.

Once we arrived at Brooyar, Adam set up his hammock and fell asleep, I set up my tent and fell asleep. We got up, had a bite to eat and made our way to Eagles Nest. I was thrown on the sharp end of the rope and struggled my way up Little Ray of Sunshine 17. After struggling with my headspace I avoided the crux, made my way to the right and around an arête, skipped a bolt and continued my way up the beautiful sandstone jugs. I set up my belay and Adam raced up. Once arriving at the top he lowered me down to the crux to see what I had missed. I pulled through the moves with no worries at all, just goes to show what a difference being on lead can make.

We moved over to The Pioneer 16 and I felt quite comfortable on lead which was a good improvement from the last climb. I belayed Adam up as the sun went down. He seconded, carrying my pack, a bag of spray paint for camouflaging bolts and whatever else was at the bottom. At the crux of the climb he went straight over the roof without tending to the right like I did.

We made our way back to the campsite to see Anita, Anita and Adam’s sister Rachel and her boyfriend Mali setting up their tents. I heated up my curry that I had cooked the night before and we sat around candle light and chatted. Mooj and Tristan arrived later. Soon after that it was off to bed.

Saturday

The next morning we made our way to point pure. Tristan ran up Coco Pops 15, followed by Rachael. Rachel gave us great example of how a circus performer can campus up an easy climb. I started on Cold Fusion 17 but bailed after seeing the potential for ground fall at the run out between the second and third bolts. I waited for Coco Pops to be finished and then James arrived. After hearing that it was James’ first time at Brooyar Adam immediately made a list of must dos for James. Mooj started on Cold Fusion, rescuing my gear and I hopped on Coco Pops with Anita belaying. Mali then seconded Mooj up cold fusion and James hopped on Islamic Cowboys Say Jihad 16, the first in an impressive list of climbs for him that day. Anita cruised up Coco Pops and Adam seconded James. After seeing James and Adam simul rap I decided that I wanted a go and simul rapped with Mooj.

James then moved onto Hovercraft Full of Potatoes 20, getting the onsight. Tristan cruised up Suddenly Sober 14 and Rachael followed. We then made our way around the corner to The Great Devoid 22. Once the draws were placed it was my turn for the first of what would be many attempts at this climb. I fell quite early which was no big surprise.

Image James on Losing Fingers 25

James had a go at Losing Fingers 25 and nearly made it on his onsight attempt, missing the jug at the crux by just a couple of centimeters. Tristan then had a go at but fell as well. It was then Mali and Rachel’s turn to campus their way up The Great Devoid. It is a little bit depressing seeing some newbie climber have a perfectly reasonable conversation about where they should put their hands next whilst hanging off the jugs just above the first bolt, my high point at that stage. I continued to wear away at the skin on my fingers and palms whilst having goes at TGD but didn’t get any further. James and Tristan and Mooj moved to black stump to get onto Little Wednesday 25. The rest of us made our way to camp for the compulsory mid day nap and lunch. We met up with the new arrivees, Simon, Jon, Emilie, Mark, Laura, Tiff and Ann.

Image Me on The Great Devoid 22

After lunch a few of us went to TGD for the sunset session. Unfortunately the new arrivees didn’t get there with a rope until dark. James had a crack at TGD but due to having such a massive day he had to dog his way up it. I am sure that had James not been so tired he would have flashed it.

After this we made our way back to the campsite. We built a fire, drank a whole bunch of beer/goon/rum/wine and whatever else. Ian and Kim had arrived that evening and Emma and her friend Elise also turned up at some point. Emma pulled her guitar out and sang a hilarious song about being a seconder. Apparently I made it to bed that night because I woke up in my tent.

Sunday

Sunday morning start was a bit slow for most people. Except for Emma and Elise, who left by 7 am, before most people had gotten out of bed. It was off to Black Stump for a few of us. Adam cruised up The Dogs Paw 15 as I watched Emilie lead belay for the first time. Emilie seconded and put in a great effort to get up the climb. Tristan raced up either Snake Charmer or One Legged Dog which was seconded by Anita. Mooj warmed up on Annabelistic 18 before heading over to Little Wednesday with Tristan. I climbed Sun Chaser 16. Jon ended up belaying both Anita and Marley before climbing up himself to clean the anchors with Anita providing instructions from the top.

Simon, Ann and Tiff arrived from where they were before. I was coaxed onto The Dogs Paw and then belayed both Tiff and Ann from the top. Both of the girls put in awesome efforts to get up. We then made our way back to the campsite for a swim and lunch and nap. The swim was wonderful, just the perfect amount of refreshment. Mark ended up being tackled by Adam and the end result was a splash fight in which everybody got wet except for Ann who was laughing at us from her perch on a rock. As Ann slowly and carefully made her way down the rock she slipped and ended up in the water anyway.

That afternoon all the Monday to Friday workers left. Laura and Mark made their way to Point Pure to climb Coco Pops and Great Barrier Reef. Ann, Tiff, Adam and myself went to green lane so I could have an attempt at Herbs in the Fernery 18. I made my way through the overhang very loudly and got to the mantle. At this point I swore at Adam a lot as I tried to find something to grab at the top. Somehow I managed to graze my teeth on the abrasive sandstone but it must have worked because I made it to the anchors without falling. I was stoked. Tiffany was next and as she was pulling up over the lip it sounded like multiple births going on. She fell just after pulling through the lip. She got stuck and it was decided that it would be easier for Adam to lead up to that point rather than me lower her because I had an autoblock belay set up. Ann belayed Adam up to the last bolt where he tied off. He then coaxed tiff up the rest of the overhang until she got to the top, to everybody’s delight. Ann was next, she was looking strong until falling just before the lip. After swinging around in space for a while Ann managed to get back onto the wall. Ann continued up the rest of the climb as I admired the sunset. After Ann reached the top we headed back to the campsite.

Image Me on herbs in the Fernery 18

At the campsite we found that the UQ boys had made a fire but abandoned it. QUT took over. The UQ boys came back from their swim to join us at their fire. We talked about cooking dinner a lot and it was decided that Ann and Tiff (bless their souls) had enough food to feed themselves, Em, Adam and I. As they got dinner started Adam and I cruised up to point pure to see if Mark and Laura were ok. By this time it had been dark for a couple of hours. We arrived to find Mark and Laura just starting pack up after they had been benighted on Great Barrier Reef. Once they were all packed up we made our way back to the wine/goon and food. Lots of stories were told that evening by Adam in an attempt to terrify Tiff, Laura and Em, all soon to be teachers.

Monday

The next morning it was off to Point Pure, again. Mark and Laura went and climbed something and the rest of us, Em, Tiff, Ann, Adam and myself hung out at The Great Devoid, again. Although it wasn’t a competition, Em and I were desperately trying to outdo the other. I managed to get to the crux holds, one move further than Em, but apparently Em was doing with more style. Both Ann and Tiff had a couple of goes at TGD as well, getting close to the first bolt. Adam decided to attempt Lee’s new climb, Pipeline 24. It is the flake just the left of TGD. Adam worked up to the moves at the second bolt, but was unable to take a hand off to clip the bolt. I was belaying, and when he fell I ended up almost as high as him. This happened twice until Ann attached herself to my harness.

Mark and Laura made their way past and we managed to convince them to have a go at TGD. Laura put in a stellar effort and Mark gave a great example of ‘boy’ style climbing. Think hanging off bent arms, not placing feet properly and just faffing around. Sorry Mark. Emma and I both yelled at Mark a lot whilst he was climbing because he spent too long hanging around on bent arms that had he had just made the moves, he would have made it. Emma and I had both been losing lots of skin off our fingers and dreaded each time we would have our next go. Eventually it was decided that we were both too pumped to make it. Adam led up to the anchors and he decided it was me that had to second to get the draws. I dogged my way up but actually almost had fun on the top half of the climb. If it was a climb in itself it would be a beautiful juggy overhung 19 or 18.

Image Emma on The Great Devoid 22

Image Hanging out underneath TGD and Pipeline

Image Adam having a go at Pipeline 24

A quick pack up of gear was done and we made our way to the campsite. We went down for a swim in the creek and although Em and I aren’t competing with each other, I made it up to my neck in the water before her. After I let Em know this she quickly hurried back into the water to match me. We packed up gear and left the campsite, leaving behind a lot of skin on the abrasive sandstone, itching to get back to tick our projects. Both Em and I are planning to go back to The Great Devoid and might stop off at Brooyar along the way.