Testing Nerves in the ‘Bungles’
Setting off again after a week back home, seeing friends and updating our van set-up, the next destination was a location that I had always wanted to visit and climb at. I had seen it only in photos, yet its 'out-of-the-way' location meant visiting the Warrumbungles had eluded me up until this point.
There is a lot of nothing in Australia (as I would say many times over the next few months), but when you arrive into an area, it is rather special. Entering the Warrumbungles National Park was like entering into a landscape reminiscent of old Western movie landscapes with its dry yet dramatic scenery. Descending into the valley I got my first glimpse of its famed volcanic peaks and what would hopefully be the location for some great days of climbing ahead. We arrived at camp and met up with our good friend Michael, who had driven from Brisbane to join us for a few days. That afternoon we went to a small cliff behind the camp to climb a route and brush up on our rope-skills. We all felt pretty good and ready to go. The next few days were going to be epic….we just didn’t realise how epic.
The next morning we headed bright and early towards Crater Bluff, one of the highest peaks in the area, to climb Cornerstone Rib. This is a classic climb that climbs over 200m along a protruding rib of rock on the northern face of the mountain. The aim was to climb as a group of three up the 6 pitches and maybe even do an afternoon hike…I knew though that we were in for a 10hr adventure at least. The next series of events would see us back at the car after 14hrs, exhausted and wrecked.
After the 2 hr approach we arrived at the base of the climb. I remember looking up, seeing the beautiful line that we were going to take and grinning with anticipation. The first two pitches went down really smoothly, with some easy climbing up the lower cliffs that felt like a relatively smooth scramble. The exposure here was already building as the valley below opened up and the airiness of the rib was felt. We actually arrived at the ledge that should have taken 3 pitches, so in a way it felt like we had made up some time and maybe we could make that afternoon hike after-all.
The next pitch was the 'money pitch', with a section that stepped out on the headwall of the cliff with nothing but open air below and quality climbing with some not so quality protection. I psyched myself up to lead the route, stepping up to the ledge before peaking around the corner. Looking around all I could see was the sheer drop (maybe 100m+) and seeing the route with no obvious protection. I retreated probably 2 or three times trying to calm my nerves and build the courage to commit. There was no easy way down from here and the only way was up, so with some fools courage I slung a bit of rock and stepped into the void. Focussing on just working my feet and taking it a move at a time, I managed to navigate the first sections before spotting what I thought was a fixed piece of gear a few metres up. Finally some protection that I could clip into and no longer fear taking a big whip. I climbed through to clip it and all of a sudden all the fear left me knowing I was safe. However, as I continued up I quickly realised the 'fixed piece' was actually a poorly placed small cam on a seam of rock that was more hopeful than anything. ignoring my nerves I climbed through and before I knew it I was at a solid section with great holds and pro. A brilliant pitch of climbing, both adventurous and atmospheric.
The others soon followed up on second and climbed strongly through a committing pitch before joining me on a small ledge. Here I think we all realised that we were still a few hours from the top and I could see that the exposure of the climb was getting to everyone. Nevertheless the only way out was up and with the hardest pitch behind us we continued up. I led up the next pitch and made it to our next belay, with Michael and Nicole soon following. Here we took some time to re-group as some of the others were really not feeling in a good frame of mind and needed the time to recompose. Whilst the climbing is not in itself difficult a combination in the remoteness of the Bungles, the airiness of the mountain, commitment of the pitches, and just the size of the climb makes Cornerstone Rib and adventurous climb that tests the nerves. In the end though we all rallied and climbed well to reach the top. Here our smiles shined out again, proud and relieved to reach the top. I was relieved to get the group safely up and have them on more solid ground, and I am sure they were relieved to no longer be on the edge of that cliff.
The descent saw us abseil down the 'crater' of the bluff and through a landscape like something out of Jurassic Park with dense ferns and dramatic rock formations. It was a bit of an effort just to reach the southern cliff and here we still had to abseil down a few pitches just to reach the base of the mountain. Fatigued, we took it extra slow to make sure we did this safely and as the sun disappeared over the horizon we reached solid ground again after 10 hours since we stepped onto the climb. A final 2hr trek back to the car with no more food or water was our reward. Bush bashing in the dark, exhausted and dehydrated we navigated to the track and walked our way back to the van. We arrived at last, with no signs of that keen enthusiasm we had when we left in the morning with. We downed the water and devoured some grapes, before I collapsed on the pavement and lay contemplating the type 2 adventure we just experienced.
The following days were much more mellow as we reverted to easy hikes, delicious food and not wrecking ourselves again. We didn’t do much climbing after all but it didn’t matter as that was an adventure to remember.