And check out this cool liittle owl that we meet walking out.

Most likely a Boobook Owl, I'm thinking.
For some reason, I can't get a direct flight to Melbourne, so here I am trying suicide as a cure for boredom in Sydney airport.  Good thing they wouldn't let me carry a loaded finger through security.

(Note the Cilogear pack.  Graham's gear is solid.  (The new models actually look even better.))
What do you do to cap a great climbing trip to the Warrambungles?  Start planning the next trip, of course. 

Early season bush fires kill thoughts of the Grampians, but it's been two years since our last trip to Mt. Buffalo and Mt Arapiles.  How about a return match - precise choice depending on weather?

As my departure date approaches, a heat wave is hammering Arapiles.  Looks like we're Buffalo bound.
Mt. Buffalo - Nov. 2006
What do you do to cap a great climbing trip to the Warrambungles?  Start planning the next trip, of course. 

Early season bush fires kill thoughts of the Grampians, but it's been two years since our last trip to Mt. Buffalo and Mt Arapiles.  How about a return match - precise choice depending on weather?

As my departure date approaches, a heat wave is hammering Arapiles.  Looks like we're Buffalo bound.
For some reason, I can't get a direct flight to Melbourne, so here I am trying suicide as a cure for boredom in Sydney airport.  Good thing they wouldn't let me carry a loaded finger through security.

(Note the Cilogear pack.  Graham's gear is solid.  (The new models actually look even better.))
Click here to add your text.
Well, shoot, you know the drill:  I hit the ground in Melbourne, Col meets me at baggage claim, we load the mother ship and away we go.  A few hours later, look out the window over there - ain't that Mt. Buff?
With the mother ship unloaded and the tents set up, it's too late to climb (and I'm too tired from flying).  Col wonders if it's cognac time, or must we wait until we've actually climbed something?
Ultimately, we settle for beers instead, get some sleep and set out the next morning to earn our Hennessey.  First stop: the Cathedral.
Hard to get a sense of scale from this shot, I know, but the Cathedral is not small.  The longest routes on the formation are upwards of 100 meters.
We decide to start on Compulsion, a 30 meter Oz 15 (U.S. 5.7-5.8).  Perhaps it should be called "Confusion", because we can't figure out where it starts.  Col, finds a way up to the corner that forms the meat of the route, brings me up to a better stance and casts off.

Gotta admit: that's some pretty rock.
Arrival.  Our first night is at the scenic Outdoor Inn Caravan Park (aka Camp Krusty), town of Bright, Victoria, Australia.  Popular with hang glider pilots and actually not a bad place.  Terry, the proprietor, will talk your ear off.
Next we jump on Maharaja, Oz 17 (5.8-5.9), and choose the flake start, which the guidebook says pushes it up from two to three stars.  I get the lead on pitches one and three, so the flake is mine, and it is indeed pretty sweet!

Here's Col loving pitch 2.

Emerging over the lip on pitch 3, at right.  The red dot in the Cathedral pic above is Col's approximate location in this picture. 

Below, Col is topped out and looking happy.
The rap from the top of Maharaja, against a spectacular blue sky. 
We knock off after Maharaja, get clean and head into Bright.  With good cause:  Col's girlfriend Rachel and friend Adam are driving up for the weekend, and we have a rendezvous at the Liquid Am-Bar. 
We're back at Camp Krusty for the night, then it's a coffee shop breakfast, a visit to the voting hall for Col, to the airport for Adam to check out hang gliding conditions and up to the cliffs. 

During the course of all this running around, I meet my girlfriend for the week.  Can't remember her name (I'm a guy, after all), but it was Brunnehilde or something like that.

Gorgeous, huh? 

And check out the sign - sausage and onions only $2.  Is Australia a great country, or what?
We head to the top of the Gorge, but conditions aren't right for Adam to fly, so Col and I rap off the launch ramp to the base of Banana Blase (Oz 16; U.S. 5.8). 

Scoping the route is clearly serious business.
Click here to add your text.
And up I go.
Fun route.
Adam and Col likewise enjoy.  Here's Adam at left (after he'd switched on some kind of blue filter on his hi-tech camera.
With the wind still no good for flying, Adam gives up on that and we head for the Castle, another of Buffalo's beautiful granite formations.

Col and I have been chatting about pushing our grades a bit this trip, and he sets about it right away.  The target is Butterflies are Doodle (Oz 20; U.S. 5.10b/c).  The route starts with a gear protected crack that bottoms out, requiring a traverse left onto a rounded arete of pure slab, protected by three bolts, and a long run-out to the anchor.

Here's Col beginning the move left, as the crack starts to bottom....
...established on the slab with two bolts clipped (this one shot by me while belaying)....
...and looking at the bleak reality of no more gear until the anchor.
Ouch.

With one move left to easy ground, a foot slip sends Col on a truly sizable lob. From my view on the belay, he slips, curses and just vanishes from sight over the far side of the arete.

I run backward to pull slack and manage two or three good steps before the impact yanks me all the way back and a about a meter up the wall.  We're climbing on 8.5 mm doubles, and only one strand is engaged on the catch.  Some rope slip, but no burns for me.

Col is less lucky, though it could have been worse - well shaken, with a bruised hip and hand and a pinched nerve in his neck.  Must have been a 7-8 meter ride.  I'm amazed the slab hasn't cheese-gratered him, but the far side of the arete is steeper.

Enough for the day.
We have reservations at the Mt. Buffalo Chalet (sadly now closed), and after Col's whipper, we feel like we've earned the luxury.

It's nice.
Seriously nice. 

Man, I can taste the kangaroo filets in red wine even now.

Does Col have that "glad to be alive" look, or what?
Yup - nice.
Click here to add your text.
Next morning again yields no wind for Adam to fly.  So we head down to the Lake Catani campground, which will be Col's and my home for the rest of the week.  With the tents set up, we walk up to the Catani Crags, looking for the routes that are supposed to be there, but end up munging around unsuccessfully in the bush.  Adam and Rachel say goodbye and head back to Melbourne, and Col and I walk in to the Keep.  Col is sore and bruised, but willing to belay, so I climb Drawbridge (Oz 14; U.S. 5.7) and rap down, and that's our day. 
We wake up to kookabura laughter, a repeating theme at Catani.  I never do manage a decent pic - they're always moving or high in the trees.
It's Vitabrits for breakfast, as it will be every monring of the trip.  Col's favorite (presumably because they're made of dried, shredded Brits?).

Catani's resident ducks love them.  In fact, later in the week we get duck warfare in camp as they compete for the goodies.  Only later do we notice the "please don't feed" instructions on the campground signboard.
Col is still sore, but tough, so we walk in to the Castle.  I start us off, leading Rising Fast ("Bangla's Sport Route") (Oz 14; U.S. 5.7) and then The Gentle Art of Lyre-Bird Mugging (Oz 17; U.S. 5.8-5.9), with Col following.  Then we both top rope Unnamed 1 (Oz 19; U.S. 5.10a/b).
Lyre-Bird Mugging in particular is great fun.  Here's Col, past the crack and onto the final slab.

Check out the fashionable sun accessory we found near the Cathedral parking area our first day.  fits
over a helmet, and really nice in the blazing heat.

Just call him "Lawrence of Australia".
Col then proves he really is tough by leading Tears Begin to Fall (Oz 13; U.S. 5.6-5.7) on the walk out.  Can't imagine how much that must have hurt with a pinched nerve in the neck.
We've got our camp division of labor down.  I cut ingredients and do dishes.  Col cooks.

The master at work.

(The fact that Catani has showers adds indescribably to the luxury of camp.)
The rosellas like our camp, too.

Cute little buggers.
Next day we walk in to the Hump to do The Initiation (Oz 18; U.S. 5.9-5.10a). 

It's a rappel in and starts right into the business with a thin fingers corner crack.  I sew that puppy up with small and medium nuts, begging for mommy the whole way. 

Past the crack it eases and I keep going, accidentally poaching pitch 2.  Here's Col following what really should have been pitch 2.
We get lucky with a beautiful sunset over Lake Catani, and hop in the car, guessing it'll be nice over the Cathedral, as well.
Ummm, hmmm.
My pitch poaching means we do the route in 3 pitches, instead of 4, and I get the short, wonderful final hand crack.  Here I am on top, still bubbling with it.
And casting off on our pitch 2 (guidebook pitch 3)
Lunch is energy bars every day of the trip.  The supermarket choice was limited, and we end up with a flourescent pink, supposedly dietetic food product named the "Lose It" bar.  Based on flavor, I'm thinking they confused the name and the instructions.

Ack.

After, we head over to the Ariel Wall, and Col leads Son of Ariel (Oz 15; U.S. 5.7-5.8).   Spicy slab in a howling wind.  That's enough for us, and we head back to camp.
Cheese, sausage, beer and nuts.

Life's simple pleasures.

You've gotta know how to relax.
Perhaps a little too relaxed, however.

After showers, I'm fashioning a clothes peg when the knife slips.  My dad taught me better - sorry dad.

Col has the first aid kit out while I'm still hopping around shouting, "Fuck, fuck, fuck!!!!", and raining blood all over.

Gauze and tape, and Col drives us down the hill to the hospital in Bright.

Please don't point at the moron.


A nice young doctor patches me up. 

Superglue won't stop the bleeding, so stitches it is.  She doesn't even blink when I say I have to go climbing next day.  Just tells me no worries as long as I keep it clean.

Sincere thanks to the health pros at Bright - sorry I forgot to get your names.
By way of thanks for his driving us down the hill, I buy beers and dinner for Col and me at the Alpine.  Dunno why, but I love that place.

And that's our day.
Click here to view page two of Buffalo 2006.
And check out this cool liittle owl that we meet walking out.

Most likely a Boobook Owl, I'm thinking.
Click here to go to my home page.
Now here's a good reason to come down from the rocks.  (Adam is also a great guy, but nowhere near as photogenic as Rachel.  Sorry, mate.)