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Shane, Nicole and I reached the summit of Mt Coolum within 30 minutes. The descent down was uneventful, stopping only briefly to look at the vistas next to a rock wall. On the way back to Brisbane, we felt good enough to climb Wild Horse Mountain. This is a simple 700m ascent along a concrete pathway, albeit a steep one. The summit has a nice 360 degree lookout with informative signs describing what you are looking at. The descent was quick and we were soon back at the car park. The drive home was entertaining when we decided to play the Alphabet game. Each player starts from the letter A and must make their way through the alphabet by announcing any word they see beginning with that letter. For example, billboards, advertising signs, stickers on cars, sign posts. Basically anything readable outside the car, but number plates rego’s are excluded. Nicole won. Continue reading Mt Coolum and Wild Horse Mountain hikes Despite gloomy weather the Duke, Chock, Gilligan, Red, Grasshopper, and the Giggler turned up for a climb on Web (17), Brickie’s Butt Crack (18), and Snake in the Grass (20). Nicey also came along to watch briefly before walking to South bank to watch a movie. There was lots of profanity at the cliffs tonight, mainly from the Giggler. She had banged her knees (to bleeding point), smacked her elbows and bumped her noggin. Desperate moves on an arete saw her grab a grassy bush with her teeth. Despite the challenges, the Giggler made an epic climb to the top. And apparently she hates this climb. Grass tastes funny too. Encouraged at how swearing helps overcome difficult sections, the Chock swore at his right leg, "Get up higher you fucking leg". The leg was reluctant to move any higher. Eventually after more coaxing, the Chock finally reached the top of Brickie’s Butt Crack. The Duke despite the hard mantle, warmed up on Snake in the Grass. He then climbed Web to the crux. The crux is the start of the headwall about 3/4 up. Here balance and strength are needed to crimp and heal hook for height. The Duke finally found the sequence and technique required to reach the top. Gilligan seemed to glide his way up all three climbs. He even did another lap on Web. Red was back from the European vacation and despite the break did okay in climbing tonight. Web’s crux was his only nemesis. The Grasshopper hopped his way up Brickie’s but had trouble on Web’s crux too. Snake’s mantle also proved too difficult too and he relegated himself to traversing around it.
Our first hike for 2008 took us to Mt Ngungun. An easy bush walk up one of the smallest Glasshouse mountains. We arrived at Fullertons Rd car park at 9:12 AM and within 30 minutes we were standing on the summit of Mt Ngungun. The track now has stone steps near each zig zag, where there used to be an eroded path from people taking short cuts. At the cave the track suddenly steepens and it was slightly muddy due to the rain the whole of Queensland was experiencing. We took a brief stop at the top of the cave before turning towards the summit. The summit views on Mt Ngungun offer great views of the other Glasshouse Mountains. Mt Cooniwrin (Crookneck) and behind it Mt Beerwah are perfectlyaligned in an East West formation. To the south Mt Tibrogargan and smaller peaks can be seen, as in the North. The mozzies were in plague proportions, so we quickly left the summit and was back at the car park at 10:18 AM, well within the recommended 2 hours the EPA signs say. On the way back to Brisbane we stopped in at Vecchio’s where I order a fantastic Banana smoothie. No pancakes for me today, and besides it isn’t strawberry season until May/June. The Chock, Crane, Gilligan and the Grasshopper made a last minute call to climb despite the rain during the first half of the day. The rocks were still dry enough to climb. In fact, so dry that Gilligan redpointed NUT (19). The crux is at the third hanger. Gilligan only had one rest and clean the rest of the climb. Unfortunately for the rest of the crew, the crux was never conquered. However, Gilligan could not repeat his lead on top rope. Guess the pressure of leading instills more (physicological) power. Surrenders (19) layback crack start proved a worthy challenge for the Chock and Crane, where the latter finally overcam the layback maneuvers and made it to the crux. The finger pocket move on the crux did not prove a hinderance to the Grasshopper with his busted middle finger. Gilligan lead Halva (16) cleanly although he did zag zig his way up, avoiding the The teacher setup top rope on Kiwi (20) and the Grasshopper on Crap (15). The Giggler slapped her way up Halva but in the end Halva won the slapping match. While around the Crap route, the Giggler found a large Green Frog and started The Crane also attempted Halva and reached about 3/4 the way up. Crap was cleaned The Teacher climbed all routes and despite a small fall on Kiwi he cleaned the The Grasshopper still handicapped with a mallet finger was spat off Kiwi at Continue reading The Frog Prince |
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