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Blue Ruin 1: Two Amigos 1 3-May-2011 At 11:32:28 AM Aaron_M

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Blue Ruin 1: Two Amigos 1

OK, François, the good news: we didn't take your half ropes this time (other than last year's adventure with Shaz @ 'Mild Peril TR. The bad news: there isn’t any! Except that the pitches are probably a bit harder now that some rocks have come off.

So, while Mr French Canadian/Australian is having a fun time with Maya, friends and family in France, I thought, after Dave's inspirational SMS on the way to Arapiles, that it would be a good day to try the 'second half' of 'Blue Ruin' (btw Mike, why the name?). It was too easy to convince Alex, who is still in wedding/ honeymoon mode. He probably would agree to climb K2 in the state that he is. :-)

Gesagt, getan, we found ourselves in the car on the way to Pierces Pass. During the drive we saw at least 6 police cars/ -men, measuring the speed - it's Easter and double demerit and cash-in time for NSW! For those who didn't read the last TR (Blue Ruin TR) the back then three amigos got our butts kicked on the first three pitches of 'Blue Ruin', so much so that we had to bail out at the half way ledge, promising to come back and do the second half another time.

Perfect conditions - 17 degrees, a bit windy and mostly sunny - yeah! We had a visitor on the half way ledge: a dog, which belonged to a team of two climbers and a photographer, who were shooting at Critical Mass. Interestingly, he seemed to move so elegantly and fast along the ledge!

It was kind of a déjà-vu, but this time we used the “bail-out-bolts” that spared us a cold night on the rock face during our last attempt to reach belay number three. It was quite familiar but still very different to last time - instead of standing there huffing and puffing, totally exhausted and bleeding, we were now more than keen to start pulling on some good rock. We didn’t waste much time with Alex tackling the first pitch of the second half (i.e. the fourth pitch of Blue Ruin, very confusing….), a 30 metre grade 18. We were warned by the guidebook which says “two easy choss pitches”, so we knew that the really good rock would await us higher up the wall, but still, this pitch is scary. Francois would probably describe it as one that is “good for the soul” but for us “very scary” is a more appropriate description. Yes, it’s easy, and apart from maybe one 18 move it’s more like a 14 or 15, but whatever you want to pull on moves or crumbles and it’s hard to trust any of the holds. And it only has 5 bolts. Alex was very quiet and tense and very slowly went up. At one point he pulled off a large piece of rock, almost losing balance and almost taking a whipper, but he managed to hold on and eventually reach the belay, happy and relieved.

'Alex taking a picture looking down to the start of P1 (or 4) of Blue Ruin'

Then it was my turn. Two intimidating numbers - 45 and 24! While I was setting myself up, I tried to find a magical, mathematical connection, 45/24 = 2? No! Maybe two prime numbers? No! 24+16 bolts = 45? Again, no! So what, I had to do it, right Alex? Right! So off I went.

45 metres higher (the pitch is pretty much straight up), I happily found the double ring bolts and quite a comfy belay station. Looking down, I thought, wow, what a fantastic climb that was. Very technical and crimpy, super well protected (thanks, Mike. You must have spent some battery packs there, huh?) and ... long, very long. I would be lying if I said I ticked it, in fact, I was far from it! But I don't care, really! There are a couple of cruxes, but always do-able, other than the '24' at P2 of this climb! (At least for the three amigos, that is.) I found that the technical difficulties decrease as it gets higher, but the pump definitely increases! I was huffing and puffing, always worried that something would come off, but it didn't, phew!

'Scary iron bands (glad we used two ropes!) just below the belay station of P2 (or 5)'

Alex came up to the belay point, happily smiling with the typical Alex smile - left to right.

'Two happy amigos having done the 45 metres grade 24'

We agreed that the climb would probably be graded 23 if it weren’t that long. He then jumped on P3/6. Maybe not a grade 10 (I wouldn't want to free solo it), but a walk in the park or should I say scrub?

The walk-out is either via abseiling from the top-pitch of 'Mirrorball' or walking down the gully. We weren't too keen to abseil because of the pretty strong wind (besides we couldn't find the anchors anyways…), so we walked back to the half way ledge where we enjoyed our lunch - still full of adrenalin and a little bit of pride. The score after two rounds: 'Blue Ruin 1: let's say ‘Three amigos’ (as François was with us in spirit) 1

'Don't we love the mountains?'

So, François, while you're, (whereever you are) reading this with a Café au lait and a real brioche, 'Blue Ruin' will definitely get a round three. Next time we will do the entire six pitches with you – I can promise you that! You'll have the honour of leading the 45 metre grade 24 - maybe you'll find the magical, mathematical connection!