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OZYMINDIAS ORIGINAL - An intro to aid 24-Feb-2016 At 11:21:44 PM Jok

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DAY 5 - THURSDAY:
I woke at 0700h from the best sleep I had in weeks. After a quick breakfast and cleanup it was time for some team bonding activities. Taking out the garbage bags and toilet paper we some what uncomfortably conducted our morning ablutions, the first time in a harness for both of us. Soon after we had jugged back up, hauled and were ready to climb.

(Nice morning for a sleep in)

Pitch 6
Georgie made his way up the beautiful clean crack uneventfully. He made an anchor using 2 bolts and 2 nuts and I jugged my way up. As I was gearing up to lead pitch 7 I realised that the belay was in the wrong spot, we are meant to be 6m to the left, on the arête. "We have to move the belay, there will be way too much rope drag from here" I told Georgie, and he concurred.

(The belay for pitch 6)

As I started my unprotected traverse using hooks and the odd micro nut the wind picked up and the temperature dropped significantly. Once I got to the proper belay and slowed down I started to shiver badly, I was just wearing a thin shirt and my jacket was in the haul sack. Trying to move as quickly I told Georgie to release the bag and let it swing out so I could start hauling as soon as possible. The bag swung out, the rope made its way into a crack below me and got jammed instantly. 'Damnit, why wouldn't you I thought angrily'. Waiting for Georgie to re-aid his way to me the shivering was getting worse and my hands were seizing up, I pressed myself as close to the rock as possible to try get out of the wind. Once Georgie arrived he quickly rappelled down and helped the bag up, first thing I did when the bag was docked is take out my jacket, feeling better instantly as I put it on.

Pitch 7
Knowing I had a big pitch ahead of me I ate a few Glucose tablets for energy. Moving fast up the sloping arête I thought 'no way this is M4, its way too easy'. Then I reached the end of the arête, and was greeted with a clean drop all the way to the bottom of the gorge. Looking up there is a bulging overhung corner for 25m until it meets an off width crack passing through a large roof. 'Bloody hell, there's no way I can do this' I thought as my heart starts racing. Looking up and down I start to panic, my mind is telling me you can't do this, you finally bit off more than you can chew, the rope drag by the end will be to much, how can you even haul something like this, you should back down, bail while you can. All these doubts and more flood through my mind, my mouth has dried out and I feel sick with fear, 'your scared of heights, what are you even doing here?' I thought to myself. I called out to Georgie "I don't think I can do this, I'm not even sure where I am meant to go" he replied something but I wasn't listening.

Now staring at the rock right in front of me, 'you can't bail, you need to finish this' I thought, 'this feeling is why you love to climb'. 'Just one piece, lean around and place one nut, Ok' I thought 'Its just one nut'. I grab my medium stack, it feels like my heart is about to explode as I lean around and slot the nut into the crack, 'good, now place your ladder and test it'. I unclipped the ladder from my harness and watched my small cam hook slide off the karabiner, it made a metallic noise as it bounced once on the wall then silently fell for what seemed like forever until it disappeared into the distance. 'God that would be a horrific way to go' I thought, even more scared then before. I proceeded that way for a few meters, convincing myself just one more move, stepping out onto the ladder to bounce test a hook I started thinking 'see this isn't so' BANG! I'm falling, the nut below catches me, It takes me a second to realise I just had my first aid fall. I take a moment to catch my breath and start climbing back up, somehow feeling a lot more confident about the route. My panic now subsided, I start moving quickly up the crack and through the bulges, 'see this routes not hard, you can climb anything' I thought smiling and thoroughly enjoying the pitch now.

Before long I had made the roof, I think this is the right roof I thought there’s some pitons and a fixed cam, it must be the right one. I started up the roof section, using two rusted pitons to make quick progress. I had reached the fixed cam marking the start of the off width area. Standing as high as possible in my ladder I search for my next placement but come up bare, not even a sketchy hook in sight 'damn short people problems' I muttered to myself. With no other option I grasped my yellow hex by the sling in one hand holding it as high as possible while using the other hand to throw the hex head. TING TING as it bounced of the rock, I get ready for another throw TING CLUNK, 'you got to be kidding me' I thought in amazement, the hex seated perfectly I couldn't ask for more. Half aiding and half squirming my way through the off width section I made it out and back onto the face, greeted with the pleasing sight of the three shiny bolt plates marking the pitches end.

(The fixed micro cam)

(My thrown bombproof hex placement)

Grinning from ear to ear I set up the haul, that might have been to single most satisfying pitch I have ever climbed and I'm absolutely ecstatic, this feeling is the reason I love to climb there is nothing else like it. The hauling was surprisingly easy, five minutes in I feel the line jerk and look down to see the bag take a massive 25m swing out into the void. It was not long after that I had the bag docked and time to relax. Shortly after Georgie popped up, "epic lead man" he exclaimed "I was packing it even following" "yeah, it was awesome" I replied.

Pitch 8
I had intended to free this pitch but now I'm here I have very little energy left, the excitement of the previous pitch has worn off and I'm feeling quite down and lethargic. I chew a handful of Glucose tabs and I'm feeling better almost straight away. Using all big gear I quickly made the short traverse, climbing over the trees I found the belay hidden up behind a large spire.

The belay was a sorry 2 rusted bolt heads and some kind of bolt or rivet that looks about 1/4in, it inspired about as much confidence as a politicians promise and I knew I would be putting a huge load on it trying to haul over several trees. I decided to back the belay up; taking the free end of the haul line I threw a loop over the large spire and clipped it to both master points, putting the fact that my haul line is ten years old to the very back of my mind. The haul was difficult to say the least, trying to pull the bag over the trees proved very troublesome but in the end we managed to bag docked about 45 minutes before sunset.

(The big sling)

After a short chat we decided to hell with staying here for the night, its only 45m to the top. We will leave the bag here rather than try haul through the chimneys and we can rap back from the top to retrieve it later. Remembering the tuna tins found on day one spirits were lifted as we quickly munched on a can each, excited to top out. The final two pitches were Georgie's, we geared up and took out the head torches as light was fading fast.

(Dinner time)

Pitch 9
Georgie started the grade 15 pitch, aiding more than free climbing, we are both exhausted by this point as we have been climbing for 14 hours today. While he was making his way through the labyrinth of chimneys I was struggling with my head torch, it wouldn't stay on, eventually I gave up on it.

(Georgie entering the labyrinth)

“I'm stuck" called Georgie, "what do you mean stuck?" I queried. Georgie had arrived at a boulder, there were five paths to travel but he couldn't make any progress up any of them. "You want to come swap out?" I asked "yeah" he replied dejectedly.

As we were swapping racks and head torches Georgie told me he wasn't sure which path to take and he was shutting down mentally, 'fair enough, I'm not far off myself I thought'. The exhaustion was getting to both of us. As I made the boulder half way up I realised I had left the anchor kit with him oh well, 'I'll just make something up when I get there' I figured. I stood around for a while trying to work out which path to take, fairly sure I have the right one I can see that I have to bridge the chimney and run out it for a good distance to make it to the next placement. The problem is I don't have enough strength left to do that safely, so after much searching I found a bodyweight only placement using my smallest aid nut; it’s only about 1.5mm wide and halfway in a crack. I gingerly used this to help me bridge my way up through this section and it was easy up to the belay from there.

Missing my anchor kit, I fixed the line using a single large Wild Country Helium cam and girth hitched a couple hex’s around a small tree, then equalised the two using a double figure 8 knot with lead rope excess. By the time Georgie had joined I the head torch I had borrowed from him had gone flat, good thing he had some spare batteries in his pocket.

Pitch 10
The final pitch, and another handful of pills to keep me moving. I started up what must have been the wrong path, only 2m off the ledge and I’m struggling to get though this little roof. I’m dangling off an ornamental hex, writhing around and failing to make any progress up. 'God damn bloody hex' I thought 'if you even consider slipping I'm going to end you, I swear, I'll lob you straight into the abyss'. Frustrated and cranky I resort to throwing another hex around by the sling until it catches something, from there I grunt and groan my way up, climbing over the rooflet using off width techniques. This place is like a maze, with no idea which way to go I just choose the path of least resistance and before long I can see the lookout railing.

I squeezed my way through the last section and topped out, giddy from exhaustion and laughing to myself. I quickly made a simple anchor off the railing and shout "LINE FIXED", and then lay down in the dirt, salubrious about completing my first bigwall.

While Georgie was cleaning the final pitch I gave my wife a quick call to let her know we made it safely up, both our missus's were expecting us to top out around 1500h, it was now midnight. When Georgie topped, I gave him a handshake and congratulations and he gave his girlfriend a quick call as I ferried gear into the lookout area.

DAY 6 - FRIDAY:
We shared the last of the Glucose pills, it is 0030h and there is still plenty of work before we can kip out for the night. We set up a rappel over where I believed the haul bag was, Georgie rapped down to collect the haul line and strip the anchor 45m below us as I prepared the pulley system.

Georgie returned to the top with the haul line and I began, but of course the bag got stuck almost instantly. Back down he goes, I felt the line shift and started hauling again but the rope drag is off the charts, I am pulling with everything I got on a 2:1 using both legs, arms and shoulders dragging my way using the boulder to my right. Even then we are making minute progress, inches at a time; I know Georgie is helping push the bag too.

It is 0200h we have finally finished hauling, my hips are swollen and bruised from the effort. "Hey, look at this" I told Georgie, holding up the rappel line figure 8 knot, it’s worn through to the core. "Holy Shit, that’s what you want" exclaims Georgie

(My rope is worn to the core)

Barely talking we slowly packed the bags, and start walking out. By the last 300m every step was a struggle, I have never felt so fatigued before, we made it to the car at 0330h and collapsed on the ground still wearing our packs.

By the time we managed to lay out our bed rolls we got 3 hours sleep in before the sun and tourists woke us up. We met some friendly Queensland climbers who made us hot coffee over breakfast; it was just about the most wonderful thing I have tasted. Properly awake now it's time to start the long drive back to Melbourne, accompanied by lots of caffeine.

Conclusion
No-one ever came back from an adventure and said everything went smoothly and according to plan". Climbing Ozymandias Original was by far both the hardest and the best thing I have ever done, but I learnt a lot of important lessons such as: pay more respect to the weather and eat regularly to avoid massive fatigue. That said, I do believe it is a brilliant route and would encourage anyone to give it a go. If I had my time again would I do anything differently? Yes there is so much I would change. Do I regret any of it? Not for a second, it's the clusters that teach you the most and make the climb exciting.