When in Doubt, Traverse!

Lots of doubts can be accommodated at Blackwall Reach, as traversing is the name of the game. Yesterday I attempted a traverse of the entire cliff, along with Nostromo, Pistol Pete and Ishmael. This traverse starts at the jumpy roof where everyone goes (where we went around the lip) and continues from there going westwards to the very last piece of limestone, the hardcore roofs at the Fremantle end.

This is about 300m of going sideways! Along the way we did three easy solos in the large bay on the impressive 10m headwall (the tide was in so the landing was deeper than usual), this is where people normally turn around and go back to start. We then tackled the sandy roof on the right side of the same large bay. It is truly rank to start off with but solid rock is reached when it gets hard. We then kept going through some interesting territory of little strenuous moves across small bays. In the end we piked 12m from the very end and topped out, as the end is the crux..... with the compulsory heel hooking and palming on sweaty limestone a bit beyond us one and a half hours down the track. The piking also kept us dry for the pub, not sure if we would get in if we smelled of seaweed and dripped with water, although at the Tradewinds, who knows?....as it was we just smelled of and dripped with sweat....

It was a good challenge and I may well be back in cooler weather and with a chalk bag to re-try it!

 

Comments

[Mario]

Hey Ross,

I do the full traverse once per week.
As you said, the hardest, but also the best, section is under the first lookout.
There are different ways of doing it: there is the heel hooking, but try it without, it makes it a little bit harder. Or go for the traverse just above the water, very sharp, but good fun. Or traverse along the roof under the big rail, definitely alot harder! And the last couple of metres towards the corner are very nice too, again, some very sharp holds... Linking it all up, without any rests, will make sure your forearms get pumped!

Cheers,
Mario

[Ross]

I normally do the heel hooking traverse....wasn't aware of other variations, will have to try them....... but after the whole traverse before it it is a bit too tough at this stage. A few weeks should fix me up....in time for Araps at Easter!! :)......