Boyce & Shipley

Had a great day up in the Blue Mountains with a climbing friend & two new climbing buddies... We hit the road early and arrived to some great coffee in Blackheath and a chilly 10* morning. Much discussion left us headed to Mt Boyce and the old school area of 'Abseil Gully'. We split up into pairs with Angela & I climbing 'The Eyrie' (12**), a lovely old 2 pitch trad route with a few fun moves getting into & out of the belay cave to keep it interesting. Keeping it even more interesting was the freezing wind trying to peel me off the wall at the crux!

Looking over the Megalong Valley from Mt Boyce

If you look closely, Liam is halfway up 'Old Irish'

Looking down at pitch one, Angela in green

Whilst we had a ball on such a nice trad warm up, Liam & Eric got up 'Sweet Irish' (10*), I'm definitely going to get on it soon, stellar looking line! We rapped back in around the corner and climbed a few sports routes, Sweet Seduction in a Magazine & Endless Pleasure in a Limousine both great value at 16 and about 50m long. 

Rapping back in, check the wind on the trees at the top

During lunch we decided to launch off to Upper Shipley, the sports climbing mecca right by Blackheath. We shuffled past the insanely steep 30-something routes and made our way to the easy end of the crag, the 'Grey Slab'. Here we ticked two nice routes, 'The Answer in Obvious' and 'Bandoline Grip', both soft touches at 18, meanwhile Liam climbed 'Jack High' (19), I could barely get off the ground on that one! Maybe I was tired from a big day, more likely, I just suck at thin slabs... 

Nice view from Shipley, just ignore the powerlines!

see, no hands needed - it's a slab! Angela on Jack High

By then it was getting late so we packed up and headed home, I'm now sore as hell but can't wait to get back out there!