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Australia part I

Arapiles

I’m sitting in my room in a small town called Natimuk in Victoria, Australia. This small town is about 13 hours northwest from Sydney and 3.5 hours north from Melbourne. The main strip could be driven through in only a minute, but it’s the last town before approaching Mount Arapiles, which is what you come all the way out here to do: climb at Mount Arapiles. If you have ever followed climbing history, then you would know that Mount Arapiles is home to some of the most historical climbs and climbers of our time. When approaching a climb, I have often found myself in awe of what these climbers were doing up to 30 years before I would ever touch the same rock. People like John Muir, Steve Monks, Simon Mentz, Brigitte Muir, Louise Sheppard, Malcom H.B Matheson, are all locals to this area and the lines at Arapiles echo their bold ascents, even today.

Reading the first free ascent information in the guidebook ‘Arapiles Select’ humbles you when you think of how far we think we’ve come with climbing. These routes are stout, pure cracks, and mixed crack/face, single pitch, multi-pitch, mixed gear, bolts (not too many of these), there’s a bit here for everyone. And, every one of these climbs has some historical significance to it. Mount Arapiles was cutting edge rock climbing in its time and the spot light for many a strong climber to come and test their skills. Even though it’s no longer the prestigious, cutting edge location to be, Mount Arapiles should not be underestimated. From the simplest to the hardest lines, you will find yourself enjoying the classics; solid, spectacular climbing, pitch after pitch.

During our time here, we experienced some of the local scene. First, it has become common place to have gourmet meals at any one of the local’s homes. Apparently, many of the residents migrated from Melbourne and their former lives as chefs. Next, it became apparent that Friday nights at the local pub was the place to be to hang with the climbing locals. Sometimes jam packed for hours and other times host to a trusted few. This seemed to be a long running tradition that marked the onset of the weekend. If you were unlucky, the owner might kick you out for doing something as silly as entering, after unposted hours, through the wrong door. J

I enjoyed our time at Natimuk simply because it was a quaint town of active folks. It was a town you wouldn’t suspect would be thriving beneath it’s surface. Sometimes hosting events like Goatathalons, sometimes it was a silent movie projected onto the garage of a local art gallery set to a live band performance. Sunday nights were soccer nights and if you were on the in (and it was season) you might get invited to play footy for the Natimuk reserves, no experience necessary. J

Though we spent a fair bit of time in Natimuk, when it came to rest days there was nowhere more serving than the local library of Horsham, just 20 minutes or so away. Libraries around here don’t appear to offer wireless internet, but they do offer internet on a set of machines. We were fortunate to discover an unencrypted signal from nearby with reception inside the library so Mike and I set up shop on rest days. Though the library kept odd hours, it was enough to get us by and keep us happy. A far cry from what we would come to discover about our time in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.

Our host in Natimuk was Cate Webb. She, unfortunately, had undergone knee surgery and was on the rehabilitation phase when we met her. She wouldn’t even attempt to go climbing until our last day with her. Still, she knew a lot about the climbs we were eager to try and had many recommendations for us. Her cat, SilverFern, was an interesting cat. Like most cats, he had an attitude all his own; a very likable creature with the exception that I had to adjust to his drool when he was being pet. Of all the cats I have ever known, I had never known a cat to do this until then.

Cate’s house was a former medical facility back in the day. I believe the house was stated as being older than 100 years. Anyway, the kitchen looked nothing of what I would expect a 100 year old kitchen to look. It was very modern. Then, Cate began telling us of the story when her kitchen burned down. We heard her story and smiled with mixed amusement and awe. Cate left something on the stove and went to a friends to get something and began chatting when the fire started. She heard the fire alarm go off in town and wondered whose home they were headed to. She had no idea it would be her home and she was only 2 doors down from it! She had told us that if it wasn’t for H.B. (Malcom Matheson) that her house would surely have gone down with the kitchen. We heard straight from H.B., some days later, the full story of how he saved her house.

H.B. lives only a few homes from Cate’s, remember, it’s a small town. He noticed smoke billowing from the house and worried that Cate might be stuck inside. He breaks down the front door, rushes in, searches the house and realizes Cate is not in the house and the fire is contained to the stove, at that moment. He rushes outside looking for a hose and finds none. He rushes back inside looking for a bucket and the sink but it’s too hot to go near it. The smoke is head high and he ducks down into the shower room, which is located behind the stove, and finds the bath full of water and bucket lying next to the bath. He scoops up a bucket of water, rushes back through the door (the smoke is now at his knees) and throws the water on the stove. He rushes back in and repeats the process several times. The fire is under control in minutes. Cate would have to rebuild her kitchen and would lose a lot of her dishes and other kitchen essentials, but Malcom saved the rest of her home. Cate was very lucky and Malcom was even luckier to have found water and a bucket just in time to contain the fire. No one was injured, not even Silverfern, in the fire. So, if this doesn’t make Malcom your hero, then I should begin to tell you of the amazing climbs he has done in his time. Well, that would take too long and I don’t have that kind of time.

By the end of our time at Arapiles, I was ready to leave. We headed straight for the Blue Mountains and the Australian Climbing Festival for Easter weekend. The Blue Mountains climb nothing like Arapiles. The climbs are sharp, bouldery and dynamic.