Sleeping On The Wall --- a night out on a portaledge
by
rozani
"Liaw ahh...!*" Beng Cheong shouted from behind me. A few
seconds later, a faint "thruushh" floated up from below. Suspended 45
metres above the ground on a portaledge, i wondered what the heck had gone
wrong.
*Hokkien;
meaning "finished, done for"
Bukit Takun (on the outskirts of Templer Park) is known for the natural
pro climbs. There's also some bolted routes on huge walls that sometimes go up a
few pitches and then continue with natural pro in the upper sections. BC and I
were keen to try portaledging on one of the big walls when we visited Takun with
a bunch of Singapore climbers.
After a few climbs in the late afternoon, both of us scouted for a route
to set up the ledge. Most of the natural pro climbs were unsuitable since there
were already natural ledges to sleep on.
"Let's go to Galactic Wall. It's overhanging and the climbs are
bolted," BC suggested. Alright, so we bashed through to the bottom of the
crag. The wall was tantalisingly white --- huge and high. We didn't know the
grade and how was the protection up on the belay station.
"I'll climb it and find out what's up there." Since I
volunteered to lead, I got to choose the route. Like always, i hoped it was
easy. The route on the left looked like a superhighway, long and slabby, runout
didn't seem that bad too. I brought a rack of natural gears, in case.
WOW! The first clip was a real runout, with "easy" scramble
moves at least 6 metres above the void. Falling was definitely bad for your
health.
"Hmm, the person who bolted this must be taller than me," I
said to myself, going for the 2nd bolt. It was at least 3 m from the first. But
I couldn't reach the bolt...Hah, had to do an awkward stance just to clip it ---
phew, a relief! Then a nervy experience up to the 3rd bolt. The run-out
tremendous, the moves tricky and the rock was like biscuit. Very chossy, and no
holds to hang on to, plus lots of overhanging bridging. All the clip-in points
didn't suit my height. What a short ass I am.
After an easy gully, I got to the lip of another overhang. At least 11m
away from the belay ledge, I could see the crux after a vertical section. What
the hell is a crux doing near the top of the climb?? Furthermore, the last
protection from the crux moves was sooo bloody far...
"I'll hangdog for a while," I shouted. BC took in the slack and
I was dogging to psych myself up. Took a deep breath, I yelled
"Climbing!" and got the slack to continue. A crimpy sidepull, with the
non-existence of a foothold. Some smearing, awkward layback and then a good
"jug" waiting above. But it took 3 moves to get there...Whack! It
wasn't a big fall, but I landed on the rope. The nature of the climb makes you
fall that way.
"Don't want another snake tattoo on me legs, " I said. Got a
rope burn once on a climb in Krabi. I tried a few more times but it was beyond
me. "I'll aid this section and free the rest!" I shouted to BC.
Swallowing my pride, I put a sling through the bolt for an artificial foothold,
stepped up and grabbed the 3-fingered "jug" hold. Carrying on, I
climbed to the last bolt. A good handhold, with a smear for the foot. I got to
let go one hand for the clip. Just about to pull in the rope and my footsmear
gave way. Lucky I've got a mechanic hand --- I was still hanging on. I redid my
footwork, while looking at the last bolt. My god, it was FAR... Muttering to
myself the 4-letter words, i clipped and went on to the letterbox-size belay
ledge.
It was a 3-bolt anchor and it looked solid for our Plan. I started to
belay BC up. Through my experience of climbing with him, I never heard him grunt
or curse on difficult moves. Well, he was doing it all the way on this climb.
Like me, he aided and hangdogged the crux. It was scary to see him jamming his
bloodied fingers and then falling on top-rope. Imagine if I were to fall on
lead...
"I've got to lead this climb one day, man!" BC said, once safe
at the anchor.
"You know, this route f***ed me big time," I said. Deceivingly,
it looked so easy from below, but it was hard.
We
saw the rest of the route continued to the left. A traverse, with an overhanging
stalagtite waiting. We didn't continue, since the plan was to set up the A5
here. The ledge was on loan from Camper's Corner, and we already sequenced our
setting up at Dairy Farm. We did freak out the folks who saw us practising.
Setting up was one thing, equalising the anchors was another thing.
Getting the right wall is a hard thing. We kept adjusting the main anchor for
the A5 to sit perfectly, making sure our safety lines were the right length, and
we were always clipped in. Hauling the load was a "dog" effort. Since
BC was in an awkward position to haul, I pulled and yanked. The loadhauler
(one-way pulley) did save a little bit of energy.
After swinging and dangling for one and a half hours, we finally got it
right. It was pathetic. Nearly sundown. and the rest of the climbers drove off
back to the hotels in KL. Left only us two goofs behind, still not settled down
yet. I had a loaf of bread, a few packets of biscuits and a can of sardines to
go with the bread. With BC, a hanging stove, some 3-in-1 coffee and a Swiss army
knife can-opener. A 1.5l bottle of mineral water for each of us.
I looked up, and wondered if the weather would hold. Since there was no
fly on the portaledge, we would be soaked if Heaven started to flush. There was
thunder and lightning on the other side of the hill, and dark clouds billowing.
The golf course in front of us had lights all over. At least we could save on
our batteries till 2200h. Suddenly, a shout came from BC.
"Liaw ahhh!!" Then, a faint sound from below. There goes a
bottle of mineral water. The plastic handle gave way and down it went. Looks
like we gotta do with one bottle for the whole night and for breakfast too.
It seemed like we had to go through with one ordeal after another.
"I've got a can of sardines, can I use your Swiss knife?" I asked Beng
Cheong.
"Oh no! The Swiss knife is with this bloody Sulhan!" said BC.
I was so disappointed. But I said, "Never mind, the Gardenia is so
good you can eat it on it's own." The bread actually tasted better when we
dipped it into the hot coffee. So that was dinner.
BC took the outer part of the portaledge, I took the inner. We slept in
opposite directions, smelling each other's feet. But we did enjoy talking about
those guys: Alex Lowe, John Middendorf and the other big-wall gods and how they
live for days on a ledge on climbs much higher. We also talked of future climbs.
As I relaxed and looked to the sky, I thought "Boy, we've got a long way to
go." And the can of sardines was staring at me the whole night.