pushes his glasses back up his nose again, his head moving side to side to spot the best route. Then he points up, “I can use anchor points there, and there, use a ‘camming’ device on the overhang there and round there.” I wonder if he knows nobody is actually listening? I’m too polite to point it out. He carries his dialogue along, “use some ‘wires’, or ‘nuts’ as they are sometimes called,” he scans the group as if he’s in a lecture hall. Looks forward, we all pretend to care, “I’ll fix a ‘daisy’ between those two fixes,” then his voice trails off into a whisper, all to himself, “and we’ll have ‘cord’ all the way up to make it easier for everyone to follow.”
“Will it take everyone's weight?” Asks Kurt. “I’m not a small man.” Liza laughs at him, jabs him jokingly in the ribs with her elbow, flipping her ponytail enjoying herself. He mock steps back in pain, and between them love is blossoming.
“its tensile strength should lift a baby elephant without a problem, so a few of us in series should be fine.” He answers so matter of factly that we all trust his judgement implicitly, and we do, because what other option do we have?
TC: “Boys OK?” Please be by your phone.
JG: “All fine here, sunny today, rug-less and muddy horses.” they'll be having a ball.
TC: “Thanks Jinni Tx” I miss home.
Stash phone, try to concentrate. Look up, bloody hell, where's my flask?
I cannot wait to be topside. To see the vast sky, smell the air, hear the birds. “We will go up first to set the ‘nuts’” adds Stan gesturing at Nigel, “we’ll get everything roped, pull our way out and anchor the rope ends, on the surface.” Looking baffled but prepared to try I pay attention to all the climbing lingo, but I only have a five second attention span unless its horse, Daniel, curry or denim related, so I don’t remember anything, and definitely wouldn’t pass a multiple choice test.
“Here, I’ll pass ‘karabiners’ out to everyone,” as indicated by Stan, “and you can fasten yourselves onto the main ‘cord’ and we’ll show you how to work it as you climb.” he continues. After a quick demonstration, and a physical demonstration speaks a thousand words to me, monkey see monkey do. We all get the gist and pack all our stuff into our backpacks, attach everything to our bodies with all the clips and straps those things invariably come with so we are single secure units.
Stan and Nigel climb above with the agility and fearlessness of a mountain goat, they arrive at the summit of the rock pile quickly, I am next, Daniel behind me, Liza behind him and Kurt at the back.
“Getting a good view of my arse Kurt?” Jokes Liza to lighten her own mood, she doesn’t like heights, despite her horse being over 17hh. He hums’ as if he doesn’t understand what she means, but his attention clearly eases her nerves. “That seat,” she reminds him, “wins prizes.” true dressage competition story.
“Quelle surprise!” He says in a very phony French accent, “it’s a great view from down here,” he chuckles, winking at Liza's ascending award-winning arse, and unashamedly admiring the retreating form.
By the time Kurt reaches our platform at the top of the rock, Nigel and Stan are already only a few metres from the rim. We all watch in amazement as these two men climb. Nigel is in his early 70's, and he moves like a teenager, swinging from anchor points as he attaches ropes and nuts into the cracks and crevices of the surface of the rock. He's wearing a type of safari short to just below his knee and his calves are large and hairy, it'll be my turn to climb soon, hope it’s not too hairy, did you see what I did there, hairy and hairy? Clever eh?
In another twenty minutes Stan is out and has offered Nigel his strong hand to help him the last few feet. He swings his leg over the edge and the rest of his body follows. They sit with their legs dangling and swinging over the edge like kids at a playground, “you were right Stanley, that was great!” Nigel unscrews his flask lid and pours a cupful of hot steaming dark brown brew. “Come up guys, its tea time!” That’s all I need to hear, and I have the chocolate biscuits too. ”Nigel and I will save you a