Fraser Darcy

One of the best things about Adelaide is that it never changes. It’s also one of the worst things.

Me talking to climbing extraordinaire Freddy Dyer on Sunday morning. (Yeah I’m quoting myself, get over it).

1:30pm on the dot and I’m walking out of school. Final day for the term went well. Played footy in a Staff v Student match and had a blast. First proper match since 2017. Easy way to get a smile and start my holidays off on the right foot.

Driving down to Adelaide it was nice reflecting on the term that was whilst looking forward to the holidays that will be. My destination was Mt.Arapiles, about 8 hrs away from Port Augusta. Heading to Arapiles on Grand Final day weekend was a tradition I followed for 10 years straight from 2010-2019. 2020 and 2021 still involved climbing on Grand Final weekend but just not at Arapiles due to COVID restrictions. 2022 I gave the trip a miss, hence, this was the first time since 2019 I was having a proper Westminster School Duke of Ed Araps trip.

Yeah I’d been to Araps since 2019 for different personal and work trips but the memories of Duke of Ed trips from years gone by are hard to connect with without actually being there on Grand Final weekend. I first learnt to climb at Mt.Arapiles in 2010 and continued learning to climb there until, fast forward ten years, I started climbing at Moonarie and bought a house in Quorn. My first visit there in 2010 was straight after a joint funeral of my grandparents (Dad’s parents). I got dropped at the bus by my cousin and then went and learnt how to climb for three days. Imagine if that was a shit trip? Would’ve been a bad time for a potentially homesick young boy dealing with the death of two grandparents. Luckily it wasn’t and it turned out I found a new passion that would stay with me and teach me more about life than I ever thought.

So yep, driving down to Araps for the first proper Duke of Ed trip since September 2019 I had a bit to reflect on in my 8 hr drive. Lucky I had 8 hrs.

Year	Highlight
2010	First trip. Climbed a bunch. Had a great time.
2011	Second trip. Had Trent Searcy as my instructor (absolute guru)
2012	Started leading and led my first multi with mates
2013	First time guiding students as an instructor.
2014	More guiding.
2015	More guiding. Guided on a grade 15 which was good for my street cred.
2016	More guiding.
2017	More guiding. Partnered up with best/funniest students I ever guided who used to quote Pulp Fiction to me.
2018	Rekindled partnership with best/funniest students I ever guided and guided Watchtower Crack.
2019	Met Brodie (soon to be dominant climbing partner in crime for the next few years) and guided him on his first climb
2020	Covid affected. No go.
2021	Covid affected. No go.
2022	Chose not to participate.
2023	Back in business.

10:40pm Victorian time I rolled into the campground, rolled out my swag (thanks Dylan) and went straight to sleep. Good to be back at the campground.

Saturday. Always a buzz on the first morning and a little bit of anxiety. What climbs will people do? What will the students be like? How’s the weather? I’d probably be amped out of my brain ten years ago but now having seen it a few times I was a lot calmer. Got my students. Selected my climb and started walking.

On the menu was Aphrodite, grade 10, on the Pinnacle Faces. Not a classic, not a terrible climb, just a 3-pitch climb away from the crowds. Friend of the blog Dan Shepherd’s younger brother Jeremy was along for the ride with his mate Taj and they got a bit of shock as to the whole climbing outside game with this one. First pitch is a bit thin (small slippery holds) and I struggled a bit too having not climbed for 6 months. Plus, my legs are still weak from running only. 10 years of experience fills in the blanks though and I pull myself up. Second pitch was a lot cruisier and we got a bit of momentum back. Third pitch was the climax.

Slightly overhanging and with some wind to accompany it, this pitch got Taj and Jeremy pretty gripped I think. Jeremy played the role of typical Year 10 beginner quite well at the start of the pitch as well when his rope got caught a little bit and he had a problem freeing it. ‘My rope’s stuck, what do I do?‘ …, … , …, ‘make it unstuck‘ came my helpful reply. While this may be embarrassing for Jeremy it’s a perfect example of how multi-pitching provides climbers with opportunities to problem solve and remain calm in the face of adversity. Freak out and lose the ability to flick a rope out of the crack and poor Jeremy would’ve been stuck for a while. Fortunately for me, Jeremy persisted, the rope wasn’t actually stuck (it never is) and he finished the climb easily. Learning experience ticked for the day for those boys. A jolly little walk down and back to the shelter it was before the afternoon’s activities.

The afternoon’s activities. Two new pieces of fresh meat. Year 9’s this time. I took them up to Conifer’s Crack in the Organ Pipes, a classic beginner climb. Earlier in the year I had my worst guiding experience with a shit of a kid on this climb (who wouldn’t follow instructions) and wanted to clean the slate. Conifers was one of the first climbs I did as a student on these Duke of Ed weekends and one of the first I led. It also has a great view of one of my highlights of my climbing career, Tannin, and other climbers in the Organ Pipes.

I repeat the process for at least the 50th time of explaining how multi-pitching works to my new students, Connor and Charlie. They seemed to have a brain so that was reassuring. Having brushed the cobwebs off in the morning this climb flowed a lot easier and I was able to get into a bit of a groove and enjoy myself. Plus, take a few snaps of friends Michaela and Ferg, people who also learnt to climb on these trips and now work on them too.

At the top, another pair of happy customers and their instructor wandered through the adventurous walk-down. Always nice to tick a successful day at Arapiles without any mishaps no matter how many times you’ve done it. To really cap it off, I went for an easy run around the lake at the campground listening to the finishing moments of the AFL Grand Final. Life was pretty good and holidays were going well.

Kind of sounds like I’m foreshadowing them to not go so well after this point? Well that wasn’t the case so sorry to disappoint but this is a pretty stock standard story. The nice part about getting closer to mastery of your craft is that things go to plan more often than not.

Sunday started with a bit more wind at the campsite but at Araps it was actually quite calm. A nice walk out again to the Pinnacle Faces to do a different grade 10, Xena, preluded a good morning with Connor and Charlie. Only mishap this time was a miscommunication between Connor and myself. I place the gear as I climb and the students collect it as they follow behind me. Sometimes it’s tricky to get out and the gear has to be left behind and sometimes the students are just spuds… and the gear has to be left behind. After being on pause for about five minutes, I asked Connor if he was all good. ‘Nah, this gear is stuck’… ‘is it a small nut?‘ …’Yes (or so he thought…)‘, ‘All good, give it another ten minutes and then don’t worry about it‘. Nuts are maybe $10 each if that? Pretty disposable and not worth a half an hour retrieval operation. Plus, I’d found one myself on this climb already so it was even in the eyes of the Arapiles gods.

Ten minutes later I gave Connor the go ahead to leave it behind and just keep climbing. Old mate down below pops his head out shortly afterwards and asks ‘hey mate, want me to get your grey cam out?’… Cam? Bugger, Connor you said it was a nut! ‘Ah yes please, that’d be awesome. Drop it back to the shelter later today at some stage‘… ‘yeah no worries‘. Climbers are a friendly bunch most of the time so even though it was a more expensive cam being left behind I still wasn’t mad, these things tend to have a habit of being resolved* (again, ten years of experience shining through there I think in my calmness) and if not, there wasn’t much I could do about it now. Another learning experience though, this time for Connor. *The cam did later appear so it was all good in the end.

Brief bit of lunch, water, toilet and then round 2 of the day. Jeremy and Taj followed me up to the Organ Pipes this time and I gave them a tour of D Major. Nice climb, bit of a classic grade 9 with a nice boulder/tunnel to crawl through and an abseil to finish. As my final climb for the weekend I tried to do everything as best I could not to make any mistakes. Sure enough, no-one dropped anything, no ropes got stuck, (the students got ‘stuck‘ climbing a few times but that’s unavoidable. Miraculously they do find holds and unstuck themselves) and no gear was left behind. A stock standard adventure in the Organ Pipes. Job done for the weekend. A final run around the lake to finish the day and bam, that was my trip to Arapiles.

On reflection, it sounds as if parts of the trip were just dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve done it a few times. It’s also what happens when you’re no longer getting the rush and thrill of it all like you had when you first started. Maybe that’s what being a professional is all about. Or maybe that’s both the best and worst thing about Arapiles, not just Adelaide. Things don’t seem to change on these trips and it’s great to go through the motions as a student, younger instructor and then older instructor (not that I’m old). But then, because things don’t change much there’s no room for growth on these trips once you reach a certain point. That’s OK, it’s just work after all not everything has to be about growth but it’s just something to recognise if you’ve been doing the same thing forever.

Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy myself and the opportunity to hang out with mates, reflect on memories from the past and do some pseudo-training (my legs will be stronger for the climbing). I can’t help but feel though that I may be closer to the end of my times at Arapiles and working in the outdoor ed world. There’s so much more to gain from doing different experiences on Grand Final weekend and not limiting myself to just doing the same thing at Mt.Arapiles. I have gained a lot from climbing and Arapiles since 2010. There is still more to gain, and importantly in the role of an instructor, lots to share with new students but the balance between always sharing and educating and not doing enough gaining yourself is hard to find. Take the example of a student who becomes a teacher, wishes they could go and become a pro-whatever but never takes the time off from teaching to do it. One day, they teach a student who goes on to become a bad-ass pro-whatever and lives out the dream of the teacher. Will the teacher be just as happy? Or will their selfishness see them be jealous of the opportunity that the student grabbed and they didn’t at a similar age. I don’t want to be that type of teacher. I want to be both in a perfect world. Can it be done?

I don’t know. I do know that I can work towards that ideal and balance though and starting tomorrow (or today depending on when I finish this) I can meditate on that thought bubble as I’m heading off walking with Papa Kym on the Wild South Coast Way until Friday. Thanks for reading and being subliminally messaged about how good climbing is, especially at Araps!