Castle Hill - a WPCA adventure of hail, snow and sunny skies.

The 2016 group completing their William Pike Challenge Award went out adventuring last weekend. The week leading up to the adventure was spent anxiously checking the weather, triangulating the weather maps on the apps and discussing our options. We decided to scrap the Cave Stream part of the trip and to stick to bouldering and exploring at Castle Hill.

We arrived to an empty carpark and beaming sunshine. In the short time between arriving and having our gear ready to walk in, the clouds came over and it started to get collllllld. Brr!

Once we were among the boulders of Quantum Field, we stashed our gear and a random hail storm blew through. We were impressed with our instructor, Fiona, who pulled out her umbrella. Smart move.

Despite the hail, we practised traversing the slab rocks and being responsible spotters for each other. Spotters are in charge of protecting the neck and head should the climber fall.

The sun came out again and we ran and explored and jumped and yelped. After lunch we made our way down the back of Castle Hill and headed towards Dark Castle. On our way we found some really cool slabs that we tried to climb up. There are some interesting features on some boulders, with big holes and archways, but most of them are large sloped slabs that look easier to climb than they are.

Next, we went in search of the big squeeze. We found it - a small hole through a large boulder on the other side of a double gated fence. It was quite a long squeeze that you went up through, and lots of people waited at the other side to help. Not all of us had a chance to give it a go because it started to SNOW! It was like a mini blizzard and we decided to head back to the carpark and the promise of sausages and hot drinks. 

By the time we arrived back at the carpark, the sun was shining again, but we could see the clouds rolling in and we knew there was a snow warning for Porters Pass so we better head home before that set in! (I arrived home to the story of the 4WD club caught out in the snow out the back of Roxburgh...)

NEXT ADVENTURE: 35km over three days, from Kaituna Valley to the Hilltop via Mt Herbert. Watch this space!