Finally got around to recording the direct version of De Gaulles Nose that Gareth And I did a few months back. I've added a description to the guide plus edited the original route description as the details were pretty hazy. Definitely goes down as one of the best routes either of us have done anywhere in the world! It's a pretty serious place and a pretty serious route but the direct is not death defying and hopefully will receive more attention than the original has. Enjoy !

Adam Donoghue

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12 Comments

  1. Sally Jamison

    ' Enjoy ' what ? ... the fact that another non-Tasmanian has converted another ' wilderness ' cliff into a bolted-climbs-are-OK-and-even-hip-crag ala The Acropolis ? ....

    Adam , was this ur way of coping with recently being labelled as 'another anti-bolt loud-mouth ' ...

    A direct for the sake of a direct has compromised yet another Tassie crag.

    Circa 1950s, some euro ' hardmen ' hung a plum-bob down the 1000'+ ,Chima Ovest, so they could 'climb' a ' super-direct ' ... even bolting 1 metre from crack lines , to preserve the ' purity ' and ' spirit ' of the ascent ...

    The Carrigan/Moorhead climb , raved about by Dave, after the 2nd ascent , has now been demoted from awesome to just-another-route-on-Frenchmans ...

    As we all know, Frog Buttress , and now Hobart's Organ Pipes , have reached bolt-saturation ...

    Ur actions have not only degraded the efforts/style of Kim and Mark , but have put yet another crag on the ' modern ' agenda ...

    But as Simon says , maybe this is '...the future of Tasmanian climbing ...'

    1. Adam Donoghue AUTHOR

      Hi Sally
      Just about everything you've said above is incorrect which is a shame when people comment that have no idea about what they are commenting about.

      Did you know that there are already a number of bolts placed on the face (all with hand drills) by a number of people including Carrigan. The line we did (is an obvious line that was attempted by at least 3 other parties (2 of these inc. Steve Monks placed bolts on this pitch). I placed another 2 bolts on lead off hooks, the pitch is anything but a clip-up for the masses. We didn't alter the original route at all so I'm not sure why you feel I've demoted their route?

      Also, I checked in with Pete Steane prior to heading in there to see what the local ethic was and what was appropriate as it's important to me when I do new routes that they are in keeping with the tradition of an area.

      Maybe you should do your research before you give people a serve!

  2. Al Williams

    Adam, I'm with you on this one and I think you will find that the majority of the Tasmanian climbing community are inspired by the effort you and Gareth have put in at the Tyndals and more recently at Frenchman's.

    The Australian ethos of mixed (trad and bolt) routes where bolts are only used in the absence of traditional protection has worked well in the past (e.g. at major cliffs such as Arapiles) and I think will continue to be followed on large Tasmanian cliffs such as Frenchman's Cap. It is silly to pretend that climbers of previous generations did not place bolts for protection (it was common practice to carry a hand drill on long wilderness routes and many of the routes on Frenchman's have the occasional old bolt) and then use this as a reason to chastise modern climbers for using bolts to establish excellent new routes (or variants).

    1. Doug Bruce

      Yes, I'm in accordance with this view. Again, it's a matter of perspective: a few bolts, hand-drilled on lead is not an all-out assault on a cliff. This route is certainly within the traditional approach to climbing at Frenchmans Cap.

  3. Sally Jamison

    Allan, you have summed-up Simon Parson's '...future of Tasmanian climbing ...'

    This appoach is fine, because Simon will let us know when each crag is at bolt-saturation point/'enough is enough', as he has done with Hobart's Organ Pipes... feel free to bolt at Ben Lomond too, but don't be surprised if Gerry chops ur bolts .

    Now ... Adam ... there is nothing 'incorrect' about what I 'said' .

    Now... let us consider the following egotistical, non-sensical, self-promotional re-writing of history :

    ............................................

    The De Gaulles Nose Route 300m 23
    De Gaulles Nose is the prominent arête between the Southeast Face and the East Face. This is one of Australia's best adventure climbs and a climb that won't be forgotten easily! The climb tackles the most impressive terrain of the face with a consistently exposed position. A serious but very rewarding climb with consistently of high quality rock from bottom to top.
    Start 50m right of the arête at the top of vegetated ramps and below an obvious wide corner.
    (1) 50m (20) Up corner then upwards following moss filled cracks that steepen and provide good old fashioned honest climbing. A good belay can be found at a stance out left.
    (2) 15m (21) Head straight up following subtle weakness on face with good moves and reasonable gear. Belay at stance with good gear.
    (3) 50m (23) Head left around arête to crack. Up past roof and up overhanging crack to ramp. Finally up crack on left to large ledge. No gear on ledge but a good belay can be found just off left end.
    (4) 50m (21) From belay head R then trend back L following weakness and over small overlap. From here a few corners lead upwards with sustained difficulties and vigilance for protection before heading R on an exposed face toward the huge flake. Belay in back of flake.
    (5) 50m (17) Head right to arête and then more easily up in a great position on good rock to the large ledge.
    (6) 40m (18) Up front of buttress following weakness to another spacious ledge.
    (7) 45m (17) Up the arête, following your nose right then up the exit.
    First ascent Kim Carrigan, Mark Moorhead (var) 31-1-83
    De Gaulles Nose Direct 305m 25
    An aesthetic direct alternative to the third pitch of the original route. Tackling one of the best sections of rock on the whole face, bloody awesome climbing on bulletproof quartzite with exposure to die for.This was the pitch originally tried by the first ascent party and although harder it's less death defying than the original. The gear requires some time and creativity to get something decent in but is quite good throughout.
    Start 50m right of the arête at the top of vegetated ramps and below an obvious wide corner.
    (1) 50m (20) Up corner then upwards following moss filled cracks that steepen and provide good old fashioned honest climbing. A good belay can be found at a stance out left.
    (2) 15m (21) Head straight up following subtle weakness on face with good moves and reasonable gear. Belay at stance with good gear.
    3) 45m (25) Head straight up the left of two shallow vertical corners for about 8-10m with good gear before the climbing and gear potential send you out right to the second corner. Up this corner with increasing difficulty in gear, climbing and the building feeling of 'out-thereness'! A welcome rest and FH provide a pause before heading up to the rooflet (there is an old rivet with hanger in the short corner left from here which is from a previous attempt, this should be removed as it's not on the route and not needed) head around rooflet to a BR with a fixed biner at the stance (from an earlier attempt by Steve Monks). Then up to the final FH before breaking out left on small edges towards the thin crack, then up to good ledge. Belay consists of a fixed piton plus #1camalot and green alien essential for belay (or similar size in other brands) plus a few small wires.
    Connecting Pitch 10m (18) To connect to the original from here head up shallow corner above belay for 6m till it leads you out to the large ledge on the arête. This is the belay ledge of the original route, head across the ledge (no gear) for 8m till you get to some gear off the left edge of ledge (hanging belay).
    (4) 50m (21) From belay head R then trend back L following weakness and over small overlap. From here a few corners lead upwards with sustained difficulties and vigilance for protection before heading R on an exposed face toward the huge flake. Belay in back of flake.
    (5) 50m (17) Head right to arête and then more easily up in a great position on good rock to the large ledge.
    (6) 40m (18) Up front of buttress following weakness to another spacious ledge.
    (7) 45m (17) Up the arête, following your nose right then up the exit.
    FA Adam Donoghue, Gareth Llewellin 1/3/08

    .......................................................

    The Carrigan/Moorhead route was/is/will always be :

    De Gaulles Nose (23).

    Not 'The De Gaulles Nose Route'.

    You claim 7 pitches as ur route .

    Ur 'route' is nothing less, nothing more than a variant to De Gaulles Nose, pitch 3 .

    It is just a footnote to the route description for Kim & Mark's ROUTE.

    Have a look at Terry La Fonz ... do you see Mikl claiming the route as Terry La Fonz Direct (17) ? Not.

    Kim climbed well up 'ur' corners in 1983, then backed off , with an RP above him for protection... he could have placed a bolt and kept going ...

    ... As Gerry has said re' BenLo , there are plenty of world-class climbers willing and able to lead these routes with-out bolts ... Henry's ascent of Incipience , in 1975 , was truly '...the future of Tasmanian climbing ...'

    Adam, apart from trying to cast the shadow ,of ur big head, over De Gualles Nose, you have obviously ' sold-out ' to the new 'genre'...

    Re : '...the local ethic...' ? ...who are the locals ? The Queenstown yobbos ? Frenchman's is a national crag , if not an international crag ...

    I read about Pete Steane in Paul Pritchard's book ... apparently Pete is not very fond of non-Tasmanian visitors who '... want to do new routes on Frenchmans and make a name for themselves ...'

    Hopefully you (or Jonathon) are 'man enough' to retro-edit ur retro-edits of the route description section for Frenchmans, on this web site ...

    Leave ur bolt-kit at the 'pristine'(as you call it) Tyndalls range...

    1. Adam Donoghue AUTHOR

      Hey Sally

      You seem to be looking for the worst in things here and really blowing things out of proportion.

      1. When I edited the description to the original it was written up as 'The De Gaulles Nose Route' on this site, I guess it was not intentional by Jon or I to change the name, but hey... it's hardly sacrilege to add 'the' and 'route'! You're just intent on looking for stuff to burn us about... if you have more accurate info. please add it to the guide (its a community guide designed to be added to and edited by anyone).
      2. I put the direct route description separate to the original for simplicity (I don't give a hoot for publicity or I would have posted something sooner than 2 months post ascent + I would have posted elsewhere/told others..) the info. is here simply because it was one of the best climbs either of has climbed and that I think others would enjoy it. As there are 2 different pitches from the original (plus we aren't short on space on a website) I thought it would be simpler to have the the 2 options separate. If we were so egotistical we might have renamed our variation as 'The Adam and Gareth Route' or something similar... but hey the obvious thing to do was keep the original name (as respect for the climb) + add the 'direct' (as it is a more direct version). I guess I like guides to be clear particularly when you are at a place like Frenchmans. I agree I could have been clearer that Mark/Kim lead the FA of the other pitches (again please edit the guide to make this more accurate), I edited it late at night and to be honest I thought that would be pretty obvious that we added the direct 3rd pitch + a linking pitch by the first sentence I put in the description "An aesthetic direct alternative to the third pitch of the original route" (also their description is just above it with a date 25 years earlier!)
      3. Kim didn't place a bolt because he didn't have a bolt kit with him (he brought and used one on The Great Flake the year before), he didn't carry one due to weight restrictiions (see Rock article issue 3?) instead opting for a fuel stove (which he did without the year before). If he had a bolt kit I'm pretty sure he would have used it.
      4. If 'world class' climbers want to go up any climb I've done and eliminate bolts (ground up) and then feel the route would be better without the bolts then please chop them, I won't be putting them back in. I do my climbs it in the best style I could with a healthy respect for the history of the place; but also with a mind that others might want to do this climb in the future. If I was egotistical (as you say) I would have rehearsed the pitch then done it without the bolts to make it harder for subsequent ascents.
      5. 'local ethic'... you seem intent on bagging me for being a Queenslander, how long have you climbed in Tas? I've been climbing here for over 12 years, now I've moved here... I think it doesn't matter where you're from but if you develop a relationship with a place (which I can attest to with the Tyndalls only). As I've only been to Frenchmans a few times I felt I needed to talk to more seasoned Frenchmans climbers (not just because they were Tasmanians)
      6. Since Climb Tasmania guide came out with the Tyndalls info. there have been less than 10 individuals go in there (in over 2 years) I hardly think we are trashing the place.

      Cheers Adam

      1. Adam Donoghue AUTHOR

        I just got the good oil from someone that Sally is a troll/trollete.

        Good one Sally or whoever you are! Pretty gutless to not use your real name and try and razz people up.

  4. Sally Jamison

    I , and my technical assistant, Mr FarQ2 , from Nati , suggest the following , as we do not intend to alter this site ourselves :

    De Gaulles Nose 300m 23

    De Gaulles Nose is the prominent arête between the Southeast Face and the East Face. This is one of Australia's best adventure climbs and a climb that won't be forgotten easily! The climb tackles the most impressive terrain of the face with a consistently exposed position. A serious but very rewarding climb with consistently of high quality rock from bottom to top.
    Start 50m right of the arête at the top of vegetated ramps and below an obvious wide corner.
    (1) 50m (20) Up corner then upwards following moss filled cracks that steepen and provide good old fashioned honest climbing. A good belay can be found at a stance out left.
    (2) 15m (21) Head straight up following subtle weakness on face with good moves and reasonable gear. Belay at stance with good gear.
    (3) 50m (23) Head left around arête to crack. Up past roof and up overhanging crack to ramp. Finally up crack on left to large ledge. No gear on ledge but a good belay can be found just off left end.
    (4) 50m (21) From belay head R then trend back L following weakness and over small overlap. From here a few corners lead upwards with sustained difficulties and vigilance for protection before heading R on an exposed face toward the huge flake. Belay in back of flake.
    (5) 50m (17) Head right to arête and then more easily up in a great position on good rock to the large ledge.
    (6) 40m (18) Up front of buttress following weakness to another spacious ledge.
    (7) 45m (17) Up the arête, following your nose right then up the exit.
    First ascent Kim Carrigan, Mark Moorhead (var) 31-1-83

    De Gaulles Nose Direct Variant 55m 25

    An aesthetic direct alternative to the third pitch of the original route. Tackling one of the best sections of rock on the whole face, bloody awesome climbing on bulletproof quartzite with exposure to die for.This was the pitch originally tried by the first ascent party and although harder it's less death defying than the original. The gear requires some time and creativity to get something decent in but is quite good throughout.

    3a) 45m (25) Head straight up the left of two shallow vertical corners for about 8-10m with good gear before the climbing and gear potential send you out right to the second corner. Up this corner with increasing difficulty in gear, climbing and the building feeling of 'out-thereness'! A welcome rest and FH provide a pause before heading up to the rooflet (there is an old rivet with hanger in the short corner left from here which is from a previous attempt, this should be removed as it's not on the route and not needed) head around rooflet to a BR with a fixed biner at the stance (from an earlier attempt by Steve Monks). Then up to the final FH before breaking out left on small edges towards the thin crack, then up to good ledge. Belay consists of a fixed piton plus #1camalot and green alien essential for belay (or similar size in other brands) plus a few small wires.
    Connecting Pitch 10m (18) To connect to the original from here head up shallow corner above belay for 6m till it leads you out to the large ledge on the arête. This is the belay ledge of the original route, head across the ledge (no gear) for 8m till you get to some gear off the left edge of ledge (hanging belay).
    FA Adam Donoghue, Gareth Llewellin 1/3/08

    ..............................................

    Adam, nevamind how you or I want it... this is the guide format. Whether you are keen for ppl to 'enjoy' it , or whether there is lots of web-space is irrelevant .

    I would rather you or Jonathon made the change , but if you still say its OK 4 me to do it I will have a go ...

    As you point out , you are keen to respect the original ROUTE ; and the description of the connection pitch is all well spelt-out .

    It just seems you ...unwittingly...via irrational exuberance of ur success, were doing a 'corporate take-over' of a magnificent climb , that some ppl regard as (the) Mark Moorhead Memorial (route)...

    There are MANY ppl who are quietly passionate/concerned about where Aus climbing is headed ...

    ... Yodel Up The Valley (22) ... the start of the slow transformation/death of trad-paradise Frog Buttress ... when word got out about that, Rick and Kim raced up to Frog to see if the route could be led 'reasonably safely' without the bolt(s)... Kim did just that ... but...

    A bolt is a bolt, a dam is a dam ... whether bolting on lead, or 'precedents ' ...

    I think we can expect the arrival of 1+ pitch bolted 'sport ' climbs around the Frenchman's environs over the next few years ... You advertise Tyndalls as an 'adventure ' crag ...but there are pure trad/clean aid ; mixed-gear-mixed-style; and pure sport ...I spose Robbo's clip-up would be an 'adventure' in a snow storm ...what is the ethic at this 'pristine' crag ? ... you seem to be turning it into a user-friendly amusement-park ... " we r gunna do this, we are gunna do that !! " (e.g. establish a 'climb' up the abseil route ) ... u seem to be forgetting the sort of funky-far-out-there qualities that attracted/enthused ppl in the first place ...

    These r all very real issues , whether u want to write them off as 'razz' or not ...

    Cheers,
    Sally and hero ...

    1. Adam Donoghue AUTHOR

      see ya sally

      1. Simon Parsons

        I feel it is worth my contributing to this debate. The Tyndalls is a unique place with very few traditional lines (that are very dirty) available. The rock however allows free climbing in the most unlikely and spectacular places. Adam and Gareth's bolted climbs do respect an reasonable ethic in that natural gear is used when possible, and the degree of bolting allows for competent climbers to repeat the lines with reasonable safety.

        I would not like to see the place laced with climbs (this will take a mammoth effort anyway and is decades away, as well as the fact that most lines are likely to be very hard), but a few carefully selected lines with carefully placed bolts can add to the climbing experience of Tasmania and has the potential to elevate Tasmanian rockclimbing to international levels as I believe multi-pitch grade 30++ routes are likely to be discovered.

        Many smaller and larger crags throughout the world are over bolted and these inappropriate lines should have been left as (and could be returned to) solo or top rope routes.

        Every climbing community has to decide what areas they will develop and in what style, with us all erring on the side of caution for future genertions.

        I agree Ben Lomond should be bolt free - as should small topropable crags such as the Cataract Gorge.

        When a bolted climb is repeated in better style, it is reasonable to remove the bolts and respect the latest 'best' ascent - as long as the community knows so that someone does not go out an kill themselves. But this is probably only acceptable for bolted or pegged routes as bolts/pitons represent permanent defacement of the rock. For example, it probably is not logical to insist that when someone solos a clean trad route, all subsequent ascents are similarly done.

        Frenchman's should be 'an occasional bolt from ground up ethic' for special lines. The Tyndalls deserves a few more very hard routes, but sportingly bolted.

        We owe it to ourselves and the world to think carefully about what we do and say.

      2. Sally Jamison

        clenches teeth and trys to regulate burning-ring of fire

        ...plop ! plop ! dribble... dribble ... plop! plop ! ...

        EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW !!!

        ...

        FFFFAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT !!!!!

        (big grin)

        OK ... Adz ... I've finally got th last of ur sour grapes out of my system ... I'm glad uv been ' man enough ' t hv ur say ...

        And I'm glad Simon has 'stepped-up' , 2b the leading elder statesman that he is .

        Good work on th guide re-re-edit ... maybe add an 'a' to th '3)'

        U deleted a few ... thoughts ...

        U mentioned something about wether or not I was ' ...inspiring the new generation...' with my view of things...

        ... that's a tricky one ...

        What I AM convinced about, is that if/when another Barber-esque tour , by the likes of the climbers Gerry mentioned , happens... hopefully sooner than later ... the REAL 21st century version of '... the future of Tasmanian climbing ...' can unfold ...

        '... issues not worth addressing ...' ? ... these are OBJECTIVE realities ... sort of from the ' Inconvenient Truth ' perspective ...

        Ur 26 on BenLo really is something special ... it clearly shows t th yung fellas that 5.12z can be found, climbed with a plethora of funky new removable technology ... and that Master Blaster isn't the end of the trad-road before unleashing the bolting-bulldozer...

        Anyway,bloke,just chill a bit before you/Tyndalls become the Andrew Penny/Cosmic County of Tasmania ...

        Seeya Adam ...

  5. Sally Jamison

    Hi Si !!!

    I feel it is worth my contributing to this debate.

    ABSOLUTELY.

    The Tyndalls is a unique place with very few traditional lines ... available. The rock however allows free climbing in the most unlikely and spectacular places. Adam and Gareth's bolted climbs do respect a reasonable ethic in that natural gear is used when possible, and the degree of bolting allows for competent climbers to repeat the lines with reasonable safety.

    Adam calls one of the routes 'Astroboy ' ... is that the one in Yosemite with the chipped connection ...

    I would not like to see the place laced with climbs (this will take a mammoth effort anyway and is decades away, as well as the fact that most lines are likely to be very hard), but a few carefully selected lines with carefully placed bolts can add to the climbing experience of Tasmania and has the potential to elevate Tasmanian rockclimbing to international levels as I believe multi-pitch grade 30++ routes are likely to be discovered.

    '...decades away ...' ...well at least u acknowledge that things are prolly heading in that direction ... prolly quicker than u realise ...

    Many smaller and larger crags throughout the world are over bolted and these inappropriate lines should have been left as (and could be returned to) solo or top rope routes.

    Keep dreamin, mate ...

    Every climbing community has to decide what areas they will develop and in what style, with us all erring on the side of caution for future generations.

    Good stuff !!! ... maybe more like : '... erring on the side of giving more credit for the climbing ability/attitude of future generations'.

    I agree Ben Lomond should be bolt free

    You heard it from the man, everyone !

    as should small topropable crags such as the Cataract Gorge.

    In fairness , I would say The Gorge NOW fits in with Allan Williams Arapiles-mixed-ethic ...

    When a bolted climb is repeated in better style, it is reasonable to remove the bolts and respect the latest 'best' ascent - as long as the community knows so that someone does not go out an kill themselves. But this is probably only acceptable for bolted or pegged routes as bolts/pitons represent permanent defacement of the rock. For example, it probably is not logical to insist that when someone solos a clean trad route, all subsequent ascents are similarly done.

    Yeah, well , ur getting a bit murky there ... but it WOULD be very nice if Allan restored Seize The Day (Indirect)(26),to the class-act that you made it, Simon ...

    Frenchman's should be 'an occasional bolt from ground up ethic' for special lines. The Tyndalls deserves a few more very hard routes, but sportingly bolted.

    OK...Simon ... we...you... have to deal with something here ...

    ... When the new generation say something is "sick !!" , they mean it's VERY good ... while previous generations are usually concerned/bemused when they hear this ... So too, ' sportingly ' , is perceived by previous generations to mean giving someone/the environment a 'fair-go' ... By saying '...sportingly bolted...' , many GenY dudes are going to read ur whole post as if it's all nugde/wink tongue in cheek ...

    We owe it to ourselves and the world to think carefully about what we do and say.

    ...