Blog from December, 2010

Hi guys,

spent christmas in Freycinet and found myself climbing those climbs at the top of white stack. I gotta say there must be a mistake in the guide. The climb that is marked as #2, Fishcake (15) is most certainly not a 15. It is a really tricky offwidth. Perhaps Fishcake is supposed to be the line that is not marked between #1 and #2 in the picture (the one with a shrub at the bottom of it).

Cheers

Time to start a new thread for new routes as the other one is too big.

Dave Humphries has done two new routes at Nieka:

Garden Wall is the small wall 50m left of Blade Runner buttress, split by a narrow crack (Old School).
★ Harden Up  8m  21  3Þ ↓
Face climbing on the left side of the wall. The climb is best staying off the arete.
Dave Humphries, Jon Nermut, Dec 2010
★ Old School  10m  19   ↓
A nice warm-up for Harden Up. Climb the narrow crack then traverse to the anchors on Harden Up. Take a range of small cams.
Dave Humphries, Jon Nermut, Dec 2010

And I found an unclimbed moderate trad line on Great Tier:

G Pillar  30m  15  
The pillar between Clouds of Obsession and Slow Combustion offers well protected climbing on good holds. Start a couple of meters left of Slow Combustion under a clean corner. Up the corner and line above keeping left of the bush. From the ledge step left onto the arête and follow it up past the second bush to the top of the pillar. From here either step 4m left to the Clouds of Obsession chains, up head up and R to the second belay of Slow Combustion and continue up that.
Jon Nermut, Tony McKenny, Dave Humphries, Dec 2010.

Came across this nice forecast page at Weatherzone.com.au that gives rain percentage chances and estimated amounts on top of BOM models:

http://m.weatherzone.com.au/tas/lower-derwent/hobart

it also gives 3 hourly forecasts which add a bit of detail to work out whether it will rain in the morning or arvo:

http://m.weatherzone.com.au/tas/lower-derwent/hobart/next48hours

It also gives a 7 day forecast & 3 hour forecasts (click on "Next 48 Hours" for 3 hour forecasts) for other locations, which you don't get on the BOM:

• Launceston
• Swansea
• Fingal
• St Helens
• Tunnack
• Melton Mowbray
• Bushy Park
• Lake St Clair
• Maydena
• Burnie
• Sheffield
• Smithton
• Marrawah
• Strathgordon
• Strahan

Squamish dreaming ... I'd love to see a bunch of CCT members travel together to Squamish someday for a Fun Hogs' Holiday. To that end, I thought it might be amusing to post the classic Grand Wall as "route of the month". It is 12 pitches to Bellygood Ledge at 5.11AO, and Kevin McLane's guide to the crag gives it the reserve rating of 3 1/2 stars (the normal "top" rating is 3 stars; a small number of absolute classics are accorded the extra half star). A fantastic range of climbing is involved, from beautiful handjams to a couple of easy but slightly runout pitches of slab climbing to bomber fingerlocks to strenous laybacking and underclinging. Below is a photo from early on the brilliant 40 metre pitch of the Split Pillar 5.10b  (about 18/19).

A more impressive photo is Simon Carter's classic image of Abby Watkins nearing the top of the pitch.

To whet your appetite, here is a tick list of some of Squamish's classics.

Check out also rockclimbing.com's page to the routes starting at the base of The Chief.

Apart from being a trad climber's heaven, Squamish also has its fair share of bouldering and sport climbing. There's lots of good sport climbing along the Sea to Sky Highway on the way from Squamish to Whistler, too. Squamish is funky town and there is lots of good camping at the Chief and other campgrounds nearby.

I'm hoping to be back there in August 2012. Anyone interested?

Hi, looking for some new partners to climb with over the summer and Autumn (till around April/May). Onsight 19 - 20 trad, maybe a bit harder on sport. Happy to climb harder if you are the rope gun. Working as a bush walking guide so I have a fair bit of time off. If you're looking for a new climbing partner or just stuck without a belay for the day give me a call.

cheers,

Kim

0419959423 (kim_ladiges@hotmail.com) 

If you haven't got the memo, or forgot, there's an informal CCT Xmas drinks happening tonight at the New Sydney Hotel(on Bathurst st near post office) at 730pm. Should be a good chance to catch up and talk climbing, just for something different! All more than welcome so come on down! There's even a guest appearance representing Natimuk...

Cya there!

Simon

There's a new anchor on the right hand end. Placed yesterday so glue will be dry by now, go nuts on it. Should ease the congestion up that end.

Simon

So I've got some climbing gear that for various reasons I do not want and it seems like thesarvo is the best place to reach tassie climbers (If anyone knows a better venue for this stuff please let me know). The following gear is bran-spanking-new-never-used-out-of-the-box stuff.
BD Rock Lock screwgates carabiners - 5 available, $10 each

BD ATC belay devices - 2 available, $20 each

BD Momentum AL harness - size Medium, $60

Petzl Reverso belay device - $35

Petzl Tikka Plus 2 headlamp - $40

Evolv Kaos II climbing shoes - Men US 9.5 (EUR 42.5), $75

Evolv Electra climbing shoes - Women US 7 (EUR 37.5), $75

My partner Leanne also has a few pairs of shoes that she's had for a long time but never really used because they were too small. They'd be good for kids or a woman with really small feet. The Anasazis and Locos are unisex, the Dominatrix is supposedly designed for women, but I'd had worn them if they'd have fit.
 
MadRock Locos - US 5 (EUR 37, but seemed small for that size), $20. The rubber is excellent.

Scarpa Dominatrix - US 4 (EUR 35.5) $20. actually bigger than the Locos. Leanne made a small cut a few centimetres down the heals because they bothered her achilles

Anasazi Lace ups - US 4 (EUR 35.5) $40. Old school, but an awesome shoe. Never really been used.

If your interested or want more info give me a call – 0457345053

I had a quick tour around Oatlands today (11/12/10), and it was nearly all accessible with dry landings. I can't comment about The Island as I didn't try to access it, but everything I checked out on the east side of the lake was fine except the handful of problems between Antichrist and Vanishing Point, and even then it was only pools with water a few centimetres deep at the starts. You can walk all the way from one end of The Devils Kitchen cave to the other just under the lip on dry land. If someone ambitious with a buck bailed the pools out, it might even dry completely within weeks. Doesn't look like anyone's been climbing over there for a while though, so the first few people are going to have to clean off some cobwebs and bird shit from holds. I cleaned/did a couple problems in the Rumble cave, but thats it...so far.

Hey guys and girls so i found some shoes at Fruehauf, they appear well loved and i'm sure someone misses them dearly :)

If they are yours send me a text or call me (0400606920) with what pair of shoes they are (so i know they're yours) and i'll get them back to you somehow :)

-Kyle

howdy, i was up at Handsomes Crag bouldering this morning and found a chalk bag.  its a ......i'm not gonna describe it!.......if you lost it drop me an email and i can meet you up there for a boulder.  i live in lachlan and am flexible with during the week - happy to hold a rope.  peterrobey@bigpond.com

These abseils have been replaced. They were well overdue for replacement, with all the carrots coming out with relative ease! The top anchor has been moved up to the block a few meters above the old station, as now ropes don't go near the crack! The lower one was moved higher to utilize that ledge also. It's not in the middle of the face as it's one large flake and I couldnt tell how bomber it is

Enjoy!!

Simon

Just wondering if anyone has been to Frenchmans Cap lately and can give an update on the condition of the walk in? If there's been as much rain in south-west Tasmania as we've had in Victoria then I imagine the boggy bit might be a lake.

Keen to head there sometime between Dec 20 and Jan 7 weather permitting.

Hi all. Improbability Drive now sports a new rap-station off the summit pinnacle. 50m ropes would just get you to the second station of the linda chimney. Then a 30m abseil back to the Battlecruiser ledge.

This is an awesome climb and is a great intro to the moderates the pipes offers! Could be called an easier Skyrocket.

Enjoy guys,
Simon

I may be hitting Hobart for work in ~2 weeks. I will try to link it with the 18-19th weekend if any locals feel like giving a 2 day tour of the local classics?  please email (will dot monks at gmail dot com), cheers!