Blog from January, 2011

hey guys,

We are travelling climbers going to tassie and looking for a climbing partner for the totem pole and some other climbing around tassie.  We will have all gear but would need another rope, we have a 60m single.

Please let us know as soon as possible.

Cheers Rob & Edna

With the Climbing gym closing down some people might be keen to build a home wall or want to expand...

Price for holds range from $1 - $10

How many holds? too many to count.

What kind? all sorts.

If interested email jakebresnehan@gmail.com 

Hi all,

Am looking for my pair of black Arnette sun glasses, lenses slightly scratched - possible left at the Waterworks on Tuesday night or upstairs at the New Sydney after the CCT meeting, don't suppose anyone has picked them up?

Cheers,

Chris.

Hi there,

I am looking for people to climb with over the next few weeks in Northern Tas.  I am from Devonport originally but have been living in Sydney for years, down here on holiday with the folks and I am super keen to climb but I've kinda lost touch with the local scene.  I am mostly interested in sportclimbing at Hillwood, the Gorge or Sisters Beach but I could be talked into some trad climbing.  Please get in touch if you're keen. I am available weekdays and weekends and can meet in Launie.  Might be coming down to Hobart as well in a week or so if there is anyone who is keen to climb at the Star Factory or Mt Brown.

ben.

Was down at Mt Brown last weekend and had the oporrunity to climb this amazing route but want to point out a couple of things for anyone else planning to head down there anytime soon. FIrstly the variant pitches marked 3 and 4 in yellow on the toppo appear to have bolts that are yet to be glued. These have just been placed in the holes and left. Could the guide be updated to reflect this and/or something done about it asap? The first variant pitch on the other hand is fine (at least the right version) and comes highly recomended! Secondly I made a silly mistake and have moved the fixed biner from Deano's Ledge. I left it at the belay above which you have to rap past on the way down, but it just needs to be taken back down on someones way in. Sorry - it was the same as some of the others we had with us and I clearly wasnt thinking!

Anyway, loved the route and the area!

Bec

left my brain bucket at waterworks last week. If you find it I'd love to get my hands on it again...

For all the juniors, beginners and people who relied on The Climbing Edge to get their fix, come along to Waterworks Quarry next tuesday the 25th from 430pm-7pm to get your climb on! There'll be some ropes up and qualified supervision. All welcome, though its aimed at people who dont have the skills/gear to take themselves out climbing. Id hate to see y'all stop climbing because the gyms suffering hardships.

If theres any interest im happy to do the same at fruehof, providing a further challenge for the stronger types!

Cheers,

Simon

PS spread the word!!

Hi everyone, I am a climber from overseas dying to do some climbing here in Tassie. Travel on my own though, so I am looking for a climbing partner for summer/autumn. I will be in Hobart for a few weeks but travel north later on, so if you need a climbing partner or are short of a belay it would be great if you gave me a call 0458456490, or email sunflower(at)exlumine.de

Cheers

Maike

Hey All,

I'm visiting Tassie for a week from the 22nd January.

Has the recent East Coast deluge:

a) affected the road into Whitewater Wall

b) put the Lost Falls routes under water?

Thanks,

Rod Smith

Climbers,

First post here but I'm a chronic Chockstoner (evanbb). Am I doing this right? No categories for forum posts?

Recently did a trip out to Mt Geryon and wrote a trip report. If you are interested you can have a read on my blog here:

http://evcricket.wordpress.com/2011/01/15/tassie-mt-geryon-part-1/

We used the thesarvo guide exclusively for the area and found it mostly useful. The track out to the campsite is hard work no matter what, but the walk to the start of the N-S traverse wasn't clear to me. There are some more detailed walk-in access notes in the report, but they're hardly different enough to bother suggesting an update.

We did a new route on Geryon too, but since we didn't top out I'm not going to bother writing it up.

The traverse is a total sandbag from South to North if you're considering it. North to South seems much nicer, apart from the access to the North peak, which I'm not sure on.

 One last thing. How do you pronounce Geryon? Gh-eryon or Jeryon?

Overall, a wild place. Well worth a visit. I suspect The Acropolis near by has some similarly epic routes on the northern face. Should be friendlier access from the hut on the Overland too.

EB

Hey,

I have retrieved three draws of Lean Mean Fighting Machine (28) about a week ago.

Anyone who has any info on them can email me at: dan.rose92@gmail.com

Anyone got any info on the recent developments on the Sandfly Cliffs (couple of km downstream from one in the guide)? Lots of bolts and projects apparently. Any details on access?

Theres a planned meeting happening later this month for the Climbing Club of Tasmania. I sent out a group email to all current members, but if your not a member or havent registered your email get in touch with Jon to get signed up. Alternatively drop me a line and I'll be able to forward the details on. The more climbers involved with the CCT the better! Its not just for beardstroking arm-chair climbers so get involved!

Follow links on this website if you have any questions/queries about the CCT.

Cheers,

Simon Young

Recently I repeated some of the harder crack climbs in Tasmania and even added a 27 at Ben Lommond.  After climbing the Grand Adjudicator 27 at the star factory, placing the gear on lead, I really started questioning the validity of certain tactics used in claiming the first free ascent of a route.  Nick Hancock had originally hammered in a bunch of pitons to climb this “scary and unprotectable” crack. Thankfully the pins have all been pulled out and it took a 19 year old local kid, Alex Lewis, to show Hancock how to climb the route properly. That is, by placing the gear on lead. Hancock has already been dragged over the coals for the pitons in Adjudicator; I am bringing it up again because every time someone repeats this route properly they will think back to his pathetic effort. Do the first ascentionists of other cracks want the same disgrace as Handcock?

In the USA , and everywhere else I can think of, these all gear, hard single pitch routes have ALL been done by placing the gear on lead. It’s not even a question. The only question was, “How can we place the gear easier?” On Cobra Crack 5.14 an aspiring leader velcroed the crux piece of gear to his harness. The eventual first ascentionist held the piece in his mouth! When Beth Rodden climbed Meltdown 5.14, possibly the hardest crack in the world she duct taped the gear to her harness for easier placeing.

Back to Tassie, we have Hancock hammering pins on a 5.12 on what is actually a well protected gear route. And most of the other hard cracks, all only 5.12s are being done with preplaced gear.  Its a shame when we look to the USA as a leader in ethics of any sort! And since I’m on trad ethics, Ben Lommond comes to mind.

The abseil bolts have been chopped in keeping in line with the Ben as a bastion of trad climbing in Australia. The idea is by having the Ben as a “no bolts” zone, it keeps wankers from putting up poxy sport routes. However, there is only one person I know who would use the existence of abseil bolts as an excuse to bolt sport routes at Ben Lommond. It’s the same twisted ethic (or lack thereof) that justified hammering pitons in the Adjudicator. 

Most of the hard trad routes going up now at Ben Lommond require a 100 metre abseil from the top or an extra 1.5 hour (or more!) approach from the hut.  These new routes are worth climbing, but the access is the same for the existing routes which are AWESOME! Im talking about 35mm dream, Warswar 81, Powerdive Eliminate, etc. My vote is for Abseil bolts to reach these routes. What is more “trad”? Rapping in on a 100 metre static to top rope into submission a single pitch in the middle of the cliff, then “lead” it with preplaced gear and then jug out on the fixed line? Or having proper abseil points so that visitors and locals alike can actually get to the base of these routes then onsight climb out?

In summary, the trad ethic in Tassie needs to be upheld by climbing the new “hard” trad pitches by placing gear. This is a no brainer in my opinion.  Second, bolted abseils in Ben Lommond absolutely, in no way justifies bolted sport routes. Many climbing areas have bolted abseils and a strong no bolting ethic for routes, Indian Creek, etc.  I believe the vast majority of climbers in Tassie agree that bolts do not belong on routes in Ben Lommond, but there needs to be bolted abseils. Climbing first ascent routes with pre-placed gear is way worse practice than having bolted abseils in Ben Lommond.