Blog from April, 2012

Today I went out to Brady's Lookout to try an old project up the steeply overhanging face on the south side of the cliff. I'd been on the route previously and due to the difficulty, steepness, and lack of good lower-off anchors I had chose to leave my draws on it for easier access on my return. It's been a couple months since then (damn near impossible to convince someone to come give me a catch out there), but I made it out today only to be disappointed by the discovery that someone had taken my draws. Now this route isn't exactly popular or on the beaten path, in fact as stated it's yet to be climbed (probably 30/31) and off by itself. This means that whoever took those draws didn't just snag them in opportune passing but specifically rapped or aided the line with the sole intention of plundering the gear. Of course this realization left me a little bitter, but rather than mentally labelling the individual straight away as a thief I considered that maybe this person just didn't know any better and wasn't yet privy to the 'code of conduct' as it were among climbers for gear that's been left behind. You don't often see fixed routes here in Tasmania and obviously there's local ethics to take into account, but I've found in all the countries and areas that I've climbed there are some general guidelines climbers follow which I've shared below. If you're the person who took my draws and after reading this would like to repent your actions then you can either a) replace my draws where you found them, b) use someone else to anonymously return them to me, or c) email me directly at markpolinski at hotmail dot com. If on the other hand you read this post and still choose to keep what you stole, consider that I will recognized those draws (or biners for that matter) if I see them again, the tassie climbing community is small, and although I may not actually brand you as done in Inglorious Bastards, there will be retribution.

What you CAN take:

1. Single Carabiners on any bolt other than the anchor. This usually indicates that someone couldn't get past this point and had to bail. A 'bail' biner is fair game for the taking. 

2. Single piece of gear on a route. Sometimes people get nuts or cams stuck and after failing to get them out abandon them. If your savvy with a nut tool, they're all yours

3. Slings or draws on anchors. Unless it's there to even up height difference, equippers will only put the minimal (i.e. single biners) on an anchor. If there are slings or draws left behind it usually means they've been forgotten.

-Now of course you could be generous and try and return this stuff to the original owner, but that's for you and your karma to decide.

What NOT to take:

1. Single carabiners left on the anchors of a route. These are not booty, they were intentionally left to make yours and everyone else's life easier so leave them alone.

2. Tramming carabiners. Although you won't see this much in Tassie  apart from maybe on a traverse or something, in areas with lots of steep climbing you'll often see a single biner on a bolt partway up the climb. This is because when your trying to clean your draws on steep terrain sometimes it's quite handy to have something midway to run your rope through to make cleaning those last few draws easier. I suggest using it as it's intended before you get all exited to get another bail biner for your rack.

3. Draws left on most (if not all) the bolts of a route. Some people, such as myself as I indicated above, leave the draws up on their projects so they don't have to bother re-hanging them each time they go try it. Maybe the first draw will be removed to keep people from just walking up and taking it, but this is not a sign that it is abandoned. Rest assured the owner will return. Feel free to clip them, fall on them, put them through there paces; but don't steal them. If someone spots you doing it you might end up like this guy:  http://www.dpmclimbing.com/articles/view/smith-rock-quickdraw-thief-caught-video

-If safety, aesthetics, or some other reason warrants the above gear be removed you should make a good effort to return it to the owner if possible or replace it with something better.

I am visiting relatives until May 8th  and am looking for a gym in Hobart or potentially someone to act as a "guide" and take me out climbing! I only have shoes, harness, belay device, and can lead (sometimes) up to 22-23 outdoors... It seems that there are no gyms open? Any help would be great!

Thanks

The 2nd bolt on Totally Awesome needs the nut tightened. I've given it a tweak by hand to stop the hanger spinning but didn't have anything with me to do it properly.

Hi All,

We (my son and I) are coming to Tassie in 2 weeks to look around with a view to moving there later on in the year.

We have been climbing for around a year in Qld and really want to get some climbing in on our visit which will be for just over a week.

We would be happy if we could climb for 3 or 4 days. We are hiring a car and staying half the time in Launceston and the rest in Hobart.

Can anyone suggest some good climbing anywhere around these areas, (travelling is no problem up to an hour or so in the car but we don't want to spend the whole trip walking!)? 

We have done mainly sport and have done several 19s and 20s but are most comfortable climbing from grade 14/15 - 18.

We have all sport gear plus 50m and 70m ropes.

We have done minimal trad but have a reasonable rack if there are any lower grades 14 - 16. If there are not many decent climbs in these grades we will leave the trad rack at home to save on weight.

We have the "Climb tasmania selected best climbs" guide book.

If possible we would like to climb some of the higher stuff including multipitch.

Any help/advice will be much appreciated.

thanks in advance

Alex

Update from Richard Greenhill re the progress of the track network on Mt Wellington:

The Chair of the Parks and Customer Services Committee (Alderman Briscoe) requested that the proposal be discussed at that committee prior to being discussed at the Development and Environmental Services Committee for Planning Approval. So I’ve written a report, and that will be discussed at the PCS Committee at 5pm tonight. This is a simple process, but a positive one as it then provides landlord approval for the submission of the DA. If any of you wish to come to the meeting then you are welcome to as it is open to the public. It’s on in the Lady Osborne Room on Level 1 of the Town Hall. You won’t be able to ask questions or answer them though, unless asked by the Chair. Same goes for everyone else at the meeting.

(I attended the HCC Parks Committee meeting this evening, along with Richard. After sitting through a rather tedious and adversarial discussion about parking on the Domain, our network came up for discussion and was supported unopposed. Lots of positive comments.)

Richard has a tentative time schedule for the rest of the process, as below:

Once Landlord approval is provided at the next full council meeting, the proposal will then be discussed by the Development and Environmental Services Committee and full Council for Planning Approval. And then, the proposal will need to be submitted to the Wellington Park Management Trust for their approval. Yes the cogs of Council move slowly..

So I suspect we won’t receive the necessary Planning Permit and Work Permit to do the work until mid June, by then the weather is too cold to send the track team to the Organ Pipes to do the on-ground work. So I’m setting the start date to mid Spring, after the weather has warmed up some and the chance of snow and ice, and potential safety issues to the staff, has reduced.

 I’m assuming not a lot of climbing occurs on the mountain over Winter, so you may be ok to wait til mid Spring?

So, all things being equal, work should start around mid October.

Cheers

Doug

Where is the climbing at Longley? Is this the crag along Northwest Bay River I've been hearing about? How do you get there? How come there's nothing on thesarvo about it?

It took a bit longer than I thought it would to find the time, but I've finished updating the Gorge bouldering guide....for now. I've listed almost 100 problems, but I'm sure I (or somebody else) will find more. Currently, every problem listed I have climbed, many repeatedly, in the last six months or so and have given them my best estimation as far as difficulty is concerned. I didn't really talk to anybody about what may or may not have been done previously, and made up the names myself just to give them something for reference. If you've done any of these problems before and had a name all picked out, feel free to go in and change it. The grades too for that matter if you think appropriate.

Seeing as half the problems at Oatlands are underwater and the gates are shut on Handsomes, maybe some of these things will get climbed on now by someone that's not me!

Just a little FYI for Mountain Lovers, there's a public forum/summit this Thursday night (12th) at the Lenah Valley Community Hall at 7:30-10:30pm.

Organised by wannabe MLC Dean Winter, this is presented as more of a night to discuss options for access to the summit which is masking another push for the Cable Car and now also a cog-and-pulley incline railway to the summit.
(Why not put the Syd monorail up there too?)

The more voices against the cable car (which in it's current design format by Adrian Bold has the cable car going over the Pipes) as well as the plain economic unfeasibility of the whole project should hopefully enlighten some of the ignorant attendants to the reality that it is not going to be the saviour to Tasmania's tourism industry.

Facebook link to the event below:

*http://www.facebook.com/events/199262960177484/\* (http://www.facebook.com/events/199262960177484/*)

The Mockery's article on the event is here:

*http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/03/31/314461_tasmania-news.html\* (http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/03/31/314461_tasmania-news.html*)

Jason

I've recently arrived to Tassie from the US. Looking for a partner to do some climbing on the island. I wasn't sure what the climbing situation would be like, so didn't bring much gear- just a harness, belay device and shoes. I'm a moderate leader in sport, but not much of a leader in trad- have done a lot of following though.

Cheers, 

Jillian

jg0805@westminstercollege.edu

This morning we have launched a couple of months of blood, sweat and tears into a new climbing mag.

You can download it for the cost of NOTHING at www.verticallifemag.com.au - right in time for the annual climbing holy day celebration that is Easter.

If you love getting your zen on when on big cliffs (or tiny boulders), believe strongly that Having-Lats-Like-A-Bat-Is-Where-It's-At and love dreaming as you live vicariously through the exploits of others, it's for you.

Big thanks to all the helpers, the advice-givers and the hand-holders.

Simon and Ross - editors of Vertical Life

Hi guys,

I found a static rope at the Longley climbing area on Saturday. It seemed quite lonely and exposed to the elements, so I grabbed it. If anyone knows anything about it and wants to claim it, you can contact me here. I'll not be able to reply till easter though. And on that note enjoy your holiday!