Ragged Jack
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Acknowledgement | By Roger Parkyn, originally published in Craglets | ||||||
Introduction | Ragged Jack is a peak off the north west of Ben Lomond. There are many more routes than are listed here, but this is a sampler of the routes at the easy to find ANZAC Cove Buttress. The climbing is typical of this region - dolerite columns. The columns at Ragged Jack are very pure, and not more than 50m in height. There are no route descriptions but the lines speak for themselves and should be able to be found by referring to the topo (supplied by Bob McMahon). | ||||||
Access | To get to the cliff head towards Ben Lomond. Turn off the highway from Launceston towards the ski-field, after 1.5km turn right onto Ragged Jack Rd. Follow this uphill until you reach a road named RJ7, turn left into this and drive as far as you dare (Not that far in 2WD, but further in 4WD). Head up the steep 4WD track over O'Plains Creek, where the road bends to the right. Continue about 200m past the next left hand bend, to a long scree slope. From here, Anzac Cove is visible at the top of the scree. The 4WD track continues on for several km, passing several major cliffs, both on the left and right. Some of these have routes on them apparently, but there is major potential for new routes out there if you own a bomber 4WD or are prepared to walk for hours. |
Blood and Iron 45m 21 Sustained finger locking and fine bridging (unrelenting grade 21) for 30m, followed by grade 19 jamming. John Fantini, Feb/84.
Too Low for Zero 45m 23 The spearing sustained crack. Finger jam the first 25m until the crack blanks out completely. Bridge (crux) to a small 1cm wide hand hold, then stretch for flared jams and the awkward grade 20 finger crack for the final 15m. John Fantini, Feb/84.
It's a Long Way from Tipperary 48m 21 The fourth line from the far right - and the offwidth of all offwidths. Brilliant face climbing (crux) for the first 10m leads to a nice but ever widening crack. The finger-crack is nice; the hand-crack is better; the fist-crack is bearable; the offwidth (no runners) is horrible! G.Narkowicz, M.Ling, Feb/84.
