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<guide><text class="heading1">Introduction</text>
<text
        class="heading2">Dedication</text>
<text
        class="text">Dedicated to the lad Dave Gardner a great friend, climber and character killed by an avalanche while guiding in New Zealand in 2004 on Mt Tasman and to Ken McConnell who died on the Mountain in 2006 doing what he loved. Vale.
</text><text
        class="heading2">On your own heads.
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        class="text">Climbing can be dangerous. If you think otherwise, stop reading here and take up lawn bowls or tiddly winks. YOU are responsible for your own safety, not us. We have attempted to make sure the information gathered here as accurate as possible but accept no responsibility for any errors included in descriptions, for any changes in the state or quality of the climb or for any of the fixed anchors... or for your choice of climb on the day. This is a mountain environment with all the usual characteristics of a mountain environment... wind, cold, loose rock, vegetation and rock fall. Only climb if you have a high level of skill, use appropriate gear, wear a helmet and look after the safety of each other.
</text><text
        class="text">Be warned.
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        class="heading2">Acknowledgements
</text><text
        class="text">A big thanks to the editors of the original guides, Phil Robinson and Al Adams, and all the people that helped them. Needlessly to say this version has plagiarised their work shamelessly. Special thanks to Peter Jackson for allowing us to reproduce the original topos, Ian Snape for his comments on grading and jamming, Dave Humphries, Jon Nermut, Al Williams, Garry Phillips, Alex Wilson and Roger Parkyn for their contributions, updates and pics, and for doing all the work.
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        class="heading2">About the Guide
</text><text
        class="text">This is the third version of the guide for the Mountain with more than double the number of climbs included since the first edition in 1981. The intention is that the guide will continue to fit in your back pocket and not require a crane to lift it. Hence the descriptions have been shortened to accommodate the increasing number of climbs and the general blurb kept to a minimum.
</text><text
        class="text">The question whether to use photo topos is a vexing one. The nature of the cliffs, (in among trees, deep gullies, foreshortening, round corners etc) makes clear photos really difficult to produce for all the climbs so we have used them where we can and retained Peter Jackson's great drawings as well.
</text><text
        class="text">The Guide has been expanded to include new outcrops and more details on Sports Climbing and Bouldering. In addition, the rapid increase in rap stations is now reflected in the text--the re-growth of gully vegetation where people are no longer traipsing down is now very obvious and there is a significant reduction in the amount of tat hanging off various belays on the cliffs.
</text><text
        class="text">The Guide is written primarily for the newcomer to the Mountain with an emphasis on climbing; how to find the climbs and how to get off them. Other bits of info have been placed at the back, not because they are unimportant but so that you can refer back to them at your leisure.
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        class="text">Inevitably, the more accessible and easily found routes get the traffic but we do urge you to get up into those more inaccessible areas: there are some gems awaiting you.
</text><text
        class="heading1">The Mountain
</text><text class="text"
        new="false"
        number="null.">Hobart is defined by the Mountain. Standing 1271 metres high, it forms a spectacular backdrop to the city, while the vista from the top of the surrounding islands and estuaries is truly world class. The summit may be  a mere twenty minutes drive from city centre but this is a mountain, and it has all the characteristics of the mountain environment - unpredictable weather, stunted sub-alpine flora, and a complex of buttresses, outcrops, screes and gullies.
</text><text
        class="text" new="false"
        number="null.">Kunanyi, as the original inhabitants call the Mountain, has been heavily used since white settlement as a source of timber and stone, for hunting and recreation and by the occasional bushranger. It has been burnt on numerous occasions, the latest in 1967during the Hobart Bushfires and hasn't burnt since. 
</text><text
        class="text">The whole area is now managed as a de-facto National Park by the Mount Wellington Management Trust (http://www.wellingtonpark.tas.gov.au/) and increasing numbers of visitors have been making the pilgrimage to the top resulting in heavier traffic, new tracks, new amenities and the building of an (appalling) lookout on top.
</text><text
        class="text">More climbers are using the crags filling the car park, even during the week bolting, cutting tracks and dropping rocks. Sphinx Rock in particular has had the tripe bolted out of it, all good climbs for sure but very, very obvious to the other users of the area. Our challenge for the future is for all climbers, managers and tourists alike, to ensure that future developments do not detract from the essential beauty, history and peacefulness of this unique environment. 
</text><text
        class="heading2">Background Information
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        class="heading3">Rock
</text><text class="text" new="false"
        number="null.">Geologically, a faulted complex of Triassic and Permian Sandstones underpin a massive sheet of dolerite that forms the angular cliffs of the Organ Pipes and Lost World. Subsequent ice action has resulted in large block fields that are still moving slowly down the slope. Some times the erosion is more rapid - during the winter of 1985, the big belay ledge below Punk gave way and a huge boulder the size of a room rolled out of what is now called Rockaway Gully, creating a new access track and blocking the road. 
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        class="heading3">Aspect
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        class="text">Mainly east facing, and protected from the prevailing westerlies. However, the altitude means the weather can be cold, wet and unpredictable. Snow is possible at any time of year.
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        class="heading3">Access and Facilities
</text><text
        class="text">Access details for each crag are listed separately but in general, travel south from Franklin Square along Davey Street and the Huon Road; following signs for the B64, Ferntree (Mt Wellington), for 9.6km. Just before Ferntree turn R onto Pillinger Drive (C616), which leads via the Springs Picnic area (4.5km) to the Pinnacle (summit). Metro buses 48 and 49 go from Franklin Square to Ferntree $,1rs(B hitch the rest of the way to the Pipes or walk if you are keen. 
</text><text
        class="text">There are no Campgrounds in this area of the Park but bush camping is permitted by the Trust above Pillinger Drive, the main access road up the mountain - if you can find a level enough site! A bivvy among the boulders may be a better option, particularly at Lost World. Alternatively there are a number of public shelter huts, further hut information is available from the Trust. This is a fuel stove area although the huts do have fire places and often wood is supplied. There are toilet facilities at the Summit and at the Springs. Other options are Backpacker hostels or camping in the Hobart area.
</text><text
        class="heading3">Climbing Information
</text><text class="text"
        new="false"
        number="null.">There are almost 450 climbs on the Mountain ranging from short, hard, bolted sports routes on sandstone to long multi-pitch trad and sport climbs on the Pipes themselves. The new guide has been expanded to include new outcrops and updated information on routes and access.
There are also over 220 bouldering problems on both dolerite and sandstone - see the Tasmanian Bouldering Guide for comprehensive info at : http://www.thesarvo.com:8080/confluence/display/thesarvo/The+Tasmanian+Bouldering+Guide

</text><text
        class="text" new="false"
        number="null.">Most activity focuses on late spring to early autumn although some intrepid hard climbers have been known to wade through snow to reach the sunnier buttresses. Lower down it is possible to climb for more of the year but the rock does tend to be damp and slippery - as well as cold. 
</text><text
        class="heading3">Accidents and Assistance
</text><text
        class="text" new="false"
        number="null.">Accidents do happen and tragically the first climbing fatality occurred early in 2006 when an abseil set up failed. To seek urgent help phone 112 or 000 - mobile phones have good coverage on the mountain. It is vital that you describe whether access is from the top or the bottom of the cliff, so that rescuers can quickly move to the area.
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        class="text" new="false"
        number="null.">The Organ Pipes has much loose rock and a helmet is STRONGLY recommended - most regulars on the cliff have had at least one near miss.
</text><text
        class="heading3">Grading
</text><text class="text" new="false"
        number="null.">Grading is always contentious and so it is here. Newcomers to the cliffs may find some climbs a tad hard for the grade but changing grades is nigh on impossible, given the vested interests of egos and tradition - the sand bag is alive and well and lives in Hobart. Eagle-eyed locals might notice, however, that some grades and even some route descriptions have been changed: hopefully this isn't the end of the world as we know it but will reflect some concensus as to realisitic standards and best lines.</text><text
        class="text">Similarly the star ratings have been amended. Some climbs previously given a star have now fallen out of fashion or have become vegetated and are rarely climbed.
</text><text
        class="text" new="false"
        number="null.">In the end both the quality and grade of routes is subjective, particularly with newer routes, and they who publish inevitably win any debate over grades or quality. All arguments on a postcard please and then send it to someone that cares. 
</text><text class="text">For more information on Grading and Jamming, check out the Additional Stuff at the end of the Guide.
</text></guide>