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<guide><header
access="Access by air or sea is difficult but the way to go if you can get permission for a chopper like Bob, (unlikely now) or a boat from Port Arthur if the swell is low enough. By foot, there is a 4–5 hour walk to Perdition Ponds, and a further 1-2 hour walk out the Chasm. From Hobart, take the Arthur Highway (A9) 3.5km south of the B37 junction at Taranna and turn off on the Fortescue Bay Road (C344). After about 9.6km, leave the leave the car and follow the marked track. See Tasman National Park Map and Notes (1:75000 Tasmap) for more information. Phytophthora (root rot) is in the Park and climbers are asked to clean their boots at the wash-down station at Lunchtime Creek. Park entry fees apply."
acknowledgement="Thanks to Neale Smith, Tony McKenny and Joe Golding for information and photographs. Original route descriptions and additional information are available in “Rock” 42 and 67. Details on the routes here are as yet incomplete and further information would be most welcome. Treat the accuracy of any route descriptions with caution: none of the climbs appear to have been repeated and some of the information was only written up twenty years after the event. In addition, there are a few discrepancies between the accounts in the Rock magazines, so be warned!"
history="Not surprisingly, given the difficulties of access and the seriousness of the climbing, there have been very few visits by climbers – and most of those have turned into epics. Lyle Closs and Ian Lewis were there in the early ‘70s but retreated after an accident which resulted in a team free-fall descent and an unplanned swim to safety before the sharks were attracted by the trail of blood. In 1980, Ben Maddison, along with Peter Morris and Chris “Ditto” Rathbone, broke through with the ascent of the Original Route (21), a remarkable effort which blazed the way for subsequent climbs. Maddison was back with Neale Smith and Phil Cullen in January 1982 and together they added the Cullen Route (20). “The whole thing was a bit of an epic as they are. Getting down was achieved without any abseils which amazed and pleased us. We headed out … to the broken ground out to the right ….and managed to scramble down to the wave platform. It was a beautiful day so we swam across the gulch to the platform on the left to suss out a line. It seemed obvious where we had to go. We had fortunately taken a rope down with us and a few bits of gear so we swam to the line and soloed up to the ledge and fixed a line back to the platform on the right so we could get our gear across the next day without getting it wet. Back to the top for a bit of bouldering (rolling huge stones down the chasm causing big splashes). Day 2 – Up early and scramble back down. Fixed line still in place – a magnificent day. Something we did not want to see which demonstrated the folly of our bouldering session the previous evening, was that the fixed rope had a significant cut through to the core. Problem solved by agreeing that the 3rd person would climb on this rope each pitch. The refreshing swim was followed by re-dressing and gearing up on the ledge. Disconcertingly, the water from which we had just exited revealed the clear and undeniable presence of a white pointer – no way were we retreating. 14 hrs after leaving camp, we were back there – a bit stuffed actually. Grade 20 but you probably need to be climbing 24 to be able to do it! Day 3 – We are out of there.” (Neale Smith) <br/>Maddison was back yet again twenty years later with a bunch of “golden oldies” including Bob McMahon, Gerry Narkowicz, John Smart and Cameron Evans. Helicopter access, illness and injury, desperate climbing and, inevitably, lousy weather all added up to an expedition of epical proportions. A number of hard and committing climbs were made including Numbered Days (22) by Narkowicz and Maddison – “the grade 22 is not an adequate description of the fear and extreme difficulty of the jamming involved” (Bob McMahon) . Get a copy of the Rock mags if you can for nail-bitting descriptions by Ben, Gerry and Bob."
intro="The Tasman Peninsular on Tasmania’s east coast finishes in a spectacular sweep of vertical cliffs, the highest sea cliffs in Australia. The rock is Jurassic dolerite, the remains of a drowned escarpment, with kilometres of unclimbed columns, stacks, chasms and great walls rising abruptly from the deep ocean waters. Cape Pillar itself is quite extraordinary. Phrases such as “awesome coastal scenery, once seen, never forgotten”, “one of the world’s most fearful sea cliffs”, “ the scariest cliff in the known universe”, “no equal anywhere in the southern hemisphere"…are all absolutely true. Names such as Tornado Ridge and Hurricane Heath attest to the ferocity of the prevailing elements as the wind can at times be Patagonian in strength – rocks thrown over the edge have been blown back up, let alone abseil ropes. Access via a long bushwalk, poor water supplies and ordinary campsites add to the problems, and the sea is home to Great White Sharks; any climb here is a very serious, and a complicated logistical problem. An EPIRB is recommended. <br/>Towards the end of the Cape there is the unclimbed knife-edge of rock called the Blade (230m) and the Chasm, a huge slice cut in the cliff face. Off-shore is Cathedral Rock, a detached, unclimbed 80m stack, and the cliff-girt mass of the uninhabited Tasman Island. Most of the climbs to date are in the area of the Chasm. Like all sea cliffs, the rock is variable in quality, particularly above the storm-wave height, and loose rock can be an issue. To date this has been a “no bolt” area and visitors are asked to respect that status."
name="Cape Pillar" new="false" rock="Huge dolerite sea cliffs"
sun="Afternoon sun"
walk="Approx 14km mostly flat approach"></header><text
class="indentedHeader"
new="false">Camping: At the beginning of the walk in there is a public campsite at Fortescue Bay with toilets and fire places but bookings are essential in the season and at weekends. (03 62502433). Most people will probably base themselves for climbing at Perdition Ponds (the water is drinkable but may be brackish – there have been reports of giardia so you might want to boil or treat it) or at a small tent site at the Chasm (no water). This is a "Fuel Stove only" area.</text><text
class="heading2" new="false">The Chasm</text><text class="text"
new="false">Access is by scrambling down with difficulty to the east of the main cliff (L as you face out to sea) via a series of down climbs and ledges to a platform at the base, or by abseil (300m+).
</text><climb
extra="" grade="21" length="320m" name="The Original Route"
new="false" number=""
stars="">Eight pitches. Start in an easy angled corner, just where the rock platform ends and the zawn starts. Climb a classic hand-crack for a couple of pitches till the crack starts to shut down. Semi-hanging belay in the corner. Bridge up the runner-less back wall of a bay formed between two pillars. When the bay starts to overhang, a seam across the L wall allows a traverse out towards the face of the next pillar. Sling a small spike and climb to belay (crux pitch). Climb up to regain the ridge line and finish with several pleasant wall and crack pitches, reminiscent of Rock-a- Day Johnny on Ben Lomond. Ben Maddison, Pete Morris and Chris “Ditto” Rathbone, summer 1980.
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="20" length="300m+" name="The Cullen Route"
new="false" number=""
stars="">Eight pitches. From the rock platform, swim a few metres into the zawn to a corner crack. Solo about 6m to a ledge above the high water mark which was the first belay. This was big enough for the 3 to stand on – sort of. The first pitch is “lengthy” (they all are). It heads up the corner from the ledge for probably 25m until the crack closes off. It is quite tricky being a bit greasy and progressively fingery until blankness descended. At this point make a short tension-traverse to the R across the face of the pillar (probably 2-3m) and around into the next corner/line. Up a bit and belay. The next pitch is a spearing very tight hand crack for 50+ m. The third pitch keep on going and at around the end of the 4th pitch, the ridge line of the Original Route is intersected, about 60m from the top. A couple more pitches lead on to the top. Ben Maddison, Neal Smith and Phil Cullen, January 1981.
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="22" length="250m approx" name="Numbered Days"
new="false" number=""
stars="">Follows the dominant middle corner on the monster main face of the Chasm, in seven pitches. Rap down to a big, grassy ledge about 20m L of the central groove (the corners below are fused) about two thirds of the way down. To gain the groove, climb two pitches of loose, vegetated, “guano-splattered” rubble. Climb 20m of unprotectable off-width (crux) to a body-length roof, and use the hand crack to get over it. This is followed by four beautiful hand and finger cracks to the summit , although there may be water seepage and some loose rock to contend with. Gerry Narkowicz, Ben Maddison, January 2000.
</climb><text
class="heading2" new="false">Other Climbs</text><text
class="text"
new="false">Three other one pitch climbs were made in January 2000 on cliffs in the area but details are not yet available. They included:</text><climb
extra="" grade="22" length="" name="Mean Street" new="false"
number=""
stars="">Gerry Narkowicz, Bob McMahon, Cameron Evans and Jon Smart. </climb><climb
extra="" grade="23" length="" name="Winds of Worship"
new="false" number=""
stars="">Gerry Narkowicz, Bob McMahon. </climb><climb extra=""
grade="20" length="" name="Drogheda" new="false" number="" stars="">Bob McMahon, Gerry Narkowicz, John Smart and Cameron Evans. </climb></guide>
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