Tag: rock

Categories
climbing general

summer climbing in australia

The forecast:
Saturday: Isolated showers and thunderstorms overnight, locally severe. Showers and storms re-developing during the late afternoon, mainly about the ranges. A hot and mainly sunny day with moderate northwesterly winds easing.
Fire danger: High to very high.
Min 21 Max 40

Sunday: Fine. Very hot ahead of a late change with areas of raised dust.
Min 22 Max 41

The plan:
To go climbing in the Grampians – I’m sure it will be lovely and cool in the shade, and the bushfires shouldn’t go anywhere near us. I might even have some sausages.

Categories
climbing general trip reports

when will the screaming stop?!

Memorable climb of the weekend – Basalisk Direct (16). The first 35 metres involves some unassuming looking climbing, that’s actually quite nice. The next 20 metres involves a thrutch through a chimney in a roof, with a 40 metre drop off to the ground below. Standing at the belay just below the roof, with my back to the cliff, I could look down to the ground, out to views over the Grampians, and up to my climbing partner, apparently (and at times, actually) wedged horizontally in a crack in the roof above me.

Captured after our ascent, a pair of English guys on the same climb:

 
Note the leader avoiding the fun part by dangling below the roof instead of squirming through the chimney like a little horizontal caving snake.

(Oh, and the post title – there was a Lunar New Year celebration on the road around the corner – the whole street was blocked off and filled with people selling food, with carnival rides, and with exciting carnival games. And apparently screaming is obligatory).

Categories
climbing general

a man, a plan, a canal

Not Panama, but the Grampians, and a pleasant 22 called Silvertop.

Categories
climbing general trip reports

weekend warriors

So, we went to Arapiles, despite the dubious weather forecast. We climbed, it rained a bit, we sheltered under boulders, climbed some more, got rained on, climbed again, Sair found booty, had a delicious pub meal at Natimuk, slept, got up, climbed, I found booty and then climbed some more. Then I ate Squinky the Candy Cane Elephant as we drove home. It was an uneventful weekend.

Sair, queen of open-hand climbing, pulling the bulge on D Minor (14)

Categories
climbing general trip reports

where our hero spends a weekend at mount arapiles, and wishes friend corey a happy birthday

Springtime views out over the paddocks of the Wimmera plains.

wimmera plains

Cath starts up Hell for Leather (15) on the Atridae, after our earlier ascent of Muldoon (13). Later in the day we wandered up Resignation (15), for some multi-pitching fun, before heading back to camp, then helping stretcher out an injured climber from Pedro – he was ok, but wear your helmets kids!

cath leading

Sunday morning brought a lazy late start, then an all-girl ascent of Kestrel, a funky 13. Then after running up a few routes in the Organ Pipes, we have the ubiquitous Pilot Error shot, as Corey seconds up on Sunday evening.

corey on pilot error

While Mela moves past the Bouldery Start on Tarzan (13), only to reach the Awkward Bulge.

mela

Then, rather unfortunately, a vanload of us had to drive back to Melbourne (via Spaghetti Pizza in Horsham), while the others keep hanging out at Arapiles for the week. Damn them.