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What's missing from the new Arapiles Guide? 22-Sep-2008 At 9:00:01 PM spicelab

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It was actually a mate of mine Anthony Savage, who, bold as he is, probably likes the romantic allure associated with dangerous routes a little more than actually doing them.

That is, until someone attempts to convey this message in so many words, in which case he'll drag himself through burning coals to prove you wrong. (Think Michael J Fox in Back to the Future - "Nobody calls me chicken!").

Case in point, around the time Hard Grit came out, someone, I can't remember who, suggested doing Black Beddy on gear. For anyone who doesn't know, this is a roughly 10m high 23 sandbag route, with an innocent enough beginning leading to a wicked crux in the last few moves involving harder moves than the cruxes of many grade 25's. As a sport route it probably sees proportionately more plummets onto the final bolt than any other route at Nowra.

What makes it a particularly interesting gear proposition, is that while you get bombproof cams in a horizontal break just above half height, all subsequent gear either goes in crucial handholds or footholds, making the climbing even harder if you choose to place it. In fact Anthony put a decent 3/4 cam in the most important foothold (also the last good handhold, and a black Alien in one of the key crimps, that in the best grit tradition, probably wouldn't be much more useful than a nail wrapped in cardboard.

Anyway, a very determined Anthony lurched and grunted his way towards glory, making plenty of unnerving trying-hard noises that are not very reassuring to hear when someone is on a dangerous climb. He hesitated for a second before committing to the notorious final move, managing to reach in semi control from the two small crimps to the final slopey kind-of jug thing next to the anchor. Then he wobbled, his hand slipped a little, then he grabbed the anchor!

The best thing about it from my perspective was that I had unfortunately committed to doing it in said manner if he did, sceptical of the authenticity of his outward determination to introduce a "Hard Sandstone" tradition in Australia.

To this day the argument still rages - did he actually do it or not?