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Top roping at Buffalo

PhilB

17-Jan-2011
11:21:34 PM

Hi all,
Are there any routes anywhere on Buffalo that can be top ropped?
I am looking for easyish routes (12-18) to climb with people new to the sport.
Thanks!


nmonteith

17-Jan-2011
11:45:27 PM

Can you lead or do you need to be able to access the climbs from above?

PhilB

17-Jan-2011
11:47:35 PM

Cannot lead so will have to be able to access from the top of the route.

hargs

18-Jan-2011
12:12:17 AM

Banana Blase, right under the hang-glider ramp.

rightarmbad

18-Jan-2011
12:44:31 AM

I'd personally have an issue with somebody who cannot lead being in charge of any group of newbies.
If your experience in the activity is that limited, I would suggest that you examine if you really do possess enough experience to place yourself in this position.

One Day Hero

18-Jan-2011
1:42:14 AM

O.k dude! Be really, really careful......cause climbing outside is super-extra-dangerous!

Don't top rope! Neil has shown that this is majorly not ok at most crags in the world.

Don't try to figure anything out for yourself, wait till Mike does some testing.

Conact Joe Goding (sp. grollo?), the local safety manager at Buffalo. He will 'fix' a couple of routes for you to climb safely.

If you see a carrot bolt, don't panic! Just back away slowly while making wailing noises to let it know you're there. Once at a safe distance, contact a professional exterminator.

To be safe, you must lead. This involves reaching from giant U to giant U, stopping to rest on each one, whilst complaining about the spooge

You then get to a double giant U anchor (well below the top, I hope........to protect the delicate quartz gardens which grow on cliff tops down there). Thread the anchor, lower-off, and bottom belay your beginners......with a self locking device, but not a gri-gri.

Carry at least 5 liters of water, 6 prussics, 2 pulleys, 50slings, a jacket and pants, a safety blanket, a snake bite kit, a whistle, a 3 course meal, an epirb, and a defibrillator on lead

This is the only safe model for rock climbing in Australia, and the rest of the community will thank you for not compromising access etc by engaging in other, outdated, DANGEROUS styles of climbing!


nmonteith

18-Jan-2011
8:04:47 AM

Not being able to lead will eliminate many of the more popular areas at Buffalo, however there is enough places for a few days of fun. You will probably need some trad gear, bolt plates and some extra long slings or static rope to rig top anchors. You may also need to abseil into some of these areas from above.

On the South Side of the Gorge near the hang glider ramp is Thin Wall Special Pineapple Delight (17) and Fat Wall Bannana Blasé (16). The latter is probably the most popular climb at Buffalo.

Beowolf Area has a few routes that might work. What Ethics (15) and Beowolf (18) should be easy to set up off trees.

Actually flipping through the guide i can see quite a few areas that would have suitable routes that involve scrambling up the back side. Have a look at The Castle, The Keep and possibly the Hump Summit.

Be warned - many of the easy routes at Buffalo are mossy trenches, probably not the best place to teach someone climbing.

Wendy

18-Jan-2011
8:24:24 AM

Take your newbies to Araps, it will be much nicer on all of you. There's bugger all in the way of easy climbs at Buffalo (fat wall, thin wall and beowulf would need some pretty talented/strong/persistant newbies to get up). Whilst you can get to the top of a range of things on the top tier of south side, unless you feel confident at setting up a variety of top rope anchors - gear, trees, fixed features of varying states and mostly you will have to belay at the top, lowering your newbies in - and finding the top of the routes in a rather complicated unfamiliar area with a less than fabulous guidebook, leave it be and just enjoy walking, swimming, cycling and relaxing there.


Li

18-Jan-2011
8:27:09 AM

On 18/01/2011 rightarmbad wrote:
>I'd personally have an issue with somebody who cannot lead being in charge
>of any group of newbies.
>If your experience in the activity is that limited, I would suggest that
>you examine if you really do possess enough experience to place yourself
>in this position.

I don't see anything wrong with setting up top ropes and not being able to lead. It's how I started to climb....and I took someone out with me who hadn't climbed before and we both bumbled along together. Now we both lead....although he is more exeperienced than me. I would however, probably not choose Buffalo as a place to set up a top rope for newbies. It can be a little intimidating for a first timer, especially if they have to abseil down to get to the base of a climb.


climbau

18-Jan-2011
8:28:53 AM

Another option if you are in the North east is Mt Pilot. Bakery wall is easy to set top ropes with easy walking access to the base of the wall.
Bakery wall is well named due to it catching full sun all day.

The other walls at Pilot are also fine for top-roping but the access to these walls can be a little confusing if you do not know the area.

Wendy

18-Jan-2011
8:35:25 AM

On 18/01/2011 Li wrote:
>On 18/01/2011 rightarmbad wrote:
>>I'd personally have an issue with somebody who cannot lead being in charge
>>of any group of newbies.
>>If your experience in the activity is that limited, I would suggest that
>>you examine if you really do possess enough experience to place yourself
>>in this position.
>
>I don't see anything wrong with setting up top ropes and not being able
>to lead. It's how I started to climb....and I took someone out with me
>who hadn't climbed before and we both bumbled along together. Now we both
>lead....although he is more exeperienced than me. I would however, probably
>not choose Buffalo as a place to set up a top rope for newbies. It can
>be a little intimidating for a first timer, especially if they have to
>abseil down to get to the base of a climb.

I think it's the buffalo bit that's the problem. There's a world of difference between setting up tr at morialta/kangaroo pt and such places, or simple set ups like bushrangers bluff and dec crag (which is a pretty standard early step in the process of learning to be an independant climber) and trying to do so at Buff.

Cam McKenzie

18-Jan-2011
10:55:38 AM

>I think it's the buffalo bit that's the problem. There's a world of difference
>between setting up tr at morialta/kangaroo pt and such places, or simple
>set ups like bushrangers bluff and dec crag (which is a pretty standard
>early step in the process of learning to be an independant climber) and
>trying to do so at Buff.

Especially when you're potentially lowering your gumby friends over the rim of the gorge where the only way out is up.

PhilB

18-Jan-2011
11:06:09 AM

Thanks all! I said they were new to the sport but I should have said new to outdoor climbing. We all can easily climb up to 16-18 but Buffalo seems to be harder than the grades indicate (exposure and so on from what I know) so we're looking at lower grade climbs on which we can walk up the climb, set up a top anchor (off trees, boulders...), and then belay either from the top or from the bottom of the climb. Abseiling down, I agree, is risky as it means the only way out is up.

Looks like Catani Crags could do.
Also, seems like the easy, less than vertical slabs, haven't been listed in the topo guide so I may have to look for those and go for it.

Oh, and yes, climbing is dangerous but i) that's part of the excitement and ii) I'm level enough not to do anything I am not happy with.


nmonteith

18-Jan-2011
11:13:58 AM

You can't train for Buffalo at the gym. Not too many featureless slabs or hand shredding cracks at my local indoor arena. :-)

One Day HEro

18-Jan-2011
1:28:44 PM

Phil, on a serious note, just get up there with your mates, it'll be great. Me and my bumbly mates taught ourselves how to climb on similar stuff, had a ball.

Just remember to be scared of dying, and keep tying in extra trees and bolts to the belay till you'd be happy to belay your granny off it.

One tip I have from my early days; no-one had much rack, but there were extra ropes about. Take a spare rope for setting up, if you can get your hands on one (allows you to tie off trees a looong way back from the route)


gordoste

18-Jan-2011
1:29:26 PM

I strongly recommend going to Buffalo with at least one experienced leader in your crew. If you don't have someone that fit's the bill, you're much better going to the Bakery wall at Mt Pilot. There are also some bolted climbs just outside Wodonga at an area called Felltimber (you can find the details on thecrag.com).

I'm hoping to get up there in February in which case I'll be more than happy to show you around.

One Day HEro

18-Jan-2011
1:51:32 PM

Meh, as long as they stay nervous they ain't gonna kill 'emselves........they probably won't get much climbing done by time they find the routes and suss the setups, but I had a lot of fun working that stuff out when I was starting.

Don't be the big bad Buffalo bogeyman. Its not a deathcrag or anything, its just granite.


tnd

18-Jan-2011
1:58:11 PM

They could bring 600m of static and toprope Nobless Oblige.


nmonteith

18-Jan-2011
2:20:26 PM

On 18/01/2011 davidn wrote:
>Didnt you grow up on granite though? It can be quite a different experience
>for people brought up on other types of rock.

Especially if they grow up on plastic rock.

kieranl

18-Jan-2011
2:39:45 PM

Strangely I find myself agreeing with ODH on this one (better shoot myself).
If you're going to muck around on a top-rope with some friends then you may as well do it in a nice place and they don't come much nicer than Buffalo.
You'll have a lot of fun working out where things are.
People have suggested some good areas such as summit area of The Hump, also the outcrops near The Sentinel.
Don't tie your ropes to lookouts or other park structures - it is a no-no.
Have fun.

There are 47 messages in this topic.