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Crag & Route Beta

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Topic Date User

Good beginner trad crag Sydney/Blue Mountains 30-Nov-2013 At 8:26:46 AM slacey

Message

Hi all,
Alright I've got a few questions to ask. I'm planning a 2 week roadtrip down to the Grampians and Arapiles with my brother in Jan/Feb next year and want to spend the second week climbing some of the easy classics at Arapiles and the first week mostly climbing harder (for me anyway!) sport climbs in the Grampians, but I also want to climb at Taipan for a day on some of the easier first pitches there.

We can lead low 20's sport routes reasonably comfortably but have never led on trad gear before. So I'm looking for a good beginners trad crag in Sydney/Blue Mountains (something up Hornsby way would be even better) to practice placing gear and if its somewhere I can rig up a toprope to practice even better.

Also I was wondering what are the best easier (low 20's) first pitches to do on Taipan for a budding trad leader? I've got Neil and Simon's new Gramps guidebook and I was looking at The Seventh Banana p1, Sirocco p1, The 7th Pillar LHV short and World Party p1 and was wondering what the pro is like on those pitches for someone who is going to be near their limit and isn't heaps experienced placing gear?

Also what would be a good basic rack to take to Araps and the Grampians? At the moment I've got a set of Black Diamond wires sizes 4-13 and some Kong wires sizes 3, 5 and 9 and I'm going to buy a basic set of cams as well. Will that get me up those first pitches on Taipan and the easier classics at Araps?

Thanks,
Scott