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Crag & Route Beta

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VIC Arapiles	(General)	(General)	(General)	[ Arapiles Guide \| Arapiles Images ]

Topic Date User

Arapiles newbe 1-May-2016 At 10:46:57 PM simey

Message

On 1/05/2016 Wendy wrote:
>Why I don't like Bard:
>P1 poorly protected, slabby nonsense start leading to ramble to belay.
>
>P2 short scramble with face in bird poo.
>P3 Terrible rock. more bird poo. more challenging gear
>P4 Might actually be OK:)
>P5 Terrible rock. more poor gear. it is in a good position though
>
>Arachnus on the other had has consistently good rock, follows a much better
>line up a great feature. Has 3 long, sustained pitches. I always do the
>right variant and the gear is fine if you follow the guide instructions
>and don't end up going direct in the middle bit. It's safer and easier
>to protect than Bard. The cave belay is awesome. THe top head wall is great.
>Being a complete non-fan of slabs, I would do it over any of the routes
>around it any day. Except maybe Skink and Watchtower Crack, although as
>they both have the same shitty start, Arachnus wins in the constant goodness
>stakes.
>
>Eskimo Nell is another easy route that trumps Bard anyday. So does the
>Dribble. Spiral Staircase has 2 great pitches but an unfortunately easy
>bushy chimney and meander joining them.
>

Geez Wendy, I was already questioning your judgement on climbs, but now I realise that you are a lost cause.

Next time you find a 100m high buttress with 5 pitches of varied climbing in outrageous positions with every pitch at grade 12, then you let me know.

As fine as the climbing is on those other routes, some of your comments are just plain weird. You talk up Arachnus as being better than Bard, but the climbing isn't as varied, the protection at the crux of Arachnus is not particularly good, it certainly doesn't follow a better line than Bard, and it is shit for seeing and communicating with your seconds. I'm not trying to put Arachnus down though, as I still think it is an awesome route.

Eskimo Nell is another great route, but it also suffers from a slick, bouldery and poorly protected start that is significantly harder than the rest of the route. And the positions are nowhere near as exposed as Bard.

Bard is not about giving you warm fuzzies, it is an out-there route that has you packing darkies despite its very moderate grade. It is a remarkable climb.