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Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
VIC All	(General)	(General)	(General)	[ Victoria Guide \| Images ]

Topic Date User

Mount Scabby 11-Aug-2004 At 9:41:46 AM Nico

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A beautiful crag with about twenty named routes, all in the ACT Granite guide. One of my favourite places (or it was before the fires - haven't been back since, but hoping to get back after the snow season). As the guide says "Superb slab climbing in the wilderness." The first time I went there, in 1991, we had problems actually finding the crag. It was wet and misty, the scrub was dense, we had a good map and compass (and the skills) - but all we could find was Mt Scabby itself. The crag is actually called Silhouette Slab, and it runs north-south, just south-west of the Scabby massif. Have a look at the Yaouk sheet of the 1:25,000 topographic map. Grid reference for the slab is 688399. Before the fires there were a couple of great little campsites, grassy dells in the forest with a permament creek, about 15 minutes walk downhill from the cliff, grid reference 682397 and 682396. Remember that the Scabby area is high and wild - take plenty of warm clothes - and be ready for sudden bad weather.

The climbing is great at all grades (they tell me!) - personally I have enjoyed Antiquity, 110m, (17) and Harlequin's Carnival, 100m, (16) as well as all the easier lines. The book says Harlequin's Carnival is well protected. Oh.

There's also the isolation factor. How many grades do you add for a two-and-a-half hour walk in, starting at a remote farm, following a long drive? It feels a long way from anywhere - which is one of the attractions - but you don't want to take extra chances. Even a small accident could turn into an epic.

Because of the long walk in you need to spend two nights there to get a full day's climbing. But it's well worth the hike!