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Mt Buller Ice 30-Aug-2005 At 11:43:03 PM DaveW

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With the winter climbing season drawing to a close I just thought I'd add to Nick's post regarding activity at Buller over the past couple of months. There has been quite a crew beavering away since mid July and consequently many of the mountain's harder routes have been repeated and a few worthwhile new ones added (insert usual caveat regarding first Recorded ascents here).

In Waterfall Gully the routes Main Column, Guttersnipe and Heat Aches all saw ascents as well as a line well to the left of these. Of particular note among these was Stephen's lead of the alarmingly steep Heat Aches in less than perfect conditions.

In the Amphitheatre area, in addition to Nick's route, Stonehinge and Going Way Out In the West were both led. The bolts on both these routes seemed largely superfluous, due partly to good winter conditions (read ice) providing natural gear and partly to good winter conditions (read snow and hoar frost) hiding the locations of said bolts.

Stephen on Going Way Out in the West (note tied-off icicle at his feet)

A couple of likely new lines were done close to the Enzian lodge, both around 15m high with one featuring fun technical dry-tooling through a slight bulge. Another couple of routes were done in a gully low on the West of the mountain, just to the North of the entrance to Waterfall Gully. These weren't overly technical and given their proximity to the Waterfall they've probably been done before.

Wednesday last week saw Nick and I sneak up for one last run at it before it all melts. We uncovered a sensational steep 90m route that hints at how much potential Buller has for more Scottish-style winter climbing. The route was done in two 45m pitches with the second presenting tricky verglas climbing through several steep bulges.
I haven't had a chance to consult with Nick on the name yet but I'm proposing "Party at the Boss's House?". What do you think Nick?

Nick leading pitch two of Party at the Boss's House?