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Weekend at Araps - Trip report: 23-Jul-2007 At 2:20:33 PM Organ Pipe

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I always enjoy reading others trip reports so I thought I'd put one of my own together:

With the bureau of meteorology promising great things (blue sky and fine both days) 2 mates and I set off on Friday night for the long drive from Melbourne to Arapiles.
Setting up camp in the freezing cold and pitch darkness wasn't going to dampen our excitement for the weekend ahead, and within minutes we were in the tent, drinking beers, planning Saturday's climbs.

We got an early start on Saturday, waking to a fantastic pink glow coming off the Organ Pipes at sunrise, and two massive Kangaroos boxing a few meters west of the pines. We began with Syrinx (10) which winds it way up the Tiger wall right to the summit. We spared a thought for Mark Cook who died on Syrinx climb in 2006. The climbing was great and the sun warm. At this time of year the pink heath that dots it's way up the route is in full bloom. My mate Pete steadied his nerves and lead pitches 4 and 5 which was his first lead ever, so he was chuffed to top out into the nice cave at the end of pitch 5. His achievement was made more memorable by two massive wedge tailed eagles riding a thermal right in front of us. For those who haven't done the route before I'd really recommend it. That higher part of the Tiger Wall is far more 3 dimensional than it appears from the ground with some funky ledges and caves.

Later Saturday arvo we headed to the Organ Pipes, raced up Didgeridoo so I could have a crack at Tannin (19). Until this point, my highest lead grade on trad gear was the Watchtower Crack (16), but I was stoked to give it a good go cause I've spent allot of the last month dreaming about it. The gear below the lip is much better than it looks from the ground so I was comfortable to the lip, then up into the balancy section. I topped out at the chains and let out an almighty hoot! Obviously stoked. Rapping back down and cleaning my own gear, I noticed a disturbing absence of equipment between the beginning of the crux and the top. It seems after moving through the crux and into what seems like a flight of steps that leads to the top, I hadn't placed any gear. A good lesson for next time.

Sunday morning was frosty and foggy (the fog hung round till almost noon). We were just too comfy in our warm jeans, jackets and hiking boots to do anything too gymnastic so Karl and I decided to give aid climbing a go. I had been given two BD aiders for my birthday that I wanted to put to proper use, so we headed up to the Atridae and jumped on Orestes (24). Given that Tannin at this point is the hardest I've pushed my trad leading, there was no way I was about to have a free attempt at Orestes, but as we gazed up at that mesmerising weakness we figured that on aid it was definitely worth the crack (bad pun completely intended).
We did the seam to the roof completely on aid - a plan we agreed on from the beginning. Instead of using aid when the going got tough, we figured we'd rely on gear for 100% of the climb. From the roof, we headed left to rap anchors instead of right which is the true path of Orestes.
It was SO MUCH FUN! I literally couldn't believe how satisfying aid climbing can be. Obviously very different from free climbing, but no less enjoyable at all.
What seems obvious now, but what I hadn't considered prior was just how much gear you need to ascend a short route like Orestes using this method. The good news though, is that after placing 20 pieces of gear in a 20ish meter climb, I felt really safe.

All in all another corker of a weekend at Araps!