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Loddon River Supercrag! - 7.12.2003

nmonteith

8-Dec-2003
12:52:48 PM

After a great BBQ lunch on Saturday – the team headed for Loddon River SUPERCRAG on Sunday. Kent and myself arrived at 8am ready to prepare some climbs for the hoards that would arrive later in the day. I dragged a huge amount of gear done to the base – including a large esky full of leftovers from the previous day. Most of these routes have excellent rock but have topouts that involve grovelling up dirt slopes, mixed with loose rock and prickle bushes. I added a set of rap U bolts on the top of Fear of Choss (16) and Mine Mine Mine (23). Whilst I was up there I tested some of the finish jugs on Fear of Choss. A couple of light taps with the hammer and the jugs ripped off the wall and plummeted to the ground. Hmmm – these were the holds that Kent was trying to tell me were bomber when I was scared shitless and scrabbling over the top. I guess they did ‘clean up with traffic’ as Mike had suggested! I knocked a couple more huge suckers off and the rest felt solid.

By this time Nick McKinnon had arrived and decided to establish a route left of Mine Mine Mine. With large hedge clippers he cut a path across the bottom of the wall and found his proposed line. Whilst he cleaned this I bolted two routes on a clean vertical 10m wall just left of the upper waterfall. The routes looked technical and good quality.

Local resident Robin arrived and did a quick repeat of Fear of Choss, discovering that it really does eat up medium cams. He leftover rack of small wires in the last 5m was not really much use! The new lower-off anchor was a thankful addition. Robin then decided to retrieve Kent’s lost shoe which fell down the mine shaft at the base of the route Mine Mine Mine. The old shaft is at least 8m deep and is cut into solid rock. Setting a few anchors he rapped down inside the fern filled hole. At the bottom he grabbed Kent’s shoe – only to discover a very pissed off Tiger Snake which reared up ready to strike. Robin levitating sprint up the mine shaft thankfully saved him from a deadly snake bite. I think the lesson learned was don’t go abseiling down into dark holes that things fall into.

Joe Morgan and Hahn arrived at this stage. Somehow out of six people no one had brought sunscreen. Our skin was beginning to burn up and everyone was trying to hide in the little shade available. Luckily the nice creek side setting meant we could go for a dip when it got too hot. Joe ticked Fear of Choss easily and then Robin went for the onsight of the thin crack classic Mine Mine Mine. A few falls at the start reach move slowed progress briefly – but he finally stuck the crimpers and pulled into the awesome fingerlocks. Battling his way like a true trad legend got him the successful tick. Gear on this route is mostly very small cams – a few blue aliens are really useful.

The bolts were dry on my new route – so I set out for the first ascent. The climbing involved very powerful stemming and uses very unconventional holds. The crux is protected by a couple of rings then the finish climbs boldly above a few small wires. Kent reckons I ruined a perfect potential consumer classic! After a few tries I got the clean ascent – named Stem Cells (22). Joe had a few goes but wasn’t that enthused when I kept telling him the wires weren’t that good. A went for a quick dip in the excellent waterfall located only 5m from my climb then went over to belay Nick on his new route. Sadly Nick’s route was quite dirty and had two ledges which go in the way. He walk d up the first ascent though and told me it was grade 14ish. I got on lead and found it much harder – with two cruxes. I was desperately slapping my way up the finish corner finding it almost as hard as Stem Cells. We agreed it had to be at least grade 18. Nick named it Sick Baby Blues – as his daughter has been having a rough couple of weeks with a fever.

I then had a crack at Mine Mine Mine (23) on lead. The start was desperately hard for a shorty with crap technique like me. In the end after lots of falls I just threw for the crimpers and caught them – locked them off and threw again for a finger lock. It’s a tough little move. Above that is fifteen metres of beautiful sustained grade 21ish finger crack climbing. If you want to do a real crack climb then you have to give this one a go.

Kent fired up his bolted consumer classic just left of Stem Cells to produce Pull the Pin (20). It is a great bolted subtle arete with a few tricky moves. His attempts at humping the jug halfway up were quite laughable! Joe ran up for a flash repeat and confirmed it to be a great route. I then had a go almost pumping off the last few moves when I failed to notice a huge layback flake to the right. The slopers were greasing up in the 30’C temps! To finish off the day Kent took on the challenge of a repeat of Stem Cells. I was feeling fried by this point – we had been in the sun with no sunscreen for about 10 hours. I belayed with the rope bag stuck over my head and back. Kent battled and cursed his way up with a screams of ‘sandbag’ emanating down the gorge. I was too out of it to argue. Eventually Kent stuck the move and we could go home. Lugging the mountain of gear back up the hill was a trying end to a very successful day. The area now has five worthwhile climbs with a few more to be done on our next trip. Get out there kiddies!

Photos to come soon....

joemor

8-Dec-2003
1:04:20 PM

Its all true....... SUPERCRAG!!!!

after a bit of a clean up this crag should be more popular than the Gallery! It is so super craggish youd think it was made of cryptonite!

Mike

8-Dec-2003
1:48:40 PM

Loved the trip report! Mine, Mine, Mine (23) is really shaping up for an excellent Lara Croft adventure. Perhaps the leader should strap on a pair of Uzi's, tomb raider style. Cheers on the exfoliation of Fear Of Choss, I knew it would "clean up with traffic" sooner or later.

nmonteith

8-Dec-2003
3:18:15 PM

Pics online!

http://www.mrppp.com.au/nhb/reports/07122003/index.htm

jono

8-Dec-2003
4:10:52 PM

ahhh so kent had another hissy fit did he? wish i could have been there for the belay!

Robin

8-Dec-2003
6:01:02 PM

Thanks for the climbs guys.

I seem to have lost my orange Metoleous (spelling?) cam and gained someones Alien. The orange cam was used on Mine, Mine, Mine and is exactly the same as the one Neil had. Could you just check you packs to see if you have scored an extra cam and send me a line if you have lost an alien.

Robin

nmonteith

8-Dec-2003
6:11:30 PM

I must have it Robin as i also own two of those orange cams - so i just presumed it was mine! It was all very confusing when we were sorting it out. What color is the bonus alien?

Robin

8-Dec-2003
6:16:38 PM

Blue and I think it is Kents'.

nmonteith

10-Dec-2003
5:22:51 PM

Robin is now claiming he is missing a red camalot as well. argggg!

Dalai

10-Dec-2003
5:33:55 PM

Could be down the mine shaft of death... By the way, in Robin's mad dash from the snake, did he keep hold of the prized shoe? Or will Kent have to risk life and limb in the next episode?

Enjoyed the report. Killed a few minutes at work on Monday...

nmonteith

10-Dec-2003
5:42:33 PM

The shoe was recovered. It was very muddy.

Robin

10-Dec-2003
6:18:51 PM

But wait, there's more.

The shoe had been dropped down the mine a couple of weeks earlier.

I think the snake was a bit upset because I had kicked in a heap of rocks and dirt off the edge of the mine. After a couple of minutes the snake settled down with its' head behind a small rock, with Kents shoe in front of the rock. I set up the jumars, grabbed the shoe then got the hell out of there.

But upon reaching the level ground Kent thanked me for retrieving the shoe but told me he had already thown out the old shoe.

So maybe there is a part two to this story in the making where a group of climbers set out to retrieve the other shoe. Maybe it could be set burrowing into some municipal tip and the group encountering crocodiles?

nmonteith

15-Dec-2003
12:27:56 PM

ok sorted through my rack. I am missing a blue alien - and i have gained a orange Metoulius and a Red Camalot. I presume the last two items are Robins. Can i post them to you Robin?

IdratherbeclimbingM9

15-Dec-2003
3:23:47 PM

Sounds to me like you guys should attend the 'Swap Meet' on the forum thread.

If this is the result of a days casual climbing, how would you go after an extended expedition?

(You can't be true gear freaks, or you would not own up to having someone elses stuff?)
:)

nmonteith

15-Dec-2003
4:03:06 PM

In Yosemite last year we had 5 complete aid racks all blended together. It took the most part of a day to sort it all out at the end of the trip. Things like biners were just divided evenly!

joemor

15-Dec-2003
7:37:52 PM

neil, what biner is on the red camalot it "should be" a silver hb biner with gold gate...

either way 1 of those camalots is mine... mine is fairly new and should have the silver/gold biner on it......

nmonteith

16-Dec-2003
9:07:29 AM

I have your red camalot then Joe! Going to the gym tonight?

Robin

16-Dec-2003
5:57:35 PM

I think all my gear is old and beaten up so I guess Kent must have my cam. I'm going to Bendigo on Wednesday (tomorrow) so I could pick it up then if you are around.

Neil, you can post my Metolius cam to my work address: 923 Romsey Rd, Hesket 3442. I'll post your cam back to you.

Robin

There are 18 messages in this topic.