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wolgan quick trip TR... 24-Mar-2009 At 9:49:09 PM timfreddo

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if youre a grammer nazi then piss off, and save yourself a whole lot of pain!

first trip to coke oven yesterday. what a f*ckin mad place! like stackin a few piddos ontop of each other. if youve never been then go...NOW!

drove out from blueies the night before, didnt think the fully loaded commodore would make it accross the ford, so camped on the shady side with el mega setup family. flyscreen dining rooms and everythin! quick dinner, couple of warm beers and bedtime was early as we planned to be up at 6 to avoid the arvo heat. no bogans, no loud barnsie, only a couple of wombats to keep us awake. i guess you have to expect wombats when you camp on the most lush looking grass in the whole clearing!

up at 7:30, so much for early start. quick breakie then packs on, accross the mighty wolgan river. slogged up the hill, sweating like a whore in a church by the time we hit the cliff.

what to do first?? so many awesome looking climbs! decided on dan the bulldog (**17) to warm up. sweet climb, did it in one long (60m exact) pitch. the route is a great slabby angle, with lots of bolts (for a coke ovens climb). almost a sport route, only requires a number 1 and 2 camalot. very nice balancy moves the whole way up on little flat, slick ironstone edges, between big footers at the bolts to rest the calves. rapped back down, whats next?

didnt have to coil the ropes as sizzler was next (***18-19). one word to explain this climb... SPLITTER!!! very quick rack up as other friends wanted to watch the epic. 2 of each size between 1 and 4 camalot should do. started climbing, plugged a cam in the overlap, best handjamb on the face of the world, and some high feet gets you through the crux, then sustained tight hands to off hand jamming gets you to a rest. from there a tight fist crack head up for the next 10m with some RAD jamb/layoff combo moves and a few small crips on the left of the crack if you want. another rest, then look down and see youve got no cams left to protect the last 8m offwith/perfect layback. nuthin else for it but to layback to glory. must say topping out onto the slopy, dirty leaf covered ledge looking at a 20m winger wasnt very fun, just dont fall right!
as with many fine climbs in the wolgan the belay tree is level with the top of the route, but off to the side a few meters, so mic the seconder faced a huge pendgy if he fell on the last unprotected 8m of the climb. made it though, 28m rap to the ground.
sun hit halfway up sizzler, and it was starting to warm up alot. back with the sweating!

cactus (***18) next, up there with the best climbs ive ever done! this thing was insane! first pitch had 20m of very awkward stemming/chimneying up a acute corner with a finger crack at the back for handholds. take lots of small cams/large nuts!! then 10m of steep fingerlock laybacks brings you to a small ledge and the belay.
2nd pitch we ran together with 3rd (61m to belay tree), not sure if this is a good idea due to the massive rope drag and crack thats the same size the whole way. anyways, bloody good climbing off the belay for 20m up a perfect corner, great fingerlocks and stemming the whole way. then 20m of awesome face climbing around a crack (you guessed it, finger size). then angle eases for 20m of easy ramble (unless youve goot 40m of ropedrag) up to the top. feeling the most thirsty weve ever been, and hot as the sun, 2 quick raps off gets us to the shade cave and waterbottles.

pretty much sat around for the rest of the arvo, easily over 30 deg c at the base of the cliff. had a quick walk around to scope out some other climbs in the area. sap looks pretty cool, as does mirrorman, and birds of feather. microcossm would make a great M1 aid route, 50m long, sh*tloads of bolts (byo stick). if your'e keen to learn aiding and dont like the convenience of echo junior, this is the go;)
rest of the group had a quick thrash up decline and fall P1 (***18-19). looked like a great line, thin (read thiiiiinnn) fingers, and great steeming up the magnificent red corner, off left to choss cave and 2bb.

sun was starting to droop at that stage, so quick packup, skid down the hill. and straight into the wolgan. back to cars at 6pm, stuff everything in the commo, and off to ivanhoe for pie n chips for dinner (had to settle for schnittie as it was trivia nite and they were out of pies...bugger!!)

anyways, maybe not the best rip report you've ever read, but maybe some incentive to write your own report about your latest climbing trip or day, so we can all have something decent to read about.

look forward to reading it.
Timbo