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Topic Date User

Sluj Gulpa - The Gib 24-Aug-2009 At 9:42:03 AM f_ladou

Message

Hey guys,

Finally took the time to take the drive up to Mittagong and got onto Sluj Gulpa. The weather was predicted to be around 20
degree and fine. So it was. Alex, Dominik and I set up the belay and abseiled the 50 meters down to the bottom, located the
beginning of Sluj Gulpa and geared up.

Curious beast that one. Not your usual Bluyes climb.

Dominik cheated on the very first move to get onto the wall (we all did, actually) but raced up the first pitch in no time. The fun
part being the 'crazy hand traverse' (check him out on the attached picture). By the time we got to the first belay, the weather
was fabulous. We swapped rope ends and I got onto the second pitch. The balancy crux spat me out when I ventured left too
quickly and ran out of finger juice near the arête. I reached the second belay quite rapidly after realising this mistake. Fun pitch.

Dominik was keen to tackle the 3rd and last pitch. He complained a lot, sat in the rope, made a lot of sound effects, expressed
his inner feelings (f---, I'm scared with his sweet German accent) but completed the job brilliantly. Alex and I followed and we
finished the whole climb within 3 hours. And since we still had time and energy, we finished the day around the corner at Mount
Alexandra.

So, overall, excellent route with slabs, laybacks, flakes and commitment. Although the three pitches are graded the same (23),
the last one is clearly one or two notches harder.

And, hey, Mike, thanks for the topo!

François