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TR Big Bird, The Gib, Mittagong 30-Dec-2012 At 4:33:32 PM PThomson

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G'day Mikl,

Marek and I climbed this one today. Got a late start because of the rain (went to Mount Alex until midday, when things dried out enough to hit up The Gib). From start to finish it probably took about 1.5 hours, though we certainly weren't climbing fast.

So, here's my review:

P1 - Short, Easy slab, made easier if you can jam =P. Pleasant ramble, probably a good introduction to easy friction slabbing (my introduction was on the Beulah bolted routes... Not a gentle introduction). Warning: the crack is guarded by a moderate sized-lizard who seemed to want me to friction slab my way around the crack, rather than working my way up it. (I'm told he hates trad climbers).

P2 - Easy laybacking (again, made easier if you can jam), into an awkward slabby crack which proved to be quite entertaining. I couldn't remember the route description, so I was kind of surprised at the relative difficulty of the final move past the bulge. Crazy granite friction-slab maneuvres, which seemed nails hard until I came up with a simple technique to mantle past it (Marek found my mantling trick made it very doable, as well). Probably my only concern here is that if any more footers go, this move really WILL be nails. All in all, a worthwhile pitch, and the Belay is in a funky position on the slab.

P3 - Weird moves to get into the crack under "the beak". Marek decided that heel-toe camming and much desparation was the way to go (points for hilarity to be awarded, and for sticking with it to get the pitch clean). I went for fist-stacking to get my feet on the crack, then easily over the beak and cruise to the top. Funky and weird. Probably not as good as I was expecting, but maybe the whole "masturbating on the spear of destiny comment" had me a bit too excited.

Overall: good value, Unique, and it was a pleasant way of exiting the crag. Maybe 1.5-2 stars on a 3-star system. Thanks for the new route, Mikl.

I was really psyched to try Sluj Gulpa and P1 of of Slow Twitch, but we were both kind of munted from Weaselburger yesterday, so we'll hopefully hit up those other climbs (and the 20 and 22 bolted slabs) next weekend. Question: how feasible would it be to run Sluj Gulpa together into a 60m superpitch? It doesn't look too wandery...