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Guides/Partners for Mt Buffalo


NikG

23-Nov-2007
8:20:15 PM

Hi guys,
I'm going to be in Oz for a few days to see family in December. I'm going to try and convince them that it will be a good idea to let me go climbing for a day. I fancy doing a classic route on Mt Buffalo like "Where Angels Fear to Tread" (hope I've got that right!).

Anyone know anyone available to climb around 18-20 Dec. Or if not can recommend a guide I could hire to climb with.

Cheers,
Nik

jgoding

24-Nov-2007
12:32:02 AM

Hi Nik,

we're there the weekend (15/16) but from the looks of your dates that might be during the week?

You might also consider the following classic routes (which might provide a more gentle initiation to Mt Buffalo than Angels in my humble opinion):

The Initiation (The Hump) - 3 pitch 18*** (just the first 10m is 18, the rest 15 or less)
Cows with Guns (The Hump) 40m 19** great slab, very consistant. Abseil in to natural belay
Chickens in Choppers (The Hump) 45m 20** great slab climbing
Run Free with the Buffalo (The Hump) 40m 19** great slab climbing

Maharajah (17***) The Cathedral, great classic crack (2 pitches)
Sultan (20***) The Cathedral, great classic crack (2 or 3 pitches)
Fire in the Foothills (19*) The Cathedral, good 25m slab
Shell Shock (19*) The Cathedral, good 25m slab
Edge of Pleasure (21***), The Cathedral - one of the best arete climbs I've ever done. You can rap in and do the best (top) 40m pitch after doing either Shell Shock or Fire in the Foothills (better than doing the "tourist" walk, which is anything but. Careful pulling your ropes. Better if you leave an abseil rope in. I had some huge hassles trying to retrieve a rope here (lots of cracks / obstructions for it to get tangled in).
Bloodnok (17*) and Something (19*) under the bed is drooling are supposed to be good.
Sunrunner (22**) The Cathedral (lower tier)

Home James (20**) The Gorge - great unusual face climbing with a short steep crack bit.
Banana Blaze (18**) The gorge - good crack/layback

Peroxide Blonde (20***) The Horn - fantastic arete climbing. Careful getting to the first bolt, especially on a hot day as it can be a bit polished / slippery. The bolts are a bit spaced on this one too. Walk to the lookout and rap in is best.
The Pintle Left hand Varient (16***) 2 pitches (again - best to rap in from the look out, you can finish up Peroxide blonde as it's located below this).

*Just a reminder to take about 6-10 bolt plates as most of the bolts are "carrots" (no hangers). You can buy these in the climbing shops in Little Bourke Street (between Elizabeth & Queen Sts in town).

PS there is an update to the 2006 guide on the VCC website, along with some additional photo-topos which I hope will be useful (some good ones for the Cathedral in particular):
http://www.vicclimb.org.au/Site/index.php?location=publications

If you find any errors or have new routes / corrections etc please let me know and I'll update the update.

Great camping, swimming, hot showers.

Might see you up there. Enjoy your trip.


IdratherbeclimbingM9

24-Nov-2007
9:51:21 PM

>If you find any errors

Possibly not what you intended/meant, but the link to;

The Hump 1: A close up of the fantastic Cows with Guns area - including the new route "Run Free with the Buffalo" (Labeled RF). [download] 219k

seems to be broken as I received the following error message;

Page not found
The page you requested was not found on this web server. This could be for a variety of reasons, including:
• You followed a broken or out-of-date link.
• You entered the URL for the page incorrectly.
• The page no longer exists.
If you followed a broken link, please inform the owner of the referring page.

Cheers (?) !!
M9
:)

25-Nov-2007
9:33:09 AM

>Edge of Pleasure (21***), The Cathedral - one of the best arete climbs
>I've ever done. You can rap in and do the best (top) 40m pitch

the first pitch is much better than the 2nd IMO ... much more varied climbing and quite unique for buffalo. the arete pitch is great too but smeary aretes are a dime a dozen at buffalo

jgoding

25-Nov-2007
11:20:13 AM

Hmmmmm well perhaps I'd better get my lazy ass in there and climb it one of these days!

I hear the gear's a bit funky? (run out). Would you concur? Any suggestions on the best way to access the first pitch? Rap in?

What other fantastic arete routes would you suggest are in the same league? If they are a dime a dozen I've clearly got a lot more good arete climbing at Buffalo to be done...

hipster

25-Nov-2007
5:46:21 PM

Have to agree with you Joe, that second pitch on Edge of Pleasure is something else. I don't know about dime a dozen...I phoned Greg Moore (first ascencionist) in the far reaches of the Northern Territory to tell him how good I thought it was after I did it. First pitch can be accessed by rapping down the 24 on the next buttress (to the right, looking out from above) and walking around. Head diagonally right at the top of the seam and don't miss the bolts, as the wife did, then it's not too run-out. 2 different pitches, both stellar.

jgoding

25-Nov-2007
6:27:41 PM

Thanks Hipster - it's now on the agenda for the weekend of the 15/16 Dec!

25-Nov-2007
8:35:03 PM

The 2nd pitch is an arete by appearance but it climbs like any other front-on smearing slab. Eg They Dance Alone is basically the same style (and just as good).

1st pitch pro is fine IMO (4 carrots + several small-med wires & cams) though at times you do have to climb above gear.

The best access is almost certainly walking down beneath Contact Sport/Bloodnok/The Dreaming - its less than 5 minutes from the base of Maharajah. Hipster seems to be describing the rap down Substance Abuse which is 2 40m raps!

I think this thread is now officially hijacked...

gfdonc

26-Nov-2007
1:18:12 PM

On 24/11/2007 jgoding wrote:
>Peroxide Blonde (20***) The Horn - fantastic arete climbing. Careful getting
>to the first bolt, especially on a hot day as it can be a bit polished
>/ slippery. The bolts are a bit spaced on this one too. Walk to the lookout
>and rap in is best.

Yes the first bolt can be tricky. Some start up the crack to its right then step across, but either way you have some hard moves before clipping anything.

However, if you are rapping from the lookout, my suggestion is to take a second rope, and tie a loop in your rap rope to give you something to clip closer to the ground. Call it environmentally friendly retro-bolting if you like, but still more pleasant than a broken ankle.


cruze

26-Nov-2007
1:51:35 PM

Peroxide Blonde: Rap down (like everyone does - God only knows how you could onsight this one), preplace first draw, get second abseiler to clip one strand on rap, pull rope carefully leaving rope in place for first bolt. Yeah it's 'cheating' but a broken ankle beats broken pride everyday.


gordoste

26-Nov-2007
2:18:24 PM

you can climb up to the start via the pintle if you want to try and onsight it


cruze

26-Nov-2007
2:58:20 PM

On 26/11/2007 gordoste wrote:
>you can climb up to the start via the pintle if you want to try and onsight
>it
Good point. It was a hot day when we did it so we walked to the top of the Horn, dumped our gear, then rapped down and climbed PB first (before it got too hot) then rapped all the way to the bottom and did Pintle P1, then Pintle LHV, then the 14 to the right of PB. Hence climbing back up to our packs.

jgoding

26-Nov-2007
10:52:21 PM

Yo Nik - you getting this dude? Haven't heard from you since your first post.


jkane

27-Nov-2007
12:43:51 PM

On 24/11/2007 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>>If you find any errors
>
>Possibly not what you intended/meant, but the link to;
>
>The Hump 1: A close up of the fantastic Cows with Guns area - including
>the new route "Run Free with the Buffalo" (Labeled RF). [download] 219k
>
>
>seems to be broken as I received the following error message;
>

I have fixed the link to the download.

jgoding

28-Nov-2007
10:45:47 PM

Onya Jim. Thanks.

Hey - you want to come to Buffalo with us on the 15/16th?

What about Tassie after Boxing day?

micko

29-Nov-2007
10:22:28 PM

I was wondering if I could tag along with you guys on the 15/16. As I have not been up there before I would like to go with someone who knows the area.

I am pretty self sufficient, own car, ropes and gear.

I can leave anytime Friday and Saturday.

If others want a lift I have station wagon so can fit them and gear.

Sorry to hijack the thread,
Micko


IdratherbeclimbingM9

30-Nov-2007
10:43:01 AM

jkane wrote:
>I have fixed the link to the download.

Many thanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Post edit re post below;
>arete pitch is great too but smeary aretes are a dime a dozen at buffalo

>The 1st pitch is the dime a dozen one, scary crack with bad gear to a crumbly slab...>that sort of stuff really IS everywhere up there!

... or you could (both) take up Aid Climbing and call it all good!
Heh, heh, heh.
:) :)

Back to topic, since the thread has been hijacked somewhat ...
>Anyone know anyone available to climb around 18-20 Dec. >Or if not can recommend a guide I could hire to climb with.

You could always try this mob;

Adventure Guides Australia
contact: David Chitty
Mob: 0419 280 614 Mobile Fax: 0419285491 PO Box 393 Beechworth , Vic. 3747 ...

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with or financial link to the above mob etc; ... In fact I have not heard of him since the Chalet closed, so have no idea at all if he still operates up there.
(I would have simply put a link to his website rather than naming him/company but it seems to be down at present).

... Mid week up Buffalo is generally scarce for climbing partners in all but the busiest of holiday periods. Good luck with your quest.


Paulie

30-Nov-2007
1:09:14 PM

On 25/11/2007 WM wrote:
>>Edge of Pleasure (21***), The Cathedral - one of the best arete climbs
>>I've ever done. You can rap in and do the best (top) 40m pitch
>
>the first pitch is much better than the 2nd IMO ... much more varied climbing
>and quite unique for buffalo. the arete pitch is great too but smeary aretes
>are a dime a dozen at buffalo

Mate are you kidding? The 2nd pitch of EOP is easily the best arete route for the grade at Buffalo.

The 1st pitch is the dime a dozen one, scary crack with bad gear to a crumbly slab...that sort of stuff really IS everywhere up there!

I would actually recommend rapping into the start of the 2nd pitch just to avoid the 1st pitch!!

Paulie

30-Nov-2007
2:46:34 PM

On 30/11/2007 Paulie wrote:
>Mate are you kidding?

no


Paulie

30-Nov-2007
5:05:14 PM

Well mate I've really got to say that I can't think of a better arete route for the grade than EOP's 2nd pitch and in ~15yrs of climbing up there I certainly haven't found one that's beaten it for rock quality, length, sustained climbing, position and 'remoteness'.

I guess you could arguably say Peroxide Blonde or Butterflies are Doodle (etc) would be close but they all lose out big time with regard to length, sustained climbing (maybe not Butterflies) and 'remoteness'.

If there is one out there that's better than EOP's 2nd pitch please let me know!!

Paulie

There are 24 messages in this topic.