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Climbers rescued in Grampians, the story

zdeneczech

28-Dec-2010
7:43:40 PM

Hi,well maybe I have got a bit c--ky after climbing Spiegels overhang in Cathedrals, but main problem was that we wanted to climb Mixed climb (could not find the initials) but could not be 100% sure that we found it despite having a Grampians selected climbs guide with us. So I measured the distance stated in the guide from Heretic(marked S) which was 14m to the right, or 6m right past Diane (initials could not be found either) and there is a yellow sling visible about 5m high. We lost a lot of time trying to get it right, then we found MA initials under the sling and off I went tired of looking. Beautiful climb until on the third pitch we got on a ledge with overhanging roof. I thought that the climb was quite difficult, certainly for me and even more for my wife, I do not think it was Mixed climb, there is Hard times in the area and not sure what MA stands for. Perhaps I panicked and unnecessarily called 000, I only wanted to talk to someone familiar in the area, thinking that they will tell me whether to go left or right under the roof. Unfortunately chain of events started and we could not stop it. After the initial contact with 000 I went left under the roof (facing the rock) and climbed another 10 meters, but my wife was not able to do it, I down climbed back to her and found another easier looking line more to the left, at that stage it was getting dark and my wife was getting tired. I asked for another hour as I was confident that I could finish and asked operator not to send helicopter and help at that time. I was advised not to continue ( because of light and my wife's state) and perhaps that was right and we agreed. Why did we not abseil? Tough question for me, inexperience probably, i thought that going up was easier. In the end we found that we were about 30 m below the top (we did not know that at the time).

Stingray4100

28-Dec-2010
8:24:46 PM

Sounds like you were on Mugs Alley (13) not Mixed Climb.

zdeneczech

28-Dec-2010
8:57:14 PM

Sounds right, pity it is not in the book, my edition is 2001, thanks

patto

29-Dec-2010
2:50:07 AM

You're a silly poo! :-p There I said it. Some people were thinking it, other people were saying it in the other thread.

But you came out safely, and I'm sure you have learnt from the experience. We all make mistakes. Good luck in your future climbing endeavors if your wife ever lets out of the house! :-D

hargs

29-Dec-2010
9:02:34 AM

On 28/12/2010 zdeneczech wrote:
>Perhaps I panicked
>and unnecessarily called 000, I only wanted to talk to someone familiar
>in the area, thinking that they will tell me whether to go left or right
>under the roof.

I can imagine how that call went...

"What's the nature of the emergency?"
"Well I think I'm on Mixed Climb and I'm not sure if I go left or right under the roof."
"Facing in or out, sir?"

..::- Chris -::..

29-Dec-2010
9:53:40 AM

On 29/12/2010 hargs wrote:
>I can imagine how that call went...
>
>"What's the nature of the emergency?"
>"Well I think I'm on Mixed Climb and I'm not sure if I go left or right
>under the roof."
>"Facing in or out, sir?"

Pure Gold... I'm in tears.....

Glad everyone is ok...

kieranl

29-Dec-2010
4:10:58 PM

Danny,
It does sound like you where on Mugs Alley rather than Mixed Climb. The initial S would be for Soltitude. The S marking the start of Heretic is quite faint.
That's the problem with Select guides, not everything is in it, so it's hard to reconcile things if you get disoriented.
A complete guide to Rosea are on the ACA site
http://www.climb.org.au/index.php?page_id=10&action=crag&crag_id=401
It also gives the state of the initials marking the starts of climbs.

nmonteith

29-Dec-2010
4:27:52 PM

Mt Rosea is one cliff that I wouldn't mind seeing the initials repainted. It seems a lot of people get bushed up that end of the cliff.

kieranl

29-Dec-2010
5:24:45 PM

A big problem with initials is if you rely on them without context.
I know someone who went to do Bubbles which was described as the first climb left of the initials CC. Bubbles does start just left of Curtain Call but the first climb encountered with the initials CC on that end of the cliff is Coronary Country. So they ended up on Gillian, which was OK but nothing matched their description. And to round things off, not long after I accompanied them on the first climb just left of the other set of CC initials at Rosea (Commando Climb).

prb

29-Dec-2010
11:57:51 PM

If nothing else zdeneczech, I admire your commitment in launching up a cliff like Rosea without much idea of how to get down if something goes wrong. But don't try mountaineering just yet!

On my first trip to Rosea (using the VCC pocket guide) I got lost on Diane and then the next day I got lost on Mixed Climb, climbing through a roof at grade 17/18 to top out. And I'm normally pretty good at finding my way on the bigger cliffs. I just found the old text very difficult.

Anyway, when you've bitten off more than you can chew and you're also responsible for the safety of your partner, a conservative decision like zdeneczech's seems sensible to me.

MelH

30-Dec-2010
3:00:48 AM

On 29/12/2010 kieranl wrote:
>Danny,
>It does sound like you where on Mugs Alley rather than Mixed Climb. The
>initial S would be for Soltitude. The S marking the start of Heretic is
>quite faint.
>That's the problem with Select guides, not everything is in it, so it's
>hard to reconcile things if you get disoriented.
>A complete guide to Rosea are on the ACA site
>http://www.climb.org.au/index.php?page_id=10&action=crag&crag_id=401
>It also gives the state of the initials marking the starts of climbs.

Aye, agreed. I did heretic earlier in the year and it took us a while to find it.

There are 11 messages in this topic.