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Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

 Page 2 of 3. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 45
Author
Biggest sandbag

hangdog
18-Feb-2014
12:54:27 PM
Still @ Piddo Addendum 15. It is next to Prologue and very near Ballrace.
Pitang Pitang 14 or Ole Biscuit Barrel 13 @ Sunbath area Medlow bath

sbm
18-Feb-2014
1:02:49 PM
How about that little route around the corner at the sunbath "Katoomba Brothers"? Requires you to pull over a bulge with a fingerlock to start? Originally 4...now 8, still an awful beginner's route.
BBSR
18-Feb-2014
1:09:52 PM

+1 Prologue 11 @ Mt Piddington.

I only climb easy things though.

The Animal 12* @ Mt Piddington probably deserves a mention too.

Macciza
18-Feb-2014
1:24:51 PM
Ballrace? Really ....
I'm pretty sure that's solo-able though it gets a bit weird up higher ...

Strange how peoples experiences can be so different on the same routes ....

Macciza
18-Feb-2014
1:26:26 PM
Isn't it Kaboomba Brothers?
Another eminent solo ....

pmonks
19-Feb-2014
2:41:31 PM
Dogface

[EDIT] Please ignore - misread the title as "Biggest sandpit".
[EDIT2] Actually it might still be a good answer, though I've never had the guts to get on anything on it (despite several attempts by Hayden Brotchie to lure me up Landslide Chimney).

Macciza
19-Feb-2014
2:57:25 PM
Never been on Doggie?
You should pop down and try the free version of Gigantor . ...
It's mostly just old school 23 ....

pmonks
19-Feb-2014
3:01:28 PM
On 19/02/2014 Macciza wrote:
>Never been on Doggie?

Well I've stood on top, if that counts - I even hopped the tourist fence to get a better look down the face (I'm pretty hardcore that way).

>You should pop down and try the free version of Gigantor . ...
>It's mostly just old school 23 ....

I crap my pants on new school 23 (i.e. over-ring-bolted grade 20)...

Big G
20-Feb-2014
12:34:10 PM
On 18/02/2014 sbm wrote:
>How about that little route around the corner at the sunbath "Katoomba
>Brothers"? Requires you to pull over a bulge with a fingerlock to start?
>Originally 4...now 8, still an awful beginner's route.

Ended up having a semi epic on this after picking up the wrong chalk bag and only having 1 or 2 bolt plates. Had to hang on while having plates lobbed up to me once some other party came close enough to retrieve the correct chalk bag which was too far away for my belayer to reach. Fun times indeed
kieranl
20-Feb-2014
12:50:08 PM
Matador at Rosea used to be a good contender. Was graded 13. Lots of short pitches. Should be able to run a few together and race up it.
You can see why the first pitch is short - there's this big overhang at 10 metres with a big ledge just below it. Whoever started the route thought that this was the place to stop and point someone else at the overhang. Even with modern gear this overhang is pushy with not the best gear - Phil Armstrong and I both agree about 16. Then the next 2 short pitches can't be easily run together, even with double ropes and they're both 14.
Then you notice that one of the FA team was Alec Campbell and it all becomes clear.
martym
20-Feb-2014
1:06:59 PM
What's the opposite of sandbagged?
prb
20-Feb-2014
3:14:10 PM
A few more Arapiles climbs for consideration:

Christian Crack, Dylan, Jeckle, Yesterday's Rooster, Taste of Honey Direct Start, Speechless
Wendy
20-Feb-2014
5:05:07 PM
Tis funny the range of opinions on some routes. I think Christian Crack is a doddle. Dylan is ok. Jeckle is more like 22 which for a 16 is a little stiff, Yesterdays Rooster maybe 22 not 21. Speechless is just stupid because it has manky pins as the only gear through the crux. Dramp isn't a sandbag, it's just a cruddy, greasy route on the best bit of rock to avoid actually climbing on at Arapiles. Llaragub is fine at it's current grade, but kinda outrageous if you picked up the guide that gave it 12. I think Vandal had the same grade once. Pearls before swine isn't too bad.

If you find those sort of things a sandbag, you might find any crack at Buffalo likely to throw you. I had to work my butt off on Jaws a few years ago and it's given 17. I lost quite a lot of skin off the entire length of my arm, back of my shoulders and knees.

I've heard Knee Deep Chimney at Moonarie might give you an exciting day out at 11 or 13 or whatever it is given.

gfdonc
20-Feb-2014
5:28:08 PM
I avoided Dramp for years because The Plagues is usually overrun, and because Steve Howden decked off it a long time ago and smashed both ankles.

Then when I actually got around and did it (in 2008) I thought it was well protected, nice climbing. Yes the layback is slippery but if there were footholds it'd be 18 or 19, wouldn't it?

MisterGribble
20-Feb-2014
8:26:08 PM
Alex Honnold hasn't done it either
Will_P
21-Feb-2014
11:18:43 AM
Basilisk Direct at Bundaleer. Yeah, 16, right. How many extra grades is the (!) in the previous Mentz/Tempest guidebook worth?
spicelab
21-Feb-2014
11:29:14 AM
On 20/02/2014 MisterGribble wrote:
>Alex Honnold hasn't done it either

Assuming we're still talking about Dramp, I was at Araps in summer of 2001 (I think) and Toby Benhman was just beginning to get his soloing mojo going (not to mention his campsite thieving mojo).

According to someone in our group who witnessed the solo, he placed his first high smear to begin the layback section of Dramp and it pinged off completely. Apparently he shrugged it off, replaced his foot in exactly the same position and continued trouble-free to the summit.

A few days later he regaled me with a story of nearly dying on an onsight-solo Ferrets and Berts.
strerror
21-Feb-2014
12:02:28 PM
Funny how Dramp seems to be dividing opinion. I can usually climb the grade but I found Dramp to be impossible so far (though maybe I should have a go top roping it first rather then trying it on lead!). Maybe it's just a stylistic thing ?
prb
21-Feb-2014
12:37:34 PM
I think Dramp is a well-protected one-move wonder at 20/21. Dylan’s hard to grade – I talked a mate onto it who’s close to 2m tall and climbs mid-20s. He fell in the awkward bit about 5m up then got stuck in the upper chimney and couldn’t move! I avoided mentioning gnarly cracks like Hyaena, they all feel like sandbags to someone with poor technique like me.

Wendy mentions Kneedeep Chimney at Moonarie which can be a terrific sandbag, but not because of the grade. There’s a big choke of chockstones about 60m up that you can avoid by heading to the front of the chimney and continuing at solid Moonarie grade 15. But the original line (14 I think) caves up through the chockstones to a very tight exit onto a ledge. I’m not big but I have to take everything off my harness to (just) squeeze through. Thin climbers with a sadistic streak could have a lot of fun.

The biggest sandbags I’ve come across are among those old climbs at Moonarie. Black Man’s Reach (13) is ridiculous – looping out onto the Sweeping Statement slab at grade 20 is way easier. But The Black Hole of Calcutta (8) on Checkers Wall takes the cake. The aim is survival. There’s some hard climbing at the grade through vegetation and a deadly steep boulder field, a crawl along one of those poorly protected scoopy ledge systems you get on Checkers, a leap across the void to grab a bush and finally a fully-enclosed tight dark chimney that no-one’s been in for decades. We piked it and went up the front of the buttress at about grade 16.
Wendy
21-Feb-2014
5:19:14 PM
I think you should all go climb some of the many great 21s at Araps and pretend Dramp doesn't exist.

prb just reminded me of Balancing Bunnies. I'd probably blocked it out of my memory. Fortunately for me, Douglas was leading it. It starts a pitch up something I also can't remember, then there's some stretchy, pumping handtraversing out around the arete which was intimidating looking enough, then Douglas disappears out of sight and sadly I can't remember the assortment of classic lines that came out of the void from him, but they were all suggestive that he was having a very exciting time. At one point he did exclaim "Col Reece was a madman!". When I did get out there, I discovered crappy small wires, bodgy rock, an irreversable move or 2 after which you'd hope there was more gear, but actually, there wasn't. Some moss, some steep stuff on rock you'd not really like to have to haul on and in general some climbing that might have been a little above it's given grade, with crappy gear, crappy rock, very healthy moss and masses of exposure.

And perhaps people might like to jump on Reaper or Copyright with their original grades of 20? That would really put Dramp and Christian Crack into perspective.

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There are 45 messages in this topic.

 

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