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Chockstone Forum - Crag & Route Beta

Crag & Route Beta

 Page 2 of 4. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 60 | 61 to 61
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Author
ACT beta

evanbb
24-Mar-2010
3:14:14 PM
I second Coree as well. There's some terrific rock there. A long 16 too that reads well, never seen it. It's a nice spot also, quite high up.

What day will you be around? Brendan and I might go sport falling on Saturday.
One Day Hero
24-Mar-2010
4:27:52 PM
On 24/03/2010 wallwombat wrote:
>But anyway, Neil, I know you aren't really a boulderer, so I would suggest
>you go somewhere else. I reckon you would like Coree. Interesting climbing
>with holds that all seem to face in funny directions and lots of nice big
>bolts. That's my suggestion.
>
Don't you people listen? He doesn't want sun! I got sunstroke at Corree in July, there's nowhere to farkin' hide, it's one big photon festival the whole time you're there!

Dave has less crap advice, but from one sweat machine to another....trust me, Gibralter is best served at <15degrees. You can chase shade around but you'll still get a lot of rays belaying etc.

Red rocks goes shady at 2-3 then happy till dark, can loll in the river while waiting for sun to go, swim between routes to cool down....same style as corree but longer, better routes much closer to town.

Hey Wombat, have you checked it out? It's really good

wallwombat
24-Mar-2010
4:58:42 PM
On 24/03/2010 One Day Hero wrote:

>Don't you people listen? He doesn't want sun! I got sunstroke at Corree
>in July, there's nowhere to farkin' hide, it's one big photon festival
>the whole time you're there!

Now how are people going to come up with a decent sandbag, when you go around telling the truth?

>Hey Wombat, have you checked it out? It's really good

No, mate, I haven't but I'm very keen to. I've been ogling the photo topos in your online guide for ages and meaning to drag my sorry arse there. I'll dust off my harness and try to get down there soon, before it gets too chilly.

Those boulders below the crag and near the river look alright too.

nmonteith
24-Mar-2010
9:46:53 PM
Sounds like perhaps Red River on Saturday arvo, and Booromba South Side on the Sunday. How long does it take to drive back from Booromba to Sydney?

wallwombat
24-Mar-2010
10:25:50 PM
3.5 hours ??

evanbb
25-Mar-2010
7:37:04 AM
Maybe slightly less to the southern suburbs, but 3.5 sounds about right.

cruze
25-Mar-2010
9:07:34 AM
Wow, you guys obviously know where the Goulburn police set up on Sunday afternoons!

I reckon that 3.5 hours would be a bare minimum if you live near the end of the M5 and you have lightish Sunday traffic getting closer to Sydney. The drive down from the carpark at Booroomba to the City can take an hour.

Take a light rack for Red Rocks (some natural gear required - usually only 1/2 pieces) and a 60m rope.

wallwombat
25-Mar-2010
10:24:12 AM
On 25/03/2010 cruze wrote:

>I reckon that 3.5 hours would be a bare minimum if you live near the end
>of the M5 and you have lightish Sunday traffic getting closer to Sydney.
>The drive down from the carpark at Booroomba to the City can take an hour.

It takes me 2 hours to drive from Goulburn to Redfern, near the city.

Takes me a bit less than an hour to get to Canberra.

Takes a bit over half an hour to get to Booroomba using that newish bypass thing that cuts through Belconnen and puts you on the Tugeranong Parkway which deposits you at Tharwa.

Ends up being around 3.5. Maybe a bit more.
grangrump
25-Mar-2010
12:47:06 PM
On 23/03/2010 nmonteith wrote:
>I was thinking about popping into the ACT
>- where do i camp when i want peace and quiet!

Traditionally you camped at the Booroomba Rocks carpark, but this is now officially forbidden (you could walk a while along the very old, blocked off road which continues from the carpark?). byo water

You're meant to go to Honeysuckle Ck (old tracking station site, sadly demolished) = fully equiped NP campsite (tank water, dunnies, fireplaces) at the end of the Apollo Rd bitumen. It can be very quiet or very noisy, dp on population on the day...

Less well known and also either very quiet or very noisy is a sandy beach on the Gudgenby river: turn L onto Angle Crossing Rd (2nd turnoff L after Tharwa, about 1.5 km before Apollo Rd): about a kilometre down the dirt. Beach area to right; nice shallow river (beware of glass per kind hand bogans)

Any of these would be pretty easy to find in the dark; all are convenient wrt Booroomba

V. traditional hardpersons used to stay atop B.R. (puff, pant, lug). Not sighted in a long time. Guaranteed peace.

nmonteith
25-Mar-2010
1:12:19 PM
Cool, thanks for all the help!
deadpoint
25-Mar-2010
1:32:50 PM
3.5 hours is pushing it. Working backwards.

Booroomba carpark, 8mins to the tar, 8mins to the Apollo turn off (who hoo downhill get the 4WD airbourne), 15 mins back to the burbs. Turn right at sign to Cooma, 8mins to cooma road, turn left, 100kmh (watch speed camera *2 to airport, 15 mins, majura road to highway 10 mins (watch for portable speed cameras), turn right, 3 h to sydney end of M5. 4h 8mins give or take. (no food or comfort breaks...)

Going down the new GDE, is crap because of all the traffic lights and general road building carnage happening around there.

If you don't want the sun then Red Rocks in the arvo is good, toaster oven in the morning, you could go to Kambah rocks 5 mins walk from RR in the early morning to avoid the heat at RR then have a swim in the river (clothes optional) then head over to RR in the arvo, climb to dark.

Just a word of warning if you decide to swim a Kambah pool, don't accidentally turn right at the car park. "Not that there's anything wrong with that." ahem.

There is no car camping allowed at the Booroomba car park, but if you stay up top its no problem. The CCA has checked this with rangers, 'bush camping' is permitted in the Namadgee NP.






wallwombat
25-Mar-2010
1:40:51 PM
On 25/03/2010 deadpoint wrote:
>3.5 hours is pushing it. Working backwards.
>
>Booroomba carpark, 8mins to the tar, 8mins to the Apollo turn off (who
>hoo downhill get the 4WD airbourne), 15 mins back to the burbs. Turn right
>at sign to Cooma, 8mins to cooma road, turn left, 100kmh (watch speed camera
>*2 to airport, 15 mins, majura road to highway 10 mins (watch for portable
>speed cameras), turn right, 3 h to sydney end of M5. 4h 8mins give or take.
>(no food or comfort breaks...)

Yeah, I was thinking about that and have decided you are right. It generally takes me two hours to get back to Goulburn and another two to get to Sydney.

nmonteith
28-Mar-2010
10:41:11 PM
Quick trip report. After negotiating 1024 round-a-bouts to circumnavigate Canberra we made it to Booromba Rocks on Saturday night. For future reference where is the 'alive' part of the city during the day? We wished to purchase a sit-down lunch and couldn't find anything that appeared open or inspiring. There must be a cafe strip somewhere? We camped up at Honeysuckle Creek which was nice enough until the SES contingent arrived and asked if we minded if they fired up their generator to run a flood light. I reminded them it was supposed to be Earth Hour in 15 minutes and that maybe we didn't need a 1000watt light in the camp. They got the hint.

Next morning we lept out of bed early and hiked up the hill to the crag. The last time I was at Booromba was 1993, and nothing much seems to have changed. I've grown much older and fatter though. Or maybe my rack had quadroupled and slowed me down? I pondered the top campsite and decided the only people who would camp there would be climbers who only had to carry up the hill a hemp rope and a few biners, leaving plenty of room for a tent and bottle of Stones Green Ginger Wine.

First climb was Integral Crack 48m 19, the most famous route at Booromba. What a line! A sinuous crack up an imposing slab which seems to get steep the higher it gets. Interestingly the route climbs more like a slab than a crack route. I hardly touched the crack, instead padding up on chunky crytsals and small dyke features. The trad gear was 90% small to medium wires, something I didn't have many of as my usual crag (the Bluies) doesn't inspire confidence on small gear. There were several quite commiting sections on Intergral, the last bit of gear was well below and the moves were delicate and sustained. Its one of those routes that you need to make an extra effort to place gear at every opportunity least you suddenly find yourself in a surprise crux, cursing the fact you scampered past a bomber bit of potential trad below. Its a proper 3 star route - one of the best granite pitches in Oz IMHO.

Next up I decided to step it up a gear and onsighted No Beans for Bonzo (45m 23) which is the partially bolted mega slab just to the left of Intergral. My old 90s guide says it was done with no bolts, but these days there appears to be about 6 of them. Quite spaced and airy, it's still a magnificent climb. It weaves around a bit finding right holds, and just like Intergral it's sustained right up to the end. A fantastic route - again worth 3 stars. The only downside was the jiggery pockery of cleaning each of these routes since my belayer decided it was a reading day rather than a climbing day. Lastly I did African Walking Tree in the gully to the left of Intergral. Another awesome route with bomber thin wires the whole way up. Its a series of horizontal jugs that trend left up a rampy feature. Really fun climbign and a bit pumpier than the usual granite slab in these parts. By the time I reached the top I was out of wires and the sun was hitting me hard. It was time to head to crag two of the day, Red Rocks in the outskirts of Canberra.

After a 40 minute drive back down the hill and through 1024 round-a-bouts we made it to the carpark. We chatted to a guy who was pealing the remains of his window out and dumping it on the ground. The whole carpark was filled with piles of glass, each heaped on the ground next to a car. Thievery appears to be a problem! I seriously considered abandoning this climbing area, but we ignored logic and marched off into the sun. 30 minutes later I was burnt to a crisp and cursing this walk. 30 degrees and walking in the sun is not for me. I also had to allay a mutiny when Kathy decided she couldn't take another step, so I cut our losses and checked out the closer (and alledged infinitely inferior) crag of Kambah Rocks. The locations was nice, the Murrimbigi River swirls by amoungst waterwashed boulders and a little gorge. The climbing wasn't great however. I did a couple of easier route then tried the most chalked line in the middle of the cliff - Missionary Positions (23). I failed to get past first base. Shithouse bolt positions, potential ground fall clipping the 2nd bolt and a pretty solid sandbag. It's quite a nice route - very sustained using lots of desperate sideclings and flakes with little for your feet. The rock is frictionless (water-smoothed) and my new found Booromba friction skills were totally useless. My feet skidded out more times than I can remember. After dogging on every bolt and cheating through one section by silver jugs I decided to call it a day. Went for a quick dip and trudged back to the car (which had miraculously not been broken into) and drove 3 hours back home.

evanbb
29-Mar-2010
6:38:32 AM
Good stuff Monty.

Integral is a total classic i'n'it? Almost time for me to go fall off that again.

The 'story' about No Beans reads well. I knew Simon was famous, but the back story builds.

In terms of the 'alive' bit of Canberra, I've always thought it's a city (town) designed for locals. The CBD or Civic is pretty quiet on the weekend, but there's a few little cafes open. All the shops are dispersed in little suburban shopping centres. Biggest of these is Manuka across from the oval, which is a bit posh but usually open on weekends. Kingston shops are a bit more laid back with some pubs and cafes. North of the lake, Ainslie, O'Connor and Dickson shops all have something worth checking out.

But, I virtually never go out on the weekend. Buy all our food at the growers market on Saturday mornng then spend the next week eating it.
Estey
29-Mar-2010
7:41:33 AM
Congratulations Neil your the first person to lead a route at Kambah in 10 years.

nmonteith
29-Mar-2010
9:22:48 AM
On 29/03/2010 Estey wrote:
>Congratulations Neil your the first person to lead a route at Kambah in
>10 years.

Why doesn't someone rebolt this crag? It wouldn't take more than a day with a couple of drills. There was one ringbolted route on the right side which was pleasant but (suprise suprise) they obviously forgot to add lower-offs.

evanbb
29-Mar-2010
9:32:17 AM
On 29/03/2010 nmonteith wrote:

>Why doesn't someone rebolt this crag?

I think partly because it's such a public use institution. Because it's so popular, I think everyone has just decided to let it be, as that's what they've all grown used to. Not wanting to ruffle any feathers I guess.

What did you think of the crag? Are there some worthwhile lines? I've never actually bothered going. I know a few of the 'Senior' Canberra guys now, might see if there's an appetite for change.
widewetandslippery
29-Mar-2010
9:47:20 AM
Soulda gone black ranging...
dalai
29-Mar-2010
11:09:48 AM
On 29/03/2010 evanbb wrote:
>Biggest of these is Manuka across from the oval, which is a bit posh but usually open on weekends.

Definitely nice cafe's in Manuka...

wallwombat
29-Mar-2010
11:12:22 AM
On 29/03/2010 widewetandslippery wrote:
>Soulda gone black ranging...

Neil doesn't do granite bouldering. It hurts his little pinky winkies.

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There are 61 messages in this topic.

 

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