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Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
VIC Arapiles	The Watchtower Faces	(General)	The Watchtower	[ Arapiles Guide \| Arapiles Images ]

Author

watch tower crack?

grangrump

23-Mar-2011
11:37:37 AM

Unclimbed one on Trojan Wall on the Orroral Ridge (despite some attempts):
Hot Henry spurned it in favour of a rather thinner crack to right.
Unclimbed offwidth roof crack in Orroral Valley.


Superstu

23-Mar-2011
11:43:54 AM

On 23/03/2011 nmonteith wrote:
>To drag this topic totally off topic - can anyone suggest any good offwidths
>in NSW?

This one is a beauty but I'm not willing to divulge its location for fear it will be retrobolted...


nmonteith

23-Mar-2011
12:19:55 PM

On 23/03/2011 superstu wrote:
>This one is a beauty but I'm not willing to divulge its location for fear
>it will be retrobolted...

Coke Ovens? That route looks awesome! Im super keen to give it a go if the weather gods actually me to climb for more than 15 minutes at a time in the Wolgan.


Superstu

23-Mar-2011
12:39:29 PM

You got big bros? I'm on advice that my single no.6 friend is not enough...

satan

23-Mar-2011
2:20:32 PM

At last, a topic Wendy can get her teeth into, and arms, and legs, and whole body.

Best offwidth in NSW still unclimbed. On top of Gara Gorge's100m+ Grey Wall in Armidale, through huge ceiling.


ntm

23-Mar-2011
7:41:00 PM

thanks guys useful stuffin here and keep on climbing


Ben_E

23-Mar-2011
8:41:58 PM

On 23/03/2011 egosan wrote:
>Wow, Wendy, you and I think and climb very differently. I can't imagine
>shuffling #5s up that crack. A big part of the fun of that climb is the
>mandatory big run outs (Well Mandatory if you don't take 2 #5s up the damn
>thing).

I'm with Wendy - I recently went up watchtower crack with a #6 cam! No shuffling, but it made the world a much nicer place, as far as I was concerned. 'Course, I'm a unashamed wimp. As of today I'm also the proud owner of a pretty purple #5 cam as well (thanks, Rock Hardware), so I can really sew it up next time!

Great climb though, whichever way you chose to protect (or not protect) it.


IdratherbeclimbingM9

23-Mar-2011
9:07:43 PM

On 23/03/2011 davidn wrote:
>That first photo is deceiving... Neil's well 'ard though, he'll just keep
>bumping up a single cam I'd think.
>
>PS it does look really cool. Even for an offwidth. Anything you don't
>have to step into and wriggle, I can appreciate.

You are now confusing offwidths, with chimneys and thrutching techniques!
Heh, heh, heh.


shortman

23-Mar-2011
10:15:25 PM

On 23/03/2011 Wendy wrote:
>
>And to those softies complaining about offwidths AGAIN ... learn some
>technique and develop some gumption!

Amen! I will never forget my first off-width. How could one resist the challenge?

24-Mar-2011
10:34:54 AM

On 23/03/2011 nmonteith wrote:
>On 23/03/2011 superstu wrote:
>>This one is a beauty but I'm not willing to divulge its location for
>fear
>>it will be retrobolted...
>
>Coke Ovens? That route looks awesome! Im super keen to give it a go if
>the weather gods actually me to climb for more than 15 minutes at a time
>in the Wolgan.

Triple Echo I think Neil - yes Coke Ovens

And don't forget Teaser & the Firecat in the Wolgan:


Miguel75

24-Mar-2011
3:30:32 PM

Awesome pics WM.

Let's not forget Werribee Gorge and the beauty that is Golgotha...


nmonteith

24-Mar-2011
3:47:50 PM

Wow! They look amazing! Nothing beats a real 'line'. Im still a sucker for an obvious trad route.

gfdonc

24-Mar-2011
3:51:06 PM

Now there's a good story ..

I was at Werribee the other day and bumped into a certain guidebook editor, who I'll simply refer to as G. He related the following.

In preparation for a recently-released guidebook, he asked the son of a well-known climbing identity to lead him up Golgotha. Which Tim did. On seconding, though, G (who has some grade 28 ticks to his credit), struggled and sweated his way up, eventually falling off it and requiring some assistance from above.

The news quickly made its way to Tim's dad, who replied with the comment:
"That's one for the books, the Lockwoods hauling T____ up a route!"
or some words to that effect.

I'm sure some other Chockstoners can confirm.


Sabu

24-Mar-2011
4:05:51 PM

Yea I remember Tim telling me about that day!

One of my other friends managed to take a gigantic whipper off Golgotha a little while back. I think his hands popped out while his foot was still jammed.


Miguel75

24-Mar-2011
6:43:05 PM

On 24/03/2011 gfdonc wrote:
>....On seconding, though, G (who has some grade 28 ticks to his credit), struggled
>and sweated his way up, eventually falling off it....
>

This makes me feel a lot better! I have some rather soft grade 19 ticks to my name and struggle to even look at it properly. I have yet to successfully finish it...


Climboholic

25-Mar-2011
9:44:39 AM

Isn't Golgotha the sh1t monster off Dogma (by Kevin Smith)?

I haven't looked at the climb for 7+ years but I remember thinking the name seemed appropriate. (what grade is it supposed to be?)

That was the day when I learnt the meaning of the term 'sandbag'!


Miguel75

25-Mar-2011
3:08:03 PM

On 25/03/2011 Climboholic wrote:
>Isn't Golgotha the sh1t monster off Dogma (by Kevin Smith)?

Golgothan?

>I haven't looked at the climb for 7+ years but I remember thinking the
>name seemed appropriate. (what grade is it supposed to be?)

I believe it's 19!

egosan

27-Mar-2011
6:55:08 PM

I went and did the Watchtower Crack today with the clip the bolt after the pins strategy for finishing the third pitch.

Works like a charm. I reckon it is no big deal to do the climb with 2 bolt plates a set of nuts and a set of hexes. No cams at all. If you place the #4 after the fixed hanger on the fourth pitch you are only one easy move from a hex or a nut placement anyway.


IdratherbeclimbingM9

27-Mar-2011
7:04:55 PM

On 27/03/2011 egosan wrote:
>I went and did the Watchtower Crack today with the clip the bolt after
>the pins strategy for finishing the third pitch.
>
>Works like a charm. I reckon it is no big deal to do the climb with 2
>bolt plates a set of nuts and a set of hexes. No cams at all. If you place
>the #4 after the fixed hanger on the fourth pitch you are only one easy
>move from a hex or a nut placement anyway.

You are forgetting that dn has not led it yet... and is likely to disagree with you!
Good thing that you did not attempt to retrograde it!!
Heh, heh, heh.

Rolsen1

27-Mar-2011
8:23:00 PM

On 27/03/2011 egosan wrote:
>I went and did the Watchtower Crack today with the clip the bolt after
>the pins strategy for finishing the third pitch.
>
>Works like a charm. I reckon it is no big deal to do the climb with 2
>bolt plates a set of nuts and a set of hexes. No cams at all. If you place
>the #4 after the fixed hanger on the fourth pitch you are only one easy
>move from a hex or a nut placement anyway.

I've seen someone who didn't have a big cam get to this point and back off before hitching a ride with the pair following them up - apparently they'd done brolga the day before but this pitch freaked them out more

There are 55 messages in this topic.