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Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
VIC Grampians	Northern	Mt Stapylton Campground	(General)	[ Mt Stapylton Campground Guide \| Images ]

Author

The Olive Caves - New Gramps Sport Crag!

Dave J

29-Jan-2008
5:04:10 PM

On 29/01/2008 nmonteith wrote:
>Dave, if you have any boulder problems you want to add to the online guide
>- please send me the details! I don't have an eye for that sort of thing
>at all.

Nothing very significant ... I think you pretty much extended everything I tried to the top of the crag.

Is Adam close to doing that crack? It think thats the line I'd most like to try. I will probably wait until its
done before I go back there. Would it have been unreasonable to attempt it without fixed gear?

kieranl

29-Jan-2008
5:06:09 PM

It's only taken 15 years or so since I first took people in there for anyone to get around to doing anything.


nmonteith

29-Jan-2008
5:07:02 PM

Adam has already invested a few days into it - so i think it would be nice if you kept off it.

Dave J

29-Jan-2008
5:18:10 PM

On 29/01/2008 nmonteith wrote:
>Adam has already invested a few days into it - so i think it would be nice
>if you kept off it.

Don't worry....I'll keep off it. But I'm not going to drive all the way over there just to keep off it. I'd rather
wait until it was done and then have a propper go at it. But I am curious about the route...My intention
had just been to head up it with a honking big rack and see how I went. Would that have been foolish?


nmonteith

29-Jan-2008
5:33:26 PM

On 29/01/2008 Dave J wrote:
>My intention
>had just been to head up it with a honking big rack and see how I went.
>Would that have been foolish?

Foolish - no. Adam managed to free/aid up to about 8m from the top on trad, but the opening moves require using the pods you put gear in as handholds and it is quite cruxy - thus the bolt at the start. The only other bolt is just below the top - after the tech crux on a smooth section. There are cams about 2m below it and a cam in a roof slot about 1.5 above it.

ademmert

29-Jan-2008
7:05:03 PM

There
>are cams about 2m below it and a cam in a roof slot about 1.5 above it.

more like 3m above the crux

Would appreciate if people do stay off it till i've had a good go! Cheers

If anyone is keen i would love someone to repeat my route at red rocks (InshaAllah) to confirm the grade
any crack climbing takers, Dave, HB.

adam


cruxmag

29-Jan-2008
8:22:06 PM

Mr Pat Turner perhaps?


muki

29-Jan-2008
10:00:31 PM

On 29/01/2008 ademmert wrote:
>If anyone is keen i would love someone to repeat my route at red rocks
>(InshaAllah) to confirm the grade
>any crack climbing takers.
>adam
I'll take a look at it next time I'm up that way if you like ?
Love crack climbing, but is it a true crack? the shots I saw looked like featured face with discontinuous
breaks and some crack.
The crack you are working (Daves crack project) sounds sweet I'm very tempted to go and check it out.
Does it have a very long roof crack? what sort of grade/length? sustained?


nmonteith

29-Jan-2008
10:10:55 PM

On 29/01/2008 bomber pro wrote:
>The crack you are working (Daves crack project) sounds sweet I'm very
>tempted to go and check it out.

You mean Adam's Crack Project don't you? Dave hasn't even pulled onto a move whilst Adam has spent 3 days so far + money on bolts. It's Adams project.

>Does it have a very long roof crack? what sort of grade/length? sustained?

Look at the photo topo in the online guide. You'll have to wait for Adams tick before the grade will be revealed!

In the meantime go and do my route Fist Fighting which is right next to it. Only a few jams - but they are memorable!

ademmert

29-Jan-2008
10:35:42 PM

>I'll take a look at it next time I'm up that way if you like ?
>Love crack climbing, but is it a true crack? the shots I saw looked like
>featured face with discontinuous
>breaks and some crack.

there is a crack to start then a face head wall to finish, so not true crack climbing but there are some narly finger locks

>The crack you are working (Daves crack project) sounds sweet I'm very

Daves crack project is in the amphitheatre and is a totally different climb
My crack project is in the olive cave and is a closed project hopefully done soon.

let me know what you think of InshaAllah if you get on it
cheers
adam


tmarsh

29-Jan-2008
11:10:02 PM

It might be as good a time as any to direct people to the newly updated Stapylton Ampitheatre guide featured in the thread just below this one. The project of Dave Jones' that Adam is referring to is the proudest line among many proud lines in the Wall of Cool, nestled deep within the Northern walls of the ampitheatre.

I can't say much about the climbing, other than the fact that it unbelievably awkward and difficult, but I can report that the route offered excellent belaying opportunities. It's a great shame that there have been no takers for this route. They day someone does this on natural gear will be a high-water mark in Australian climbing for a while to come, I think.

jgoding

30-Jan-2008
8:08:49 AM

Nice work Neil,

looks like a good crag. I'll look forward to checking it out.

By the way darling I must say you're looking hot at the moment in those photos. What happened to fat Neil of not so long ago? Wow man you have really shed the kilos and toned up. Back climbing 26 as well. What's next?


nmonteith

30-Jan-2008
9:53:21 AM

On 30/01/2008 jgoding wrote:
>By the way darling I must say you're looking hot at the moment in those
>photos. What happened to fat Neil of not so long ago? Wow man you have
>really shed the kilos and toned up. Back climbing 26 as well.

errrr...

Dave J

30-Jan-2008
11:10:06 AM

On 29/01/2008 nmonteith wrote:
>On 29/01/2008 bomber pro wrote:
>>The crack you are working (Daves crack project) sounds sweet I'm very
>>tempted to go and check it out.
>
>You mean Adam's Crack Project don't you? Dave hasn't even pulled onto
>a move whilst Adam has spent 3 days so far + money on bolts. It's Adams
>project.
>
Yep...What neil said. Im kicking myself for not having done it a few months ago .... but at the end of
the day....I didnt do it a few months ago. I went as far up it as I dared without a boulder pad (not very
far at all) but I probably wasnt even the first person to do that. It sounds like a few people had been
out to that cave over the years. It is an absolutely awesome line though....more like a very, very long
but less intense version of Procol than a rook crack like passport (Imagine 4 laps on procol without its
cruxy start). I would have liked to have seen it go all on natural gear (since all natural lines of that
length and difficulty are such a rare thing)...but thats not really my call and since I havent really been
on it I cant say if that would have been a reasonable proposition or not.

I had been planning to do procol this week to get in the mode and then go out to olive caves in a week
or so to do that one so hopefully Adam does it soon. Good luck with it Adam and let us know when its
done (or PM me if you get bored with it!)

In the mean time if anyone wants to go and Play on "the Agent of Cool" at the stapylton ampitheatre,
please feel free. I would love to see it done but hate to see it bolted (like I said there are precious few
harder lines out there that dont have bolts in them).


nmonteith

30-Jan-2008
11:54:31 AM

On 30/01/2008 Dave J wrote:
>In the mean time if anyone wants to go and Play on "the Agent of Cool"
>at the stapylton ampitheatre,
>please feel free. I would love to see it done but hate to see it bolted
>(like I said there are precious few
>harder lines out there that dont have bolts in them).

I think Pat's quite keen to give this a go sometime. He's certainly talked to me about it in the last 6 months. He's about the only aussie person i can think of who has the ability and would be interested!

Dave J

30-Jan-2008
3:01:36 PM

>I think Pat's quite keen to give this a go sometime. He's certainly talked
>to me about it in the last 6 months. He's about the only aussie person
>i can think of who has the ability and would be interested!

That would be fantastic...happy to give him any info if he wants it...the crux section is all butch
underclings and dynos between pockets...the 2 actual crack sections are probably only 28 but still hard
enough that I wasnt even close to doing the crux bit by the time I got there. I could only barely do the
crux after a good long sit on the rope and then I never managed to link that to the upper section of the
route either.


jh

31-Jan-2008
12:47:23 PM

I have also been snooping around this area for the last six months, but you're welcome to the steep
stuff !.
Have also ventured to the upper cliff a couple of months ago for a look, it has some big lines and
sandy caves.

Didn't see any evidence of old climbers (stone cairns) which was hard to believe given a couple of
obvious crack lines.

Their is some good lower grade climbing on the lower cliff at left end as well.

Great spot for clear winter days.


SwineOfTheTimes

31-Jan-2008
1:03:07 PM

Fair bit of Activity by a few people about 5 years ago.A number of routes were done in the area (walls around the caves and north) ground up on natural gear, up to about 22.


nmonteith

31-Jan-2008
1:05:07 PM

I've played on the short 10m high featured wall about 500m north from the Olive Caves (right next to the road) - just before the sharp west bend. I've dubbed it Truckstop Wall. Doesn't seem to have any evidence of other climbers having climbed it much - ie some loose rock and snapping flakes. I was thinking about bolting 3 or 4 lines on this wall as an easy beginner sport crag. Nothing much harder than 16 - but its got the location (ie 10sec walk-in).
http://www.climb.org.au/index.php?page=27&area_id=1190


nmonteith

31-Jan-2008
1:08:05 PM

On 31/01/2008 SwineOfTheTimes wrote:
>Fair bit of Activity by a few people about 5 years ago.A number of routes
>were done in the area (walls around the caves and north) ground up on natural
>gear, up to about 22.

Lets have the route descriptions!

There are 55 messages in this topic.