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The Ravine - new Gramps mid grade sport crag. |
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11-Mar-2008 4:21:20 PM
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On 11/03/2008 dalai wrote:
>Slab and sport climb are mutually exclusive...
that's like saying bouldering isn't climbing. It may not be your style but...
It is however true to say that not many slabs are bolted for sport climbing.
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11-Mar-2008 5:26:18 PM
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Kieran,
The part you are talking about i must admit i went up and down a few times trying to find the "thankyou clip" hold, it was slightly more run out than the other bolts but in comparison to other sport routes I thought it was well bolted. I would be fairly surprised if you hurt yourself on it.
At first i tried to go slightly right of the clip which is fairly hard if your a bit pumped (which i was ; ) so i back climbed had a rest and went up slightly left and found the thankyou jug.
Really fun climb only a little moss at the top which will clear soon but fairly close to *** in my personal opinion.
Chris.
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11-Mar-2008 5:53:50 PM
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I think the left way is the secret to making it less stressful!
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16-Mar-2008 11:57:10 PM
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I did a revamp of the track marking today - lots more cairns and tape markers. There is no way anyones getting lost now! Also added new route on left side of wall - it's a bit dirty still - grade 21ish with six bolts.
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19-Mar-2008 3:09:36 PM
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Thanks heaps Neil, muchly appreciated as always, I'll be back out there over easter at some stage so i'll try and clean a bit of crap of the new route...
Thanks again,
Chris.
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25-Mar-2008 9:29:35 PM
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On 16/03/2008 nmonteith wrote:
>I did a revamp of the track marking today - lots more cairns and tape markers.
>There is no way anyones getting lost now! Also added new route on left
>side of wall - it's a bit dirty still - grade 21ish with six bolts.
Just back from two days at the Ravine - great crag! I really like the climbs ...
Some subjective comments on the grades: Brush With Authority (21) felt harder than Lake Thelma (21) but probably due to the dirt. Hey Youse (20) on the far right side felt way easier than Pains Ford (19) (also to my partner who failed to do the 19 first go but easily did the 20 first go after having climbed 4 other routes).
Hung Low Bay (24) is beautiful! Best route there IMHO despite the upper easy two thirds, however the project looks awesome, too.
[ONSIGHT SPOILER]
How did you intend to do the crux, using the chalked two finger pocket for your right hand? I went from the good edge out a bit left to the painful gaston, high stepped on little chalked pebble and reached up high with my right hand to crimp and further to good side pull. Very nice bouldery move, holds weren't chalked at all but easier than the pocket version. I'd say left rather 23ish, straight 24 probably okay (I actually couldn't pull the two finger pocket :-) )
[/ONSIGHT SPOILER]
Comment on the picture in the online guide
I think that the cliff marked as Olive Caves is actually the upper cliff whereas the Olive Caves are among the rocks visible right near the fire track.
The access via the longer 2WD track is easy except for one dangerous bit right before the Olive Caves where you have to get past a nasty rock in the middle of the track. Has lots of scratch marks :-) Back to the camp is easiest via the shorter sandy bit since it is down hill.
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21-May-2008 8:32:44 AM
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Nati locals Ingvar and Malcolm Matheson have established two steep grade 26 routes on the 'cave' side
of the Ravine. Not sure if they are sport or not - but i presume they would be. More info coming soon...
online guide will be updated when I get the info from them.
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3-Jun-2008 12:25:47 PM
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On 21/05/2008 nmonteith wrote:
>Nati locals Ingvar and Malcolm Matheson have established two steep grade
>26 routes on the 'cave' side
>of the Ravine. Not sure if they are sport or not - but i presume they
>would be. More info coming soon...
>online guide will be updated when I get the info from them.
Has anyone tried them yet? I had a go on the right one - bloody hard I'd say .... you either have to dyno like a maniac or pull a little edge all the way down to your hip .... :) didn't feel like 26 at all to me (and I only went a bit above the second bolt!). But then again, none of the 26 I've tried in the Grampains felt like 26 ;-)
And are there any infos about the project with the red tag? It's located on the right side of that little gully thing that you pass on the left on the walk in shortly before reaching the first original routes and looks quite good!
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3-Jun-2008 1:17:49 PM
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I helped with the new routes in the cave, and found them not too bad! 26 is about right, and the red tag is
mine, nice arete and crux at the finish, will be back to send when things slow down a bit here in nati. BP
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4-Jun-2008 12:28:59 PM
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On 3/06/2008 bomber pro wrote:
>I helped with the new routes in the cave, and found them not too bad! 26
>is about right, and the red tag is
>mine, nice arete and crux at the finish, will be back to send when things
>slow down a bit here in nati. BP
So as for the right hand route, how do you get away from the second bolt? Dyno up to the ledge or pull the little crimp at the lip of the roof? Or use this little vertical crack/crimp for the right hand? All three versions felt pretty desperate, at least dynoing I touched the ledge .... :-)
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4-Jun-2008 1:17:36 PM
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On 3/06/2008 bomber pro wrote:
> will be back to send when things
>slow down a bit here in nati. BP
HAHAHA! busy times!? does Loretta's dress for the school dance have a hole in it!? break out the darning needle and it'll be alright! or did henry swiggins mule escape again!?
hilarious!
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6-Oct-2008 11:39:27 AM
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A small group of us went to check out this new spot last Saturday (4Oct). Unfortunately we got there a bit late in the morning and there was already a large-ish group of about a dozen who had set up a few top ropes and clipped a few of the routes, so they had the established routes setup for themselves for the whole day. Not to worry, we'll be back again - it's a great spot to climb and hang out for the day. Just a few little things to mention...
1. The walk in is very well marked and the path is getting worn in a bit, so there's little chance of wandering off the trail now and trampling on more vegetation.
2. Although there was fairly steady rain the day before, seepage was not an issue on the established routes.
3. We checked out the left-side wall past Maximum Impact (over the boulder with the loose flat flake sitting on top of it) and a couple of us trad-lead a route or two there. They're short 12-13m vertical-to-slabby routes that take pro and should be half-decent lower-grade (13-14) sports leads if they're bolted. Still pretty mossy, even though we cleaned as much as we could.
Thanks to Neil for locating/bolting the area and to Mr 'dreamingof8a' for recommending that we go check it out. :)
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6-Oct-2008 3:13:30 PM
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Was more than a little mossy. Great Trad leads around 14-17. Nice safe Rap points from top.
You will need to be careful with the flakes really easy to break off, so helmets need to be on at all times. Small wire hexes & large Nuts recommended. Cams are ok but due to the sandy nature of the rock may not be as good.
Will get a photo next time. Careful not to rap into trees. Great fun great view, highly recommend.
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6-Oct-2008 4:33:28 PM
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On 6/10/2008 kev wrote:
>Unfortunately we got there a bit late in the morning and there was already
>a large-ish group of about a dozen who had set up a few top ropes and clipped
>a few of the routes, so they had the established routes setup for themselves
>for the whole day.
Next time I suggest you just march right on in and take your turn ... no one has the right to monopolise a 15m sport route for a whole day just because they've hung a few draws off the bolts! Next you'll tell me they were toproping direct through the bolts instead of using their own biners?!
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6-Oct-2008 7:37:32 PM
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>Next time I suggest you just march right on in and take your turn ...
>no one has the right to monopolise a 15m sport route for a whole day just
>because they've hung a few draws off the bolts! Next you'll tell me they
>were toproping direct through the bolts instead of using their own biners?!
Funny you mentioned that. As a matter of fact, they ran all 3 ropes through both lower-off RBs on each of the three routes they were TRing.
EDIT: I stand corrected... "all the routes we top-roped were off 2 draws clipped to the anchors, the only time we used the anchors was to strip the route at the end of the day."
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6-Oct-2008 8:46:09 PM
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>Next time I suggest you just march right on in and take your turn ...
>no one has the right to monopolise a 15m sport route for a whole day just
>because they've hung a few draws off the bolts! Next you'll tell me they
>were toproping direct through the bolts instead of using their own biners?!
Well yeah they were actually top roping through the top anchors. I was going to say something but they had already gone by the time we packed up. They looked like a uni climbing group. they took up all the sports 4 in a row and 2 overhangs on the other side of the ravine.
They pretty much had someone going up and down the whole day.
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7-Oct-2008 12:51:13 AM
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if your talking about saturday, then i was one those 'uni climbers' from radelaide
On 6/10/2008 OzA wrote:
>>Next time I suggest you just march right on in and take your turn ...
>>no one has the right to monopolise a 15m sport route for a whole day
if you had of asked we would of pulled the ropes for you climb, even let you top-rope on our ropes, we actual thought it was a bit weird you didn't come over and ask!
>just
>>because they've hung a few draws off the bolts! Next you'll tell me
>they
>>were toproping direct through the bolts instead of using their own biners?!
>
>Well yeah they were actually top roping through the top anchors. I was
>going to say something but they had already gone by the time we packed
>up. They looked like a uni climbing group. they took up all the sports
>4 in a row and 2 overhangs on the other side of the ravine.
all the routes we top-roped were off 2 draws clipped to the anchors, the only time we used the anchors was to strip the route at the end of the day.
>They pretty much had someone going up and down the whole day.
a word of warning watch out for loose rock near the top of the 18 dark and stormy, i pulled a head size rock off the route nearly taking out my belayer.
i think there is some scope to put in some easier sport routes in.
all in all found it to be a great crag
ps re-reading this i don't think this was our group because we never climbed the 2 overhanging 26's
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7-Oct-2008 11:11:04 AM
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Yere, be careful of the juggy sandy stuff in this area. They tend to explode unexpectantly! How is the carpark area and road access looking with all this traffic?
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7-Oct-2008 3:08:26 PM
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On 7/10/2008 nmonteith wrote:
>Yere, be careful of the juggy sandy stuff in this area. They tend to explode
>unexpectantly! How is the carpark area and road access looking with all
>this traffic?
i took a late model ford fairmont and its a bit sketch, a few times i though the car was going to beach itself. it's quite soft sand, you just have to take it easy and keep the power relatively constant. watch the first hump as you turn onto the road, i made my passengers jump out on the way back out
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7-Oct-2008 3:20:30 PM
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On 7/10/2008 nmonteith wrote:
>Yere, be careful of the juggy sandy stuff in this area. They tend to explode
>unexpectantly! How is the carpark area and road access looking with all
>this traffic?
The two traddies who went up the wall on the far left took some sandy handfuls off when they made their ascents, one on Maximum Impact and the other on a new line.
We got bogged in the sand once, but a little push saw the car through. Other than that, access is good - straightforward. Must admit, we did get a little lost cos we weren't sure which road to take to get to the sandy track. We also bottomed-out on the hump at the start of the track.
While there's plenty of space for a few cars to park end-to-end alongside the track, it'll probably get pretty full once word gets out about this moderate-grade sports area. :)
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