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Chockstone Forum - Crag & Route Beta

Crag & Route Beta

 Page 2 of 3. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 59
Area Location Sub Location Crag Links
VIC Buffalo Gorge (General) (General) [ Gorge Guide ] 

Author
Mt Buffalo Gorge - North Wall descent.
DMWdesign
24-Jun-2014
12:17:25 PM
>He is referring to my post, where I agreed with others that abseiling
>Defender down to Fuhrer Ledge/Comet Ramp (one and the same location), then
>proceeding down Comet Ramp's further abseils to base of Ozymandias, is
>better than doing the upper abseils of Comet Ramp to join the same place
>at the base of Defender.
>Both are feasible. It is a subjective choice.

thanks very much for that info - it all makes sense now

also re the exit 'track' that ascends the south side of the gorge referred to in previous posts, does that come out somewhere near the Chalet?

ajfclark
24-Jun-2014
12:19:05 PM
The south gorge track up past mushroom rock gets to the rim just near the hang glider ramp, 5-10 minutes walk from the Chalet.
DMWdesign
24-Jun-2014
12:36:16 PM
On 24/06/2014 ajfclark wrote:
>The south gorge track up past mushroom rock gets to the rim just near the
>hang glider ramp, 5-10 minutes walk from the Chalet.

thanks for that

Macciza
24-Jun-2014
1:38:00 PM
Hmmm,
Did I dream there was a third option which involved you being jet lagged and me car lagged from the drive down, snow and iced up ropes . . .
Not sure I could do next Mon/tues but will see as if the weather holds it could be good . . .
Will put the later date into the mill and see how it pans out, and stay in touch . . .
Not sure when we did it previously or how late the weather usually holds there . .
Cheers
MM

IdratherbeclimbingM9
24-Jun-2014
2:01:21 PM
On 24/06/2014 Macciza wrote:
>Hmmm,
>Did I dream there was a third option which involved you being jet lagged
>and me car lagged from the drive down, snow and iced up ropes . . .
>Not sure I could do next Mon/tues but will see as if the weather holds
>it could be good . . .
>Will put the later date into the mill and see how it pans out, and stay
>in touch . . .
>Not sure when we did it previously or how late the weather usually holds
>there . .
>Cheers
>MM

There is a good layer of snow down to as low as Mt Stanley / Beechworth at the moment...

Here are a couple of inspirational memories from mousey (dated 05 ‎August ‎2007), for Macca (and PI) ...






IdratherbeclimbingM9
24-Jun-2014
2:46:17 PM
Inspiration for you too DMWdesign...

Cross-link reference to part of the conversation on another thread.

A well known Chockstoner, doing the wombat dance at the start of the Defender abseils.


another Chockstoner doing similar a couple of pitches lower...


How you will feel after you finish your adventure...


An example (below) of what you don't want to happen, otherwise you might relate to the above pic even more for different reasons!
Stuck rope!

Yes it was stuck so hard that combined weight of three people couldn’t budge it!
No, it was not me. I found the pic on a USA climbing site, and credit goes to J. Donini (I think, as it was in a post of his, if I remember correctly).
I don't know where it was taken.
It is also a great example of how NOT to thread a rope on a chain/s anchor...




phillipivan
24-Jun-2014
4:00:42 PM
You weren't dreaming, I was subsequently informed I won't be back in Australia till the 10th, and am leaving again on the 13th. So retro corrected post.

Post edit: rule #1 of my chockstone posting ethos "Never post anything that your not going to edit (or delete) later on".

phillipivan
24-Jun-2014
4:12:52 PM
On 24/06/2014 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>It is also a great example of how NOT to thread a rope on a chain/s anchor...
>
Indeed! The load is just on the right bolt.

Thanks for the photos. The one of Macciza is gold. I hope by September I can start downloading a bunch more photos from a camera and words from my brain.

Im not at all surprised to hear there is a good amount of snow at Buffalo. I was solo/scrambling around camels hump today between rain showers and found a few patches (and an old hex).
DMWdesign
24-Jun-2014
10:53:15 PM
On 24/06/2014 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>Inspiration for you too DMWdesign...

Thanks IdratherbeclimbingM9 - looks very specy!

you said the anchors on Defender are DBB chain anchors (double bolt belay?)
are they like the ones shown in the pic below with the stuck rope?

the guy on the right looks like a young Chris Baxter

IdratherbeclimbingM9
25-Jun-2014
9:16:57 AM
On 24/06/2014 DMWdesign wrote:
>you said the anchors on Defender are DBB chain anchors (double bolt belay?)
>are they like the ones shown in the pic below with the stuck rope?
>
Yes, double bolt belay. They are relatively new, and a significant upgrade compared to what was originally available, to facilitate accessing the Gorge routes more easily via Defender.
No, not quite the same as the USA photo above*, due there are no loose chain ends at the Defender abseils once below the top.
(* I only re-posted it as an example of an unusual snafu, that kind of backs up timbigot's experience as posted earlier in this thread).

There is a long chain at the top (start of the abseils), to facilitate getting closer to the rounded-off edge, to commence abseiling.
Take care (possibly be on roped-belay), as manouvering around this area is very exposed, and if you slip/fall you are unlikely to survive.
Most climbers back up that anchor with an additional long sling or rope, around a suitable boulder or tree.
Sometimes the back-ups are left in place for others to use; however sometimes also, others remove them as 'booty', so they cannot be relied upon to be there.
If one is there, check it's integrity thoroughly before using it.

The rounded edge has caused rope-bind issues in the past upon rope retrieval; so once the first abseiler reaches the next belay lower down, have them test-pull the rope to ensure that it does not bind before the last abseiler descends, to give the last abseiler a chance to fix the problem before they descend.



>the guy on the right looks like a young Chris Baxter

It is.
Chris Dewhirst is on the left, and they are celebrating topping out after their first-ascent of Ozymandias 18/20-10-69.
gfdonc
25-Jun-2014
10:04:22 AM
On 24/06/2014 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>Yes it was stuck so hard that combined weight of three people couldn’t
>budge it!
>It is also a great example of how NOT to thread a rope on a chain/s anchor...

Huh? How else would you thread through both chains (so as to have a redundant anchor)?
The only approach I can imagine involves threading both but pulling the other end.

For the record, I got a rope stuck rapping off Tannin once. The tail of the rope flicked over itself just before pulling through the anchor and tied itself in a perfect figure-8 around the ring. Sh!t happens.


IdratherbeclimbingM9
25-Jun-2014
10:17:40 AM
On 25/06/2014 gfdonc wrote:
>On 24/06/2014 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>>It is also a great example of how NOT to thread a rope on a chain/s anchor...
>
>Huh? How else would you thread through both chains (so as to have a redundant
>anchor)?
>The only approach I can imagine involves threading both but pulling the
>other end.
>
... by not effectively passing a bight of rope through an end-link, but instead thread it singularly with the rope end.
~> The way they threaded the link effectively acted as a camming device (sticht-plate style), once it load-contacted the single threaded link on the other chain.

What I find remarkable in that snafu, is that the rope was pulled, I guess relatively easily, right up to the point where the weight shift due imbalanced remaining rope to be pulled, transferred to the other chain in such a way as to show up their bight-threading as being a bad thing.


kieranl
25-Jun-2014
10:38:26 AM
What they appear to have done is, instead of threading the rope end through each end-link, the end-link of one chain was poked through the end link of the other then they threaded the rope through the first link.
I cannot imagine why they would have done this. They actually removed some redundancy. In the unlikely event of the threaded link breaking, their rope just flies out. Unlikely, but it looks like hardware store chain so who knows how strong it is.
Weird, but I've seen lots of times when people have destroyed the redundancy of rap anchors. Most common is where the two independent anchors terminate in shackles and someone decides that it would be good to clip one shackle through the other so they only have to thread one.
I've often placed the Fixe chain anchors which have a single welded ring for threading. In this case it's a heavy duty welded ring from a reputable manufacturer and I'm happy with that. The failure point with these anchors would be a bolt pulling in poor rock or the nut on a bolt coming off.
Edit : I've also seen where people have added an extra krab to give redundancy to these Fixe anchors. I think that welded ring is way over-engineered but if people aren't happy with it then that's fine.

IdratherbeclimbingM9
25-Jun-2014
10:57:09 AM
On 25/06/2014 kieranl wrote:
>What they appear to have done is, instead of threading the rope end through
>each end-link, the end-link of one chain was poked through the end link
>of the other then they threaded the rope through the first link.

You likely mean threaded through the 'poking-through link' ;-)
Yes, you may be right, but I have found that style* of chain doesn't normally have enough interior width to allow that action even on an end-link.
My experience in re-threading chain to itself mostly comes from creating a loop of chain/s passed through my motorcycle's frame on a regular basis, to secure it from theft. If that is achieved, then it can be hard enough passing a padlock shank through the remaining gap of the passed through end-link if available, let alone (I imagine) a larger diameter rope.
(*Some other styles do!)

>I cannot imagine why they would have done this.

Agreed.
Given such actions happen, I reckon there is possibly no end of ways to make things difficult/dangerous in the climbing game, as if it was not already...

This hijack should really be over on the other thread. Cross-link back to the original Chockstone thread, that semi-references where that photo came from, plus some discussion...


phillipivan
25-Jun-2014
12:14:12 PM
Well Macca, from the weather report I just read it sounds like it will be right feral by the start of next week. Can't ask for more than that.

report.

IdratherbeclimbingM9
25-Jun-2014
12:49:18 PM
On 25/06/2014 phillipivan wrote:
>Well Macca, from the weather report I just read it sounds like it will
>be right feral by the start of next week. Can't ask for more than that.
>
... as long as it isn't a feral ascent like...



or



or



Heh, heh, heh.

johnpitcairn
25-Jun-2014
1:56:03 PM
Looks to me that the rope may have been threaded through the chain end links while one chain had a half-twist. Easy enough to do that and not notice if the chain is long enough.
DMWdesign
26-Jun-2014
2:30:38 PM
On 20/06/2014 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:

>2nd abseil ends with a swing of about 4m to the right of the line......
Is that to the right, facing the cliff?



>Continue down Comet Ramp (two more 47m abseils*)......
>chain. It has been a while since I was there and I think we did it on doubled

Facing the cliff, are the two further abseils down Comet Ramp on the left or right?

gfdonc
26-Jun-2014
2:55:17 PM
Comet Ramp continues down right (facing the cliff) from Fuhrer Ledge. You need to walk along the ledge for a few metres, past the tree. I don't recall where the next abseil point is, as last time I were there we were heading for Knocking on Heavens Door so we rapped down the gully from the tree.

We walked in to Ozy last time and would probably do it again. Quicker and easier.


Duang Daunk
26-Jun-2014
3:52:32 PM
On 26/06/2014 DMWdesign hassled chocky again:
>Is that to the right, facing the cliff?

>Facing the cliff, are the two further abseils down Comet Ramp on the left
>or right?
>
You are going down yes?
It is obvious which way is down when you get there.
This is a climbing site mate. Almost every reference to L + R is (as traditionally done) facing the cliff unless specifically noted otherwise.

When you eventually get on it, don't forget to come back to us with a trip report, so you can hassle again with questions about how to post pictures.

There ya go M9. Fixed that for ya.

Ay gfdonc bro. D Man Wdesign is a rapper not a climber. It's obvious you saved yourself the pain of reading earlier posts.
How can I get that 10 mins of my life back?

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There are 59 messages in this topic.

 

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