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TR;- boars head abseil route


nmonteith

15-Mar-2012
1:42:31 PM


kuu

15-Mar-2012
2:40:09 PM

On 15/03/2012 Batey wrote:
>Page 49 in Blue mountians Climbing 2010 eddition has a photo and a description
>of the Rap route and also shandy. Its confusing that Shandy is listed as
>a Trad route though and people here descirbe it as full of hangers.

Shandy (on the west-facing wall of Boar's Head buttress) was climbed as a Trad route.

I suspect that subsequent "improvements" have, at least in part, been introduced to provide a way for Commercial Operators to return their abseiling punters back to the top, choosing this as a more 'adventurous' alternative to walking them out via Devil's Hole.


tnd

15-Mar-2012
5:14:37 PM

On 15/03/2012 kuu wrote:
>...>Shandy (on the west-facing wall of Boar's Head buttress) was climbed as
>a Trad route.

But I'm sure you'd have grid-ringed it Kevin, if you old-timers had known about power drills, epoxy and stainless. Climbing must have been terrible back then. So unsophisticated. ;-)


vwills

15-Mar-2012
5:26:49 PM

Said 1958 in the guide as FA. You mustve been a young whippersnapper.

From the base of the second abseil after walking through the slot and rapping down you can see a line of ring bolts on a scrambly ledge sytem heading out to where I imagine Shandy climbs to. We wondered whether the guided groups set up some kind of roped via ferrata. Shandy was described as a rite of passage for scouts and looked like it could be a great trip, combined with the abseils, with adventurous near beginners in tow.
The devils Hole walk is quite good is a vague memory. I think I once walked from the explorers tree along the 6ft track and joined up with the track back up the hill via Devils Hole.


kuu

15-Mar-2012
5:49:55 PM

On 15/03/2012 tnd wrote:
>
>But I'm sure you'd have grid-ringed it Kevin, if you old-timers had known about power drills, epoxy and stainless. Climbing must have been terrible back then. So unsophisticated. ;-)

Probably not. Back then we wouldn't have had enough carabiners, let alone quick draws, to make use of grid-bolted protection. The occasional tree or bush runner was very welcome in those days and on Shandy I recall there was a thread belay/runner we used that in retrospect would not have passed Mikl's testing.

That's just the way it was then. We didn't see ourselves as "bold"; we merely climbed things with the gear we had, the techniques we had, and the mental attitudes of the day.


IdratherbeclimbingM9

15-Mar-2012
9:31:41 PM

On 15/03/2012 kuu wrote:
>On 15/03/2012 tnd wrote:
>>
>>But I'm sure you'd have grid-ringed it Kevin, if you old-timers had known
>about power drills, epoxy and stainless. Climbing must have been terrible
>back then. So unsophisticated. ;-)
>
>Probably not. Back then we wouldn't have had enough carabiners, let alone
>quick draws, to make use of grid-bolted protection. The occasional tree
>or bush runner was very welcome in those days and on Shandy I recall there
>was a thread belay/runner we used that in retrospect would not have passed
>Mikl's testing.
>
>That's just the way it was then. We didn't see ourselves as "bold"; we
>merely climbed things with the gear we had, the techniques we had, and
>the mental attitudes of the day.
>
... and some of us still climb that way, and prefer it as the chosen style!
;-)


E. Wells

16-Mar-2012
9:38:28 PM

Last time I was down there did all the raps with one 50mtr line (3rd rap required a 2mtr bridging finish but with a dynamic rope you would touch the bottom) and climbed up the shandy wall in a pair of joggers, starting left of the hangers and joining the 'line' as it veered left. This landed me on a traverse ledge which continues along left (looking in), up a little gully and around a pagoda. This has been equipt with rings by commercial operators and lands you back in the parking spot that the boars head track leaves ( I think) Before the inclusion of dirty rotten pigs area into the latest publications guided tours (and the anchors put in place) in the area never seemed to get in anybodys way.

Wollemi

5-Apr-2012
11:19:15 AM

Anyone in the Sydney area want a cricket helmet? As modelled by Clinton in the slot; see earlier pic.

Albion Elite. Fits head 58 - 63cm. Incl. face mask and original bolts.


Superstu

30-Apr-2012
9:24:10 AM

Went and did the Boars Head Abseil Adventure on the weekend to suss it out for potentially dragging non-climbing friends out and about. Lots of fun, and starting early was good as the guided groups were nowhere to be seen.

Returning to the surface via Dirty Rotten Pig (19). A spacey adventure made sane by lots of Miklgloo (tm) and Miklmetal (tm).

The view of the Dirty Rotten Pig arete from the lookout. (Recommended viewing after you've climbed it!) I think Shandy heads up the big slab below the big yellow poo, then escapes along the bushy ledges to the left??

There are 29 messages in this topic.