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Chockstone Forum - Gear Lust / Lost & Found

Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

Author
Looking for guide GRAMPIANS
experimentvoll
14-Jan-2015
11:57:32 PM
Hello,

friend and I plan our trip to australia end of march. We are from Germany. Far away :) So we would like to go rockclimbing in the Grampians and Blue Mountains

So far I could buy a guide for the Blue Mountains, but it seems that Grampians guide is sold out. I found no online-seller selling one.
Is there a local shop within the Grampians, where I could buy one? Or in Syndney or Melbourne. Or could you provide a link, where I could order one online?

See you soon in Australia!

Bye the way, we like to do multipitch trad-routes. Max Grade 18. Is there some cool multi-pitch routes, you would recommend. In the Blue Mountains "sweet dreams" seems a classic route. Some more especially in the Grampians?

Is there a place near Grampians, where I get carrot bolts?

And most important, is your beer good? :)



Thorsten


ajfclark
15-Jan-2015
8:20:36 AM
Guidebooks:

Grampians:
Sport crags (with a fair bit of trad): http://www.onsight.com.au/product/grampians-climbing-sport-crags/
The Old Select Guide: http://osp.com.au/?product=grampians-selected-climbs
Bouldering (mostly closed at the moment): http://osp.com.au/?product=grampians-bouldering

Arapiles:
The Select Guide: http://osp.com.au/?product=arapiles-selected-climbs (or with slightly imperfect spine gluing:http://osp.com.au/?product=arapiles-selected-climbs-damaged)
444 of the Best: http://www.onsight.com.au/product/arapiles-444/
The Pocket Companion: http://osp.com.au/?product=arapiles-pocket-companion-arapiles-selected-climbs-available-soon-5th-december


A bit of everything in Victoria:
http://osp.com.au/?product=sublime-climbs


If you want to buy one when you get to:

Melbourne, there's a load of outdoor stores on Little Bourke St in the city between Queen St and Elizabeth St (Bogong, Mountain Designs, etc). They also carry bolt plates.

Natimuk you can purchase probably anything in the OSP catalog from the Natimuk Cafe. The Arapiles Mountain Shop has a good range of books too. I assume he has bolt plates.

shortman
15-Jan-2015
8:33:06 AM
On 14/01/2015 experimentvoll wrote:
>Hello,

>And most important, is your beer good? :)
>
Not really.

ajfclark
15-Jan-2015
8:35:53 AM
Multipitch routes I've done that spring to mind:

Grampians:
Simpleton (18), Central Buttress, Mount Stapylton
Spillway (18), Navare(17), Grey and Green Walls, Mount Stapylton
Scarab(11) Bundaleer

Other thing to keep in mind is that most of the northern Grampians is closed since the fires Feb 2014. The stuff in Mount Stapylton amphitheatre itself is open, but the campsites etc are not. See http://cliffcare.org.au/ for more info or ask here.

Arapiles... Where to start?
Muldoon(13)
Agamemnon(11)
D minor(14)
D major(9)
... the rest of the Organ Pipes
Eskimo Nell (10)
The Bard(12)
Kaiser Resignation(15)
Death Row(18)
Spiral Staircase(8)
Lamplighter(14)
Tip Toe Ridge(4?)
Xena(10)
Siren(9)
Watchtower Chimney(12)
Arachnus(9)
Watchtower Crack(16)
Brolga(16)
etc.. etc... etc...

If you like multipitch trad in the mid grades, I'd recommend camping in the Pines at Arapiles for a bit. The Pocket Companion to the Select Guide includes all the multipitch routes in the Select Guide plus enough of the single pitch stuff to keep you busy for a few weeks/months...
kieranl
15-Jan-2015
8:55:07 AM
For multi-pitch in the Grampians mid-teens get the Grampians Select guide and go to Mt Rosea.

* Mixed Climb 12
*** Debutante 14
** Speculation 15
*** Heretic16
*** Diane 17
** Bubbles/Dinosaur Gully DF 17

All around 120 metres, 3-5 pitches.
If you tick all those you should be fit enough and ready for

*** The Last Rites 19

edit : There are no bolt runners on any of these climbs. Debutante has one belay with bolt anchors. A couple of old piton runners may also be encountered but the only good gear is what you place yourself.

phil_nev
15-Jan-2015
9:00:33 AM
Lots of info here
www.thecrag.com

Eduardo Slabofvic
15-Jan-2015
9:11:02 AM
Coopers Red or green is one of the better common beers.

Most beer you will find is lager, regardless of what the liable says.

Micro-breweries are taking off in Australia, with Amercican style India Pale Ales being the popular flavour right now.

I recommend that, as you are from Germany, that you take pity on us for the poor quality and range of beer we have to drink here.

ajfclark
15-Jan-2015
9:17:21 AM
On 15/01/2015 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:
>I recommend that, as you are from Germany, that you take pity on us for the expensive, poor quality and range of beer we have to drink here.
gfdonc
15-Jan-2015
9:28:54 AM
On 15/01/2015 kieranl wrote:
>For multi-pitch in the Grampians mid-teens get the Grampians Select guide
>and go to Mt Rosea.
>
>* Mixed Climb 12
>*** Debutante 14
>** Speculation 15
>*** Heretic16
>*** Diane 17
>** Bubbles/Dinosaur Gully DF 17
>
>All around 120 metres, 3-5 pitches.
>If you tick all those you should be fit enough and ready for
>
>*** The Last Rites 19
>

+1 for all those (although I've never done Mixed Climb)
Sorry to the NSW crew, but any of those are far better than Sweet Dreams in the Bluies.

If you do Bubbles/Dinosaur Gully DF ignore the guidebook that says to crawl through the slot. Much easier and nicer to hand-traverse out there.

The Last Rites should be on your list, only one move of gr 19 on the whole route.
My 2c.

Sabu
15-Jan-2015
9:34:04 AM
By all means explore the Grampians, but if you want easy-moderate multipitch trad it would be an unspeakable sin to ignore Arapiles!
Wendy
15-Jan-2015
10:10:23 AM
On 15/01/2015 kieranl wrote:
>For multi-pitch in the Grampians mid-teens get the Grampians Select guide
>and go to Mt Rosea.
>
>* Mixed Climb 12
>*** Debutante 14
>** Speculation 15
>*** Heretic16
>*** Diane 17
>** Bubbles/Dinosaur Gully DF 17
>
>All around 120 metres, 3-5 pitches.
>If you tick all those you should be fit enough and ready for
>
>*** The Last Rites 19
>
>edit : There are no bolt runners on any of these climbs. Debutante has
>one belay with bolt anchors. A couple of old piton runners may also be
>encountered but the only good gear is what you place yourself.

I did Diane the other week for the first time in 20 years, and it's pretty out there for the 18 it is actually graded, let alone the 17 that Keiran gives it! The second pitch is long, sustained, funky climbing with a lot of questionable rock and sometimes fiddly gear frequently behind said questionable rock. How much of a limit is 18? Really your maximum limit or already with an allowance for being on a committing route in a new area?

How long have you got? There is an abject shiteload of multipitch trad in those grades to be done around here. Mostly the climbing is actually better at araps although you will get longer routes in more spectacular locations in the Gramps.

The campsites on Stoney Creek Rd are open but I don't think anything near Stapylton is. But you can day trip from araps, it's 45min.
Are you coming really soon? It's quite warm for the next 2 months. Rosea was only just bareable in the sun on a day of 28. It comes into the shade about 2, but that only gives you about 6 hours of daylight to get up the route and back to camp.
Bundaleer has shade from 12 and great 1-2 pitch routes, although only a few below 18.
Stapylton amphitheatre has morning shade and the further left in the amphitheatre, the longer the shade lasts. I don't think Trinity ever gets sun.
Araps has a good range of sun and shade, although multipitchwise, you are pretty limited before 4pm.

If it is really warm, Buffalo is a good stop between the the blueys and gramps, about 10 degrees cooler up there and maharaja and the initiation are well worth the detour. Don't bother if it is not good weather though.
tshaw
16-Jan-2015
7:12:39 AM
There is a shop is halls gap which is located in the middle of the grampians. They will have guide books and possibly more bolt plates by the time you arrive.

Shop name is absolute outdoors. Easy to find in the Main Street.
martym
16-Jan-2015
9:08:48 AM
On 15/01/2015 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:
>Coopers Red or green is one of the better common beers.
>
>Most beer you will find is lager, regardless of what the liable says.
>
>Micro-breweries are taking off in Australia, with Amercican style India
>Pale Ales being the popular flavour right now.
>
>I recommend that, as you are from Germany, that you take pity on us for
>the poor quality and range of beer we have to drink here.

Many of the pubs and liquor markets (you can't buy cheap beer anywhere - and definitely not in a supermarket) now stock Weihenstephaner; Fransiskaner, Erdinger and other well established Deutscher Biermarken. Just in case someone offers you a Tooheys or a Fosters and you need to wash your mouth out.

Oh and in case it wasn't clear above - if you make it to the Grampians, then you MUST pay a visit to Arapiles.

Where in Germany are you from (or more importantly, where do you climb?)?

Superstu
16-Jan-2015
11:01:34 AM
The Open Spaces Grampians Select guide is far better to finding the best "multipitch trad-routes, max grade 18". You will want to go to Bundaleer, Mt Rosea, Mt Difficult and the Stapylton Ampitheatre.

The less said about Australian beer the better. Do you like wine?




Wendy
16-Jan-2015
6:02:07 PM
Mt Difficult is closed.

There are 15 messages in this topic.

 

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