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Longest climbs? 9-Jul-2013 At 9:45:53 AM gfdonc

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Now the thread has been bumped, I guess it's time to post up the route description for Red Tide. Let me know who does the first one-day ascent.

**Red Tide 1013m (19 pitches) Grade 17
Australia’s longest route is a traverse – but with good positions on mostly clean rock this is a great adventure. Some of the pitches are easy scrambling, but there’s enough tricky pitches to keep your interest. The route follows the distinctive line of red sandstone at about the 60 to 80m level for most of the way, hence the name.
Some words of care: Pacific Ocean Wall has some of the softest rock in the Grampians and this covers most of it, so be careful. Also, being a traverse, the leader and second need to both be capable at the grade. There are long runouts on the easier terrain, and the swinging falls could cause serious injury.
The harder sections (grade 10 and above) are mostly well protected with cams, the occasional wire and bolt. Cam placements are flared and subtle, and some would not hold well in the event of a fall. 19 stainless expansion bolts (12mm sleeve anchors) with fixed hangers were placed as runners during the FA, all on lead, but due to the softness of the rock these should be treated with caution. Another 17 bolts were placed at belays. Take a 17mm spanner to retighten if required. Where a bolt has been placed for the leader, another has been placed after the harder sections to protect the second in almost all cases.
The grades of most pitches reflect these considerations as well as the ‘fear factor’ of the uncertainly of some of the holds. POW is covered with many layers of slightly harder rock, forming ‘plates’ that are quite wide but fragile, so don’t stand on them!
Gear: take a selection of wires and a generous rack of cams up to about 70mm (BD #3 or WC #3), including several smaller cams (‘finger size’, or 13-33mm), and a selection of slings. All bolts have fixed hangers or rings. A 60m rope is required, and a second rope might be needed to bail.
The route crosses several water streaks including the main feature of the cliff, a waterfall at pitch 7. The waterfall is dry during summer, and fortunately reasonably clean, but you should avoid the route after rain unless you enjoy that sort of thing.
You can drop the overall grade to 15 or 16 by tensioning off the bolts on the crux pitch, see notes for pitch 11.
Start: at the left end of the main wall there is a bushy ledge at about 20m with a small but distinctive roof (1m) at about the 70-80m level. There are 3 cairns arranged in a triangle on the open ground. Start under the bushy ledge.
1. 60m 6. Up, trending right of the ledge, past a stance at 45m and belay off cams in a groove.
2. 50m 10. Up to the line of red stone, traverse right to a bolt, then delicately right onto a blunt arete. Belay from a bolt + a higher cam at a good stance.
3. 56m 6. Continue right easily with 1 BR to a belay from 3 cams.
4. 55m 8. Continue right, slinging a ‘dinner plate’ and a cam for pro, then a long but easy runout to the corner. Belay 2-3m past the corner from cams.
5. 55m 8. Head right with some good cam placements (and maybe a nut) to make a delicate step across the ‘blank spot’. No pro for the second past this point! Continue across then step down onto bushy ledge, belay off cams on right.
6. 55m 7. The ‘Plates Pitch’. Step back up into the line, then across and around the bulge. Follow the plates (avoiding stepping on them!) along to a DBB before the waterfall.
7. 55m 13. The ‘waterfall pitch’ and also referred to as the ‘money pitch’. Photogenic. Follow the line of 3 bolts with some delicate climbing into the waterfall runnel and continue across to another bolt. Make a rising traverse (finding cam placements higher) and continue across some gullies out of sight to belay from cams - you can see your belayer again from this stance.
8. 58m 3. Easily right on sloping ledges with several gear placements to a DBB.
9. 58m 8. Walk along to a shallow corner, step over this make a slabby move up to the arete. Continue to DBB before the runnel. (note: this pitch crosses over the line of Totgeboren, meaning there is a rap station with double rings on a ledge some 15-20m somewhere below you and right of the corner if you need to bail, and a 50m rap from there).
10. 60m 14. Step down and cross the runnel (delicate), place a high nut for the second. Continue easily across ledges then around the next arete (bolt). Place cams to protect the second and then run it out to the next arete. Belay here from one bolt plus trad in the crack above (cams &/or a nut) at a semi-hanging stance.