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Chockstone Photography
Australian Landscape Photography by Michael Boniwell
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Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports

Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!

 Page 1 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 28
Author
A Brief Trip to Frenchman's Cap

phillipivan
21-Apr-2014
11:43:52 PM
Matt and I decided on a trip to Frenchman's in mid Jan after tossing around a few options; in particular the Darrans. We set dates for the Australia day long week end, since there was a reasonable overlap in Matt's leave and my lack of employedness. I took the boat down with the van on Thursday night, did a shop Friday, collected Matt from the Airport Friday evening and we drove to the trail head. It was a very late arrival, close to midnight, so we shared a dram (or 3rd of a bottle) of Talisker (a gift from the lady), then hit the sack.

A slow start to Saturday morning; packing bags, drinking coffee, watching the hikers get a prompt start. Each and everyone one of them carrying a 60 to 70 litre pack, apparently full, for a two to three day trip. We managed to get everything down into our respective 50 or 55 L packs. Not without compromise though, we packed four days and nights of food, no first aid kit (except sports tape), only one bog roll. We came to rue this, and every little thing we carried that went unused (extra gas, too much coffee! (too be fair, if the weather had turned foul, we would have sat it out in the hut drinking tea and coffee)), when we started cutting down our meals to make it last through night five and day six.


Collecting water at the Franklin River / An early stream crossing

The walk in, is by reputation, the most arduous part of climbing Frenchman's. This is no longer the case, thank or blame (your choice) Dick Smith. Much of the Loddon Plains is avoided now, and duck boards cover the worst of it. We still got wet feet, but it was not so bad, even in persistent light to moderate rain. Four hours and twenty saw us to Lake Vera hut, for a brew and bite to eat. Another three hours five got us to Lake Tahune Hut in worsening weather, and strong winds once we hit Baron Pass.

As a climber, Matt is a vastly superior athlete to me; as a pack humping grunt less so. For the hour after our arrival his yelps of pain provided comic relief as his legs cramped intermittently. Tahune was busy that night, at least a dozen people in the hut, at least two of them snorers; a few more in tents. No one else came to climb, though a few of the hikers were also climbers.

Each day began with Matt commenting how well he slept; me countering how poorly I slept, then a brew up.

From Sunday to Thursday we had exceptionally fine weather, despite forecasts to the contrary. Showers late on the Tuesday, after we were back in the hut, notwithstanding. Perhaps the hikers caught out at the summit may have felt differently.

From Sunday to Wednesday we climbed The Chimes of Freedom, Tierry Le Fronde, two different direct starts to TlF, and The 9th of January.

From the Hut, its about an hour to the start of most of the climbs; and the access is far easier than I expected.

Accessing The Chimes of Freedom, involves a scramble up a loose gully on the left side of the face. Caution is advised here, a few times I had to dive to the side as cannon balls were loosed from higher up.

Finishing up the last pitch of The Chimes of Freedom

We soloed the first 50 metres of easy ledgy rock, before roping up and donning rock shoes. A short traverse left got us to the start of the 4th pitch and the real climbing. Matt led off, through pitches four, five, and half of six, where he finally ran out of rope, and found some gear for a belay. Three small nuts, nothing bigger than a WC 3, all shallow, and none good for an outward pull. The guide book recommends doubles of 1 & 2 camalots for pitch five; we carried one of each, both were placed earlier on pitch four, so he made do with a hex and a few rattly tricams.

Matt took the lead again, finishing up the rib, placed a #7 metolius cam, and set off on the 7m rising traverse. It turns out poorly protected traverses are one of the signature features of routes here; and featured in both the other long routes we did. After 7m of delicate and serious (but not hard (think missing link)) balance climbing a rusty peg is reached, which can be backed up with a mid sized cam, before heading up the corner. Matt belayed part way up the corner, and from here I finished up the route, avoiding some of the loosest rock near the top of the corner best as possible.

All up the route took about four and a half hours.


Obligatory Laibach poses on the summit. Berg heil.

We debated climbing another route, but I was keen to jump in the lake whilst the weather was fine.

On the descent, only a few hundred metres from the hut, I got a bug in my right ear. A fly or something. It hopped in as I brushed passed some leaves. I had a horrid, and loud buzzing inside my head. It took a few minutes to calm down enough to explain to Matt what had happened; which was not aided by my strange reflex to cover my unaffected left ear. He could not see anything in my ear, which was in itself pretty distressing. I hurried down to the freezing cold lake, and dived in, trying to wash out, or drown the bug. Which was not very successful. Novelty or anxiety muddled my breathing apparatus and I inhaled whilst underwater. I bursted to the surface coughing and spluttering. After one submersion I saw a millipede or similar swim away from me, and shuddered with revulsion thinking it had been inside me. Then the buzzing resumed. Meanwhile, Matt did the rounds with the well packed hikers, and returned with some tweezers. With which I very gingerly tried to remove said bug. Also unsuccessfully. I tell you inserting a sharp metal implement into your ear is most disconcerting; especially when your ears are the primary tool with which you make a living. Eventually the horrible buzzing inside my head stopped, after about half an hour of fits and starts. I guess it just died in there.

Yes it did. Die . Two weeks after returning I visited to local clinic and explained I thought I had a dead bug in my ear, and would they please clean it out. After inspection by three nurses, and a few minutes flushing with warm water, I held a pitcher in which a small moth, five or six millimetres in length, floated in the water flushed through my ear. Strangely, after it had died, I could feel nothing, and observed no difference in my hearing to indicate it was still there.

Each afternoon we predicted that, finally, we would have the hut to ourselves, and each evening we made friends with our hut mates.

The hut logbook was brand new, the warden had replaced it around new year. There were only a few pages of entries, and only one other climbing party. They had spent fourteen hours on Tierry Le Fronde. Ouch.


P1 of the alternative start to Tierry Le Fronde we climbed, "Barstards Benediction"

Monday we climbed Tierry Le Fronde. Starting from the buttress below the main face, we climbed two pitches, probably new, avoiding the dodgy gully scramble, to the base of the main face. Except we didn't, avoid the steep scrambling gully, dropping out kit at the top, and descending for some water at our packs, before returning up it. If you are not happy soloing each but exposed terrain in approach shoes, or in my case trail runners, then Frenchman's is not a good place to visit. Tierry le Fronde, is graded 16, a bit easier than Chimes, and it is. Except, its not. There is more bad rock, loose rock, and another exposed traverse, this time straight off the belay. It feels at least as serious. Leading required a certain degree of attentiveness to ensure your belayer lived to tell the tale.

Tuesday we climbed The 9th of Jan, notable for another exposed, and challenging traverse. This time more like seven metres, without interm

Miguel75
22-Apr-2014
7:41:33 AM
Rad TR mate. Your ability to make suffering through an epic sound appealing, is a gift;)

And sorry to hear of your loss.
maxdacat
22-Apr-2014
8:49:39 AM
Nice TR....bittersweet i guess.

Fairplay to anybody who adds a rope and climbing gear to their normal pack then walks in to Frenchmans.
bones
22-Apr-2014
9:45:47 AM
Excellent TR, thanks!
brendan
22-Apr-2014
5:21:22 PM
Nice trip report, really inspiring. I did the walk up there many years ago before i started climbing. Frenchmans is an awesome looking peak cheers for sharing your story

Sorry to hear about your friend

phillipivan
22-Apr-2014
5:29:15 PM
Thanks.

When I started climbing, not that many years ago, Frenchman's Cap was one of the first objectives I set my eyes on. It was satisfying to finally get there; much like my time on the North Wall with Huw late last year.

As an addendum I should note the following: We had had our sights set on The Lorax. That was going to be the prize of our trip, and we had the weather for it. Whilst I've got up a number of 20's, its more or less as hard as I climb. It became obvious rather quickly that Frenchman's is the kind of place where you probably want to keep a few grades in hand. Even following, the traveres, typically with frig all gear, make the going quite serious. I will return when I'm ticking 23s to get on it.
huwj
22-Apr-2014
10:28:14 PM
Great write up Phil! You boys had quite the adventure down there.
simey
23-Apr-2014
9:28:40 AM
Interesting write-up. BTW, what would you consider to be the better route out of Chimes of Freedom and Tierry Le Fronde?

And you guys certainly finished with a big day at Ben Lomond. Did you top out each time and walk down? Had your partner climbed there previously? I am trashed after just doing one route there.As for Ramadan, you might have been making it harder than you needed to. I am pretty sure I chimneyed the start of it (wedged the left side of my body and pushed off the opposing wall with my right foot), although my girlfriend seconded it by bridging the whole way.

phillipivan
23-Apr-2014
10:03:36 AM
Chimes is better climbing. Tierry feels at least as serious, and could really make a Gr.16 leader loose their breakfast.

Walked of Barbi. Ramadan and Rajah share a top pitch. We rapped back after p1 of Ramadan, then went up Rajah later in the day once it cooled off.

I think you might have Ramadan confused. There is a good corner/face on the left which makes the left foot work easy. Either that or you were facing in to the little alcove which would have required larger bridging still, I'm not sure my legs are that long. I have long legs. Even so, it would have presented a challenge moving into the crack and corner higher up.

I think the other option for the start of that route is to climb the thin crack direct on finger locks. It would be pretty goey.
simey
23-Apr-2014
12:05:11 PM
On 23/04/2014 phillipivan wrote:
>I think you might have Ramadan confused. There is a good corner/face on
>the left which makes the left foot work easy. Either that or you were facing
>in to the little alive which would have required larger bridging still,
>I'm not sure my legs are that long. I have long legs. Even so, it would
>have presented a challenge moving into the crack and corner higher up.
>
>I think the other option for the start of that route is to climb the thin
>crack direct on finger locks. It would be pretty goey.

I can assure you I climbed Ramadan. I also went there knowing other people had failed on the start of the route (Steve Bell for example). I also had some beta for how to approach it. Wedging your left shoulder on the left side of the alcove and pushing against the far right wall (when you can) is still strenuous but gives you some respite. If you are short it might not be so easy to do.



phillipivan
23-Apr-2014
12:16:17 PM
On 23/04/2014 simey wrote:

>I can assure you I climbed Ramadan. I also went there knowing other people
>had failed on the start of the route (Steve Bell for example). I also had
>some beta for how to approach it. Wedging your left shoulder on the left
>side of the alcove and pushing against the far right wall (when you can)
>is still strenuous but gives you some respite. If you are short it might
>not be so easy to do.


Thats pretty much how to climb it from about five or six metres up. Below that the crack on the right doesn't have nearly the defined edge to provide easy bridging.

Duang Daunk
23-Apr-2014
9:19:58 PM
Bloody good read.
Sorry about your friend.

IdratherbeclimbingM9
24-Apr-2014
1:24:35 PM
A great read.
I am envious of your trip phillipivan, as it is on my 'wishlist' of things to do, if future circumstances permit before I croak (not expected any time soon!).
~> I shall have to refer to you in the future as 'the guru', as you are achieving an envious climbing resume at a rate of knots...

Like DD (of sorts), I too am saddened by the loss of your friend.

The bug in the ear thing was interesting, as my hearing is somewhat stuffed by industrial deafness...

phillipivan
24-Apr-2014
1:55:21 PM
I found the bug pretty horrifying. The thing about it isn't the noise, it's the physical feeling of something buzzing inside your head. Our ear canals aren't used to being touched in the same way other parts of our bodies are (and it was in deep enough to not be visible without the special tool doctors use to look in your ear (even with it, the student nurse was unable to find it, at least in the time before she hurt me and I told her enough)). I spent the rest of the trip, when walking below the treeline, with my ears covered (see photo of me on Baron pass). Even now Im pretty sensitive about stuff, tree branches, etc, touching my ears.

I should make it clear that Matt was both the brains and brawn of our climbing party; Im not sure I sure I don't deserve the title of 'guru'. Anyway, for anyone seriously contemplating a trip in the future, would it be useful to write up some gear notes (ie what we took/ what we should have taken) like I did for Ozi?
mattyj
28-Apr-2014
10:41:15 AM
Well put Phil. Got a bit of a buzz reading that myself! Still not sure what the go was for that traverse on 9th of Jan. The variant would take good gear though don't you reckon? Which would make it the most accessibly route on the face I'd think...

We got the gear pretty spot on I think. If you post the gear list though I'd recommend that you likely don't need the tent or the half a kilo of coffee and I did want that second red C4. Without it you would go a long, long way past the belay if you came off. Having said that, doing three 60m pitches is a how-not-to economise on gear... Also the huts have mattresses - NZ style - so don't need the sleeping mat.

Forget who asked, but while Chimes is probably on better rock, they're both absolutely classic. Can't overlook that Tierry is almost certainly the most exposed 16 in Australia.

phillipivan
26-Feb-2015
12:02:44 PM
On 23/04/2014 simey wrote:

>I can assure you I climbed Ramadan. I also went there knowing other people
>had failed on the start of the route (Steve Bell for example). I also had
>some beta for how to approach it. Wedging your left shoulder on the left
>side of the alcove and pushing against the far right wall (when you can)
>is still strenuous but gives you some respite. If you are short it might
>not be so easy to do.


Having returned to the flutes recently, though not repeated this route, it appears we started the route with very wide bridging between the corner and the Rajah Eliminate crack, using the Ramadan crack for gear and fingers. Hence the discrepancy.
One Day Hero
26-Feb-2015
10:47:46 PM
On 23/04/2014 simey wrote:
>I can assure you I climbed Ramadan. I also went there knowing other people
>had failed on the start of the route (Steve Bell for example). I also had
>some beta for how to approach it.

You sought out beta for a grade 19 crack? Fark!

Funnily enough, I just went and climbed Ramadan last week. Absolute corker of a route, seemed right to me at 19 but Sarah reckons it would only get 17 at Billy Billy. I would have thought that most semi-intelligent climbers would see the 45m arse-skid on the left wall and work out the technique pretty quick.

Imaclawfan
27-Feb-2015
1:57:25 PM
>On the descent, only a few hundred metres from the hut, I got a bug in
>my right ear. A fly or something. It hopped in as I brushed passed some
>leaves. I had a horrid, and loud buzzing inside my head. It took a few
>minutes to calm down enough to explain to Matt what had happened; which
>was not aided by my strange reflex to cover my unaffected left ear. He
>could not see anything in my ear, which was in itself pretty distressing.
>I hurried down to the freezing cold lake, and dived in, trying to wash
>out, or drown the bug. Which was not very successful. Novelty or anxiety
>muddled my breathing apparatus and I inhaled whilst underwater. I bursted
>to the surface coughing and spluttering. After one submersion I saw a millipede
>or similar swim away from me, and shuddered with revulsion thinking it
>had been inside me. Then the buzzing resumed. Meanwhile, Matt did the rounds
>with the well packed hikers, and returned with some tweezers. With which
>I very gingerly tried to remove said bug. Also unsuccessfully. I tell you
>inserting a sharp metal implement into your ear is most disconcerting;
>especially when your ears are the primary tool with which you make a living.
>Eventually the horrible buzzing inside my head stopped, after about half
>an hour of fits and starts. I guess it just died in there.
>
>Yes it did. Die Two weeks after returning I visited to local
>clinic and explained I thought I had a dead bug in my ear, and would they
>please clean it out. After inspection by three nurses, and a few minutes
>flushing with warm water, I held a pitcher in which a small moth, five
>or six millimetres in length,



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJhyZARAJHw


timbigot
27-Feb-2015
1:59:38 PM
I reckon it may only get 17 at billy billy but it might stand out a bit at a 15m crag

sbm
27-Feb-2015
10:21:59 PM
Awesome!

> Each and everyone one of them carrying a 60 to 70 litre pack, apparently full, for a two to three day trip. We managed to get everything down into our respective 50 or 55 L packs.

This is one of the most impressive parts! I fill up a 50L pack on a day trip. I shudder to think how big a pack I'd need for 6 days of walking in Tassie, plus a rope and big enough rack to make me feel comfortable climbing Frechman's Cap.

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