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Mt Pilot 7-Dec-2004 At 3:47:01 PM Jackie

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Hey just a quick review:

Yesterday we went along and sussed out Mt Pilot, near Beechworth in northern vic. Shaggy, Tanz, Luke, Keith, Steve-o and myself were in the area following some hippy fest thing and decided to top of an amazing weekend with a bit of a play.

Went via Beechworth to check out this famous bakery yum yum, and then onto "Bakery Wall" Mt Pilot. It was fairly warm as we headed out, arriving well after lunch. Parked about 1km from the crag and trooped across large granite flats. The bush terrain was gorgeous, with bright green vegetation contrasting against burnt remains of what looked like the work of a fairly recent fire.

According to the VCC north vic guide, Bakery Wall is the main attraction at Mt Pilot. Climbs range from around 15 trad thru to 25, with bolted local classic 'Doughboy' (25). Theres a small but decent range of trad and bolted stuff around 18-22.

With the late start and still very much in the festival mindset, we ended up only getting on three routes. The first was a sweet one star crack called 'Solo Man' (16). There was an approaching storm, and so we decided to shoot up 'Breakfast at the Pondersea' (15) while we watched to see what the weather was upto. The wind picked up and blew most of the storm over. The last climb was the 'The Beechworth Bakery' (21), a 20 metre trad adventure wondering up a thin crack and delicate face - by far the highlight of the day. Pro was excellent, a little too good actually - really had to fight to get a cam back.

Overall Mt Pilot was a treat. Nice single pitching, great atmosphere, a range of trad and bolted stuff at a range of grades, nice. Its a little far for a day trip and with araps and gramps a simular distance i personally wouldnt take a trip specially out there. If you're in the area, get a copy of the guide and check it out :)

[Mike's Edit] Above Right: Jackie Leading the classic 'The Beechworth Bakery' (21). More pics by Shaggy are at the bottom of the Mt Pilot gallery page.