Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports

Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!

Topic Date User

The Year of Living Moderately 23-May-2008 At 12:55:02 PM prb

Message

There hasn't seemed to be much on Chocky lately about actually climbing, so I thought I'd throw this
on. It appeared in the Climbing Club of South Australia newsletter last year and is essentially a report
covering several trips to Arapiles in 2006.

The Year of Living Moderately

by prb

I'd always tended to head to the Flinders, with only the occasional trip to Arapiles which I'd regarded as
a bit of a circus. But in recent years I realised that attitude wasn't going to tick a lot of the quality mid-
grade routes I needed to over there. So this year in particular, with the assistance of Luke and
Michael, I set about correcting the situation. I offer a few personal comments on some of the better
climbs, but nothing I say will be so memorable as to threaten anyone's onsight!

Skink 18 - Right Watchtower Face

Pretty well everyone I know had climbed Skink and were amazed I hadn't. So I climbed it twice, with
Luke in January and with Saskia in June. It may or may not be the best route at Arapiles, but it's
certainly a classic. The climbing didn't feel any tougher than Watchtower Crack, and the third belay
only becomes hanging for the third and subsequent members of the party. We discovered that most of
the route is in shade until late morning in the summer, so it's an option on a hot day if you make an
early start.

Skydiver 21 – King Rat Gully

A good spot on summer afternoons. Skydiver is a good climb with one move that's a tad reachy - if
you don't quite commit, you'll find out where the name comes from. Luke, never lacking commitment,
powered through on second. The rap station above allowed us to have a look at the ridiculous jump
start of Slap Strafe Jerk on toprope. If anyone's actually done that jump free, I'll eat my underpants.

Judgement Day 19 – The Pharos

This famous traverse always looked a bit scary to me, a good reason to have avoided it for so long. In
the end...we cruised it! I thought the second pitch, led by Luke, was particularly good. Delicate
climbing and adequate protection. And the third (crux) pitch protects so well that all fear is removed.
Another popular summer climb.

Blue Hawaii 21 – Upper Yesterday Gully

An appealing climb up its own narrow buttress; the Piccolo of Yesterday Gully if you like. Even better,
it felt very soft at the grade. The crux is probably leaving the roofed corner, but if you feel good about
climbing above an RP, read the moves correctly, and have a short sling handy, it's no problem. But
the small V corner up high could be; pull up a little and have a look before launching. The route
finishes at a rap station, so there's very little to complain about all round.

Blasphemy 22 – Colosseum Wall

Blasphemy is moving down a grade in the next edition of Selected Climbs, so climb it soon. The
rumour of no gear on the top half encouraged me to have a quick look on toprope first. In fact,
adequate pro is found high on The Rack side of the arete. The climbing up there is juggy and fun, and
the fingery crux lower down has a bolt. I made the redpoint and stripped the gear for Michael's turn,
only to find him virtually frozen. But once he started climbing and stopped complaining, he was fine.

Salem 18, Morgul Khan 18, Morgul Can't 19 – Mitre Rock

These three climbs are close together on the north side of Mitre. Outside of Tjuringa Wall, the rock
here must be as good as anywhere at Arapiles (counting Mitre as Araps, that is). We'd got in the habit
of dropping by Mitre on the way home and picking off a route. Each of these climbs is brilliant, but I'd
rearrange the grades a little to 18 for the Morguls and 19 for Salem. And congratulations to Michael for
redpointing A Dream of Pink Tse-Tse Flies (23).

Auto da Fe 21 - Right Watchtower Face

After successfully finding other things to do for many trips, Auto could no longer be avoided. The
purists' direct start using the hole looked tricky, so I stepped in from the left (I believe many do). The
first pitch went easily, albeit runnout in places, until the last 6m. I found two good wires, devised a
plan of attack, and made it to the ledge. Exhilarating. I thought the second pitch was a little easier and
less runnout. Luke seemed to weight the rope momentarily as he was leaving the flake left of Skink – I
assume a hold broke. One thing for sure is take a 60m rope.

Capilano 20 – Kachoong Cliffs

A pleasant alternative to the better known routes of the Kachoong cliffs. Start from the Photographer's
Ledge. Instead of darting off up the Golden Echos or A Taste of Honey, climb the wall right there. The
business is the horizontal where placing protection with fading arms can be an issue. Seconding
Capilano rejuvenated Luke after a demoralizing experience on Hurts - it's now on his lead list.

Rats Alley 19 – Rats Alley

On a couple of the climbs above I'd started scared and finished smiling, but on Rats the opposite was
true. I wasn't quite prepared for how runnout the routes were on this wall. Rats is OK to the bolt, then a
few careful moves get you to jugland at half-height. Several metres of protectable climbing, an RP and
then, uh oh, that's it for the gear and the crux is still to come! I rarely utter the words "watch me" but I
felt the need at that point. Michael, however, was more concerned about having a coughing fit. I rate
Rats as a classic, testing pitch.

The Desired 19 – Bard Buttress

I climbed Eurydice some years ago and found it tough, so I started up its sister route with some
trepidation. The first pitch had a lot of good climbing with a problem to solve every few metres. An airy
step right from the Orpheus groove back into the line was the highlight. Luke then grabbed the rack
and stormed up pitch 2, the start of which was as difficult as anything on the climb. I later realized that
TD was Luke's warm-up for Mantis, a climb he'd heard all about from Rolts and had coveted for years.

Missing Link 17 – Bluff Major

To cut a long story short, I came off ML in 2003 and got hurt rather badly. The time had come for
another try, and Michael was willing to belay. This time, I used two ropes and had spotted the big
stopper placement about 4m right of the initial seam. I was happy to be back on ML, and I was happy
that I was happy. It's a classic pitch and I'd certainly recommend it. But you are, by necessity, in a no-
fall zone for a little while at about 10m.

It was a great year, but I have to admit not all went smoothly on the mid-grade climbs. Let's just say I
have "unfinished business" on Bam Bam, Electric Warrior and Wurlitzer (jamming!) to name a few.
One effect of wandering around Arapiles is that my "to do" list has gotten longer, not shorter. Chinese
Algebra, XI, In Lemon Butter, Comic Relief, Take Five, Death Row, Christian Crack, A Taste of Honey
and so on will keep me more than occupied.

But Arapiles trips aren't just about the climbing. For example, there's the eating, drinking and 8-ball at
the Nati pub. Mentioning the 8-ball, I seem to have had a long run of good luck. Luke is getting
counselling; Michael has chosen to install a pool table in his new house....

Postscript: XI, Comic Relief, Death Row and A Taste of Honey have now been ticked and have been
replaced by High Dive, Orestes, Thunder Crack and, well, plenty of others.