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What's missing from the new Arapiles Guide?


Eduardo Slabofvic

22-Sep-2008
10:34:56 AM

On 22/09/2008 simey wrote:
>Presles??!! I've climbed there and I don't even see how you could put
>it in the same sentence.

It's easy. You just say, "Presles is a great crag with acres of 10 pitch routes (in and out of the sun as required), single pitch, 2 pitch and 3 to 4 pitch routes, with a couple of lovely villages with cheap camping, nice restaurants, bars, and a river to swim in."

I was at Araps on the weekend and didn't notice many 10 pitch routes, restaurants, bars or rivers to swim in.


Eduardo Slabofvic

22-Sep-2008
10:54:33 AM

Finale.

Which has (had) free camping at Monte Cucco, with access to 45 individual crags, gelato shops, and the Mediterranean to swim in.

simey

22-Sep-2008
11:21:15 AM

Can't comment on Finale. As for Presles, well maybe I need to go back there and suss it out properly. I climbed some short routes and one long, multi-pitch route, but the climbing made little impression on me.


tnd

22-Sep-2008
11:30:12 AM

El Potrero Chico. And it's in the REAL Mexico.


westie

22-Sep-2008
12:11:37 PM

On 20/09/2008 simey wrote:

>Name just one crag that rivals Arapiles for quality routes at ALL grades,
>including single-pitch and multi-pitch routes, bouldering, and good cheap
>camping next door to it all.

Theres a big floaty bit with some pointy bits on it on the top of the circly thing (globe?) called Europe.


MisterGribble

22-Sep-2008
1:26:30 PM

On 22/09/2008 westie wrote:
>On 20/09/2008 simey wrote:
>
>>Name just one crag that rivals Arapiles for quality routes at ALL grades,
>>including single-pitch and multi-pitch routes, bouldering, and good cheap
>>camping next door to it all.
>
>Theres a big floaty bit with some pointy bits on it on the top of the
>circly thing (globe?) called Europe.

Mount Europe - heard of it.
But the guidebook weighs more than 714 grams.


Eduardo Slabofvic

22-Sep-2008
2:16:20 PM

Just rip out the pages that have pictures of the editors on them. This will bring the weight down.

Actually, this works for all guide books.


westie

22-Sep-2008
2:17:28 PM

On 22/09/2008 MisterGribble wrote:
>On 22/09/2008 westie wrote:
>>On 20/09/2008 simey wrote:
>>
>>>Name just one crag that rivals Arapiles for quality routes at ALL grades,
>>>including single-pitch and multi-pitch routes, bouldering, and good
>cheap
>>>camping next door to it all.
>>
>>Theres a big floaty bit with some pointy bits on it on the top of the
>>circly thing (globe?) called Europe.

>Mount Europe - heard of it.
>But the guidebook weighs more than 714 grams.

bah! have you seen the legs on some of those Germans? They can hack it.


MisterGribble

22-Sep-2008
3:01:01 PM

On 22/09/2008 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:
>Just rip out the pages that have pictures of the editors on them. This
>will bring the weight down.
>
>
>Actually, this works for all guide books.

Oddly enough I bought a copy of the Frankenjura guide in the late 80's and two thirds of the pictures in it were of the author who was particularly unphotogenic. It was self promotion which would have shamed Donald Trump, and the whole thing was written in German so I couldn't understand it anyway! Now there's humilty for you!

22-Sep-2008
3:03:11 PM

There is a collection of crags that everyone drives past on the way to Arapilies that is significantly better than Arapilies . Its called the Grampians .

simey

22-Sep-2008
3:33:11 PM

Even the whole of the Grampians are far inferior to Arapiles when it comes to easier climbs. And come to think of it, there are sections of Arapiles which would still be rated as great climbing areas even if they were isolated crags in the middle of nowhere.

If the Pharos was an isolated crag, you would rate it as a great climbing area.

Same for the Bluffs.

Same for the Watchtower Faces.

Same for the Organ Pipes.

Same for Central Gully Left Side.

Same for Central Gully Right Side.

Same for Voodoo Buttress.

Same for Bard Buttress and Tiger Wall.

Same for the Northern Group.

Same for Kitten Wall.

Same for Mitre Rock.

And that's not even all the cliffs on offer.


evanbb

22-Sep-2008
3:34:38 PM

On 22/09/2008 sc wrote:
>There is a collection of crags that everyone drives past on the way to
>Arapilies that is significantly better than Arapilies . Its called the
>Grampians .

I've had that suspicion. Araps has lots of good things, but is also missing lots of the things I like. Splitter cracks, long walks to remote beautiful routes, corners, it rains all the time, and yet despite that there's no water. Not my favourite type of habitat either. So dry and sparse.

Tasmania is a pretty good and varied crag from what I hear.

simey

22-Sep-2008
3:45:29 PM

>Tasmania is a pretty good and varied crag from what I hear.

I love the way states, countries and continents are suddenly being called crags.

Duncan

22-Sep-2008
3:52:53 PM

On 22/09/2008 evanbb wrote:
>I've had that suspicion. Araps has lots of good things, but is also missing
>lots of the things I like. Splitter cracks, long walks to remote beautiful
>routes, corners, it rains all the time, and yet despite that there's no
>water. Not my favourite type of habitat either. So dry and sparse.

I'm sorry, but if you swallow the line that a climb at Araps requires "number 10 cams", your opinion holds little validity.

What the hell people. Araps is awesome, and even if you don't like Simey, you have to admit it's a well put together guide. Suck it up and quit your whinging.


Sabu

22-Sep-2008
4:11:43 PM

On 22/09/2008 simey wrote:
>>Tasmania is a pretty good and varied crag from what I hear.
>
>I love the way states, countries and continents are suddenly being called
>crags.
This is a good point: Araps is a crag (singular) therefore all the variation of climbing
styles at all
grades with all the perks of nearby camping and so on applies to this one crag.

A lot of these destinations previously mentioned have great climbing, no argument there.
But does each crag have that same variation? or is that variation spread across a much
larger area, country, continent?

It's all about concentration!!!

Wendy

22-Sep-2008
4:16:06 PM

On 22/09/2008 simey wrote:
>>Tasmania is a pretty good and varied crag from what I hear.
>
>I love the way states, countries and continents are suddenly being called
>crags.

Not to mention mountain ranges and plateaus ... English is such a flexible language.

Wendy

22-Sep-2008
4:42:27 PM

On 22/09/2008 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:
>Finale.
>
>Which has (had) free camping at Monte Cucco, with access to 45 individual
>crags, gelato shops, and the Mediterranean to swim in.

Eduardo, are you romanticising your memories of Europe compared to the banalities of your everyday existance?

I recently spent 2 weeks at Finale, and you are completely right about the gelati. I had at least 2 a day. Bloody fantastic gelati. Coffee was pretty good too. Finalborgo is far cuter than Natimuk. Pity about Finalemarina and Finalpia though.

It still does have free camping. It is however, far too busy for it's facilities and completely festy. If you can imagine 100+ people with one squat toilet, 2 sinks with broken pipes that poured across the ground and a shower over over an open drain, with a few bricks and planks of wood so you weren't actually standing in the sewerage, you may have some idea. Lots of people avoided the toilet that smelt and looked as if you'd get hep A from going anywhere near it, but Europeans seem particularly bad at shitting in the bush, thus the area was generously littered with craps and loo paper. Of course, being dirt bags, we stayed there anyway.

The Mediterranean is very nearby, but although it is wonderfully warm, Europe in general and the coast for 100s of kilometres around Finale in particular has terrible beaches. Small, so packed you can hardly see the sand, predominantly pay access. Hardly pleasant rest day fare. Desperate to find a park near the coast too.

There were a lot of crags (plural, note), spread over 20km or so, They vary in their degree of quality and degree of polish. Being limestone, the more popular crags, particularly the one above the campsite, are basically porcelain and the others well on the way. Some areas have been reequipped, but still have some of the worst anchor arrangements I've ever seen at a sport crag. Others boast remnants of the 70s and were bloody terrifying. The grading tends to be super hard (compared with other sport crags at Val di Mello, Cham Valley, Ardeche, Tarn), bugger all below 5c (sandbagged 5c at that) and it's only sport climbing (although there are some multipitch routes).

The weather at FInale, however, is beautifully stable. In an horrendously wet August, when even south of France crags were wet, Finale was fine.


evanbb

22-Sep-2008
4:56:46 PM

On 22/09/2008 Duncan wrote:
>I'm sorry, but if you swallow the line that a climb at Araps requires
>"number 10 cams", your opinion holds little validity.
>
>What the hell people. Araps is awesome, and even if you don't like Simey,
>you have to admit it's a well put together guide. Suck it up and quit
>your whinging.

Oh no I didn't swallow it. I'm well aware of the actual requirements, and the fact that a number 10 cam doesn't exist. Tone is so often lost on the net, particularly sarcasm.

But pot stirring never goes out of fashion! It is a beautiful guide and a half decent climbing area, but parochialism and a desire to blur the truth will always win the day. The Dam Cliffs are a better crag than any other in Australia!


tnd

22-Sep-2008
5:07:49 PM

On 22/09/2008 evanbb wrote:
>...long walks to remote beautiful
>routes

That's how sport climbers describe Upper Shipley.

hero

22-Sep-2008
5:51:49 PM

"Tone is so often lost on the net, particularly sarcasm."

Do you think?

There are 125 messages in this topic.