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Chockstone Forum - Crag & Route Beta

Crag & Route Beta

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VIC Arapiles Tiger Wall (General) (General) [ Arapiles Guide | Arapiles Images ] 

Author
Syrinx - Revised Description
kieranl
13-Jan-2012
9:30:10 AM
The start of the big diagonal pitch on Syrinx is very poorly protected. Falls to the ledge have resulted in a death and another major injury in the last few years.
A better way to start this pitch is to traverse right from the belay for about 10 metres to a thin crack then climb the crack until it is easy to climb diagonally right; this crack is actually part of The Lute. This offers much better protection and easier route finding and does not detract from the climb.
Descriptions in The Crag and ACA have been altered and links are here :
The Crag Topo
ACA Description
I believe that the iPhone Select Guide App is also being updated to reflect this.
If anyone you know is going to do Syrinx please point this out to them.
MichaelOR
13-Jan-2012
12:07:27 PM
Thanks for organising this Kieran. This is the best way to climb the route - and the way I did it last time [many many years ago]. The ledge below and the inadequate protection is more than problematical in the original description.
As with many multipitch climbs, belays need to be chosen carefully and protection placed with the ledges and belays in mind.
A fantastic excursion, especially atmospheric around the upper pitches. Well worth the outing if you climb around that grade.
gfdonc
13-Jan-2012
12:15:12 PM
It's one of the curious omissions from my Arapiles resume. Thanks for the info, hope to get on it in 2012.
kieranl
13-Jan-2012
12:21:26 PM
On 13/01/2012 MichaelOR wrote:
>Thanks for organising this Kieran.
Thanks also due to Lou Shepherd and Roxanne Wells who did the field-work (ie climbed it) to confirm.
lacto
13-Jan-2012
12:21:54 PM
Surely if there was ever a case for bolting this is it instead you are no longer doing syrinx but syrinx/ lute . This climb was put up with laid rope , slings , engine bolts and (pitons if there was a crack but there isnt ) Probably hobnail boots as even PAs weren't around. Maybe the grade needs to be raised ala D Minor in lieu of its history of accidents.
egosan
13-Jan-2012
12:34:20 PM
I have climbed both lines and several other "variants" through the area of the rising traverse on Syrinx. That traverse is protectable, just not obviously so. It helps to be a bit creative and with offsets, opposing pieces and long slings. The choice isn't so clear in my mind as to which line is safer. What you might gain in available placements you loose in rock quality. That face beneath the orange scar is highly eroded and full of creaky flakes and fragile rock. Not that that in itself make taking the line through Lute unsafe. There is just a trade off in choosing your line. Wise not to approach Syrinx with the same casualness you might on a well trodden classic found on bomber rock on some other bit of the mount.
kieranl
13-Jan-2012
1:25:01 PM
On 13/01/2012 egosan wrote:
>I have climbed both lines and several other "variants" through the area
>of the rising traverse on Syrinx. That traverse is protectable, just not
>obviously so. It helps to be a bit creative and with offsets, opposing
>pieces and long slings.
We are talking about a route for novices here. Creativity and offsets aren't concepts that really apply. The penalties for getting off-route at the start of the pitch are severe.
kieranl
13-Jan-2012
1:32:17 PM
On 13/01/2012 egosan wrote:
>...The choice isn't so clear in my mind as to which
>line is safer. What you might gain in available placements you loose in
>rock quality. That face beneath the orange scar is highly eroded and full
>of creaky flakes and fragile rock. Not that that in itself make taking
>the line through Lute unsafe.
I suggest you discuss with Lou Shepherd.
egosan
13-Jan-2012
1:57:50 PM
On 13/01/2012 kieranl wrote:
>We are talking about a route for novices here. Creativity and offsets
>aren't concepts that really apply. The penalties for getting off-route
>at the start of the pitch are severe.

You are right the penalties for getting off route are steep. To misquote Chris Kalous: "There is the body. We have a confirmed dangerous route."

Syrinx demands good route finding and the wherewithal to evaluate suss rock. This is true on either variant. We are clearly NOT talking about a route for novices. The grade does not reflect the seriousness of the climb, nor is it necessary that all low grade climbs be novice climbs.

To be clear, I don't think updating the route description as you have is a bad thing. There have no doubt been many novices on the climb. I was one. I was certainly in over my head at the time. The experience I had on Syrinx my first time taught me much about being a safer climber. The new route description might be easier to follow. Time will tell.
robertsonja
13-Jan-2012
2:37:44 PM
On 13/01/2012 kieranl wrote:
>We are talking about a route for novices here. Creativity and offsets
>aren't concepts that really apply. The penalties for getting off-route
>at the start of the pitch are severe.

It doesn't sound like a route for novices to me.
One Day Hero
14-Jan-2012
12:49:20 AM
What the shit are you pussies crapping on about? The thing is grade 10 and there's a couple of bits with a fraction less than aaaamazing rock, and you have to run it out about 4m on jugs. I dare you to come to Booroomba and find a single long route which would be a safer lead for a beginner.

Just because araps is unusually well protected most of the time, it doesn't mean that you have to retro bolt every single route which is ever so slightly less than perfectly safe!
Kieranl
14-Jan-2012
10:00:48 AM
On 14/01/2012 One Day Hero wrote:
>What the shit are you pussies crapping on about? The thing is grade 10
>and there's a couple of bits with a fraction less than aaaamazing rock,
>and you have to run it out about 4m on jugs. I dare you to come to Booroomba
>and find a single long route which would be a safer lead for a beginner.
>
>Just because araps is unusually well protected most of the time, it doesn't
>mean that you have to retro bolt every single route which is ever so slightly
>less than perfectly safe!
Never miss an opportunity to overreact!
We are suggesting a minor variation on Syrinx that should be safer for less-experienced climbers. We are not suggesting retro-bolting or electric shocks to the genitals of anyone who wants to stick to the original route.
It's also worth noting that the original description for the pitch in question starts "From anywhere on the ledge ascend the wall...". We're just suggesting that "anywhere" should be well to the right.
pecheur
14-Jan-2012
10:13:05 AM
On 14/01/2012 Kieranl wrote:
>On 14/01/2012 One Day Hero wrote:
>>What the shit are you pussies crapping on about? The thing is grade 10
>>and there's a couple of bits with a fraction less than aaaamazing rock,
>>and you have to run it out about 4m on jugs. I dare you to come to Booroomba
>>and find a single long route which would be a safer lead for a beginner.
>>
>>Just because araps is unusually well protected most of the time, it doesn't
>>mean that you have to retro bolt every single route which is ever so
>slightly
>>less than perfectly safe!
>Never miss an opportunity to overreact!
>We are suggesting a minor variation on Syrinx that should be safer for
>less-experienced climbers. We are not suggesting retro-bolting or electric
>shocks to the genitals of anyone who wants to stick to the original route.
>It's also worth noting that the original description for the pitch in
>question starts "From anywhere on the ledge ascend the wall...". We're
>just suggesting that "anywhere" should be well to the right.

Lol, I was actually wondering if RobertSonja was ill, Lacto did indeed suggest putting in a bolt on a long standing low grade classic, I was expecting massive projectile spittle when I saw RS posted, but no, quite disappointing.

PS I also have not done Syrinx, this has made me curious now, hopefully I'll get on it in Feb.
Kieranl
14-Jan-2012
4:33:52 PM

>
>Lol, I was actually wondering if RobertSonja was ill, Lacto did indeed
>suggest putting in a bolt on a long standing low grade classic, I was expecting
>massive projectile spittle when I saw RS posted, but no, quite disappointing.
>
>
>PS I also have not done Syrinx, this has made me curious now, hopefully
>I'll get on it in Feb.
I think you'll find that lacto was being sarcastic. Ordinarily I'd be overjoyed at ODH falling for it hook,line and sinker but not here
kieranl
7-Jun-2013
5:56:22 PM
Did a bit of trundling of loose rock in Syrinx/Lute area today. The first photo shows the 2 places where this was done.

Blocks sitting on edge of Lute belay ledge. People doing Syrinx shouldn't touch these but what can go wrong will go wrong.

Ledge after trundling

Speaking of things going wrong, as I was removing the last of the blocks down at the 40 metre mark on Lute someone wandered around past The Eight to have a look. They had heard the rockfall but not my calls. They were a bit upset . I thought I had made enough calls and was keeping a good lookout but obviously not good enough. The onus is on the trundler to be safe.

Duang Daunk
7-Jun-2013
6:02:22 PM
You are a bloody menace. What if the 'someone who wandered around' was ethnic?
Racist trundling at best is the only description I can give it.














Though I would have liked to have heard the boom of those rocks going off!
kieranl
7-Jun-2013
6:33:58 PM
I was going to promote The Lute as a good longish easy climb if the hanging corner left of the gully on the second pitch is climbed. But the start of the Lute is really wet at present, so maybe later.
At present the water streak at the start of the diagonal pitch on Syrinx means that the pitch must be started by following the arrows across and up Lute.
Wendy
7-Jun-2013
7:55:32 PM
I've never done the top bit of Lute - just the first pitch into deathwatch beetle, which I seem to remember being a lovely long pitch of bridging, sort of like the first pitch of Antigone, but unfortunately, a little more vegetated and mossy. It is worth continuing on? Does it finish up Syrinx?
kieranl
7-Jun-2013
9:14:08 PM
I think it is worth it if you go up into the hanging corner rather than follow the gully. Then you hit Syrinx at the ledge. I do it as 3 pitches then the easy way off right.

There are 19 messages in this topic.

 

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