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Chockstone Forum - Crag & Route Beta

Crag & Route Beta

 Page 1 of 3. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 41
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Author
1st time climbing in Australia - help needed!
Dieter
27-Nov-2012
9:38:13 AM
Hello together,
My wife and me will be travelling from Germany to Australia in spring 2013. We are planning to travel around for 2 months (March + April) and do a combination of rock climbing and sightseeing. As this is our 1st trip to Australia we would be very grateful for some info about climbing. The chocksone website has been very helpful with info about the different climbing areas. This is our plan:
- flight to Melbourne, hire a camper van
- climbing in the Arapiles and Grampians
- travelling along the coast to Sydney with a stop in Nowra
- climbing in the Blue Mountains
- flight to Alice Springs, then Cairns, Sydney and back to Germany

My questions are:
1) Which of the areas would you recommend most? We climb about 5.8/9 trad and
5.10b on bolted routes (17 / 20?). Which area would you leave out?
2) Is it necessary to bring a single rope (60m) plus 2 double ropes (55m each)?
3) What are the up-to-date climbing guide books for these regions?

Of course we would also be grateful for general info about travelling in Australia, eg.
about campsites, road conditions, etc.

Thank you very much for your help.

Dieter
widewetandslippery
27-Nov-2012
9:52:13 AM
Do wear socks with sandles?

Do you think Germany got off to light after the war?

On a more polite note your trip sounds great, as much as I love climbing at Nowra go to Jervis Bay/Point Perpendicular. World class scenery and good climbing at the grades mentiond.

The current Arapalies and Blue Mountains guides whilst expensive are beautiful books and worth using and taking home.

Bring as pure DEET as possible it not only works for drop bears but ticks, leeches, flys and mosquitos. Bring elastic bandages for snake bite. Brown snakes everywhere. Get immunised for Ross River virus, hepatitis and goanna toxin.
bones
27-Nov-2012
9:53:44 AM
1) Arapiles/Grampians are the best, and are close together so you should visit both. In your grades the Trad climbing is the real attraction but there are decent sport climbs in the Grampians at those grades too. Nowra is not worth it for tourists, as it's not very attactive and the climbing in the lower grades is average. Point Perpendicular, in Jervis Bay close to Sydney, is much better. It offers beautiful sport and trad climbing on sea cliffs. Go there instead.
2) One sixty meter rope is enough for most routes, but doubles can be useful for abseils occasionally.
3) Guidebooks:
http://www.pointperp.com/index.html
http://rockmaster.com.au/index.php/select-vic
http://osp.com.au/?cat=10
mattbrooks
27-Nov-2012
9:56:01 AM
Dieter,

the areas you mentioned, will give you plenty to keep busy on in those grades and are the most major areas. If you had to sacrifice on any of these areas time wise , then it would be Nowra (cant miss Gramps, Araps or the Bluies), but its a great area with Nowra sport and the Pt Perpendicular sea cliffs nearby and some awesome beaches. If you have the time get there.
A single 60m will suffice for most but a second rope can be handy for descent at some of the bigger spots, ie Multi Pitches at Gramps, Araps and the Bluies.
Up to date guidebooks can be found for each of these areas online, either through this site, rockhardware.com or climbinganchors.com

feel free to PM me on here if you have any other questions, camping etc

cheers Matt

IdratherbeclimbingM9
27-Nov-2012
10:40:41 AM
On 27/11/2012 Dieter wrote:
>This is our plan: (snip)

~> A good plan!
By the way;
>(March + April)
... are Autumn here!

>My questions are:
>1), 2) & 3) ...
~> pretty well answered already, but be aware of the aussie icon of carrot-bolts that require bolt-plates, to enable them for use as protection with quickdraws. Many trad climbs have the odd bolt on them that you may want to use!

>Of course we would also be grateful for general info about travelling in Australia, eg. about campsites, road conditions, etc.
>
There are more caravan park / holiday parks, on the east coast than you can poke a forky stick at if you want camping with amenities like ablution blocks and cooking facilities.
Price ranges according to the standard of facilities offered, right up to 5 star accomodation.

Many other places (includes Arapiles), the camping is basic amenities only, and a small fee is payable. In addition to this Australia is a big place and unlimited opportunities abound for free camping.

Road conditions vary hugely in Australia. Our east coast highways are a joke compared to the autobahns in Germany, and are often narrow, congested (by our standards), and under regular maintenance, as well as going through the heart of many towns with the associated lesser (urban) speed limits! All our roads are all speed limited and fines for exceeding the limits (if caught), are expensive. We also have many minor rural roads that are still dirt, or if tarred, are only to a basic standard.
This is not all bad, as some of us prefer it that way! Take the time to savour the scenery, and the slower speeds also help in avoiding collisions with our wildlife that can do considerable damage to vehicles and occupants.
The bottom line regarding our roads and the considerable distances involved, is to allow plenty of time to travel them (longer than you would think), between destinations.

Fuel price also varies greatly, but I would budget an average of $1.50* / litre (for both petrol and diesel!), as I doubt you would get much change over an extended stay and the many locations you intend to visit.

[*It can vary between $1.20 (major metropolitan centres) and $1.65 in some places (minor rural centres), ... and be even more expensive 'outback'!].



Eduardo Slabofvic
27-Nov-2012
10:56:03 AM
Don't go to Nowra, its rubbish.

Bluies are good climbing, and spectacular cliff lines but crowed on weekends (edit - in certain places).

Grampians is very pretty with climbing in Australian bush setting.

Arapiles is Gods own trad crag. There is no other better trad climbing area in the world - you must go there.

The time you are going is the best time of the year to climb in the Grampians and Arapiles. You can drive from Arapiles camp ground to the nearest climbing in the Gramps in about 45 mins. A little bit longer for the better areas.
Arnez
27-Nov-2012
11:04:05 AM
Wow, what a truly great way to welcome someone to Australia with some glib question about the war. Also, well covered up with "on a more polite note." I wonder why people think Australians are culturally insensitive... Maybe just answer the f&*#%g question next time...

benjenga
27-Nov-2012
11:49:14 AM
Poor nowra, no love today...
PThomson
27-Nov-2012
12:03:10 PM
On 27/11/2012 benjenga wrote:
>Poor nowra, no love today...

I was going to make a comment along the lines of: "clearly the people in this thread simply know the difference between good climbing and bad climbing", but then I remembered that this is Chockstone forum, not QURANK.
martym
27-Nov-2012
2:10:42 PM
2 months is actually not that long if you plan to see Uluru & Cairns as well! Give yourselves at least a week for each (including travel time) assuming you wanna see the reef, the rock & the olgas, daintree etc. + Sydney & Melbourne? + Great Ocean Rd?

Climbing's been covered (though at that grade - I'd suggest staying longer at Araps if you don't mind placing gear) & definitely climb Point Perp for a few days.

Travel tips:
Australia is big & hot (our Autumn is like your summer) & you can't drive as fast as in Germany. Melbourne to Sydney will take you at least a day and is a tiring, boring drive. Best to break it up where possible - driving from Merimbula to Jervis Bay is a very nice drive if you're happy with winding roads.

Re van hire: If you arrive naked, you get 1 day free with Wicked camper vans :)

The east coast beaches are warmer but by April will have cooled down, so if you wanna try surfing, get in earlier (Cairns is like a spa bath year round)
Wild camping is pretty easy though camper-van parking is illegal in most metropolitan areas - so expect to pay high prices in caravan parks - although compared to German parks, it's not so bad.
lacto
27-Nov-2012
3:59:33 PM
If hiring from "spaceships" be very aware of their $75 handling fee to forward fines for , parking , traffic offences and non payment of tolls . Melbourne , sydney and brisbane have toll roads that use a transponder or photgraph to collect payment . there are no actual toll collection points . Freeways have green signage and toll roads have blue signage and each one has either phone or website to contact re payment , We had a recent german visitor who went over sydney harbor bridge ( dont know what happened about that but it is a toll ) the logan expressway near brisbane , $75 charged to his credit card ,and the toll not paid ) then went on melbourne tollroads but fortunately was with us before 72 hrs expired so we were able to get a 24 hr pass . Find out what the hire company does about tolls , bigger ones appear good but the smaller firms may well be dodgey
widewetandslippery
28-Nov-2012
7:11:27 AM
On 27/11/2012 Arnez wrote:
>Wow, what a truly great way to welcome someone to Australia with some glib
>question about the war. Also, well covered up with "on a more polite note."
>I wonder why people think Australians are culturally insensitive... Maybe
>just answer the f&*#%g question next time...

Whats wrong with being insensitive to culture that rejects its grandparents were genocidal maniacs?
SL212
28-Nov-2012
7:42:07 AM
On 28/11/2012 widewetandslippery wrote:
>On 27/11/2012 Arnez wrote:
>>Wow, what a truly great way to welcome someone to Australia with some
>glib
>>question about the war. Also, well covered up with "on a more polite
>note."
>>I wonder why people think Australians are culturally insensitive... Maybe
>>just answer the f&*#%g question next time...
>
>Whats wrong with being insensitive to culture that rejects its grandparents
>were genocidal maniacs?

Don't be ignorant.

rodw
28-Nov-2012
8:02:32 AM
Reminds me of this Fawlty Towers skit...

http://youtu.be/7xnNhzgcWTk

freesolo
28-Nov-2012
8:04:43 AM
dear dieter,

please, please ignore the post by WWS regarding 'war, etc.....' she is a direct, inbred descendent of the original penal colony established by england to dispose of the lowest class of humanoids from northwest europe, and subsists on rat carcasses and the odd dozen or so c--kroaches residing in her dreadlocks.

re: the climbing. one 60 meter will be sufficient for most climbs at arapiles, nowra, point perpendicular, and grampians. please talk with the climbers in the camping at arapiles for exact lengths of some climbs and other details. a simple trad rack plus 12 long quickdraws will do if weight/space is limited in your luggage. but i really recommend bringing helmets. have a good trip and enjoy the other 98% of the climbers in Oz who are very welcoming.
White Trash
28-Nov-2012
9:59:38 AM
On 28/11/2012 freesolo wrote:
>dear dieter,
>
>please, please ignore the post by WWS regarding 'war, etc.....'

yair. the holocaust never happened and associate today troubles in middle east are a myth.

dieter a single rope is ok for araps especially if you top out as you can descend easily off the back side in many places. a second rope and prusiks are handy for pt perp due most climbs are abseil access.

Miguel75
28-Nov-2012
11:31:41 AM
On 28/11/2012 freesolo wrote:
>dear dieter,
>
>please, please ignore the post by WWS regarding 'war, etc.....' she is
>a direct, inbred descendent ... SNIP...

Hang on a second; WWS is a she????

Eduardo Slabofvic
28-Nov-2012
12:20:42 PM
On 28/11/2012 Miguel75 wrote:
>On 28/11/2012 freesolo wrote:
>>dear dieter,
>>
>>please, please ignore the post by WWS regarding 'war, etc.....' she is
>>a direct, inbred descendent ... SNIP...
>
>Hang on a second; WWS is a she????

Most definitely

davidn
28-Nov-2012
12:34:15 PM
ahhhhhhhh....

so white trash is WWS' alternate. That makes sense.

wallwombat
28-Nov-2012
12:41:51 PM
On 28/11/2012 davidn wrote:
>ahhhhhhhh....
>
>so white trash is WWS' alternate. That makes sense.

Having a "alternate", as you put it, requires levels of organisation and motivation far greater than WW&S own..

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