Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - Crag & Route Beta

Crag & Route Beta

Area Location Sub Location Crag Links

VIC Buffalo Gorge North Side North Wall [ Gorge Guide ]

Author

Request for beta on Ozy / DoTF

jok178

12-Mar-2019
9:02:47 AM

G'day,
I am coming down from Darwin in a few days to climb Ozy Direct among others.
Can someone please let me know what the suggested water carriage per person/per day is on the wall this time of year.
Also, how is the belays on Defender of The Faith? (ie. Trad/bomber bolts/rusty carrots)
Regards
Jok

Andrew_M

12-Mar-2019
9:51:59 AM

The belay at the top of P1 on Defender is a rusty piton backed up with good trad gear. Other belays are bomber multi-bolt.

P1 belay: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZB5fv8FR2YB6briQ8

It's be pretty cool at the moment and the north wall of the gorge is in shade for a lot of the day so water usage shouldn't be too high.

PeterW

12-Mar-2019
10:04:21 AM

Andrew, your photo link generates an Error 404 (Not Found)!! Did you miss a character when you copied the link?

jok178

12-Mar-2019
10:31:40 AM

Cheers Andrew, you think 3L per/per is enough?

Davedave

12-Mar-2019
10:47:42 AM

Topped out with two mates on Thursday. Was a pretty wet start and mostly cool weather, accounted for 4l pp pd and had a fair bit left over (couldn't judge amounts), but also had dehy dinners on the wall, beers, coke, rum so accounting for all fluids would be hard. We had a minimal amount of time in the sun, with a slow aid ascent so minimal losses, ymmv.

3L pp pd wouldn't have been unreasonable for our group. Hit me up if you want other beta for the aid, obviously getting a correct estimate of time on the wall is more important then the l/day estimate.

jok178

12-Mar-2019
11:42:31 AM

Thanks Dave, I was gonna run dehyd food too. I am expecting to run 3 full days on the wall as our aid is rusty.

Would you suggest the trek in or the defender rap?

Davedave

12-Mar-2019
11:58:11 AM

I've now done both once, found big bags down the walk in sucked (ended up lowering at 2 points), and rope pull down on DOTF raps was pretty average (ended up using jumars to pull down, probably just the rough granite). If going very light I'd walk, otherwise I'd rap in future. Bring a knife/fresh tat/bail biners or mallions to extend some of the DOTF rap points, and ride the pigs (wombats) for every rap.

Doing the walk in would have an ancillary benefit in making bailing both safer (knowing the route) and less attractive if you think that may be an issue.

Fixed lines on the walk in were in OK shape, and I left a static to extend the DOTF raps in Dec that may still be in situ.

We're down a no 2 C4 (last seen low down on p10), if you find it and are feeling generous let us know.

jok178

12-Mar-2019
12:49:23 PM

Awesome, cheers. I'll probably be going medium weight, I reckon I'll just walk in then. Hate rough pull downs, had too many get stuck up here.

I'll let you know if we see it.

jok178

12-Mar-2019
7:54:57 PM

Is it possible to hammock at Gledhill Bivy? I built a hammock to go underneath my single ledge, A5 style but it's comfort level is fair adverage.

Cam McKenzie

13-Mar-2019
6:10:45 AM

You can string a hammock across the corner of the Gledhill bivy. We had a single ledge and a hammock between the two of us and it was reasonably comfy.

jok178

13-Mar-2019
3:12:53 PM

Thanks Cam, that's awesome news. Although it's a shame my dodgy DIY won't get a test run. I am planning to make a conversion kit for BD single ledges, would just be 2 new width poles and a new 210d double ripstop bed. It will allow a reversible conversation of single to double ledge in under 5 minutes. Will make a post here if it works.

IdratherbeclimbingM9

14-Mar-2019
7:53:35 PM

On 13-Mar-2019 jok178 wrote:
>Thanks Cam, that's awesome news. Although it's a shame my dodgy DIY won't
>get a test run. I am planning to make a conversion kit for BD single ledges,
>would just be 2 new width poles and a new 210d double ripstop bed. It will
>allow a reversible conversation of single to double ledge in under 5 minutes.
>Will make a post here if it works.

I’m very interested in your BD Single to Double portaledge conversion, so please post results no matter what they may be.

3 litres per person per day is good measuring at this time of year, and depending on your food will determine if you have too much...
By the way, food is overrated(!), as water is what will cruel your ascent, or otherwise...

Crystal Brook is flowing well at present, so obtaining water at base isn’t an issue.

DOF abseils in is straightforward, and you should have no problems with it if you ride the wombats.

jok178

14-Mar-2019
8:12:47 PM

IdratherbeclimbingM9, will do. An update on it:
Rough design work done.
I have found a supplier in America for 210D, same material BD uses will cost about $80 including shipping. Might use a local supplier and thinner fabric, Treefool uses 30D on his.
Biggest hold up is the 6061-T6 Ally, no-one seems to supply it in the required size/length. Rough cost >$80

IdratherbeclimbingM9

14-Mar-2019
8:26:24 PM

On 14-Mar-2019 jok178 wrote:
>IdratherbeclimbingM9, will do. An update on it:
>Rough design work done.
>I have found a supplier in America for 210D, same material BD uses will
>cost about $80 including shipping. Might use a local supplier and thinner
>fabric, Treefool uses 30D on his.
>Biggest hold up is the 6061-T6 Ally, no-one seems to supply it in the
>required size/length. Rough cost >$80

Don’t know if he is willing due one-off competition to his commercial enterprise, but Duece4 (John Middendorf), on Chocky may be able to short circuit the process for you?

jok178

18-Mar-2019
5:33:22 PM

I have been studying his designs in depth via forums and videos, I think I worked out how he did the D4. I'm trying to incorporate some of it into my design. I have now found a supplier for the ally next to Melb Airport. I'll open a new thread regarding its construction when I begin.

For this thread:
We just bailed of Ozzy today, mate destroy his ankle while collecting the ledge right at start of 2nd pitch. We hiked in with 38-40kg each as we couldn't see any flow in CB. Next day hiked out again splitting load in 2, move pack, go back for ropes/rack/ledge repeat. South side track is fun.

I flew in from Darwin to climb Buffalo, Ozzy outta picture now but if anyone wants to come for a climb (real keen on Where Angels Fear To Tread) let me know, I'm here till 30th.
Call Jok - 0400 860 505

peetiez

8-Apr-2019
3:47:25 PM

Hey Jok,

You mentioned that you didn't see any flow in CB. Was it confirmed not to be flowing when you guys reached the bottom?

We're planning a trip over easter and was hoping to use water from CB and wondering if we too need to carry water down.

Cheers

Peter

davedave

8-Apr-2019
5:12:26 PM

Not sure if Jok is still following this as hes back in NT, When I climbed ozy direct with Jok the other week I believe he said there was running water once down the gorge (and plenty more after the recent rain) so theres may be hope even if crystal isnt running at the rim.

IdratherbeclimbingM9

9-Apr-2019
7:41:05 PM

On 8-Apr-2019 peetiez wrote:
>Hey Jok,
>
>You mentioned that you didn't see any flow in CB. Was it confirmed not
>to be flowing when you guys reached the bottom?
>
>We're planning a trip over easter and was hoping to use water from CB
>and wondering if we too need to carry water down.
>
>Cheers
>
>Peter

I agree with davedave that available water at base of Ozy shouldn't be an issue at present, especially due to having had recent rain.

Back in the prolonged drought of early 2000's Crystal Brook stopped flowing, but even then water was available as a tiny trickle over a rock bar located about 200 metres downstream of where the south side track meets Crystal Brook at gorge base...

Crystal Brook is a braided stream in that vicinity, so you need to search out the main channel and then look for the rock bar that forces the flow hidden in the sand and under rocks to the surface. During an ascent I did back then I noticed that the trickle waxed and waned during the day, with early morning being the strongest flow period for filling our water bottles.

There are 18 messages in this topic.