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Chockstone Forum - Crag & Route Beta

Crag & Route Beta

Area Location Sub Location Crag Links
All NSW (General) (General) (General)  

Author
Wizard of Id, Mt Boyce

Superstu
17-Nov-2008
8:57:27 AM
Has anybody done this route and is it really worth four stars? Or any stars???

I went looking for this route as the day ended and storm clouds moved in, and I think I found it, but I'm not convinced its worth lugging a rack & rope back. But four stars!?? I assume it starts where someone has chalked the "WoI XXXX" beneath a short chossy crack that leads to a mammoth garden of shrubs and ledges. I'm hoping that's not some sick joke as I wouldn't have picked it otherwise. I am assuming the main event is the giant chimney you can see through the bushes on the main wall behind.

Fantini, 1972.. Hmmm

nmonteith
17-Nov-2008
9:26:56 AM
Short answer - no. I did it with Josh about a year ago. Parts of the 2nd pitch were ok, rest was pretty vegetated or chossy. No idea why it got 4 stars.
mikepatt
17-Nov-2008
9:46:56 AM
I agree with Neil, it's pretty crap. I can only assume the stars simply reflect the description in the 1982 guide.. Likewise PPP (to the right of WOI) is also totally overgrown choss.
There are a few anomalies with the star ratings in Simon's guide in the lower grades. Despite taking heed of my 'death route' advice, En Passant still gets loads of stars, yet, judging by thecrag.com, very few repeats. To make matters worse the topo line shown for En Passant is a much lower traverse than the text describes.
Although I don't mind a bit of choss, and sometimes go out of my way to check it out there are some routes which are just not worth doing.
If you're looking for a 15 with a few stars have a look at Odie Odour at Bardens. I backed off it recently but maybe I was just having a crap day.

Superstu
17-Nov-2008
10:04:58 AM
Thanks for that. I'm pretty new to climbing in the bluies so there are plenty of other stars around to collect yet. I must admit I find Mt Boyce up there on the weirdness scale. Climbs are all over the place, sandy chossy old school next to ring bolt modern things, raps taking you all over the place in a vertical 3-D puzzle. And what's with these low grade bolt routes with their belays in absurd positions? The belay on baby carrots I guess was located at the start of the juggy climbing, but the belay on Air2Spare is right beneath a good ledge. Not every day the belaying is harder than the climbing.

post edit: that's not a complaint about baby carrots/air2spare, just a comment. Just a bit weird to get a trouser-filling-fun day without getting pumped. "Designer Exposure"?
simey
17-Nov-2008
10:30:52 AM
On 17/11/2008 superstu wrote:
>I must admit I find Mt Boyce up there on the wierdness scale.

Too bad the Andrew Penny ladder system isn't still there (I'm under the impression it got removed). That really added to the weirdness.

tnd
17-Nov-2008
11:03:49 AM
On 17/11/2008 simey wrote:
>On 17/11/2008 superstu wrote:
>>I must admit I find Mt Boyce up there on the wierdness scale.
>
>Too bad the Andrew Penny ladder system isn't still there (I'm under the
>impression it got removed). That really added to the weirdness.

The ladders are long gone simey, they were just too wierd...

Superstu
17-Nov-2008
11:12:37 AM
I think the Nati crowd should take inspiration from the effort on Firebug at Boyce. Drain a couple of 44 gallon drums of petrol down tiger wall and toss a cigarette butt. Whooompf! Suddenly ten new classic easy routes for the next edition of the select guide.



evanbb
17-Nov-2008
11:24:39 AM
On 17/11/2008 tnd wrote:

>The ladders are long gone simey, they were just too wierd...

There is still a bit of remenant ironmongery around. There's an old ladder halfway down Abseil gully that sort of leads nowhere. I think there's also some chain work around that block that you can death traverse around under to get out. It is a weird 3d world. It's probably more dangerous than soloing Abseil Slab, which is virtually a solo on lead anyway, with one bolt just above the belay and 8m above it to the top.
mikepatt
17-Nov-2008
11:27:22 AM
Yes Stu, I repeated Baby Carrots and Air2Spare recently and did both cruxes.. i.e. I belayed. I'm still looking for 'Little Johnny' which is somewhere in the area. If anyone has found it let me know!

Superstu
17-Nov-2008
11:32:15 AM
Now that I think of it, more weirdness. There is a 10m of bolted horizontal chain half way down the cliff that you pass to your left on Baby Carrots. At first I thought it was some kind of Alis-come-Via Ferrata. But it doesn't connect to anywhere!?
onsight
17-Nov-2008
11:58:44 AM
On 17/11/2008 mikepatt wrote:
>I agree with Neil, it's pretty crap. I can only assume the stars simply
>reflect the description in the 1982 guide.. Likewise PPP (to the right
>of WOI) is also totally overgrown choss.
>There are a few anomalies with the star ratings in Simon's guide in the
>lower grades. Despite taking heed of my 'death route' advice, En Passant
>still gets loads of stars, yet, judging by thecrag.com, very few repeats.
>To make matters worse the topo line shown for En Passant is a much lower
>traverse than the text describes.

There were bound to be a few anomalies with the starring when we stepped up ;-) to the 5 star system for the 2007 guidebook... I can't remember what specific input lead to those particular routes getting those ratings. Feedback will help us "improve" the ratings in the next edition (except that we won't be reverting to the 3 start system). It's best if anyone has any specific feedback then to send me an email at guidebook 'at' onsight.com.au. I watch this forum - and made a note of these comments - but when we come to do the update we are much less likely to miss the info if it was in an email.
mikepatt
17-Nov-2008
12:29:21 PM
No worries Simon. I've heard the next edition is well underway. Do you have an idea of when it will come out?

wombly
17-Nov-2008
1:06:12 PM
I did wizard of Id a year or so ago and actually quite enjoyed it - quite an interesting series of moves to get out of the sentry box. Protection was OK too, but maybe not superb if you're leading at the grade.
dfinnecy
18-Nov-2008
9:20:33 AM
Funny to see this come up today as I happened to do this route last Saturday after not
having seen anything online about it.

It certainly isn't worth 5 stars. I would say 2 or by a stretch 3. The first pitch is not
good, the rest all have something good about them. On the second pitch the jam crack
is choked full of mud and brush. Instead we climbed a flake just to the right which upon
further reading of the book sounds like it was the original route. Pitch 3 in the chimney
was nice, I really liked it. Unfortunately it is followed by more shrubbery bashing up to a
big ledge. We went right to climb the top section on a easy arete right of the yellow
corner.

Pro is good throughout. It isn't the worst route I have climbed in the mountains, as I
write this I gets better in retrospect. Expect adventure climbing rather than soaring
classic cracks.
technogeekery
16-Aug-2016
9:02:23 AM
On 17/11/2008 mikepatt wrote: I'm still looking for 'Little Johnny' which is somewhere
>in the area. If anyone has found it let me know!

Has anybody ever climbed Little Johnny, or is this climb a myth? I'm planning to do a few routes of this sort of grade in the area, and would like to climb it if I can find it. Thanks
Jayford4321
16-Aug-2016
5:56:38 PM
Guidebook authors building on misinformation want shooting I say, becos its the lowest form (an eeziest) of sandbags going.

If U want real sandbags then get odh or ww+s 2 proof read Ur trolling.

Btw I climbed Little Johny recently and it isn't worth doing, let alone writing up a sandbag about.

There are 16 messages in this topic.

 

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