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Where Miguel feared to tread but treaded anyway...

Miguel75
22-Jan-2014
6:53:25 PM
Where Miguel feared to tread but treaded anyway because Phil shamed him into it…

Sorry there are no pics. Given it's Buffalo there were lots of slabs, some really course granite and beautiful vistas.

It all started around Christmas; I put up a post looking for a climbing buddy for some Buffalo action and PhillipIvan responded in the affirmative. Now I have climbed with Phil a number of times before and thoroughly enjoy the outings because he usually makes fun of me and then shames me into climbing things I otherwise don’t feel too confident with. Needless to say I settled into our Buffalo partnership with some trepidation. Where Angels Fear to Tread was bandied about as a possible climb and I was very excited about the prospect as my newish 5.10 hightops were waiting to be blooded on a crack of some magnitude.

Those who have climbed with me, or busted me slinking along the bottom of an easy climb, know I love my gear and will happily carry a double rack of cams to #6, 18 draws and way too many other accouterments, up climbs such as Arachnus… I figure if I can’t climb hard I may as well climb with excess. While we drove up the foreboding mountain road, Phil was talking about doing the climb in 4 pitches, with the first and second pitches real rope stretchers, and the last pitch or two as a simul scramble. Usually I’d say no problems; 60m/18 draws = a piece every 3.3m which I’m happy with. Once we arrived at the top I watched in befuddlement as Phil went through my rack and pared it down to a few micro cams, 4 DMM offet nuts, a large BD nut and BD C4’s from .3-3 (doubles in #1 & 2) and one each of the old style BD 3.5 and 4.5. Did I mention we took 8 draws and 4 slings… Hmm thought I, 60m/8 draws = a piece every 7.5m… Phil reassuringly said not to worry as the climbing wouldn’t be too bad. I could almost hear his masochistic delight in explaining it’ll be run out but fun… Phil’s masochistic streak also led to him climbing in his 5.10 tennies.

We wandered down the Mushroom rock track and established ourselves at the base, ready for action. Phil launched up the first steep section pretty darn well considering he was in tennies and was soon out of sight. The rope was paying out quickly and in no time he’d arrived at the first belay with approx. 1m of rope left. Our first belay was at the two small ledges on the RHS, just before you move left into the crack below the bulge. I reckon it looks like pitches 1-3 in the Sublime climbs guide. I think Phil placed 6 pieces of gear, three of them in the first few meters.

Feeling full of vim and vigor I launched left across the slab of death and then onwards and upwards through the bulge. Feeling exposed I threaded a nut through a small hole made by two branches lying on top of each other figuring it’d never hold anything substantial but would give Phil something to laugh about. I then continued onwards until the crack petered out and then stepped right across the second slab of death and continued up the crack until I ran into trouble at the top when the crack gets thin. I’m pleased to say that I did not fall and managed to hang on, hauling myself up to belay in the corner just below the chimney. By my reckoning I climbed pitches 4, 5 and part of 6 as listed in the Sublime climbs guide. I started to pull the rope and pulled through ~50cm before Phil’s cry of “that’s me” drifted up. He then made quick work of the pitch only really stopping to laugh at my well thought out, super safe threaded nut. I was pretty happy with my run out pitches and I managed not to cry until later that night when I was back in Bright, eating the world’s greatest ice cream.

During my pitch I reinsured an old wrist injury so Phil stepped up and made short work of the last two pitches. Unfortunately for my onsight, I fell while navigating the offwidth cracks towards the top though I believe Phil flashed it yet again…. After a few minutes of enjoying the view of Ozy and surrounds we were off, up Burstons Crevasse and a little bit closer to the aforementioned ice cream of happiness.

All in all it took us approx. 4.5 hrs from the bottom and was an awesome experience. The climb was great fun; my hightops were awesome though my left big toe is still numb and the scars all up and down my arms and legs are slowly starting to fade. Phil is great fun to climb with though just to reconfirm his masochistic nature he demanded we go for a run before we got an ice cream. I could only manage 2.5km before collapsing and begged Phil to release me from my promise. He mocked me and then let me go to the ice cream shop where the ice cream never tasted so good.

P.S. Phil is a sicko, the next day he rode to Hotham and back. On a pushie...

bigchris
22-Jan-2014
9:58:01 PM
You're a classic

shiltz
22-Jan-2014
10:52:02 PM
Did you do the direct start or the original? We did the original and wished we'd gone with the direct. There was a rather spiky bush about 4 metres up which required an excursion out right to avoid getting scratched up.

Miguel75
23-Jan-2014
7:58:37 AM
We did the original start and Phil made it look way too easy so I followed him up. The direct start looks like lots of fun though.
kieranl
23-Jan-2014
9:33:24 AM
Where Miguel feared to tread but treaded anyway ...

boldly defying the forces of grammar at every turn.

phillipivan
23-Jan-2014
11:22:36 AM
At least I'm not the fellow who chose a poor line through one of the corners on the Hotham descent. I passed a phalanx of police and paramedics gathered by the cliff edge on the way back down.


IdratherbeclimbingM9
23-Jan-2014
12:10:36 PM
~> A fearful read, but I read it anyway...
;-)

Nah, it was good to hear of others experiences on it, and I also picked up on a couple of quirks.

>Phil is great fun to climb with though just to reconfirm his masochistic nature (snip)

I will file that comment to memory, and I now wonder if a long motorbike ride beforehand to access some adventure climbing will slow him up sufficiently for me to keep up?

>P.S. Phil is a sicko, the next day he rode to Hotham and back. On a pushie...

I have heard those mountaineering types are like that (ie sickos).
Being fit, doing long routes (preferably fast), treadlie-riding &/or paddling great distances, paragliding, etc. ... There seems no end to their adventuring, heh, heh, heh.

>a few minutes of enjoying the view of Ozy and surrounds

Hey M75, now that you are crossing off the classics at Buff, what other bits of coarse granite with beautiful vistas draws your eye?






On 23/01/2014 phillipivan wrote:
>At least I'm not the poor fellow who chose a poor line through one of the
>corners on the Hotham descent. I passed a phalanx of police and paramedics
>gathered by the cliff edge on the way back down.
>
Always a salient lesson to others partaking in similar activity eh? ... Though there are a multitude of potential reasons he may have chosen a poor line other than carrying too much speed into a corner. Oncoming (or following) traffic, debri on road, poor road surface, wildlife, etc, etc, ... but I know that you know about those!

phillipivan
23-Jan-2014
12:44:04 PM
I couldn't say for certain that it was a he or a motorbike that went off the edge. But, I think it's odds on for both accounts.

IdratherbeclimbingM9
23-Jan-2014
12:48:09 PM
On 23/01/2014 phillipivan wrote:
>I couldn't say for certain that it was a he or a motorbike that went off
>the edge. But, I think it's odds on for both accounts.

... The same applies to treadlies!
;-)
dalai
23-Jan-2014
2:41:02 PM
On 23/01/2014 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>On 23/01/2014 phillipivan wrote:
>>I couldn't say for certain that it was a he or a motorbike that went
>off
>>the edge. But, I think it's odds on for both accounts.
>
>... The same applies to treadlies!
>;-)

So true. Closest near death experience I've had in a very long while was on the bike climbing up Mt Hamilton CA last year!

There are two short descents on the 30km climb and I was pushing on the first. Came into a tight blind right hander which had gravel on the apex... No way I was going to be able to get around, so had to straighten up and slam on the brakes. Luckily some motorists in California drive small cars; missed the rear quarter panel of the oncoming Honda Jazz by inches and only just pull up on the gravel verge opposite where it dropped off a steep hill! Haven't misjudged a corner that badly for more than a decade!

Miguel75
23-Jan-2014
9:46:35 PM
On 23/01/2014 kieranl wrote:
>Where Miguel feared to tread but treaded anyway ...
>
>boldly defying the forces of grammar at every turn.

I was thinking about using trod (the pluperfect subjunctive form of the verb tread) but decided against it as it sounded dumb;)

P.S. While I have no idea what a pluperfect or subjunctive verb is do know a verb is a doing word...


Ben_E
23-Jan-2014
10:44:03 PM
On 23/01/2014 Miguel75 wrote:

>I was thinking about using trod (the pluperfect subjunctive form of the
>verb tread) but decided against it as it sounded dumb;)

"Treadeded" sounds right to me.

ChuckNorris
23-Jan-2014
10:50:47 PM
it is "treaderated" you philistine.
Mr Poopypants
23-Jan-2014
11:11:06 PM
And don't forget the comma before anyway.
What'd the philistines ever do for us, anyway?

ChuckNorris
23-Jan-2014
11:19:20 PM
On 23/01/2014 Mr Poopypants wrote:

>What'd the philistines ever do for us, anyway?

Goat cheese.

There are 15 messages in this topic.

 

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