New Routes 2017

Adam high on the 5th pitch (22).

Hamish leading the first pitch (24)

Acrasia (Original Route)

Mt Murchison access to E Lucevan Le Stele and surrounds.

Follow Mt M summit track (Main Track) then descend to small hanging lake inside the crater, 300m altitude below summit trig (see topo in for descent options, 1 is easier to find, 2 is easier walking).

wow that looks epic, nice work!!!

Thats a sick bit of rock, and a bold effort to launch up that ground up

Hamish Jackson I've moved the existing Mt Murchison notes and photos, and these topos and route descriptions to a new page to be edited: Mount Murchison

Good stuff. Can you mark the Mt Murchison summit on the map for newcomers to the area.

Looks great! But someone please name a new route "Murchison's Eye"!

I have now edited the Mt M guide further, thanks for suggestions.

Lost World. Mt Welllington.

** 'Hejira variant' to Savage Journey. 28m grade 23

Climb first half of SJ (grade 19 hand crack to this point), until a jug and BR be spied on the left face. Swing onto jug then clip BR, breathe deep then take the steep, sustained face and thin cracks above (well protected: wires and small cams).

FA H Jackson, S Joseph, T Smith, A Donaghue 2015

I finally got around to leading this ground up style the other day, after an earlier ascent, hence the delayed write up. I suspect many may find this variant easier than the original!! I have placed the bolt well left of SJ to avoid changing the character of that route. The direct start to Hejra is a good line - feels about grade 28 for 10m, but then is very thin (maybe 30 plus??) for 5m.

Cathedral Rock, Hobart.

No recorded trad climbs here but people must have  had a bash in the past? We climbed a two pitch trady number today. The route is located below Bells Buttress. We made two raps from the bolted anchors above and below the established sport climbs. The second rap is about 55m and lands on a sloping ledge.

No Fucking Sardines In The Pesto 19 60m

A route in honour of our mate Alessandro Conti. Rest in power. Route starts at the sloping ledge directly below bells butress rap station.

1. 45m 19, Surmount the large detached block below the off width crack. Up crack and face for  around 15m untill a bold traverse is made out to the arete on the left (no gear and friable holds). Follow the thin cracks and arete upwards via the "rodeo" block to the large platform.

2.15m 18, Up the thin cracks and flakey laybacks to the bolted anchor. A few dicky side steps are involved here. Get to the top of the buttress via one of the sporty numbers above.

M. Lopez, Y.C. Foong & T. Gallagher. Jan 2017

Cathedral rock, Rocky Cape

Roughly 10 routes done between 2015 - 2017, possibly still a few easy lines left to do. Just under an hours walk from the carpark (very pleasant walking). It's a pretty small crag but it's a stunning place to be. The pick of the bunch is Rorogwela, grade 23 on gear, but for climbers climbing lower grades it can be a nice place to spend an afternoon/day. See guide to rocky cape.

A couple of new lines on

Lower Great Tier

Eddie                   24m      16                     

Worthwhile. An unlikely and varied excursion, keeping on the arête (R of Zephyr) the whole way. Start 2 m R of Zephyr and left of the steep gully.

Climb the bulging wall and follow the arête passing to the left of a small roof, move back right, continue up the nose and mantelshelf onto a ledge. Up the clean arête keeping well away from the gully. At the top, scramble 4m to belay at two stout tea trees. Descend via the ramp.

P. Robinson, C. (Basil) Rathbone, Jan. 2017.

the Eagle        22m      18

The wall and arête right of Procrastination, just left of Kabling, gives an enjoyable steep climb: start midway between the two.

Boulder the thin face, then climb the shallow corner and finger cracks directly up to the hakea bush. Climb the overhanging arête, moving right on to the Kabling Wall near the top. DBB. Rap or lower off from here (20m).

O.Gervasoni, P.Robinson (Feb.2017)

See:-      Eddie (9 Feb. 2017).jpg

Line to right of Kabling, Lower Great Tier.

Master Class    20m    18

A fitting companion route to Kabling.

Start a metre right of Kabling. Climb up and over to large block and take a direct line up the steep wall past 2 bolts and straight on up through the roof to the hakea bush. Step left and finish up right-hand edge of the wall to the Kabling DBB. Rap or lower off from here (20m).

T. McKenny and B. Bull, O. Gervasoni, Feb 2017.

not shore if its a new route or not,

Drag ya cousin up. 20m grade 13

up the fault directly above northern group track. Follow the fault then traverse right to fixture on the airete then up to ledge. This could be the first of 2pitches but we decided to bale from there. Good if your bringing up a Newby.

Harlequin buttress.

Beaman's Route "The New" Direct 24 ~ 7m of new climbing. Great! - Gets rid of the aid without a heinous nail pulling move, has some funky moves, and puts two stars back on the direct!

3m left of original direct: Climb up left facing corner for 5m. Funky moves right to gain face then ledge. Up 'old' direct. 

H Jackson Feb 2017. Was done very safely using double ropes + bomber natural gear in corner - but would be better if I added a U-bolt  as currently the right rope through original u bolt gets in the way of the crux 'dead point' move right unless right rope is slack. I didn't have any u-bolts with me!

Coles Bay, The Quadrangle (Cape T).

★★★ 40.

Another route on Lower Great Tier

*The Trump Tower      22m         20    7Þ ↓

 Climbs the arête and tower right of Elementary Jam. Scramble up the blocks at the bottom then follow arête past bolts straight up to top. Like the other Trump Towers all the action and grief is at the very top. DBB: rap off bolts on the wall behind the finish (24m).

FA:  B. Bull and T. McKenny, B. Maddison, S. Scott, Valentines Day, Feb 2017.

New route at the Acropolis. The grading/stars at this place are a bit weird. Astroboy should be a 3 star 22. Not sure why it lost a star. It may be a smidge dirty but is one of the coolest unique dolerite cracks in Tassie. Anna repeated Blackmans country and we  thought it was 23 not 25. As a single pitch BMC is a ** route. It's short and cruxy. Also for those who are not aware, about half of the cliff is mossy ledgey chimneys so I am not sure why any of the existing multipitches would be given 3 stars. Rapping in and climbing the top pitches is probably the best option for getting the most quality climbing as you walk to the top of the cliff first anyway. For example,  the 50 metre grade 21 pitch at the top of Take Me To The River is *** and is easily reached by rappel but the rest of the route is a bit wandery and dirty.  I worked the crack left of Astroboy that Merry and Alex got on last year and it will be 27/28 with stonker gear all the way up and is the best dolerite crack I have been on. Of course it is an open project. I also partially cleaned the super thin crack immediately left of TGOE and it will go at 30+. When all of the top pitches at the acropolis are climbed it will have one of the highest concentration of quality cracks(+ one sport pitch) from grade 10 to 30 in the state. Maybe 25 routes from 20 to 50 metres long.

***Acropalyptic  28m 26

Open book corner left of  Acropolis Now. Committing, bouldery and technical first half. Sustained layback and jamming second half. Triple green to red alien and doubles to 3 camalot. 

FA: J. Fischer, March 1 2017. 

 

On the left side of University Buttress :

★ 1. Mountain Rocket 25m 22 12Þ
Takes the sustained face left of Two Angry Young Men. At about two-thirds height you are forced right to a steep bulge to gain the arete, before heading back left to finish.
Dave Humphries, Jon Nermut, Mar. 2017.

Two routes from Garry:

***Thriller 23 100m

Thriller offers exceptionally good quality climbing. Prepare your self for engaging and technical climbing in a wild location.  
The route is fully Bolted.

1.    15m (12).  Start as for Pscho Man, but then traverse left after a few meters aiming for the large ledge near the start of the sea cave.

1. 30m (23). From the ledge clip the first bolt. Down climb to the horizontal break and traverse left and up. Wild!
   
   
2. 20m (23). A bouldery start enables entry to the crack system. Up this to an easier finish.

1. 20m (22) Up the slab above to just below the overlap.  Traverse left (crux) and up the line above.

1. 15m (18) Step right and finish up the last few meters of Psycho Man.

Gear List:

• 3x 30cm quick draws
• 1x 60cm quick draw
• 14x quick draws
  
  

FA: Garry Phillips and Kim Laggies 2016         

***Nemesis 27/28
Excellent climbing with two insecure crux sections.  Starts for Simply the Best and Finish up Hubris. 
Gear required for upper section is a selection of cams from .3 to 2 camolot.

FA: Garry Phillips April 2017    

New route at Upper Fools Couloir: It follows the striking wide crack that Rick the Redneck starts on. Good, clean old-school fun and a distinctly different route to Rick. If the mountain editors deem it worthy to put on the guide, I'd be much obliged.

*The Frightful Hog 19 20m

Shares a start with Rick the Redneck, but continues up the obvious wide crack instead of veering (cowardly) off to the right. Grunt past the delightful rootlet with the welcome assistance of the arete. Fists, big fists and a touch of off-width.

B. Armstrong, R. Hardy, May 2017  

Update: Continuum (gr 17) on main wall (Freycinet) has been 'edited' by the FA party. 2 bolts have been added to the traverse pitch, which has also been brushed (june 2017). It is now a good time to repeat this climb!

Also: would people support the additon of a rap anchor down Stud City? The current abseil is rather awful (loose rock, lots of prickly rope snagging bushes). The second BR on Continuum is well positioned (in line and above small ledge) to be incorporated into a second rap anchor.

Sounds like a good route, Hamish. You might want to edit the description as well. Note: "arête on a descent size slopping ledge".

Thank's Doug, I have editted those errorr's in the originale deskription.

Thanks for feedback Jed. I get the impression from others that my approach here would be supported, but it good to hear of the other opinions out there. Next time I will ask for advice from those who have repeated the route before a retrobolt one of my old climbs. Note that the climb is still a bit run out, like many main wall climbs.

So, just to clarify - You drive through the first gate where the 'Private road' signs are, past the big shed under construction, and park further along?

This ones at Friendly Point, Freycinet.
The Upper terrace is split by a huge horizontal crack/tunnel/cave that trends slightly upwards from right to left along virtually the whole crag. Cant believe it hasn't been done (or has it?), as it's so obvious. Really good route and hard for the grade! Reminiscent of the route After the Gold Rush or Reaper at Araps.

This is best done as two pitches but we did it as 3 to keep it pure. If you could add it to the guide would be sick.

The Grand Grovel 22 45m 
This line takes the humongous left trending horizontal of the upper terrace. Start at the she oak on a little rise.
1- 19 20m Up the chimney heading left into the difficulties, squirm on fist jams. When you emerge continue L on hand jams and smears to a point where the crack peters out in a small cave.
2- 22 25m Break out left on hand jams and smears until you once again get engulfed by the crack.  Leave the safety of the notch and out onto the open face using whatever contorted dance moves you can to pass the horizontal offwidth (crux) and reach the ledge.

T.Kirkby & M. Lopez (alt leads) August 2017.

Got back from a few days at Stepped Hills. Insanely spectacular bit of rock, and an unjustly neglected Tasmanian mountain in my opinion, especially given how close you can get to it on the Clear Hill Road. We were aiming to do the big head-walls but got defeated by the scrub and complex approach. Instead, we did a couple of routes on the comparatively small (albeit 100m high) lower cliffs and found some legitimately excellent, sustained climbing on rock remarkably similar to Arapiles. Setting up a base camp is a breeze with a kayak, but the scrub on the approach definitely puts a spanner in the works. I might try another trip again this summer. I've updated the Other Western Crags guide.

The prow in the second photo is 200m from top to bottom. There's a system of cracks that runs directly up the arete. We scoped some potential solutions to the massive roofs, but it still looks like a fairly serious undertaking (assuming of course that it can be accessed).  

Nice one Ben - I've been wondering when someone might 'discover' these cliffs. I went out there with my bro 11 years ago and did one cool 100m route, but  kept it a bit quiet as we planned to return to do the corner arete system you have photgraphed. Dave James was keen to join us, but we haven't been back yet.  i'll post our route topo next. we walked to the top and accessed the impressive upper walls in a top down approach due to the difficulties accessing the major lines from the base. at the time the tyndalls had just been climbed and we wondered whether these were the largest unclimbed walls in the state.

Garn Cooper had previously suggested the name "The Cliffs of Insanity" for these large west facing walls - due to some likeness to the huge cliffs in the film 'the princess bride'. he hadn't climbed there, but we sort of adopted this name in our conversations - what do you think? obviously 'stepped hill cliffs' is the obvious alternative. however there are other good cliffs on the stepped hills ...

It was the first major trip I did with Shumita - who i had just met and she had only done a bit of climbing previously. she had planned to join us just for the walk, but then joined us on the day for her first big climb. our route was SUPER exposed (went through a roof about 300m above the 'ground')- she was not supringly a little oerwhelmed.  i had to 'push' her 2m down into tight cave near my belay to give her a break from 'the air beneath the feet'. the rock on our route was also remarkably good (super hard, weathered conglomerate w good gear).

Stepped Hills (Cliffs of Insanity, SW Tasmania.

Inconceivable 100m 17 **

Remarkable exposure at the grade.

Access: walk to the top of stepped hills via button grass lead north of the Cliffs of Insanity. Scramble down gully between the major buttresses for ~ 100m. A ledge system leads to the arete (start of the climb).

1. 50m 17. (climber photographed above is on this pitch). ascend steep face just left of arete, passing many small roof features. belay beneath large roof.
2. 50m 17. Tackle easiest weakness through roof above belay (curx), then weave right to avoid next large roof, then climb back left up blank looking face and left arete above, with reasonable protection (looks improbable).

H Jackson, M Jackson, S Joseph 31/12/2006