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Chockstone Forum - Crag & Route Beta

Crag & Route Beta

Area	Location	Sub Location	Crag	Links
VIC Buffalo	(General)	(General)	(General)	[ Mt Buffalo Guide \| Images ]

Topic Date User

Where Angels Fear to Tread - bloody epic 22-Nov-2012 At 12:00:47 PM Nick Clow

Message

Hi Will

As you specifically asked for positive stories(!):

I was privileged to climb this route in Dec 2004 or Jan 2005 along with Geoff G and Kev (who was along for the ride and seconded/thirded all pitches). It was 40 years almost to the day after G's FA.

We went down nice and early (8ish?) as we wanted to catch Lee Cossey engaged in (successfully) freeing Ozy that day. We were finished and back in the car park by 11.30 am, but could have done it quicker as a 2 and if we weren't hanging out and spectating across the gorge on Lee's efforts.

Tips/comments:

* Geoff knew the route and the way down like the back of his hand, which made the approach hassle-free. When I went back to Mt Buffalo in 2010 I was really surprised at how much the plateau had changed since the bushfires of 2006. I would guess that the track down is now much less defined and I have heard of people losing their way. You might want to scope out the approach before the big day.

* Get an early start, you want to do the route in the relative cool of the morning.

* We did the route on a 60m rope as 4 x 50m+ pitches. I would definitely do it like that for speed and because there are good belays coming up to the end of each rope length. Scramble off at the top.

* Geoff very generously gave me pitches 1 and 3 which are the pearlers. Pitches 2 and 4 are not quite as good (if you want to 'bags' the best pitches from your mate).

* We didn't take too much gear (something like 2 x gold camalots, 2 x 3 camalots and 1 x 3.5 camalot, a few smaller cams and a rack of nuts??) Medium cams fit in the back of the crack and I certainly didn't feel under-gunned. You probably only need one nut on the route for the finger crack move (crux) on p3.

The route is unique, an absolute classic - a must-do for anyone. I am grateful to have had such a great day out doing it, hope you enjoy it as much.