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Crag & Route Beta

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

Topic Date User

Arapiles newbe 1-May-2016 At 7:03:51 AM Wendy

Message

Why I don't like Bard:
P1 poorly protected, slabby nonsense start leading to ramble to belay.
P2 short scramble with face in bird poo.
P3 Terrible rock. more bird poo. more challenging gear
P4 Might actually be OK:)
P5 Terrible rock. more poor gear. it is in a good position though

Arachnus on the other had has consistently good rock, follows a much better line up a great feature. Has 3 long, sustained pitches. I always do the right variant and the gear is fine if you follow the guide instructions and don't end up going direct in the middle bit. It's safer and easier to protect than Bard. The cave belay is awesome. THe top head wall is great. Being a complete non-fan of slabs, I would do it over any of the routes around it any day. Except maybe Skink and Watchtower Crack, although as they both have the same shitty start, Arachnus wins in the constant goodness stakes.

Eskimo Nell is another easy route that trumps Bard anyday. So does the Dribble. Spiral Staircase has 2 great pitches but an unfortunately easy bushy chimney and meander joining them.