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Crag & Route Beta

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

Author

Federation Peak, Tas

climberman

28-Jul-2004
12:52:41 PM

OK, having dealt pretty well with Lockleys / The Fortress (I dug up Luxford's guide and atually read it - pit some of Bryden's maps look as if they were witten on a coaster at the pub, I s'pose they probably were), have moved on to bigger things after being asked to go for a short stroll through the tasmanian wilds to federation peak for a couple of weeks, around April or May 05

I'd kinda like to do some climbing while there, given it's a peak and all and has some wild looking routes - so anyone actually been there and have some useful info ?

I've had a squizz at Jon Nermut's page on it, and emailed him about it and got some contacts, but'd be interested to know if anyone knows anything... thinking Blade Ridge / NorthWest Face.


HEX

28-Jul-2004
1:04:10 PM

Crag&route beta forum perhaps...

gfdonc

28-Jul-2004
1:52:49 PM

Been there but only with the standard 20m of 7mm and a couple of 'biners.
South Face (std route up Fed Pk) was a scary bushwalk until I realised I was solo rockclimbing with 3000' of exposure. The mental switch from walking to climbing put me back in my comfort zone.

It's a bloody long way to walk in to go climbing.

I read somewhere long ago that Blade Ridge was gr 17, I'm thinking Dewhirst and Baxter did it, and you're going to have to dig up late '70s or early '80's copies of Thrutch to find the article I'm thinking of. BA is probably your man.

climberman

28-Jul-2004
1:57:02 PM

Yeah, will have to wait and see if we decide to do some climbing.

Hex - hmm, true, can I change it over ?

Digging up Thrutch just sounds like a new way to gain disease. Although perhaps walking in tassie is the same given the weather.

Yeah, it's an old school, 1961/68 grade 17 which i guess means 17 plus about 34 grades for exposure, remoteness and general fear inducement. Sounds nice.


rodw

28-Jul-2004
4:00:30 PM

There was s show on last year??? about a guy with no legs that "walked" in and did some climbing. Climbing looked relatively easy on exposure +++ walls, but if a guy with no legs can walk in and climbing there, the walk it cant be any excuse not to.


nmonteith

28-Jul-2004
4:07:29 PM

http://www.partanimal.com

climberman

28-Jul-2004
4:38:51 PM

cmon rod, now I have less excuses to bail out, and I need those excuses in case I drop my purse, or tear part of my blouse or something. I think the weather will be the biggest factor anyway. And testicles. ta for the link neil.

28-Jul-2004
4:41:32 PM

I was part of a party of 4 that walked into Fed Peak about 20 years ago. We planned to do the bushwalkers route to the summit and then some climbing on the smaller walls nearby. We got the summit, then the weather started going downhill and when we heard about the storms contracting to the SW we packed up and hightailed it out of there. Having a radio was useful, we were there just after Xmas when the Sydney - Hobart boat race was on, the 'local' radio station was giving detailed weather forecasts until the last boats were in (about New Years day).

We were getting under the fastest time in Chapmans walking guide on our way out!

There is an article about Blade Ridge in Thrutch (somewhere) but the DF and climbs on the surrounding walls have mainly been written up in Argus. And I don't have that info readily to hand, sorry.

climberman

28-Jul-2004
4:58:34 PM

Cheers BA. Weather, and its precipitation forms, seems to be a constant theme. Well, I'm not going until May 05 so might be able to dig up Thrutch or even Argus. How'd the rock look ?


rodw

28-Jul-2004
5:21:52 PM

On 28/07/2004 climberman wrote:
>cmon rod, now I have less excuses to bail out, and I need those excuses
>in case I drop my purse, or tear part of my blouse or something.

Id still use it as an excuse, I bitch when the walk in is longer than 10 meters...."what do you mean I cant belay outta my car????"


oweng

29-Jul-2004
7:27:07 AM

Here is a link to the old Federation Peak guide book:

http://www.dytech.com.au/guide/climb/Federation/Federation.htm

I've never been there, but have heard the walk in is pretty hard work (and would be more so with a pack full of climbing gear).....

Also Climberman, May would be far from ideal for climbing in that part of Tassie. Short days, and a high likelyhood of snow. Could be very 'charactor building'

climberman

29-Jul-2004
8:35:18 AM

Yeah, still ummin and a ahhin. But sometimes you can only go when the leave pass has been allocated.

julesr

29-Jul-2004
10:41:44 AM

The walk in is wicked, but May would be pushing it - gonna get very very wet.......(wot fun)

kieranl

29-Jul-2004
10:13:30 PM

Federation in May: are you a masochist?
I have two words to say : wet, cold. You can add extremely in front of wet.
If you are lucky you will be able to get up the standard climb to the summit.
A friend of mine went there in winter. On one day it snowed enough to bury the tent. The next day it rained enough to wash the snow away.
It's a great place but don't expect to do any climbing.

gfdonc

30-Jul-2004
1:10:22 PM

Hmm, I should add my personal experience to K's comments.
Got 9 glorious days in April once. Was cool, but fine and sunny every day. We couldn't believe our luck.
Then on the 10th day on the way back along the Western Arthurs the weather closed in and it snowed for two days solid. Took us 5 hours to get back to the top of the nearest escape ridge, which only took about 90 minutes on the way in.
Creeks were up high enough to make escape problematic. We were lucky to make our pickup rendezvous on the 14th day.
It can snow any month of the year down there, but May would really be pushing it.
- Steve


HEX

30-Jul-2004
3:28:53 PM

The place could do with some climb re-naming , to add some inspiration to such a great location --- 90% of the routes are called MUMC Route # 1,2,3,4,5,6, etc,etc,etc...

Mack

27-Jun-2005
11:54:13 PM

So climberman,did you end up going?

Looking for beta, as a couple of us idiots are thinking of heading down in August for a Winter Ascent!

climberman

28-Jun-2005
8:36:03 AM

No. The best laid plans of reality came crashing down around me (new job, new kid, that kind of thing). I did email with some very helpful folks though, will see if I can dig up their info or details. It may well have been lost in the depths of dataspace though.

Mack

30-Jun-2005
3:54:43 PM

Sorry it fell through. Any info would be greatly received.

Will let you know how I go when I get back!! :)

climberman

30-Jun-2005
4:22:11 PM

Mack, will have a look over the next few days / week.

One of the biggest issues will be your lack of daylight, even in good weather.

There are 43 messages in this topic.