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Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports

Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!

Author
The Shaker - Mount Arapiles
kieranl
18-Jul-2016
9:47:02 PM
On Saturday I was out with a noted guidebook editor, on his endless, perpetually unsuccessful, quest for classic new beginners climbs. Typically these are sought in beautiful, isolated spots where no-one ever goes. The problem is that the the reason no-one ever goes there isn't that these idyllic glades are remote, it is that the rock and climbing is awful.

But I digress. We were there, in Hunger Gully, on a glorious, sunny winter's day (well, it was sunny out of the shady gully we were in). We had unpacked and after one look at the climb and another look at the rack and rope I nominated my companion to lead. The rope, I was assured, had once been 50 metres long and was now "about 47". The rack had been proposed to be a basic trad affair but somehow that had got left at home. What we were left with were a few wires, 4 slings, some hexentrics with cord that could the Indian rope trick, and three cams which appeared to have been rejected by Ray Jardine in the mid-seventies.

My companion was happily sorting his gear when I noticed something. "What is that?", I said, pointing at a what appeared to be a wonky letter S in a pocket, apparently sketched by a finger dipped in a paint-pot.

My companion first looked surprised and then a bit embarassed. "Oh, that was me" and "It's The Shaker, I must have put it in the wrong gully in the guide". He went on to explain that when he was young he had visited the Blue Mountains and seen the painted initials marking the starts of many climbs. He thought this was a good idea and when he returned to Arapiles began to initial climbs. Mercifully he started with Hunger Gully, with pretty crude results, initialled a few more at Mitre Rock and then decided that this was not a good idea.

So the correct location of The Shaker has been re-discovered after about 45 years and it doesn't matter because it's complete rubbish. Our climb was abandoned and we went and did Diapason, which was the only reasonable option given our rack and rope.

Duang Daunk
19-Jul-2016
4:59:30 PM
On 18/07/2016 kieranl wrote:
>On Saturday I was out with a noted guidebook editor, on his endless, perpetually
>unsuccessful, quest for classic new beginners climbs. Typically these are
>sought in beautiful, isolated spots where no-one ever goes. The problem
>is that the the reason no-one ever goes there isn't that these idyllic
>glades are remote, it is that the rock and climbing is awful.
>
>But I digress. We were there, in Hunger Gully, on a glorious, sunny winter's
>day (well, it was sunny out of the shady gully we were in). We had unpacked
>and after one look at the climb and another look at the rack and rope I
>nominated my companion to lead. The rope, I was assured, had once been
>50 metres long and was now "about 47". The rack had been proposed to be
>a basic trad affair but somehow that had got left at home. What we were
>left with were a few wires, 4 slings, some hexentrics with cord that could
>the Indian rope trick, and three cams which appeared to have been rejected
>by Ray Jardine in the mid-seventies.
>
>My companion was happily sorting his gear when I noticed something. "What
>is that?", I said, pointing at a what appeared to be a wonky letter S in
>a pocket, apparently sketched by a finger dipped in a paint-pot.
>
>My companion first looked surprised and then a bit embarassed. "Oh, that
>was me" and "It's The Shaker, I must have put it in the wrong gully in
>the guide". He went on to explain that when he was young he had visited
>the Blue Mountains and seen the painted initials marking the starts of
>many climbs. He thought this was a good idea and when he returned to Arapiles
>began to initial climbs. Mercifully he started with Hunger Gully, with
>pretty crude results, initialled a few more at Mitre Rock and then decided
>that this was not a good idea.
>
>So the correct location of The Shaker has been re-discovered after about
>45 years and it doesn't matter because it's complete rubbish. Our climb
>was abandoned and we went and did Diapason, which was the only reasonable
>option given our rack and rope.

Noted guidebook editor bro sandbagged himself!
Good one.
45 years later is a long time but he can't use fading memory as an excuse as he lost that climb many years earlier.

You are obviously intrepid K-bro, as going into shady gullies in isolated areas with the Noted one, is perilous top shelf adventure for most.
Are you sure it wasn't a ruse?

pmonks
20-Jul-2016
5:33:26 AM
On 18/07/2016 kieranl wrote:
>But I digress. We were there, in Hunger Gully, on a glorious, sunny winter's
>day (well, it was sunny out of the shady gully we were in). We had unpacked
>and after one look at the climb and another look at the rack and rope I
>nominated my companion to lead. The rope, I was assured, had once been
>50 metres long and was now "about 47". The rack had been proposed to be
>a basic trad affair but somehow that had got left at home. What we were
>left with were a few wires, 4 slings, some hexentrics with cord that could
>the Indian rope trick, and three cams which appeared to have been rejected
>by Ray Jardine in the mid-seventies.

This sounds like most of my climbing trips with Ray Lassman!
kieranl
20-Jul-2016
12:44:00 PM
On 20/07/2016 pmonks wrote:

>This sounds like most of my climbing trips with Ray Lassman!

Ray has bought all new gear, even a helmet! Not sure if any of it has come out of the plastic yet.
technogeekery
20-Jul-2016
2:23:19 PM
Funny story :-)

pmonks
21-Jul-2016
3:37:27 AM
On 20/07/2016 kieranl wrote:
>Ray has bought all new gear, even a helmet! Not sure if any of it has
>come out of the plastic yet.

I've tried but I'm really struggling to believe he bought new gear. Next you'll be saying he's given up beer!

Say g'day to him for me next time you see him - it's been too long since we caught up!

There are 6 messages in this topic.

 

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