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Pomm in Oz in July

johnnybull

2-Apr-2007
8:14:22 AM

Hi locals, another bleeding pomm is coming over to your amazing country. I'm keen to climb at the Araps, and anywhere else really. What I don't know is what weather to expect in July - in particular if there's rainy places to avoid? Any wicked crags outside of Victoria/NSW worth making the pilgrimage to (Warrumbungles?)? What about sea cliffs and deep water soloing? And (dare I say it) what the conditions at Castle Hill will be like?

I'm on my own so partners would be great to find. I lead trad to around 17, 2nd to 21ish, boulder V5 and want to get on some sport niceness too. I'll probably be bringing my rope, rack and tent.

adski

2-Apr-2007
12:02:56 PM

BritishJohnny, you should address the imbalance in your abilities, bouldering v5 and leading grade 17 eh what?! In this country our ethic doesn't require the use of ropes for cosmetic purposes only, our gear is good and you might be able to lead climbs up to the route equivalent of v5, ie grade 26!! Or at least have fun falling / trying.

Winter is a prime time to visit the North facing (sunny) crags in the Blue Mountains / Wolgan Valley, particularly the Coal Mines and Coke Ovens :-)

cheers

Phil Box

2-Apr-2007
4:00:02 PM

Winter is also prime time for those sunny climes (heh climbs, get it) of Queensland. Go north young man for warm niceness, sunny dry and cool weather can be had at this time of the year. Frog Buttress for trad crack climbing and Glasshouse Mountains for multi pitch adventures in either trad or sport.

Gotta love the friction in Queensland at that time of year.

nmonteith

2-Apr-2007
5:12:41 PM

Did you check out a weather report before commiting to Arapiles in July? It's our winter, so expect max
13'C temps (minimum 0'C at night). It will be cloudy and drizzly for 50% of the time. Daylight will be
short, and the rock will be cold. You CAN still climb all through winter, but July is definitely one of the
worse times to come here. March (right now!) is absoltly superb. Low 20s, sun sun and sun!

The Bluies is 12 hours (by car) north of Arapiles

Frog Buttress (and Queensland) is 24 hours north of Arapiles (a very long drive!)

BigMike

2-Apr-2007
5:29:45 PM

July .... hmmm ... July means Nowra I reckon.

About 2.5 hours south of Sydney, on the coast, cheap camping, canoe across the river to the crags... Warm in the day, not too cold at night, and none of your summer pests, namely flies, mozzies and powerboaters.

It's almost entirely sport climbing, so if you're from gritstone lands you can expect to be spectacularly outraged by the grid-bolting :-)

billk

2-Apr-2007
6:01:40 PM

On 2/04/2007 BigMike wrote:
>July .... hmmm ... July means Nowra I reckon.
>
>About 2.5 hours south of Sydney, on the coast, cheap camping, canoe across
>the river to the crags... Warm in the day, not too cold at night, and none
>of your summer pests, namely flies, mozzies and powerboaters.
>
>It's almost entirely sport climbing, so if you're from gritstone lands
>you can expect to be spectacularly outraged by the grid-bolting :-)

Outrage about gridbolting is temporary. Death from hypothermia is pretty permanent.

You could strike it lucky and get perfect clear winter weather at the Piles. Then it's just a matter of getting cosy at night. But a NSW/QLD trip would have to be a safer bet in July if you're dead set on climbing.

Another more sensible O/S place to go climb in July is Canada. Lot's of Canadians there - just like Australians really - and I've heard the climbing is brilliant.

johnnybull

8-Apr-2007
12:57:39 AM

All gold, thanks people. QLD sounds superb, I was hoping to go up that way. I'm actually coming in mid-June for 4 weeks, flying into/out of Sydney but I guess it's simple enough to hop on a greyhound. I take it the further south you go, the colder and more minging it gets? i.e. Araps a risky proposition?

Re grade imbalance: I know, I know... but the bouldering here is 'ing class and the grit routes are too short to get excited about. Hopefully some sunny sport stuff will get my head screwed on properly again.

dalai

8-Apr-2007
8:59:16 PM

Forget the buses! Qantas, Virgin Blue and lastly Jetstar (lastly because their overwight baggage charges are crazy!) are often on special so flights can be for the same price or less plus a lot quicker!

There are 8 messages in this topic.