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20-Apr-2017 12:24:54 PM
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Arvo All,
At the risk of repeating a previous topic, can you put your collective thinking caps on and come up with few so called 'hidden gems' in the 14-20 grade bracket (given I've done most of the 2 and 3 starred routes in this range). For example, I did Free Beer and Open Road some time back and they were great!
Cheers, JDB
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20-Apr-2017 1:13:19 PM
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Long Hair and Great Coats
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20-Apr-2017 1:29:24 PM
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Caught in a Crossfire (21 but easy) up in Campbell's Kingdom
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20-Apr-2017 1:43:32 PM
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I'm scanning through my list looking for one star or less:
The Fall of Man was certainly memorable for me, as was Mullumbimby Madness.
Hum only gets one star on thecrag but I enjoyed it.
I think Pibroch and Today on Ethereal buttress both climb nicely.
I like Angel Black at the top of the Pharos Gully, and A Short Crawl in the Pharos Gully is quite different.
Hand Job was memorable.
Celeste is good.
Radish and Shaggy's route.
Surely you've done Maximus and Minimus? What about Fang and Kamakaze? Mantis.
Central left Puppy Love and Jason spring to mind... So does Sob Story.
Organ Pipes Gully Saint Peter, Mudeye and Viagra. In a similar crack theme nearby Necrophiliac.
Wascal and Scarlet Sage.
I quite enjoyed Catcher.
Also Nero and Crucifixion.
Finally Bushranger's... I quite like Orange Crush, Hangman and Ckinell.
[edit: I shouldn't have relied on thecrag's grades or stars...]
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20-Apr-2017 2:43:46 PM
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If you bother checking out Catcher, keep going and have a look at Serious Young Lizards. I thought it was OK.
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21-Apr-2017 1:55:35 PM
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Are you working from Simey's or Lou's guide?
Have you checked out the world famous Garden Wall yet? Most of the routes are easily as good as Free Beer. Given that it's climbing in the sun weather shortly, you might like to try Shiralee Wall - Everything from Shiralee Direct right is pretty good. Everthing left, despite what Lou's guide says, not so good. You'll need to look them up on the Crag for all the routes.
Coeur de Lion is the most amazing obscure route i think I've done - although it does have 2 stars in Lou's guide, Cambell's in general is ignored as it didn't make the select guide. There's a 50m rap from above it now. It'd be super popular if if it was near camp. I remember Snorkler being ok from years ago, the 19 left of it it rather exciting (my link up has the best climbing), the 20 left again really good, also put an anchor there. The collection of 13s left again are a bit all over the place and the only really worthwhile climbing was the DF version of Heart full of Soul. The wall with Swill was generally ok and the 18 above it (Stoker) good. Plumber's crack, sundowner, marmite, perpetual standstill all worth bothering with. I'm not really sure what the story with the finish of Marmite - there's not really a jam crack on the right and the DF described as obvious is not really so. We stepped right and went up the line on the wall, which is not really a jam crack but good. There's a super highway to Campbell's these days courtesy of paragliders and you've reminded me I have a few new routes to get back to there.
Senior Citizens wall is also worth a look, - good 18, 19 and 21 and has an anchor. Limp and Je Suis un Legend are Douglas's contribution to getting people onto comic strip wall and new image wall at an easier grade. Mickey Finn is the grade 15 version of Procul Harem (the hun is crap though). Wormwood is good (anchor on that ledge too) but give Defector a miss. The new routes on the base of Tiger Wall are generally good (indeed, so are many of the older single pitch things there if you haven't done them - add Monkey Paw and Resignation VS to those in Simey's guide) and Geoff's new 14 near Hawk supposed to be good.
I tend to put comments on anything obscure I do on the crag so if you see anything interesting looking, have a look at the ascents and see if i've written anything. I spend a lot of time climbing obscurity and try to say if it was good, worthless, loose, filthy, impossible to find etc etc. Keiran L is a good source of info as well. Let me know if you need a climbing partner for obscurity and I'll see what else I haven't been able to convince anyone else of yet ... say more new routing at CK for starters.
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21-Apr-2017 7:19:56 PM
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Wendy is right... if you like uninspiring looking, non-descript routes, then Garden Wall has some real gems.
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21-Apr-2017 8:32:44 PM
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Dribble
rhymns with .....
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21-Apr-2017 11:14:07 PM
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mr scribble
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22-Apr-2017 7:55:30 AM
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On 21/04/2017 simey wrote:
>Wendy is right... if you like uninspiring looking, non-descript routes,
>then Garden Wall has some real gems.
Ah, Simey, because your select guide is features such inspiring routes as Passover and Pixie's delight. Cunrack. Evelyn's new clothes. The Hun. The only way to fly. Falsettos. America after the bomb. genitals of speech. I could go on!
The topos and comments here might provide a better perspective on Garden Wall https://www.thecrag.com/climbing/australia/arapiles/upper-central-gully/area/11963443
And even Simey admitted he'd put it in a new version of the guide because it fills a niche -
more moderate climbs in the shade.
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22-Apr-2017 8:04:00 AM
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Greenwhich Reach (a KL remake) is also worth a look
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22-Apr-2017 8:11:53 AM
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Lower Hum terrace (called Leasehold wall on thecrag) - first affinity (starting up Infinity), goaty mcgoatface, bitterblue, fretwork and the amalgamation of start of Butan, middle of Friends in high places then finish direct. I should write that up as a separate route as it is the best climbing of 2 strangely wandery routes.
Waddy mckenzie and surrounding routes.
Sweet Surrender.
Barbed and Kieran's routes right of the second pitch (the 18 is the best one)
Artificial Insemination
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22-Apr-2017 8:56:51 AM
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On 21/04/2017 simey wrote:
>Wendy is right... if you like uninspiring looking, non-descript routes,
>then Garden Wall has some real gems.
I forgot how inspired I was by the descript appearence of Mohawk Hanky, Eeyore's Thistles, Constance Little and Bolero wall. I really should just follow Simey's judgement ...
Cliche Wall has a few good thing, although it's hard to work out what is where from the guide. I might have tried to clarify them on the crag, can't remember. Winterset and Dismember and the 13 next to them were great and it's a really nice position up there. Trouser sighs was describer by Greg at the time as like climbing up a bat's anus. You might want to give it a miss.
Parsley was was OK, although again, Lou's guide isn't totally clear. And we found the routes a little hard and exciting. You can walk into it from the top.
I'm sure i've sung the praises of 5 fingered mary before. It's a 5 star route. Take a 5 camalot.
Wurlitzer, Boomer, Squeaker, amazing lace (not the direct version which is desperate and unprotected), Goodbye to all that, Bootleg or Bitorrent (they are variant starts to same finish). They are the only worthwhile easier routes up there, Hassan is desperate and hard to protect, next Horizon and cream puff are manky, the 19 on the far left is poorly protected and mossy and Frontispiece is hard to get to the start of and not that worth it, having only a few moves low down. I quite like Dead End, Shattered and Delicacy although Douglas thinks they are mank. Glass Goblin is definitely mank. Hard ears and surrounding stuff. Wuss wall and coyote wall were ok. Of course, not as inspiring and descript as garden wall ... I am realising I could go on for hours about no star routes worth climbing at Araps. In general, most stuff at Araps is surprisingly good. No star routes that would be multiple stars at many other crags. We are spoilt around here.
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26-Apr-2017 10:09:04 AM
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Thanks all for your feedback
I really enjoyed Long Hair and Great Coats in particular.
I was wondering while squeezing through the cave how Eduardo got through it!! (perhaps smothered in olive oil?)
;- ) JB
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26-Apr-2017 11:12:10 AM
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On 26/04/2017 jdb wrote:
>Thanks all for your feedback
>
>I really enjoyed Long Hair and Great Coats in particular.
>
>I was wondering while squeezing through the cave how Eduardo got through
>it!! (perhaps smothered in olive oil?)
>
>;- ) JB
I used the same technique you used to get your head through
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26-Apr-2017 12:55:58 PM
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Some good stuff listed here...
Definitely agree with Long Hair and Great Coats for the novelty factor.
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26-Apr-2017 10:17:58 PM
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On 22/04/2017 Wendy wrote:
>On 21/04/2017 simey wrote:
>>Wendy is right... if you like uninspiring looking, non-descript routes,
>>then Garden Wall has some real gems.
>
>I forgot how inspired I was by the descript appearence of Mohawk Hanky,
>Eeyore's Thistles, Constance Little and Bolero wall. I really should just
>follow Simey's judgement ...
None of the these routes receive stars in the Select Guide. If you want to follow Simey's judgement, then choose the routes that are awarded stars.
And Wendy, given the title of this thread is Hidden Gems, then I think you should look up the definition of gem.
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27-Apr-2017 6:34:17 AM
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On 26/04/2017 simey wrote:
>On 22/04/2017 Wendy wrote:
>>On 21/04/2017 simey wrote:
>>>Wendy is right... if you like uninspiring looking, non-descript routes,
>>>then Garden Wall has some real gems.
>>
>>I forgot how inspired I was by the descript appearence of Mohawk Hanky,
>>Eeyore's Thistles, Constance Little and Bolero wall. I really should
>just
>>follow Simey's judgement ...
>
>None of the these routes receive stars in the Select Guide. If you want
>to follow Simey's judgement, then choose the routes that are awarded stars.
>
>And Wendy, given the title of this thread is Hidden Gems, then I think
>you should look up the definition of gem.
>
I was working more from the definitions of hidden and select. I don't think anything in a select guide is hidden and anything in a select guide should really be a gem. And as Free Beer is not so much a gem as an acceptably nice route, I came up with an extended list of acceptably nice routes. Nicer than some of the "select" ones. But maybe I am also putting my situation on other - I have climbed everything up to about 23 in the select guide so I really am looking for "hidden" routes. Couer de Lion really is a gem. If you haven't done it, get on it.
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27-Apr-2017 9:55:54 AM
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In a select guide to Frog, for example, every climb would be a gem. But for a large, more complex climbing area such as Arapiles, it's also about selecting the cliffs. So a few gems would be missing and a few non-gems would be included.
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27-Apr-2017 4:18:44 PM
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On 27/04/2017 prb wrote:
>In a select guide to Frog, for example, every climb would be a gem. But
>for a large, more complex climbing area such as Arapiles, it's also about
>selecting the cliffs. So a few gems would be missing and a few non-gems
>would be included.
Frog has an amazing quality distinction going on. The routes are either really good or really awful and remarkably little in between.
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