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Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports

Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!

Author
TR: Ozymandias Direct 4-Day Aid Solo
hpt
26-Jul-2019
9:05:10 PM
Hi guys,

Better late than never. Check out my trip report from the ascent I made back in April. It forms the first two posts on a new blog and contains lots of photos. Hopefully there will be more trip reports to come. Feel free to follow the blog and post comments, questions or general sh*t talking here or on the blog.

Part 1: Preparation

Part 2: Trip Report

If I can be bothered, I will reproduce the text here.

Regards,

hpt

gfdonc
27-Jul-2019
10:18:08 AM
Terrific TR, thanks. Taking that on as a solo, onsight is a courageous effort.

You have Geoff Gledhill miscredited on the second page (it says "Alan and Glen").

hpt
27-Jul-2019
10:43:53 AM
Oh crap thanks for spotting that! Fixed. That's the trouble with writing these things at 3AM.

I really appreciate your comment. I'm loosely planning another onshite aid solo on the North wall :) I want something just a little spicier in terms of the aid, with OK bivy potential. Open for suggestions!
PeterW
27-Jul-2019
1:25:25 PM
Thanks for taking the time to write it up your adventure, especially in such detail! I loved the planning notes! (So little food for so much energy expenditure!)

I did several routes on the north wall back in the day, but I never got down to Ozy. That's been one of the regrets of my climbing career, but your report almost made it feel like we were climbing along with you!
hpt
27-Jul-2019
5:08:17 PM
Thanks a lot! That is really encouraging :) There will be more to come so please sign-up by entering your email at the bottom of the page if you'd like to receive updates!
kieranl
28-Jul-2019
5:24:39 PM
Thanks for posting Fixed ropes on the walk of shame! Luxury!!

Another option might be Knocking On Heavens Door finishing up Ozy original.. Haven't done it myself but looks good apart from the exit chimeys. I think gfdonc has some experience with this climb.
gfdonc
29-Jul-2019
1:09:14 PM
Yes you can find part of my TR here:
http://www.chockstone.org/Forum/Forum.asp?Action=Display&ForumID=2&MessageID=1374&Replies=25

(from way back in 2004! The rock hasn't changed much over that time).

However it appears to have been trun-cated by the Chockstone gremlin that attacked all lengthy postings about 3 years back.
I'll see if I can resurrect the rest of it.
gfdonc
29-Jul-2019
3:27:43 PM
Found the rest of the trip report without images, but Chokkie's SQL injection detection has been uprated since this was posted so I can't even repost what's there, let alone add to it.
Does anyone have the definition of what Suspicious Input Detected is picking up?
TimP
29-Jul-2019
5:05:51 PM
Great TR thanks. I've only made it 1/2 way up climbing in a team of 3... it scared the hell out of me! I've been wondering if giving up hot meals and drinks would be worth saving the weight of carrying a burner, what do you reckon?
Your rope solo rig, is that the one with a Grigri and the chest harness?
Good to have your thoughts on sleeping / hammocks. I'm thinking another saving weight might be one of these:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gradeviiequipment/the-g7-pod-worlds-lightest-climbing-ledge
hpt
2-Aug-2019
7:28:10 AM
Hey Tim,

Personally, I wouldn't consider giving up coffee! So stove is a must, but you can buy the super-mini butane canisters sized for a multiday hike, and just use a bare-bones screw on burner head, and one small pot for water.

I think the biggest reason for weight reduction is on the approach. This is the worst when you are solo, because you carry everything yourself. In a team you can divide the load. If you could have two smaller haul bags plus ledge/rack split between three-people that should be much more manageable and I wouldn't be as concerned about weight reduction in that case.

Next time I go to North Wall I will try the rappel access so I can make a direct comparison.

Yes I did use a "death-modified"gri-gri with a makeshift chest harness (a sling with some bungee cord - it's only purpose is to keep the gri-gri oriented up while climbing).

G7 pod is an awesome idea, I like how it is also an insulated sleeping mat which would solve my cold hammock woes!

IdratherbeclimbingM9
3-Aug-2019
8:45:30 AM
Many thanks for posting your trip report to Chockstone hpt.
Taking the time to write them up, even at 3am, allows one to relive the experience and savour it again, ... and re-reading repeats the savouring numerous times years down the track! In fact reading your report brought back strong (& fond), memories of my sojourns on Ozy, so thanks again.

When I read your planning notes I found myself thinking certain parts of it were optimistic and was consequently keen to see how you fared. I also realised again that my first attempt (partner broke his foot so we bailed), at Ozy was researched to death and yet there was still plenty of new experiences involved in the undertaking, so I doff my hat to you for effectively onsight ground up doing it, and solo to boot - a significant achievement involving three times the work of a team ascent and one that you should rightly be proud of.
You might also be interested in my rough calculation guess-statistic based on personal observations over the last 30 years, that about a third of first attempts at Ozy end in retreat for various reasons, and the ratio of team ascents to solos is probably about 25/1.

It’s interesting to see how ascents of Ozy evolve.
Fixed ropes on the south side track, use of walking poles, better belay bolts, deteriorating original bolts, etc. My big toenails of both feet have never grown back successfully after humping my solo load down the south side! No ropes or trekking poles back then, and the Gledhill bolts traversing out of the bivy were scary mank by the mid-90’s(!), although I don’t advocate replacing them, as the horizontal seam at roof juncture takes gear.

IdratherbeclimbingM9
3-Aug-2019
9:26:28 AM
PeterW, & TimP, are you still interested in doing Ozy? I’m up for another ascent sometime as it’s an addictive route! ... Though you might not enjoy my company when walling as the first thing I go light on is tucker!!

gfdonc, I’ll update this post with links to earlier posts about banned words (suss content) when I get time.

Post edit:
gfdonc, here’s a starting list of suspicious content words that will kill post attempts, that I’ve found from old posts researching.
It’s probably not definitive so I’ll add more as I find them...

Chockstone block-list.

tr_ncated (must not be spelt normally, ie including ‘u’).

- - (two hyphens together must be separated).

con-text (not as one word)

cur-sor (in all its forms eg -)
c_rsory (Don’t include ‘u’ works)

precurs_r (don’t include ‘o’ works)

'un-characteristic’ (not without the hyphen)

Don't use fa ke either.

d_clare

sel -ect













hpt
3-Aug-2019
10:25:22 AM
Thanks GFDonc, I'd be keen to read the rest of your TR (drank a can of baked beans :D). It's really unfortunate that all the long old TRs got chopped up.

M9 - I totally agree that writing up the TR relives the experience and I really enjoyed doing it, so I hope to continue with more on the blog platform (I can keep control of all the text and images that way).
Thanks for your comments on the ascent, that means a lot from yourself. If you wouldn't mind pasting the comment into the TR page that would be amazing!

The fact that it was on-sight never really occurred to me or factored into my decision making, II just researched the route as best I could and gave it everything! I guess because my usual mode of operation is only to on-sight easy/moderate trad routes, that is just normal climbing as far as I'm concerned, but then Buffalo aid routes are a bit different.

Are you planning another Aid fest any time soon? If I am in Australia I will try to come along.
PeterW
3-Aug-2019
11:22:58 AM
On 3-Aug-2019 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>PeterW, & TimP, are you still interested in doing Ozy? I’m up for another
>ascent sometime as it’s an addictive route! ... Though you might not enjoy
>my company when walling as the first thing I go light on is tucker!!

PM sent. Short version - yes!

Light on tucker? I wonder how many Clif bars I can hide in various pockets? :-)

IdratherbeclimbingM9
3-Aug-2019
6:57:23 PM
On 3-Aug-2019 hpt wrote:
>Thanks GFDonc, I'd be keen to read the rest of your TR (drank a can of
>baked beans :D). It's really unfortunate that all the long old TRs got
>chopped up.
>
>M9 - I totally agree that writing up the TR relives the experience and
>I really enjoyed doing it, so I hope to continue with more on the blog
>platform (I can keep control of all the text and images that way).
> Thanks for your comments on the ascent, that means a lot from yourself.
> If you wouldn't mind pasting the comment into the TR page that would be
>amazing!
>
>The fact that it was on-sight never really occurred to me or factored
>into my decision making, II just researched the route as best I could and
>gave it everything! I guess because my usual mode of operation is only
>to on-sight easy/moderate trad routes, that is just normal climbing as
>far as I'm concerned, but then Buffalo aid routes are a bit different.
>
>Are you planning another Aid fest any time soon? If I am in Australia
>I will try to come along.

An Aidfest this year isn’t on my radar, which reminds me, I still haven’t posted a Trip Report for the last one... I misplaced the notes I took about it to flesh out later and they haven’t turned up yet!

When I get more secure internet access* I’ll post to your blog.
(*Currently traveling and relying on intermittent phone reception).

Comet Ramp / Defender access to north wall has pros and cons depending on the load taken... Having done all of them (includes south side Angels regular, and Sewer Wall), Defender is possibly the best access if you’re dialled for it!

Re hammocks, they have a place but I’ve never been overly keen on them for walls after finding that on flat walls your bodyweight crushes uncomfortably against stone and it sucks the warmth out of you.
These days a cheap $20 anko thermal EVA foam bedroll (foil coated prayer/yoga mat), would help retain body heat... PeterW, warm up your Chouinard Pod! Heh, heh, heh.

Different topic.
When you were soloing did you find a recurrent tune running through your mind?
It has often happened to me, and been different tunes on different trips!

There are 15 messages in this topic.

 

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