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General Climbing Discussion

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Be alert not alarmed 7-Jan-2005 At 10:31:06 AM NMcKinnon

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Last night I tried bouldering at the bluestone wall near ScienceWorks in Spotswood. Sadly, I was interrupted by two of Victoria’s finest strapping beat cops in an unmarked car. Some very alert and upstanding community citizen had spotted me and decided to call 000 to report “someone climbing over the wall”.

I’d just finished telling my life story to these kind coppers, when a second, much flashier marked car showed up. We all had a lovely chat before the boys-in-blue adjourned to the local donut joint.

Anyway, I did achieve some climbing. The wall is about 70m in length but is relatively featureless compared to the Richmond Bridge bluestone. Continuous traversing is very difficult – I found one section about 10m in length at about V3. Longer link-ups will be much harder.

The ‘up’ problems are really the best feature of the wall. Someone has left painted markings like BS, BF, A, & C at various spots and these correspond to moderate up problems. Harder ‘up’ problems abound but most just involve desperate crimping. The landing is flat and grassy, with no risk of landing near the road. A crash mat is definitely recommended for up problems.

The easiest line is at the big horizontal slot in the middle of the wall. Climb up to the LH end of the slot, then up the left leading ‘crack’; it’s a bit dirty.

In sections the soft concrete grouting between the blocks is quite crumbling and should be avoided.

If police harassment isn’t your cup of tea – then just go to CliffHanger instead.