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Crag & Route Beta

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VIC Arapiles	(General)	(General)	(General)	[ Arapiles Guide \| Arapiles Images ]

Topic Date User

First 17 lead at araps 28-Jun-2010 At 9:41:57 AM cruze

Message

On 20/06/2006 Boardlord wrote:
>I would thoroughly recommend Oceanoid (both pitches) - very rewarding,
>quite technical with a bit of everything, with some intricate (but good)
>gear and a lot of atmosphere.
>
>If you want something a bit more butch but with straightforward gear -
>(and depending on your love of cracks) you might like to try Mari.
>
>Lastly, you should go and try Vandal in Intrepid Gully - 2 pitches of
>13/14 on brilliant rock to a nice ledge, then a great 'open book' corner
>(the start being the crux). Stemming 70m off the deck right at the top
>should bring a smile to your face. The gear is great as well.

Just dredging up this old thread. I realise that Boardlord is a strong climber, climbing well beyond 17, but I thought for the record (just in case anyone ever uses the search function looking for suggestions) that I would disagree with him on a couple of his suggestions. I agree that Oceanoid might be agood one and is pretty well protected if you don't rush through at the crux on P1, but I suggest that if you get this clean then you wouldn't struggle with any of the other 17s.

Mari has an awkward start, with very slick rock and genuine fall potential onto that gully/ledgey thing added to by the position of the belay which generally means outwards forces on your first pieces and a little more rope out than you would generally welcome. If you place good gear and, again, don't rush the crux then Mari is OK.

I generally feel extremely comfortable on 17s at Araps but yesterday my partner and I backed off the crux of Vandal. I would not recommend this climb to anyone as a first 17. I realise the grade has gone up over time but the moves off the second belay are awkward and very quickly become on ledge fall. A fall off those moves would conceivably result in sprained or broken ankles in a poorly accessible location.

I would opt for Maximus or Dirge (can belay from gully - just make sure noone is kicking down stones from red wall) as a first 17.

Then again I am a bit of a safety freak.