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Crag & Route Beta

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Christmas Climbing in Australia... Suggestions? 5-Nov-2012 At 10:30:57 PM jrc

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Well, you know, Arapiles is no too bad in summer. I went with my boys and some other friends in 2009 and 2010 for a week & 1/2 each time. It will be alot less dry and dusty this year too. Spent most nights at the Pines but a few in the pub abins, including the lockdown (46 degree ) night. The Pines cools down fairly well at night- a thick jacket is needed most nights- though strange events occur. My kids still ask if we will get beetle pasta ever again- a huge cloud of beetles blew into the Pines just as we were dishing up. On fire ban days we cooked using the electric barbecue in Natimuk. I thought i cleaned it pretty well but the next day it was spotless!! You can do a nice trip to the Grampians too and find some cool waterfall walks, swim in a lake there or whatever. Be warned, Horsham Pic theatre is NOT air conditioned as i found out after walking 300m after parking the car on a 40+ degree day.

Climbing wise just take advantage of Arapiles' topography. Tiger wall Watchtower are good first thing but keep moving! RHS of Central Gully has a lot of routes that you can generally get shady. Thunder Crack is always cool, so is Lamplighter. I did do hot Flap in the sun once, just so i knew what the name meant. It's true! Organ pipes and south is cool in the afternoons. The Rack is a great prep for a pre dinner sauv blanc. The Pines are almost deserted because of the heat worries.

Tassie is good fun but be prepared for walks, heat, ice, snow , rain and even some rockclimbing. Weve been to Frenchmans(Jan 2x), Federation (Feb), Coles Bay (Jan) Launceston, Ben Lomond; they are all very pleasant in summer (well except BL after the 3rd Jam climb). The air in Tassie seems to have a special quality .