Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports

Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!

Topic Date User

Warning - possibly the most boring TR ever written 2-Nov-2009 At 11:53:34 AM cruze

Message

To some, the following walking TR will be a cure for insomnia. I am posting it in the hope that someone will post a more interesting TR where they actually roped up.

I spent yesterday walking all over the You Yangs. To some that probably sounds (even) less appealing than climbing at the You Yangs, but we nonetheless had a great time bashing through boneseed and dodging bullets, and the likes. We had initially planned on climbing but the gear stayed in the car because of the constantly misting fog and the mosquitoes (!).

First up we headed round to the probably never visited Rap Slab near the Gravel Pit Tor. Only about a 5 minute walk in and it appeared to have a few nice slabby routes although, true to form, the bolts were placed by people who probably would have felt more comfortable either rapping over the route or soloing it (probably in that order). A little more of a bash around to the cave mentioned in the guide was actually quite pleasant and we passed the face that the guide mentions might have a 21/22 route on it. The face does actually look quite good although it probably would need at least one bolt to be led which probably wouldn't be the best move in light of the 'two Ken's' move to withdraw another nearby route from the guide out of respect for the heritage of the area (although having seen the route that we suspect that they withdrew, they may have been inclined to withdraw it out of respect for their own family's heritage…).

Not being too far from the top of the hill we wandered up to Gravel Pit Tor and poked our head around. We had been up once before on a howling mid-winter's day so this time we had more of an opportunity to check out the routes. Looking at both No Question and a Question of Ethics I decided that all the dick waggling might have been a bit unnecessary – they both look bold enough if that is what you are after. Blessed with not one but two photos of the crux(?) move on the free variant of Orpheus I stood gazing at the holds for quite a while and eventually worked out where the 'crucial' hold had broken (left hand in the photos in the guide). Although fortified by the confidence that only standing on solid ground can bring I swore I saw a sequence on gastons out left and slightly lower… I must have been dreaming considering the calibre of the climbers that have been unsuccessful in their attempts. Anyway perhaps someone with a massive wingspan and contact strength will boulder out the move one day.

Leaving Gravel Pit Tor we headed over to Philistine Block. Pretty poxy with crumbly rock down the bottom. Enough said. Back over towards the fence line and off to WD40 block. Both my partner and I marvelled at WD40. For such a non-descript little route it looks nails. First move pulling up on a jug with an undercut start to zero feet then presumably laying away off a little flake line with a tiny seam for occasion gear (piton scar and fixed rusted RP). Can't see too many people going to repeat that one. WD40 is right next door to the North West outcrop which is home to some of the best looking and worst looking crack lines at the You Yangs. We will definitely be back for the awesome looking Talmud and Grimulace, as well as Exam Technique and another 19 starting up a seam which looked pleasant. The face of Pit Simitri looks lovely and clean and pretty well protected, as does Pain and Frequency, both of which are well beyond me. There is a project (5 FHs bottom one red tagged) on a face there. Any idea what it is? Anyway, with pretty cruisey access and fantastic climbing, this area should attract more attention than it probably gets.

We continued on to the 1984 block which also looked interesting. I have no idea what the pure white organic matter stuck under the rooflet of 1984 is but it looked awesome – bees nest? It wasn't too far down to the track from the 1984 block and a walk back to the car but we decided to go the long way around and head over to Lust buttress. The area wasn't really on the map so I just used a bit of judgement and picked a knoll on the ridgeline to aim for. We were being constantly reminded of our proximity to the rifle range by the shots ringing in our ears. As it turned out I picked a knoll too far north and was only slightly out of aim of the rifle range which was a little alarming. We sidled down and around the steep hillside to Lust Buttress which took about a quarter of an hour. The buttress itself is quite unusual to look at compared to most granite blobs and sports a very nice looking 22 hand traverse and a pleasant looking 18. There is also a bolted project (?) heading straight up which looks like it would be in the low 20s. Down to the gate near the entrance to the quarry (which has been pushed/pulled over enabling even easier access to Lust Buttress) and a walk back up the hill on the MTB trails back to the car made for a pretty big loop.

Before heading home we headed up to the Corio Ridge Tor. The boneseed wasn't too bad at all and I think sticking to the very top of the ridge line, rather than coming from below where we saw a couple of cairns, is the best option. The crag itself looked pretty interesting. Blood on the Tracks looked like the pick of the bunch, but the 17 and 22 around the corner looked good fun as well. There is a single camo-painted ring bolt sticking out of the arête below Blood on the Tracks that isn't doesn't appear to be in the guide. Any ideas?

Back down the ridge to the car marked the end of our non-climbing day of walking. Personally I think that the boneseed is one of the easiest scrubs I have ever had to walk through. The only negative was the complete drenching we got throughout the day from the rain that had stayed on the branches from the night before. For those that haven't been to the You Yangs I think that it is definitely worth a few days or so of your effort. I am struggling to think of many better granite lines than Talmud and Grimulace for their height (well certainly around Melbourne) and will be back in the near future (with tape).

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Please let me climb vicariously through your experiences...