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VIC Southwest (General) (General) (General)

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Anyone been to Lal Lal area (sipofene)?

Smellypaddler

16-Jan-2017
1:05:51 PM

I was just flicking through the South-West Victoria guide book and was thinking of taking a look at the Lal Lal area (including Sipofene crag) as I live nearby.

Has anyone been here recently? I can't find any reference on Chockstone or The Crag.

I know that Lal Lal Falls itself is a banned area but wanted to check out the other crags in the area for bouldering and TR soloing.

gfdonc

12-Oct-2024
6:11:51 AM

Thread resurrection, in case anyone is still listening.
We did a tour of the Lal Lal area earlier in the week to check route descriptions for a republishing of the SW Vic guide from 2002.
Sipofene is one of the worst bits of crap I have ever laid eyes on, I suggest most of the climbs there should never have been written up.
Many of the crags through there near the river are pretty bad, the best of them was Oxbow rocks, though I haven't yet been to all of them.

IdratherbeclimbingM9

12-Oct-2024
7:28:09 AM

On 12-Oct-2024 gfdonc wrote:
>Thread resurrection, in case anyone is still listening.
>(snip)
>Sipofene is one of the worst bits of crap I have ever laid eyes on, I
>suggest most of the climbs there should never have been written up.
>(snip)

I’m listening, but tell me, what do you really think?
Heh, heh, heh.
As an aside, after distracting myself from the climbing game for a while now I’m really looking forward to getting into it again soon - even if it’s on crap!
… but I have enough close at hand that I don’t need to travel to Lal Lal for it!
:-)

BA

12-Oct-2024
9:08:43 AM

On 12-Oct-2024 gfdonc wrote:

>Sipofene is one of the worst bits of crap I have ever laid eyes on, I
>suggest most of the climbs there should never have been written up.

The idea was to publish all known info about an area. Those guides of mine were published towards the end of my climbing "career", often accompanied with just my wife (a non-climber). It was hoped that people would visit the area and provide feedback as to a climbs/areas worthiness. That did not happen. The guides were published in the hope that they could be easily maintained/updated. That did not happen. This is the first feed back I have seen on these areas!

I am also of the opinion that if it is not in a guidebook then people will continue to "rediscover" these areas and write them up, so I published everything to avoid that situation arising.

It's your guide so you do what you want but I'd contact the WVCC before you get too carried away.

IdratherbeclimbingM9

14-Oct-2024
1:28:49 PM

On 12-Oct-2024 BA wrote:
>The idea was to publish all known info about an area. (snip)
>
>I am also of the opinion that if it is not in a guidebook then people
>will continue to "rediscover" these areas and write them up, so I published
>everything to avoid that situation arising.
>(snip)

You raise a good point BA.
Years ago (early 80’s), I noticed this phenomenon arise dramatically (for me anyway), on a (then) local cliff overlooking the Shoalhaven / Bungonia area, south of Tallong.
I reconnoitred said cliff and then with the mob I was with established a number of trad climbs. Not long afterwards I found out that half of our new lines were already established, named and graded(!), so we amended our ‘new’ guide accordingly to give credit where it was due.
Time elapsed and about 20 years later I noticed on a subsequent visit that most of our trad routes were bolted! - along with other bolted face routes newly made between them.
I looked on The Crag and the originals were all written up in renamed and regraded style with vastly different establishment dates etc!
As I was no longer local and regarded most of the climbing there as okay but not great, mostly due the short stature of the cliff, I couldn’t be bothered arguing about it with the ‘third’ discovery mob so the inequity remains, though what saddened me most was the retrobolting of the established trad lines.
I learnt my lesson then that if it matters to you as a first ascentionist then write it up, but even then don’t expect it to last!

I now am noticing the same thing happening again, this time in my new local area with a new generation of climbers who have largely replaced the group that was here when I arrived and were actively putting up new routes 25 years ago …

I applaud the spirit of discovery, but have become a cantankerous old fart and hereby give warning that if any trad climbs I’ve established get retrobolted, and I am still able, then they will be chopped as I still believe in the concept of adventure.

Dalai

15-Oct-2024
3:56:14 AM

I'm with BA. An area guidebook is to record everything that has been climbed and recorded in the district.

Unfortunately some people have had the drive to develop choss. It's not the guidebook writers job to be a gatekeeper, no matter how bad they are.

I doubt most of those routes have seen a repeat and agree deserve to be left alone. But regardless if they are in the district they need to be added.

BA

15-Oct-2024
8:32:27 AM

In a similar vein, when working on the Mount Stapylton guide I found numerous references to different areas that turned out to be the same area. A climb was established, the area was named. Other climbs were done and the area was renamed, more climbs were done and the area was renamed again! I went with original name - Summer Day Valley, although it now seems to be called Summerday Valley.

A word of warning though, slag off the climbs but don't slag off the perpetrators or you may be threatened with libel, as the late Hugh Hardwick and I were over the You Yangs.

On 15-Oct-2024 Dalai wrote:

> It's not
>the guidebook writers job to be a gatekeeper, no matter how bad they are.

Umm, I hope that's a reference to the routes and not the guidebook editor :-)

Dalai

15-Oct-2024
10:58:40 AM

On 15-Oct-2024 BA wrote:
>Umm, I hope that's a reference to the routes and not the guidebook editor
>:-)

I did mean the routes. Anyone silly enough to write guidebooks deserve all the praise and support they can get! :)

gfdonc

15-Oct-2024
2:24:15 PM

Thanks, interesting comments.
I was up until midnight last night updating the old material based on the information collected last Wednesday. I even put two topos together for Steiglitz Road, although that's in a pretty similar category to Sipofene. I was going to rename it "Fenton Park" but perhaps I'm getting too carried away.
I've culled three 5m routes from Oxbow but left mention of them in text. I don't feel bad about culling 5m routes that are in obscure locations (and unlikely to be easily located). I have however left some of the Fenton's 6m and 7m routes in (for now at least) where I could identify them.
Your prior material BA has all been converted, including all the maps and topos. Most are worth keeping and re-using, but a photo topo is a much better guide than a diagram.
Anyone with updated info about any Vic crags? Please get in touch.
-ST

There are 9 messages in this topic.