To see all photos go hear Zigzag and Sublime Point - NEW.
 It had been a while since our last group climbing trip to Bardens and Piddington so from 8-10 March a group of intrepid climbers ventured up for round two with the rock. This time we managed to con Ben, Di, Gordon, Jason, Leo, Mat, Roman into a mighty rock group hug. As usual we all met up for Jason’s massive “all you can eat breakfast” at Blackheath café and brought our caffeine levels up to sustainable level – nothing like a hard-core survival day with a hearty breakfast. Leo and Roman managed to come up a day early and squeeze in a little late afternoon climbing at the new multi-pitch area in Meadlow Bath called ‘Reservoir Dogs.’ (Stuck in the Middle & Bohemiath)
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Ben on Giggles |
Jason on Ethel |
Leo on Dress Rehearsal Rag |
Mark on Catweazel |
 On Saturday morning fully refreshed we headed off to ZigZag Crag at Mt.Victoria for our first full day of action. Still twitching from his caffeine overdose Roman walked right past the turn-off to the crag and was rescued by the team who found the first area called Ethel’s Wall. Warming up on Grouchie (20**), and two strenuous 17s called Ethel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying (now with ringbolts and one friend placement), which got most of us pumped senseless with some very hard moves for grade 17 so we went to the next area: the amazing Giggles Wall. First of was Giggles (16***) with its corner crack start and exposed face, which we managed to climb in five different styles. Ben was last and showed us the most efficient way up not bad for his second day out. After Jason and Gordon played on the hairline crack on pitch 2 of Taipan (3pitches 19***) Mark and Di played an arête called Catweazel (21* now fully bolted) and a short slightly overhanging crack just left of Monty Madness (22). Finally it was time to head towards Dress Rehearsal Rag Wall where we all did the tenuous Fairy Tales (16*) and then finished off on the classic Dress Rehearsal Rag. The description in the 2010 Simon Carter guides goes as follows: “The first pitch is a ZigZag favourite. Desperate for 17 but you could never upgrade this classic.” Really! It probably felt like a solid 21 with long reaches to small edges on a balance slab! After we all had a play on this classic, Leo topped of the day with nice ascent of the second pitch through a major roof called The Mighty Quinn (22**). It was definitely time to check into the Victoria-Albert Hotel and get ready for a nice pup meal at the Mt. Victoria Hotel next door. Rumour has it that Leo & Roman checked out the slimy green pool at the hotel and looked very refreshed?
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Di and Jason on Death Traverse |
Long Traverse Pitch |
Leo on Whimper |
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 The hearty breakfast at Victoria-Albert recharged our batteries and it was time for day two at Sublime Point with our mission: the incredible multi-pitch Sweet Dreams. The descent in itself is epic with narrow squeezes, exposed ridges, ropes to down climb and a nice little “death traverse” to top it all off. And that just gets you to the start. To make matters worse it was Sunday and we had a queue of two parties in front of us and one behind us with us splitting into two groups as well Di and Jason taking the lead, followed by Gordon and Mark. Leo and Roman chose a line left of Sweet Dreams and discovered why it was called Whimper (19****). We aslo ran into Alex an old mate of mine who was climbing a new all ring bolted climb called Smack My Pitch up (20). While we climbed we could look across towards Sweet Dreams and had perfect views of the Jason, Di, Gordon and Mark making their way across the massive sea of rock.
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Bohemiath (20** two pitches) |
Leo and Roman |
Views of Pole23 and Underworld |
Thirsty for another one soon.....
Roman 22 March 2013. |
