Tassie is one of Australia’s premier wilderness destinations and in terms of rock climbing it offers a plethora of styles including trad climbing of the incredible splitters’ found between the abundant dihedrals all over the island. It is a veritable paradise for fissure enthusiasts and the art of jamming your hands/fingers into tight cracks of all sizes. This year Will and I had been training (infrequently) on his home-made Woodie to improve our technique and get used to the unpleasant side-effects of excruciating pain in your fingers and toes, so that we may get a better taste of what Tassie would throw our way. We talked Jason into joining us and he brought with him a mixed bag of friends: Jack, Laurence and Sib. Shout out to Mark, who could not make it this time, but was there for our first trip and our thoughts were with him as we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We set out with several objectives for this trip:  there was a new pinnacle atop the Oran Pipes: Slap Dancer, plus a very special boulder pole called the Dildo Block; by far the biggest one was Mount Brown with its selection of exposed multipitch routes, then there was that elusive route called ‘antimatter’ at the Star Factory, which we had never been to, but more generally we needed to conquer a couple of serious cracks – by serious we mean: you can not cheat via laybacks, sidepulls or huge foot placements – so it had to involve some kind of jamming; and lastly if at all possible there is the majestic “candle stick’ which we all dream about to conquer one day in perfect conditions. So that was “the” plan and tick list for this trip, lets see what we got up to.

The day we left Sydney the rains arrived in droves, and never stopped for our entire trip of seven days – we basically took the sunshine away with us and as soon as we arrived in Hobart early in the morning the skies very perfect and beckoned us towards the panorama of Mount Wellington with its majestic Organ Pipes. So once we grabbed our car from the airport and swung past Will’s luxury timeshare “Ramada Inn” at Seven Mile Beach we packed the car and headed for the hills.

Day two was reserved once again for the infinite possibilities of Mt.Wellington. It was time to put our carefully selected double trad rack to the test. Will and I have spent far too much time sorting all the gear so we better put it all into practise. Browsing through Thesarvo searching for new routes I came across the Lost World close to the summit of the mountain, but quite distinctly set apart from the nearby Organ Pipes. The unique aspect of the craglet with its stunningly distinct crack lines piqued my curiosity, so after a short sales pitch we headed of into the unknown of a new crag. When we arrived at the final summit bend, we were greeted by a tourist bus full of teenagers who had just returned from our track to the crag. Apparently it is also a favorite lookout over the vast vista of the Hobart expanse far below. Unfortunately, for many couples that day, our screams echoing through the amphitheatre from the painful hand jams would have spoilt their fun a bit.

We spend quite some time trying to find the lower area with better warm up routes but gave up thwarted by a jungle of boulders. Returning to the main crag we headed for one of the must-do crag classics. It was only 18 so how hard could it be?

Lost wanderer 18*** one of the best – it starts with a tricky finger crack to a horizontal break – traverse 5 meters across on gear and try to reach for the soaring crack: easy if you are Will, cruxy if you are vertically challenged like me. Follow the crack through a nice crux move until you reach the roof that guards the top exit. Grunt and swear your way past the last bulge to glory. It’s the full package and bring all your gear.

Cries and Whispers (19*)  we thought at first that this is “Blood in the racks 21*”  because it was so hard, but turns out we are just weak. Great multi-featured crack: first 8 meters is true jamming with decent foot placement to a rest stance, the twin cracks above for 5 meters are the crux with gear hard to place, gain the half-way ledge and stare up at the perfect book corner with the smooth fist crack in the middle. Technical smearing to the top – smile and enjoy your struggling second coming up behind you.  Three-stars for me.

Commoners Crown 17* two good sections with a hard start that is tricky to protect with gear, or you can use the branches of the tree on the right to get to the start of the wide crack. 5 meters up to a rest stance and the a beautiful layback to the top. Very nice.

Lactos 21* we only discovered this climb because it is close to the rap point from the top of the cliff. There are very few ways down and it took us some time to locate one as they are well hidden. Most of the classic lines here just top out and since they are trad lines it is tricky to get back down again and clean your gear. Once we started rapping the quality of the line below us became obvious. Again the route was made up of two parts: the lower half was a technical corner with good protection leading to a full rest at half way, then a book corner with featured arete on the right-hand side made what looked tricky surprisingly easy. Three-stars from me again.

By now the sun was dropping fast over the horizon and dinner was calling us so we decided to give our bruised hands and egos an early mark. Beer at Salamanca's Cargo followed by dinner and yet another bubble bath got us prepped for another day.

It was on our third day that Jason’s friends: Jack and Lawrence pulled of a miracle escape from the rain-drenched mainland. With minimal preparation or bookings of any kind they not only scored airfares (after missing out on an earlier flight because of a gas-cylinder in their baggage) and then miraculously scoring a campervan without prior booking. Probably the best “onsight” effort I saw throughout the whole trip. Meanwhile Jason was struggling to secure a car for himself and his better half, who would also join us at the end of our trip. Why keep things simple ? 

So now there were five of us which was perfect to tackle multiple objectives at Mount Brown which included the amazing sport crag of Paradiso.  Jason, Jack and Lawrence headed to Paradiso while Will and Roman headed for the multi-pitch routes.

I have heard it all Before (23***)  You want to make sure the weather is right for this one – some of the best exposure I have seen anywhere with panoramic ocean views, waves far below and the occasional tourist boat waiving for entertainment.  The rap point is hard to locate, but follow the instructions and you will find them eventually. We were lucky and met a pair of climbers who knew what they were doing – they found the rap point for us – phew. When they asked us what route we were doing it got confusing, since I kept getting the names mixed up. Anyway we sorted it all out and they let us use their short access rope to the main anchor about 10 meters down the cliff. Mental note to bring a shorty to leave as fixed rope. Rapping into the void was mesmerising and once again we lucked out completely with a sunny and perfectly windstill day. Conditions could not have been any better and we were enjoying the scenic rap waving to the tourists far below us.

At Dino’s ledge the fun began with the hardest pitch of the route: a steep 23 that tackled an overhanging 10 meter pocked face on ringbolts and then led into a twin crack trad line as its higher part. All in all 35 meters of delicious exposure. I managed to dog my way up the cruxy overhanging steep wall proudly managing to stuff up every single move and struggling on the unusual rock. I was spent arriving at the cracks and found it difficult to choose, as a result I came up with the best rope drag ever – my proudest underachievement – making it hard for Will.  He did much better on the pockets so much so that I had to film him in action. It was his turn to bring us home with a looming 21 bitch that had a crack start, moving into a flake and finishing on a steep slope. It was a great lead and I struggled seconding the pitch.

We toped out relishing the experience and since it was early we decided to join our crew at Paradiso. By the time we got down to the seacliff sport crag and found our way around the tidal waves guarding the exit we heard that Lawrence had hurt himself. Leg behind the rope he fell clipping a draw and turned upside down. He hit his coccyx hard and was in great pain; Jason and Jack decided to bail him out and drown his suffering with a cold beer. It was day one of his trip and he was clearly shaken. Will and I had a little gas left in the tank and started to tick some of the local easy classics.

Paradiso
High Noon 17* great warm up with surprisingly tricky moves.
Shock wave 21** this was the tricky steep arete with a tough crux finish where Lawrence hurt himself.
Sponge Bob 22** surprisingly tough climb with steep upper section, good underclings lead to a final big throw to a jug. Bad feet throughout.
Borogove 15* Great way to get out of the crag and avoid the hard entry point into the cliff.

Then sun was getting low now and suddenly we remembered our comrades sipping beers. We still had a week of climbing left to do so we were keen to safe a little skin for what was to come. The way back to the car felt very long all of a sudden and we realised our car keys were in Jason’s backbag – bother. The boys left their beers at Port Arthur and came to our rescue and we headed for a pub on the way home to our time share resort hotel at seven mile beach. The Pembrook Hotel in Sorell was on our way home and had the best Parmi anywhere.

For day four it was time to tackle our second objective: the amazing Star Factory, which was high on our list. Inspired by the Antimatter video we were keen to throw ourselves at that seacliff classic. Once you watch the video you just have to go there, there is no escaping fantasy induced destiny. Freycinet was a little further at just over two hours so we planned to stay overnight and Will once a again scored the perfect accommodation for us at Coles Bay. BIG4 Iluka on Freycinet Holiday Park was within a hundred meters of the only local pub – perfect and the climbing was a short drive towards Mount Amos and wine glass bay. Jack and Lawrence followed us to give Antimatter a try, but as we travelled North from Hobart we drove into light rain ahead of us. Refusing to not climb for a day we went exploring around the sea cliffs and to our old stomping ground at Harlequin wall, where we had some unfinished business to attend. Harlequin 18***, and Whitewater Wall had eluded us due to rain on our last trip. By the time we reached the cliff at mid-day it was bucketing down and we watched the cracks gush with freshwater.  Jack and Lawrence went straight for the one hour approach to Antimatter and turned around half-way. We chose to cower in a little cave by the sea refusing to give up. As we worked our way around to Lassie wall (like the last trip) the sea breeze picked up a little and the wet rock appeared climbable. What the hell – why not – so Lassie wall it was once again. It was nice to repeat some of the easy trad lines with the highlight being:

Antagonist (15*) crosses out of a little sentry box onto a wide crack. I gracefully managed to exit the cave and make it look twice as hard as it should have been. I linked the top into the adjacent Pandora route to give us full seacliff value. Jason and Will both cruised my crux move with an elegant easy sidestep solution.

The downpours left us alone for our way back to the car, but started heavy during dinner at the local pub, it would be crunch time tomorrow morning. Antimatter and the star factory required a full day commitment to get to and it was not looking good.

Day five dawned early with lots of coffee in our luxury cabin at Coles Bay – life was good – apart from the bloody rain outside. Today was our second chance at the Star Factory but it was not looking good. The walk in is over one hour so we would have to commit the entire day to the approach and it was too wet for that option. Jack and Laurence hear about a secret crag called “Sand River” from some locals. It was half way back to Hobart and we took our chances with the weather. Sand River was remote and in the middle of nowhere well of the beaten track, whats more it took some navigation to find the place deeply hidden in a gorge. BUT, what we found took our breath away. Rebuttably, we stumbled across Tasmania’s first winter climbing crag with sunny aspects throughout with multiple craglets strung a long a sun-drenched gorge.
We landed at the aptly named Colosseum with its many walls lined along a cliff edge facing the sun. We ended up at the Plebeian's Wall with its selection of excellent warmups:

17** Working Class Heroes
18*** Riffraff Roof – several cruxes and hard for the grade.
20*** Spartacus – amazing with a nice roof crux at the end.

We could have kept going all day here but one of the locals told us to check out the cave a little further along:  WOW – a combination of Nowra style Blue Mountains rock came into view around the next corner, this is were the hard stuff was waiting for us.

Way of the Dragon 23*** must do classic with hard start via pocket delight to rest stand, then its game on till the top.
Alea Jacta Est 23*** tough with a hard start and consistent climbing to a rest – the final boulder problem will make you “crimp like hell.”
Crossing the Rubicon 21*** This one goes on forever across one of the best roofs out their: crux corner start that baffles the gullible. Then jugs to glory.

We were quite spent after spending a full day in the steepness and the sun was getting low across this hidden gorge, we still had a long way back to the car, but the last meals were served at 8pm so we had some work to do. Racing back, we left the driving to Jason and he easily shaved off 5 min from googles best estimates. Dinner never tasted better.

We woke to our sixth day with the body starting to complain a little, but there was no time to listen, the ticking noise of the last few days slipping away kept us going.  Jack and Laurence had never been to the Organ Pipes so we decided to pay them another visit and get lost in the maze of amphitheatres and hidden corners, where the shade revealed hidden gems around every corner. Will and I had both invested heavily in new cracks cloves and it was time to put them to the test one more time. We refuelled at out standard breakfast place in Salamanca Market on the way to the Pipes.  But this the time it looked like the persistent rain from the mainland had finally found its way across to Hobart. We arrive at the car park high on Mount Wellington only to run into several parties retreating from the cliff line in the fog and light drizzle. That was not quite enough to get rid of us and we pushed on. Closer to the Cliffline the fog was not so bad and we hear several parties lost in the mist somewhere on the wall – that was good enough for us. We split into two team: Will and Jason tacked the amazing all trad two pitch Fiddlestick (14***) corner system. Each pitch has a respectable length of 35 meters and eats your gear for breakfast - trying to get back to the ground is an adventure in itself. Meanwhile Roman, Jack and Laurence started working their way up to the Flange Buttress area:

Princess 19*** great warmup face climb with a tricky move to gain the pinnacle then thin and elegant moves to the top.
Influenza 21*** old school stemming corner climb with a very hard to read crux. Highly unusual and strenuous but one of the best brain puzzles around.
Nefarious 22 ** High quality arête with a nice crux in the middle than juggy to the top.

It was time to join Jason and Will on the Fiddlestick 14*** with Lawrence and Jack seconding this amazing trad corner. We were running out of time quickly with dark clouds ominously moving above us so unfortunately the second much better pitch will have to wait for the next trip.

Neon God (22/25***)  face just to the right of Fiddlestick with a cruxy start, then amazing long moves up an imposing 25 meter face with superb and consistent moves.

By the time I came of Neon God the temperature started to plummet and the wind picket up. All of a sudden the weather gods wanted us out of there, but Will and Laurence both wanted to have a shot at this amazing face so we persist. By the time Will descended it was blowing a gale and the bubble bath at our time share seemed like a pretty good idea. But there was one last obstacle for us to conquer, the remarkable Shamrock Hotel with its enormous meals. Jason did not tackle the 1kg steak, which was probably the biggest disappointment of the whole trip. Maybe we were getting soft after all?

On day seven our luck finally ran out, we enjoyed glorious sunshine when the mainland was drowning but all good things had to come to an end. We woke to rain and Jason had to style up for the arrival of Sabina. So Will and Roman had to get busy planning some downtown activities. Will was ruthless and had no mercy on my poor worn-out body. He booked us into a gentle lunch time  Yin yoga class right across from the Hobart Climbing gym to get us warmed up. It was nice and relaxing, but not quite enough for the big fella.  A quick lunch and we went straight across the road to RockIt, where we let of some steam for a couple of hours of indoor entertainment. Mercilessly, Will convinced me to join him for a 6pm Ashtanga yoga session and it was game on again. Little did we know that the instructor a tiny skinny lady of similar age to us – was a beast. Will had conveniently omitted to tell me that the class was 75 min and I was done after the first five minutes. All I could see amidst the sweat and tears running down my face was his smiling face next to me – how cruel the world can be. It was one of the longest hours in my life and there was no mercy to be found within. We caught up with Jason and Sabina at the Shamrock and the first beer pretty much finishes us off for the day.

We had a final day left: day eight but the rain continued so we pretty much went for a repeat of the previous day: while Sabina and Jason went shopping we joined a 12am Ashtanga yoga class – thankfully less intense and then hit the local climbing gym to show the locals how its done. Our bodies were slightly confused after 8 days and grade 17 took on hallucinogenic proportions. It had been a big trip and rests were found only in the tiny spaces and brief moments of frantic activities – there was no better frame of mind: “don’t let the old man in…….”

Taking stock at the end we have a long to-do list for our next trip and a plethora of unfinished business:

• The Candles Stick
• Slap Dancer at Rockaway Gully
• The Dildo at Summit Boulders

Mental note for the next trip: Heat

★★ 60.	Heat	103m	21	Þ
	An interesting sport climb that takes a series of distinct buttresses separated by ledges all the way to the top. Start down to the right of Acid Test on the next buttress, at the lowest point. 1. 18m 21 Up the face fairly easily until interrupted by the crux between the 3rd and 5th bolts. Continue up to a large ledge and DBB. 7 bolts. 2. 28m 21 Step right from the belay into the black streak. Great climbing up that until the streak runs out, then head to the left hand side of the pillar to a ledge and climb the arete above to finish at a DBB. 11 bolts. 3. 32m 20 Climb the arete straight up from the belay for 20m past 7 bolts to a large ledge, where you can see the Acid Test DBB on the wall to the left. And now for an intermission - continue up Acid Test for 12m, heading right and aiming for the bottom of the right hand arete of the large buttress above, where you will find a DBB. Take a few slings or medium sized pieces for this section, which is easy but not bolted. 4. 25m 21 Straight up the steep and sustained arete, 10 bolts to DBB. Rap down in either 2 or 4 abseils.
	D. Humphries, J. Nermut, Mar 2013 & Jan 2014.

Roman 13 April 2021

Go HERE for more photos.