Narrow Neck May 2012

Sublime Point 2012

Kiwi-BLUEYS 2010

Castle Hill 2009

Mont 2009

WhungeeWheengee 2008

CitySpring Cycle2007

Mt.Selwyn 2007

Easter 2007

Seal Rocks 2007

Romans40

Mt.Selwyn2006

Six Foot Track

Mount Victoria

Easter 2006

Jack nonchalantly told that he had booked a ticket to Tassie and I should come along. He was leaving in a couple of days but work was breathing down my neck with peak period hitting me at the beginning of January. I was breaking out in cold sweats and had nightmares about missing out. I shifted everything I could and within a week I was ready to depart booking the flight 24 hours before leaving: tight, but Tassie is always worth it. I had a lot of unfinished business back around the crags of Hobart: Freycinet and Antimatter, Slapdancer at the Pipes, Hercules at Sandriver, the main wall at Paradiso and the majestic Candlestick to name only a few on a very long list. Jack was keen so maybe just maybe we could shorten the list a little bit?

Day 1: Jack picked me up in his shiny red camping van with a big mattress in the back and introduced me to Breanna. They had already been climbing for over a week and were quite relaxed while I was chomping at the bits. It was late afternoon when I arrived so there was little to do by have dinner at the classic Shamrock Hotel in Hobart. Best feed in town for carb-preloading, start the planning and get ready for some adventures. We decided to camp at seven mile beach and check out the secret jacuzzi - nuff said. 

“You have to be odd to be number one.”

Day 2: To get the ball rolling and familiarise the skin with Tassie rock we decided to head to the steep amphitheatre of Paradiso for some warm up sport climbing and to get the body ready for some more serious stuff. Last time we visited with Jason and Will, we met Laurence and Jack for a great trip: Tassie April 2021. Back then we just marvelled about the main wall but never got around to climb some of the more theatrical routes like: Offender of the Faith and Sultan of Sweat but they never left my mind. This time we came back for some of the steeper classics. We were keen, so we got there early driving about one hour from Hobart and arriving at the crag about 9am. Mental note: the main wall remains in the shade until early afternoon and the spooge is strong in the morning. You really need the sun on this wall before it dries out a bit.  Don’t start till after 2pm here. Having said that there was plenty of classics for us to get our hands dirty - literally speaking:

Super Charger (23***)  Amazing climbing on excellent rock with a low crux followed by a full reset half way. Jack fought his way through some mindboggling amount of slimy ooze, which added several grades. Would love to do this again in great conditions.

Too tall Oxen (22***) probably one of the best warm-up lines at Paradiso, amazing and endless. 30 meteres of moderate climbing with a couple of gentle cruxes to wake you up, followed by gently jugs to keep you going.

Aquaphobia (22***) tough face climbing with a mid-crux crimp traverse followed by an exit layaway crux. Felt incredible hard for the grade with some very delicate climbing.

We decided to finish the day early and relocate to Cape Hauy at Fortescue Bay to get ready for the Candlestick. Since there were three of us we wanted to practise the Tyrolean setup and rope technique’s for this giant sea stake.  
Before we left we took some mental notes for our next return to Paradiso:

Aide-mémoire (24***) The route furthest to the right just before the giant sea cave and accessed from a sea-washed platform. Absolutely stunning with 28 metres of vertical perfect rock.

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (24**) Back at the parrot shelf, this route has been deep water soloed with a mesmerising photo in the new guide. We went to check it out but it was dripping wet. Needs to be climbed in the afternoon. We will be back for this one.

Relocated to Cape Hauy where Jack prepared his curry tofu potpourri – yum! Then we practised our three person Tyrolean setup for attempting the Candlestick the next morning.

“The path to the light begins in darkness.”

Day3: It was light early for our Alpine start at 5am for the candlestick, some quick porridge to get us going and we were on our way up the three capes track to our junction point at Cape Hauy. Jack put up a blistering pace and we reached the lookout only one hour later at about 7am. The path down to the Totem Pole rap point was still seared into my mind and we were the first (and only party that day) to arrive. Throwing the tag line down towards the small ledge above the sea next to the totem pole some 30meters below we would carry this line with us for the rest of the day. Seals were frolicking in the narrow passageway and light was streaming through in mesmerising colors. Jack was ready for the swim and finding a nice break in-between the waves cruised to the other side in record time. This is were we encountered our first mistake: thinking that we would have 10 meters of rope spare from our 70m line to set up the complex 3 person Tyrolean we ran out of rope. We quickly regrouped and used our secondary lead rope to set up the Tyrolean – all in all this first rope Tyrolean went very smooth.  All three of us arrived safely on the access ledge of the North West (the corner) route. It has four full trad pitches to the summit, grade 18** to climb the 105 meter tall pinnacle.

Pitch 1: Probably the crux, wet corner start with scary moves of spoogie holds to an overhang. This is the crux and you have a few choices here. Continue straight up the corner – I had enough of the wet and slimy rock in the corner and decided to escape right into the sunlit face. One hard technical move around the overlap and I was on easier ground to the top of the first pitch. 30 meter long this pitch felt “hard.”

Pitch 2: Sloping but decent platform with trad belay. My nerves were a little frayed after the first pitch and Breanna was kind enough to take the lead. 30 meters of corner cracks at grade 17***. It climbed very nice and was reasonable dry calming us all down a bit. We arrived back in the sunlight from the bowels of darkness below on a  fantastic spacious lookout ledge were we had some lunch.

Pitch3: 16** Chimney squeeze with lots of technical rope work. Now route finding was getting tricky. There were a lot of options here with cracks and corners everywhere. The offwidth right in front of us looked horrible and impossible to protect with gear, but I found a nice crack around the corner to the left and almost decided to head up into nowhere. Luckily, Jack read the description again: “wide crack and through awkward chimney squeeze being careful not to dislodge loose rock.” When I first saw the squeeze I thought no- way! I climbed the wide crack and indeed was able to wiggle through the tight squeeze with my rack getting tangled all over the place. Once on the other side – we were back on track. After another 20 meters of gentle climbing, I arrived at the Thank God ledge but now things started to get tricky:  I had no idea how Jack and Breanna would be able to get through the squeeze and manage the rope which we trailed behind us around the chimney?  All I heard was curses from far below while Jack tension-traversed out over the void to flip our tagline across the pinnacle. Somehow he managed to do it? The top of the third pitch was also our Tyrolean return trip so we could now secure the tagline and head up the final glorious pinnacle to the summit in line with the tourist lookout – it was important to look elegant and serious here.

Pitch 4: 16** again lots of options and after a few moves jamming up a corner without being able to place gear, I started to look for alternatives, choosing a nice thick handjam crack one meter to the right of the belay rings. A little tough for 16 but sure why not.  Arriving at the top is breathtaking, the views are 360 degrees with pinnacles all around you and the totem pole far below - gazing at Freycinet, the three capes and the Moai in the distance. Raping back down to our Tyrolean starting at the top of pitch 3, the final hurdle to safety was waiting. We had thought this through a lot and the first two people were no problem: we just tensioned our tagline and Jack lower Roman and Breanna down until the horizontal final meters of the tagline, almost flawless with minimal effort. But now Jack was stuck. He had nobody to lower him. Breanna had connected both ropes together and brought the other end across with her. We created a perfect loop through all the ringbolts and tensioned is as much as possible. Jack could no longer be able to rap down – the tension does not allow for a lowering devise, so he instead prusiked downward and across the line. Each movement his footloop and handloop tightened and he had to loosen them constantly. Time went by slowly for him and his forearms looked like giant balloons but he made it with cramped fingers and aching body. It was done and we topped out at 3pm. I suggested that we should celebrate at the nearest pub about one hour away, but this was a mistake. Jack put on another blistering pace back to the campside which rounded off our trip in 11 hours with three people not bad I would say. At the Pembrook pub at Sorell the ale never tested better that night. We slept again at seven mile Beach after the gentle embrace of our secret jacuzzi. See the 2016 'The Pommish Invasion' film, for a good source of visual material and explanation.  

Day 4: We slept in a bit after our early start for the Candlestick, but by the second brew of coffee the juices started flowing again and we were keen to get back to an old friend of hours. I was time to revisit the Colosseum at Sandriver where Hercules 25*** with its final crux move was lying in wait. We heard a lot about people falling off the last boulder problem and were keen to spend a day sport climbing and one of the best crags in Tasmania.

Hercules (25***) What a climb!  My contender for one of the most amazing lines in Tassie. We gave it all we had and both Jack and Roman touched the last hold that day, but Hercules was stronger that day. First 5 meters start through a nice warmup roof with a strenuous undercling move to a ledge: double kneebar rest – full recovery and lock in your Drishti. Hard pocket moves to another rooflet: adjust your feet high and reach for the crimp rail: both hands on small crimps – choose which hand to dyno from and launch with everything you got. Catch the jug and steady your swing – healhook right.  Handtraverse left and find the bad knee scum – match on the good hold. Shake out here and steady your breathing try to get some energy back this is where the boulder problem starts. Reach very high to a good slot – match. Feet are okay but very low – throw hard with your right hand to “the sloper.” You barely hang on – there is a horrible intermediate for your left hand but now your feet are too low: decide to move your feet higher or dyno all out for the glory jug – its your choice.  All I remember is my finger grabbing the final jug and time slowed down sliding and sliding…..

Crossing the Rubicon (21***) still amazing and great warmup.

Way of the Dragon (23***) One of the best and amazing flash by Breanna.

We called it a day after Hercules shut us down and decided to camp at the free Buckland campground behind the Buckland Inn.

Day 5: We woke up to a cruisy morning and decided to chill at a café before tackling our next major objective. It was time to check out the much fabled Machine Laundry café with its amazing breakfasts. As we drove towards Salamanca for our breakie, thoughts of the atmospheric Slapdancer (27***) on Albert's Tomb started to draw us up to the Organ Pipes once again. This time the most tricky part was to decipher the cryptic approach instructions to one of Tassie’s most solitary pinnacles. Be prepared to spend some time finding your way.
We chose the ground up approach rather than rapping in and with names like Shipwrecks and Albert's Tomb, it was difficult to orient yourself amongst the many gullies. After several failed attempts we eventually managed to locate the tricky approach by heading very high up into the Amphitheatre close to the base of Mind's Eye 24*** at the Columns. We eventually found a hidden cairn heading up across several bush terraces. The initial tricky and scary rock step is dangerous and we ended up rapping here on the way down. Once you pop out on the narrow ledge where the pinnacle is pivoting lonely on a narrow rock platform. The views are breathtaking and despite its diminutive stature – probable about 8-10 meters – several hundreds of meters of exposure all around you make this one of the most magic places in all of Tasmania. That day another party was working the route and Liam was super nice letting us take turns on the boulder route. Although short, the route is very powerful: a short V3 mostly balancy start gets you to the crux gaston move with a high heel hock, probably V5/6. Then the final slapping business for about 6 meters with very powerful fridge hugging to the top on heels and toes.  Two shots by Jack and Roman and one for Breanna and our skin was gone for the day. Time to make our way down for an early pub meal at the amazing free campground near the Longley Hotel with its Huon Valley pines. It was full moon and Jack and Breanna headed out late for a night climbing adventure on Heat (21*** four pitches of arete climbing), unfortunately the shadows were too dark that night and we will have to come back one more time for this gem.

Projects for next time: Punk Area: Punk 19*** appears to be above Slapdancer and Completion Backwards (26***) which can be toproped from the ringbolts near Slapdancer photographic ledge.