Pommy on the Moon

Weekend Report of the 6th of July 1998

I convinvced a pommy novice climber from the Mill gym to go to the Grampians with me for the whole weekend. Under the guise of climbing I dragged him up to my new little secret cliff and got him to work - as a belay slave!!!

The first route I attempted was 'Mankind' now 'Pommy on the Moon'. The weather was great, it was sunny & def. T-Shirt & shorts weather. After a brief lesson on belaying a leader 'just don't let go of this end. okay?' I started out. The begining grey slab was hardly awe inspiring, it wasa tad loose and some bits where fairly lichen encrusted. 15m of this grade 16 shit got me to a nice orange Arapiles chunk of rock and an ominus bulge above me. I cranked a short wall to a big break shoved a #4 cam in and started feeling above for holds. Having not climbed for quite a while (leading that is) I started to get quite pumped. Friutless groping above the bulge only found a few mediorche holds. I downclimbed and rested on the break then forged ahead with a dazzling display of panic and grunt to fight my way up a sloping and bloody overhung wall to reach the summit jugs. It was a lot harder than my intial thoughts of a 16!!! More like grade 20+! It was a great onsight FFA and a moderatly good route.

Next we walked up to the main cliff and ticked very easily the enjoyable slab Apollo. Feeling like a break we trecked over to the big red cave and sat and ate some lunch. It was a great day with a spectacular view over the Grampians with plenty more cliffs to check out! Soon impatient I decided the classic of the crag would have to go down next. The route labled 'Buzz' now 'Crecent Crack' required a rap in to a ledge to scope and clean the route proper (I had already shunted and cleaned the route last weekend) The rap was made off an awesome thread anchor, a natural K-Point bollard, very cool. I had already placed a descent bolt on the ledge above Sea of Tranquility and backed this up with another awesome thread. I had to make the ethical decision whether to place a bolt or not on this classic looking line. After rapping down and scoping the crux I decided the bolt was a good option. Without it you would need to do a hairy exposed thin face move about 2m above a decent cam. With the bolt added it would make a nice consumer classic.

After brushing a few holds it suddenly started to sprinkle with the start of rain. fearing the worst Victoria had to offer we rapped down to the ground and hid under a boulder. It soon disapeared so I ropedup and placed my first piece of gear. It started raining again so we backed off again and hid under the rock. The rain disapeared within a few minutes (typical Victoria!!!) so I started out. By this time a whipping wind had picked up and it was freezing! I couldn't feel my hands at all and had to look at them to make sure they wouldn't slip off. Placing pro and fiddling with small wires proved to be very testing. The start is a juggy slightly overhung crack which you have to step across to from a a boulder about 5m from the the ground. Its a fairly juggy start with good pro. The rock is great frictional grey sandstone with no chance of rock failure. About 7m up you are confronted with a long balancy move with a fairly high step (the first crux) as the crack disapears to only a seam. Its a great move which forces you out to the overhang on your left. You then gain some good jugs and a rest (and some pro!). Above looms a fairly blank looking faint corner with no pro. Up this with balancy moves (FH) to a bigbreak. Step right, surmount a bulgy bit and crank up the last 5m on sloping holds with no pro to top.

Its a classic, easily my best new route ever. I could repeat it all day long - if it wasn't so bleeding cold!!! The rock is all bulgy and it covers some fairly 'out there' territory. There will be a great varation just after the FH where you will traverse left and up a bulge on thin crimpers. That will be Armstrong.

It was so bloody cold we bailed leaving the other two wall routes for another day. It is definatly a morning cliff during winter! On Monday we went to an area called Gallery Creek in the South Eastern Grampians. It is a Glen Tempest & Steve Hamilton cliff. No one had been there for so long & it was really overgrown. We did a nice grade 12 (more like a 16) then I tried a 20 and feel off when a hold snapped in the bouldery unprotected first 6m. I crunched onto my back with Mat taking most of the wieght! We decided it was too fucked climb if loose blocks where still sitting on it.

I then led a route that was really like a Shadow Glen route. It was a grade 20 and much like a mixture of Armageddon & Brick Boxes @ Shadow Glen. Same black slippery rock and thin edges.We then did a 15 & an 18 at The Watchtower and went home. I can't wait to go back out again!