Statham’s Quarry – new climbs
Home › Forums › First Ascents › Statham’s Quarry – new climbs
- This topic has 11 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 11 months ago by
Marianne.
-
AuthorPosts
-
Phillip
Plummeting Penguins (16) 25m
Straight up the middle of ‘The Side Wall’ with 6 glued-in hex bolts. The first half is easy – maybe grade 10 or 11. The crux is going straight up the dark grey, metre wide slot, although many people seem to go left or right, making it a 14 or so.
Phillip Calais, Maureen Boyle, Marianne Turner, November 2006
Penguin Master (16) 20m
Start about 3m to the right of ‘Plummeting Penguins’. Up the easy section, then head right at the … third or fourth bolt… over the blocky rubble section and up about 1 – 1.5 m to the left of ‘Carrot Master’. Then either straight up and clip the last ‘Carrot Master’ bolt, or follow the crack, whacking in a few cams or nuts along the way to the top.
Phillip Calais, Nostromo, Marianne Turner, December 2006
Bonking Penguins (21/22) 15 m
Start on the 1m x 0.5 m flake on the ground about 1 m to the right of ‘Stolen Glory’, then up to the bolt about 2 m to the right of the first SG bolt. Then up and clip the ‘Bonk Night Out’ bolt.
Then either –
traverse left a bit and clip the third bolt of ‘Stolen Glory’ and then up to the fourth SG bolts. Keeping right of the SG 90 degree corner, clip the fifth SG bolt and go up the flat face to the top to the 12 mm, 35 kN lower-offs. These are large enough so that you can clip them with a ‘biner and then feed your doubled 10.5 mm rope through, unlike some 10 mm, unrated, small diameter p-bolts.
OR –
from the BNO bolt, go straight up and clip the 4th and 5th SG bolts, again keeping to the face at the top, not the SG corner.
Phillip Calais, Matthew Hobby, 11/02/07
Map man
With that description you need a map. Could it be these are essentially the same climb? I have seen these climbs and if there was a climber on each, you could hold hands all the way up. I’m all for alternative starts / finishes but this is beyond a joke…
map case
sounds like a “choose your own adventure” book. whatever permutation of bolts you choose to clip may result in a first ascent! or a sticky end!
Phillip
Hi Map,
maybe so, but then there are plenty of other climbs where you could hold hands (if you wanted to). A couple of daze ago when I was on Urban Ethics, I was having a chat to Kate who was only a metre or so away on Power Play. Does that mean that UE and PP are the same climb?
A lot of other climbs cross over each other – Celestial Way crosses over and uses much of the same pro as Mainliner, Up for Grabs and Funky Gibbon, but that in no way detracts from them all being great climbs.
Jamie
Hi Phillip , i see you got to bring out the penguins.. nice work…will have to get up there and give them a whirl.
Phillip
Hi Jamie and everyone else,
On the straight-up version of ‘Bonking Penguins’, I will probably put another bolt in the next time I am there, as it’s a bit run out. I may also replace the second bolt, which is the old ‘Bonk Night Out’ galvanised steel carrot-bolt, with a glue-in stainless steel bolt.
Also a minor correction for the record – for ‘Penguin Master’, the seconder (or was it thirder?) was Ishmael, not Nostramo.
‘Penguin Master’, along with ‘Plummeting Penguins’ and another one that still needs a few bolts glued in, were put up mainly so that there would be some reasonably well-bolted and relatively easy climbs for people who are just starting to lead on real rock and only have the gear for bolted climbs. There seems to be very few fully bolted routes in the lower grades and I have seen a number of people do rather strange things like try and lead ‘Snatches and Lays’ (24) or similar or even try and lead mixed natural gear/bolted climbs like ‘Dolphin Smiles’ or ‘Super Slab’ and only using the few, rather sparse bolts, for their first outdoor lead and in many cases having a few problems…
Phillip
Di
I went out to Statham’s last night with some mates, one who has only been climbing for a few months, to try these new routes. I was thrilled to see that Philip had put up routes that (in his words) are ‘reasonably well-bolted and relatively easy climbs for people who are just starting to lead on real rock’.
Imagine our surprise to discover that these routes didn’t have double ring bolts at the end (unlike other bolts-only routes at SQ)! Now before anyone makes comments about the presence of numerous GIMBs at the top, remember that these routes are meant for NEW OUTDOOR LEADERS. How many new leaders would know what to do with GIMBs placed in positions requiring you to top belay?
As much as we’d like to think that no-one would head outdoors without having either done a course, or gone with more experienced mates to learn first, we all know that is not the case.
So if you’re new to leading, be prepared- bring two more bolt plates than the number of bolts indicated, and make sure you can set up a top belay. Otherwise, these routes can be top-roped.
And for the sake of new leaders, if you put up a route for newbies, please indicate what the anchor situation is at top! If someone has an accident because they expect sports routes to have DBBs, we may all lose access.
Philip despite my grumbles here, I do appreciate the work you have done!
Phillip
Hi Di,
thanks for your comments.
‘Bonking Penguins’ has a fixed hanger (on the direct route), several hex-heads that need bolt-plates, and two ring bolts a few metres from the top. The ring bolts there are necessary as the tope in that area is full of crap and loose choss and to lead further would be risky.
In the case of ‘Plummeting Penguins’, ‘Penguin Master’ and ‘Novice Penguins’, there are only hex-head machine bolts that need bolt-plates. There is no double ring bolts near the top as I felt they are not necessary in that location and it is no problem climbing over the top as the rock is reasonably solid there at the top. ‘Carrot Master’ is similarly bolted.
Over the top there are at least 4 (or 5?) bolts that can be used for setting up the belay.
I also decided to use hex-head bolts as the climbs are not so difficult that they are necessary. Most indoor lead climbs are overhung and very pumpy and as it seems most people these daze learn to ‘lead’ (or at least clip p-bolts) on Indoor Grade 16 – 25+, putting a bolt-plate over a bolt on an Outdoor Grade 13 should be no problem.
Rock-climbing is different from climbing on plastic and plywood and different practices apply.
Basically I bolted according to the usual practice of Australian outdoor climbing. If anyone says that I’m living in the past, well maybe I am. But if that is the case, then I think that the rools and usual practice of all other outdoor activities and sports also need to be updated, as many of the usual practices limit the number of people participating and their ability to do so. So I suggest that from now on:
Football – players are permitted to gouge out their opponents eyes.
Bushwalking – walkers must now use YZ500 motorbikes.
Golfers – should stop using clubs and instead fire their balls from shotguns.
Windsurfing – 75 hp Mercury outboards should be fitted to all windsurfers.
Mathew and I are working on another climb – it’s about a 24 or 25 and slightly overhanging and so it will be bolted according to the usual practice of a climb of this grade – at least some p-bolts or fixed hangers, taking into account both the grade, difficulty of clipping and the location of the crag.
Phillip
Richard
Lower offs must not be put at the top of these climbs. They are longer than 25m. If lower offs are put at the very top pretty soon someone will be lowered off the end of the rope. For which one could blame the bolter. Warning also to top ropers. use a 60m rope or hang the top point a few metres down the face.
Lower offs could be placed two or three meters below the top, though some quality would be missed.
nay sayer
or, richard you could get out of the dark ages, ditch your 50m cord and get a 60. you’ll be one of the cool kids then.
personally if i were lowered off the end of my rope, i hope i fell on my belayer, cause they would be the one that i would blame, not the bolter!
litigation station
Climbers choose to climb a route, if someone wants to go climb and be lowered off without considering the fact that rope has two ends, then stay in the gym.
“Lower offs must not be put at the top of these climbs. They are longer than 25m. If lower offs are put at the very top pretty soon someone will be lowered off the end of the rope. For which one could blame the bolter”
Marianne
Haven’t been checking the website recently but just noticed this post. Nice to be included in the first ascents, but should say that I wasn’t a first (or second or third) ascensionist…That’s just to get facts correct if this info is being used for guidebook 🙂
-
AuthorPosts
