Pre-Blogger Arapiles trips

To start the ball rolling, here is a summary of all the trips to Mt Arapiles (and the Grampians) I have done. By the way, to check out all the climbs I have done on this and other trips, go to thecrag.com (see link on right), register for free and then look me up in the climbers search.

Arapiles started for me in 2002, when Dave Langley, Dave Gell and I visited for a long weekend after attending the annual Lorne Proteins conference in February (we're Biochemists). I was an inexperienced leader at the time and Langles comandeered the pointy-end and dragged us up some of the best Arapiles classics, such as: D-minor (14), Bard (12), Skink (18) & Muldoon (13). As can be said by many, D-minor was my first climb at Araps. On the second day, I was just entering the well-positioned of crux of Skink, when Dave Gell snapped this photo from the airy belay. This and Bard were the most memorable climbs for me. We were almost cooked alive in the summer sun on Bard, having taken too long on the infamous traverse. We spent the evenings laughing at Glen Tempest's witty guide book, and have done so every year since.

In 2003, Dave Langley convinced two of his long-time climbing buddies - Ian Rath and Neil Mahant - to accompany him and myself for about a week this time (again, just after Lorne meeting in Feb.). We also explored some crags in the Grampians, but were washed out from Araps later in the week by a drought breaking storm...Ian's crappy A-frame tent was just not made for the dusty Pines campground, and he had also come close to removing a finger while slicing salami in camp just after we had climbed The Missing Link (17). This trip was significant because we purchased two $7.50 jaffle irons from the Halls gap store and they have been used for almost every meal at Araps since! [Accompanied of course by Cabinet and wood aged.] My most memorable climbs: Blimp (20/21) at Bundaleer (photo 1, Neil leading), Tannin (19) (a big tick for me - photo 2) & The Missing Link (17) (aka "the missing pro"). Packing all our junk into the 4-ey was an issue at times (photo 3; butts belong to: I. Rath, N. Mahant & D. Langley).


2004 saw Dave Langley, Czech climbing fanatic and beer monster Karel Skrivanek, and myself take an indulgant two weeks in February - the first in the Grampians (mainly the Victoria range) and the second at Arapiles. Dave and I also squeezed in a day at Blue Lake on the way down before Lorne. We also climbed at the You Yangs and some other crag near Melborne, where accidentally I backed over his helmet, which had to be sacraficially burnt later in the trip. The first photo is Dave on Common Border (20) in the Gramps. The climbing in the Gramps is as good as Araps, but (with limited time) the ease of access to the cliffs is not! We almost lost the sump on the way to the Crystal Palace crag in the Victoria range, but Dave managed to discover and flash a new route which he called Moes and Mullets (21), which represented the theme of the trip (and the hair on our heads). Karel and I were proud to second - our first new route in Oz. Apart from this highlight, memorable moments from the Gramps were: the mega-classic Twentieth Century Fox (20) (photo 2), dogging some ridiculously steep stuff at the Gallery (and watching some German dude working Monkey Puzzle (28)), and Tortoise (20) and Slug (18) at Tortoise wall.
Arapiles was great fun as usual, with the most memorable climb being Oceanoid (17); especially the awkward, scary and evil corner/chimney that awaits an already commited leader on the 2nd pitch! Well led Karel! French crack above it is no push over too - possibly the hardest 10 m 16 in the world. Rapping off the Pharos butress afterwards was fantastic. The photo is of Karel rapping off and inspecting the jaw dropping Mind Arthritis (27) that the abseil travels down.



2005 was with Dave and Karel again, but the weather was amazingly cold for mid-summer, and in fact we bearly had enough clothes. Fortunately, beer and wine came to the rescue. We did manage a few good climbs, such as Eskimo Nell (10) and King Rat (18). I took a big fall off the aptly named Sky Diver (21), having mucked around too much and lost all strength. Other good climbs were Rat's alley (19) and Blyth street (21), both excellent steep-slabs. The sight-seeing visit to Mt Buffalo on the way home was great, although we had quite a lot of snow to deal with (mid-summer!?).