Mt. Arapiles

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I've been at Mt. Arapiles for almost 2 weeks. It's pretty great. I was so happy to finally set up my tent and put all my kit inside and finally relax on that first night. It felt like after travelling in limbo for a week I was finally home. Plus, as other climbers know well, I got to experience the great feeling of waking up after a long night driving and being in a completly new landscape with beautiful rock right there.

Best morning wake-ups so far

Red Rocks 2007
Mt. Arapiles 2008
Joshua Tree 2008
Smith Rocks 2008

The climbing here is great. I'm constantly surprised at how steep the climbs are for the relatively easy grade. For example, a 5.8 in Squamish is so shallow you barely need hand holds and can almost just walk up the cliff. In Arapiles a 17 ( ~= 5.8 ) has vertical rock with overhanging sections. There are jugs the entire way but it's still pretty commiting.

The climbing is all trad, which means there is very little permanent anchors in the rock to clip into. It's cool to do so much trad after trad without seeing bolts. I've been pretty timid on lead so far, my friend warned me about falling on Arapiles rock. It's super strong and solid but the pro is often all thin wires and micro-cams which aren't always so reliable. I've looked at some cool climbs that I'm totally strong enough to do but said, "I'm not leading that" because there are big sections of only RP or Peanut protection available. Oh well, I'm staying safe.

I've done a ton of classic climbs with 2 climbers I met here, a Brit - Mark, and a French guy - Lionel. It's been a bit slow lately as they had to go but I've been doing some good bouldering on my own. I get a little nervous topping out on some boulders without a crash pad though.

I did the awesome Kachoong last weekend. Look it up or search youtube for it under http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=qJEopoD-YYI

There's a story to this climb for us but I'll have to tell you next time.

I've got lots of wicked animal and climbing shots but I made a decision. If I post all the best shots then when I get back you'll have no incentive to ask me about the trip. Or if I want to do a slideshow then people will have seen all my best shots already. Therefore, from now on I'll only post my second best photos on this blog. See its working already, you're thinking if these are his second best shots, I can't wait till he gets back so I can see the best ones.

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Comments

[Kelly]

By slideshow do you mean old school projector with slides like my grandma makes me look through whenever I visit? Because that would be AWESOME :).

[andrewclimber]

yep, that's pretty much my slideshow idea.

[Evan]

Nice pictures! Are the bottom 2 the squeeze boulder?

[andrewclimber]

totally, the squeeze boulder was great fun. Trick seems to be to keep your feet up high and inhale then move. Was tighter than I expected.