Arapiles

Begginner trad. Multi-pitch. The two do not usually go hand in hand but at Arapiles anything is possible. Probably why Arapiles draws so many climbers!

The Positive

• The climbing. I’m not into trad- that’s more Marrti’s terrain but even I found the climbing incredible. So much to climb, easily accessible and grades for all abilities!
• The camping. This was fantastic! Where else can you camp right underneath the rock you are about to climb? Complete with water and a toilet! Beware of the wasps near the washing up sink though!

The Unexpected

• Arapiles is a great rock. But surrounded by flat land! Driving up we were expecting more of a range but nooope….one large rock is all you get!
• It wasn’t that busy.. perhaps it was the time of year but none of the crowds we were expecting!
• A lot of the beginner climbing was closed due to the climbing bans.. a shame as it’s one of the few places in Australia that really caters to the beginner trad climber with easy trad grades. We will see what happens here…

The Main event. Climbing Tiptoe Ridge

If this isn’t every beginner trad climbers dream… I don’t know what is!

( we have done sport multipitch before but this is our first trad!)

After a few days single pitch climbing and getting back into the feel of it we felt ready.. or as ready as we were going to be! Ideally we wanted a rest day but with rain on the forecast for the foreseeable forever.. we decided this was the day

What an adventure.

Getting to tiptoe

Drive to the furthest car park ( P6) and start walking towards the rock. There’s a nice trail all the ay up.. when this disappears skirt to the left of the rock until you can clamber up.

Feels like you’ve already climbed a fair chunk by the time you reach eh official start! Bottom anchor a must!

The Climb

Amazing. Tiring.

The holds are great but it hard not to be aware of the height! Very different feel to our usual single pitch.

Factor in some extra time… and then some more! And then more extra water.

The going is slow.. our 80m rope definitely feels a bit overkill given the proximity of potential anchor spots but we didn’t want to be left stranded!

The Verdict:

It took even longer than we expected but was so much fun!