Pioneers of Tassie's Best Routes

This is a copy of a thread I put on Chockstone, which I thought may be of interest to locals. Some interstate visitors were taking the piss out of me, saying I over-rate the quality of alot of my new routes. This is fair comment, as any new router knows; you put so much effort in to a new climb that when the project is done; `its the best route I ever put up' ..its just frothing enthusiasm, redpoint glory..forgive me for exaggeration at times, but I still think I've managed to put up a few good ones over the years. Anyway, here is the chockstone thread, and I'd be interested in your comments.

This thread is partly in response to rowans comment about my first ascents. He said "Well it's just taste I guess. But I found that your self appraisals of your first ascents was a state wide running joke when I was in Tassie. You have climbed some awesome routes first but not as many as your guide books claim. I was told on several occasions whilst at the crag to take two stars off any Gerry route in the guide. That was locals beta."

It made me wonder who these locals were, and then I got to thinking whether their opinion, or the opinion of interstate visitors like rowan and One Day Donkey Boy has any credibility, and is their assessment of a climb worth listening to. I went through my Climb Tasmania guidebook, which has the best 850 routes at the 25 best crags and took note of the first ascensionists. I did this because it is mainly these people whose opinion I respect when it comes to judging a route's quality. The first ascensionists have runs on the board, they have done some hard yards, scrubbed some climbs, done some exploring, invested in bolts, worked the routes and made an effort to develop the sport. Knowing most of these people, I have found them less likely to be critical of a climb, because they know what effort goes into a first ascent. And if they are scathing of a route, I take notice because they usually have good reason to be, and they also know people are sitting in judgement of their climbs. I also respect others opinion to some degree because any climber can assess the quality of a climb, but the opinion of first ascensionists with runs on the board holds far greater credibility.

Before people claim that I am biased towards my own climbs (which I am a bit), this guidebook was a big collaborative effort by the Tasmanian climbing community, and the key players were asked to submit lists of the best routes and assign star ratings to the climbs. A big plus for the guidebook is that there has been very little criticism of the guide because everybody down here wanted the guide to succeed and many people were consulted on all aspects of the guide especially on which climbs made the selected best list. The Climb Tasmania guidebook is now generally accepted as the `go to' book documenting the best climbs in the state. So who have been the main pioneers of the best routes in Tassie?

Of the 850 climbs selected by a panel of local climbers, 364 of them were put up by 4 people; myself, Nick Hancock, Bob McMahon and Garry Phillips. 42% of the classic routes in Tassie were pioneered by these 4 guys. Now my old mate Bob has passed away, so that means Nick and Garry are the two guys whose opinion on Tassie climbing I respect the most. If they think my climb is donkey dick quality, then it probably is. Expand the list to people who contributed over 20 classics, and you end up with only 6 more people and 539 climbs. 63% of the classic routes in Tassie were put up by 10 people, guys like Neale Smith, Sam Edwards, Simon Parsons, Dr John Fisher (not CJ), Norm Selby and Roger Parkyn. I listen to these men because they have done a huge amount of quality development.

Expand the list to people who did the first ascent of ten classics or more, and you end up with another 20 people: Bryan Kennedy, Ingvar Lidman, Andrew Martin, Doug Fife, Michael Fox, Lyle Closs, Ben Maddison, John Fantini, Mick Ling, Kim Carrigan, Danny Ng, Nic Deka, Doug McConnell, Pete Steane, Garn Cooper, Simon Young, Phil Bigg, Ian Lewis, Al Williams and the Jackson brothers. I have climbed or socialized with most of these people, and if they talk about route quality or climbing ethics, I will take note..their opinion has weighty credibility.

A few people deserve special mention because of a few singular amazing efforts: Jake Bresnehan and Kim Robinson for some very hard climbs, Adam Donoghue for his efforts in the Tyndalls, Steve Monks and Simon Mentz and John Ewbank for the Totem Pole, and Chris Dewhirst and Dave Neilson for pioneering climbs at Frenchmans. Other noteworthy pioneering efforts have been done by Phil Robinson, Tony Mckenny, Reg Williams, Mike Douglas, and John Moore.

So the locals that Rowan spoke to who said to take two stars off my climbs..if they are not some of the people I have listed above, then their opinion has little credibility in my opinion. Which probably leads into another potential thread..I hate the star rating system..it is too subjective and results in many excellent climbs of 1 or 2 star rating being neglected, because everybody only wants to climb 3 star routes (hint: want to climb 3 stars? Just look for G.Narkowicz FA in the guidebook)

1 Comment

Jon Nermut

Stars	Name	Length	Grade	Area	FA
***	Steamed Rice	26m	17	Bruny Island	I. Snape, C. Cole, 16 Jun 2001.
***	All in Good Tide	50m	18	Bruny Island	P. Robinson, S. Scott, 5 Feb 2004.
***	Quintessence	50m	16	Bruny Island	P. Robinson, K. Robinson, C. Hewer, 16 Mar 2008.
***	Fatman's Splash	25m	25	Blackmans Bay
***	Acapulco	5m	25	Blackmans Bay
***	Atomic Kitten	30m	25	Blackmans Bay
***	Teen Spirit	35m	24	Gunners Quoin	Nick Hancock, Doug McConnell, Roger Parkyn, Sarah Hedges Nov 2003.
***	Underdog	15m	23	North West Bay River	Grant Rowbottom 2011
***	Bloodhound	15m	24	North West Bay River	James Trainer October 2015
***	Natural High	30m	23	Proctors Road Quarry	M.Law, G.Child, 1979.
***	Serial Driller	20m	20	Waterworks Quarry	John Domeney, Dec 1993.
***	Cool Breeze	20m	22	Kempton Quoin	Dave Humphries, Jon Nermut, June 2016.
***	Seventh Day	50m	17	Kempton Quoin
***	The Spastic Acrobat	15m	20	Lowdina	Al Adams, Evan Peacock, Aug 1988.
***	Mick Goes to Moonah	15m	18	Lowdina	Dave Humphries, John Buttery, Jul 1984.
***	Tim's Excuses	25m	19	Lowdina	Evan Peacock, Colin Reed, Sep 1991.
***	Little Squeaky Feet	22m	22	Lowdina	Evan Peacock, Steve Ford, Al Adams, Colin Reed, Dec 1991.
***	Something Scurrilous	25m	19	Lowdina	Al Adams, Garn Cooper, Jun 1990.
***	Perchance to Dream	20m	18	Lowdina	Garn Cooper, Al Adams, Pete Steane, Dec 1984.
***	Drury Line	25m	20	Lowdina	Evan Peacock, Steve Ford, Feb 1992.
***	Hood	30m	16	Lowdina	Michael McHugh, Robert McMahon, 1968.
***	Plastacine Thylacine	25m	22	Lowdina	Evan Peacock, Colin Reed, Steve Ford, May 1990.
***	Wolfetone	25m	18	Lowdina	Robert McMahon, Peter Jackson, Nov 1969.
***	Acerb	20m	22	Lowdina	Evan Peacock, Colin Reed, Nov 1989.
***	Onklunk	20m	26	Lowdina	Evan Peacock, Colin Reed, May 1990.
***	Sweetie	20m	12	Lowdina	Peter Jackson, Mendelt Tillema, Mar 1971.
***	Yoda	25m	19	Lowdina	Peter Jackson, Dec 1980.
***	Albatross	30m	23	Lowdina	Ian Lewis, Feb 1974. FFA Henry Barber May 1975.
***	Greenknowe	15m	12	Lowdina	Peter Jackson, Peter Jackson, Nov 1969.
***	Lumbar Cruncher	23m	23	Lowdina	Marcel Jackson, Peter Jackson, Mar 1990.
***	The Danger Hog Shuffle	25m	17	Lowdina	Martin Walch, Garn Cooper, Jun 1986.
***	Wailing Wall	12m	26	Lowdina	Marcel Jackson, Hamish Jackson, Jan 1992.
***	Blank Generation	60m	22	University Buttress	G. Child, K. Carrigan, 1978.
***	Chancellor Direct	60m	17	University Buttress	I. Lewis, L. Closs, 1972.
***	Carpe Diem	45m	19	University Buttress	N. Deka, N. Smith, J. Otlowski, Apr 1990.
***	SSSSI (Seriously Searching For Sanity but Suiciding Instead)	40m	22	Bulging Buttress	K. Bischoff, G. Dixon, Feb 1981. FFA: S. Parsons, P. Bigg, and D. Fife freed the lower half in 1982; N. Deka and D. Stephenson freed the original aid line in Feb 1989.
***	Mildly Amused	35m	25	Bulging Buttress	R. Parkyn, Feb 1999.
***	Beaten and Abused	40m	22	Bulging Buttress	D. Stephenson, N. Deka, Pete Steane, Feb 1989.
***	Cold Power	30m	21	Bulging Buttress	Pete Steane, D. Fife, Mar 1996.
***	Heat Pump	50m	22	Bulging Buttress	R. Parkyn, N. Hancock, 2002.