Hi there, my mate and I were out at the Hazards on Sunday (19th) and climbed Stud City. We chose to descend via the new rap route. The climbing was great but it ended in a bit of an epic.

We ended up getting one of our ropes stuck after pulling the ropes on the first rap. Retrieval wasn't too easy as the rock is not too solid there and the rain was starting to come down. We then had to fix our other rope for the second abseil as it wouldn't have reached the ground. So we ended up having to leave both of our ropes on the rap route.

We're trying to get out there next weekend or the one after to get them, but if anyone's planning to be on the route please keep that in mind, and we'd be stoked if you could retrieve them.

Thanks

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4 Comments

  1. karl ostberg AUTHOR

    Ropes retrieved,

    Cheers

  2. Doug Bruce

    Glad to hear you've got your ropes back, Karl. From your POV, is there a problem with the set-up of the rap route which caused your rope to get stuck on the first rappel, or were there other factors (wind?) that played a part? I haven't climbed Stud City for about 20 years, long before the rap route was there.

    1. karl ostberg AUTHOR

      The rap route is not great. There is a lot of vegetation, cracks and ledges that all cause dramas with throwing the ropes down as well as potentially catching your rope when pulling it. When we got the rope stuck it was on the top rappel. The tail of the rope fell into a crack line, twisted over itself and then jammed in. Im sure this was unlucky and probably couldnt do it again if i tried. The second time we rappeled the route we pulled the rope from a position that avoided the potential problem spots and had no problems.

      Another issue now resolved was the second rappel anchor looked pretty precarious. It was a 6mm cord around a single small tree. We have backed it up with a second tree and tubular webbing - makes you feel a lot happier on those first steps down the rappel!! We have also added double caribiners to both rap anchors.

      So to answer your question Doug, I am happy enough with the rap route now and would use it again. What I have learned is to always be looking out for snags for your ropes and choose your line accordingly. The second thing we learned was to add a prussick or ascender to a stuck rope when leading up to retreive it. It would have saved a huge lead fall when a hold blew - was very scary

       

  3. Jed Parkes

    Yeah i added that rap route, its not ideal but beats walking all the way up and back down again. I didn't have any problems when i rapped down.

    Need to bolt a rap route right of where stud city finishes down the blank slab but that means bolts and bolting rabble rabble....