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<guide><text class="heading1">Articles</text>
<text class="text"
new="false"
number="null.">This page contains articles on Jamming and English grades and an original account of the first ascent of Third Bird by Lyle Closs.</text>
<text
class="heading2">Jamming on Dolerite by Ian Snape
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class="text">For those finely honed athletes, body sculpted in the gym, but daunted by the prospect of 'the jam', here is a simple chart to aid progression through the art.
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class="heading3" new="false"
number="null.">Pre-school
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number="null.">Two of the lower graded jam cracks on the Pipes can be found in the Johnstone's Knob area. Gear Freak and Pipedream, both 16, provide a straightforward pre-school in the art. Shelter in the Storm (17), just to the L of Pipedream, also involves the odd jam, but it's possibly under graded
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class="heading3">Jamming test pieces
</text><climb extra=""
grade="17" name="Chasm Wall Centaur " number="1"
stars="">The test is whether you chose to jam it at 17, or crimp the crux at 18. If you chose the latter, stop here
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="19" name="Battle Cruiser " number="2"
stars="">One jam that's very difficult to avoid
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="18" name="Ano's Sojourn " number="3"
stars="">This short sustained little test piece is a good intermediate jam test that has seen many failed attempts to layback the crux
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="19" name="Punk " number="4"
stars="">Like Ano's...only more of it. A climb that used to be mostly straight hands in yesteryear, is today a fist jam in places, and is tomorrows offwidth as the column continues to move. Do it now before it moves up the list.
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="20" name="Icarus " number="5"
stars="">What a line. Tape up.
</climb><climb extra=""
grade="20" length="" name="Opportunity " new="false"
number="6 ."
stars="">Described in the guide as 'surprising'...a must do before Jam Test #7.
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="20" name="Tartarus " number="7"
stars="">A combination of tricky manoeuvres that requires strength, endurance and the ability to let go to place runners. A climb that commands respect.
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="20" name="Daedelus " number="8"
stars="">An offwidth that is rarely climbed. The first of two Henry Barber routes that have a reputation that is probably well deserved. As intimidating to look at as to lead.
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="22" name="Savage Journey " number="9"
stars="">Best led without cams for that Barber experience. Sustained excellence.
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="20" name="Galah Performance " number="10"
stars="">A magical line full of old school charm. Widely recognized as being high in the grade, this little climb has dished out more spankings than Madam Lash.
</climb><text
class="text">Generally considered by those experienced in the art to be at least two grades harder to on-sight than Icarus (test #5).
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class="text">Congratulations, you have know shown the mental fortitude to jam when it's not needed, you have climbed 'surprising' jams, shown respect and successfully climbed cracks that require strength, endurance and a comprehensive repertoire of jamming techniques. You are now qualified to confidently tackle any of the harder crack climbs on the pipes.
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class="heading1">And a comment on Grading... again, from Ian Snape
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class="text">For those from the UK who are confused by the cunning simplicity of the single digit Ewbank grading scheme, and prefer complex algebra involving letter and numbers, here is a selected comparison chart with examples to help the transition.
</text><climb
extra="" grade="21" length="HVS 5c" name="Blood on the Racks "
stars="">A few bouldery moves with a runner every 10 cm above your head
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="21" length="E3.5c" name="Farewell to Arms "
stars="">Sustained
</climb><climb extra="" grade="19"
length="E1.5b/c" name="Malignant Mushroom " new="false"
number=""
stars="">A tricky move with good protection
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="20" length="E3.5c/6a" name="Tacho "
stars="">A hard move with barely adequate protection - Yorkshire E3
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="19" length="E1.5b"
name="Just a Little Bit Longer "
stars="">Consistent climbing never too far from protection
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="20" length="E3.5c,5b" name="Icarus "
stars="">Sustained and well protected.
</climb><climb extra=""
grade="18" length="VS5a" name="Incredible Journey "
stars="">Short pitch with a few metres of jamming
</climb><climb
extra="" grade="19" length="E2.5,5a" name="Battle Cruiser "
stars="">Sustained and tricky crux
</climb><climb extra=""
grade="17" length="HVS5a" name="Chancellor Direct "
stars="">Delightful
</climb><climb extra="" grade="17"
length="E2.5b" name="Suzerain "
stars="">Not at all like Chancellor
</climb><text
class="text">The astute pommy climber will note that some climbs graded between 17 and 21 in the comparison table would be given HVS on a UK mountain crag. Well, you don't need to be climbing 17 to experience quality HVS climbing on the pipes. Nefertiti (15), Moonraker (16), and Xenophenese (16) amongst others are also in the region HVS 4c/5a.
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class="heading2" new="false"
number="null.">Third Bird by Lyle Closs </text><text
class="text" new="false"
number="null.">I am pounding at the keyboard,. My fingers flail in the air between words. I am immersed in Astral Weeks. A chaotic jumble of semi-comprehensible prose batters out of my senses onto the paper.
"Fucking come on!" The door bursts open. Ian Lewis wants to climb. I want anything else but. It is chilly, grey. Hobart and autumn glooming. He stands in the doorway of my bare, rented student room, looks at me with amused annoyance, his eyes half closed. "Get your arse out. Come on, it's time we did that fucking line."
I am hardly awake. "Fucking hell mate. It's cold!"
"Fuck it, get your arse out of here. It's not fucking cold." These are our articulate years. He walks in and starts shoving nuts and slings into my old pack. "Christ almighty. Come on."
I moan and push the rickety table aside, start to haul warmer clothes on, pull on my Blundstone elastic sided boots. Wishing for something else. Something beyond the close walls of Tasmania. I throw my PAs at Ian - he shoves them in after the climbing gear. Jeff Burgess grins from the door.
"You want to climb! Get out of the fucking car!" Lew abuses us. We clamber out of Jeff's dad's old FB Holden. The salmon pink car has been painted using an old vacuum cleaner spray paint attachment. Jeff scrounged the home-made leather seat belts when his dad installed modern nylon belts, and made us leather climbing gear belts to go with our two inch wide waistbands. We slouch up the dirt and boulder track behind Ian, up to the walkers track under the Organ Pipes. Hands shoved into pockets against the cold breeze. The herb-like smell that comes from I know not which plant clings to my senses. The re-growth still struggles five years after the bestial bushfires of '67 when the sky turned to Hades and the mountain's green paradise had turned to skeletal shapes and blistered rock. There was, as usual, no-one else on the cliff.
We stop on the track to admire the line. A narrow spear of shadow - 100 metres straight up.
It's cold, so the leader's hands are warmed by the adrenalin of the sharp end, but the second's hands suck cold from the stone, the mind less engaged because of the security of the rope above. I lead the first pitch, up and around the small overhang. Ian leads the second, up the clean crack to a small ledge below the overhanging off-width. Below us, enjoyable climbing. Not enough to test fear.
I struggle up into the off-width. It pushes me out when I want to go up. There's a jug on the lip, but it leads nowhere. I struggle back down, grunting, annoyed. Ian takes the rope from me, and is soon immersed in the crack, a powerhouse of determination. I shiver on the belay. Somewhere down below Jeff sits on a rock, watching. Somehow Ian grinds up and through the off-width, and soon grins from the ledge above. I shudder and head into the rock again, but at the off-width my hands have become clubs and I make the mistake of grabbing the hold outside the crack, can't get back in and I'm swinging in space. Grab the rock, haul, Ian hauls, grunts and I am standing on holds again, fingers in armpits. Half unfrozen, I climb up to the belay, then fingers in armpits again and I growl and yelp as the blood jerks back into my fingers' veins.
The air seems warmer as I lead above Lew, on small holds, almost face climbing. A small hold breaks and I swing briefly from the jammed knuckle of the little finger of my left hand. Exhilaration swamp me as the sun half-shines through the clouds and makes the weathered dolerite a warm orange. The stone's surface that fabulous dolerite friction that needs no chalk. Out on the face of the world, with moves hard enough to work the mind and muscles to a slow lilt of careful movement...it takes the spirit closer to the soul. I belay in warmer air at the top of the climb and lean over to watch Ian climb up. His slow grin saying how much he was enjoying the climb, the day. Two crows skimmed by the crag lower down. "Hey Lew - two black birds." He looked out at them and nodded. "Three black birds is bad luck isn't it?" I called down. He shrugged. Seconds later a third crow sailed effortlessly past us. "Hey Lew!" He looked up. I pointed out at the gliding bird. "Third bird!" He shook his head and returned to the grace and ease of the pitch, a delicious comparison to the grunt of the overhang below. Such a time we had. Such a day, before our separate times of madness. A climb's perfection clawed and clasped from cold Tasmanian days. So many days, and so few. On such days the rock is warm or the nevé firm, and the air hints of something beyond. Something almost reached. Almost.
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class="heading1" new="false"
number="null.">And in the beginning....A brief history of the early days of climbing on the Mountain by Phil Robinson (taken from the first published guide 1981)
</text><text
class="text" new="false" number="null.">The Mountain was originally called Table Mountain by Lt. Governor Collins until 1822 when it was renamed in honour of the Duke of Wellington. George Bass is thought to have been the first white man to climb the mountain, on Christmas Day, 1798 and in 1804 the botanist Robert Brown, a member of Collins' settlement party, made a number of ascents for scientific purposes. Construction of a road from Fern Tree to the Springs was begun in 1888, using prison labour, and by the turn of the century buggies were making regular trips to the Springs. The famed Springs Hotel was built in 1907 and the Pinnacle Road was completed in 1937. Most of the walking tracks on the east side of the mountain were constructed in the 1920s and 1930s. Despite such early access routes, climbing on the Organ Pipes did not begin until the late 1950s.
As far as is known Jim Peterson and Darryl Weber were the first true climbers on the Organ Pipes and did a number of climbs at least as far back as 1958. Few details are known about the routes in this period though one led to the Northern Buttress Pinnacle via Upper Bottleneck Chimney. Jim Peterson was a tough character and one of the true pioneers of rock climbing in Tasmania. Around 1960 there existed a loose association of climbers cum "hard" bushwalkers known as the Van Diemen Alpine Club. It had no constitution, no rules and never officially met though paradoxically they had a bank account. "Members" included J. Peterson, B. Higgins, J. Elliot, P. Johnstone, J. Manning, P. Hewitt and D. Weber. Another group very active at this time was the Tasmanian University Mountaineering Club with regulars Mike Douglas, John Fairhall, Jim Peterson, Jim Spinks and Peter Sands. Routes such as Van Diemen 's Buttress, Pegasus, Skyline Minor, Sentinel Ridge, Johnstone's Knob, Whose Route and the Chasm were done. Also at that time, "Roadside Buttress" was an impressive short cliff frequented near the "Chalet" picnic shelter. During the floods of 1961 part of the Pinnacle Road collapsed and, when repairs were eventually made, the best part of the cliff was blasted into oblivion.
Between 1961 and 1962 some interesting characters arrived on the scene. One such person was Ron Cox a notorious late riser, who rarely started a climb before 2.00 p.m. This resulted in many bivouacs, even on the Pipes! His ascent of Piton Crack on Skyline Minor with Bob Lidstone in 1962 was a notable climb for the day. Bob Lidstone, a big man of over 13 stone, appears to have been something of an eccentric who trained for climbing by running long distances in lead weighted divers boots. A reckless leader, he sustained injuries in falls at Coles Bay, the Northern Buttress and the Darwin Buttress in New Zealand. He did a Grand Traverse of Mount Cook in his first season and climbed the bold North-East Passage at Frenchman's Cap with Peter Sands in 1962. He also took part in the first ascent of the mysterious Drunks Dilemma on the Northern Buttress, the location of which has remained elusive ever since. Doug Cox was also a talented, fearless leader of the period but didn't fall off like Lidstone. He climbed Breakneck on Bulging Buttress with Mike Douglas in 1962 and the notorious Bert's Fear with John Fairhall and Umberto Aurelli (Bert). The classic Battlements, the first major route on The Columns, had its first ascent in April 1962 by Douglas and Fairhall and is still a popular route today.
In these early days there was of course only a handful of routes on the Pipes. Transport was commonly by motorbike; Jim Peterson had a 650 BSA with side car and four climbers plus gear were known to travel from Hobart to the Pipes on this machine. It was also common practise for climbers, especially university students, to take a bus to Fern Tree and then walk to the cliffs, occasionally returning via Cascade Track to South Hobart. They walked and climbed in gym boots which were rather different from modern ones. The uppers were strong canvas and the soles thick rubber with a close ribbed tread pattern. These were unsuitable for small holds on steep rock, but they did have good frictional adherence in dolerite chimneys. It was possible to plaster the gym boot sole over rather than on the small holds. Nut protection was not used and common gear for a Pipes climb was 120 feet of nylon no.3 or no.4, a hemp waistband, a couple of no.3 slings, a few Stubai mild steel pegs, a Stubai hammer and 3 or 4 Stubai karabiners. A few home made pegs were also used and some still remain on the Pipes.
The Van Diemen Alpine Club finally disintegrated in 1962 and few new climbs were done on the Organ Pipes in 1963 and 1964. New faces appeared by 1965, many from the Hobart Walking Club where a number of young, keen bushwalkers were finding insufficient outlet for their energy. These included Alan Cross, Tom Terry, Bob Lawson, Geoff Wayatt and Tim Christie. In June 1965 Brian Proudlock convened a meeting to bring representatives of the old Van Diemen Club, the Walking Club, the University and independent climbing groups together. The result was the formation of the Climbers Club of Tasmania in August 1965. Tim Christie was a major driving force behind the Club at this time. Activity on the Organ Pipes was high, particularly on the Northern Buttress. However the new generation of climbers was unfamiliar with the early, unrecorded history of the cliffs and all too often the aspiring pioneer would find his coveted virgin route already deflowered by an old sling or rusty piton.
In 1966 John Whelan and Reg Williams appeared and both did a good deal of climbing on the Pipes. Reg came from the Victorian Climbing Club (V.C.C.) and he raised the standard of climbing in Tasmania significantly. He introduced chocks and nuts to the locals thereby increasing safety. However, even at this stage, such protection was in short supply. Home made nuts were drilled and it was still common practise to jam a stone in a crack and loop a sling around it. Routes such as Chasm Wall, Piccolo, Cymbal, Explorer and Starseeker were done in this period. The most notable were the classics Moonraker (R. Williams, M. Douglas) and Ozymandias (M. Douglas, R. Williams, J. Whelan) climbed in 1966. Moonraker involves a steep, direct ascent of the profile of Step Tier and is one of the great climbs on the Pipes. Ozymandias is the "stern and arrogant looking" 60 metre diedre on the front of the University Buttress and at the time was quite a serious struggle. Also in 1966, Alan Keller arrived in Tasmania from Queensland. Keller was almost a legend in his own time, a large, strong, bearded bushman, commonly seen walking through Hobart wearing a moth eaten slouch hat with corks dangling from the brim and with a huge bowie knife strapped to his side. As well as undertaking tough excursions into the bush and hard caving trips, he was very active climbing on the Pipes.
1967-68 was a period of great activity on the Organ Pipes. and there was an increase in the number of harder climbs. Among the newcomers who participated at this time were John Moore and Phillip Stranger from the V.C.C. They were very young and possessed considerable skill and boldness, putting up many fine climbs. John Ewbank also made a great impression on the Pipes in 1968 climbing many new routes with Val Kennedy.
1967 saw the first ascent, with some aid, of the long coveted classic line. Double Column Central by M. Douglas and T.. R. Williams and J. Moore climbed the two long chimney-crack lines of Faust and Mephistopheles on Central Buttress as well as the bold, steep crackline of Ophthalmia on Step Tier. Here they were hampered by dirt and ash from the disastrous 1967 bush-fires. Reg Williams was responsible for finally leading Andromeda on the Northern Buttress, a route held with awe in the early days, and the "Great Leap Forward" on to Albert's Tomb. The popular climbs Fiddlesticks (T. Terry, G. Wayatt) and Breaker Spur (M. Douglas, J. Fairhall) were also done in this year.
A point worthy of mention is the effect of the bushfires in February 1967. The slopes of Mount Wellington, including the Organ Pipes, were severely burned: in fact the vegetation of the entire Wellington Range right through to Mt. Montagu and Trestle Mt. was wiped out. Luckily there were no climbers the Pipes that day! Before the fire, the base of the Pipes was very attractive with a thick mass of myrtle which provided a cool resting place on hot days. From the C.C.T. circular immediately after the fire, March 1967: "The scene around the Pipes is one of complete desolation". The burning of the Pipes came as a shock to many of the regular climbers and some wouldn't visit the cliff for many months, even years.
In June of 1967 a steadily deteriorating rusty piton was replaced by an abseil bolt and ring at the summit of Buttress Pinnacle on the Northern Buttress. Those still using it do so at their own risk!
1968 was John Ewbank's year on the Pipes. The Shield, Icarus, Chasm Wall Direct (Centaur), The Sword, Lost Arrow, F-Sharp, Pooh Corner and Firebird were among the climbs. The standard of climbing on Icarus and The Shield was well ahead of its time. Icarus is a modern sustained crack climb following a very impressive line on the Columns. John Ewbank climbed it with Chris Dewhirst in February 1968. The Shield, first climbed in March 1968 by Ewbank and Alan Keller, has baffled many an aspiring leader to this day. John Moore was very active too in 1968 climbing the long chimney-corner of Nefertiti with Phillip Stranger and Doldrums on the Great Tier with Mendelt Tillema. Accompanied by John Veasey he put up Linda on the Central Buttress with its fine, exposed 3rd pitch. He was also responsible for Bismarck with Don Groom, a direct and airy route involving aid climbing up the nose of Upper Battlement Column. A sad occurrence in March 1968 was Philip Stranger's accident on the Columns. Whilst climbing up to the foot of Claret Corner, loose rock gave way and he fel! a considerable distance, breaking his back.
In 1969 there was a lull in activity. The only new climb of note was John Ewbank and Don Groom's Hiawatha, a steep entertaining line on The Columns. 1970-71 saw a new generation of locals emerge, among them were such talented climbers as Bryan Kennedy, Lyle Closs and Ian Lewis. In the ear y 1970s along with mainland climber Kim Carrigan, they were responsible for many new and more difficult routes on the Pipes. In 1970 Bryan Kennedy and Lyle Closs freed the old classic Double Column Central, thus setting the stage for new standards in difficulty. The direct start to Chancellor in 1971 by Ian Lewis (Lew) and Lyle Closs was in a similar vein.
In 1973 Lyle Closs and Ian Lewis climbed The Great Bitch, Third Bird and Twice. Third Bird takes a skyrocketing line up the face right of Mephistopheles and is one of the truly great routes on the Pipes. The pair also did the first recorded free route at the Lost World in 1973, Stone the Crows, possibly still the most climbed line on this small but difficult cliff.
Kim Carrigan arrived in the summer of 1974 and teamed up with Ian Lewis to produce the classics, Tartarus and Lone Stranger, as well as the aid climbs of "Where Eagles Dare Not" and "Potem Tole". The steep jamming crack of Tartarus on Cossack Column was a couple of grades ahead of any other climb on the cliffs at the time. Lone Stranger involved some difficult finger jamming on the crux pitch. Also in 1974 Bryan Kennedy and Lew climbed the impressive Janzoon on the prow of the Great Tier.
1975 was another active year. Some short but interesting routes were done from Amphitheatre Ledge. Among them, Resurrection Shuffle was to become a classic, first climbed by Lewis and Carrigan. They also did Black Magic, a great route on Bulging Buttress. The American "Hot" Henry Barber appeared for a brief spell in 1975 impressing everyone by taking 20 minutes to solo Double Column Central in the wet, or so the story goes. He put up Daedalus on the Columns with Les Wood and the very difficult overhanging jam crack. Savage Journey at the Lost World, a companion route to Joe Friend's "Atlantis". Another route tackled in 1975 and worthy of mention was Sandy Bay Road where Les Wood led the steep, awkward final 40m jam crack accompanied by Mendelt Tillema and Asahel Bush.
In 1976 Mick Steane and John Burgess finally freed the route Firebrand on the Columns. A dark, ominous chimney led to a finish which had thwarted many of the "hard men" of the past. In 1967 John Moore, Peter Jackson and Reg Williams climbed to within 30 feet of the top and in 1968 Chris Dewhirst and Moore did an artificial finish.
Development on the cliffs during 1977 and 1978 was dominated by the boundless enthusiasm of David Bowman, a young Victorian studying at the University of Tasmania. He was responsible for free climbing a number of the old aid routes and putting up many short, technical lines. He also directed and accompanied visiting mainland "heavies" up many of the remaining lines on the Pipes. Hard routes were in vogue and many new climbs were done.
In December 1977 F Sharp was freed by D. Bowman and L. Wood and Digitalis was freed by D. Bowman and M. Steane. The aid on the steep 2nd and 3rd pitches of Bismarck was eliminated by K. Lindorff and K. Rosebery after they climbed the chimney-crack line to the right and traversed on to the wall. The remaining unclimbed major crackline on the east face of Step Tier, Peacepipe, was done by J. Friend and D. Bowman.
An influx of top mainland climbers, namely Kim Carrigan, Greg Child and Mike Law in the summer of 1978 produced a spate of hard, new climbs, among them: Split Column, Blank Generation, Brown Madonna, Suicide Sadness, Battle Cruiser and Starship Trooper. Despite a scrappy second pitch, Split Column (G. Child, K. Carrigan) contains some very good climbing with three pitches each graded 19. Suicide Sadness (M. Law, D. Bowman, S. Parsons) is a superb face climb up the Great Tier next to Janzoon. Battle Cruiser (M. Law, D. Bowman) too is a great classic taking the wall left of the Faust chimney-corner on the Central Buttress and, high up on the face, following a diagonal crack to the arête. The "death route" Blank Generation (G. Child, K. Carrigan) follows the right wall of Ozymandias and at grade 23 is one of the hardest and most poorly protected climbs on the Pipes. Law was in very good form in 1978, also climbing the poorly protected Sorrow (23) on Northern Buttress and amazingly freeing the McHugh-McMahon aid line at the Lost World. Rosy Pink Cadillac (23) follows a terribly thin crackline on a big square buttress at the northern end of the cliffs.
1979 and 1980 were relatively quiet years. In February 1979 Ian Baker and Dave Bowman climbed a quality route on Flange Buttress, Nuclear Doom. It was thought to be a completely new climb though later turned out to be the old aid route, Precarious (A. Keller, M. Tillema 1969). Chris (Basil) Rathbone and Phil Robinson managed to locate a line of moderate difficulty which the early pioneers had missed. Slow Combustion on the Great Tier. However, such multi-pitch routes are now few and far between.
The 1981 season saw considerable activity amongst resident climbers. Kim Bischoff and P. Robinson started things off with a number of routes including The Wizard, a forgotten line on the dark and seemingly damp southern side of Bulging Buttress.
They also attempted the very spectacular and steep arête left of Janzoon but were outclassed by the lads in white, Simon Parsons and Phil Bigg, who finally freed the route, Tsing Gai (21). Parsons carried on to put up some very good one pitch routes in many areas. Malignant Mushroom, the long contemplated corner right of Black Magic was climbed with Seamus Brennan. The steep wall on the south side of the Flange yielded two thin crackline routes, Just a Little Bit Longer and Slippery Sensation. These routes were done with Bischoff, as well as Into the Fire, a bold and difficult line on a subsidiary buttress in Teardrop Gully.
Over 140 climbs have been developed on the Organ Pipes in the last twenty years. Many people will probably be content with climbing the established classics. For others the history is far from ended.
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