during the ascent of the 'tadpole tail', well below the 3 pitches with ropes you describe, but after using a small fixed rope that was not described in your notes, I came to a rock wall where there was an arrow pointing up and slightly left, which I misread as simply pointing up, and followed a very distinct footpad up the steep gully to the right (north) of the arrow. At the top of that gully there was a steep scramble, with fixed ropes in place, that seemed to match your description of the first pitch, i.e. "The first pitch is up a groove, either straight ahead (harder but less exposed) or out to the right (easier but more exposed)". There were two ropes hanging down, both 9mm dynamic, a green one and a red one. I tried both lines of attack but they were too tricky for me so I gave up. While having a consolation snack, another walker came down, and used the red rope to lower his pack, and with much difficulty came down the green rope. While he was untying his pack at the bottom, the red rope fell down having been cut right through where it had rubbed on the rock above - in this case no harm was done but it was a fairly sobering moment for both of us!
Anyway I then started heading back down, then when I got to the wall with the arrow pointing up, saw another heading up and left (south). Obviously this was where I should have been on the first place. I eventually found my way up to the plateau via the pitches you describe, and the fixed ropes there were all much sounder (11mm I think, and static, dont remember the colours but I think they were all dirty white).
during the ascent of the 'tadpole tail', well below the 3 pitches with ropes you describe, but after using a small fixed rope that was not described in your notes, I came to a rock wall where there was an arrow pointing up and slightly left, which I misread as simply pointing up, and followed a very distinct footpad up the steep gully to the right (north) of the arrow. At the top of that gully there was a steep scramble, with fixed ropes in place, that seemed to match your description of the first pitch, i.e. "The first pitch is up a groove, either straight ahead (harder but less exposed) or out to the right (easier but more exposed)". There were two ropes hanging down, both 9mm dynamic, a green one and a red one. I tried both lines of attack but they were too tricky for me so I gave up. While having a consolation snack, another walker came down, and used the red rope to lower his pack, and with much difficulty came down the green rope. While he was untying his pack at the bottom, the red rope fell down having been cut right through where it had rubbed on the rock above - in this case no harm was done but it was a fairly sobering moment for both of us!
Anyway I then started heading back down, then when I got to the wall with the arrow pointing up, saw another heading up and left (south). Obviously this was where I should have been on the first place. I eventually found my way up to the plateau via the pitches you describe, and the fixed ropes there were all much sounder (11mm I think, and static, dont remember the colours but I think they were all dirty white).
hairyfoots wrote:during the ascent of the 'tadpole tail', well below the 3 pitches with ropes you describe, but after using a small fixed rope that was not described in your notes, I came to a rock wall where there was an arrow pointing up and slightly left, which I misread as simply pointing up, and followed a very distinct footpad up the steep gully to the right (north) of the arrow. At the top of that gully there was a steep scramble, with fixed ropes in place, that seemed to match your description of the first pitch, i.e. "The first pitch is up a groove, either straight ahead (harder but less exposed) or out to the right (easier but more exposed)". There were two ropes hanging down, both 9mm dynamic, a green one and a red one. I tried both lines of attack but they were too tricky for me so I gave up. While having a consolation snack, another walker came down, and used the red rope to lower his pack, and with much difficulty came down the green rope. While he was untying his pack at the bottom, the red rope fell down having been cut right through where it had rubbed on the rock above - in this case no harm was done but it was a fairly sobering moment for both of us!
Anyway I then started heading back down, then when I got to the wall with the arrow pointing up, saw another heading up and left (south). Obviously this was where I should have been on the first place. I eventually found my way up to the plateau via the pitches you describe, and the fixed ropes there were all much sounder (11mm I think, and static, dont remember the colours but I think they were all dirty white).
Exactly the same thing happened to me on an ascent to the Castle in December. My partner and I couldn't manage the upper section you mention - I think there was only 1 rope at the time though. We sat around rather forlorn and upset for a while, until another group came up the path below us, correctly spotted the left arrow, and led us the right way. My partner was quite shaken by the experience as he is newer to bushwalking and upset that he couldn't manage what we thought was the required route - even after realising it wasn't required. He didn't actually end up making the summit, I think he was just too mentally exhausted by the time we were on the tadpole's tail, so I did it by myself. We both seem to be rather bad at spotting arrows, but have tried to improve on it since that trip.
the rope is worn through quite a way where it rubs at the edge of the cliff
Grabeach wrote:the rope is worn through quite a way where it rubs at the edge of the cliff
And you left it there ???
Walk_fat boy_walk wrote:
I'm surprised no one has blocked off that gully because the proper route isn't intuitive (need to scramble around some boulders above a small cliff) if you don't see the arrow.
Agree with others re the ropes... on the "proper" route they're generally not really needed, even at the steep bits near the top where some basic scrambling and chimneying are all that's needed. I was up there recently and was wondering about the quality of the ropes. Thought I was probably being overly cautious by avoiding them but when I got to at the top of the very last climb (the chimney up the tree-choked crack in the upper cliff... basically the crux of the walk) I saw that the rope is worn through quite a way where it rubs at the edge of the cliff. Dodgy because you don't see it until you're at the top - so I definitely wouldn't rely on it! Best avoid them in my opinion.
Lophophaps wrote:Is this still the way up?
citationx wrote:Walk_fat boy_walk wrote:
I'm surprised no one has blocked off that gully because the proper route isn't intuitive (need to scramble around some boulders above a small cliff) if you don't see the arrow.
Agree with others re the ropes... on the "proper" route they're generally not really needed, even at the steep bits near the top where some basic scrambling and chimneying are all that's needed. I was up there recently and was wondering about the quality of the ropes. Thought I was probably being overly cautious by avoiding them but when I got to at the top of the very last climb (the chimney up the tree-choked crack in the upper cliff... basically the crux of the walk) I saw that the rope is worn through quite a way where it rubs at the edge of the cliff. Dodgy because you don't see it until you're at the top - so I definitely wouldn't rely on it! Best avoid them in my opinion.
The first time I went up the castle in 2012 I ended up doing some dodgy scrambling above a big 30m drop. It wasn't too bad on the way up but when I reversed it it was quite difficult and dangerous - a non-climber would've had trouble - and eventually discovered I missed a turn. I tried blocking the way with large sticks. The second time I went up (easter 13) with friends and didn't make that mistake however we did also get lost at another point and remember something about ropes to nowhere. We reversed it for a bit until we found the correct path. Again, I/we tried blocking off the "incorrect" path with big sticks.
The way up, yes, is overall relatively easy for anyone without climbing skillz, however given the two different mistakes to somewhere you probably should be a climber, perhaps a balance between "We've marked a highway to the top" and "We've left it as it was a thousand years ago" needs to be had for some decent safe passage.
Walk_fat boy_walk wrote:Yes I believe so... The route in your picture looks like where one of the ropes is now (or was last time I was there):Lophophaps wrote:Is this still the way up?
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