Ben Lomond 1

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Ben Lomond

Ben Lomond.


Despite a marginal forecast, we drove up 2.5 hours to the Ben Lomond National Park. The place is famous as it’s home to Tassie’s only ski area. For climbers, it’s the “best crack climbing in Tasmania.” Indeed, Frews Flutes buttress offers soaring crack routes up to 200 meters tall. Think Smith Rock’s Lower Gorge but 600 feet in length. A boulder hopping approach (45-60 minutes) complete with scurrying wallabies brought us to the Robins Buttress and the start of our two-pitch Ramadan-Rajah (19) link-up. Two long-pitches (40 meters each) of splitter climbing put us at the edge of the Ben Lomond Plateau. The weather was deteriorating and by the time Shirley was topping out there was sustained wind with 100kph gusts (as we’d later find out on the drive home). There was sideways rain and the two long rappels would prove to be good practice for Frey some 5 weeks later. We were back at our cozy house later that evening and I have to say that the pellet stove was a big hit.

The Ambiance

Rajah

Tassie cragging. Click photo for a quick video.

Photos

Tasmania

A Tassie town (Dec. 2015).


Tasmania

Tasmania and its countless sheep (Dec. 2014).


Tasmania

One of the countless small cemeteries we saw on Tassie – complete with a chapel. This one is not too far from Ben Lomond National Park entrance (Dec. 2014).


Ben Lomond

The boulder hopping approach to Fews Flutes wall in Ben Lomond National Park (Dec. 2015).


Ben Lomond

View of Frews Flutes from the approach. The tallest aspect of the wall is ~200 meters…crack climbing galore!


Ben Lomond

Robins Buttress of Frews Flutes in Ben Lomond (Dec. 2015).


Ramadan

Leading the beautiful opening hand crack of Ramadan on Robins Buttress (Dec. 2015).


Ramadan

Conserving pieces on the lower half of Ramadan…a bit too much as it turned out as I got to the belay with 2 cams in that size left on my rack (Dec. 2015).


Ramadan

Splitter climbing of Ben Lomond (Dec. 2014).


Ramadan

Upper portion of the Ramadan pitch (Dec. 2015).


Ramadan

Shirley following Ramadan (Dec. 2014).


Rajah

Views from the top of Ramadan (Dec. 2014).


Ramadan

Nearing the top of Ramadan (Dec. 2014).


Ramadan

Shirley topping out on Ramadan (Dec. 2014).


Rajah

The second pitch (called Rajah) in deteriorating weather (Dec. 2015).


Rajah

Shirley following Rajah in some breezy conditions (Dec. 2014).


Rajah

Sideways rain and ~100km/h winds greeted us at the rim. Click photo for a quick video.


Ben Lomond

Happy to be down in the 100km/h winds that greeted us at the top (Dec. 2015).


Ben Lomond

Hiking out in spitting drizzle (Dec. 2015).


Ben Lomond

Happy to be done with the stormy day of climbing (Dec. 2015).


Tasmania

Shy echidna in Ben Lomond National Park (Dec. 2014).


Tasmania

Echidna close-up (Dec. 2014).


Tasmania

On the drive to Ben Lomond (Dec. 2015).


Tasmania

A zoomed in view.


Tasmania

Tasmania.


Tasmania

Hiking through the historic Richmond in Tasmania (Dec. 2014).


Tasmania

A taste of the beach life – a bit like swimming on the Oregon coast: jump in and convince yourself that it’s comfortable (Dec. 2014).


Tasmania

Land of gigantic jellyfish (Dec. 2014).


Tasmania

Life in the tidal pools on Tasmania (Dec. 2014).


Go to Freycinet 1.
Go back to Tasmania.