Lord Gumtree: Aid Solo Climb Winter Attempt

Onwards and upwards. Lord Gumtree Climb – 2019 Retropost.

Lord Gumtree is a lesser known climb taking in some of the same sections of the Mt Buffalo Gorge North Wall as Ozymandias. In fact, Lord Gumtree shares the same first pitch as Ozymandias and last two pitches as the direct. Where they diverge – a path far less traveled – offers harder and objectively riskier aid climbing. This post tells the story of my attempted Lord Gumtree Aid Solo climb at the end of winter and the circumstances around my retreat.

After completing my aid solo ascent of Ozymandias Direct, I decided I would try some harder aid climbing and explore the other facets of the Mt Buffalo Gorge North Wall. This also presented a nice opportunity to take the Defender Rap approach and make a direct comparison with the South Side approach (tip: they are both heinous).

Although technically I started out in the first week of spring, I think it would be fair to claim “astronomical winter” – particularly with ample snow cover on the plateau and recent snow-fall. There were mounds of snow on Führer ledge and even a small pocket still clinging to big grassy!

Unfortunately this was an attempt only. After the fourth pitch I retreated to Big Grassy and would later continue via Ozymandias Direct.

Three months earlier I could not have imagined “bailing” UP Ozy …

The scared climber often points his fear at the ground, believing that retreat will deliver a more comfortable state of mind… learn to aim fear at the belay above.

Mark Twight (Extreme Alpinism)

The Plan

Day 0 – Defender Rap Approach

I left home at 0830 and hit the great alpine road. There were some recent snow dumps and low temperatures, so as I got above Dinner Plain, the road conditions became quite sub-optimal. Much worse in fact than any of my previous trips. At one point before reaching the resort, I was forced to make a complete stop by a vehicle in front. Regaining traction was an amusing prospect.

As I reached the alpine resort – chains were mandatory and it was obvious why. The road was encrusted in ice and snow. On the west side of the resort, the spin-drift was so intense that it was an effective white-out. I struggled to differentiate the snow bank, the road, or the car in front of me. So I crawled along barely above idle for a kilometer or so.

I arrived at Mt Buffalo to find the visitor car-park closed for snow clearing. After braving the cold to sign the intentions book, I drove back down to the oval to park nearer Wilkinson’s lookout and the Defender Rap. As soon as I pulled off onto the snow covered shoulder, the wheels were spinning and the car sliding around. I had to install tyre chains to be able to park in a civilised manner though I was more concerned with departing some days later in case of more snow fall.

I loaded up the pig and struggling to balance began to traverse the snow-covered oval towards the Gorge tourist trail. Despite being much easier terrain than the South Side approach, there was plenty of ice and snow and I still managed to sprain my ankle. (Previously damaged 5km into the 10km Grampians Wonderland Loop hike…) What’s a big wall approach without some form of injury…

Locating the Rap

Along the tourist trail, 30m before the Young Galaxians boulder, deviate South East for about 30m to find rap chains amongst some boulders atop the escarpment.

Three double-rope rappels gains Führer Ledge. Be vigilant – don’t over-shoot the belays, use a back-up hitch and for gods-sake knot the end of your rappel ropes!

Riding the Pig: A technique used when rappelling with haul-bags (Pigs). The rappel device is extended away from the body and the Pig is hung from the device (not the harness). The Pig is straddled and rode to glory.

Defender Rap

• 1: 60m, to double bolt belay. Be sure to pull the knot over the edge on first rappel.
• 2: 47m, to double bolt belay 5m right.
• 3: 52m, to Führer Ledge.

The wall was icy and dripping wet. My ropes were dislodging little pellets of ice from the shrubs and rapidly became saturated with muddy run-off. As the rope ran through my ATC device, seemingly litres of ice cold, muddy water were squeezing out of the rope and running down the tails of rope onto my brake hand and down my leg.

On the final rappel pitch, the bottom 8m of both my ropes landed in what was essentially an ice water pond at the base of the wall. Straddling the pig, I managed to scuttle across and complete the rappel to the left of a spirited waterfall.

I had reached Führer Ledge.

Difficult gully thrashing and two more rappels gains the area directly below Ozy and the ‘Turret Bivy’. Cosy for one – cramped for two.

Traverse to Ozy

The front edge of the icy pond where it flowed down, away from the wall and over the Führer ledge, had formed a kind of “snow bridge”. I tried to use this to get across the pond but the weight of my gear caused me to punch right through. Before even finishing the approach my ropes, shoes, socks and pants were already saturated.

There still remained some bush-bashing and a couple of low-angle traversing rappels through scrubby runnels and what is apparently a gushing torrent of water in the winter. This meant alternately packing, pushing, hauling, dragging and riding the pig while negotiating scrub, trees, snow and running water without falling in!

1: Right up and over the rise then scramble down to a drop. 46m rappel off tree.

2: Long, indeterminate double rope abseil down wet, loose, brackeny, creek-bed gully gets you to the base of Ozy. Find the tree with tat. When you see the smooth rock opposite to the main wall – you want to be on that side. Don’t slip or you’ll swing off into the winter stream (with all the added inertia of the pig!). I did. I also missed the tree with tat so still had my rappel rigged higher up further towards the wall and couldn’t get back out.

Debris in the Water Runnel Environs

Apart from getting beat and wet I did find a nice offset HB nut amongst the rocks. This factored nicely into my micro-nut water fountain anchor.

I was gold-panning with a friend recently in East-Gippsland. This reminded me of his explanation how the dense metals (aka heavies) fall out of suspension in areas where the water current slows. The winter-stream that forms down the foot of the North Wall is essentially collecting all the booty and depositing it amongst the stones!

Booty – n. gear left behind for the taking, usually either from a previous party bailing on a route or accidentally fixing gear

In previous trips into the gorge, I had noticed occasional styrofoam beads scattered around the otherwise pristine Crystal Brooke Bivvy site. Now I came across the source of this insidious pollution: a plastic bag full of bean-bag filler lodged between rocks in the approach gully run-off. This really broke my heart.

The degraded bag had been gradually releasing thousands of styrofoam beads into the Mounts Eastern watershed. I carefully removed the bag for proper disposal and collected as many spilled beads as I possibly could. Later I would even seen beads lodged high on the escarpment – carried up by the wind.

Polystyrene is a truly hideous product causing immense damage to so many animals and natural environments. It fragments into millions of tiny non-biodegradable pieces, scattering through sand, soil, and water posing an extreme difficulty to collect or remove.

I also manage to cut and remove a large amount of old abseil tat from trees left behind from decades old excursions into the gorge. I established a rubbish container to haul up below my pack on the multi-day climb.

Tat: Weather-beaten and ragged slings, left behind on belays, bolts, chockstones and threads. Often to be treated with extreme caution. On longer routes that you may have to abseil off, take up some tat with you that you can use for an anchor and leave behind, rather than leaving more expensive nuts etc.

Setting in for the night

Before dinner I set about housekeeping.

I stepped across to the foot of Ozy to install my anchor in preparation for the next mornings start. The trusty weeping crack I have relied upon in the past was now a verified water fountain! No ball-nuts this time, I’ll admit the ball-nut was a joke piece.

Crystal Brook was churning a maelstrom, with white frothing waterfall. No crossing would have been possible for a south side approach – save by pulling through rapidly flowing ice-cold water. All the stepping stones were submerged. I filled up several soft drink bottles with water, as is procedure.

After an enthusiastic and intrepid start, I settled into the evening but I knew my mind was not in the right place.

Normally the Solitude and Commitment (the state of being committed by external factors – not necessarily the internal state of dedication) would give me clarity, focus and calm.

Normally this would be a welcome respite from the thoughts and feelings of everyday life.

Today I couldn’t quiet my mind or put away certain feelings which I would carry up the wall with me. I think this was a factor in why my attempt at Lord Gumtree would be only that.

Day 1 – Lord Gumtree Attempt

Eighty-five miles distant is the faint outline of Mount Kosciusko (altitude 7328 feet)—the highest peak in Australia. In the middle distance stands Mount Bogong (6509 feet), and to the right Mounts Fainter (6160 feet) Feathertop (6306 feet), and Hotham (6100 feet).

Fine Panorama of Mountains

Pitch 1:

As for Ozy Direct. Tricky aid off-the-deck.

Pitch 2:

27m M3. Traverse R at horizontal to join Lord Gumtree. Good wires, cams, hooks.

The crack was obvious if somewhat vegetated. This climb obviously receives far less traffic (if any) than Ozymandias, and the crack was mostly filled with dirt/mud/grass/moss and general water and slime. I was spending most of my time digging for placements with my nut tool and nothing was apparent without a bit of excavation.

Pitch 3:

27m M3. HBB higher than shown in Lindorff/Murray Topo. (Level with Ozy P2 HBB . More digging for placements. By this time my chest and sleeves were becoming soaked in cold mud.

Pitch 4:

30m M6 to HBB on Dirty Sloping Ledge (If you thought Big Grassy was bad…). Difficult, dirty, grovel up left to big grassy – not recommended but I’ve yet to investigate other Bivy options.

Yet more gardening only the placements become less frequent and more marginal (mini-offests, RPs).

This was very psychologically taxing with no visible placements (good or otherwise). Standing-idle against wet rock and rope, scraping mud out of, ice-cold rock only to find marginal placements at best, delivers cold-comfort.

I soon learned the number 3 Pecker I had recently acquired made short work of the blade-thin seams and blown-out pin scars.

Pecker – A thin piton resembling a bird’s… beak.

Placed passively as a hook (NOT hammered), a Pecker (AKA: Beak) can offer non- destructive and secure protection where nothing else will. The sharp point inserts itself and drives down into the thinnest, deepest constrictions. These are pieces of last resort for difficult trad or clean aid climbing alike.

It was recommended to me to carry a talisman-beak for these more technical aid endeavors and it payed dividends. More than simply a Talisman it proved a valuable tool through pitch 3 and 4. I assume a beak or two will be crucial for the blown-out pin-scar micro-nut placements on the crux but I will have to find that out another time…

Dirty Sloping Ledge

Unlike Big Grassy; Dirty Sloping Ledge is tantamount to its name.

In the cover of darkness I made it to the “dirty sloping ledge”. Sleeping there does not bear thinking about but it is only about 8 metres up to big grassy from the left. It is 8m of dirty strenuous grovelling but the relative luxury of Big Grassy was incentive enough.

At some point in the lower pitches I had bumped into a fellow soloist who was “fixing up” to BG but Bivying on the ground for the night. We had exchanged only a few words but his presence provided some much needed motivation to get my task done. I knew he intended to continue up Ozymandias Original the next day which gave me the space to take Ozy Direct as a Plan B.

I set up my hammock and anchors under his fixed ropes and made sure to keep everything neat and free knowing he would be jugging up in the early hours while I too would be setting off.

Day 2 – Retreat to Ozymandias Direct

In the morning rapping down to the ledge to do the crux was too daunting. Especially knowing I’d be digging out wet mud and grass to try and find marginal RP placements with a possible chance of a ledge-hit should I blow it on the crux. This was apparently proven by Tony Dignan but I don’t have any details – if any body knows the story please reach out.

I didn’t have the heart to down-climb to the Dirty Sloping Ledge and resume the wet, cold suffer-fest directly into the crux pitch.

I retreated onto the familiar upper pitches of Ozymandias Direct…

Pitch 4/5:

As for Ozy Direct.

A pleasant (relieving) jaunt up the corner on solid gear (large nuts).

Pitch 6:

I met the fellow climber again at the Great Roof Belay where he caught up to me and would traverse left to take the original route. I remember commenting about the chances of running into another aid soloist on the same route and we took some pics of each other in our wildly exposed predicaments; myself hanging on some tat under a roof and Alec tip-toeing a free traverse, flat into the wall. Both some 140m off the deck.

Pitch 7:

After this point we would not see each other again. My boost in spirits waned and I went into overdrive. I wouldn’t be spending the planned third night at Gledhill Bivvy. Instead I became determined to finish the route and extricate myself not from the climb but from my own thoughts and feelings. And so I continued in one more push which would take me through to the early hours of the morning, topping-out in two-days what previously took three very long ones.

Pitch 8:

On my first attempt of Ozy I commented the following about Pitch 8:

“Contemplating a simple but critically exposed and run-out free move to gain the ledge below the P8 chimney; meanwhile the clouds a closing in!”

Free move: Climbing without unnatural aids, other than those used for protection.

This time there were no clouds to be seen – only the pitch black of darkness. It was nearing midnight in winter, and the free move is now a very wet and slippery slope. I couldn’t make any purchase on the wet slime. After deliberation and several attempts I began trying to use a micro offset nut as a point of aid in the shallow, flared, wet crack. It would not hold even the most minor bounce test. I managed to gently ease my weight onto the piece.

Try not to breathe…

I gingerly took a step up and another and suddenly I heard a sharp ping as the RP shot out. I face planted the wall. In the moment it took to process what had happened, the rock was whizzing past my face and the rope ripping up through all the gear. I was sliding rapidly towards the edge!

The rock in front of my face disappeared suddenly and I myself free-falling as I shot off into the black.

The first piece of pro below my doomed aid point had blown out and I’d just taken an absolutely sickening whipper. The wet slope acted like a water slide launching me face down, feet first off a ledge and into the darkness! I believe this was around a 6m whipper from the ledge.

Whipper: A lead fall from above and to the side of the last clip, whipping oneself downwards and in an arc.

After I got my heart rate under control I jugged back up to the ledge and contemplated the awful prospect of still having to climb the water slide that just spat me off. I managed to do it with free moves this time as the prospect of taking the same fall again chilled my already freezing bones.

The thing about aid falls unlike with free leading is that you have no time to anticipate or prepare – they happened suddenly, without warning.

Pitch 9/10:

As for Ozy Direct.

The thrutchy chimney leads to straight forward #5 cam jugging up a corner flake. I was on full auto-pilot by this stage and topped out a few hours before sunrise.

Escape to Reality

Could hardly lift my arms or focus my blurry eyes. Slept in car at bottom of the mount. Woke early.

Picked-up coffee and some cinnamon doughnuts in Bright. Caffeine and sugar. Began the home journey back over Mt Hotham.

During the drive I contemplated my achievement and shortcoming.

I contemplated what had occupied my mind these past three days.

Nobody told me there’d be days like these

John Lennon

One Day

I hope to meet the challenge of climbing Lord Gumtree and experience the mystery of the Gumtree Bivvy. The only description I have been able to find are words from first ascensionist Chris Dewhirst referring back to 1971:

The line of bolts creating the two tier hammocks position was fantastic. Pete and I slept well and we handed food and drink up and down the bivvy.

Chris Dewhirst

If I ever climb Lord Gumtree again, I would like to take the time to really enjoy it the way Dewhirst described. Perhaps it is an adventure better suited for a team…

Looking back on this whole experience, I can see a real opportunity to climb light and fast in a single day. Eliminating the need to haul and pack-down Bivvys could easily free up 30% of the time taken. Perhaps Ozymandias Original… I have heard the upper chimney pitches are hell for hauling.