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I'm interested in climbing at Arapiles. Anybody been there? What's the ideal season? I'm thinking Dec. but I've been in Australia in Dec and I remember it was quite warm.

 

Any good guide book recommendations? Info on crowds?

 

TIA!

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Here you go, Rob:

 

From http://www.climb.co.nz/Places/Australia/MtArapiles/Mt-Arapiles-Rock-Climbing.htm:

Seasons

Spring (September to November) is generally fine, however it can rain with little warning.

Summer (December to February) is dry and hot, with climbing often restricted to the shady gullies

Autumn (March to May) is generally fine with cooler nights

Winter (June to August) while it can be wet and cooler, you can get some near perfect days.

 

I've not climbed there, but my understanding is that when it's too hot at Arap, Mt. Buffalo or Tassie are good warm-weather alternatives.

 

You may want to check out this site, also-- great for local beta/partners. http://www.chockstone.org/ (I'm on there under my Aussie nomer, "Shez")

 

I'll be heading Down Under next year to catch up with some old friends there, and to climb(of course). If your trip pans out, maybe we could rendevous. :wave:

 

 

 

 

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I've spent some time there. If you're going this time of year, prepare for rain. It's not the continuous drizzle we have here. Def don't want to be there in Jan/Feb I don't think. I may have a guide book buried in some boxes but it's probably way out of date. You should be able to get a new guide book in Natimuk I imagine but you might want to get one before that. Are you going through Sydney or Melbourne. If you're driving from Sydney through Canberra, there are a couple of good outdoor stores in Canberra where you can get guidebooks.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Rob:

We were just climbing there two months ago.

When we got there in mid-March, it was brutally hot. We climbed some in the Grampians, where it is marginally cooler because of the altitude (BTW, we thought that by far the best cliff in the Gramps was Mt Rosea: 3- to 5-pitch trad routes on extremely good rock).

 

The weather became pretty good for climbing at Araps by early April. We climbed on-and-off there for a couple of weeks. Most days we had a mix of rain and sun, but could climb between showers.

 

We've heard that fall is better than spring because the flies are really horrendous in the spring.

 

Since you asked, I must tell you that we were quite disappointed with Araps. It is not a bad crag, but I think it is greatly over-hyped by Aussies, who often refer to it as "the best crag in the world"... It's a nice spot, great rock (though very slippery in place and kind of ugly looking), great cheap camping (AU$2/person/night, with toilets and non-drinking water). You can walk to almost all climbs from camp. We didn't find the routes very inspiring (inobvious lines). Most of the climbs are of the steep and juggy variety. Almost all climbs are trad.

 

The area is very popular, particularly with beginners because the easier routes are quite good. Crowds are bad on weekends (climbers from Melbourne), but the place is pretty quiet during the week. Avoid Easter weekend when the crag is overtaken by many thousands of climbers... unless you're going there to party.

 

Guidebook is out of print. A new one is supposed to come out in June... though it's been delayed many times already. The climbing store in Natimuk (small town near Araps) has decent temporary guidebooks for sale and will have the new one as soon as it comes out.

 

We'll post a TR and pics on our site as soon as we have them ready.

 

Have a good trip!

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