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Bay 1

Type
Part of

This is the first bay on the left AFTER the gorge hiking track parking area.

Image
Aspect
North
Lat/lon
POINT (175.777216 -40.310098)
Approach

It is
located (0.4)km from the start of the gorge and is easily identified by a yellow
"S" (wiggly road ahead) sign just past the pull off. Bay 1 offers both bouldering
and lead climbing possibilities. There are some decent cliffs, some of which
can be top roped from the guard rail using a few long slings. The bouldering is
an interesting (albeit small) venue which is actually UNDER the highway. It
can be reached by walking just past the yellow "S" sign and then down a
makeshift path on the left. The cliffs are actually directly below the car park.
To reach the roped climbs, you can walk down the hill (past the boulder) and
make your way along the river using a series of guide ropes. The other option
is to abseil from the guard rail and pull your rope when you reach the grassy
patch at the bottom of the crag. "Groovy Gecko" is the face you will typically
abseil down and because of it's location and easy grade, it makes a great "final
climb" as that you can opt to place a quick draw at the belay and continue up to
the guard rail. This enables you to belay the remaining people up the route
from the parking lot (perhaps while listening to the car radio even!).

Add Place Add Route

Routes

Reference Title Grade Length Pro Quality Alert Operations
1 1Nathen's project
0

  • P1

This fun, possible 2 pitch line starts at ground zero on the left end of the cliffs and heads up to a good belay ledge. It then continues up the tricky face, trending slightly right. Currently just a Top Rope from the guard rail.


2 2Choss Heap
0

  • P1

This seems like it would be a great line to bolt..... but the rock quality is poop. It can definitely be done as a top rope (long slings on guard rail), but it made need a bit of cleaning and a helmet should DEFINITELY be worn by the belayer!


3 3Mankey Brown Crack, 13 13 2
0

  • P1
  • 13
  • 2
  • Trad

What? A trad line!!! This line climbs the crack which starts at the belay ledge at start of "Trundler's Delight's" second pitch. It cruises up the right facing corner, left of the bolted line, using lay-backs and good face holds. It appears the best placements are IN the corner, seams on the face may be subject to blow-outs! Due to Chucky's height, only 1 cam was placed for this whole line, but I think it is a good training piece for placing gear (perhaps done as an aid climb!). Due to its location, it will probably need cleaning now and again, especially after a rain. For the record, the boys actually continued on as a 3 pitch climb for this by topping out on the last 2 bolts of "Trundler's Delight." Trad gear (small- medium cams and full rack of nuts), (DBB)


4 4Trundler's Delight, 19 19 6
0

This route gets a mixed review...... the first part of the first pitch is
dirty and
unaesthetic but the ribbed corner (crux) on the upper portion is worth the
dirt!
The second pitch is a really fun slab. Start left of "Erica's Arete" on a
grovely
bulge, head up to a dirty ledge, head right up a nice corner and up to the
1st
belay. From there, cruise up the slab to a fun roof. Either rap of rings at
the
top, or finish at the guard rail as a final route for the day. This line was
a long
time in the making as that a MASSIVE death block needed to be trundled off
the top before it was deemed safe to bolt. It took 3 "after work" sessions,
using
pry bars and car jacks to get it off...... but DAMM what a splash!!!


  • P1
  • 19
  • 6

  • P2
  • 17
  • 6

or run it as one tall pitch, clipping one of the belay rings, 13 draws in all). (DBB)


 Erica's Delight, 17 17 13
0

  • P1
  • 17
  • 13

(variation) This is a great, easier option to run a nice, tall line. Start up "Erica's Arete," but rather than heading to the rings on the right, go left, clip the "cross over" bolt (a long sling is helpful here to reduce rope drag) and head up the second pitch of "Trundler's Delight." Although you CAN use Trundler's mid belay and do this var. as a 2 pitch, it is WAY better to do as a long, 13 bolt line!!!


5 5Erica's Arete, 13 13 6
0

  • P1
  • 13
  • 6

Originally lead as part of "Erica's Delight," this is also a great route by itself. Start in the middle of the face (middle of the whole crag, close to the river) and follow the bolt line trending left to the arete. Finish at the rings in the middle of the first ledge. (6 bolts, DBB)


6 6Bling, 15 15 5
0

  • P1
  • 15
  • 5

Shares the first bolt of "Erica's Arete," but cruises up to the right on good holds. This line was named because of the amount of shiny new "stuff" used during the first ascent (bolts, hangers, rings, Clay's rope, Matt's harness etc!). (5 bolts, DBB)


7 7Groovy Gecko, 15 15 6
0

  • P1
  • 15
  • 6

This was the first route bolted at Bay 1. It was cleaned with the intention of being a good access point and exit point for the area. It also turns out to be a very enjoyable route. Climb the left side of the low angle face on good holds. (6 bolts, DBB)


8 8The Gorge-us Arete (aka Ben's project), 18 18 6
0

  • P1
  • 18
  • 6

This is a "still to be cleaned" project with all the bolts (minus hangers) in place, on the left side of the big slab (right of "Groovy Gecko"). To keep it simple, if it is clean and there are hangers on it when you get there... it has been sent and is fair game to climb. If it has seen no love by 2008, buy a few hangers at Bivoac, scrub it and send it.... this line looks too good to be ignored! (6 bolts, DBB)


9 9Chainsaw Pants Massacre, 19 19 8
0

  • P1
  • 19
  • 8

This is a great line (probably the nicest in the whole gorge) with a lot of cool moves. Climb onto the block above the river and up the middle of the steep angled face. (8 bolts, DBB)


10 10Have a Cigar, 18 18 6
0

  • P1
  • 18
  • 6

This is the bolted line just left of the off width. It starts with a left, hand jam! The bolts are set up on this line to steer you away from the opposite wall of the crack but there are a few places where it is inevitable, just don't hug the right side the whole way,(6 bolts,DBB)


11 11The Aweful Offwidth, 12 12
0

  • P1
  • 12
  • Trad

This is the obvious, wide crack. Due to the size of the gear required to adequately protect it, it is realistically either a solo or it can be top roped from the rings at the left-hand top of the crack. Andy, however, lead this using "French Nuts" (ie, he clipped the bolts from "Andy's Arete" on the way up!) This is the obvious, wide crack. Due to the size of the gear required to adequately protect it, it is realistically either a solo or it can be top roped from the rings at the left-hand top of the crack. Andy, however, lead this using "French Nuts" (ie, he clipped the bolts from "Andy's Arete" on the way up!)


12 12Andy's Arete, 15 15 6
0

  • P1
  • 15
  • 6

This is a super fun line which starts just to the right of "The Awful Off-width" which cruises up the face using the left facing arete for most of the climb. The start of the climb uses the face left of the crack but after pulling up and standing above the 1st bolt, use of the crack or opposite wall is....... shunned! This line was cleaned AND bolted by Matt Natti as a "thank you" to Andy (for assisting in the acquisition of almost all the bolt hangers used in the Palmy area), it was sent in good form. (6 bolts, DBB)


13 13Sticky Situation, 17 17 5
0

  • P1
  • 17
  • 5

Start up the bulge right of "Andy's Arete" and trend right up the low angle face on good holds. Due to a lack of suitable bolt placements near the top of this climb, a mallion was added for clipping into the top bolt, allowing the bottom caribiner to hang over the edge of the small ledge (rather than on it, which could lead to a snapped biner!). (5 bolts, DBB)


 The Bay 1 Boulder, -4 -4
0

  • P1

After many return visits, the holds that are still there seems fairly solid, the landing has been improved and COUNTLESS variations of dumb moves on bad holds have been tried! For anyone with a bit of imagination, there is potential for a bit of fun for all climbing levels.


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