Ascents in South-East Face

Amazing scenery and quite unique to be on a wall this size in Australia. The devils staircase pitch is nice. The rest of the route is hands down the worst summer multi-pitch climbing I´ve ever done.

Such a rich experience to climb at Frenchman’s, not all positive, not all negative but all memorable. Managed to catch a beautiful 5 day weather window and all our routes were bone dry. I got the pointy end of the rope on the Devils staircase which Is more than a bit stiff at 16. Also finding the start was a whole ordeal and I assume I was somewhere near the original. I went up the main gully, sus traverse on vegetation to a grassy ledge then up a “botanically influenced” crack for a full rope length until I spied the chimney on P3. Second tick off the lifelist in a week.

Hard to find and hard to stay on. Followed up some mates. Big big day with a wet pitch 8. Sandbagged route (especially pitch 8 and 9). Swimming in the lake at midnight after getting back to the hut is the real beta. Would recommend if you like choss and can solidly lead grade 20 trad 😜

Such a memorable day out climbing. Wowee! Got lucky with great weather and a bluebird day. 17 hours hut to hut. Found the crux pretty darn hard for a 16! Some pitches were still wet despite days of no rain. Lots of moss and choss on some pitches, but otherwise amazing day out.

Wow what a day. Was off route pretty considerably for the first 4 pitches, but then pretty sweet once on route. The pitches leading up to the crux were awesome and full value. Lots of moss, dirt, plants, loose rock/boulders and the like. Crux pitch is for sure harder than 16. An inverted staircase, 300m off the deck, that has some decent protection and rest stances, but is definitely harder than 16... All in all, an awesome, full value day!

What a day, completely off course at the start but just kept questing up and right until we rejoined.

Another serious climb, but an amazing one. Harley did an amazing job leading the crux (no way its 16). The whole experience was amazing

Probably no rain on the mount for 12 days before we went up (and temps hovering in the high 20s), but the top of the route was still pretty wet. Would really want to pick your windows for this. Pitch 8 was super run out and wet holds really added to the spice

Lead free:2, 4, 7 Spectacular but heaps of wet rock (first and second pitch, finish of pitch 5, the corner crack of p 6) Was raining the previous day

Incredible, this route has been on the life list for a very long time. A striking corner crack followed by an unprotected and butt puckering exposed traverse across the void to another corner system. Definitely the most serious but rewarding pieces of climbing I've had the pleasure of doing!. Wild

An epic alpine adventure complete with huge exposure, plenty of loose rock and less than desirable belays. Fantastic!

We couldn’t suss out the start the day before due to the amount of rocks being dropped by a party on the route, so just headed up early morning to see if the super direct approach worked. Any placements we had needed major excavation, so whilst it’s possible the line has been done it didn’t feel like it. Felt a bit R even for Frenchman’s standards, but was enjoyable in a type 2 fun way.

After doing an interesting 2 pitch start, we got onto the route proper and made up time. Alt with Dave. After the horrible 3rd and 4 th pitches the rest was fun, and choss mostly avoidable. Climbed right wall of exit chimneys as much as possible. Visionary routing by Pettigrew and Allen that could be tidied up and do with a better description. Led 3/4, 6,8,10,12/13. Back eating dinner before dark.

What an unreal experience! We got spectacular weather, however, quite a bit of seepage in sections. Good gear for most of the way (recommended rack as mentioned by others), yet, enough no fall zones you certainly want to be confident at the grade, especially for that goddam traverse! For sure the most exciting Trad adventure I've had so far!

One of the reasons I started climbing , two years ago i bivouacked at the summit and met crazy John & clair who topped out on the great flake on dark. That Definitely had a deep impact on my climbing journey. So happy to have done this route, can't wait to come back out and tackle some of the bigger harder lines!

A fantastic outing! Pitches 6 onwards are fantastic! Couldn’t have asked for better weather

The second closest I came to dying in Australia. Helluva day out.

Done in 11 pitches (instead of 13 listed in guide).

An incredible achievement for its day and a historic line. I can only imagine the grit that Bryden Allen and Jack Pettigrew had to pull off this line almost 55 years ago.

The climb itself, while enjoyable, suffers from oodles and oodles of loose rock, moss and tricky route-finding. Finding the start was challenging (I'm still not sure we started in the right spot) and route-finding was tricky all the way up to the start of the traverse. Cam and I would regularly stop on lead and double check the route length and description to make sure we were in the right spot.

All in all, it took Cam and I 14 hours hut to hut.

14 hours hut to hut

11.5 hour hut to hut.

We soloed pitches 1+2 (it's basically a vertical garden) and then mossied our way up the remainder. That crack on pitches 4+5 is stonker and the traverse pitch is wild wild wild!

Found that the scariest part of the day was scrambling up that effing col. Loose and steep scree plus big falls is mildy scary to say the least

11.5 hours hut to hut

Absolute classic with beautiful pitches but definitely not for the faint hearted. Take lots of # 1s and peanuts plus the usual gear (micros, nuts, cams) double set doesn't hurt

The second best route here. Pitches 4 & 5 linked together as a single pitch is surely the best on the mountain. Easy hand jamming with feet on smears to your right for 50m. We did that with only 1 x #1 and #2 camalot ... there are large wires everywhere although more cams would make it easier. The pitch 6 rising traverse is pretty unforgettable too - put in a little bit of gear at the start, then leave the crack and trust your climbing skillz ! Led pitches 3, 6 & 8

I've got Dolomites feelings.

Vastly superior way to start the route. But still with some gardening and loose rock. Led by Anthony

Important, historic line, but suffers from a lot of loose rock and intermittent rambling. We did it in 8 pitches including the direct start (vastly better than the gully scramble of the original route). Went too high on pitch 5 and had to downclimb to get to the Devil's Staircase. Led pitches 3, 5a, 7-8, and 10-12 as one giant 68m rope stretcher. The wall R of the chimney on pitches 10-12 offers better climbing than the chimney itself. Finding the true start is tricky, but the key is to aim for the giant detached pinnacle with a chimney on its left ... about 120m up. From there you'll probably be okay. Pitch 6 is the highlight. Pitch 3 has some terrible rock on it.

Getting to the start of the route is quite dangerous. There is a loose rock gully that you have to scramble up. Wear a helmet and dont be underneath your partner.

What a place! And what a climb. We walked in to the new Tahune hut and sussed the route in the arvo and then we're lucky enough to have good weather the next day! The Crux pitch felt hard for a 16.. but maybe I was tired from the walk in. Great adventure climbing!

Wanted to climb the direct start but it was too wet. Made our own direct start starting directly underneath the bottom of pitch 3/ top of the chimney. We then proceeded go off route at the start of pitch 5, A large fall and the delay caused by our 'direct start' caused us to decide to retreat back down the route.

Our plan was to climb Tierry le Fronde, but the forecast was an afternoon storm, so we elected for a minimal commitment route in case the storm came early. We chose this route because it involved a bit of bushwalking, interesting route finding descent to the base, and a different view of the mountain. Climbing wasn't great.

Great adventure, rock loose in places, protection far better with modern gear than the 1960s beta indicates. The devils traverse & belay was scary / memorable / unnerving / fantastic :o)

(Sorry Gene. Couldn't be bothered with descriptions on my phone!) Brilliant. Just brilliant. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, not even most people, but I highly recommend it for those with a head for adventure, spaced gear, and exposure! What a route, though. I discovered that a small part of me enjoys the delicacy required when climbing on choss (like the first and last couple pitches.

New years eve trip with the Rasta Rockets!

With Jed. Didn't find the chockstone at the end of the first pitch, but good gear at about 40m for a belay. If we were doing the correct 'obvious' line...Good finish

With Jed Awesome middle pitches! Even the 'climb the overhanging wall on bad rock' bit was great! Pitch 3 is just plain scary though. No gear until after pulling over the big slimy overhanging, bad rock, all while directly over a big, spiky block... Definitely a route with a bit of character