Ascents in The Candlestick having Beta

Climbed this route after doing the totem pole, was a very fun climb with lots of variations on climbing it the swell was very manageable. I don't know what people are on about it being chossy I thought it was great sure there were a few loose blocks here and there but it did not affect the climbing. took 6 hours from the Mainland

3 parties of 2. A 20 hour day. 1 absolutely hectic adventure.

Our original plan was for 1 party to climb Corner Route and 2 parties to do The Wick. Unfortunately, in the time it took Arjan to swim across with the rope, a combination of falling tides and sudden swell meant we decided it was too sketchy to attempt the swim to The Wick.

Everyone still got to strip nude to keep the gear and clothes dry from the raging waves though

The climbing itself is incredible.

P1 starting in the seaswept corner. Every hold wet from the spray but magically grippy still. I had to unleash almost every tool in my crack arsenal as the climbing offered up the opportunity to use every type of jam and squeeze.

At this point it was close to 2PM and I had not had time to assemble my sandwich, which younger, naive me thought I could eat at the top of the Candlestick as some sort of victory feast.

Each pitch was now fuelled by a small ration of museli bar. It's amazing how much energy you burn when you combine 110m of climbing with a few hours shivering in the cold, slightly scared at the bottom of a cliff in the sea.

P2 had some sweet jamming. Got some fantastic flow in the hand jams. Plus a few techy bits to keep you on your toes.

P3 was interesting because after comparing notes, it turned out we'd all climbed it differently! I manoeuveured to the start of the off-width before managing to span the two cracks, using every millimetre of my +1/2 hand ape index. Others did the squeeze chimney, which necessitated removing helmets and gear.

P4 was a glorious victory lap in the soft evening light. Easy, but fun, climbing.

And I have never exited a climb in more aesthetic fashion than a 45 degree descending Tyrolean. Made it out before it got completely dark. Party 3 in the team were not quite so lucky.

5am to 1am camp-to-camp.

And I got to eat my lunch sandwich at 8PM

Brilliant!! The most epic day ever! I got to do the nudie swim (yay!), which was so cool and scary with the swell. thought i would get swept away! the kelp mantle may have been the biggest struggle of my life. Aaron said i looked like an albino seal. totally unreal place, it feels so out there the whole time. position was wild, and it was so beautiful. the climbing was also surprisingly classy, with some really awesome moves. P1 was tricky and sustained with funky jamming. P2 had nice jams. for P3 we went up the crack L instead of the offwidth. P4 was sick with nice exposure. Reaching the summit was the coolest feeling ever, and the view was amazing. the high tyrolean was insane and so fun! so stoked!!! ~15hr car to car.

Unreal experience unlike anything else. Nearly got taken out by the swim, beware the rope getting caught on the seaweed stalks if swimming as a second. The climbing was strenuous, with every type of jam being put to use. Coupled with carrying heavy equipment up with you, ascending this thing amounts to a real physical and mental challenge. Props to Rak and John for leading the pitches. As you progress up the quality of the rock deteriorates, and the movement becomes weird, with an awkward chimney squeeze and a platforming traverse out of a videogame. We unfortunately didn't have enough light to complete the 4th pitch, and opted to wait for our friends who were completing The Wick. The return via Tyrolean was surreal, lit only by moonlight and headtorches. We returned to camp at 3am

Exhilarating all the way to the final heave up over the choss. Started a bit too late - would recommend getting up at about 4am (or even earlier if you are as slow as us) but vibes were high. Rap went down without a hitch, and three brave souls nailed the swim and Tyrolean. Don't keep them on belay for the swim, as you risk the chance of short-roping them (sorry Alex) - just hold onto the rope. First pitch involved some incredible sustained stemming and bridging - must have been on my 40m pitch without a ledge rest for about 2 hours. The #6 cam saved me from running out of gear, and I bumped this up for about 10m as I placed some marginal gear. Found a small grassy outcrop and belayed from here, wedged into a crack. There were some dark times on that ledge for the over 2hr belay as Alex Holroyd made a momentous effort on the second 60m pitch, running it out as much as possible. I found the crack to be a second home, as the wind got colder and colder. Finally, the call came down on the walkie-talkie, and I could start moving up. That second pitch was the most intense physical experience of my life, carrying up a backpack and an extra 20kg of weight from the Tyrolean rope that was flying recklessly in the wind back to the mainland. I think I started mildly hallucinating with the effort at one point, as I thrutched up the giant pitch. Had to rest twice while I flicked the stuck Tyrolean rope, but I am proud no falls occured during the actual climbing. Upon reaching the top around 10pm I found Alex Holroyd body-belaying me, backed up on a tree. I had to haul the Tyrolean rope with all my might to unstick it from the crack systems below. We rapped down and joined the other gang, who were just as exhausted as us. Following a flawless Tyrolean, interesting sardine sandwhich and 2hr hike, we made it back to camp. What a fucking journey.

Epic day out. Thanks John for doing the nudie swim. P1 really enjoyed this pitch, a few technical moves and good gear. P2 beautiful jams and stemming. P3 fun squeeze through chimney to easy climbing on other side. P4 cruisy last pitch. Definitely have to be super mindful of choss. Fantastic final climb of the trip.

11/10 day out. Did the nudie swim with an eye on the bellowing territorial seals. Hyper real experience floating over to the edge of the continent. I'd love to try pitches 1-2 again without a heavy pack, might have to come back! As epic as I hoped.

What a hectic adventure. Dean did the swim, set up a lower tyrolean to get the gear across and then I zipped over without getting wet. This was not hugely beneficial as it started faintly spitting and did so untill after the first (crux) pitch. The first two pitches eat gear though, I had a double rack of cams and a set of dmm torque hexes (which were definitely helpful), only used a few medium to large wires. Was lucky enough to lead all the pitches.

At the third we followed the topo from the latest Tassie selected climbs: traversing out from the belay ledge under the arête then up the crack. The benefit of this is that you reduce chances of getting your tag line stuck. If I had my time again I would stick to the crack from the belay straight up untill you can squeeze through to the right.

Summited, waved to the tourists at the lookout and tour boat and came back down to the higher tyrolean. The hangers here are currently VERY crowded with old rusted shite. We used the two twisted rapides backed up while the first person was lowered across. Got the tension absolutely perfect. Maybe a couple of arm spans less than as tight as you can get? Dean used the third rope to lower down. Pulled and flaked the rope mid line without issue. When releasing the tyrolean the rope got momentarily stuck in the boulders just below the bolts, but it released thank god. 10/10.

May you climb with good fortune adventurer.

What an amazing climb! Water was less cold than anticipated for Autumn, and the swell wasn't too bad... While getting back to the main land we had some problems with the Tyrolean... 70 m may not be enough to double up the rope from 3rd pitch down... We ended up having to join a 70m and 60m rope to make it all the way down

Can a day out climbing get any better than this. So involved. So much fun. I wish more climbs required nudity.

Still one of the best days out a climber can possibly have.

Awesome day out

How good is faff !!! Loved this.

Just as good the second time. Dans turn to swim. Linked pitch 1 and 2

Day 2 of the Tassie summer off to a flying start. This route is a stunning adventure with better than expected climbing. Snapped a crimp on p1 and took a wet rope whipper. Got nudie at top of p2 after the worst sammie in the world (open packet, car kept ingredients) to change out of the wetsuit. The kayak tourists got more views than they expected. Yim saw a wild strawberry on the route: Buy him a beer for the full hysterical tale. P3 saw a traverse between 3 different lines resulting in a barefoot downclimb building 3 subsequent tranchors and a walkie-talkieless comms breakdown. Finally summitted and waved to the 0 tourists at the lookout before tyroleaning off p3. A great day out with Yim the strawberry picker.

What David said

This climb delivered.

Travelled from Brisbane for the weekend to get on this. Much preparation and rehearsal paid off, as the ropework and Tyroleans gave us no difficulty whatsoever.

One guide indicates that the crux pitch is the swim. I will vehemently disagree with that. P1 was nails at 18. Committing, insecure and strenuous, it was dripping wet at the bottom. Good gear the whole way up if you can place it. Heady stepping around the roof.

The swim was disappointingly uneventful. Waited for a set to finish, jumped in on the back of a wave and gunned it. Grabbed the kelp before the next wave came in, then just delicately up the wet rock to the anchor. Didn't get scared enough the first time around so jumped back in.

P2 was beautiful, gorgeous jams.

P3 had me cursing the inbred Tasmanian guidebook authors who couldn't tell the difference between a grade 16 squeeze chimney and a grade 19+ offwidth. That was darned scary, shuffling my 6 up the whole way with no other gear anywhere it would keep me off the deck. Spent the whole time gazing longingly through the offwidth at the lovely corner on the other side. When Angie followed she simply popped through the very bottom of the squeeze where it's wider and climbed the opposite side, at which point I realised my vitriol was misplaced.

P4 had a few engaging moments and was good fun.

Used the upper (P3) anchors for the return Tyrolean as we had thoroughly rehearsed this, and rapping further down just to jug back uphill seemed like entirely too much hard work. Deserves all its stars.

The best day out climbing I have ever had. The line itself is fantastic to climb (despite a small amount of loose rock), but when combined with the location, excellent company, and required rope techniques, it made an unforgettable day. Done as a party of four with 3 ropes. Abseiled in on a 70m line (anything less would be struggling to reach considering this line needs to be trailed throughout the route to rig the upper tyrolean). Swam across in low swell with some seals and rigged the lower tyrolean 3m above the sea...fantastic! The first pitch is the crux, and was long and sustained and somewhat moist. Excellent jams despite appearances. Second pitch is the most enjoyable to climb with excellent rock (except at the top). Third pitch an alpine style climb and wander over the ridge. Make sure the tyrolean line doesn't get caught here. Final summit pitch very enjoyable.

We rigged the upper tyrolean from the bolts at the end of pitch 3 before the final summit pitch. Tyrolean was at a 30 degree angle downwards to the mainland. Because of this, it is essential to get lowered or rap on a second line until you are able to pull yourself across. Two ropes are needed for the upper tyrolean (a single 70m could probably be tensioned tight enough to bridge the gap, however it would be super tight, increasing the angle and forces on the anchors). After lowering the others across with the end of the rope, they set up the tyrolean on the mainland and tensioned it, and I rappelled down a separate line until I ran out of rappel rope, before pulling and retrieving it. Coiling the rap rope whilst suspended on the tyrolean in the middle of space was incredible. If you have the rope skills to do this climb, get on it, truly is an amazing adventure!

Lead the 4th pitch to bring it home. Very enjoyable outing. Nude ocean swim and tyrolean swings were epic

Climbing with double ropes in a party of four (with Sarah, Ben and Rhys) - So everyone of us got to lead one pitch. What an awesome day out

Did the third pitch again as a recovery of stuck tryloean rope. After climbing the NW corner earlier in the day this route is shite in comparison. Not only is it only marginally easier, all the gear is remarkably worse.

Good fun, good gear and reasonably good rock. Took about an hour a pitch and then another 3hrs when the tyrollen rope pulled a huge block off onto itself and squashed the end, trapping it on the candlestick. Make sure you keep the tails short, 20m tails can really Fuck up your day.

We got a bit lost on P3, should've gone ~5m higher directly above the wide crack but otherwise everything went smoothly. Luckily the channel was so chockers with sharks that the swell was basically eliminated and made for a cruisy swim. Barking seals and strong winds, what a crazy place! Rock was great for the most part and was some lovely climbing. P3 was tricky to protect, maybe a #5 might fit in the wide crack or squeeze right through the crack at about 1/3 height for easier ground on the other side but would be dicky with the rope. Car to car was 11 hours + about 658 hours trying to puzzle out the tyroleans.

Lead on 2 and 4

Despite my many laps in the pool to train for this route we ended up having an 18 hour epic. Probably the coolest route i've ever climbed and an excellent birthday send

Helmets not optional... So many loose rocks!! Great day otherwise though, took it real easy, perhaps too easy and topped out and traversed off in the dark.

Rad adventurous climb. Take care pulling on things top of pitch 2

Pretty rad climb, very chossy before the ledge. Took a lot longer than we expected

Great fun, a bit chossy. Took a solid couple hours but not too hard or sandbagged

A day to be remembered. Thanks Dan for doing the swim!

Amazing and eventful day out. Swim went smoothly with fairly friendly seas. First pitch was ok climbing. First half of second pitch was nice, then lots of loose dirt and rock and some awkward chimneying to finish up to the ledge. Third pitch was very nice climbing in the crack to the right of the chimney. Climbed up onto the big chockstone at the top of the chimney, then headed rightish up under then past a little rooflet to the belay ledge. This section was probably around gr17/18 the way I did it (or I was just wrecked). Had to bail from here back to the start of the pitch when our third person got caught in a rockfall near the start of this pitch. A series of rocks at the base of this section of the chimney (to the right of the belay ledge) spewed out and down the rest of the route and into the water. Her foot was injured, so we bailed and made the escape tyrolean at this point from the double bolts on the big ledge at the top of the second pitch. Hard work since it is slightly lower than the bolts on the mainland at this point, and we hauled the injured climber to assist getting across. Highly recommend a rope protector if doing this traverse as the rope rubs badly on the Candle Stick side. Our protector was well munched!