Routes in Mt Tibrogargan for selected grade

Ringbolt then 4 FH's. Stick clip first, tricky moves off deck to rest, then cunning fingerlock to reach slopers over bulge. Easy to top. Lower off.

A wild jaunt up some unlikely looking territory that deposits you on Halfway House ledge. Nice climbing movement with placements where you need them on some really amazing rock. Leader should be solid at the grade to avoid an epic. Take two racks of cams, one set of wires and rp's.

Start right of Rubicon and 3m left of Clemency below orange cave.

1. 15m (16) Climb delicately trending slightly leftwards heading for sloping block at small ledge at base of vertical wall. Some solid placements if you search around. Trad belay at base of block. Note: beware large detatched block to right of belay.

2. 15m (19) Mount block and dont miss RP placement at chest height before balancing straight up the wall on sidepulls and high feet heading for left side of orange cave. Trad belay in large crack on left end.

3. 15m (17) Step left from belay to lip of cave and head straight up through steep blockiness on great rock until you reach Rubicons' first bolted belay on left.

4. 20m (Crux) (20) Step right from belay to steep groove right of arete and straight up. This pitch has some fantastic movement on great rock. Head straight up staying right of the arete to belay from small crack at back wall of orange alcove.

5. 10m (20) Trend diagonally left up headwall to surmount large bulge 5m right of Rubicons exiting moves. Hand traverse the lip until reaching a spot to mantle onto ramp. Head left to belay from Rubicons' final bolted belay.

Start: Shares first bolt with Elite Rebuplican Guard. Caution: Clipping the first bolt can be difficult if you have a short reach.

A quality moderate sport route featuring mostly big holds but also harbouring a technical crux. Head slightly R and roughly follow the line between orange and grey rock clip five more bolt's to anchor. Steeper than it looks.

4m L of C DS. This finely sculpted L-leaning thin crack may alienate those without aliens - small SLCD's are a must. Overcome the crack to gain slab where two FH's point the way to the rap station. Sustained climbing at the grade.

3m L of Remains Of The Day.

1. 30m (18) Trends ever so slightly left. Awkward and a wee bit exciting with long runouts. Scamper quickly up easy ground to single ring and double ring anchor.

2. 30m (17) Trends quite a way towards the left, avoid the ancient relic carrot and hanger at about half way. Mind the choss before the belay.

3. 20m (20) Up through some bad rock to small roof, left and up with balance and strong manoeuvres to once again encounter easier ground above the bulge.

4. Pitch 4 options: 4a) 35m (17) Wander right off the belay, up the steep gully and skirt under overhang then continue up using a couple of chimney moves or brave the face out to the right. Up slab to step left onto stoney ledge, up through the shrubbery to belay on right hand end of bushy ledge. This pitch is very wandery and should not be rappelled. 4b) 28m (24) From belay, head straight up and over slab passing a single ring and chain belay. Continue left up the tricky overhanging corner and pull the lip with a few punchy moves. over the lip head right through shrubbery to a DBB on a bushy ledge.

5. 25m (16) Up from belay avoiding the 'less than inspiring rock'. Move across left to gain easier ground around a gentle corner.

6. 25m (14) Up and gingerly step left across gap continuing up and then right avoiding the hanging blocks, very easy ground to the top of the ridge, look for the Airtime rap and belay hangers over on the left, they are on vertical rock under an overhang. Don't climb any higher as rap becomes problematic from here. You would also need trad gear to continue to the top on the top pitch of Airtime.

Ten sport draws are sufficient however two additional long or extending draws would help to smooth out rope drag in places. Take a 70m rope if intending to link pitches.

Rap using one of the options:

A) Rap back down route.

From Airtime anchors rap by walking backwards along tip toe ridge trending slightly to the right (looking back up the ridge) to the bushy ledge anchors at the top of the 4th pitch. Rap from the top of the 4th pitch by walking back left i.e. down the alternate (24) pitch not down the (17) pitch, you can rap to the 3rd pitch DBB by doing it this way. From the top of the 3rd pitch rap to the top of the second pitch, you'll have to rap past the rap anchors due to the overhanging nature of the terrain, climb about 2 metres back up to the DBB. From here you can either rap to the ground via an intermediate rap chain half way directly down or continue rappelling down via the 1st pitch by rapping to the end of your rope and carefully walking 10m to the right to the DBB anchor of the 1st pitch. Due to the rappels being not straight down be mindful to not let go of your rope when anchoring in at DBB's. You should only need one 60 metre rope for climbing and rappelling if you follow instructions.

B) Down Airtime Over Pumicestone.

2x 60m ropes required. Straight down the bushy gully for about 40m. Then small belay ledge on left. Straight abseil to hanging belay under a tiny overhang on right. Then rap to ground.

First Contact begins 5m L of Banished For Infidelity. 7 FHs, lower-off.

2m L of FC. Shiny silver FH's, finishing at the slightly lower, visible anchor.

4m L of Insurrection VS. Thuggy off the ground. Straight up and through the overlaps. Slightly L, slightly R. 8 FHs, lower-off. Harder than LOAJP.

3m L of NMS, starting up on little platform. Stickclip. Tricky little start, then smooth sailing through mini roof and up blocky wall. 8 FHs, lower-off.

An old school adventure with everything you know and love about Tibro - marginal gear, questionable rock, weird slabs and plenty of exposure! The name is a nod to the pioneers of yesteryear who encouraged us to put this route up in traditional ground-up style, as well as a reference to the relics found enroute which suggest it was attempted and abandoned some decades previous.

Gear: Single rack to #3 Camalot with doubles/triples in microcams such as X4's or Aliens. RP's, ball nuts recommended. Double ropes and a VERY solid leader mandatory.

1. 30m (15) Start approximately 20m left of Airtime Over Pumicestone. Climb left facing corner, trending left and up to bowl. Gear improves as you go. Tree belay with ancient tat from abandoned attempt.

2. 65m (20R) Might only be a 18/19, but the grade reflects the serious nature of this pitch. Up and left from the belay to an old piton that appears to have been the high point of a prehistorical attempt. From here, an airy traverse takes you rightwards across the "Diving Board" feature on very marginal gear and occasionally horrific rock. Keep trending right and up to a small arete with committing moves upwards to a PR. Keep climbing to a ledge, then up the short technical corner with bad fall potential. Thank your chosen deity as you arrive on an easy slab, following this leftward with spaced gear to a tree belay. Option exists to split this pitch with a semi-hanging belay at the base of the slab.

3. 55m (17R) From the belay, a rightward traverse with tremendous exposure and spaced gear leads to a shattered corner. Up this on spooky rock and thin gear to a chimney. Climb this, following a natural weakness to a bushy alcove with a natural belay.

4. 50m (9) Up unprotected but easy slab with a bit of bushbashing. At the small headwall, take the gulley to the left then follow the line of least resistance to the top of the vegetated pillar. The line then merges with Airtime Over Pumicestone.

Descent: Either finish up the excellent final pitch of Airtime over Pumicestone (Grade 19, 40m) or carefully follow the vegetated ridge down and right to a DBB under a small alcove. Three rappels with 2x 60m ropes will bring you to the ground.

Unknown sport route on the right side of Cave 4.

Start just right of the 'T' for Trojan. The access pitch to In Between Dreams and Summit Sutra. Balance start to some stemming moves.

1. 30m (20) Bloody awesome. Really well bolted and keeps you thinking all the way. There's an optional large wire or 0.75 cam if you're having trouble getting to the first FH. As for Big Empty for the first three bolts, then break out right and follow the line of FHs leading up and right to DBB.

2. 15m (18) Cross over Short and Sweet (reach out left and clip Walk the Line's first FH with a long sling). Head up Circlet clipping its first RB. Instead of reaching left to clip the second RB, continue directly up the wall past two FH's. Follow big holds leftwards around the arête and up (FH) until you reach an anchor in a grand position. From the anchor, it's 35m rappel to the ground or two raps if you stop at the pitch 1 anchor.

10/15m left of Sideshow Bob. One hard move. Shares anchors with Fairy Floss.

This is a modern incarnation of the historic North-East Buttress route. It does cross the original line in several places, although the original route remains largely undisturbed.

Access: From the old climber's carpark, take the right fork of the Tibrogargan track, heading north. Follow the track until you reach some chairs and a picnic table, after which you'll ascend some steps to find a small trail leaving the main track on the left. Follow this to the base of Candy Mountain. Around 15m past the right hand side of Candy Mountain is a vegetated weakness faintly marked NEB.

Start up easy buttress about 10m left of vegetated weakness. "Sbo" marking has disappeared, but the route can be identified by a fixed hanger just left of a small tree at around 6m in height.

Gear: Fully bolted route with some runouts, except for 20m on pitch 6. Single rack to #2 Camalot, focus on small wires and cams. All DBB for belays, some rust on mallions but still functional (as at Aug 2018).

1. 28m (10) Easy climbing up buttress (Grade 4) to FH at 6m (left of small tree), continue up into gully passing another FH to awkward DBB on R face.

2. 30m (13) Go left off belay to FH, follow line of FH and a wire just before DBB.

3. 30m (15) Straight up following the FH's to DBB.

4. 45m (16) Nice long pitch with FH and gear, with a tricky move around a smooth mottled rock section to DBB on ledge.

5. 20m (13) Easy climbing right off belay, following FH's into vegetated gully with a DBB or optional tree belay.

6. 30m (20 crux) Hard stemming moves with protection improving as you progress up the crack. When crack veers right 30 degrees, escape the nastiness by boldly stepping right onto the face, enjoying the abundant fresh air and with relief clip the FH, then past another to DBB (admire old belay hardware to the right from a bygone era).

7. 32m (16) Step left off belay under manky block to FH, then straight up following more FH's (passing rusted relics of the past) with a cruxy move near the top, DBB.

8. 32m (10) Scramble up to NE shoulder and belay on tree or walk right 10m to 5th DBB of Sunburnt Buttress and climb unprotected final pitch to DBB.

Descent: Tourist Track or Caves Route (4x raps), or as for Blabbermouth/Sunburnt Buttress. Do not use Caves route raps if you left shoes at the base of the climb as this variant requires a lot walking between rap points.

1. 28m (5 bolts). As for Sunburnt Buttress.

2. 26m (6 bolts). Step right from DBB and up past several bolts and optional small cam and hidden wire out left (extend). Step right to clip another bolt then up trending slightly to the left to finish on ledge next to bush. DBB.

3. 45m (12 bolts). Step right from belay and head straight up past 3 FH's, stepping left around the arete at the third. Continue up arete passing assorted trad placements and bolts, finishing at "The Perch" belay.

Pitch 3 can be abseiled on a single 80m rope, otherwise you'll need to join two 50 or 60m ropes to abseil pitch 3.

"A tribute to urban development". A great sustained slab that has been recently updated with 4 additional bolts and an independent finish. Starts 10m right of Highlander at clean slab with line of FHs that splits onto two lines about 10m up. Brick Boxes takes the left line and has a bit of a spicy traverse left at the crux. The rap chain is hidden from below. The '90s version of this route was the first "sport route" on Tibro despite it involving soloing to the current 4th bolt and finishing right to shared anchor of The Black Planet.

Nice climbing on excellent rock with only a brief crux - substantially easier than Brick Boxes. Shared first 3 bolts with Brick Boxes then take the right line of bolts. The rap chain is getting rusty but is still fine to use. The '90s version of this route was missing the first 3 bolts. Yikes!