Show Time 24

Approach.

Show Time starts left of centre of the main Yellowwood Amphitheatre about 7 metres left of the start of Newborn. The first few bolts of Newborn or visible from the base of the wall and the start of Show Time is marked by a small cairn of stones adjacent to a small flat clearing used as a bivvy spot.

1. 50m 20 Climb easily up the gray slabs for about 30m just left of a vague recess and past an overhang. Head up right to the gray face and climb the shallow left facing corner and continue up to the overhang capping the red-orange rock. Move left to a ledge. (Find a good small cam placement in a pocket on the face above the ledge.

2. 55m 22 S3 This pitch has two potential deck falls although the moves are not very hard. The first is stepping off the ledge to start “overhanging strenuous gnarly looking crack” and the second is starting up the left facing corner past the “thin flake plastered against the wall”. Move to left end of the ledge and step across the void to below a crack that can be vegetated. The crack does take good pro if cleaned. Continue up to and then past the large overhang on its left and climb the left facing dihedral to a large ledge on the right. Climb the overhanging strenuous gnarly looking crack for about 10m to a ledge system. Move left 2m and climb the left facing corner starting at a thin flake plastered against the wall on the left. Continue easily up the orange left facing corner to the grey overhang and pass it on the right. Semi-circle up and right to avoid the very steep crack in the white rock (climb it if you are bold and strong). Head easily up and left to a right facing corner system on yellow rock topped by a robust bush to a stance. With 50m ropes, stance 5m lower on a decent ledge, then scramble up the corner system to start of pitch 3.

3. 20m 23 (Don’t be tempted to combine pitch 3 with any part of pitch 4 unless you have done it before. It will be very tiring and you may run out of gear, communication and end up in a crappy hanging stance anyway!) Strenuous climbing past an inverted 1” cam placement and a fixed nut brings you to a juggy rest. (The nut marks the way). Continue up to the overhang and the move right on the gnarly rock to pass the roof on the right. Continue up a few meters to a hanging stance under the overhang.

4. 48m 24 If you are lucky and you manage to work out the best way to climb this pitch, then it is probably only grade 23. However the on-sight sans beta is probably closer to 26 if you get anything wrong. This pitch is a brutal beast and has yet to be done on-sight free as at 29 March 2015. It is extremely challenging for short people and has two very difficult cruxes. Climb the left facing corner to the overhang. Step right onto the arête and clip the fixed wire if you wish. Continue up past the small overhang to easier ground. Continue straight up for 4m or so and then move left about 3m. Do not climb the obvious white recesses but climb the grey rock bulge between them! directly above the bomber rock 1 placement (only grade 19) to a large rail under the overhang. You can place a large cam on the right to protect your second but the rail generally is at least size 4.5 Camelot. Rail all the way left easily to the grotty corner and climb it. Or keep moving left on a clean rail to circumvent it. Climb up to the (halfway) ledge and clip a bolt left there by some Spanish climbers and stance right there so you can see your second. If you did not find pro in the large rail for your second then move all the way back right to stance above that point so your second is protected with a more vertical rope. (Sounds complicated but will be evident when you are there.)

5. 24 35m Lie back the gray flake on the left and continue up the brittle recess until the holds run out. (There is good pro but the holds seem very dodgy). Step out left on to the arête on good rock and continue to the small overhang. Compose yourself on good holds. Continue straight up if you are bold and strong or move left 3m and climb the crack into a shallow recess past a “nice-to-have” thread that is in situ. Continue up about 10m and rail right to a good ledge.

6. 30m 16 It seems sensible to climb straight up but there is no pro and it is tricky indeed. So move right 3m and climb the easy recess for about 5m. Then climb diagonally back left above the stance to the obvious rail capped by an overhang. Rail easily all the way left to a good ledge at the base of the right facing corner.

7. 35m 21 Climb the corner that is vegetated in places for 30m to where it steepens. Climb the steep overhanging crack till you can rail 3m right to a good ledge. (This pitch has really good climbing despite the chossy appearance.)

8. 40m 19 Climb up to the overhang past the right side and then up easy blocky climbing to a rail system. Move right about 10m and avoid the first left facing yellow-orange recess. Continue to the next grey one and climb up it. Head easily diagonally up left to a grey overhanging crack and crank through this to top out.

Descent:

Have a good look of the lay of the land before you start the route. Take photos with you or have them loaded to a large screen smart phone.

Head east (towards Rawsonville) to the Timerity abseil 10-15 minutes. Keep going downwards past the largest gully (Yellowwood Crack and the Tea Time abseil) and then head north-east for the furthest and lowest gully. You will eventually see cairns leading you to the gully. Abseil 3 abseils down the Timerity rap route to the drip

Gear: 50m ropes are fine for this route but be careful on the third abseil if you use the Timerity Rap Route. 50m ropes do not get you all the way to the ground and you have to traverse left (north-east) on a ledge system and then scramble down

Doubles on cams to 1,5 inch is recommended. Single set nuts to size 10 or 12. . 4 QD’s 10 Slings or 8 Slings and one very long sling is useful. No RP’s required. No 4.5 Camelot is useful but not essential.

The prevailing ethic for Yellowwood is tread lightly.

"Tread lightly" means no bolting of belay stances unless all possible alternatives have been completely exhausted. No placing of bolts for running belays that are not absolutely essential. No use of pitons, unless necessary. No use of power drills is accepted!

Climbers are asked to respect the prevailing ethic which is intended to preserve the aesthetic appeal of Yellowwood as a world-class Trad climbing destination.

It is essential for first time visitors to do an ascent of one of the existing classic trad routes to appreciate the committing and adventurous nature of the climbing at Yellowwood. Older routes such as Armageddon Time (and the direct), Blood is Sweeter than Honey and Time Warp are all test pieces for their grade. And newer routes such as Prime Time (and the direct) and Fantastic Time as well as "routes in progress" of which there at least 3, are no less demanding at the grade. Most, if not all the trad routes on the main wall have at least one "R" (run-out) pitch but none are "X" rated. There is minimal fixed gear and very few fixed stance

A new route on Yellowwood, Fighting The Dark Side Of Gravity, has had all its bolts removed, except for two that are essential for the leader on Pitch 3. Two non-essential pitons have also been removed.

There has been much debate about Yellowwood and the most active Yellowwood climbers have talked extensively so as to settle the ethos of this high-value cliff.

In a recent meeting Adam Roff, Jeremy Samson and Hilton Davies distilled the following:

Yellowwood is a very special Trad climbing venue and there have been some mis-steps in route development at the crag. Newborn was bolted many years ago before locals had given much thought to bolting and ethics. It is a legacy that shall remain, but should not be seen as guidance for route development at Yellowwood. More recently four new routes have been established by visitors who have made extensive use of non-essential bolting. Whilst route development is encouraged, non-essential bolting is not; and these new routes are getting their non-essential bolts removed. They will remain as good adventurous routes.

2014: There have been no less than 10 new multi-pitch trad routes established at Yellowwood in the first 5 months of this year. Together they constitute no less than 60 pitches or, combined, more than 1500m of climbing. All the routes have been free-climbed with the vast majority of the pitches of being moderate grade and only 2 pitches of grade 22 and one of grade 24. The routes are all well protected and no fixed gear was necessary.