Ascensões em The Lost Pillar

Just fix a 70m for the decent. Avoid rapping in on 2 ropes, it was got idea until it got stuck. Thank you for fixing it Tom!

Led the first pitch and blew a massive foot hold on the traverse, so nerves were high before even getting to the bold parts. Once you're on the arete the rock quality improves a lot. 2nd on the next 2 pitches, got the 22 clean. Scary to get to and back home but an incredible climb. We swung across to exit on welsh dragon. We tied off our fix line at the bottom, made the swing much easier.

Such an awesome route, so so epic.

Did the rap in on 2x 70m ropes, but we managed to get them stuck and couldn't pull them down. Change of plan, pruskiked back to the top, fixed one of the lines to the rap rings, rapped back down the fixed 70 and down again with our other rope the last 35. Added an 1:30, but stoke was still high

Spooky starting stance, but Will's a champion and lead the first. Such a mega pitch, so stunning, so much fun, an all time classic.

I led the second and managed to not throw up from fear, Will followed up behind getting the pitch clean

Third was pretty punchy for the start, lost my footing so I blew the onsite. But after one or two hard moves it mellows right out to the top.

I've never climbed on a piece of rock quite this stunning. Absolutley outrageous, such a great climb

Took us about 8:30 but would've been quicker if we didn't stuff up the start. Used the Welsh Dragon exit

Mega Classic, interesting climbing throughout choss, arete, laybacks, traverse, slabs and switching sides of the fin.

100m static hangs about 6 meters above the ground however with stretch we were able to swing left to higher ground, put knots in end of rope otherwise the fall would be catastrophic. 10 hours car to car, had plenty of daylight so we set up the Tyrolean exit.

Dont know how long this thing will be there for but could definitely use some glue on P1 where some of the fins flex or let nature take its course, climb delicately for the whole thing it is suprisingly choss. This is not just another sport multi.

Wafer Thin Fin has been on the to-do list for a while. Mostly because of its general novelty, partly because getting a group of strong enough climbers who also enjoy adventure choss is difficult.

It is fascinating that this climb attracts sport climbers thinking it is another day at the crag.

Because it really is a giant pile of choss waiting to fall over.

Rock quality is hilariously awful. Very amusing to stick your arm through the rock and wave at your belayer through the other side.

Some of the flakes are flexing. Some of the flakes on which bolts are placed were flexing.

Hilarious.

But totally worth the visit. It is such a unique rock formation. And part of the novelty is wondering if you'll be the last party to climb it before it falls down after another erosion-inducing rain event.

It is definitely an experience for a party that knows how to deal with rope faff.

The distance from the top of the cliff to the bottom is 103m (including the knot to tie the rope to the bolts). We discovered the hard way that 100m of rope just doesn't reach.

We also learned that the distance from the top of the cliff to the mainland side Tyrolean bolts is about 43m. A 40m rope also just doesn't reach.

10 hours car to car. Climbing from bottom to top took 5 hours. Jugging out took 3 hours.

T'was a great day

This might be the best choss pile in the mountains! Rivals samarkand for pure epic nature of the feature and despite some crappy rock, there were some great moves to go with it. What a bloody awesome adventure. Will be back, not to clean up the ascent as much as to just be there. Walk in was nice and easy too.

What an adventure! Arrived to white out fog unable to see the pillar at all, waited an hour for it to lift and rapped in around 12:00 - back at the car in day light around 7:00ish. fixed 2x 80m ropes for the rap in and climbed on twin 60s, in hindsight i'd just bring the 2 80s (or better yet a long static so enable a jug out) but that means the belay for the first pitch is pretty poor - an anchor here would help. Opted for the rap bounce to welsh dragon which is a fun addition to the experience.

Took a while to find the start but pretty sure we ended up on the right line - everything matched after P1, which as James says was mostly offwidth, not matching tight crack or hands, and we had to wonder if the right side of the pitch has slipped downhill about 30cm (the whole pillar is just a bunch of blocks trying to fall apart as far as I can tell). Fortunately or unfortunately, James is not a quitter and went on a bold lead with shitty gear on the sides of the crack and at one point a #4 taped to a 4m long stick to push it into the top of the offwidth section. On the plus side the pitch is probably easier now (if you had the right gear) as I seconded it cleanly, but really not great rock quality.

We thought it would get better from there, but nope it gets worse. P2 was a nightmare, really hard to find anything solid to touch. After P2 we bailed through the cave/chimney system inside the pillar to the top of the notch with the main wall. I think this means we followed the line of Josh's Big Trad Line, but ticking here as this is what we intended to climb.

We climbed the first two pitches and then bailed, climbing up through the cave system within to end up on the other side where our other party threw a rope down for us to escape on.

Not sure if the whole side of the thing has slipped, but the route certainly doesn't match the description well re sizes of crack on the first pitch. If you're going to attempt this route (don't) then be sure to bring a #6 or at least a #5 for the off width section with otherwise 5m of run out above a nasty fall.

But yeah, don't climb this line. I almost died. So much choss and loose blocks. And then a piece of the cliff the size of 4 car tyres fell out above me as I was pulling.

Amazing! Misty morning could just make out the top of the pillar as we rapped in. 1st rap 60m rope, to 1st set of anchors, need to move slightly left as you rap or you could miss them. 2nd rap 70m. Both left as fixed lines. We trailed the 70m as we climbed.

Great climbing, especially P1 and P2, engaging and unique. A few foot holds pinged off and one hand hold at the start of p2 (Ethan said it still goes fine though). Pretty happy to insight p2, blew the onsight on the boulder problem but went fine once I worked at the beta.

We had planned on the Tyrolean traverse, but seems silly given it is a decently steep traverse + the rigging time? So we pulled the trailed rope as tight as possible through our grigris, and used the climbing rope to lower out to the main wall then jugged. Saw a few carrots and bolts on the jug out, there was a lot of space between them.

One of a kind! Unique climbing in a beautiful scenery and some premium moves. Bring a static rope for the ascend and try not to drop your bag down the cliff after finishing the last pitch, having to rappel down and jugging up the full 120m for an even better experience!

Righto.. what an epic, had me excited, enthused, regretful and scared all at once. As confused as Peter Dutton in his moral ethics philosophy class. A 70 metre fixed line got us to the lower rap anchors at ledge and we finished the job with tied 60 metre ropes….

The climb itself was cool and engaging due to choss, sling pro and the constant threat of a barn door coming and slapping you across the face as hard as the long d of the US law is coming for Trump. The climbing itself is probably over rated and I’m guessing the 3 stars comes from the overall experience rather than the climbing itself.

After topping the route, we realised we forgot bolt plates and that was the end of the climb out exit plan. After Will took one for the lads and lass and swung across the void to the main wall, we assaulted ourself with a long process of 60m jumar back up the fixed line to the top - not recommended. 11 hours car to car - absolute Goddim and an H pie handed to him but we’ll worth it

No doubt the most adventurous day of climb for me so far. Also one of the most beautiful places in the blue mountains that I have seen, the view is simply incredible. Definitely a summer climb, we were feeling cold even in a hot day.

First Rappel - We used a 67m fixed line for the first abseil which wasn't enough to skip the second rappel, so we ended up having to do 3 abseils. A 80m rope would do the job.

Second Rappel - (not needed if the first fixed line is 80m long). Less than 30m

Third Rappel - The 70m rope was just enough, even though it did not totally reach the ground, we could swing to a taller rock and get to the ground (if you do this be careful not to let the 2 ends of the rope go when the last person finishes the abseil, it would be a pain if not impossible to recover it.

We were 2 groups of 2, started around 8:30am from the car park and back to the car around 8pm, definitely a big day and the wondering around also added to it.

Long day! We went in 2 parties of 2, and it took us longer than expected. There's a well marked path, but we still managed to get lost on the walk in. Rapped on a fixed 70m line, and had to do another 2 abseiles because the second rope wouldn't reach the ground... First pitch felt pumpy, and really fun! Second pitch was the easiest Third pitch can be tricky!! But Bruno found a better beta that made it way easier then what I did...

To exit we swang across to the main wall and climbed the top 3 pitches of Welsh Dragon. First bolt on the 19 pitch is dangerously run out! Careful!

7 hours car to car. A 57m rope is not enough to do the last rap safely. Would recommend a 70, twins, or another fixed line. I’d probably take a few cams 1-4ish instead of relying on the fixed slings.

First 2 pitches were quite enjoyable, juggy, yet engaging. The 3rd pitch was surprisingly tricky to figure out, and there’s still plenty of choss to break off. Don’t think it deserves an upgrade, but a challenging onsight

An excellent day's chossaneering with Thirsty. We climbed with 2 60m twins. Did 3 rappels on the way in (could have gotten away with 2 if we skipped the first U-bolts). Clipped first bolt on traverse while rappelling, but there's a slot for a #3 camalot (which we also used on the Welsh dragon's third pitch). To escape we swung across the gap to skip the aid pitch of Welsh dragon.

We drew straws and I won/lost and got/had to do the first pitch. This pitch has it all! Pulling onto the south face after the choss traverse and looking up was quite daunting. A bit of anti-barn-door knee action, cutting feet with a pinch on the arete and crunchy fins before finally topping out the most adventurous pitch of climbing I have ever done. The second pitch has an exciting start, maybe more so for the seconder. In fact I generally found seconding more difficult today on this and the Welsh dragon. Heady. The bouldery third pitch is as advertised. I did my best impression of a bolt-removal device, feet either side of the right anchor bolt, in order to reach the high first bolt. Took a fall trying to stick to climbing the arete on the first attempt. Played around and eventually found a very specific sequence and then went to the top!

This should be on everyone's list - just do your best to leave the holds on it for the next group!

Great day out. The track in is well trodden, with cairns. Rapping in was chill. So much Sandy choss at the bottom, stop at the belay rock. Loved the first 2 pitches... Rock was better than expected and slings are indeed bomber. Was still glad to top out get off the thing! I got to do the abseil and swing back to the cliff, took a few swings and finally grabbed some grass! Jumared up in an hour or so, with the sunset behind. Loved it but don't need to go back any time soon.