Lord of the Rings writer, J.R.R Tolkien described a new world called Middle Earth and in that world was a grumbling place called Mordor – cavernous and barren, dark and foreboding, a ground of contest and courage. Tolkien’s descriptions came from the years he spent in the trenches of The Western Front burrowing into the earth desperate for safety from machine guns and cannon fire. This brings me to Bungonia Gorge south of Sydney, Australia and a climb called Air Malta.
This climb somehow weaves together several provoking pitches of weirdness and terror. Bungonia Gorge is a dark 350-metre deep cut between sun drenched eucalyptus hills between Sydney and Canberra. Humans are never far away, explosions from a neighbouring lime mine blast through in the afternoon adding to the strangeness. There is nothing pedestrian about this place, though. It is sinister to start with but if you survive the shell shock, like Tolkien survived the trenches, you will discover that there is a world beyond darkness with a climbing mythology all of its own. Air Malta is an adventure, so be prepared if it gets wild and don’t hold on too tight, precious.
The Bungonia Gorge is a treasure for hardcore climbers and for climbing photographers who like a wide lens. The limestone is foreign to most Australian climbers. A Colossus of rock closing in on you is one thing and stepping off the sandy floor of the gorge and onto a grey wall becomes sobering really fast. It is a grey world made only stranger with dust covered water-washed limestone that has your feet sliding. I asked Keith Bell, who with John Fantini, developed this place more than thirty years ago, to share a memory of entering the Gorge to climb.
“We walked downstream between those two imposing walls. Nerves ate like acid into my mind; fear and trepidation bit deep.”
The climber will find him or herself clinging to whatever weirdness that can be found in this vertical, often steep, sometimes misleadingly sloping ripple-like rock. Features are interwoven with razor sharp pockets and edges that mince unwary hands. Due to the size of the walls, the effort of equipping routes means this place is not for your crag-loving sport climbing party. Long run-outs, fading slings from former retreats and getting benighted are curses bestowed on the unprepared and underdone. That was the stewardess spiel, are you ready to take a flight on Air Malta?
The climb consists of six long pitches and is a modern classic that was given life by Duncan Hunter and Michael Demarco in 2016. When Duncan is not designing computer software he brings himself back into reality with regular forays into the Gorge to repeat old classics and to seek out new glory. As a matador of this place, he was looking for something new that incorporated all the wickedness a monstrous, slippery, steep wall could throw at him.
This climb somehow weaves together several provoking pitches of weirdness and terror. Bungonia Gorge is a dark 350-metre deep cut between sun drenched eucalyptus hills between Sydney and Canberra. Humans are never far away, explosions from a neighbouring lime mine blast through in the afternoon adding to the strangeness. There is nothing pedestrian about this place, though. It is sinister to start with but if you survive the shell shock, like Tolkien survived the trenches, you will discover that there is a world beyond darkness with a climbing mythology all of its own. Air Malta is an adventure, so be prepared if it gets wild and don’t hold on too tight, precious.
The Bungonia Gorge is a treasure for hardcore climbers and for climbing photographers who like a wide lens. The limestone is foreign to most Australian climbers. A Colossus of rock closing in on you is one thing and stepping off the sandy floor of the gorge and onto a grey wall becomes sobering really fast. It is a grey world made only stranger with dust covered water-washed limestone that has your feet sliding. I asked Keith Bell, who with John Fantini, developed this place more than thirty years ago, to share a memory of entering the Gorge to climb.
“We walked downstream between those two imposing walls. Nerves ate like acid into my mind; fear and trepidation bit deep.”
The climber will find him or herself clinging to whatever weirdness that can be found in this vertical, often steep, sometimes misleadingly sloping ripple-like rock. Features are interwoven with razor sharp pockets and edges that mince unwary hands. Due to the size of the walls, the effort of equipping routes means this place is not for your crag-loving sport climbing party. Long run-outs, fading slings from former retreats and getting benighted are curses bestowed on the unprepared and underdone. That was the stewardess spiel, are you ready to take a flight on Air Malta?
The climb consists of six long pitches and is a modern classic that was given life by Duncan Hunter and Michael Demarco in 2016. When Duncan is not designing computer software he brings himself back into reality with regular forays into the Gorge to repeat old classics and to seek out new glory. As a matador of this place, he was looking for something new that incorporated all the wickedness a monstrous, slippery, steep wall could throw at him.
“I really love hanging around in space looking for lines. I was bolting extensions between other routes and kept looking for a way to put something up from the ground.”
This is a goal of many accomplished climbers – to establish a line from the bottom to the top of a major feature. For D.J. Hunter, he had found his jam.
“There was this obvious chandelier of tufa hanging out of a fifty-degree overhang of perfect orange limestone to the right of a route called Asteroids (26; 5.12a).” Duncan had completed that route in 2011. “So I thought I would go on another mission to check it out.”
Duncan had observed a white bulge whilst climbing on the North Wall and it turned out to be something other than normal. “High up on that wall was this blob of tufa hanging.” A tufa forms from sediments, minerals and water that have mixed with limestone and have congealed over time. A tufa looks like blob of goo hanging from the cliff but, for the most part, is solid. From a non-science perspective this tufa blob could be compared to the balls of a giant bull. The Air Malta tufa blob was soon to become one of the most bizarre anomalies in Australian climbing. Duncan knew he was onto something when he rapped in for a closer inspection.
“Low and behold, the rock was amazing-balls and the steep walls had an alignment of interesting features with spaced big holds. The tufa blob was frightening to mount for the first time and I was jumping up and down on it wondering if it would explode.” This section was out there and would take some sorting. Duncan was up for the job.
This is a goal of many accomplished climbers – to establish a line from the bottom to the top of a major feature. For D.J. Hunter, he had found his jam.
“There was this obvious chandelier of tufa hanging out of a fifty-degree overhang of perfect orange limestone to the right of a route called Asteroids (26; 5.12a).” Duncan had completed that route in 2011. “So I thought I would go on another mission to check it out.”
Duncan had observed a white bulge whilst climbing on the North Wall and it turned out to be something other than normal. “High up on that wall was this blob of tufa hanging.” A tufa forms from sediments, minerals and water that have mixed with limestone and have congealed over time. A tufa looks like blob of goo hanging from the cliff but, for the most part, is solid. From a non-science perspective this tufa blob could be compared to the balls of a giant bull. The Air Malta tufa blob was soon to become one of the most bizarre anomalies in Australian climbing. Duncan knew he was onto something when he rapped in for a closer inspection.
“Low and behold, the rock was amazing-balls and the steep walls had an alignment of interesting features with spaced big holds. The tufa blob was frightening to mount for the first time and I was jumping up and down on it wondering if it would explode.” This section was out there and would take some sorting. Duncan was up for the job.
++++
Big climbs in weird places require a unique blend of crazy and competence. Bungonia is a crush or be crushed kind of place and does not flirt with playthings. A mate from Austria, Johannes Friedi, who must have been missing his native limestone, assisted Duncan to bolt the tufa and the exit pitches, but the lower section remained crusty. Along came Malta-born Michael Damarco, who helped Duncan finish the task that would test any soldier. They placed the last bolt at the end of another dirty-Dunc-day in the last minute of light.
The orange overhanging section two-thirds of the way up was the conundrum and the weird bull-ball tufa blob hanging about midway through it. During a rainy patch Duncan and Mick rapped in under the dry overhang and rehearsed the moves.
“The main overhang is only a few raps in and climbable in any downpour so after a weekend of falling off the last crux pitch bolt and having serious air time we came back the following weekend and sent it from the ground.” That’s a long, hard send - six pitches graded 23 (5.11b), 21 (5.10d), 22 (5.11a), 25 (5.11d), 23 (5.11b), and 22 (5.11a). Each pitch had a suite of climbing manoeuvres that would have future climbers either praying for mercy or living the dream. On a late March afternoon as shadows ate the rest of the skyline, Duncan and Michael were pleased with what they had achieved. I asked Duncan about the name of the climb.
“The name comes from Malta Mick who assisted me with the huge cleaning effort and bolting marathon. The other part is from the big air you get rapping into the route.” I might add the flight time the boys had on it.
Skip forward to 2019. Ludek Sykora had his radar on the relatively new and bolted Air Malta. Ludek reasoned it a good choice. “I was churning inside due to its gut wrenching and massive exposure. It was an absolute vacuum silence inside of the gorge. My focus was laser sharp.” He had worked hard shouldering the gear, even getting lost on the way down. Ludek began getting psyched out, blowing-off brain cells that he would need high into this route.
John Long would have to update his Advanced Climbing book to explain some of the moves on Air Malta. The first puzzle hit the climbers like an upper cut to a boxer. You can almost hear the one you cannot mention say, “city suckers.” Ludek and his partner were unfurling their rope and it was already approaching midday, a late start for such a large and demanding route. Ludek drew the short straw and found himself leading off and the struggle started.
“I started climbing and realised this was not as I was expecting. The first bolt was high so I eventually decided to stick clip it. There is a heinous mantle on an otherwise tame pitch.” The move was awkward and off-balance and Ludek was perplexed. “I could not do it! It was cold and my motivation was wanting. I threaded a sling through the bolt and stepped up to reach better holds. At the anchors I was totally disappointed with my performance.” Welcome to Pitch One of Air Malta, Ludek Sykora. His partner struggled to the belay on the pitch and they had found that the cautious climbing had eaten into precious light so they decided to bail. Luduk shook his head when he said, “The true punishment was the walk out.”
It took a year for Ludek to get back to Air Malta but, in the interim, the route had carved tracks in his brain. He had found a strong partner, Martin Cankov, who was always up for an adventure. Jared Anderson, a Sydney photographer, had heard about the sorte and asked if he could take some shots. It was a win/win. Ludek had brought a 200-metre static line which meant he and Martin could rappel the route and Justin could shoot at leisure. It turned out that was not necessary. Sometimes the best guidebook can be found by your campfire.
Two seasoned climbers, Tom Collins and Frothy Thomson were climbing that weekend and only that day had completed Air Malta. They shared the best rigging points for Jared and suggested the climbers walk to the bottom instead. This is all sugar to climbers attempting a big project. Ludek said of this beta moment, “My tenseness eased. Now I was able to focus on the climbing.”
Frothy also remembered this conversation clearly, “Martin had a grin from ear to ear in eager anticipation. Ludek (who tends to be subdued) vocally confirmed his psyche to me in that particular restrained Czech manner. They were ready for it.”
The next morning Ludek and Martin were feeling the stoke. It was cool and foggy but their bodies were primed with excitement and their brains clear with intention.
“We had run down the gorge that Tommy and Frothy had suggested, which turned out to be a much easier way to access the route. It was no sweat in comparison [to rapping].”
Martin was in awe of the place, it’s hard not to be. He saw Tom and Frothy abseiling to the start of another route and shouted out as climbers do. He described the moment at the base of the climb.
“When we arrived I screamed out as I was so stoked to be there at that place, it was so friggin’ awesome! I got confirmation from myself that I was ready, as I heard my excitement echo off the opposing wall, again, and again.”
Quotes like that often are a projection prophecy to success. When fear and apprehension depart a climber he or she becomes a weapon and these two climbers were ready to fire, making short work of the mantle pitch and the following slab with some mixed climbing thrown in for spice.
Frothy also remembered this conversation clearly, “Martin had a grin from ear to ear in eager anticipation. Ludek (who tends to be subdued) vocally confirmed his psyche to me in that particular restrained Czech manner. They were ready for it.”
The next morning Ludek and Martin were feeling the stoke. It was cool and foggy but their bodies were primed with excitement and their brains clear with intention.
“We had run down the gorge that Tommy and Frothy had suggested, which turned out to be a much easier way to access the route. It was no sweat in comparison [to rapping].”
Martin was in awe of the place, it’s hard not to be. He saw Tom and Frothy abseiling to the start of another route and shouted out as climbers do. He described the moment at the base of the climb.
“When we arrived I screamed out as I was so stoked to be there at that place, it was so friggin’ awesome! I got confirmation from myself that I was ready, as I heard my excitement echo off the opposing wall, again, and again.”
Quotes like that often are a projection prophecy to success. When fear and apprehension depart a climber he or she becomes a weapon and these two climbers were ready to fire, making short work of the mantle pitch and the following slab with some mixed climbing thrown in for spice.
Modern climbing photography is such a cool school. Jared had provided the climbers a radio so they could communicate and arrange timing for shots. Martin received a message whilst Ludek was doing his thing on lead.
“How’s it looking Martin?” said Jared.
Martin replied, “Yeah good Jared, we are just chucking a few t-bones on the BBQ. Let’s just key up some tunes on the radio, find some girls, throw a few beers in the fridge, and we can get this party started.”
I can almost read, "Air Malta had the climbers starting left for a clip, then drifting right across a long slab, interspersed with clean orange rock and white runnels of limestone. This became entertaining, with a bit of limestone weirdness and some steepening, which broke up some of the dirt that gathers on a slab." Soon Ludek and Martin found themselves at a double bolt belay at a far-and-away ledge breathing in big air and looking onward at some of the craziest cliff they had ever sighted.
The steepness of the proceeding wall was also clean, protected from rain, and facing direct sunlight in the warmest parts of the day. Think about that for a second - steep limestone, clean, and sunlit. The boys found themselves in a private Verdon and were pinching themselves at the quality and variety of the climbing. They had heard about the tufa blob and scoping the next pitch could see it hanging like Hagrid’s twenty metres above the belay. How hard could it be?
Ludek was thinking a-mile-a-minute.
“After three pitches of slabbing, this super overhanging monster rose in front of me! I was sweating as I climbed and I had bird shit on my hands as every bigger hold was full of it. I didn’t care, I was getting pumped at every clip and having trouble breathing. It was so intense.”
Ludek negotiated the exposed wall, finding a sequence onto the lip of the overhanging section which was heinously difficult. He took several whippers trying to work himself out, eventually finding a hole he could reach into and from which his arm came out at another pocket. A Bungonia moment. This was butter-up-buttercup-country and what came next is the stuff of climbing legend.
Martin was looking up at his bro and this is how he saw it, “I’m on the belay, right, and I am looking out at Luka trying to get on this white tufa thing. From my belay it looked like he was literary [........] that innocent blob so hard with all his screaming and groaning. I was pissing myself laughing. What in God’s name was he doing up there?”
It is indeed one of the weirdest things you will do in climbing and the route gives you nowhere else to go but straddling this white bulge and praying you will keep it together. All this on the edge of a bodacious overhang. Ludek was trying all sorts of manoeuvres to get off the thing, but eventually he found a way to lose his tufa virginity.
“I had been straddling the tufa blob and whoa, this shit was big and drummy, but I was focused and excited. Jumping off the tufa didn’t go that well, but I eventually managed to do it static. This pitch was truly overwhelming.”
Jared was taking shots and was filling his pants just watching these men pull every trick they had and then some to cross over the tufa blob. As Ludek’s heart rate slowed back down Martin’s began to rapidly rise as he found himself in a similar state laughing and groaning all at once. “I found I had no other option than to get intimate with that rock, it was just so hilarious!”
At the next ledge both men exchanged stories of getting d-o-w-n with the tufa blob and all the drama of that made for a Hollywood pitch. Lips were parched dry and the sun was baking, even though it was mid-winter. Ludek and Martin still had two pitches of 23 and 22 to go and they weren’t going as fast as they anticipated; Bungonia can do that. Martin took the lead and started charging up new ground whilst Ludek took in what he had just accomplished, but was distracted by his thirst.
Martin found the limestone up high had these little dust particles. He screamed out in jest to Ludek, “Someone should bring a water gurney so I can give it a bit of a wash to continue.” He was only met with laughter, so he blew and brushed his way forward undeterred. Martin later said, “It wasn’t too bad - you get used to it.”
My memory of climbing in the Gorge is that the dust is a constant. The nearby mine contributes to the fine particles, as do the winds that blow through regularly. It’s a Bungonia-given, so just roll with it; These aren’t trade routes.
Nothing could stop these two now. They were high on the route but found it kept on giving. Ludek summarised these final stretches towards the rim of the Gorge.
“The fifth pitch was hard face climbing (23) and I had spent my juice. The final 60-metre long sixth pitch (22) kept sucking. The views were amazing but I was tiring.”
By the time Martin joined Ludek at the tree belay topside, both men were spanked, but super pleased to have completed such an epic route in such a serious and outrageous place.
Martin was taken by his experience on Air Malta, “The location is breathtaking. It’s so quiet and peaceful down there the only sounds are your breath and the quick draws dangling. It’s a totally foreign type of rock and climbing. The exposure is good and the climbing right after the tufa blob is some of the best continuous sequence of moves on the planet.”
Both men and Jared found their way back to the campsite slowly, ten hours after leaving there. They were weary from shouldering gear, thirsty from a relentless sun, but grinning like cats that had stolen the cheese. Climbers frame days like these into memory, but I have a feeling that Bungonia Gorge has more cheese to give these cool cats.
Ludek summed it up well, “I can’t wait to return, Bungonia is a different place and far from the ordinary. It demands respect and needs special precautions. Watch your step down there.”
With a solid partner and with the skills to match, you can find light even in the darkest of ravines. Tolkien would have be pleased with an adventure like Air Malta and found favour with the courage of Ludek, Martin, Duncan, and others who have dwelled with its terrors and won.
“How’s it looking Martin?” said Jared.
Martin replied, “Yeah good Jared, we are just chucking a few t-bones on the BBQ. Let’s just key up some tunes on the radio, find some girls, throw a few beers in the fridge, and we can get this party started.”
I can almost read, "Air Malta had the climbers starting left for a clip, then drifting right across a long slab, interspersed with clean orange rock and white runnels of limestone. This became entertaining, with a bit of limestone weirdness and some steepening, which broke up some of the dirt that gathers on a slab." Soon Ludek and Martin found themselves at a double bolt belay at a far-and-away ledge breathing in big air and looking onward at some of the craziest cliff they had ever sighted.
The steepness of the proceeding wall was also clean, protected from rain, and facing direct sunlight in the warmest parts of the day. Think about that for a second - steep limestone, clean, and sunlit. The boys found themselves in a private Verdon and were pinching themselves at the quality and variety of the climbing. They had heard about the tufa blob and scoping the next pitch could see it hanging like Hagrid’s twenty metres above the belay. How hard could it be?
Ludek was thinking a-mile-a-minute.
“After three pitches of slabbing, this super overhanging monster rose in front of me! I was sweating as I climbed and I had bird shit on my hands as every bigger hold was full of it. I didn’t care, I was getting pumped at every clip and having trouble breathing. It was so intense.”
Ludek negotiated the exposed wall, finding a sequence onto the lip of the overhanging section which was heinously difficult. He took several whippers trying to work himself out, eventually finding a hole he could reach into and from which his arm came out at another pocket. A Bungonia moment. This was butter-up-buttercup-country and what came next is the stuff of climbing legend.
Martin was looking up at his bro and this is how he saw it, “I’m on the belay, right, and I am looking out at Luka trying to get on this white tufa thing. From my belay it looked like he was literary [........] that innocent blob so hard with all his screaming and groaning. I was pissing myself laughing. What in God’s name was he doing up there?”
It is indeed one of the weirdest things you will do in climbing and the route gives you nowhere else to go but straddling this white bulge and praying you will keep it together. All this on the edge of a bodacious overhang. Ludek was trying all sorts of manoeuvres to get off the thing, but eventually he found a way to lose his tufa virginity.
“I had been straddling the tufa blob and whoa, this shit was big and drummy, but I was focused and excited. Jumping off the tufa didn’t go that well, but I eventually managed to do it static. This pitch was truly overwhelming.”
Jared was taking shots and was filling his pants just watching these men pull every trick they had and then some to cross over the tufa blob. As Ludek’s heart rate slowed back down Martin’s began to rapidly rise as he found himself in a similar state laughing and groaning all at once. “I found I had no other option than to get intimate with that rock, it was just so hilarious!”
At the next ledge both men exchanged stories of getting d-o-w-n with the tufa blob and all the drama of that made for a Hollywood pitch. Lips were parched dry and the sun was baking, even though it was mid-winter. Ludek and Martin still had two pitches of 23 and 22 to go and they weren’t going as fast as they anticipated; Bungonia can do that. Martin took the lead and started charging up new ground whilst Ludek took in what he had just accomplished, but was distracted by his thirst.
Martin found the limestone up high had these little dust particles. He screamed out in jest to Ludek, “Someone should bring a water gurney so I can give it a bit of a wash to continue.” He was only met with laughter, so he blew and brushed his way forward undeterred. Martin later said, “It wasn’t too bad - you get used to it.”
My memory of climbing in the Gorge is that the dust is a constant. The nearby mine contributes to the fine particles, as do the winds that blow through regularly. It’s a Bungonia-given, so just roll with it; These aren’t trade routes.
Nothing could stop these two now. They were high on the route but found it kept on giving. Ludek summarised these final stretches towards the rim of the Gorge.
“The fifth pitch was hard face climbing (23) and I had spent my juice. The final 60-metre long sixth pitch (22) kept sucking. The views were amazing but I was tiring.”
By the time Martin joined Ludek at the tree belay topside, both men were spanked, but super pleased to have completed such an epic route in such a serious and outrageous place.
Martin was taken by his experience on Air Malta, “The location is breathtaking. It’s so quiet and peaceful down there the only sounds are your breath and the quick draws dangling. It’s a totally foreign type of rock and climbing. The exposure is good and the climbing right after the tufa blob is some of the best continuous sequence of moves on the planet.”
Both men and Jared found their way back to the campsite slowly, ten hours after leaving there. They were weary from shouldering gear, thirsty from a relentless sun, but grinning like cats that had stolen the cheese. Climbers frame days like these into memory, but I have a feeling that Bungonia Gorge has more cheese to give these cool cats.
Ludek summed it up well, “I can’t wait to return, Bungonia is a different place and far from the ordinary. It demands respect and needs special precautions. Watch your step down there.”
With a solid partner and with the skills to match, you can find light even in the darkest of ravines. Tolkien would have be pleased with an adventure like Air Malta and found favour with the courage of Ludek, Martin, Duncan, and others who have dwelled with its terrors and won.
The Frothy Bungers List - Dos, Don'ts, and Favorite Climbs
Bungonia Climbing Protocols
Climbing areas are receiving more usage and need to eliminate negative practices and mitigate risks within the park. Climbing has changed and so must we. As climbers we are often the first people on the scene of an accident, so climbers need to be prepared to do our part until professional help arrives. Some information has been provided by Frothy Thomson to tread lightly, how access the climbing, and to understand the potential risks so you get home safely.
DO's:
DON'T's:
FROTHY'S FAVOURITE ROUTES:
1. Siblings of the Sun - Big, sustained, hard, intimidating, and varied. This one doesn't really have any rubbish pitches, but it certainly has a few "heart-stopping" moments.
2. Jumpmaster - Another route with no boring bits. Appropriately equipped, with a nice mix of bolts and trad. The top pitch in particular is the quintessential Verdon runnel-pinching finale.
3. Strangeness and Charm - It certainly has both. Very varied, exciting, and on mega rock. Be sure to do the last pitch, it's quite unique for the gorge.
4. The Bridge to Total Freedom - A route of varying qualities, but the top pitch is my all-time favourite single-pitch of climbing in the Gorge... Never mind that it's more than 200m off the ground!
5. Evolution - Sure, the start is a bit tedious, but from Pitch 4 up (especially if you do one of the variant last pitches) this is pure Bungonia bliss, and is one of the original classics of the area.
6. Air Malta - In reality, this is entirely defined by its crux Pitch 3... But it is of such high quality that at the end of the day that's all you'll really remember. Be sure to do Kia Kaha next to it if you've ticked the crux pitch and are still feeling fresh.
7. Masters of the Universe - Something a bit different. Probably the hardest, steepest, most strenuous "slab style" climbing you'll do in the Gorge. Yes, I know that doesn't make sense, neither does how this route climbs. It's bafflingly awesome. (It's also pretty spectacular to be on the other side of the Gorge watching climbers starting up it, and not being able to see any features or holds whatsoever).
Climbing areas are receiving more usage and need to eliminate negative practices and mitigate risks within the park. Climbing has changed and so must we. As climbers we are often the first people on the scene of an accident, so climbers need to be prepared to do our part until professional help arrives. Some information has been provided by Frothy Thomson to tread lightly, how access the climbing, and to understand the potential risks so you get home safely.
DO's:
- DO Start Early - Seriously, start even earlier than you think you need to. Often finding the start of the route can be confusing as the lower pitches all tend to look very similar, and are tucked away in the scrub on either side of the Gorge. The climbing is much slower you might expect due to the style, the rock quality, the requirement for some trad gear, a lack of traffic, and tricky route finding - not to mention that it's just a bloody big gorge. And finally, you really don't want to be topping out in the dark, as the bush-bash back to the road is not straightforward even in the day.
- DO Bring a Headlamp - If you run out of food or water you can always bail and do the walk of shame, but if you get benighted (or even top out in the dark) it is a nightmare to find your way back to safety.
- DO Your Apprenticeship - Just because you dogged your way up Date with Density in the Blueys, doesn't necessarily mean you're ready for Siblings of the Sun. The most common "introductory" routes are Iron Curtain [4-pitch, mixed, 22 (5.11a), but can be linked to the top of the cliff via several other routes] and Strangeness and Charm (5-Pitch, mixed, 22), with the latter being one of the "must do" routes at Bungonia. Both need a single rack, have less intimidating grades, get more traffic (and are thus more "worn in"), are a bit shorter, and are generally on cleaner rock. Having said that, expect to be pleasantly gripped (terrified?) by a few particularly infamous pitches.
DON'T's:
- DON'T assume the single pitch routes at the base of the Gorge are representative of the multipitches - The easier routes have almost nothing in common with the multis stylistically, and the harder routes are on much cleaner rock than the big routes. You're also doing them off the ground, not seven pitches up the wall. Just because you crushed Tufa Too Far, doesn't necessarily mean you'll do the same on the crux of The Bridge to Total Freedom.
- DON'T trundle anything - You'll notice during the approach that it's pretty hard to escape rockfall when at the base of the Gorge. You probably also noticed from the logbook that there are a hell of a lot more walkers (including families, school groups, and commercial groups) than there are climbers. You really don't want to be the one responsible for subjecting them to a barrage of limestone shrapnel from 200m up.
- DON'T imagine you’re in Kalymnos - Yes, this is limestone. No, it's not GOOD limestone. It's big, it's exciting, but it's also loose, features mixed quality protection, and has a tendency to accumulate a layer of "silt" due to the major quarry nearby. If you want Kalymnos go to Kalymnos. This is high adventure my friends, and safety requires high competence in all things climbing. .
FROTHY'S FAVOURITE ROUTES:
1. Siblings of the Sun - Big, sustained, hard, intimidating, and varied. This one doesn't really have any rubbish pitches, but it certainly has a few "heart-stopping" moments.
2. Jumpmaster - Another route with no boring bits. Appropriately equipped, with a nice mix of bolts and trad. The top pitch in particular is the quintessential Verdon runnel-pinching finale.
3. Strangeness and Charm - It certainly has both. Very varied, exciting, and on mega rock. Be sure to do the last pitch, it's quite unique for the gorge.
4. The Bridge to Total Freedom - A route of varying qualities, but the top pitch is my all-time favourite single-pitch of climbing in the Gorge... Never mind that it's more than 200m off the ground!
5. Evolution - Sure, the start is a bit tedious, but from Pitch 4 up (especially if you do one of the variant last pitches) this is pure Bungonia bliss, and is one of the original classics of the area.
6. Air Malta - In reality, this is entirely defined by its crux Pitch 3... But it is of such high quality that at the end of the day that's all you'll really remember. Be sure to do Kia Kaha next to it if you've ticked the crux pitch and are still feeling fresh.
7. Masters of the Universe - Something a bit different. Probably the hardest, steepest, most strenuous "slab style" climbing you'll do in the Gorge. Yes, I know that doesn't make sense, neither does how this route climbs. It's bafflingly awesome. (It's also pretty spectacular to be on the other side of the Gorge watching climbers starting up it, and not being able to see any features or holds whatsoever).