The day after climbing the Moai (my first sea stack as documented in another blog post), we set our ambitions just a little higher. This blog outlines a day of adventure climbing on the Candlestick, a large dolerite sea stack on the Tasman Peninsula in Tasmania, with my friend, Gavin, and his friend Rob.

The day before

For the big day, the prep started the night before. Rob had crafted some noodles and eggs for us at Fortescue Bay campsite. Pro instant noodles tip: only add seasoning at the very end for a bit more of a slap-you-in-the-face flavour, IMO desirable for camping. We practised for the Tyrolean traverse that would see us safely back on the mainland at the end of the day. The scene was set, we planned to climb the North West route tomorrow.

Alarm Sounds

The alarm sounds at 5 am. Gavin had a fight with his sleeping mat at ~1 am next to me in the tent and I thought that was wake up time, but the body was not happy about that. Thankfully, another 4 hours were available, and the 5 am wake-up wasn’t too painful. It was a day for doing. Breakfast at the car was double portions of granola and fresh raspberries knowing that lunch was just bars and snacks. We set off at 6 am.

thumbs-up Double thumbs up departure - the only real way to pose for a photo. Gavin missed the memo.

It was dark as we set off, but around 15 mins in, we could walk without torchlight. The walk in was great - and thankfully snake-free - there was enough anxiety in the day as it was. We took around 1h15 for the approach, walking with a bit of pace, keen to make the things under our control efficient.

Time to commit

candlestick-view A view of the candlestick

We arrived at the viewpoint to get a close-up view of our challenge. The Totem pole (a world-famous climb) looked small and skinny in comparison to what we were going up. A scramble down a bit from the viewpoint, a quick gear sortm and we were on our way. A couple of steps here got us more and more committed: the abseil down, then the swim across. Rob swam across with ease in rather fair conditions. From here, our first Tyrolean traverse of the day, one that, when compared with the afternoon traverse was comparatively low stakes.

Pitch one - Gavin on lead

Description: (Grade 18) 30m Steely up corner crack which thins to fingers. Traverse right under roof and out onto finger flakes on face then up and traverse back left to sloping belay ledge with fixed wire. Good sustained pitch.

Thoughts and feelings

Pitch one of four
It was ‘spooge’ galore
The start of the stack
Up a dark, wet crack

Holy hecker. Rest was sparse on this one. I had stuck on my puffer at the bottom as it was cold in the shade and made the poor decision to keep it on for the climb. The start was pump-ey and took some focus on wet feet as I tried my best to bridge and avoid too many hand jams as I knew I wasn’t competent with them. By the time I saw Gavin on belay at the top of the first pitch, some choice words were coming out amongst huffs and puffs. I was trying hard not to fall here as I knew this was (in theory) the hardest climbing of the day and was within my abilities. I was delighted to hop up the final move and join Gavin - a bit cooked. Rob gave us some groans on his way up to let us know he was having fun, but it was never in doubt.

pitch-one
“He huffed, and he puffed, and he signed the eviction notice.” - Three Little Pigs, Shrek

Pitch two - Rob on lead

Description: (Grade 17) 30m Up corner crack with bridging and hand jamming of various widths. Continue to loose vegetated belay ledge at top with slings around boulder. Good pitch with some small rest ledges.

Thoughts and feelings

The seals below continued to play
As we climbed further away
Kindly, the body continued to move
As the team got into a bit of a groove

I personally found this climbing a bit less intimidating - we were a bit further off the water, the rock looked dry and the angle a little more forgiving. After a good rest, pulling on felt good and although I don’t fully recall the moves, I remember feeling quite strong. I joined Rob in the shade, grabbed an oat bar and we brought Gavin up.

Pitch three - Gavin on lead

Description: (Grade 15) 25m Up wide crack and through awkward chimney sqeeze being careful not to dislodge loose rock. If climbing in single pair then leader will need to trail tyrolean rope up through chimney and flick around arête with help of second otherwise it will get stuck on arête. Continue up cracks and onto belay ledge being mindful of loose rock when choosing anchor pro.

Thoughts and feelings

Let the narrow crack consume you whole
An unsnagged return rope remains the goal
Top out the pitch into the sun
I think this must be type-one fun

This pitch was an adventure and required, as the poem suggests, being consumed by a crack. This was fiddly with gear hanging off the harness and a rope being tailed. Squirming through the barely wide enough crack with loose rock underfoot was not wholly pleasant. Being re-born into sunshine on the other side of the crack was a relief.

darkness-consumes Me immediately prior to being consumed by the crack

Intermission - Thank Christ Ledge

The anchors for the escape are just beyond the third pitch and requires a short scramble to the ‘Thank Christ Ledge’. Oddly, this part felt like the most committing so far. The exposure here felt intimidating and moving horizontally across rock somehow felt scarier than going vertically. We had a quick pit stop & prepped for pitch four. We could leave the return rope here, meaning a bit less kit had to be dragged up the final pitch.

Pitch four - Rob on lead

Description: (Grade 15) 20m Up sunny face veering a little left at the top to another rusty anchor then scramble to the real summit.

Thoughts and feelings

The end in sight
Still a bit of a fight
The trio succeeded - we ascended the stick
All that remained was a rope magic trick

Despite the grade, this felt the second hardest pitch for me (after the first). Perhaps the cumulative mental and physical fatigue, but the sun was also heating the rock a fair amount. My foot slipped once, but I clung on and avoided falling. I managed to get some foot jams in and climb like a real boy after the slip. I refocused and was soon at the top. Once we all finished the pitch, we did the short scramble to the summit and took a victory selfie.

summit-selfie Summit selfie for sea stack number two (for me)

Tyrolean back to the mainland

We abseiled back to the escape bolts and set up a tyrolean traverse to get back to the mainland. Some rusted maillons did not inspire confidence but were considered good enough. Gavin went first out into the unknown, then I followed. Crossing back past the Totem pole was pretty epic and once you are suspended in the air at that height you somewhat acclimatise. A final few meters of hauling the body back to safety and I made it. Rob was last to cross and after a bit more set up to make the rope retrievable, we all made it safely back.

rob-tyrolean Rob coming across on the Tyrolean traverse, passing the famous Totem Pole

Celebratory bananas and stale hot cross buns were enjoyed on the mainland amongst a smattering of fist bumps. The rest of the day and the walk back would be relatively trivial.

viewpoint-pics Start (top) and end (bottom) of the day from the viewpoint

That’s a wrap

We met some ‘fans’ back at the campsite and the next day too. They shared some good photos with us, and I got my first taste of climbing fame. A much-needed swim in the sea at the campsite and 4 (or 5 if chickpeas count) bean wrap and sweaty cheese never tasted so good. Being goosed from such a big day the single beer each seemed to hit different. Some (provoked) possum chasing antics provided light entertainment before bed.

Reflections

The memory of the candlestick is bound to live on for many years as an epic adventure. I realise on reflection that I was actually a bit nervous before the mission, but to be able to do something hard that you love - outside in amazing nature - and succeed is a very rewarding experience. I think I have the bug for these kinds of adventures. Recreating - at first on a smaller scale - this sort of fun is high on my agenda when I get back to New Zealand. I am super grateful that so many things came together to make this happen, the weather, the whole Tasmania trip and mostly to Gavin and Rob for committing to such an undertaking.

Appendix A: Further Nonsense Poems

A Li-mer-ock

I don’t know where to begin
About the week in Taz with Gavin
Adventures were had
Some hurt really bad
But god willing I have left with a grin

The Candlestick Haiku

Abseil, Swim and Climb
A Torylean Traverse
Candlestick complete