Copyright: MCSA-KZN 1998 ©
Jack the Ripper / Paralysis Areas
This
section of the western cliff extends from the western side of the
buttress forming the skyline seen from the central buttress and MCSA
hut to the prominent "island" abutting onto the cliff that marks the
start of the Utopia area. Climbs are reached by abseil, and are best
located with reference to Jack the Ripper, which takes the obvious
crack in the corner on the western side (i.e. out of sight from the
MCSA hut) of the buttress. Codes painted on the rock at the base of
some climbs are also useful.
Jugular Vein (15) * * Code: JV
First ascent: Dave and Carless Freer, Barbara Gordon-Bagnall and Gail Tumner, 1980
Start three metres left of Jack the Ripper. Be
careful of loose rock in places. Take the left break on the first roof
and continue up the corner on small jugs. Break through the second roof
and continue to the top.
Jack the Ripper (12) * * * Code: JTR
First ascent: Des Watkins, Bob Suter, Rae Adams, Pam Winter and Jean Watkins, 1953
A classic route in the lower grades, it takes a
direct line up the shallow corner on the western side of the prominent
buttress. For its grade, the line involves interesting and varied
climbing techniques. If the line has not been climbed for a while then
it may be necessary to remove the odd bit of vegetation.
Climb a face on good holds to reach the recess.
Continue up this, moving right to avoid a small roof. Continue up,
climbing on the outside of the crack through a steep section to easier
rock above.
The Road to Recognition (24) * * * * *
First ascent: Roger Nattrass, 1990
This thirty metre pitch takes the centre of the big
orange face to the right of Jack the Ripper. One of the best routes at
Monteseel and one of the few sport routes at this venue. Rap off the
anchors using two ropes or a sixty metre line. The route starts from a
small ledge about six metres off the ground. Climb it!!
A Perverted Fear of Violence (25) * * * *
First ascent: Roger Nattrass, 1990
Climb the first half of The Road to Recognition,
then move left and up to a small roof, past an additional three bolts.
Watch out for a surprise pump-out after you pull through the roof,
thinking you have this line in the bag.
Motorpsycho Nightmare (24) * * * * Code MN
First ascent: Andy de Klerk and Steve Bradshaw, 1983
A direct line up the wall to the right of The Road
to Recognition. Excellent climbing but poorly protected. Rap to the
small ledge. Climb straight up, passing a poor peg to a second peg.Move
up slightly right and back left to a third peg. Move right and through
the roof, then back left to an easy groove to finish.
Bee Sting (15) *
First ascent: Rich Smithers and Ladson Hayes, 1977
Climbs the crack between Jack the Ripper and First Annual. Climb the crack and continue to exit slightly left of First Annual.
First Annual (12) *
First ascent: John Woods
Takes the obvious crack to the right of Jack the Ripper. Some interesting moves. Follow the crack to the top.
Tangerine Dream (17, 20) * * *
First ascent: Paul Firman, Alan Manson and L. Camp, 1981
Takes the same line as the direct on Spider, but traverses onto a stance on First Annual.
(1) Climb up into an open recess and then move out
diagonally left and up to a rail above a tree and a roof. Traverse left
for about three metres to a belay.
(2) Reverse the traverse to the bottom of a broken crack. Continue straight up this, moving out left to exit at the top.
Spider (18, 12) * * Code: SPR
First ascent: Kelvin Giles and Gordon Bulter, c.1965
First pitch variation: Mervyn Gans, Carless Freer and Brian Larter, 1976
An unsustained route that wanders across the face. Start at a left-sloping ramp to the right of First Annual.
(1) Climb the ramp to a ledge and traverse right on
a steep wall using the obvious handrail. Pull up onto the ledge using a
loose-looking bollard. Continue up a steep face for two metres and
traverse left into a corner. Traverse around the corner into a recess
and climb this to any convenient stance. A variation at the same grade
avoids traversing right by following a break up to the left.
(2) Continue up the recess until an easy traverse to the left is reached, exiting next to First Annual.
Paralysis (14) * * Code: PS
First ascent: Des Watkins, late 1950’s
Enjoyable climbing. Scramble onto a grassy ledge to
the foot of a large recess. Climb the recess to a roof, move left and
up to avoid it. Continue up the recess to the top.
Spooky the Tuff Li’l Ghost (15, 13) * *
First ascent: Dave Cheesemond and Alan Whittaker, c. 1971
A meandering and unobvious first pitch spoils the
route. The take-off is out of keeping with the rest of the climb if one
avoids the Paralysis start. Start two metres to the right of Paralysis.
(1) Pull up the short, steep break through the roof.
Continue left and slightly up to a traverse line which leads past some
loose-looking blocks to a ledge in a recess.
(2) Climb the right-hand wall at the back of recess and move right to gain a second recess. Climb this to the top.
Pee Wee (17, 13) * *
First ascent: Gordon Bulter and Kelvin Giles, c. 1965
A pleasant route although the quality of the rock on the first pitch does not match up to that of the second.
(1) Climb the face to a long ledge under a roof. Traverse right to a break and pull through to a large ledge.
(2) Move right along the ledge until the right-hand
side of the steep face can be climbed. Traverse five metres left above
the ledge to a recess. Climb this to beneath a large roof, traverse
left and climb a short face to the top.
Fig Tree (9, 9) * *
First ascent: Unknown, c. late 1940’s
A very good route for its grade. Starts in a shallow corner. The fig tree is long gone!
(1) Climb the corner for two metres and then move
left onto an easy face that leads to a ledge. Traverse along the ledge
to the base of a second corner.
(2) Climb the corner to a blocky ledge and traverse left a few metres to exit up a short recess.
Con Mucho Gusto (15, 18) * *
First ascent: Rich Smithers, Mike Roberts and Brian Larter, 1976
Good climbing on the top pitch. The route takes a crack line to the right of the top pitch of Fig Tree.
(1) Climb the face below the crack, through a tree, and up a crack to a ledge.
(2) Climb straight up the crack to a bulge below a V-shaped recess. Climb through the bulge into the recess to exit.
The Utopia Area
Reached
by abseiling onto a prominent "island" abutting onto the cliff, and
scrambling down (westwards) to reach the base of Utopia which is capped
by large roofs. Climbs past Utopia are generally reached directly by
abseil.
Highway for Fools (14) * *
First ascent: Ian Manson and Craig Attwell, 1982
Start five metres left of Morsel. Climb an awkward
corner to a roof and move right around this. Move up the face and duck
off left to exit. A better, direct finish has been top-roped.
Morsel (15) * * *
First ascent: Rich Smithers and Adolf Flockemann, 1976
A short route with an exciting take-off followed by
good climbing. Start on top of the "island". Step off the high, narrow
block and pull onto the face above the roof. Move left into a shallow
recess. Climb up a short distance and move left onto a face. Continue
up crack to a ledge and scramble to the top.
Eff Six (11, 16/18) * *
First ascent: Roger Fuggle and Tony Dick, 1970
A grotty first pitch leads to a pleasant second
pitch. Scramble about halfway down a gully from the top of the "island"
to an obvious traverse to the right.
(1) Climb diagonally right and then up a recess to stance at the foot of a large open-book.
(2) Climb up the open-book for two metres and
traverse left across a face towards a corner. Move up and onto the
ledge on the corner (awkward). Move left to stand up and climb the
face, moving right to a ledge. Climb a short recess to the top. A
harder alternative (18) continues up the recess instead of traversing
left, until forced left to avoid a roof.
Abstentia (15, A1) *
First ascent: Tony Dick and Roger Fuggle, 1973
Start as for Eff Six. Continue right across the face
and up to a stance in a hidden recess. Move left using a sling to get
through the small roof to reach a ledge with a tree. Continue to the
top on good holds. Copyright: MCSA-KZN 1998 ©
No Name (11, 19) * *
First ascent: Tony Dick and Roger Fuggle, 1973
A good route but fairly serious. It uses the first pitch of Eff Six to avoid bad rock
(1) As for Eff Six
(2) Traverse right from the stance along an obvious
rail until a diagonal flake crack is reached. Climb up this and
traverse right into the corner. Continue traversing right across the
lip of the roof into a shallow recess. Move right for two metres and
then up the steep face to the top.
Utopia (13, 11, 14) * * * *
First ascent: Brian and Colin Shuttleworth, 1970
A classic route that has seen many epics and late
night top-outs. Reached by scrambling down from the "island", the climb
starts in a corner capped by huge roofs on the left-hand side of the
large face.
(1) Pull up into the recess and continue up to under
the large roof. Use the obvious rail to traverse right across the face
to a shallow cubbyhole. Continue to belay in a second cubbyhole.
(2) Continue traversing right over a step-across and past another cubbyhole to a large blocky ledge.
(3) The start of this pitch is marked by a vague
cairn and arrow scratched on the rock. Climb up a short, steep face,
past some fixed pegs, moving right beneath a small roof to a ledge.
Move right to the foot of a juggy face which is climbed to a ledge.
Walk right to reach the foot of a short recess which is followed to the
top.
Rubber Arm (22) * *
First ascent: Charl Brummer, 1979
A direct start to Utopia. Start directly below the
second cubbyhole (i.e. the stance at the end of the first pitch of
Utopia). Climb straight up the wall to the stance.
Cardiac Arrest (15, A2, 13) * *
First ascent: Mike Roberts, Roy Gooden and Rodney Owen, 1976
Exciting aiding in an exposed position. Start as for Utopia.
(1) Climb up for ten metres and traverse along an
obvious rail above the lip of a roof to a stance. Move directly up to
the cubbyhole stance at the end of the first pitch of Utopia.
Alternatively aid along the lip of the roof (A1) before climbing up to
the cubbyhole.
(2) Aid directly out of the cubbyhole and up the
wall to under a large roof. Move right and break onto a small wall
above. Continue up the wall to a small ledge.
(3) Climb the wall from the right-hand edge of the ledge to the top.
Hades (17) * * * *
First ascent: Brian Shuttleworth, Carless Freer and Tony Conning, 1978
An excellent route, with great climbing on good
rock. Starts in a corner to the right of the finish of Utopia. Abseil
to the start.
Climb a steep face past a peg to a ledge. Climb the
short recess to under a roof. Turn this on the right and continue up a
crack to the top in a superb layback position.
The Kakamas Cling (24) * * *
First ascent: Andrew Russell-Boulton, 1992
One of the steeper routes at Monteseel. Start around
the corner to the left of Hades. Climb up and past a small overhang and
continue up the slab to the overhanging wall. Continue straight up the
headwall, passing two bolts.
Pipsqueak (13) *
First ascent: Colin Shuttleworth and Bobby Dickman, 1970
Not a route that has aged well. Climb the crack to the right of Hades.
Land of Nod (15, 18) * *
First ascent: Mike Roberts and Ian Wallace, 1979
The first pitch is hard to protect (large
hexentrics/Friends) and the second consists of tricky climbing on good,
but poor-looking rock. Start at the foot of Pipsqueak.
(1) Traverse out right using the obvious rail. When this runs out, move up and across to a small stance.
(2) Climb up the shallow recess, moving right in the middle to overcome a hard section.
Dance the Instinct (21) * * * *
First ascent: Andrew Russell-Boulton and Grant Cockburn, 1988
Rail out from the bottom of Pipsqueak until directly
below the peg. Move up on thin holds to the rail (peg), then up and
slightly left to exit on thin holds. There is a long lead-out to the
peg.
Clematis (16) * *
First ascent: Mick Hafner and Alan Manson, 1983
Climb the first pitch of Land of Nod. To the right
of the second pitch is an obvious line with a finger crack which is
followed to the top.
Silver and Gold (25) * * *
First ascent: Mike Cartwright, 1991
One of the steepest lines at Monteseel. This short,
but powerful line is found on the overhangs at the end of the Western
Buttress. Rap or terrify yourself scrambling to the ledge halfway up
the face. The climbing is completely protected by bolts, but gear is
necessary for both belay stations.