In March 2000, I had the good fortune to find myself on a business
trip in Australia, with the possibility to take a few days off before
taking the very tiring flight (5 flights, 36 hours!) back. Well, I
went climbing. Mount Arapiles is a famous place for climbing in
Australia, known also well internationally. On the first day I took
some lead climbing practise with a guide. Look at the forms of
the rock! It is as if acid had been poured over it to create handles
and belays for the climbers.
On the second day I went with another guide to climb a magnificent
set of pillars, 100-150 meters high.
The views from the wall were excellent. Here's one, showing also the
belayer for the neighbour team. In this picture we are some 50-70 meters
off the ground.
Check out also the pillars from close up - what looks like a tiny
detail in the large picture above is a huge pillar, several meters wide.
We were climbing between the pillars.
Finally, we made it to the top.
Guiding and equipment for Arapiles can be rented from the nearby
town where Arapiles Climbing Guides holds their office "Cafe & Climbing".
Later, I also "climbed" one of "The Seven Summits", Mt. Kosciuszko, a whopping
2,228 meters high mountain and the top of the Australian continent.
Others seem to take this business even more seriously - this guy really was after
the seven summits. I'm glad he could get his pictures before the schoolgirls arrived
on the top.
See also other Jari's pictures.