UKC

8c First Ascent in Australia for Robbie Phillips

© Brenton Owens

Scottish climber Robbie Phillips has just returned from an extended trip to Australia this Spring. Highlights include the first ascent of Haggisaurus Rex, 33/8c, at Coolum Cave and a repeat of Tigercat, 33/8c, in the Blue Mountains and Mt Arapiles classics such as Punks in the Gym, 32/8b+, and Lord of The Rings, 31/8b.

Robbie Phillips making the crux V10 traverse on the first ascent of Haggisaurus Rex, 8c, Coolum Cave  © Brenton Owens
Robbie Phillips making the crux V10 traverse on the first ascent of Haggisaurus Rex, 8c, Coolum Cave
© Brenton Owens

Whilst in Australia, Robbie spent some time climbing at the relatively unknown Coolum Cave in Queensland. Coolum is a massive cave made from Rhyolite (think Welsh mountain rock) but has formed into strange and rare columnar formations.

Robbie Phillips heading to the slab finish on the Arapiles classic Lord of the Rings, 8b  © Tracey Hua
Robbie Phillips heading to the slab finish on the Arapiles classic Lord of the Rings, 8b
© Tracey Hua

Robbie quickly repeated the hardest routes in the cave; SingularityThe Don and Friction Addiction, all 32/8b+ and then went on to start looking at an unclimbed project. After working the route over a number days, Robbie managed to make the first ascent of Queensland's hardest route; Haggisaurus Rex, 33/8c. Robbie described the climbing on his new route:

"The route starts out with a tricky starting boulder that tires you slightly before a kneebar no hands rest. The no hands was restful but rather painful and didn't bring you back to full recovery before heading into the real crux... a V10 boulder traverse sequence on slick glassy crimps and slopers. This took me 3 days of work to figure out, but when I did it felt really do-able! The V10 leads into an upper section of around 7c+ climbing but without any rest and again on quite delicate terrain and very beta intensive sequences."

In addition to this impressive first ascent, Robbie Phillips travelled to the Blue Mountains, making a quick repeat of Tigercat, 33/8c, in around five attempts, Robbie described Tigercat:

"This climb takes an incredible feature of the Elphinstone crag, a swooping wave of rock that feels mega exposed as you are already on a ledge 30+m from the ground from the point you start. Behind you is miles upon miles of endless valleys of orange rocky sandstone amidst seas of green jungle with a blue haze emanating from the Eucalyptus trees."

Robbie began his trip in the classic Australian venue of Mt Arapiles where he repeated the classics such as Punks in the Gym, 32/8b+ and Lord of the Rings, 31/8b.

You can watch a video of Robbie climbing Punks in the Gym below:


Robbie Phillips is sponsored by: Edelrid and Evolv


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5 Jun, 2014
Were there any cool birds in the Coolum Cave, that's what I really want to know.
5 Jun, 2014
Now that is some mental looking rock formation, wow.
6 Jun, 2014
I just checked out a topo to this crag, the climb looks amazing! Definitely a gem of a first ascent and the best name of the crag too. Nice work Robbie!
6 Jun, 2014
Yeah I am occasionally prone to delusions that top graded routes look quite do-able. Not this one though - that looks hideously hard! Well done.
6 Jun, 2014
Thanks Guys! It wasn't easy for me :P Definitely the best feeling I've had in climbing managing this First Ascent! What a great thing to do at any grade :) Just to be the first to climb a bit of rock hahaha Thank God Lizards don't count, I bet there about 3billion ascents of "Haggisaurus Rex" already
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