Totem Pole (Tasmania)
The Totem Pole | |
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Location | Cape Huay |
Coordinates | 43°08′22″S 148°00′21″E / 43.13938°S 148.00579°E |
Route type | Trad climb |
Vertical gain | 65 metres (213 ft) |
Pitches | 2 |
Rating | 24 (The Free Route) |
First ascent | John Ewbank and Allan Keller, 1968 |
First free ascent | Doug McConnel and Dean Rollins |
The Totem Pole is a sea stack popular amongst rockclimbers in the Tasman National Park, Tasmania, Australia. It contains a number of climbing routes, and is famous for being the site of the 1998 accident which caused climber Paul Pritchard's hemiplegia.[1][2]
First Ascent
The Totem Pole was first climbed in 1968 by John Ewbank and Allan Keller[3][4] and freed by Doug McConnel and Dean Rollins.[5]
Lynn Hill attempted the first onsight, but fell after breaking a hold, leaving Monique Forestier to onsight it a few years later.
Paul Pritchard's accident
Paul planned on climbing the Totem Pole in 1998 with his partner Celia when, after abseiling down, his rope caught a large rock which fell 30ft onto his head. Celia ran 8km back to Fortescue Bay to call for help. He survived on the ledge for 8 hours before he was rescued and was left paralysed on his left side and with speech and memory difficulties. He later wrote a book about the experience and returned in 2016 to complete the climb.[6][7]
Rock Type
Tasmania is known for its igneous dolerite pillars, which are popular amongst climbers.[8] These pillars were formed by volcanic activity extruding magma from the ground, which when cooled at a constant rate creates rare hexagonal pillars.[9] These form via a slightly different mechanism to usual sea-stacks, and can be found at other rock-climbing sites around the state including Mount Wellington's Organ Pipes.
Gallery
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Paul Pritchard climbing
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Dolerite rock columns in Cape Huay, Tasmania
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Sea stacks as seen from the water in Tasmania
References
- ^ "Tasmania's Totem Pole – A Climber's Best Challenge". Unusual Places. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
- ^ "Tasmanian adventurer twenty years on from 'catastrophic' Totem Pole accident". abc.net.au.
- ^ "The Totem Pole, Rock climbing". theCrag.
- ^ "Obituary: John Ewbank, 1948 – 2013". Vertical Life. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
- ^ "Sonnie Trotter Makes FFA of Tasmania Totem Pole Route". Climbing.com.
- ^ Paul Pritchard (16 November 2000). The Totem Pole: Surviving the Ultimate Adventure. Robinson Publishing. ISBN 1841192430.
- ^ Carol Rääbus. "Paul Pritchard climbs Tasmania's Totem Pole 18 years after it nearly killed him". ABC.
- ^ Ben Rueck and Mayan Smith-Gobat. "Two Towers: The Wild Sea Stacks of Tasmania". Climbing.com.
- ^ "The Dolerite Columns of Coastal Tasmania".