Last winter we went out to Arapilies to help Oliver who was projecting the classic Mount Arapiles route Henry Bolte ⭐⭐⭐. This is fantastic thin face route with a few bolts and a few great gear placements, it really is worthy of a few stars.

The amount of climbing at Mount Arapiles is enormous and various areas have different amounts of sunlight at different times of the year. 

Henry Bolte Wall and the Henry Bolte route is in the Northern Sector of Arapiles and is in the shade for the majority of the day. During winter there is basically no direct sun on these routes and while the conditions can be good for climbing it does get cold there, a stark contrast from the very hot conditions during summer there.

We looked at the weather forecast and the weather looked good for the weekend. Not too cold and no rain. Given the uncertainty of dry weather it was a chance to jump on. The whole goal was just for Oliver to get the beta sorted out and be ready for red point attempts when the weather improved. We wanted to get some photos and content at Arapiles and help a friend by giving a belay on his project.

The first day up there we did a few routes to get used to the style of climbing there and get warmed up, then we went to belay Oliver on a working session with a couple of attempts from the ground. At the end of the session we rigged up some ropes to be able to get close enough to get a 3d scan of the route with high quality.

Took quite a lot of effort to process the scan but this is what the scan looks like:

Back at Natimuk that evening we reviewed the video we took using the 3d scan as a reference point to talk about the beta. The scan proved to be a very useful tool in conjunction with the videos as you could zoom in and talk about various holds. If you are curious you should try zooming in yourself on the scan and having a look at the detail. Would something like this help you remember the moves on your project?

The next day we had great weather and after a coffee in the morning we went back out again. 

After a quick stop off at the pines we were ready for a day of projecting.

set up a top rope and on the first attempt Oliver made it up the route cleanly. The review we did of the scan with the videos made a huge difference. We are sure that he will be able to send this on lead next time!