"Blow Me Down" climbing?

[zig]

Has anyone ever checked out the bottom of the slope around "Blow me down"? Is there big boulders??

[Diamox]

It depends on what "Blow me down" you're talking about... The mountain range? a mountain it self? street?
West coast island boulding is relatively undeveloped but expansive
regards

[Stevo]

I believe he is referring to the huge cliff at Devil's Bay, Francois (pron: Fransway??) south coast NF.
I'm scheming a big wall climbing trip there next summer/fall, anyone interested? Have portaledge, will travel!

Stevo

[Fred]

I thought "Blow Me Down" came out of of the water?? or am I thinking of another big wall up that way?

[The Mitt]

There are many "blow me down". Several of them are cliffs, some are towns and have cliffs on the outskirts. Its best to refer to the town closest to the cliff or general location. There is even a provincial park named "blow me down".

Mitt

[Islander511]

Zig,

No bouldering to speak of beneath Blow-Me-Down (the Devil Bay incarnation, that is), however, I found lots of worthy stuff west of the wall (above where we always set up our base).

Stevo,

Would love to have someone repeat some of the routes we did up there. Heart of the Matter is a great line -- hanging bivis and all. One of my partners (Joe Terravechia) on the first climbing trip to that area is giving a Newfoundland rock and ice slideshow at the American Alpine Club's annual meeting. It's being held February 10, 11 & 12 over in New Hampshire.

Another resource is the book, Fifty Favorites -- Joe is profiled in it and chose Blow-Me-Down as one of his all-time favorite climbing areas.

Finally, I have a pile of slides and info I would be willing to share (including a video we made, On A Forgotten Coast). I've been climbing since 1974, near and far, but my Blow-Me-Down experiences have to rank as the high-water mark for me.

Jeff Butterfield
islander511@hotmail.com

[Stevo]

Hi Jeff,
Are the lines there obvious? All I could find is the picture in "50 Favourite Climbs". I was certainly interested in some multiday hard aid climbing, and Heart of the Matter looked to be one of the favourites. Have the route descriptions been published somewhere?

Thanks

Steve

[Islander511]

Stevo,

Most of the lines are obvious, but it would help to have a topo of the better ones. I think I made a topo of Heart of the Matter right after we returned home -- be cool to see that get repeated. I'll see if I can find it.

Another guy recently asked about Blow Me Down info and I promised to get something together. I'll get at it then see how it can be posted so it is accessible to anyone interested.

Jeff Butterfield

[The Mitt]

SteveO and myself are working on going. so what you send me he will see. Once again thak-you very much.

Sean K

[Islander511]

I have three file folders I'll look through tonight, as well as a few photos. I have a copy of On a Forgotten Coast I'll loan ya.

On a side note: Heard from George Durnford out of the blue the other day -- he's a resident of Francois that we used for transport out to Devil Bay. Great guy -- I'll include his contact info so you can arrange a ride from Francois to the cliff.

Jeff

[The Mitt]

Thanks man, Looks like we are going around Aug of next year.

Sean

[jeremy]

whats the approach like getting there? I saw a video of the place I think your talking about and they had to take 2 or 3 different boats from different villages to get there. Then their ride back was suspect at best. They said the windows of good weather were few and far between. BUT the climbing look incredible.

jeremy

[Diamox]

Re: transport.
ferry from Burgeo to Francois runs everyday. You have to get someone from the town to run you into the next bay (see above contact). They'll come and get you earlier if the weather is about to go sour - ie. hurricane coming through.
Many more people going through each year. Best weather is in sept.