Ascents climbed between 2013-7-00 and 2013-12-31 as Onsight by Paul Frothy Thomson

Climbed as one giant pitch. Makes a good warm-up, as the cruisy start gets you in the mood for the great top section. The top half is maybe sustained at 21, with great thin climbing and a variety of different moves. The rock looks a bit friable but neither Gene or I broke anything off. At least as good as Mr Orange.

Not too bad... Not too good. Worth doing once, at least. One tricky sequence, okay (easier) climbing around it... Didn't break anything off. Some exposure, I suppose. Something something.

P2 (22) - Onsight (with some beta from Neil as to where the route goes), and P4 (20) via the original finish this time (partial onsight, as I'd done some of it before in the variant finish). P2 is a stunning pitch of unlikely trad on bomber rock, with great pro, in an exposed position, and with surprisingly pumpy and technical climbing. Stoked to get on this one! P4 is good in the "adventurous trad" style.

A few hardish moves, then sustained pump to the top. A bit contrived, and bad rock. Probably the worst of the bolted routes on this wall.

A good start sequence, and one interesting move in the middle, surrounded by much psuedo-steep ugliness and knife blades masquerading as holds. Sharp and painful. Probably not worth it.

Packs a punch for 10m of climbing. Climbed at night with a headlamp as a "warm-down", but it got the blood going instead. Some great, tricky, thin arete moves in the top half.

New guide calls it "test piece 23", I thought it was hard for 22, but probably soft at 23. Regardless, it is radical climbing the whole way (with around 2 million bolts to keep it "safe"), with some awesome technical sections, a brief bit of thugging, a balancy arete and a thin face. Not a test piece, but certainly a classic.

Good, but it's got nothing on Fashion next door (which I also thought was harder). Some extremely thin moves between pretty good stances, with reasonable criming to the anchors. The bottom few bolts are pretty bad.

Felt kind of tough as a warm up, but it's got more moves than you might think, and a few of them are a bit tricky. Great rock.

Great at the grade, but kind of intimidating. Long, exposed, with some awesomely trad-esque weird moves. The "crux" felt quite hard, but really is only 19. Very memorable. It's all in the name.

Climbs like an adventure! Tricky slabbing, weird bolting, rope management, roofing, and long for this end of Nowra. Felt soft at the grade, but nevertheless I'm glad this was as enjoyable as I was hoping, as I've been meaning to get on it for a long time.

I quite enjoyed this. Felt like a spot of thrutching at a sport crag. Very 3-D and quite out of place at Logan Brae. Not too pumpy... Might be a good warmup.

Probably worth the walk. Steepish juggy start, to nice climbing with one particularly tricky move to an invisible hold. Spot on at the grade. The tiny bolts are a bit bodgy.

Fun thugging. The start is probably 21ish, then 19 to the top after the ledge, but the trick hold around the arete might make it the grade for an onsight (until someone like me puts a BIG TICK MARK on it). Entertaining steepness.

Bloody hard for a 21, and strenuous as a warm-up. The others climbing with me on the day might disagree, but I thought that this one was at least as good as Boganville. Somewhat ugly, reachy, position-dependent climbing, but it was less straight forward than the other 21's on this street. Rock is good until the very end.

2 laps as a warm-up for Grace. Lead-down climbed the whole route on the 2nd lap. Better than it looks, and strangely not as dirty as you might think. Technical and thin at the grade. TOP ANCHOR IS LOOSE!

Easy, but pleasant and safe as houses. Would've been brilliant if it were about 30m longer. A few small cams and some wires.

Great blank technical stemming. Hard sequences, to great stances. I've been wanting to get on this for a long time, and it was worth the wait. Felt like a Frog 20, but regardless it makes for a brilliant route. The thin crack at the top is heaps of fun too. Take a rack of wires, and maybe a #3 and #.75 for the belay to bring up your second. Probably overbolted, would've been great with 3 bolts and more trad placements.

Stellar, engaging and deceptive. Feels about a grade and a half harder than Sizzler, though that could just be the blazing sun. Only the super-manky start stops this from being a Classic. Lots of challenging sequences throughout, broken up by good rest/gear stances. Great rock (after the initial choss), and a huge variety of techniques called for. I really enjoyed this one.

Wow, one of the best pure-jam cracks in NSW, for sure. Very straightforward climbing (provided you can jam) but bombproof rock, and a wide variety of jamming techniques required. The initial rooflet is actually pretty easy to negotiate, so don't let it put you off cutting a lap on this gem. Don't forget the BD #4s for the top!

Brilliant crack with only a little bit of bad rock which is avoidable. Perfect hands, to perfect off-hands, to perfect fist jams (it's like SWIMMING), to tricky roof and thin crack, with a nice technical thin crack finale. Might be soft at the grade, but it was thoroughly enjoyable as a pure crack climb. I made the roof crux hard by faffing around with gear, but got it sorted for the onsight. Very worthwhile.

Climbed in my approach shoes with a few borrowed cams. My plan to not bring climbing gear to enforce my break from climbing seems to have failed. Easily the best rock if the lower blue mountains is at Nortons Basin, and this crack surprised me with its quality. Nice, awkward, well protected crack to a well bolted thin headwall that was hard in beefy shoes.

P1 only. Worlds easiest trad 20? I would have called it 18 off the top of my head. Superb passive pro: I ran out of wires before I ran out of crack. Obvious climbing on stunning rock, with one testing move right at the top.

P1 only. Mostly rather straightforward in the style, but one tricky move that might be at the grade. Classic stemming on great rock, bomber gear and in a stellar position. Should be on every crack-climbers list.

Climbed as one monster pitch, with very little rope drag (could easily be split into 2 pitches, though). Very traddy crack climbing in all styles, with 3 distinctly hard sequences surrounded by sustained climbing. Contender for the worlds hardest trad 17? I think Clockwork Orange is easier. A tad vegetated, a bit sandy, but the majority is completely worthwhile.

With JengA. Technically about 21, but psychologically... that's another story. An old-school mixed classic. Airy traverse on good but spaced gear, then an interesting and balancy arete to the top with primo exposure. Made substantially harder at EOD, and with gale force winds trying to throw me into the void. I got a bit confused between the Dead Reckoning finish and the the line this route takes, but figured it out for the send. Awesome.

Weird, but GOOD. It's as if someone took all of the holds and specifically aligned them to be in the opposite direction to what you want for each move. Quite sustained and varied, and definately not the easiest 22 I've been on. The sudden change in-pace as you move up the upper arete is intriguing. I enjoyed it.

Exciting! Very old school climbing with a nice mix of gear and bolts, and appropriately run out without being dangerous (provided you ignore the potentially nasty opening moves). The sequence past the first bolt is pretty hard, but there are numerous tricky sequences throughout the whole engaging voyage to the top of the wall. Finger-nail edges! A 60m rope JUST reaches the ground on rap with stretch.

A tad contrived, stupidly high first bolt, with 2 manky carrots to protect it. The movement itself isn't bad, but is it really worth it for 10m of new climbing (before you rejoin Joseph)? A few bloody tricky moves at the grade, and the mantle to the ledge is scary. I wouldn't repeat it.

Wow, this climb just gets progressively harder all the way to the anchors. The last 5m or so are very physically demanding. Awesome, desparate movement with a tricky crux finger-lock guarding the last moves to the anchors. Genuinely engaging climbing.

Straightforward super-duper thin climbing. A bit sandy, with some glued on holds that you really don't need. Really contrived to avoid stemming. Not QUITE the Mikl classic, in my opinion. Maybe 24?

I agree with Leith on this one, it's definately 22. Hard and varied but worthwhile. Super-sharp rock which has a tendency to be a bit crusty on the feet (especially on the lower crux moves), but the variety and sustained nature of the climbing is worth the blood and skin investment. Tricky.

The thin moves past the first bolt where this climb deviates from OA are pretty contrived (if you were to go 1m higher, the move out left is about grade 15), but the awesome upper 2 bolts worth of classy, technical, memorable climbing save it from mediocrity. Worth it for the funky footwork at the top alone.

Warm-up. The hardest moves are getting the first bolt, after that it just keeps getting easier all the way to the top. Run-out (supplemental gear is probably a good idea), but good climbing up an interesting feature.

Old school arete awesomeness. BD 0.4-#2 for well protected climbing to the bolt. No protection from the bolt at half height to the top, but other than the initial crux move the climbing eases off. No harder than skinless chicken, but more sustained and rewarding. A fitting end to the Piddo arete day.

Contrived, but not bad. 1 hard move surrounded by grade 15 slabbing. Might be better to link it into the top of the 25 if you can climb the grade. Well protected as a mixed route.

Good movement up a series of flakes and a vague seam. It now has about a million carrots on it (contrary to what the guide says) and is safe as houses. The climbing gets interesting and more involving the higher you get. Pumpy.

Teaching some friends to trad climb. Climbed on 4 pieces of gear, I think. The rock feels sandy and chossy, BUT strangely seems really solid. Interesting blend of crack and jug hauling, at the grade.

Warm-up. The bottom section is weird psuedo-offwidth climbing, but the top section (to the clifftop) is funky and varied, and probably harder than the grade. I enjoyed it.

Good value, but short. The rock (outside the crack proper) is pretty friable, which only makes the fingerlocks all the more valuable. Climbed as a part of the Quetzal first ascent.

Done as a single giant 50m pitch, necessitating 2 ropes, lots of loooong slings, NO side-runner in Amen Corner (leavingt the scary, run-out start unprotected), and deliberately NOT placing some gear... The result was surprisingly little rope drag. Exciting, moderately bold climbing, with only 1 hard sequence, but PLENTY of personality and exposure. Feels way more adventurous than it really is.