Ascents of Orange Juice by Will Vidler

Possibly the most unexpected send I have ever had. Another completely arctic day and my first lap was an absolute debacle. Such it was that when I tied in on my second go with the first three bolts clipped to practice the opening boulder sequence, I was very surprised to somehow find myself flash pumped out of my brains and with no feeling left in either of my hands at the rest jug below the crux. Gradually, whilst hanging on this jug, some feeling came back into my hands and my arms de-pumped entirely and I floated to the top like it was a 5.7 hand crack as massive chunks of ice fell off the route and smashed all around me. Surreal. Face climbing is the freaking best. Not a perfect ascent because of the pre-clipped draws at the start but I feel comfortable claiming it. Two goes today with one very poor attempt to half height on my first day.

Al class all the way. I didn’t have the mojo after my 20 hours in transit but this is a sensational line. Hopefully I’ll be back!