Ascents in Pierces Pass

Approach pitch, inoffensive enough but mixed vege scrambling, was a bit of chalk marking up the face holds.

Cool stemming crux to dirty ledge mantle.

Bit decky off the ledge but not unreasonable moves until first good gear (maybe 16-17R ?). Soon improves to fun corner climbing. Used the #6 but TBH wouldn't bother bringing it next time. Stitched it up after the start. Usual dirty ledge mantle.

Bit of cool climbing deteriorates into exit pitch vege-neering.

This was the highlight for me.

Absolute nails, felt way harder than 22. Hardest pitch on the route by far imo.

Starting mantle is brutal

Wall.

Beautiful climbing. Wouldn’t wanna be short on this pitch.

One silly fall. Pulled right back on and finished. Felt easier than P1.

Nutty exposure. Blinded by sun coming out of the roof and missed jugs. Fun pitch.

The spooky pitch that kept me up the night before thinking about the no-fall-zone. Luckily the rope cutting traverse was very easy.

Some tricky moves, but early in the day, full tank, easy going.

Awesome lead by Charlie — this in my opinion is definitely the hardest pitch of the day!

great onsight of the cruxy start by Ross! I'll log a dog cause I came off early, but the rope stretch almost got me back to the belay, so I still felt like a full clean ascent on second. The old man lets the team down I guess it was never going to be a team onsight cause I'd been on this before.

Bouldery move from the belay, then getting easier and into a stroll... At the end of this is where you can easily end up on the wrong anchors on the left (BBB I think), but if you go around the right of the tree and climb the last bolted block you are heading the right way.

definitely worth moving the belay up

linked with previous pitch

we asked Charlie to link 5 and 6 and he thought it was a buy 2 get 1 free and linked this one too What a beast – I don't recommend it cause when the leader is doing harder moves in pitch 7 the belayer is super far away managing a lot of rope drag (maybe the drag would have caught a fall?)

yes, finally, this is the shit!! The traverse is amazing and looks so intimidating. But it's all juggy and with a cave you can rest in at the end (or at least knee bar), so it's pretty easy actually. Moving onto the arete on jugs is also easy if you use the rest well — the boys with me probably considered that aid!

this is just like BBB, and if anything a tad easier?

another BBB variant, felt easier but a bit chossier?

Better than I remembered with a bouldery move at the start of the wall (after the easy slab/scramble) and a fun delicate finish.

Fun! Interesting seeing the chain link “bolts” for the first time. Some tricky ish moves.

Pretty cool but tough pitch. Might be the hardest of the lot. Dihedral, arrête and traverse. Nice lead Charlie.

Tricky start move I didn’t want to commit to however once I did it was very nice indeed!!

Start move and then decent moves.

We moved the belay up to allow Charlie to link pitch 5 and 6. Little did we know he would do 7 as well (potentially risky).

I think this was a silly scramble that was meant to end at a tree belay.

Nice small pitch with some moves.

Super cool and airy pitch. I almost pumped out managing the ropes for the third. Jugs all the way and exposed as hell!!

Jug hauling on ironstone waves!!! Traverse around to see BBB bolts but before you get there the RRR bolts will present themselves. We didn’t both shifting the belay.

More jug hauling with perhaps a slightly harder move than the previous pitch. I didnt read the guidebook and stopped at the first set of rings like a rookie.

Nice final pitch to finish it off. Bit of a move toward the end.

gorgeous moves, fun way to get the psyche up

linked pitches 5-7

bushbash, trend right

accidentally did skipped lunch ledge and went up here after linking the prev 2. belay off tree before heading up bolts

airy and lovely, can’t wait to lead it

fun moves

Very tricky and very thin but also quite cool. Foot slipped on the slabby traverse right. Steve somehow led this pitch as it started raining and had to deal with wet slopers.

got past the roof section clean. I have no idea how. Ended up falling halfway up the face and needed to take a few rests afterwards.

Got to the last 3 bolts before taking a fall and needed to rest a few times afterwards. Very frustrated with myself.

Grabbed a draw after some dumb decisions. Very frustrating as very calm climb

Incredible move going out from the roof back onto the face. Found a heel/toe cam to get established going horizontal out of the roof, then letting go of it puts you in this epic swinging cut loose, quick pull-up, then back onto another foothold to keep going.

Super nails, probably the hardest pitch we did. Runouts were so wild I decided now would be a good time to start having a mantra while leading.

The money pitch. The traverse across the big roof was nothing short of epic. Staying low on good feet made the stomach stay mostly in place, but the sheer exposure and risk of a sketchy rope dragging fall was enough to keep your cheeks clenched.

Dunno if a single bolt for a 30 meter pitch is exactly what I had in mind for the top out, but I guess that’s what you get when you jump on a route bolted for 26 climbers.

Thankfully the hold I tore off and the whip I took was only a meter or so above the sole bolt. Tapped every piece of rock a good dozen times from there on out.