Ascents of Chocolate Watch Band

Nice warmup for, climbed to the crowded ledge to wait for a shot at plume.

It swallowed my arm

aaww !!!

First of the grade, absolutely stoked. I'd heard the fists section was quite desperate for most, which meant it would be perfect fists for me. Mt French didn't see such a fisting coming, and I now have some very sore thumbs.

lovely little route to get into the flow of things. Few different sizes, bit of a battle in the wider stuff near the top.

This was an onsight attempt. Pretty good climb. Really enjoyed the fist jamb at the crux. Had to rest at the crux momentarily.

Found the start harder than the finish. I hate Frog 17s.

Previously seconded. Tricky size for me ie offwidth from half way. Continued up the offwidth to the Faki ledge. A bit dirty, but ok climbing in keeping with the rest of the route

it was so humid, I did aid a move

Did myself dirty with a silly cam in the fist deep section blocking my arm. Couldn't quite stance to fix it and biffed

Cleaning up the failed onsight.

crazy at the top

Years ago.

Whoa hooo! The perfect fist crack climb for me. Shop around to find the best ones! Loved it. Easily up too the crux, nervously starting up it, cupped hands with forearm jams, desperately slipping out, looking for face holds, none there, oh no, I'm laying back, shit, must downclimb, oh so very desperate, I make it back to the solid stance, I nearly felll, phew. From the stance I try to recover some of my strength while I get calls of encoragement from below, "take your time, work out the sequence". There is no sequence I tell myself, I just need to jam properly. I practice my cammed hands, with the right thumb down and left thumb up. This is a good jam, because as the crack gets wider, the hands naturally go into fist jams. Off I head, the fist jams are solid! Oh my god, this is easy. I plant a solid right hand with the plams up and place my final piece. From here the crack widens to offwidth, but I shop around with my left hand and find the perfect fist jam close to the outside of the crack. Yeah! Over the top I cruise, and onsight a climb that has been on the back of my mind for months.

Hahah finally did this one, crimped the offwidth

great jamming

Lovely climb to warm up on.

fun route, crux bulge was great fist size for me. my 2nd found it difficult with her small hands!

got to the scolloped part of rock and rested, had a bit of a fight with mind and body, but finally got to the top.

Crux was more technical and balancy than expected which was nice

Good stuff. Fairly straightforward until it's time to climb out from the mini cave. Ran out of appropriately sized cams, so threw in some upper cut style fist jams and ran it out. Nice climb.

had to come back for a more elegant ascent

Tough off-width at the top. Had to run it out as well, as I didn't bring big gear.

with Scott F

A battle. Chocolate watchband won. My first proper whip on gear at the end of the climb - thanks for the catch Aje. Aided the last bit after the whip.

With Horney. At last the enemy has fallen. With Guy. Finally! Left armbar, right foot and hand on right arete. It helped seeing how Guy handled the wide section.