Ascents in Te Tihi-o-Kahukara / Castle Rock having Beta

Working route, slightly cleaned it up top. Bottom section good

Solid 25, made it to the dyno… Need to find those no hand rests

Good

Access pitch to set up the roof.

Sent, but with the first bolt pre-clipped then led to the top from there, so a tick rather than a red point? Who knows, who cares. There’s fuckall gear beneath the bolt, so not really a safe lead. Actually pretty enjoyable pulling over the roof though.

Went smoothly second go after working out the beta. Hard to grade, but definitely not soft for 23. Really fun!

A trad route with good gear (though finicky to place), good rock, and fun moves. A rarity in the Port Hills and a nice warm up.

Good thrutching

Great route, though runout (but easy) in the top earthquake scar section. Hard at the bottom Good portection but hard to see into the crack.

So good! Bloody hard but did the bottom better than last time. Might go with a lot of projecting

First trad lead! Pumped

Not a good ground up warm up. Quite a bit easier and less scary with the draws on the bolts. I think I’ve got the beta for next time. Most unproductive climbing session in years.

Great route, very different to anything I've climbed in the Port Hills. Slopper city from start to finish. Quite balancy with some tricky feet thrown in the mix. Climb like you're on European or American limestone. Had to fight real hard to bag it #2ndGo.

Awesome, Chamonix style climbing. Techy traverse followed by great gear and finger jams in the corner. Cam placements: Red #1 and yellow #2 in the corner, then green #0.75 to protect the mantle onto the ledge. Broke a hold on the onsight attempt and came off, sadly. #2ndGo

Classic Jeffo move - did a TR lap to lock in the beta and accidentally sent. Will be back for a proper ascent, but still chuffed to figure it out quickly.

Took some time to figure out the best beta for both cruxes, pretty intricate.

Approach pitch.

Another go on top rope. Was still hard and didn't get it clean...

The crux felt hard as nails to me! Hard to get the feet up. I'm sure I'm missing something... Really good protection

Cool climb. Would be quite a committing lead.

Awesome tricky climbing up the corner. Really good protection.

Made it to the top with a lot of dogging. Super sustained all the way but a couple of definite cruxes

Happy to get this clean. Tenuous at the bottom.

Great sustained route. Technical traverse on marginal footholds. Excellent crack line above the bolts.

Really good. Sustained.

Really good interesting climbing, with good protection. I thought it felt pretty tricky for the 16 grade given on climb NZ!

Leo's first proper trad lead! Some tricky thrutchy moves

To the left anchor this time

Really good, but desperate with tricky feet. I need to work on my finger crack technique. Good protection, though it gets a little fiddly up high. Felt more like 19 to me but that could just be poor technique.

Good pro apart from the initial moves off the ground. Would recommend going to the left anchors at the route Arrow rather than across right to the party ledge.

Great route with some fiddly gear and committing moves.

Awesome route. Very tricky technical moves on the initial traverse (where I came off trying to do some tricky foot work), then some exposed moves on the arete up higher.

Access pitch.

Way, way too cold and windy. Couldn’t feel fingers or toes. Keen to return when my digits aren’t numb!

I enjoyed this one a lot more today with stiffer shoes and without a cold. Flows nicely, but contrived to stay on the face at the top.

Nearly got the linkup first go, but foot popped near the top. I actually enjoyed this more than Birth Canal, as it’s more varied.

Approach pitch.

Got the top boulder problem sorted (I think). Nails!