Ascents in Bardens Lookout by Paul Frothy Thomson

2 attempts. Couldn't sort the last few moves of the main crux, and not sure I'd ever be able to essentially. Essentially gains the 2 grades that earn it 29 in those few moves alone. Otherwise, linked most of the route on my 2nd lap. A really fun route, with wild steep climbing, and plenty of funky moves. The roof crack is hilariously fun, and the finale is thrilling. Shame its a bit beyond me, but I had fun.

Clean repeat. A hard and very funky start, then not too hard. Lots of rests.

Clean repeat. 2 laps to warmup. Awkward climbing, but good fun throughout.

2nd shot. Once again, the finale where it kicks back in the steepness is mega. For me to cut-loose after gaining the jug on the lip, I had to do the full "cliffhanger" one-handed wild body swing, which made me feel every bit Sly Stallone in his prime The lower half is a tad stop-start, but inoffensive overall.

I had a pretty cool onsight effort despite the lack of chalk, making the big move to the lip of the roof, but not where any jugs were Was great fun just committing and cranking.

Probably only 26, in reality.

The finale is brilliant, and way easier than it looks despite some rather outrageous steepness. Exciting on the onsight with no chalk on the top half of this.

Probably only 24?

Full disclosure: not a true onsight, as a I broke a wet jug off on the headwall before I could actually clip the anchor. But, whatever.

An awesome top half where it steepens considerably, and a tedious lower half. I found the loooong crux sequence on this quite hard at the grade (and totally pumped out on the warmup).

Some sections of cool 3D climbing, with a mingen crimp crux! The damp anchor clip wasn't too big a deal.

3rd shot. In todays wet and spoogy conditions, the arete-slapping and slimper cranking felt rather desperate. Essentially a 3 bolt arete boulder off a ledge, with some awesome (but easier) steepness at the top. Very Good, but with the caveat that the access "pitch" introduces an annoying degree of faff.

3 shots. Way too wrecked from the long weekend, I had nothing.

Radical steep juggy choss, with a gnarly boulder start (jeebus its hard! V5ish?) and outrageous steepness, without the rests of TWoaF. Quite a fair bit harder! The final roof and headwall-thing are nutty!

Nope, still can't quite link the crux of the "direct" version of this route. Its like a V4/5 in a single move, that I just find utterly nails.

I kinda cruised my original "24"-ish version of the route though today, which is something, I guess.

2nd shot today. On the Send it went surprisingly easily, which is rad considering how hideous I felt on the 1st lap (as a warmup). Even radder to have managed yet another Team Send with Tom Collins . Psyched to have managed the trilogy of steep routes at this grade ( TWoAF, Rolling Thunder, Realised Ultimate Reality ) in successive weeks.

Some good progress despite hideous humidity. On my best lap I fell off on the final few hard moves. Hopefully better luck (or conditions) next weekend. It certainly is steep, and quite unrelenting, with particular tenacity needed for the finale.

First shot today. I tried it 3.5 years ago just after the crux hold broke. Went direct through the crux today, crimping on what remains of that hold (a miniscule sandy slimper) as hard as I possibly can while working the feet. Sustained in a 20/21 category, EXCEPT for the one crux move. Really enjoyable Blueys grey-slab slabbing (except for the crux) in a nice, long, quite runout pitch (9 bolts in 38m!).

Definately suits a certain type of climber. It's quite similar to a Nowra steepish-wall route at Thompson's Point... Short, burly, but with an appropriate degree of trickiness. I think I could do this 2nd shot, but not feeling it today. Might be a tough one to onsight. Generally good rock, and the moves ARE cool... once I worked them out.

Hard at the grade. A bloody hard move down low leads to easier, enjoyable steep juggy climbing. The crux right at the top is probably harder since the upper glued-on flake has broken off. I managed to static it with some creative footwork (and big wingspan).

Hardish first move, and another tricky one at the anchor, surrounded by okay (if unmemorable) easier climbing on quite reasonable rock.

Great climbing, lots of tricky moves, and solid at the grade... Ruined by a crappy re-bolt (seems to be the theme of the re-bolted routes at this end of Bardens). Burly to gain the flake, techy up the flake, then a nice combination of power and techniness at the crux followed by sustained easier climbing on great orange rock. I was hanging on those crux holds for quite a while trying to figure it out.

Might even be classic if not for the ledge. A cam or two (small to medium) for the first 5m. A few moves at the grade, though sustained at an easier (though still challenging) grade. I thought the entire pitch had interesting moves, and even the slightly grotty section just below the anchors is intriguing. The crucial pocket move is funky!

Thought I'd done this one, but I'd done Treebeard previously. Felt quite hard at the grade, and rather sustained. The black-streak was unfortunately dirty, but it was still enjoyable. A hard thin move down low, then sustained pumpiness on reasonable holds. Steeper than you think.

Repeat. Quite a good warmup, and more enjoyable if you don't contrive yourself out of the crack (until the line move onto the face proper). Earns the grade solely for the committing last move... that sidepull/undercling flake is now worn-down into a flat hold for added challenge.

Other than the chossy first few moves, this is an awesome sustained route at 23/24, with a prominent gr25 thin crux. Generally, the rock is great and inspiring to look at. I never managed to put together the thin crux before I ran out of skin, though it seems quite feasible. Some of the moves above the crux are bizarre for Blueys face climbing... but in a good way.

Short and kind of cruxy, but quite good. The opening roof is insanely steep (you're pretty much horizontal for a few moves), and the initial thinness after the lip is quite tricky... Though the climbing is over quickly.

I think a lot of people are confused about where these routes go. This one goes through a 2m roof section just off the ground, then up the wall to a chain anchor with the OPTION of linking into the Original Red Sails.

Via the more sustained (though less nails) LHV. Probably hard at 24. 2nd shot today (4th LAP total). Super-sustained steep pumping on great rock and at a tame grade. Mind-boggling terrain for the grade. Awesome! Gene proved today that the direct version does go free, though after another hour of working the move I still can't do it. 26/27 that way? Regardless, the original is a great (sustained) route in itself.

Another Top Rope solo lap, prepping the route (hammering off choss, and chalking it up), investigating the "direct" move and looking for alternatives to going into the crack. The answer is that there aren't any except for doing THE MOVE or the McDougal. Funky fun monkeying though.

Top Rope Solo lap before bolting the route. Would ALMOST be classic for its outrageous steepness and position, but the brief McDougal out left to the crack to avoid a section of blankness robs it of its glory. Felt about 24ish this way, and funky big moves between good holds.

Sigh Not at this time of the day, I'm afraid. I was surprised by the mid-steepness crux, moved to a red-herring "arete" hold, and didn't have the energy to get back. Dubious rock, and rather "broken up", but quite long and adventurous. Bloody steep. The "rope redirect 'biner" makes it VERY easy to clean this thing.

Bloody hard at 22, might be 23. One harder move, but quite sustained and intense for a face climb. Similar to Budda and the Chocolate Box. If the rock was A-grade, this would be a classic, but I suspect it will be getting harder over time (also like Budda and the Chocolate Box ). Its all in the feet. Very enjoyable, even EOD.

Exploratory lap. Short and intense. Very bouldery. O/S to the crux, spent a lot of time working out the crux, then the end was okay. I think I could do this, but the crux is still very low percentage for me. Its not bad, but its not worth the effort.

2 shots. The 2nd shot was great for refining beta on the lower and upper crux for a 2-fall, 1 rest lap with good linkage. The loooong queues to get on this... not so good (it's like being at the RTA, take a ticket and wait in line). Mega-super-steepness monkeying on jugs, with 2 crimpy sections making the cruxes at either end. Thoroughly enjoyable and ridiculous.

Linked into the top of Under Pressure for a mega-long sustained route. Rather snappy-looking rock, though I didnt break anything off. With good footwork I doubt you'll break anything. Considering the broken crux hold of Under Pressure now makes that route nails and inconsistant, linking this into the top probably surpasses it for quality.

Tough warmup. Nails start even at 23, with hard to clip 2nd draw. Okay middle, and tricky thin-slab finale. Not great, but interesting. Dubious rock.

Repeat. Not a bad warmup. A bit of a one-sequence wonder. If you disregard the copious amounts of glue on this thing, its not too bad a climb. Mingen undercling!

Too thrashed after the day. Unlike my last attempt all the moves felt easy, I just didn't have the gas left for the send. Next time I'll get on it before the end of the day. Fun tricky boulder start, and exciting dyno finale.

2nd shot. Most of it is a great, tricky, varied 22 on perfect rock and with nicely spaced bolts... Except for the V3 boulder crux, that's probably more 24... But if you IGNORE that section, it's totally 22. I really enjoyed this one for the experience, but don't climb it for the grade.

Repeat. Climbed to get Guns gear back. Only placed 2 cams (the rest was wires and hexes). Nice climbing, and a friendly introduction to trad with tonnes of great pro.

An embarassing number of shots for the tick (4) because I just kept making stupid mistakes and falling off. Great climb, why does this get climbed so rarely? Not hard for a 25, but amazing climbing the whole way with really funky, varied movement. I did the last move to the ORIGINAL set of anchors, which isn't really all that hard, but quite exciting. I then had to back-jump it to clean which was exhilerating from the top.

Repeat. Direct start without pre-clipping the draw this time. More scary and balancy than hard. By the 3rd draw this one is over, but it's a blast getting there. Not 22 despite what the guide says.

One move wonder, definately a grade 21 move, surrounded by easier (but still pretty good) climbing. Undercling!

Exporatory lap at the end of the night (with headlamps). All moves go pretty easily. Some funky moves. No move as hard as Scheme of Things or Major Tom, but more sustained. The infamous "dyno" isn't particularly dynamic. Next time I'm at Bardens, this one goes down for sure.

Second shot. Not hard for the grade at all, but fun (in a bouldery, novelty sort of way). Trying to do the long move static didn't work, so I dyno'd it... I don't think I've ever dyno'd outdoors before. What is wrong with me? =P

Went easily second shot today, in the blazing sun with concerningly warm rock. Felt great, and mostly solid. Completely my style of climbing. Feels good to actually "project" (read: have more than 3 shots on) something, and get it. Completely worth the effort. Great piece precarious, varied climbing.

One section of hard-ish moves (20 is about right... the new guide calls it 21???) but its over pretty quickly, and the rest of it is cruisy. Makes a good warm-up, I guess.

Warm-up. Really easy for the grade. The crux move is quite distinctly harder than the rest of the climb, but it goes well enough.

Not knowing what I was on, I did the "stem to your hearts content" version of this climb. Which makes it about an 18 until the funky last move. Quite a committing finish, and the bolt is in a weird location.

Easy for the grade. Not bad climbing, but not particularly memorable. Has cleaned up nicely.

21M0. I can verify that a crucial hold between 1st and 2nd draw on the main face is broken at the edge, and is now an ultra-thin crimp-sized polished sloper. Maybe nails 23 to do it free. I aided the move, and continued all the way to the top anchors. No chalk on the climb for the top 15m and pretty dirty, so its clear most people don't go to the top-out and bail on the lower anchors. Perhaps 38m of climbing? Awesome blank, untouched, sustained thin slabbing. Shame about the crux hold, though.