Ascents in Lower Blue Mountains

TRS Sussing lap on the bottom pitch, and the cheeky pink-point psuedo-FFA on the top pitch.

Another lap to do it properly -placing all gear on lead.

I had a lot of (scared) fun with this one. Radical gr23ish start through a roof to a ledge. Then 4 hard boulder problems (with big runouts) between gear nests. Two are vertical runouts, 2 are horizontal runouts. Very gritstone-esque as it links features to forge a line.

I almost fell off the final move to the anchor, and had to power-scream to get through it.

Bloody great day out.

Would be classic (in the style) if it were more accessible, but unfortunately the approach is nightmare-fuel, and the rock is only 3.5/5 on a Blueys rock-quality rating scale.

This route was our team's most stylish ascent of the first 6th months of 2023. It conveys pure adventure so close to home.

What a journey! Surprise send, after spending the morning on Simmo's route, and only tackling this at the end of the day with a view to sorting out the "send logistics" (with a route this long, steep, and wandery... It's fair to say that it's involved).

There's just so much here to remember, and with it being so steep, you're always on a timer to get it done. Steep, gymnastic, and sometimes quite technical. Would be megaclassic, but the rock is only about as good as Sunny Side Bell, so far from the best the Blueys has to offer. It's almost too hard to sum it up at an experience, even with the copious amounts of hyperbole I can command

2 Full days working the bottom 26/27 arete, and the effort I originally put in to climb Gaze a Gazely Stare (as well as a few repeated laps for fitness and training). On the send, I committed to constant 5m+ runouts to avoid dealing with rope drag.

Ground-up FA. An obvious series of linked corner features. P3 is the money -a longer, more exposed, but chossier version of Catch the Wind- though the FA version of P4 (through the roof) is pretty wild on gear. Unfortunately, P2 was a waterfall, so I had to climb the face next to it (which was kind of dangerous) but when dry, the corner should be easier and safer.

Repeat P2 and P3 to free the crack proper on P2. A good crack adventure of the sort you'd find in the Grose.

Historical. A fun corner, and one of the strongest lines here. hopefully the remaining choss has cleared by now.

5 days of effort -though 4 of those were wasted with an utterly stupid way of climbing the crux.

Crazy crazy steep mixed climbing over the void. Sustained, and absent "ledges" or major breaks... but marred by "Duck-Wall-esque" rock quality (read: average Blueys Rock), so I'm only giving it 2 stars.

Clean repeat for training

two laps soooo out there!

Made it a few moves into the midway crux from the ground. What a beast of a route.

multiple shots getting alot closer! firm at 26!

TRS lap to retrieve my trad gear from this route. Good casual pumping. I'm back up to having 3 racks of gear now! (its been a few months of sparsity with only 1 rack of gear in my posession).

2 laps on TRS for training. Trying to build some steep fitness again! Despite being bell-quality-rock, I just find this super steep pupper so much fun!

First shot today, after having fallen off 44m up the 45m pitch a few weeks ago. Maybe 3 full days of effort in total?

Quite a lot harder than Gaze a Gazely Stare (the boulder is more full-on, the rests are less restful). It's also more committing, IMHO.

Still super-wild steep climbing above gear, though

An absurd line through the roof crack above the start of P4. Roof jams, Heel-toe above head, and some steep cranking on gear. Took me an annoying number of attempts to send.

Still needs to be done placing the gear on lead (its a mission to clean it, and we were racing a storm).

What a cool process developing my first Sport Multi.

I have alot of fun with the process I on sited all the pitches except P2 where I snapped a footer climbing out of the crux. I lowered and sent it next shot.

Get on it!!!

Supporting Mitch on the First Ascent

An awesome, mid-length multi, with no boring bits, and nothing too hard. Might be one of the best multis in this grade range (I guess the competition would be routes like Saccharine Nightmare or Yak Banquet?).

P2 was my favourite

Great climbing on every pitch. Most of this climb is on steep jugs however, there's a touch a slab to keep you on your toes. Pitch 4 is very engaging and does not feel like you're typical bolted route.

This area has a lot of potential and I'm looking forward to what future development brings.

Every pitch is quality, agree that the third pitch is the money pitch. Felt like one of the most exposed routes in the mountains with multiple semi-hanging belays and a lot of space. Loved it!

a fun lap showing geoff and adrian this route. pitch 3 and 4 are by far my fave. 80m dynamic rope from the black hole cave. Just reaches the bottom on stretch as a single rope abseil.

Loved it!. Led the first and last pitches cleanly, fell once on the crux pitches seconding

Pretty fun and pretty chill. Lots of bolts and a nice position, but a bit of choss, and not quite classic.

Probably hard at the grade.

Great rock, and continuous and sustained technical face climbing in an exposed location.

Proper chuffed that this goes almost entirely on gear (only 4 bolts on the FA!) as all of the hard moves are above gear. It feels pretty "out there" to execute gnarly technical trickery over cams.

6 days of effort. The rock is Cosmic-esque quality, and the climbing is amazing, but as an "experience" its more "brutal" than fun IMO.

2 very different pitches.

P1 climbs like a steeper, harder and more sustained version of Kizashi (and is mostly on bolts).

P2 is all about the gritstone-esque insecurity, and is mostly on gear.

P3 is just an exit pitch

Facilitating Simmo's FA of this old-skool modern-day classic.

Beautiful rock, and radical climbing, with lots of rests between tricky moves. As a giant pitch, almost entirely on gear, this is kinda intense (could maybe use an extra bolt or 2?)

Done with a Gentleman's Sit at a no-hands rest to avoid pinching the FA.

Proper cool!

Clean Repeat. Seconding Simmo after the First Ascent. Still bloody great.

Fucking fantastic afternoon pulling hard on some more froth-tastic and sim-tacular routes. Beautiful time with great friends and local legends.

Another play, made progress.

Absolutely ringed out my energy for the trip on my final tie in. Never been so embarrassingly loud on face jugs. 10 days on. Awesome trip. Beautiful place. Incredible friends.

Sit start for full grade imo. The best climb here!!

Working. Big move for a short climber

Gym style jump start was fun

Burly, but only if you choose to commit to the off-width. Otherwise v2?

quite easy. not v4