Ascents in West Face (Main Area) by Paul Frothy Thomson

2 Laps - just to the last bolt (24 to here) clean, as the last moves were dripping wet. Managed to punch this one out, sans chalk, placing draws, no worries whatsoever. Pretty chuffed with this, given that I haven't steep climbed in the 7 months since my accident. My core and calves felt it the next morning, though!

This is my favourite of all the routes on the upper ledge.

2 x Repeat attempts, not clean. Though I cruiiiiiiised the link from above the lower layback crux to the top, for whatever reason, the low-crux kicked my arse today, and felt grades harder than 24.

The finale of this puppy is wild!

Another repeat. A great way to access the upper tier of climbing here.

Clean repeat. Haven't been on this in years, and I was pretty chuffed to have no real troubles with the crux on it. Just a bloody great route, Jenga!

Clean repeat. Still a well-conceived quest around the face.

Clean repeat. My favourite of the mid-grade routes here. Always happy to chuck a lap.

Clean repeat. My favourite of the easy routes. Climbed this after up-climbing and down-climbing La Nina for a ~60m easy epic.

Clean repeat. Downclimbed clean for some extra pump.

Clean repeat. Cruisy and oozy.

Clean repeat. Good for what it is.

2 laps on TRS today to access the upper ledge.

Clean Repeat. Draw retrieval lap. Still good steep fun.

Seconding Simmo to get to the upper ledge.

FFA. More funky steep stuff. Though the crux is clipping the anchor, it's less "Fist Full of Steel" and more Coolum-esque. Probably the easiest route on the upper ledge.

Huzzah, the un-send! EOD repeat attempt, not clean though. Still, smashing out these 5 routes in 5 hours, I fell off because I was dead-tired (After battling through the low crux).

More sustained than it looks, and very worthwhile!

Clean Repeat. Why doesn't this get done more? It's been an age since I last ticked it, and was a joy to climb straight-up today with no real problems, despite it being completely untrafficked. Rock the entire way was bomber, and even the grey-section was so clean you could eat off it.

Clean Repeat. One of my favourite 25's in the Blueys. Good training.

Clean Repeat. One of my favourite 23's in the mountains. An excellent 2nd warmup.

Clean repeat. Great warmup as always. OMG, the conditions were amazing!

TRS to gain the upper ledge. Even in approach shoes, this is just a beautiful crack climb at the grade.

Just the one shot. Absolutely cruiiiiised the part shared with Armistice, but couldn't properly work out the single move to gain the razor-blade roof pocket. I "sort of" had a way of doing it, but was too scared to commit (for fear of severing a finger). Maybe there's a trick?

Fun steep jugging with much time foot-free, guarded by a single very hard move!

FFA. Sweet! Finally got it done despite the proper arctic conditions! Having fallen off the move to match the lip of the roof 5 times, it was an awesome feeling to keep it all together for the send.

A bit sharp, sure, but its a lot of time climbing completely horizontal at a relatively tame grade. And the boulder to gain the lip is all time rad.

FFA. More hilarious steep jugging. After you leave the no-hands rest 5 bolts up, its all campus-y action to the end. Enjoy the mushroom jug!

I'd have given this 24, but the last move to the lip seems proper roof bouldering to me? Let me know if it should be downgraded.

I'm now at 2 full days of effort on this one, and have fallen off the last move a comical number of times. I don't actually think it's that hard, I'm just quite talented at falling off it.

A bit sharp through the roof-flake section, but otherwise this is a great steep adventure, with a mega classic roof boulder to gain the jug on the lip. With any luck, this should go down soon.

FFA. This ended up taking the better part of two full days of effort to tick, but the moment that we had good conditions, it went down smoooooooooothe.

Short and punchy. This is the sort of steep, juggy, campus-y roof climb where you just giggle like a mad chook the whole way.

Seconding Michael and Will! A few hard moves, but great climbing and pleasant rock.

Clean repeat. TRS to get to the halfway ledge. This is a really good pitch of climbing, with nice rock and interesting moves. Probably deserves more traffic as an introductory trad route.

Clean repeat. Climbed to get to the upper ledge. Man, this has cleaned up really well from when I last did it.

Clean Repeat. Climbed out to exit the crag at the end of the day. Linked P1 and P2 as usual, and finished up P3 of Sublime and Beautiful (because its better climbing). So good. How is this not more popular?

Clean Repeat. Seconding Gavin to get to the upper ledge.

Clean repeat. Lead solo to get to the upper ledge. The low crux was quite wet, which made the whole experience even more terrifying.

Kinda a retro-flash (thanks to Monty's draws, chalk, and perfect beta), but I didn't do the moves onto the headwall. If it ever stops raining, hopefully I'll improve the style by doing the last move, but regardless, it was a bloody great experience to have again (9 years after joining Monty on the first Ascent!)

Despite being a bit annoying to get to, this is certainly one of the best quality routes at Binary Cave. Crazy steep climbing in a rad position, with really interesting moves the whole way.

Clean Repeat. Seconding Monty to get to the upper tier.

Just the one sussing lap. Much better than I expected, and quite sustained in the first half, with 3 distinct and varied cruxes. I imagine this is nails if you're short!

I found the final face crux (before the dawdly headwall) quite hard, but the other sections very manageable. I'll definitely come back to this.

2nd shot today (and a bunch of shots over the years). In today's conditions, and with some new beta (completely the opposite of how I've approached this in the past) this felt every bit only a 25 (as opposed to the 26 it's felt previously).

Clean repeat. Seconding Willby to get to the half-way ledge. Has one move that you have to pull on.

Repeat. An excellent warmup.

P1 only. 2nd shot today. I placed a few bits of gear, but the gear up to the crux was in situ from the first lap -its not hard to place them, and you climb back to a no-hands rest, so I'm not too stressed about upping the style.

A cool boulder problem that seemed proper hard in today's disgusting wetness -made the dubious rock, and fiddly gear even more gripping. I got rather scared on my first lap and didn't commit to the crux.

I brought a full rack 0.3 to 4, as well as red C3, yellow C3, and Black Totem. A few small-medium wires are useful too (and RP's if aiding through the crux to work it). The crux is well protected once you actually get the gear in, but the rest of the route (until established on the headwall) is not good gear.

Repeat. Lappin. Great!

Clean Repeat. Upclimbed Thai Virus, downclimbed La Nina and finished via the A Nice Day for a Disco start -all without every clipping the anchors. A 40m pitch

Clean Repeat. Upclimbed Thai Virus, downclimbed La Nina and finished via the A Nice Day for a Disco start -all without every clipping the anchors. A 40m pitch

Clean Repeat. Upclimbed Thai Virus, downclimbed La Nina and finished via the A Nice Day for a Disco start -all without every clipping the anchors. A 40m pitch

3 shots. Kinda got a bit schooled by this today -weird, because I've never had this much trouble on it in the past.

Could do the crux, just couldn't link it into the lower section, and above the crux was a cruise as always. Can I blame conditions? Maaaaaybe.

Super bouldery roof turn. But still pretty rad.

Repeat x 2 to warmup. My favourite route here!

2 more shots. Had some good linkage on my 2nd shot today. Its kinda down to a single move I just can't stick without rope tension. Proper hard crimp bouldering at the end of 20m of more moderate climbing.