Ascents in The Pocketed Wall by Paul Frothy Thomson

Clean repeat. The steep section is fun and easy.

Clean repeat. Short and sweet. Best connies I've ever had at the pocketed wall. Great to be back climbing at last!

All the moves went okay, but jut too damn sweaty to be bothered pulling on those tiny edges again.

Clean repeat. Awesome, intense, pocket-y warmup.

Cruised to the final move of the crux, then just spent the next 20mins lobbing at it with no success. Not sure why I couldn't do the move this time? Ended up bailing off the last bolt after my skin wore out.

4th shot today, 6th total (over several years). Great, powerful pocket-pulling with a true Red-Point sting-in-the-tail up high. From the 2nd shot on I was making it through the starting crux okay, but struggling with the top move on link. On the 4th (send) shot, it all went perfectly, despite feeling the most tired I had yet. The bolting on this is dangerous enough to warrant an R-rating: 3 bolts in the entire climb. If you stick clip the first bolt, you can still ground-fall at each of the remaining 2 bolts (and its not EASY climbing there, either!).

Repeat. Still took quite a while to commit to the starting moves, but after the initial desperation its juggy pumpiness to the anchor. Good fun, though short.

Repeat. EOD Training lap, this time placing the draws. Felt really solid all the way through this (Despite being trashed from 6 days of Nowra climbing), and even managed to clip the anchors of the crap hold. Great!

Repeat. EOD training lap. Felt really good today, and I reached the anchors feeling strong (despite spending a good 5min trying to find the crucial holds at the crux). Great fun pocket-y climbing... but these days this is more CHALK than ROCK.

3 shots. 2nd and 3rd shot ended with my hand on the "jug" at the end of the crux, but unable to stay on it ("I've got it... I've got it... I don't got it!"). Perfect conditions so I haven't got any real excuse. Easy start to an overtly cruxy crux on miniscule edges. Surprisingly technical (for a weakling like me). The extended finish (thanks Neil) adds a bit of extra spice once the crux is over.

Enjoyable fun thugging through improbable terrain. Nothing about this felt hard, though it was consistently pumpy (with plenty of potential rests) and a bit intimidating. Hell, the crux move isn't even particularly steep. Back-jumped the top 1/3rd of the climb so my rope would reach the ground. Not a true flash, as I had previously climbed to the ledge below the steepness, but been unable to commit to crux (and the roofs that follow). The permadraws are nice. Rather chossy/sandy, though.

2nd shot. Blew the first shot (placing the draws) trying to clip off the wrong hold. Knowing which hold to clip off makes this thing an enjoyable (but sustained) cruise. Great climbing when the conditions are great (like today). Not as hard a crux as Je Baise Ma Fraigne, but with more hard moves (and a potentially diabolical clipping hold).

Repeat. Wow, it's been a long time since I gave this a proper lap, and it's hard work for a warmup. ALMOST punted it on that top crux, but kept it together. A great little route, especially when The Pocketed Wall is in as good condition as it was today.

Yep, you know its time to pack up and go home when you fall off this at the end of the day. Came off with both hands above the anchors, but unable to clip. I've ticked it before so I'm not too worried. Nice little number, and more in the 21 range, I think.

Felt bloody hard to me, but I think I just haven't got that POWAH thing sorted. First shot was a dogs breakfast, but on the 2nd (on top rope) I put together some good linkage through the start and up to the final techy crux... Still need to find a sequence for the finale that is efficient when pumped. Long term Nowra project, maybe?

Backed off after attempting the crux move off the ledge. Definately wasn't feeling it.

2nd shot, slipped off the slippery slopers of spooge first shot. Harder crux than Murdoch, but less sustained. Linked into the top of Murdoch for a pretty nice route.

Funky. Cruxy start and finish, but short and fun.

Flash but for the first committing move past the first bolt. Some hard moves on this, and the ending is bloody exciting. I was in a stemming stance before the last moves for ages before throwing myself at it with everything I had. Really makes you think, with both footwork and hard placement imperative to make this to the grade.

19th September 2011.

August 2011. The climb that destroyed my left shoulder. The huge move left in the middle of this climb is awesome, but my shoulder didn't agree with it.