Ascents in Lyttelton Rock having Beta

Lives up to its name! Very nearly sent, fell at the last possible move. Would be easier without hanging the draws!

Probably the hardest of the variations on this wall, though it does have good rests. A faff to clean but worth a lap.

with James Miller

high first bolt, and tricky onsighting holds through the second crux

One attempt, too damn cold and windy to feel my fingers or to get them warmed up. Would like to come back for this one. It's quite spicy and has some of the better rock around.

Painful crimping to first bolt, then shoot up the slightly overhanging face to the anchor to the left. Choose holds wisely and place cam between 1st and 2nd bolt to avoid potential ground fall. Dave Fearnley’s a loose one. Classic 80’s sandbag imo.

A fantastic line, good till the last drop! One of the best 25s I’ve done in NZ, probably top 10 I’ve done anywhere. Feels much easier when you know where to go.

Tricky at the start. Trad section is about grade 17 or 18

Climbed clean through the crux of Raj but couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to climb the arête direct while staying off of the two adjacent routes. Ended up finishing up Raj instead.

Every other route was wet, so the option was to repeat this one with no warm up. Fortunately, it’s a rippa!

Draws on onsight, equipped from SJ. This route really exceeded my expectations. Super fun and flowy movement up the arête.

Got on this thinking it was the 18, had no gear for the top. What’s the point of a mixed line on this wall, especially given the rock quality at the top?

Felt quite easy today for some reason. Such a cracker of a route!

Repeat to clean Dr Strangelove.

Intitially thought this was the 18, as I thought the 18 was the 17, took a tasty whip onto the second bolt sticking too far right on onsite, then top roped it and pulled straight through, gets really fun once in the trad realm, feel compelled to come back and lead it, but we’ll see

One of the best climbs I have ever done!!

dirty start, but nice balancy moves to finish

with James Miller

good climbing, needs a bolt at the handsfree stance between 2 and 3 to be safe

rather average climbing through 2 spaced bolts

Not sure I even did all of the moves, and the line is not much to look at,

Needs a proper clean, minimal gear at the top, hard section is bolted, bit run out at the end

Got the crux sorted, but ran out of beans at the end of the day. Will be back for this one!

Holds too small and crimpy for me so eventually found some tall person beta instead.

Hard

First go today (on pre-placed gear) but had done the start previously. Would probably be better with another bolt at the top to go straight up the headwall.

Brought gear, placed none of it, all looked pretty useless. Fun moves past the bolts and much rambling.

Finally unlocked the crux, which is extremely thin and fingery. Will come back with some trad gear and have a proper crack soon. 25 in Tony’s guide, which seems accurate. Certainly a harder crux than other 25s at Lyttelton.

Given 25 points on both the old and the new Port Hills guides, which seems appropriate. Thin crux leads to better holds, but with ground fall potential from the top, so be careful! I didn’t place any gear, didn’t look trustworthy in any case.

pumpy!

with James Miller

Nice holds in horizontal cracks

Very cool route.

Got scared/pumped trying to get gear in above bolt, so retreated to the corner to the right.

Basically every other route in the Port Hills was wet today due to last week’s deluge, so got on this one. Glad I did actually, fun moves and spacey but good gear.

Awesome Port Hills trad testpiece. Came very close to the onsight, but pumped out at the top. Cleaned gear and sent easily second go. Cracker of a pitch!

Trad

Using Xavier's supplementary trad rack. Should've done this earlier, the gear placements sapped my energy

onsight solo of obvious line, very nice

Fun climb

About as good as grade 16 trad gets in the Port Hills, which isn’t saying much. Still, a fun line with decent gear.

with James Miller

Lead on placed gear

great trad route, fun climbing and good gear.

steepish at beginning but with good holds and decent gear. slabby and sparse up top, not as good but easier