Ascents in Mountain Quarry by Ashley Felton

A pleasure to get on this again.

That's right: this route is awesome.

This route is nails, and that's just the easier part. At least it was shady.

Too tired to finish the middle section. At least I worked out the first move again

Hey, I remember: trad is scary on lead. Calling this one a retro-flash.

A messy dog of an ascent on top rope. At least I made it all the way up this time.

Good confidence-booster to come back to this and lead it cleanly.

Working the hard first sequence, to properly tire myself out. Worked!

Couple of boulder problems, some delicate slab, some technical face climbing. The whole package. Wish I was a stronger climber.

First foray back to outdoor lead after a break. Suitably humbling. Good sequences - will come back to this one.

Gotta trust your feet on this. Good moves, grade 20 feels about right.

Redpoint attempt: got through the hard bit smooth-as, then slipped off the finisher. Careless, but not unhappy with this effort.

Had grand plans to practice then pink point this, but was not to be today. But now I know it's secrets!

Tried this on lead to test my hard man credentials. Failed. There's some good climbing here, but it's not good enough to warrant the genuine risk you're putting yourself in to find it. I reckon there's a good reason we don't bolt them like this any more.

Nice warmup. I suspect I spent a bit much time in the corner.

I might have enjoyed this more if it hadn't started raining midway. Nevertheless, some good moves.

Clean as you like.

Totally forgot how to do this

A good route with a variety of moves needed to finish. I should have had it clean the second try, but lost concentration and dogged it. Another day.

A quick burn on top rope.

Old school climbing! In the sense of widely-spaced bolts, the first of which is a certainty of crippling injury in the event of a fall. I made that okay, and the second, but couldn't figure out the hard move to gain the third. Nonetheless, a great line that I'll come back to.

A very pleasant surprise, way better than expected. If it were at ground level, I'd describe it as "must try".

Pleasant enough climbing, worth doing to reach On Edge (above). Use the last third as an opportunity to practice your trad placements.

Technical, interesting and unique moves. Will definitely come back and try doing this cleanly.

The first pitch is fairly straightforward, the second is a lot more challenging (hats off to Kym). Second carrot on the 2nd pitch (after the hanger) is in a butt-clenchingly high spot.

Good fun, though pretty damn tough for the grade. Needs a couple of hangers on the ledge at the natural top of pitch one. The sequence on the pitch two arete felt harder than 19, but I dogged through it eventually.

I like this route, just not in the dark.

I can do pretty much all the individual moves on this, while fresh. The trouble is stringing them all together.

Muddy, chossy and hard to protect. I got partway and bailed off a nearby bolt. No redeeming features here - don't bother.

Setting up/retrieving gear for offspring to have a climb.

More practise. More like, "Fingers Weak", this one

Wild contortions to get through the overhang, then efficient moves to scale the arete. It's pretty doable, once you know how.

Dunno if making the third clip counts as "working". Worked out one move, though. Will be a good sequence.

Forgot where the secret hold was on the hard move. Ah wells.

Blasted straight through the crux this time, only to find that the next couple of clips are pretty hard work too.

Has some interesting and chancy moves in the bottom half. Not ashamed to admit that having the beta made me feel a bit braver.

Got it done cleanly this visit.

Was very close to writing this off as an impossible waste of time, then worked out a way to get through the starting overhang. Bazinga! Will come back another day and try the lead.

Couldn't work out the first move on the first try, or the second, but eventually. A somewhat tricky start, but the rest is straightforward.

Tried the lead, had an awesome long fall and got freaked out. Went back on top rope to practice that 2nd crux sequence a bit more. Getting better.

Working, still working. At least I got to look at the easier top section today. Watching Kym put it all together was a great incentive!

Finally nailed this cleanly on lead, despite my apparent desire to reinvent half the moves each time I climb it. Classic!!!

The practice finally paid off with a clean ascent. A personal best! Back soon to try for the clean lead.

Just putting in the work.

Fell on the last move. Bah.

The start is good, anyway.

Good work session. Learned the start, worked out the best way through the crux, practised the hard move after that. Totally doable.

A super-satisfying, technical crux move.

Snatched a quick lead, between helping out the kids.

What's the opposite of sandbagged? An okay climb, but it's barely harder than AWA.

We can do the first crux sensibly now. Progress!

A good warm-up.