Ascents by Brendan Heywood

Went to do it in my socks and crocs but it turned out to be just a bit harder, fun little thing

Had a crack at the direct start, really fingery layback. The gear was in the way. This time actually finished it up the fun original route which has bomber knee jams to the pillar.

After Volo and Soph, and then Ben, I too had to get a taste of climbing while being intermittently hosed when the wind diverted the adjacent waterfall onto the route. Refreshing! I won't say I dogged it, more like an eel. The route is great and keen to repeat when dry.

Felt a bit anxious but went down. Did a little pop at the crux but caught it and kept going

Had a brief mini tantrum after discovering my harness was ... not present. Textbook hand jams, a delightful warmup.

I blew the onsight as I was mid way through when 2 random hikers appeared at the top of the slab and I got distracted

Delicious and slightly easier than I was hoping. The top out over the water is no big deal at all

Juggy trivial but fun. Might be some variants

This is borderline not worth a write up, but its also the obvious finish to a mega hard problem which starts on the rails and goes directly up the arete. My guess V8-V10

Had a bunch of attempts trying different new techniques. Tried a backstepped foot jam while laybacking which is hard but feels like I can cycle each bit up at least. Lets be honest thing isn't anywhere near a V4

A few laps

Had a few throws, feels hard as usual

Very thin, much harder than V1. Might have lost some holds

Happy to get this again first go. At least a V2, feels harder than Scoop at Yarrowyck which is a very similar problem

Quite powerful to do it static, it is one move but feels harder than the traverse

Still fun

Siege of different tactics, this time trending more into invert offwidth and away from the brute force layback

Really nice and naturally clean

Had a dangle on top rope, always feels crazy hard and takes a few goes to re-figure out the sequence

Led it with a sag a meter from the top. Clean second go

I really love this route, flows well

The spicy finish never gets old

Got it 3rd attempt, really burly good fun. Felt a bit vomity for a while after

Psyched myself up and did the 3m jump across the canyon to get off instead of the cave

Had a play at the start but wasn't committing to get my feet up and didn't get far

Keen to tick this off but took an unexpected fall after the second piece, somehow nipping the tip of my 'flexible stem' and had to sit down for a few minutes. This might have also been when the mystery rope burn in my arm pit also happened that I found a day later.

Had a go at the start but didn't get into it properly. The B's had worked most of it but were struggling with the finish section, which I was happy to jump on and flash with my weird caving tactics.

Crux is a high fingery start then good jam practice. Perfect spot for top roping crack practice

Had one tired burn coming out of the crack, have some weird ideas about cutting sick and doing an inverted foot lock and topping out in reverse

Last session we wanted to scout this, but the bridge was 40cm under so we never got here. Now 2 days later the water had receded but we assumed it would be wet as the flood a week ago peaked roughly 4m above fight club! It's been almost 3 months since I've tried this, or anything at all over the rainy period. I pulled on, and could barely move and then grunted and sagged off feeling very weak.

Everyone else had a go, then I silently pulled on for the second go, and all the muscle memory returned and I flowed smoothly through the first crux, got the double inverted feet, plugged the next couple hands, then ended up doing a different sequence through the crimp to touched the nose to finish ...

And then just like that it was done

Almost anti-climatic and it's easy to forget how much of a battle it's been unlocking this, around 40-50 goes over 8 sessions but it feels like longer. New shoes really show how utterly trashed my old ones are, they are at least 16 years old, unsure how many resoles, and have served me faithfully. The Scarpas are dead! Long live the Scarpas!

Later on I worked the extension a little, which Ben put up today as well

Dig the start hold

It no longer has a tree. Easily the best line on this face, the start is cool

At least a grade harder than tree crack

Another misty drizzly day, early start with 5 pads and a rope not sure what we'd do and FC was in good condition. A wicked super session, after only one or two attempts and I was back to my furthest point again - and for all the other attempts I don't think I ever didn't get back to this point, the first crux is now dialed. After Ben showed the way I got on just after the first crux and linked all the remaining moves to the nose-twiddle finish on my first go, and after that I thought I had it in the bag as I could now do every move. Tried linking it from the start, and then again and again, with longer breaks and more prep between them slowly mangling my fists and ankles and draining the energy reserves. After one really long rest refuel and complete re-tape I had one last burn and gave it everything, and got further than ever, only 3 moves from the finish, but was totally spanked. Got some wild toe and shin cramps afterward. Heaps of hand, wrist and ankle bruises, right wrist is quite swollen now. Masochism as its finest

Had a few goes and with Benji's beta I can statically press through the crux but come up literally millimetres short of the jug finish! Moving my right hand in further puts me off balance. I'm probably going to need to stem my right foot out. It's a fairly big fall

3 attempts, crux is fairly low on the left

Solo mission with 3 pads and a portable fan. It started sprinkling as I packed the car and I drove through a couple showers. The rock was still good and had a great sess with more than a dozen burns and another foot of progress. Past the crux (first?) and into decent fist jam rest and inverted. Another 2 foot of slightly flaring hands and fists remains. The sky opened as I packed up and I walked out in drenching rain.

A lot of debris at the moment, needs another good excavation. Got it second go but the stand start takes out the hardest move.

Another scout just to see how spoogy it was, totally mint so shoe'd up and ended up progressing to a new hight point all the way to the fist jam and then tenuously matched. Was right on the index knuckle, if I'd sunk it just an inch deeper I think it would have been done!?

After the uninspired start to the day, I was stoked to jump on and statically move through the crux first go and essentially fell of the top in surprise. Got it very smoothly on 3rd go

Only one go, got to last traverse move. Time to chase some shade

Start felt hard, top move kept spooging