Ascents as trad by Macciza a.k.a. Macca

Toproped the hard bottom half from good gear in middle of climb before the easier top part… Did all the moves with a few falls, except initial boulder to get established… Great progress but shredded tips for the effort…

Got it pretty much all worked out… except initial moves off ground to first decent hold, my legs don’t work like they used to … Amazing thin technical climbing that only gets easier via good technique.. Definitely need tougher tips as they aren’t handling it too well currently…

Strange how a big break can change one’s opinion of spicy routes.. where previously the lack of bolts was of some concern, looking at it today it seems they may not even be necessary and it could go just on gear instead… still have to work out the moves but this makes it all the better…

Can now hold the holds and climb through low crux though protection still an issue… still fine tuning exactly which hand holds to use and footwork to match… definitely full value route and seeing some progress…

Re found most of the holds and gear.. and thanks to old video could work out most of the sequences… Still a bit to piece together…

This came up in recent discussions so I figured I should have a re-look at … hmmm, ok …. Might need to look again to find the rest of the holds and gear… whatever was I thinking??? All that said, it’s an interesting proposition…

Not too bad... bit of tape might have helped ...

Maybe La Petite Course would be more appropriate… though it is grand with a little bit of almost every crack size in its short length… Stout start that quickly eases, good fun …

Didn’t spot it …?? Definitely licheny and somewhat hard at the grade because of that … quite the task for my feet… bit of rope weirdness saw me not wanting to take a pendulum fall at the crux after cleaning final gear … Almost pitched off but managed to grab rope and use a 2 second tension move to avoid catastrophe before thrutching to glory … Would be quite different if you could see more of the rock when necessary…

Probably not the best for people with dodgy ankles or feet.. but really quite challenging fun… still a bit put off by potential pendulum falls but managed to avoid it …. Really lichened top out …

Bit of a battle due to sore legs and feet… also tend to forget this is 18 not 15… had to fight for it, but at least didn’t give up…

Seconding Zac, taped first two fingers and climes better, more linkage, then on previous top rope solo attempts… Might be possible on lead with practice and gear placements sorted…

Hmm, fingers and hands still kinda work but my footwork sucks on account of my feet… Maybe, maybe.. but wouldn’t be able to stand around placing too much gear, so maybe maybe not…. See what happens…

Well obviously I’ve done it before, in many different styles, but it’s seems this is the first time I’ve recorded it... Seemed hard for 10 in my current condition... though trying to climb it technically probably didn’t help... First time trying actual climbing shoes in a very long time, approach shoes would have been better ... Felt like 15 but would only have been 12 in approach shoes... definitely felt less than 10 last time I soloed it ...

Well considering the last few times on this I soloed it... today was somewhat humbling... Felt somewhat difficult.. more difficult than an 18 slab at Shipley .... but I got there ... even if I was totally outclimbed by a 10 yo kid and a BTK amputee... well done by them ... Feet were having quite the party afterwards and the walkout was somewhat hellish... But I did it ...

Did the Cameron/Moon 20 variant and possibly some other variations as some of the route description doesn’t match what we did ...

Done as 5 x 60m pitch’s more or less ... Thunderstorm rolled through to cool, and wet, us down in the upper pitches ...

Great fun of the type you can only have in places such as these ... car to car in about 10 hours but we smelt the roses along the way ...

Everyone should do the second pitch as well ...

Sport version of the old school aka runout version of this ... a cam, then two bolts clipped with wires .. up to the chains and lower off...runout solo like slabby goodness...

Repeat from BITD... Classic when done as 2 mega pitches.... gave Nate the top two for full value as I’d sold him short on the top of Cactus ... great finish...

Pretty sure I did this back in the day and probably on sight so will tick repeat as such ... Gear is fine,if not optional at start, same with directional in roof if placed... certainly does not need any extra bolts, will fix description...

Note to self: checkout climb better before deciding to attempt it in oversized trashed mountain boots... and decide better .,. Any way, redeemed myself with mega pitch above that, though I was extremely short on draws somehow... didn’t leave Nate much at the top but no other option really .. sorry matey... Probably best as 2 decent length pitches. Single rack, wires and draws should do .. ymmv ..

Warmup climb after a week down the snow .... Crimpy goodness but it’s the feet that matter ..

Had been saving this one for far too long , and Vinnie was psyched for it so I joined in, somebody had to clean it after all ...

Enjoyable climbing up to the roof that lulls you into a false sense of difficulty before suddenly turning up a notch at the lip ... bit of flash/cleaning pump and bad hand placement caught me out on the first shot but then climbed through ...

Great route, will be back for the full tick soon ..

Accidentally FA’d first few pitches whilst looking to free Starlight Express ...

More pitches to follow hopefully...

Late start but direct approach and we just managed to fit the summit and descent in ...bit of a long day all up ...

Did some variant pitches in the upper half as the phone had run out so we had to just make it up... looking back at the description we definitely weren’t on line for a while there but ended up in roughly the right the spot and summited ...

Bit of a long day but mostly mild climbing ..great view and some great position, some interesting rock in parts ...

Got a bit high on the way to the East Face so figured we would continue to the top then downclimb the South Gully ...

Of course we had our packs with double rack and double ropes, etc and I was in mountain boots ... great fun, great views ...

A few options for shorter harder trad around too ...

First ascent ... An awesome line that seems to dare/demand that you to give it a try despite your 'better judgement' ....

Regardless of the chance of failure and obvious ensuing difficulties we gave it a shot, though the unknowns of getting a decent belay and getting through the roof held the keys to success... fortunately we were pleasantly surprised....

An awesome, engaging, full value climb ...

Easiest way out after looking at some other routes in the area ... well, ok there is a 9 but it's R rated ... and my approach shoes are blown out ...

Was meant to be warm up for one of the other routes here ... but wasn't really warmed up for this anyway ... was more interested in time than the onsight so unfortunately no gold star ...oh welll maybe a silver next time ...

Seconding Zac on FA. 1 cleaning issue at crux and lovely wetness for the easy top out... great fun ...

Onsight First ascent(?) by Zac and cleanly seconded by Jamie and myself. Almost came off in offwidthy thrutch section just before cave but kept it together. Strange how sometimes one can seemingly completely forget , or at least not remember, or perhaps ignore, sequences you've just watched others do...

Good fun old fashioned climbing, done in fine style by all...

Just the short version today... cleaning after Zac's onsight ... enjoyable climbing up to where it steps up a little ... pealed out off an off-hands section trying to milk a poor jam to get my other failing jam a bit better ... then continued ... will be back for further attempts and beyond ... Great climbing and quite novel looking route ...

Rack of DMM's, rack of Totems and half a dozen small-med offset Metolius, plus a rack of wires (only 2 got used) and Zac still had gear left over at the end ... as usual, and ledge to ledge as a single pitch with direct finish continuing up corner to CDS belay ... the obvious and natural finish in our view, no need to bail onto the slab, stick to the line ... a 60m makes it as one pitch this way, though dismantle belay and climbing up to start of route(tied in and ready) makes sure ...ymmv..

Anyway was hoping I'd be able to stem more but instead found a lot of had to load my bad knee quite a bit requiring weird techniques at times and ultimately a fall or two... lot of stretch on 8.4's left me well off line and a short jug or two was needed to get back to the climbing... direct finish was pretty good and should clean up ... will be back at some point... great climb as done, not sure on grade until I lead it ....

Ran into Neil and Frothy out there on their respective projects and had some interesting discussions about stuff an' things ...

Good fun excursion.Loses star for excess bolting at top ... sorry

Seconded first pitch, firsted second pitch ... Rapped from tree to rings . Then to ground with a 70...

Bugger ... so close and yet so far... but I guess a bit of ClifBar, drink and smoke beforehand may not have been best before an onsight..

Lacking double Red and Green didn't help either ... nor did hanging around to try and retrieve a tipped-out medium offset, shenanigans around the tree and trying to conserve stuff for the top... left me a bit ragged heading up the v-Chimney at the top which didn't treat my stomach or dodgy knee too well...

Was really hoping the #2 would just slit right in at the lip... but it didn't really Totem would have been fine, anyway blacked it back in the start of roof. Retrieved long sling from below and then finally went to look round the lip but nah, no gear options to suit my fatiguing condition and hip/knee tweakage that wasn't the best ...

Lowered off the 2 in the roof, retrieving a bunch of gear, climbed back up and aided on to above roof then pulled over the top ...

Really should have onsighted it ...

Maybe soft at 21 ... Shuffling a #4 up the wide part works well if you only have 1 with you ... Roof crack can be avoided by angling right to arête and good gear at end of the roof ... Only 1 tricky move (particularly with a dodgy right knee) on top arête and could have had less bolts up there so loses a star for that

Prob only 35 m as yet again we simul-rapped on a 70m to get down.

Wasted a bit of energy getting bogged down at the start but managed to sort it in the end and settled down into the climbing without having any real worries about gear .. Stuck it out to the end for the OS...

Prob only 35 m as yet again we simul-rapped on a 70m to get down.

Prob best as 1 pitch which is how we did it. Prob only 35m as we simul-rapped back down easily on a 70m rope.

Rapped down line from tree at top on a 60m lead line. Rope-soloed out in dodgy approach shoes with a rest (to dry retch, due to heat and cordial), didn't seem to bad, just a bit physical but you get that on chimneys...

Single rack to #2 at most prob, plus wires should be fine, maybe double small cams if worried ... probably best as single pitch, with some long runners... 'Cleaned' a few loose bits accidentally, will be back for the tick... and a few others that I bouldered the starts of ....

Quite nice, great fun... after doing the pitch below as we rapped a bit too far ... all good ...

Seconded as one pitch as we were short on gear ...

Nice.

Rope solo of the initial steep section to suss out the gear... As expected, from the first viewing of this route before it got bolted, there is heaps with various options...

Can place a whole rack of Totems (plus a bomber #3) so I cannot see why this should have ever been bolted ...