Ascents by Nick Boldt

#3/4. Used the rings on Cocksure to TR this. Jen crushed it with more finesse and less cursing that me. Clearly her Welsh trad climbing experience is coming back.

#2/4. Stick clipped the 2nd bolt just for the sake of showing Jen how a stick clip works and because I truly hate the start of this climb. Safety third!

#1/4. Jen cleaned the anchor (first time in the field in AGES) for a safe lower through the rings. Next time out she'll have to practice abseil/rappel with a prussik backup.

#4/4. Jen followed and did everything but the crack/bulge crux. First time in ages I've been on this when the top crack was DRY.

#2. Why does this feel more like a 5.9 at times?

#3. Messed up the crux, fell off slicing my palm. Caught by Jen who saw it coming. Failed second attempt; finally remembered the higher right hand beta for the crux on my third (and successful) attempt.

#4 of the day. Led, then Jen TR'd, then I went up and tried the direct line instead of my usual left jog at the 3rd draw as a TR to clean the route and rap down.

#1/4. Led. Then Jen did her first ever NS climb, and first time climbing in about a decade and a half.

#1/2. Will led and found all the gear placesments, then to our surprise and delight, discovered there are new anchor bolts and quicklink rap rings after the initial 25m or so, saving us from the rambing ramp up to the lookout for a gear anchor or to walk over to the rings over White Rabbit. So... he clipped that, I went up and cleaned and rapped.

#2/2. Will led, I followed/cleaned. We broke this into two pitches as usual, but Will opted to skip TWO bolts on the first pitch to get to the belay ledge, opting for a run out but easy path to the right of the main face. Second pitch was fun but dirty, so the stick clip found some use on the 2nd to last bolt.

#2/2. Sean led, then pulled the rope so I could too. Also a fun one, perhaps better than the one to the left.

#1/2. Led then Sean went up to clean and realized he had no PA; attempted to improvise then decided to just come down so I could re-climb and clean. A fun route.

#3/5. Graeme got through the tricky beta for the first two bolts, then decided life's too short for meh climbs; I completed and cleaned it to retrieve gear, with one slip/sketchy moment after the second bolt. Damp, but not too wet. Still don't enjoy this route.

#1 and #2. Led it; Graeme TR'd it and cleaned gear; then Danielle attempted in running shoes getting about half way before the lack of grippy footwear prevented further progress. Graeme then led it, and I went up on TR in trail runners to clean it and rap down. Did a lesson w/ Graeme intro on how to rappel, in case we decided to later do Flakin' (but didn't get there because of rain).

#4/5. Stick clipped the first two, then banged it out. Graeme figured out the beta on TR with some hangdogging.

#5/5. Very wet on the way up, soaked at the top. Alternate beta for the slab ending was impossible due to wetness, so just plugged into the crack and went for it, but slipped out on the first try. Graeme plugged gear up to the 5th bolt before deciding it was too wet to proceed, leaving me to finish the 6th and rings.

Will led, I TR'd. Wasn't having a super effective day, but got through it fairly clean, I think. Can't recall if had to hang or not.

#1 of 3. Stiff warmup, but an OK climb.

#3/3. Final climb of the day. Didn't love this one.

#2 of 3. Interesting moves.

#6/6. Obviously tired, fell off a couple times. But got to the top, eventually. Felt strong, just ... inefficient.

#5. Better than last time but still spanked in the middle bits with the traverse & layback. Gotta work on better footwork for a more stable transition.

#4. Always a good time, this one.

#2/6. One of my fave climbs at Castle. Gotta love a knee bar!

#3. Don't love this one, but I should eventually lead it.

#1/6. Not the most smooth, but also did it in one go instead of the usual flail getting over the lip. Will placed gear so I had that going for me

#1. Still not a fan of this route. Will led, taking stick clip with him to combat the wet and icy sections. Had to chip one of the anchor rings out of the ice. Fun times?

#3. Having patched my hand, I managed to climb this as the last of the day, but it was a struggle to move from the corner back to the face, following Will's beta. Did something uglier and stayed in the corner, failing with the busted hand.

#2. Will convinced me to lead this or TimeLine, so I did. Opted for the left line, Westward Migration. Was doing great until my left hand gave out and I slipped off, a couple moves from the top (due to shitty foot placement). Shredded the back of my left pinky finger, bled everywhere, took a breath, and finished the route. Could have gone better but the fall was clean (despite a "foot behind rope" issue).

#5.

#4.

#3. more fun that the previous 2.

#2.

#1. SO. COLD. Wind and rock both. OK route.

#6 of the day. Not a bad route, especially after Will cleaned it of lichen and some moss.

#1. TR'd with Will leading and me cleaning or climbing thru gear. I forget the order we did stuff

#2 TR'd with Will leading and me cleaning or climbing thru gear. I forget the order we did stuff

#3. TR'd with Will leading and me cleaning or climbing thru gear. I forget the order we did stuff

#4 TR'd with Will leading and me cleaning or climbing thru gear. I forget the order we did stuff. This was definitely not clean, but fun.

#5 TR'd with Will leading and me cleaning or climbing thru gear. I forget the order we did stuff

#1. I'm calling this an onsight because the last time I cleaned it was as ground-up cleaning day with Climb NS, so the route was completely different. It's much nicer now that it's not a complete bush/mud disaster.

#4. Will led, taking a fall after the first move before placing gear. I think he placed 2 cams and a nut, ultimately. I also slipped off on the first move, but completed it after that. Fun route.

#3. Will lead, can't recall what pro was used. Maybe a single purple cam, before topping out and walking over to the Crazy Train rings.

#2. Will led, I cleaned. Definitely some blank sections but the holds are there... somewhere.

#5/5 on the day. Fun climbing, then an interesting top out. Will have to try the direct option next time instead of the left/right zig.

#3. Will stick clipped the second bolt to make the sketchy start less sketchy; then plugged a purple cam in the runout section near the top. I found an alternate safer ending to the right, which probably joined the crack at the top of Cathy's Clown 5.10c for a safer/easier ending @ the rings.

Set up for rappel but then thought I could just top out and walk over to Romancing The Stone, which we then did as the last climb of the day.

#4. Sketchy trad lead (no gear for the first half) but loads of fun on TR, even with the swing potential to the right.

Got to the anchor after an easy top out and walk over above Mr. Miagi.

#1. Should have led this but was feeling a bit uncertain, so Will led it. 3 medium cams to the ledge, then lowered off the bail biner rather than going all the way up to the big tree / ledge above Penis Envy.

Will have to lead this next time.

#2. Will led, I flailed away on TR. Not a bad route.

#3. Great route, once you get past the somewhat sketchy second bolt. Glad I wasn't leading this, but with a stick clip for the first 2, I'd consider leading the rest.

#2. Will led; this was a fun route for sure.

NOTE: At the top of Sleeper Cell (the pitch below this route), there are a pair of rap rings, and a bolt lies to the left; if you head past the bolt into a 4th class scamble, there's a much better/bigger ledge, which also has rings. You can rap from the top of Deep Thoat to either ledge with a 40m rope, then do a second rap to get to the ground below Sleeper and Sleeper Cell.

#1. Will lead. Rough for a warmup with cold fingers, first sub-5-degrees-C climb of the season. Decent once past the 2nd or 3rd bolt.

NOTE: there are rings at the top of this just below a big block, with a single bolt to the left. You can rap to the ground from the rings on a 40m rope. For top belay, a more comfortable ledge is one bolt and a 4th class scramble above and to the left, where Deep Throat starts, which is a great 2nd pitch / continuation (and more fun than the second pitch of Sleeper, especially since you don't need trad gear).

#5. Last climb of the day, and my lead. Awesome route, but I don't see it as a 5.9.

#4. Will led, after stick clipping the first two. Needed a hang/reset part way up, and also messed up the beta on the wide traverse section near the top, but figured it out eventually. Not clean, but pretty decent all things considered.

#3. An attempt was made, including some TR cheating. Very challenging feet at the start, and super sharp fingers. Great view from the ledge, but otherwise not sure the wall's worth the time. Or perhaps it's just sandbagged?

#1. Decent warmup, glad I didn't have to lead it.

#2. A struggle but enjoyable.