Ascents in The Columns by Vanessa Wills

Wet and cold. Good training for Patagonia?

Next time- longsling on bolt above crux (or small wire)and do as 2 pitches. Should have read guide book description first that gives away crux moves.

Felt harder than neon god, though climbing inside a cloud with condensation on everything didn't help. Did top pitch clean. Bottom still have trouble on crux

I really need to try this more than once every 5 years. By the time I have relearned a short persons crux ( about 3 moves higher than Dave and a sideways Dyno) to arete, my fingers are too sore to try again

Second pitch. Almost made up for sandy bay rd.

The V groove of the second pitch is definitely the crux. Though the reach at the final roof on pitch one was also tricky. Other hard bits succumb nicely to technical tricks

I had to divert back into holiday after falling off the thin finger crux to make upward progress then moved right again. The stalactite feature was amazing but vibrates.

Not a bad route to start the year on. Crack gloves rule. It all felt quite crux to me with the odd calf pumping rest

Some people like wide cracks. I don't.

Even weirder bolt placement. Perhaps an early attempt at the dark art? Maybe I was just grumpy because it was freezing and climbing in mist and there didn’t seem any point getting on the better routes up here

A plus for bolt camouflage but minus a couple of stars for contrivance and bolt placement.

Did the last 2 pitches in 3. Stopping at the notch seemed sensible. I led the last bit only which was not bad, but the crack below was good, though the chimney exit felt hard