Ascensão de Prometheus II como trad por JAndrews

At grade 8 this is a sand bag. Should have known considering the FA was 1956! First pitch is cool, at least to the top of the buttress. After the top of the buttress you traverse right for about 10 meters and climb up broken rock into a gully. You will see the crack in the centre of the gully that the book suggests is an 18 for a possible second pitch. I was able to put in some good gear here to make an anchor for a belay at the base of the crack in the gully. I’d recommend you use radios to communicate with your second, there is no way to hear someone otherwise. The other option is to belay at the top of the buttress.

Pitch 2 is where there are issues. As per the book, I traversed left and after one large cam placement just out from the belay, found no gear, crumbly rock and thin holds. You can see some possibilities as you go out but there are very committing blanks in between. I scratched around for a while, got about 10-15 metres into it then tried to go up but decided after losing confidence to return to the belay. I was also concerned that I would not be able to protect my second adequately on this traverse even if I did find a way over, so I retreated.

But all is not lost, there are several ways out of this position, which does not involve a hairy unprotected climb. To the right of the gully is a DDB and a line of bolts that I think is pitch 8 of the Ross Miller Route (16). Clearly harder than 8 but at least it is well bolted. This takes you to a DDB just below Cave 5. Alternately you could abseil in 6 pitches down the Ross Miller Route – check the book for details.

I’d be keen to find out if anyone has climbed Prometheus 2 and found it to be a grade 8.