Routen in Kitten Wall Area

A novelty with a good bouldering move. Start on ledge below cavernous roof at left end of Kitten Wall.

Bottomless seam with bouldery start down right of Feeling The Ceiling.

Surprisingly hard, and a little runout after the flake ends. Start at right-leading flake towards left end of Kitten Wall, not far right of Feeling The Ceiling. Go R to chains above Indoctrination.

Worthless.

Something of a mirror image of Indoctrination. Desperately hard.

Fantastic climbing, starting a metre left of 'Claw'. The shortcoming of the route is the heinously thin start that ignores the adjacent crack, and goes directly to the bolt at 3m (these moves are substantially harder than the rest of the route). A less brutal alternative (so long as you don't mind off-widths) is to do the start of 'Claw'; this makes the route more consistent (grade 23 or so).

Regardless of how you choose to do the start, after reaching the bolt there is a leftwards traverse to gain the vertical seam, after which interesting moves on sculpted stone lead to the chains.

Link-up straightens out the line, start up Indoctrination past its bolt and continue straight up into Socialist Working Class Solidarity past its 2nd bolt. The difficulty then eases off about 10 grades for the remaining 75% of the route.

Excellent clean jamming after a thrutchy start. Originally climbed with "the aid of two slings on door jammed nuts".

A solid, intimidating lead with just enough protection. Very impressive for 1967.

Up Puss n Boots and - instead of stepping left to finish easily up Claw - go right then up.

This variant is more sustained than the original, but it does go very close to Siamese Crack (and it also goes past a suspect flake towards the top - but there are good holds on the face to avoid pulling on it).

Good climbing on spaced holds up the wall L of Siamese Crack. You can solo the crux (first 6m) or put side runners in SC. Move L at 6m to flake on Puss in Boots, then back R and straight up through roof to chains.

The middle of the three prominent cracks on the wall is a daunting layback if your jamming technique is lacking.

The name says it all.

The right-hand of the 3 prominent crack-lines starts with a character-building thrutch. Most people will opt to do the Right-Hand Variant or Cheshire Cat instead but it could be worth testing your technique on this.

A good, fairly direct, way of doing Manx without the thrutching. Start at the diagonal crack 1m R of Manx.

The climb originally started up the easy, thin diagonal crack 1 metre right of Manx, now Manx RHV, but it is now done via the initial wall of Hard Nipples, which makes the climb more consistent. The climb originally went free up the diagonal crack and then aided up to and through the roof. The old pin can be easily backed up with a small cam.

More like hard forearms. Not a good idea to fall off the initial wall from a height. Its easy to scramble in from the right to place gear and toprope the first 4m if you value your ankles. DRB on ledge at top.

This good combination gives another way to approach the nice overhang on Manx. Some people prefer Manx RHV and others prefer this.

A very nice girdle-traverse but you have to like this sort of thing.

1. 18m (15) From just left of gnarled old conifer go up left to traverse line and go left into Manx. Continue left past Siamese Crack to an airy pedestal beside Claw.

2. 32m (15) Cross Claw and continue along horizontal break.

Armless. Start at right-most end of Cat Cracker ledge, just left of old conifer. Burly flake to first roof, R (into The Conception) and up to main roof, R again for 2m to roof flake.

Dramatic architecture. Some people find this sleazy and gross, some find it interesting and funky.. feeling lucky? Start 5m R of the conifer.

As steep as they come. Start below the "Beware of this Block" message. Tricky slabbing just to the left of the original start via sidepull edges and slot avoids the use of the suspicious block.

A bit contrived but fun climbing, steep and juggy. Up Cruel Britannia to the bolt out left, past this and left just above the lip to a long move over the blank section. Easy for the grade if you go to the rest on Cruel Britannia, and hard if you don't.

A good warm-up for the steep stuff. This used to start beneath the "Beware of this Block" block and undercling it (!), but start to the right instead.

A better and more powerful finish. From upper R-facing corner, move up and R to reach R-trending flakes, which are followed to the top.

Surprisingly steep climbing. Take the time to make sure that the protection in the horizontal breaks is secure as you are going to come very close to the ground, and the block, if something pulls. Start from the big block right of the overhung area.

Great little line up between Hendrix and Footloose, albeit vanishingly independent up higher.

In a similar style to Hendrix, it can be amusing to watch pumped leaders lose form and begin to flail for the top. You can go straight up - off a shallow midsize cam, or diagonally left to finish as for Hendrix (better and better protected). Start 3m R of Hendrix at easy crack.

Bushy, mossy rock to start. Start 4m R of bent-over old tree.

Start 6m R of bent over old tree. Climb up to three pockets keeping left of rock stack on right at 3 metres. Move diagonally right using horizontals to ledge. Finish directly up shallow corner after slab section. Build anchor and stay roped up to traverse right to Spastical Cats rap anchors.

Start as for Felix and then move right at ledge and through weetbix rock to gain crack. Build anchor and stay roped up for traverse to Spastical Cats anchor.

Starts a few metres left of Practical Cats. Up via 2 bolts then some trad gear to the anchor.

Fixed wire replaced by a bolt. Be careful of crappy rock up high. Has anchor off to the right. Start below thin seam where the track dips down.

Start just left of overhang, 4m R of Practical Cats. Up past bolt to short crack then horizontal break, being careful not to fall off getting to crack. Continue up wall slightly left past big pockets and back up rightish to top. Finish at Rap anchor. A #5 cam is not needed as stated in the latest guide, in fact there is nowhere to put it.

Start as for Tactical Cats then against all good taste, across the weetbix and up to hollow flake where the one move of the route lies above a bolt. Finish up right on steep but straightforward climbing to anchor.

An enjoyable, intricate route. Start 8m R of Practical Cats, just right of overhang at ground level.

Climb diagonal crack to bulge. Pull through bulge and follow line to blank wall (stay out of the corner). Up blank wall and left to anchors at Kitty Litter.

Start 5m R of Tactical Cats. Climb wall, crossing diagonal crack of Alley Cat, to ledge. Up to bulge and technical seam and carry on straight to top.

Mangy.

A fun little roof. The 'Pilot Error' of Kitten Wall. In a little cave below 'Cadence'

A sustained and technical traverse under the ceiling, starting from the lefthand end of the wall. Can be approached via 'Cadence' as well.

Start: Start at the blocky corner marking the left end of the smooth orange wall.

1. 20m (22) Up corner to roof and traverse right with increasing difficulty to a small stance.

2. 35m (23) Continue right with even greater difficulty to obvious break in roof. Over and up to slings or easily to rap anchor above Celluloid heroes.

Perhaps the most preposterous traverse at the mount. done ground-up in a push. Triple rack up to #6 mandatory, ledge optional but recommended.

1. 45m (27) Climb the entire sideways journey of Tunnel of Corgis, but instead of going up, strenuously down climb Stigmatised (the higher traverse under the roof may go?), to continue on past Celluloid Heroes, Surprise and a moist fern garden to collapse at the Bad Cheques anchor. Be aware it is not possible to safely protect the second during the down climb.

2. 30m (19) Links into Eclipse. Up towards the roof, past Tjuringa’s DRB to a natural belay at the stance halfway up Common Knowledge.

3. 45m (12) Psyche up for even more traversing (!!!). the final glory slab awaits. step down into the alcove (pre-order your pub meal now), then climb past In Lieu, and along the ramp to finish at the tree.

Lovely slab leads to awkward roof.

Bolt is rusty and rock looks loose in roof.

Start: Start 3 metres right of the starting corner of Tunnel Of Corgis.

start 7m right of Cadence. Up to the carrot, then trend right to join Stigmatised.

It doesnt get much thinner than this. the direct line up the blankish slab 5m left of Celluloid Heroes. The grade is height dependent.

An interesting climb which is tough for the grade. Maybe it should be 23. Although some have found double ropes are handy, a single rope works fine. Chains on top.

Start at the left-facing flake-corner halfway along the wall (sharing the start of Strangers Eliminate). Up the corner to pedestal, up to roof and L. Through the roof and follow the flake, then go straight up through the bulge that offers more than first appearances suggest.

A good roof but rarely climbed. Apparently requires sliders, small cams may work.

A pretty exciting wall climb which requires a good head to deal with the small wire protection and unconventional moves prior to the bolt. 1st pitch ends at a rap chain, but the 2nd pitch shouldn't be ignored.

Start: Start at the left-facing flake corner about halfway along the wall (Start of Celluloid Heroes).

1. 27m (20) Climb crack or left wall for 4 metres and then move onto the right wall. Continue onwards with fiddly protection then bolts leading to roof. Move right beneath roof to vertical step and up to stance at higher roof.

2. 27m (17) Traverse left under roof to tricky move and lip then more easily up.

A much bolder proposition to the original route. Starts right of the corner and joins the original line at the mantle (small ledge), then continue as for that route.

Climb directly to flake on Stranger's Eliminate. Boldly up grey streak to ledge on 'Celluloid Heroes'. Up to roof then a reachy move leads to juggy flakes.

Start: Start 1 metre right of Stranger's Eliminate on face.

Technical climbing on perfect rock. Start 5m left of Bad Cheques, just right of 'My Soul To Keep'. Up past three bolts to join Stranger's Eliminate at it's bolt. Let me know what you think of the grade and stars. I'm bad at grading.

Up Credit Crunch, then join MSTK for a few meters, then into cheque your pockets.

A daunting traverse below the huge roof on the right-hand half of 'Tjuringa Wall'. If not always great climbing, it's certainly a great experience.

Take a large cam or two. Very large cams or tubes would help but are not essential. The final pitch could be quite amusing without double ropes or the skills to back-rope with a single.

1. 27m (20) As for Stanger's Eliminate.

2. 35m (19) Traverse right to stance and anchor for 'Tjuringa'.

3. 24m (20) Continue right past end of roof, drop down off lip of overhang and pull in to right. Traverse right to In Lieu's belay cave. Traverse off right.

An ultra technical piece of climbing which is bold in places.

Climb 'Odd Spots' for 5metres . Place a high runner in Strangers Eliminate then reverse a move and make a rising traverse rightwards, crossing 'Bad Cheques' then joining 'Tjuringa' at its midway flake. At the flake step down a move and continue traversing right past to 2 bolts to the undercling feature, before heading straight up to join 'Tjuringa' at its first belay. This last section is bold 21 in its own right.

Double ropes are essential. Note: 50m ropes may not be long enough to lower the climber back to the ground therefore use double 60m ropes. HB 1, 'Camelot' 1, BD Hexentric 1 are essential gear.

A direct finish on Bad Cheques, once you get to the obvious pocket before going right, head up left boldly via delicate slab moves to the hope of gear, which is marginal if you find it. once you get to the overlap head hard right to the Bad Cheques anchor.

Well named. The reachy start requires creativity to protect the crux above an awful landing (the block). Great climbing, with adequate protection above the small horizontal leads to the chain on Strangers Eliminate.

It is possible to place a piece in a small pocket at the start, some people consider it marginal. Graded to take into account the seriousness.

A Link of Bad Checks into Tjuringa. Climb most Bad Checks till level with the flack on Tjuringa traverse right and slightly down to the flake and then finish up as for Tjuringa. Double ropes recommend

What is life if not a gamble?

As for Tjuringa, move left at the first break. Straight up the streak until level with the Tjuringa flake. Left again into the final few metres of Bad Cheques.

One of the most outstanding routes at Arapiles. The two pitches provide two very different beasts. Pitch 1 is a runout slab ending at the roof. Pitch 2 is the roof itself, which involves powerful climbing on good holds, passing one carrot and a fixed hanger where the piton used to be. The old piton on the second pitch came out in the hands of some unsuspecting climbers and completely broke the placement when it did. Thus it was replaced with a bolt which makes it much more tame. Both grade 25 pitches are graded to take into account seriousness.

1. 25m (25) Up the face then left and up to flake. Step right and run it out to roof (small cam in pocket). Traverse 6 metres right to rap anchor.

2. 15m (25) Jug out roof past carrot and fixed hanger and around lip. Up wall veering right to flake then traverse steeply back left to belay in little cave.

3. 10m (18) Through bulge and up.

It's hard to say which is less repeated - 'Tjuringa', 'Akakage', or this. Once you see the line, you'll know why. A massive traversing affair that starts as for 'Common Knowledge' 2nd pitch, but then keeps heading left (under Akakage) to a (hard) crux lip encounter (very old bolt) and an outrageous headwall finish.

Start: Start at the first belay of 'Common Knowledge'.

One of the most significant additions to this wall in 25 years. Originally equipped back in the dark ages. Very hard wall climbing protected by a mix of trad, then bolts - but still very exciting. Starts as for 'High Mum' then when level with the large flakeline (below the notch), drop down to the left and gain 'Tjuringa Wall' proper via a heinious crux sequence past a bolt. Trend up and leftwards to the undercut horizontal and finish as for 'My Soul to Keep'.

This is now considered a variant first pitch to 'Common Knowledge' but it originally had a hard (grade 25), second pitch which joined 'Common Knowledge' higher up. Tha hard section of that pitch is now the start of 'Lats Have Feelings Too'. Varied climbing up to the notch, then follow the right trending overlap and surmount it - then straight up to CK belay.

Like its neighbours, a very rarely repeated route that drives straight through the belay of 'Common Knowledge'. 'Fantastic' position and great rock, but a ridiculously hard fingery crux that has baffled quite a few aspiring suitors. Two bolts protect the business.

A great 2 pitch outing, though doing the entire route in one pitch is recommended. The dead tree has long since disappeared, so now you have to climb the wall to get off the ground! Double bolts now reside over the top, just below the summit block on its right side.

Start just right of Hi Mum! at bolt-protected wall.

1. 20m (23) Up wall past bolt and through right-leading line to ledge. Traverse left into right-hand flake and follow this until able to climb wall to semi-hanging belay below roof. Make sure the anchor can withstand an upwards force!

2. 15m (24) Up right-curving flake, back left to small overlap. Up headwall a few moves then traverse right, demanding with plenty of exposure, for a few metres then go up to anchor (30 metre rappel)

The all too obvious corner/crack/offwidth provides a good workout.

1. 18m (19) Pleasant short flake-crack to ledge. Now fight your way into the bottomless slot. From the chimney, swing over the next overhang and belay in recess.

2. 34m (17) Step out right and traverse past two old bolts. The route originally traversed off right but it's much better at second bolt to climb bulge and then flake corner above.

A contrasting second pitch with good rock and protection. From the recess Step up right onto stance. up and left via incuts and slots surmounting the overlap on its left. Left past bolt then directly up. At top step left to anchors on Common Knowledge

Right of In Lieu is an arete, and this route ascends the flake a metre right of that arete.

Up In Lieu to the ledge, then work out how to establish yourself on the flake. After the flake, go up the bulging wall above.

The smooth wall right of the 'Tynee Tips' arete past a bolt. Finishes as for the traverse of 'In Lieu'.

Solo the slab to the right of In Lieu, to arrive at the break below the carrot. A few mighty hard moves get you past the carrot, utilising the pocket.

Some have bailed after finding the carrot too hard to clip... but it turns out that isn't the crux!

Starts off the ledge up and right of Perfect Stranger. Fingery moves past the bolt leads to good horizontals, before committing moves lead to the beckoning flake. Finish up In Lieu.

Delicate face climbing

Start: Start 3m right of Strange Tenants

Up to Bolt, then break and on to 2nd Bolt.Up slightly right and up slab (Trad) to Rap Station for In Lieu.

Not a bad traverse if you like that sort of thing. Start: Start from large block just right of Strange Tenants.

Bridge up block then climb up and left to flake then big move straight up. From ledge head straight up and then right to DBB

Good slabby climbing with an enjoyable finish. Start: High micro-cam to start. Step off block and pull arete onto ledge. Up slab past a bolt to headwall. Move 2m R and up.

Surprisingly good wall climbing 2m R of 'Moving Out'. The initial wall (above the undercut arete of 'Moving Out' is bold but has positive holds. Take a few small cams for the first half of the route. The upper headwall is the same as for 'Moving Out'.

Shallow corner capped by little roof, left of 'Bolero'.

Arete left of 'Bolero'.

Obvious off-width crack at left end of wall. Take a big cam.

Start as for Bugalugs just right of Bolero through pockets to letterbox then straight up the wall with good protection in horizontals.

Up through pockets right of Bolero then move right and climb shallow orange corner to rooflet.

Pleasant crack 3 metres right of 'Bolero'.

No protection.

Up flake to peg runner and on to ledge. Traverse right to break and then hard finish up to boulder.

Start: Start at short flake on left side of orange wall right of 'Bolero'.

Chossy crack left of Hyperbola to roof. Traverse out right and up arete.

Very exciting.

The T-shaped roof on this is a prominent landmark on the track to Kitten Wall.

Good steep wall climbing up narrow face between Hyperbola and Black Cat.

Not too bad.

An attractive but serious lead.