Ascents of Electra having Beta

After bailing off this 3 seperate times on pervious trip(s), it felt unreal to get back here and wander up this with relative ease this time around. What a king line! Two #5s and a #6 plus a standard rack below those sizes make this feel pretty reasonable for a giant 40m pitch.

Onsighted the first pitch after taking almost 40min climbing up and down until I finally committed to crux. Would have continued the second pitch but we were running out of daylight so abandoned it by going left to Agamemnon's Gully.

Dam slipped out and took the whip at th crux, pretty thin hands and shoulders would be nice. Got up it with difficulty.

I am so unbelievely impressed with Tom onsighting this beast. Made the 1hr 40min belay worth it.

Short version- An absolute spirit quest. Long version- spent 1hr 40min on the onsight, some of the most creative climbing I have ever done, used every trick in the book, including passing the chalk ball to the chicken wing arm, and taking off my helmet for sections of the climb. There are 2 ledges on the climb. You think this is a good place to rest, however what you actually do is contemplate your choices of why you climb, how much suffering can you endure before it stops being fun, and wishing you had bigger gear. Not only did I push my limits in every aspect of the word, but I also was forced to let go of my ego and succumb to existing as a loud, sweaty, grovelling mess, yelling at myself that all I needed was grit and resilience. Clipping those anchors was such an achievement for me and gave me the feeling that I don't totally suck at climbing. I allowed myself to be sucked into the flow state and move free of ego or embarrassment which ultimately is the most liberating feeling. If you can climb this monster, and make it look pretty, you are a unicorn my friend.

First time trying... Couldn't get the first crux...

Wow! So proud of myself for getting up this eventually after a 2 hour dog. took me a bit to work out and struggle up the initial crack section. Had lots of falls onto my gear, so it was great for my headgame! some scary moments trying to place pro in insecure positions. 2 #5's and a #6 protected the cruxy wide section. This definitely felt like a baptism of fire into offwidth climbing, and it took me some failed attempts to work out how, but with a lot of suffering and thrutching, I got up the offwidth and the rest of the climb without any more falls! up the victory jugs, and stepped left across the void into agamemmnon for a mega classic experience. I gave this climb my absolute everything!

Uncomfortable in places. Glad it's done.

ha ha ha fuck

SO GOOD!!

So good! The masochist part of me really enjoyed this

Chewed up and spat out by this thing. Felt tough for the grade which means my off width skills need some work!

First attempt since prior bail.

On second it’s only a few minutes of thrutching really Had more trouble changing back to sport mode for the overhanging jugs at the top (a theme of the day)

Not too bad once you establish yourself in the crack

This one got me! wide and slippery I've no idea how to do this in great style some how got up. Big gear is required if you don't know the style of climbing. My nr. 4 was almost to small.

Bloody hard offwidth. Glad jemma was leading this one

First ever successful hand fist stack.

First ever successful hand fist stack.

Really enjoyed but perhaps a poor choice of warmup before Telemachus Direct

Went up this without doing any due diligence, and did not have a good time. Expect some pretty committing jamming in P1, and take big cams for P2.

Super gnarly fun. Offwidth was quite cruxy, succumbed to some arm bars and kneebars. Bring big cams. Finish up final moves of agamemnon for extra fun.

Really good climb, off width in the middle isn’t my style but I managed eventually

I screamed a lot. Would recommend.

One star in the guide book?!?! This was mega, linked the pitches very glad the party starting on agemenon lent me their number 5 otherwise i wouldve been too scarred. A six wouldve been nice too. No idea how youd belay out of that wide crack.

Very cool start. That’s all I got to see after getting spat out and landing upside down in a shrub before calling it a day. Need to think with my feet next time. From what I saw it looked mega classic.

Ben lead, fell at the offwidth constriction on pitch one, probably where the original aid point was on the FA. Decent inverted fall. In a way was nice to be shut down a little on day 1 and gain some healthy respect for the place.

Do it in a pitch! And take a #5

Man this thing is nails! Will have to come back to get the clean second, may take some time to get the clean lead though.

Not sure if I like or hate this route. The first pitch felt a little easier but still slimy, and the second is a full on thrutch. Dave used his #9 cam to good effect, and his big bro. Impressive ascent in the 60s and 70s.

scraped up the ankle a bit getting into the offwidth, but was mostly just fun cruisey climbing once I got the first chicken wing in.

Ohh my...not the "warm up" we expected

Was a fight, for sure! I think I entered the offwidth the wrong way around ... all my footers were behind me, and all the gear I needed was wedged with me in the crack! What an adventure. Done in one pitch.

LOVED this. surprisingly tricky, jammy start, then dicky start into the awesome offwidth! could not separate my arse from my head, but somehow struggled and got up it. good fun. frothworthy!

Not nearly as troublesome as i was expecting. A small taste of the fun that is offwidth climbing.

Vincent redpointed this like a boss! Unfortunately I fell while cleaning! Really hard for the grade.

Got to try out my hand stacking skills and bust out the big gear. Rock at the top seems a little friable.

Evil, slimey offwidth. I pulled on gear seconding.

Led pitch 1. Then climbed into Agammenom and escaped the horrible offwidth that we had no gear for. Pitch 2 is disappearing from my guide book

oh my god! not a good intro to crack climbing. beware the offwidth loving climber. good line but technique required. 1 good fall, 1 strained groin, multiple abrasions and a shitload of screaming....yep it was a DOG