Ascents in Northwest Slopes and plains by Paul Frothy Thomson

I really enjoyed the upper half of this, despite it being dirty as a pig in a wallow. With some brushing it cleaned up nicely. Has a rather gritstone-esque finish.

One of the few times I've ever bailed off a trad route. After climbing 4 bodylengths above my last good gear, placing wires of hideous quality and facing rubbish rock going into the crux of P1, I flicked out my shit wires, did a dangerous and tenuous downclimb, left behind some gear and bailed.

Lead both pitches. Some great moves (especially through the roof on P1, and the crack system immediately above) but just has so much crap rock on it that it's hard to just enjoy the climb. The start of P1 necessitates some caution.

2nd shot. Classic climbing, but the dubious rock renders it "very good". A surprisingly bouldery and sustained outing, with only one real rest on the entire route. My first lap took me 1.5 hours to put together the beta (though route was clearly untrafficked), and to send it I had to go all guns blazing with lots of noise, clipping bolts at my ankles, and a bit of whimpering. For a face climb, this one runs a surprising gamut of moves and styles.

4th shot Pink-Point send. Awesome. One off the bucket list of obscure ticks (that has been there since I first came to Kaputah a decade ago!).

Both pitches have awesome moves, with (mostly) good rock, and are improbably steep. P2 has a funky opening roof to negotiate, before going gnarly old-school palm-on-wall feet-smeared-on-nothing steep stemming, which reminded me of the crux of Pythagoras Theorem. Figuring out the crux sequence probably took me 1.5 hours of effort over 2 laps!

I found the gear on both pitches (especially pitch 2) fiddly and a bit dubious, and never got to the point on P2 where I wanted to do the ascent placing gear (though having to finish before the midday summer sun arrived each day, and being on a mere road trip were also factors). I think maybe with another day on the route I might've gotten to that point.

Alzheimer's Onsight! I had no idea I'd ever been on this route before (seconding Neil years ago).

Pleasant low-angle arete-climbing with spaced bolts, and no pronounced crux. The lack of an anchor to get back down (or even easily rap off) is annoying.

2nd shot. The untrafficked onsight ended between the last bolt and the anchor, despite giving it everything. Felt solid and enjoyable on the 2nd lap. Maybe not too hard for the grade? An engaging gritstone-esque ramble up a funky buttress, with all the most engaging bits at the top.

An EOD lap. Though rather dirty and untrafficked, there is some great gnarly (and somewhat desperate) arete climbing on this. I had to try quite hard for the onsight.

Awesome! Despite some crap rock, this is a proper gnarly sustained stemming corner, with good technique a must. Seemed rather hard for the grade.

A less hideous start than its neighbour, but unfortunately this one's crap rock is through the main crux. I suspect a key flake has broken off, as I never managed the mid-height crux move once. The upper crux as well is at least 24.

Probably 25. A hideous disintegrating start for 15m leads to 7m or radical climbing. The "dyno" move is rather nails. Though I could probably do this second shot, I didn't want to subject myself to the masochistic start again.

An unnecessarily runout and disintegrating slab leads to 5m of genuinely rad steep moves. Probably 23 to the small break above the last bolt (which you could clip the anchor from with 120cm sling on it), but 25 to clip the anchor with a normal sized draw, or do the moves to get above it (as I did). Lots and lots of bird shit on this one.

With Neil. Climbed a variant P1 (Traversing onto BOTW at half height) due to very dubious rock and gear. Apparently there IS gear above the committing move. P1 (variant) - 2nd Clean. P2 - Onsight. P1 is chossy and with average gear at the start, then committing climbing on spaced gear above it. P2 is nice climbing up a corner system with great gear, though a bit loose at the top.

Mega! Best route I've done at Euglah. Brilliant technical face climbing up an unlikely trad line with really funky movement. The top crack is a nice and straightforward way to finish up the pitch. Climbed on pre-placed gear. After getting a look at this lowering off MTtLG, there seemed to be a distinct lack of any gear, so Neil and I placed it on rap. There IS spaced gear all the way up this, but most of it is VERY small and of moderate-to-marginal quality. Bring LOTS of small wires/RPs.

Seconding Neil. New bolts are good, but with some questionable positioning. Radical arete climbing with so many small edges necessitating interesting movement, but felt easy at 20. Needs its own anchors. We finished up traversing onto BOTW anchors (hence the need for me to second).

With Neil. P1 - Clean Second. P2 - Onsight. An amazing line, but not quite so amazing climbing due to rubbish rock on Pitch 1. P1 would be technical and tricky WITHOUT the fear that every hand/foothold will break up. All of this together definitely makes this the true crux Pitch. P2 is steeper than it looks, and quite strenuous but with bombproof pro and predictable climbing.

With Neil. Brilliant and demanding! P1 - 2nd Clean. P2 - Onsight. Pitch 1 is as good as The Recidivist Direct (P2), but probably less dangerous. Enjoyable climbing to gain the stemming corner, then stemming bliss up impossible blankness on bomber rock. Wild and improbably moves to gain the steep crack, then pumpy, strenuous jamming to the top. Wild! Pitch 2 is pleasant and very pure "trad" up a corner/gully with some real moves to make it worthwhile.

With Neil. Stoked, this was one of my goals for the trip. P1 - Onsight. P2 - 2nd Clean. P3 - Onsight. The first pitch is the money on this one. Nice thin slabbing with very thin, spaced (dubious?) gear to gain the roof, then committing technical climbing up and around the roofs. An amazing number of moves are necessary to do this with finesse. The "bold-ish" traverse left at the end is memorable! P2 and P3 are both quite good with good pro and interesting moves.

With Neil. P1 - Second Clean. P2 - Onsight. P3 - Second Clean. Three great and varied pitches. The first is a bit obscure (starting up Sego Entree) with dubious pro, but makes for exciting traversing to gain Iconoclast crack. P2 is nice corner climbing around a prominent roof with really good gear. P3 is a straightforward but exciting steep-ish jam crack with more good gear, and some strenuous climbing. Maybe not QUITE classic, but close.

Felt about middle-of-the-range 20 to me. Two spicy sequences that demand great footwork and balance. Pretty rad arete climbing all the way to the top of the pillar. Worthwhile.

Stellar technical stemming on the bottom half with thin, spaced and tricky to place gear (but not quite bad enough to be properly dangerous). Goes easier than it looks, and the hardest moves are on reasonable gear. Would be a borderline classic if you rap off at the top of the pillar (using The Orgasmotron 's anchors) rather than doing the loose off-width top half. If doing the top, bring BIG cams... I didn't, and it was a scary 12m runout.

Seconding Neil. Nice corner climbing on vibrant black rock. Less sustained than Yummikins, but with a harder crux (the obvious rooflet). Gear appears as its needed, and the climbing is pleasant from start to finish. What more could you want?

Really good. Kind of reminds me of a harder version of Clandestiny over at The Governor. Amazing face holds appear every time the climbing gets hard, but there are intriguing sequences all the way up. Gear is spaced, but generally quite good.

Seconding Neil. A great route, and quite sustained at the grade with good typical Kaputah gear (Read: varied, creative and somewhat tricky to place). Awesome technical climbing.

Some interesting climbing with okay gear, but rubbish rock. Quite dirty and loose, with a rather runout start.

Nice techy arete climbing. Dangerous getting to first bolt, and then VERY dangerous getting to the second, but okay after that. I rushed the balancy crux move, and slipped off despite having the move in the bag. A silly mistake.

Not too sure what this climb is, but it looks pretty new. Some good movements if you remain on the arete the whole way (with a tricky move at the 2nd hanger). Worthwhile for a warm-up. Technical.

Really good. As below, a pretty tricky and desperate move on average gear is necessary to gain the crack proper, after which it's just corner crack climbing bliss. Clean and aesthetically superb,

Hmmm, quite a few new bolts on this now. Still great technical climbing through some weird bulges and up a slab, but the notorious danger aspect of this climb is now gone. Reasonably sustained.

A VERY demanding line. Has this had a repeat? We broke the 2nd pitch into 2 halves via a fully hanging belay after running out of small gear. P1 - Onsight, P2 - Tick (could be a flash). P3 - Second Clean. The first pitch is tricky, the second pitch is nails, could easily be a 23. Sustained, tenuous, desperate, with spaced gear of marginal quality through all the hardest moves. My partner took a massive gear ripping fall, so I ended up leading it with much terror. Classic, but monstrous.

Stunning climbing. Second clean P1, Onsight P2. The first pitch is poorly protected at the start, but safe as houses through the funky roof moves. The second pitch has bomber protection the whole way, with exciting movement through a few technical rooflets, followed by an exciting topout. I found the second pitch harder and more sustained than the first. A real gem of a line!

Onsight P1 and most of P2 (linked). Second clean the last 15m of pitch 2. Pretty good, but quite tricky for the grade if you follow the crack system the whole way, and the gear is rather widely spaced. Good climbing, but despite the grade I wouldn't recommend this as a beginner lead.