Ascents in Kawakawa Bay as Red point by John Pitcairn

Stuffed myself in too far at the start. The kowhai is an arse and really needs a prune. Found even more gear through the "run out" cave section. Went and looked at the terrifying upper bluff rockfall.

Warmup? Across to the Critters anchor for a 1.5 hour effort getting the big midway flake off that and raining big chunks down. Aidan got the draws off just before rain arrived.

Thin crack only at start. Great jamming up top. Borrowed Justin's black totem, perfect size for shattered bit.

Back to get it, a hell of a fight. Suckers you by starting easy then getting slowly harder until you're packed into a strenuous jam/undercling with very high feet out at the crux. The step around/down (maybe there is another option here) to the vertical crack needed a lot of willpower, then took an age to protect it while wrecked. The "trad belay" seems dodgy due to a hollow sounding block and limited options, kept going to anchors with solid rope drag, belayed with poor comms. Harder than Hecklers I reckon, need more opinions.

Straightforward enough once you burn it into non-volatile memory.

Towed a #5 up here but it's only really useful to protect the wide start until you get a good high hex. A few jamming/offwidth skills will go a long way. Stays fairly clean, and there's a bolted anchor.

Out here for urgent track safety work. Great long route, let down by a dirty top third (take a brush). Lowered Jonno then brought G up, time flew by.

Attempting to get a couple more in before dark. Body said please stop.

A bit of dirt in the crack dogleg. Put a nut in the jam there, had to remove it and place a lower cam. Skipped all the top bolts, finished to Korimako anchor.

Better than High Hopes. Could use a clean but not too bad, maybe 18 as is. Nice view of parties on cruxes of After The Sunset and The Odyssey.

I still bloody love this even after a visit to Arapiles. Still clean enough. Scrape the thin crack out a little for gear at the crux.

Made a hash of the pull onto the slab. Some kind of weird heel scum.

Waiting for 2 parties in the queue ahead of us on Guardians. Tricky start.

Side pull flake still present.

Getting a tad lichenous through the middle crack. Prob 18 in its current state.

I think it's 19.

After a morning spent accessing and removing the loose block on Sex Panther.

1pm start, still a tad slippery in places after overnight rain. Couldn't get Jonno's nut out of Flake 7 on the way down.

Warmup. Meh.

Adventure climbing in failing light. Spiderwebs, bushes, lichen, runout, tree anchor, wouldn't have it any other way. Needed a wee swim after, brrr.

Overlooked by all the punters on the squeeze routes.

Right face in middle could use a scrub. Jonno has left some booty at crux if anyone can get it out.

Harder than I remember through middle. Missed the good foot out right.

Can't reach the finger lock at the crux directly from the stance, but a thumb press out left and right foot on the wee feature allows shoulder rotation to do the job.

Thin crack only at start.

Consistent all the way. A lot of lichen makes it hard to spot the feet and at times you are on lichen slopers. High priority for a clean. Topped out through some dead bushy stuff I didn't remember being there, couldn't find the anchor, then discovered a tree had died and fallen right onto it. Considerable swearing while balanced on more lichen. Got anchored then spent a while wrenching the tree off and sent it down. Rap cleaned. This will be bloody great after a good brush.

Back-cleaned a #1 and #3. Doubles at those sizes would make sense.

This is so good. Took quite an effort after no climbing for 2 months. A clean of the right face would help find more rests.

Warmup. The first of the two good pitches for the route (P5 is the other). Bloody nice.

Late start, a bit cold and stiff, foot jamming not very welcome. Neither of us feeling very enthusiastic, back to camp for lunch and pack up.

Group Sex Panther. Started up late in the day, led as one pitch with some nervy moments avoiding the loose block at midway. Settled in at sunset for a lengthy belay session bringing up three seconds, watched the moon rise, then we all had a headlamp strobe disco on the ledge. Back to camp around 8.30pm. Thanks to Matt for the extra rope.

Rock getting a bit warm, but probably the smoothest I've ever managed. The small crux sidepull flake is flexing, somebody will get a surprise soon.

Possibly the least gear I have ever placed on this at 5 pieces, but I was bumping the single #3 cam. The block at the bottom is not loose, but it is fairly hollow. There is a good 0.3 cam as alternative first piece just below it.

Went easily now the gritty feet have cleaned up. Going right to the sloper-undercling thing is a bit harder, but still no more than 18 and not stiff.

Committing. Up the slab solo until the corner and #1 nut. A cam behind the crux flake is avoidable with a decent blue totem in a small flaring slot at its bottom right, ball nut in a thin crack a bit below and right (didn't have any), and a nut in the flake at half height, then a stance and gear above. Top of the flake definitely flexing a little. A #4 wouldn't hurt at the top (didn't have that either).

Bloody great. Right face could really use a scrub. Gareth seconded clean, good effort. We could see and hear Katie and Joe up at the crux on the Odyssey.

Sun broke out halfway which prompted quite a speedup. Staying clean enough, though you'll always have to dig out the thin crack a little around the crux.

Lugged the trad gear out, warmup. Crack pretty clean.

7.30pm and finally starting to cool off a bit. No warmup just punch it and milk the rests. Got a bit too focused and accidentally skipped the crux bolt. Bloody great, and off the unsent list.

Been a while. A lovely climb, great passive gear at the crux, though now not sure about that upgrade. Felt solid 18.

Benchmark 20, if it's harder than this it's 21...

No cams used. Tricams handy to protect the top but there is probably some nut-craft available if you want to be even slower...

It's not 2 stars but it's definitely worth doing. There is sufficient gear in the "runout" cave section if you use your eyes and brain.

Final morning warmup. Bloody nice.

Warmdown 2. Use the right arete at the low crux and it's on the soft side of 17.

Warmdown 1. Would probably be a decent slab, but pretty dirty. Anyone want to scrub it properly?

Warmup, allegedly. Nearly came off at crux 2, wake up!