Ascents in North America by topher

Wow. Quite the step up! Super long pitch with long sustained sections of super shitty finger locks. Completely wasted by the time I got to the top. Well worth a TR solo, as long as you don't screw up the sustained first 10m and hit the ground with rope stretch.

Rope solo. Short crux section. First half of the crux was hard, the second half was dripping. Should be hard but doable when dry.

Much easier on toprope when I've figured out the moves and it's fresh in my mind!

Sweet! Second go. Screwed up the crux sequence and took a whipper at the top after I didn't find a helpful foot left of the crack at the top. Things went almost perfect second time around.

Super hard, and would be a super sketchy lead. Tough bottom, pretty sustained, with a crux finish. Just as well the top rail is positive!

Came off trying to get into crack and my feet touched the ground. Hard.

Took a couple of goes to figure out the crux, but got it! Nails move into the crack above the horizontals

Great lead by Alex. Just over vertical and doesn't give very many good rests. Tenuous, off-balance layback crux up near the top, with flared crack below.

Second shot. Took too long trying to place gear after bolts on first shot. Gear is completely bomb-proof, and not that hard to place once you figure out where! Yellow metolious in finger crack, which is easily passed.

Crux turning the lip. Almost came off, but jammed the arms in deep enough

Hard start! Messed up by putting first piece (blue alien) in pod, but got green alien and wire in just above. Had to come off once they were in, almost losing a chunk of my finger in the first good lock. Crack was dirty, but still got up it and placed heaps of gear up to #2BD

The anchor was already there from Stairway, so just toproped it. Would be a scary start if leading it. Cruxy moves before any decent gear.

Pitches 11 and 12 as part of Stairway to Heaven. Alice led runout p11, I led p12. Slightly tricky getting off belay, then mostly a ramble to the upper crux roof. Crux is moving to the roof, not turning it. Well protected cruxes.

First pitch only as part of Stairway to Heaven. Good, fun climbing with a couple of reachy moves. Stepping left a near the top was quite a stretch!

Start was a little more tricky than expected, and the crack was thankfully a little easier! Just held it together turning the lip.

Four bolts to start, then onto trad. Slipped once while manlting onto a huge ledge, part from dirt, mostly because of laziness. One sit at the crux. Not used to having to hang on for a full 30m any more. Would definitely be a classic if it got a bit more traffic.

NOT 11b! Think 11d is more likely. Long cruxy section near roof, with a couple of boulder problems. Got the first one figured easily, but there must be an easier way to do the second one!

Only climbed to Bellygood, but led everything except the two 5.8 pitches above the 11a. Linked the next two 10d pitches together, would be much better with roller draws, and if the corner crack wasn't dripping!

Awesome, and with solid gear. 0.75BD and smaller cams, with good wires too. Hard mantle at the top.

Awesome moves on amazing rock. The only thing detracting from it is not very good bolting through the middle crux section - potential fall onto ledge. First half can take several small-moderate wires and cam to 0.5BD. Climbed second shot after mis-reading the crux first go.

Led pitches 3, 5 and 7. Great transition going from climbing a big dihedral, slowly changing to a slab over 7 pitches.

Got the middle pitch. Got worried rapping down it, and completely missed the first bolt. Had a slip traversing past the second bolt and nearly grabbed the draw, but just managed to restrain myself...Burly!

A bit silly leaving the natural line just before the top.

Slight sandbag? Foot slipped, got it second shot

Some slightly crappy gear near the start, and a super wet, slippery and dirty topout made this the most exciting climb for the day.

Very fun climbing, but make sure you pull down, not out! Would not be a good lead climb with so much loose flake.

would be a ballsy start on lead

Start was seeping a bit, but most of the important bits were dry. Great fun first half, then a reprieve before some nice ring locks in the easier upper half.

Balancy move into the crack, then easy up the transition left at halfway.

The guide is right. A little burly at the start, but generally fairly easy after that. Unlike most other climbs, the finish wasn't very wet of dirty!

Super fun steep finish. Will repeat each time I come here.

A few broken crystals, minor slips, and completely trashed shoes, but managed to stay on somehow.

Only did p1 (10a). Amazing pitch of climbing. The select guide says this is 40m, but is actually just under 30m.

Hadn't done the second pitch before, and it isn't anywhere near as good as the first. Best to rap off after p1.

2 goes. Should have had it second go but bailed 30cm from top... Above pod, use features and good edge on RH side of crack to get feet high, then thrutch a little and repeat. 2nd #4 goes in deep at top of pod.

Was thinking of leading it, but the rope was already up, and I was a wee bit scared of the bit before the first bolt. Excellent larger nuts and 0.75-2BD in lower part, and possible 0.5-0.75 up left just before the last move.

Awesome pitch. Might only get 10d on some other areas because of all the no-hamds rests, but still great. Easy gear, lots of wires and cams <0.5. Hard finish if you go the wrong way.

Ordinary day really. From ground to Bellygood with Merry in sub 3.5 hours and first on the wall, but felt like sloths when we had Honnold and his mate literally run past us! Amazing to watch them move over the rock

First pitch only (10a). Best pitch of climbing I've done in ages! Can rap off p1 with single 60m.

Surprisingly good, and more technical than it looks from the ground.

Buggered up the move left the first time

Good fun. Took a bit of figuring out in the crux section!

Really nice crack. Most of it climbs as 10a, just the one little cruxy section

Fell on p4, trying to stick to the arete too much. Whole route is quite dirty.

Beautiful rock, but crux was all wet, making it pretty tough.

Awesome little sections, would get 3* if it was more sustained.

Really fun little climb. Would be well worth the two stars if it didn't have so much lichen and moss!

Got pitches 1 and 3, both great fun. On pitch 2, we continued past the anchors to belay at the base of the corner - much better for drag. Found pitch 3 the most technical.

Great, with excellent bolting in cruxy sections. Led all pitches, linking pitches 4 and 5. Would be best to use a roller biner and 120cm extension on last piece of p4 if linking. Had over 20m runout on p5, but easy ground. Moving from the flake onto the slab is great, but make sure you aim for the bolt with the ring on it, NOT the lower bolt! Traverse on p2 was tricky, and didn't clip the last bolt on lead, but clipped it for the second.

Got the 10d pitches. Awesome. The traverse into the crack on pitch three really got the heart pumping, but the crack above was great. The crux for all of us seemed to be getting into the offwidth. Rapped the route with twin 60s in 5 raps.

Amazing, but also a bit scary! Ran out of gas about 1.5m from turning the lip on the overhang, took a good fall onto a tipped-out 6. Pulled up and got a bomber 4 big bro just a little lower, and made it through on the second go. Only had one 3 big bro and 2 4 big bros along with the 6 BD cam. A 0.4 BD off the belay and a medium nut at the top, otherwise 6 BD and larger for the main pitch. Next time will try to find 2 more 3 big bros, and will feel much safer!

Have wanted to climb this one since I saw it in 2007! Amazing and long third pitch. If you have enough gear don't stop at the midpoint anchors. The flake finish is great fun too.

top was pretty hard in the wet!

Balancy. Might feel a little easier at the bottom if I didn't have to smear on lichen...

Would be a whole lot nicer (and easier) if I had spent an hour cleaning it instead of 20 minutes