Ascents in Oceania by Ben Vincent

Holy smokes. Cooked. 'Aided' the shit out of this. Will have to either get younger or do some proper training for this. Very inspiring!

What a beauty. Skippy has outdone himself here. A fine line with plenty of interest. Plenty of prawning action and forgot to unclip my first draw. But the psych was high. Another Fortress classic!

Fell two moves from fininsh.

It was brief hand on the roof but it counts... Great day for DWS

another throw and slap. Someone will get it one day...

Alec and Soph's first trip to DB

a little less clean than it's little sibling below, but high quality and very unique! Great to get up the pair on a tight timeframe!

After a few failed starts I tried something new and got going. A really surprising route that has a bit of everything. Classic find Skippy!

Wow, what a route. Three distinct sections of different styles. I was trying pretty hard for the onsight and went home with a dog. Spent an age chalking up a spoogey key hold and gave it my best. Great job Skippy, an instant Gara Classic

Fun climbing with a punchy start. The challenge set is to establish a direct start and eliminate the current 2m rest from the ground.

What a bottler of a boulder. Amazing how often you walk past a potential classic. A great battle for the end of the day, providing plenty of laughs and a little bit of spew.

A little more prepped than it’s neighbour. Classic Gara crimps with a fun finish!

A punchy, short and sharp number. Was please when enough stayed on to get the send. Really needs some key holds glued if it is to last.

Oooh very happy to land this. Tried a few more times with the thought of the V4 link-up but erm it was not happening.

Ouch.

So good I did it twice.

Oh no. I broke it. Sad. Was feeling good about this too and then on my second shot I pulled off a crucial hold. It might go with a start further right but it’ll add a grade or two. Broken hold is tucked away at the base of the boulder directly below where it used to live.

Such a gem

Erm nah. Not in this lifetime. Tantalising close but to being all there but it wasn’t.

What goes up must come down.

Phwoar. Maybe. Skippy got super close. Great Castle Hill training!

Love the start sequence

A funky number!

A real gem. Gets going from the get-go.

Sick. Can’t believe it took me so long to get on this!

Got this clean on TR but was initially reluctant to unclip my only directional draw to top out. Did so anyway after a wee pause. Gonna be another quality route at the Runway

Good moves in the cave but a bit friable and snappy pulling the lip…

A high quality, unsuspecting find!

Rolled in late feeling flat but summoned the courage to get back on this. First attempt went way smoother than last week but I ended up dripping blood on Alec and taking a mini whipper at the crux. Regrouped, retaped and tried again and somehow managed to sort the beta out enroute and get through the crux section by the finest of margins. It was all only just in the end and definitely one of my more memorable sends. Right up there with the best routes in Ebor.

An absolute brute of a battle getting aquainted with this line. I certainly drew some blood.

A short but really good unsuspecting independent climb with three distinct sections in the coolest of places.

As hard and as sharp as nails. I thought I’d get back into it pretty quickly but turns out I had to relearn the beta…it was coming back to me by the end. Good to get gear placements sorted.

Fun times

Nice to get up this. Might've used the Cave ladder to sus-out and clean last holds

Had a wee tickle.

Did 75% of the route and felt good but didn't want to commit over our single pad...yeah I know.

V....what(ever)?! Bloody hell, this'd probably get a V5 in the New England. Can't confirm that though cause I couldn't finish it ;-D

worked for it. Good problem and seemed hard for the grade.

Awesome climbing and a thought provoking crux

Amazing. Love a bit of 3D climbing!

this just kept on going. Some tricky moves up around the arete for the grade. Very nice!