Ascents in Oceania by Jason

big sandbag. you will get kerfuffled if you think this is a 17. it is simply not a 17 - at the very least not by the standards of the other 17s right next to it by the same FA, one of which I lead happily in jandals, this had me swearing.

v1 start into delicate but equally burly nonsense, squeezed immaculately between the actually climbable features of the two climbs on either side. spaced out bolts on the crux with honest groundfall potential from a decent way up.

I am five foot bugger all though. Maybe an 18 if you ignore the start and wander onto the other features? Stonking climb.

hand, fist, offwidth? Choose your own adventure!

got lost - thought was a 19. my fingers hurt.

all the moves and sequence down, now to lead the bloody thing.

good intro to paynes slopers. actual climb is far left of the bolts.

Chossy, chossy holds that are going to fall off soon.

Very hard for the grade, tenuous and slopy holds. Bottom is extremely run out and frankly dangerous - no excuse for such terrible bolting.

nice lead on half ropes with tools and crampons!

bit of a one-move-wonder of a route. I really don't think this is a thing if you're short, I'm 5"2/160cm, unless you fancy a semi-dyno onto a high crimp, starting from invisible feet and a wrist-snapping undercling. in which case, that one move feels a solid few grades harder.