Rating | Grade | Route | Gear style | Crag | Quality | Date | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3405
points
| 30 | ★★ The Clumbsy Caterpillar - with Michael Moore | 12m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sun 9th Jul 2023 | |||
|
|||||||||
3364
points
| 30 | ★★ Kevlar — 3 attempts - with Tom Collins | 25m | Bungonia Gorge | ★★ Very Good | Sat 25th Feb 2023 | |||
3 attempts -never even got close to touching the brief (but gnarly) crux sequence. Could do all the rest clean at 26/27, but wouldn't ever have a hope in hell of putting it all together for a tick.
Great rock, and awesome, steep climbing up a series of linked features. A bit more "conventionally grovelly" than most of the harder routes at Bungonia (which might explain why I could actually do most of it). |
|||||||||
3309
points
| 28 | ★★ Water Hazard - with Match | 36m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sun 14th Apr 2024 | |||
Repeat attempt, not clean today. Just the one lap for fitness and to re-remember the beta for Match . I was pretty happy to put together the entirety of the upper crux section with minimal hassle, years after I was last on this. Amazing climbing from about the 5th bolt up!
|
|||||||||
3194
points
| 25 | ★★★ King Geedorah - with Match | 70m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Mega Classic | Thu 15th Jun 2023 | |||
Gentleman's Sit Flash. Flashed with a "gentleman's sit" at a no-hands rest near the top. Mitch's draws and beta (super key for the start) with little/no chalk on the route.
Wow... Just... wow! Like Subliminal, but for climbing connoisseurs. This thing is destined to be a classic, especially given the relatively easy approach. Probably 23/24 after the first 10m, but it simply never lets up its entire 70m length. Even the top "Grey rock" headwall is tricky and awesome. Best of all: it completely makes sense given the fact that there isn't really a "stance" to rebelay until you're almost at the top. Rope drag was fine as well. An utter joy to climb. |
|||||||||
3135
points
| 25 |
★★★ Big Nose
- with
Heath Black
| 280m | Blue Mountains | ★ Good | Sun 13th Mar 2022 | |||
The climbing is upper echelon "Very Good", but the bolting is so unceasingly garbage that I can't give this better than "Good".
P2 was quite sustained, with consistently rad moves up the arete (and a funky gritstone finale) but seemed rather easy at the grade (though I can see it being nails if you're short). Regardless, I was pretty stoked to onsight it in good style. The crux of the day were the moves to the 2nd bolt on P3, which was a solid V4 for me. I'm wondering if the recent storms have caused the block you start on to slide down the ledge, or whether perhaps there used to be a cairn there? I'm keen to hear others' opinions who repeat this after me. Most pitches were good. The crazy roof on P5 was super unlikely, and the spine chiller traverse was great! Regarding my criticism of the bolting:
Prospective multipitch new routers should climb this if only to learn what not to do. |
|||||||||
3113
points
| 25 | ★★ Sparkle Motion - with Match, Stephen Varney | 20m, 9 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Tue 28th Dec 2021 | |||
Yiew!
Gets progressively harder all the way, and I had to delve deep into the bag of tricks to stick the top with no beta. Not as good as the other routes here. |
|||||||||
3105
points
| 27 | FA ★★★ Litany of the Long Sun - with Simmo, Rick Webb | 75m, 20 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sat 22nd Jul 2023 | |||
What a journey! Surprise send, after spending the morning on Simmo's route, and only tackling this at the end of the day with a view to sorting out the "send logistics" (with a route this long, steep, and wandery... It's fair to say that it's involved).
There's just so much here to remember, and with it being so steep, you're always on a timer to get it done. Steep, gymnastic, and sometimes quite technical. Would be megaclassic, but the rock is only about as good as Sunny Side Bell, so far from the best the Blueys has to offer. It's almost too hard to sum it up at an experience, even with the copious amounts of hyperbole I can command 2 Full days working the bottom 26/27 arete, and the effort I originally put in to climb Gaze a Gazely Stare (as well as a few repeated laps for fitness and training). On the send, I committed to constant 5m+ runouts to avoid dealing with rope drag. |
|||||||||
3102
points
| 26 | ★★ Big Boyce Blouse — 3 attempts | 30m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Fri 30th Jun 2023 | |||
3rd shot over 2 visits, placing draws. Other than the nails direct start, this is about gr22ish to the roof boulder. The roof boulder itself is gnarly sequence, with a pumpy, committing finish.
|
|||||||||
3102
points
| 25 | ★★ Eyes of Faith - with Match, Rene Provis, Ben Jenga, Mitch Perkins, Gavin | 25m, 11 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sun 21st Nov 2021 | |||
The finale is brilliant, and way easier than it looks despite some rather outrageous steepness. Exciting on the onsight with no chalk on the top half of this.
Probably only 24? Full disclosure: not a true onsight, as a I broke a wet jug off on the headwall before I could actually clip the anchor. But, whatever. |
|||||||||
3101
points
| 27 M1 | FA ★★ Masked Lapwing - with Jared Anderson, Stephen Varney | 40m | Bare Rock | ★★ Very Good | Thu 5th May 2022 | |||
5 days of effort in total to free both pitches. It takes a lot for exposure to scare me, but this route managed it. Super obscure, but stunning.
Wild, gymnastic traversing, with huge falls into space. I got in the habit of climbing this with my grigri pre-set just behind my knot, and my Jumaar ready for rapid deployment. On one of my laps on P2 I took a really bad fall, to the point I thought I'd broken my foot. I managed the Send on my final real shot of the trip. The Aid move on P1 probably goes free if you've a bigger standing reach than me. The one on P2 definitely goes free, but it adds at least 3 more grades to the pitch. Feel free to go for the true FFA! |
|||||||||
3099
points
| 25 | ★ Cant - with Heath Black, Stephen Varney | 25m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sun 14th Nov 2021 | |||
Cool! had to try pretty hard for a few moves, and thought I was off at the top for sure. Essentially: 3 boulder problems of increasing difficulty, separated by good stances. The middle boulder proved particularly tough and committing with a curious complete lack of chalk on it.
|
|||||||||
3082
points
| 24 ~24 |
★★ Merl
- with
Heath Black
1
24
In hindsight, I had no chance of onsighting this. The crux is not obvious at all, and the carrots sure as hell don't point the way -Without chalk or wear, I can't imagine anyone realistically onsighting it. A pleasant start on orange rock, leads to a gnarly (but rad) arete sequence with some very cool pockets.
2
24
Proper stoked to onsight this. Super duper sustained, incredibly hard to read, spaced and kinda scary carrots, untrafficked, and draining. Lots of gritstone-esque climbing. I linked this into the bottom pitch for a 45m monster -though drag at the top was terrible.
3
21
The start is funky and kinda hard, and even the traverse is entertaining, but the headwall above is -at present- almost obligatory death with the crazy runouts, and the vegetated mossy topout. This pitch is not recommended. | 70m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sun 8th Jan 2023 | |||
Wild! Actually thought we were climbing a totally different route... it seemed kinda hard (considering we were expecting gr23 ).
Totally worthwile, and very much "of the era". Old school, weird bits of necessary gear, antique bash-in carrots in hideous locations... but still awesome. Linked the first 2 pitches together. |
|||||||||
3076
points
| 25 | ★★ Barbie Boys - with Will Vidler, Match, Ben Young | 20m, 9 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Fri 27th Aug 2021 | |||
A tad crunchy, but really pleasant moves. Seemed rather easy at the grade, but I have no idea how to grade anymore.
|
|||||||||
3064
points
| 27 | FA ★★★ Covid Conspiracy Capers | 20m, 8 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sat 1st Jan 2022 | |||
4 days of effort, but proper chuffed with the result. 3 distinct cruxes, but no true rest inbetween. I fell off the final move to the anchors 3 times on link. Slab style, though on a slightly steep wall, makes "rockovers" a dynamic affair.
|
|||||||||
3059
points
| 25 Easy | ★★★ The Life of Riley | 35m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sat 23rd Mar 2024 | |||
Clean repeat. Sweet! It's been a decade since I was last on this (when I ticked it) and it was rad to get on it today and just do it straight up, placing draws, without too much difficulty.
One of the best technical, sustained, and consistently clean face climbs in NSW. |
|||||||||
3055
points
| 28 | FA ★★★ One Somebody (Linkup) - with Josh Mackenzie, Jared Anderson | 80m, 21 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sat 17th Oct 2020 | |||
About bloody time. 2nd redpoint burn of the day, scrapping the whole way up. Was basically "mid fall" on the entire top crux, but just kept lunging and somehow got there.
Objectively this route is gr28 (hence its actual grade I've put on it on TheCrag) but my subjective experience (encompassing all the ropecraft factors) was gr29. Similar composition to Hairline, but 2.5x longer, but the 2-rope faff and all the other admin factors make it a proper mission to climb. |
|||||||||
3055
points
| 26 ~25 | ★★ Leviathan | 32m, 15 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sat 30th Mar 2024 | |||
Clean Repeat. Revenge! Had to work at the top, but still managed to punch this straight out today. So much fun.
|
|||||||||
3053
points
| 26 ~25 | ★★ Leviathan | 32m, 15 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sat 23rd Mar 2024 | |||
Repeat attempt, not clean today. No real problems to the top boulder, but -absent chalk- it took me a bit to piece it together. Essentially, three boulders (each getting harder than the other) with easier climbing and good rests inbetween. The top headwall is super rad.
|
|||||||||
3022
points
| 24 | ★★★ Ride the Lightning - with Stephen Varney | 25m, 12 | South Pacific | ★★ Very Good | Sat 25th Jun 2022 | |||
Sweet. This was my goal for this trip, and got it done! With not a drop of chalk on it, it was a tricky, sequency number, but totally suited my style of climbing. Even in the full sun, it was fun!
Nothing physically harder than grade 23, but lots of technique and committment called for. I climbed the arete direct all the way to the top. Almost a classic (but for the poxy start, and the overall shortness). |
|||||||||
3022
points
| 24 | ★★ Black Gold - with Mattyj | 30m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Fri 24th Jun 2022 | |||
Backlogging due to my previous logged tick being lost by TheCrag.
Pretty chuffed with this onsight at the end of the day, because this route was obviously unchalked, untrafficked, and a touch unloved. Good, balancy arete climbing. More scary than hard (due to the bolt position). Definitely only gr24. |
|||||||||
3014
points
| 25 |
★★★ The Prozac Years
- with
David Dearnley
1
24
40m
2
25
7m
3
20
20m
| 67m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sat 28th May 2022 | |||
What a journey! I've wanted to do this for years (we've all seen that photo of Greg Child on the roof cut-loose and mantle), especially because I've never heard of anyone ever doing it (even asking many of the local legends). If it ever gets rebolted and a bit of TLC, this would be a genuine multipitch classic!
I linked P1 and P2 into a giant 40m Onsight, then set up an improvised belay just below the roof (using 2 bolts and a #1 cam) so I could reduce the roof and mantle to a manageable boulder problem. These pitches are beautiful, sustained face climbing on great rock. P2 in particular follows a super-cool vague-flake thing with tricky feet, and finishes with an old-school "padding" traverse. Ticking the roof and mantle took me a bunch of shots (initially cause I was using totally wack beta) and at one point involved such a massive sideways fall that I broke a biner. Once I sorted my beta and rested up, it went down surprisingly easy. I'd probably call the mantle a V3? Pitch three is quite easy, but has a proper gripping traverse at the grade. I'm glad I didn't fall off. |
|||||||||
3004
points
| 24 |
★★★ On a String and a Prayer
4
Still hard at the grade! I was pretty psyched to get this done straight up, though it was by the skin of my teeth... that last sustained crimp section is tough!
5
24
Not too hard at the grade. A short pitch, but just awesome climbing from start to finish. The mono-crux is very unlikely, but bloody awesome. Pretty chuffed to punch it out without any real troubles.
6
Clean Repeat.
7
Clean Repeat. Even tired at the end of the day, this was hilariously fun | 140m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sun 15th Jan 2023 | |||
Coming back to try and clean up the pitches I didn't get clean last time.
Unfortunately, the ropes I brought weren't long enough to get to the belay below P3, so for now that pitch will have to remain un-sent. It was bloody hot out here today, but the route was still great. |
|||||||||
2993
points
| 26 R | ★★★ Gigantor (free version) - with Match, Simmo | 100m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Thu 7th Sep 2023 | |||
5 days of effort to this point.
Pretty chuffed to get both this and Titan done free within the span of a month. As with Titan, I really wanted to prove to myself that I could do this. I wasn't planning on doing it until next season, but had an unscheduled day, and decided to check it out... and I was immediately hooked on the challenge. As to the route: If the rock wasn't choss -even if it was just your run-of-the-mill Blueys Sandstone, I'd call this the single best crack climbing I've been on in the entire world (and I don't think my resume is lacking when it comes to crack climbing) for position, sustainedness, and purity. It would also be a super-duper obvious contender to climb as a giant pitch. Alas, it is choss, so while I still regard it as classic, that is very much a subjective opinion, and I think prospective repeat ascensionists should really consider whether this will be their cup-of-tea or not. P1 - is amazingly varied and technical climbing. Personally, I probably found this physically harder than P2 (in that, its more cruxy) and in some ways scarier (due to insecure cruxes). The opening finger-locking is aesthetic and great, and the insecure laybacking through the middle lends itself to complex footwork. P2 - Looser than P1 for sure (the start of the pitch is horrible!), but quite stacked. This has a lot of hard moves with no super chill rest. I found the last moves to the anchor to be the crux, there there was about 5 sections I could genuinely have fallen off on. P3 - To be honest, I didn't like this pitch at all. Loose, hard to protect short crack section, followed by a sandy traverse on eroding edges to gain the topout ledge. Less sandy/chossy than you might expect in some ways... More sandy/chossy than you might expect in others. There's an "unpredictability" to the rock here that most other chossy routes I've climbed don't quite have. The gear is also pretty good, provided you're smart about where you place, and remember that spreading fall-load over a larger surface area is better than the alternative (read: passive pro, dammit!). Don't trust the fixed gear, though |
|||||||||
2988
points
| 26 |
★★ Titan
- with
Match, Simmo, Stephen Varney
1
19
35
2
18
30
3
26
20
4
26
25
| 110m | Blue Mountains | ★ Good | Tue 22nd Aug 2023 | |||
5 days of effort in total to put this all together. I pink-pointed the top 2 pitches, and had the first 2m of gear pre-clipped on P3. I broke 4 fixed pegs, and 1 hourglass carrot during this process. I also took 5 falls -one of which was a sideways whip onto an hourglass carrot, that somehow held my fall!
I wanted to climb something hard on Dogface to prove to myself that I could -I've always believed that I could, but the time had come to prove it. I found this a conflicting experience. I liked the climbing on the crux pitches, and -surprisingly- didn't end up finding the bad rock/gear as terrifying as I expected. However, because every single lap the route gets harder (breakages, holds become sandier, others become more rounded, fixed gear breaks, etc) my whole experience was stressful due to the knowledge that sooner or later it would be too hard for me to climb. I've never really climbed with this type of time-constraint before (wherein, every failed lap is punished by adding .1 of a grade to the pitch). Interestingly, the bottom 2 pitches are quite moderate, and actually surprisingly good (the rock isn't too bad, the gear is pretty good, and the climbing is fun!). These pitches are probably worth doing in their own right. After that, it gets rather sandy, and kinda hard P3 had a wildly technical thin stepped corner (on good gear) to start it off (it took me quite a while to figure out the beta), followed by easy, loose, runout rambling. P4 had a very cool seam-crack crux, followed by interesting, technical, runout slab climbing on deteriorating rock. |
|||||||||
2987
points
| 25 | ★★ Little Boyce Room — 2 attempts | 26m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sun 30th Jul 2023 | |||
Great! Not too hard at the grade, but bloody awesome. The low crux is just fun, but everything above it is mega at about gr23. Great rock, and pretty sustained. Might be my favourite route here.
|
|||||||||
2985
points
| 25 | ★★ Boyce Light Up | 30m, 16 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sat 22nd Jul 2023 | |||
2nd shot. I only carried 2 draws through the crux, so climbed the top 20m clipping only 2 bolts.
A funky (but incongruous) start crux leads to a magnificient gr21ish headwall up cool grooves and scoops. |
|||||||||
2983
points
| 26 | FA ★★ The Kangaroolity of Women - with Matt King | 15m, 11 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Wed 1st Jun 2022 | |||
FFA. Sweet! Finally got it done despite the proper arctic conditions! Having fallen off the move to match the lip of the roof 5 times, it was an awesome feeling to keep it all together for the send.
A bit sharp, sure, but its a lot of time climbing completely horizontal at a relatively tame grade. And the boulder to gain the lip is all time rad. |
|||||||||
2981
points
| 26 | ★★ Yumster — 6 attempts | 25m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sun 30th Jul 2023 | |||
6th shot. Took me 4 laps to ever come up with a consistent sequence for the crux. 5th lap I went through the crux, and fell off the first stemming move... 6th lap for the win.
|
|||||||||
2981
points
| 26 | ★★★ Beastie Boyce — 6 attempts | 30m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sat 29th Jul 2023 | |||
6th shot total, and 4 core-shotting falls at the lower crux.
|
|||||||||
2973
points
| 27 28 | ★★ Chase that Feeling | 35m | Bare Rock | ★★★ Classic | Mon 9th May 2022 | |||
Wow! A sustained, complex face climb with classic moves and rock, to a no-hands rest, before a gnarly V6 boulder finale through the top roof. The upper slab is not to be underestimated!
Though I could do the moves of the boulder, I didn't feel that I could put both parts of the climb together in the 2 days I had to try it, so instead I traversed over to the finale of Velvet Morning immediately before the no-hands rest at the top roof, and finished up that (hence not claiming the full grade). Sure, it's the piker's McDougall, but it makes the climb even more sustained, and just as classic as most of the other routes here IMO! Hopefully next time I'll send it properly. Full disclosure: I also started with the first 3 bolts pre-clipped. At the start I use a compression/arete-slapping/heel-hooking sequence rather than the crimp boulder. Was heaps of fun figuring it out. |
|||||||||
2968
points
| 26 R |
FA
★★ MoonMoon Crack
- with
Match
1
2
| 70m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sat 17th Jun 2023 | |||
TRS Sussing lap on the bottom pitch, and the cheeky pink-point psuedo-FFA on the top pitch.
|
|||||||||
2966
points
| 23 | ★★ Rock Hard and Ride Free | 20m | Three O'Clock Hill | ★★ Very Good | Sat 16th Mar 2024 | |||
An enjoyable, easy start, leads to a brutal, thin and technical finale. Exciting for a slab.
|
|||||||||
2956
points
| 28 | FA ★★★ Babylon - with Heath Black, Jared Anderson | 70m, 13 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Mega Classic | Sun 24th Nov 2019 | |||
FFA. Backlogging the FA. Sent this packing on my last possible shot before heading off to America, thanks muchly to the entourage of belayers who hung out on the ledge with me throughout this process. Old school, wandery, super-thin, reachy face-climbing which -as a full package- is a tonne of effort, but rewarding in the end. I'd argue that this is one of the best examples of this particular style in the Blueys, but theres a chance I'm just a liiiiiiiiiiitle bit biased. Maybe avoid it if its windy, though.
|
|||||||||
2943
points
| 25 | ★ Juice on the Loose - with Match | 12m, 9 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sat 11th May 2024 | |||
2 Laps - just to the last bolt (24 to here) clean, as the last moves were dripping wet. Managed to punch this one out, sans chalk, placing draws, no worries whatsoever. Pretty chuffed with this, given that I haven't steep climbed in the 7 months since my accident. My core and calves felt it the next morning, though!
This is my favourite of all the routes on the upper ledge. |
|||||||||
2938
points
| 26 | FA ★★ The Cabal | 15m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sat 1st Jan 2022 | |||
4th shot FA in a day. On my 3rd shot I bungled the moves above the crux! Mostly fairly moderate, but the crux is hard, morpho, knee-destroying heel-hooking.
|
|||||||||
2933
points
| 27 | ★★★ These Dogs Must Be Pru's - with Match, Stephen Varney | 20m, 8 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Tue 28th Dec 2021 | |||
3rd shot today (and a bunch of laps over many years). Psyched to get this done. For me the crux is the streno slab moves off the no-hands rest, with everything above it to the top being super funky.
EOD and 3rd day on, I was stoked to pull this send out of nowhere. |
|||||||||
2932
points
| 27 | ★★ Two Nobodies in the Middle of Nowhere (Arguing over Nothing) - with Martin Cankov | 80m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sun 26th Dec 2021 | |||
Repeat attempt lap for EOD training - Not clean today. Still spooge on this as well, but at least this is more fun and less sketchy when its bad connies.
|
|||||||||
2931
points
| 24 | ★★ The Breakdancing Bee - with Heath Black, Ben Sanford, Stephen Varney | 30m, 14 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sat 28th Aug 2021 | |||
Sustained thin face climbing, but not too hard at the grade. Despite looking impossible from the ground, it's all there at a reasonable difficulty.
|
|||||||||
2928
points
| 26 | ★★ Crucified - with Stephen Varney | 13m, 5 | The Hide Away | ★★★ Classic | Sat 4th Feb 2023 | |||
Repeat attempt -not clean today. Just brushing cleaning, and trying to re-remember the moves on this one.
All thriller, no filler, that's for sure. |
|||||||||
2924
points
| 24 | ★★ Powerful Owl - with Jared Anderson, Michael Lehmann, Gerry Narkowicz | 20m | Bruny Island | ★★ Very Good | Tue 26th Apr 2022 | |||
Short and punchee!
I probably had more trouble keeping it together through the start boulder, than the upper powerful, morpho section... but I did have Michael's good foot beta. |
|||||||||
2924
points
| 25 | ★★ No End in Sight | 35m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Fri 1st Jan 2021 | |||
Flashed with the full beta spiel from Monty. I also really appreciate being one of the namesake elements for this route
|
|||||||||
2921
points
| 27 | ★★ Two Nobodies in the Middle of Nowhere (Arguing over Nothing) - with Match, Gavin | 80m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sat 20th Nov 2021 | |||
P1 Clean repeat. Great to retick this in only a day, and some less-than-ideal conditions. x3 laps to score the retick. Really fun technical power-endurance climbing.
|
|||||||||
2920
points
| 27 | ★★ Two Nobodies in the Middle of Nowhere (Arguing over Nothing) - with Stephen Varney | 80m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Wed 17th Nov 2021 | |||
EOD cool-down lap over a year since I was last on it. Bloody great climbing, and was psyched to get quite a bit of linkage despite the lack of chalk, and half-remembered beta.
|
|||||||||
2918
points
| 25 | ★★★ Lockdown - with Heath Black | 36m, 17 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sun 22nd Mar 2020 | |||
Brilliant! Super-sustained with so many moves that are puntable, but no true shutdown crux. The entire headwall is mega, but don't underestimate the slab (I came closest to falling off there). Probably hard for 24, but easy for 25? Substantially harder than its lefthand neighbour, but this is the real money of the crag.
|
|||||||||
2917
points
| 25 | ★★ Gavia | 20m | Blue Mountains | ★ Good | Wed 18th Mar 2020 | |||
I was going to give this Very Good (and it probably is climbing-wise if you finish up Exile or Poggio), but the mess of bolts at the top of this to force a 3m contrived new finish just pisses me off.
The moves until the 2nd last bolt (ie. where the debacle begins) are actually really good, quite sustained, and follow a vague line of least resistance. Onsighting all of that was hard work with all the crux-chalk washed off. |
|||||||||
2917
points
| 27 |
FA
★★ Dialectic - Best Forgotten Art
- with
Heath Black, Tom Collins, Josh Norris
1
27
30m
2
26
40m
| 70m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sun 30th Aug 2020 | |||
Both pitches are rather hard. The moves on P1 are radical powerful, strenuous, dynamic face climbing in a wild position, with a heart-breaker final go-again dyno. I needed proper arctic conditions to send it.
P1 took me 3 days this season (and at least 3 days last season) to free. P2 took me 2 shots today (and 1 shot previously). |
|||||||||
2912
points
| 24 | ★★ Itinerate Immigrants - with Jared Tyerman | 25m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sat 26th Jun 2021 | |||
Better than it looks. The rock is consistently average, but the climbing is consistently fun and engaging, with plenty of rests throughout. The bouldery start wasn't too bad, and the surprisingly steep upper section is quite juggy.
|
|||||||||
2911
points
| 27 | ★★ Black Heathen (extended) | 42m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sun 17th Oct 2021 | |||
2nd shot. A really hard face boulder-problem followed by a gritstone-esque sloper headwall that felt way harder on link than I expected. Probably should get done more often.
|
|||||||||
2909
points
| 23 | ★★ No Questions Asked - with Heath Black | 25m, 11 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sun 10th Sep 2023 | |||
Super exposed arete climbing. Would be 3 stars but the rock is slightly less than perfect. Very technical, yet steep and pumpy.
|
|||||||||
2903
points
| 27 | FA ★★ Two Nobodies in the Middle of Nowhere (Arguing over Nothing) - with Will Vidler, Jared Anderson, Heath Black | 80m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Wed 15th Jul 2020 | |||
Awesome steepness of beautiful rock, but wandery and seriously rope-draggy (hence splitting the first 2 pitches). A real resistance route in an "out there" (high admin) environment. I'm looking forward to the challenge of linking the first 2 pitches, though it will necessitate climbing the route on 2 ropes. Thanks to my belay posse for the days out here on this thing.
|
|||||||||
2899
points
| 26 | FA ★★ Approaching Rock Bottom | 30m, 10 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Wed 25th Aug 2021 | |||
1st redpoint burn today, 5th shot total. I was adament that this was gr27 up until the Send, which was surprisingly uneventful -though given my aching finger joints and muscles a day later, I must've been trying pretty hard.
Three boulder problems separated by good rests, with the middle one being the hardest and most radical. |
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2898
points
| 26 | ★★ Long Wall Mining — 3 attempts - with Michael Moore, Jared Anderson | 22m, 12 | Bulahdelah | ★★★ Classic | Fri 28th Oct 2022 | |||
Great roof climbing! More sustained than Black Leg Miner, and with a proper demanding finale.
Sent 3rd shot. Well... sort of: I actually had a silly foot slip while in the anchor clipping position, and pulling up rope for the anchor clip. Um... I mean: victory whip? Right? Seriously though, if I get a chance some day, I'll improve the style on this one. But for now, I'm content that I met the challenge. |
|||||||||
2892
points
| 27 28 | ★★★ Zoncolan - with Jared Tyerman, Matt King | 25m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Mon 16th Aug 2021 | |||
2nd redpoint shot today, 7th shot in total (and a few equipping laps). No particularly hard moves, but unrelenting from where it splits from Reigning Steel until you clip the anchors.
|
|||||||||
2892
points
| 26 | ★★ The Big Bang Is On - with Simmo, Gerry Narkowicz | 25m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Fri 7th Oct 2022 | |||
2nd shot. Pretty chuffed with this, as I hadn't actually been able to do any of the 3 hard sequences on my first go, and had to improvise on the fly as I accidentally kept getting higher. Man, I was hanging out below that top crux for like 20 minutes trying to figure it out on the Send!
The rock is a mixed bag, but the moves are great! Steep and varied, and sustained all the way to the anchor clip. I started from the first bolt. There was a cairn that was knocked over (I think it's to make the start go?) that I couldn't be bothered rebuilding. Has anyone done the start at 26ish without the cairn? |
|||||||||
2891
points
| 26 27 | ★★ Fucked on Cocaine | 16m, 8 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Mon 3rd Oct 2022 | |||
Sweet! Another boulder-problem overcome with trickery. One day I'll grow a muscle or two, but for now... trickery.
|
|||||||||
2887
points
| 24 M0 23 M0 | ★★ Love, Beauty and Danger - with Gerry Narkowicz, Stephen Varney | 45m, 20 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sat 8th Oct 2022 | |||
Climbed as a giant pitch from the ground. Rope drag was fine.
Some cool moves, a bit of exposure, a few small runouts, and a mixed bag of rock... great fun, really! The start might go free, but would probably be better starting out left and traversing in to the first bolt, or from the right (up the corner) and coming back left. The interim anchor is stupid, and just kind of ruins the flow of the route. As others have said, I suspect it exists to avoid the crux of the route. It adds about a grade to bypass it. If an interim anchor is necessary, put it on the ledge below the roof. |
|||||||||
2886
points
| 23 | ★★ The Incredible Hulk - with Gerry Narkowicz, Stephen Varney | 11m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Mon 3rd Oct 2022 | |||
Better (and less contrived) than I was expecting. Looks dull, climbs well! Has a surprising number of demanding and classy moves at the grade.
|
|||||||||
2884
points
| 27 | ★★ Deuca - with Geoff Johnston-Hall | 23m, 7 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sun 18th Jul 2021 | |||
2nd shot today, and I had a lap about a year ago as well. Probably soft at the grade.
Aside from the kinda dangerous bolting, and the uninteresting first half, the second act is sustained and demanding face climbing, with a true heartbreaker arete-slapping finale. With no chalk on this, the first lap today was rather gripping, given the runouts and the very sideways nature of the route. |
|||||||||
2881
points
| 23 | ★★ Defibrillator - with Heath Black, Michael Moore, Stephen Varney, David Dearnley | 15m | Blue Mountains | ★ Good | Sat 17th Sep 2022 | |||
23 going on 21? Even in alpine, frozen-finger conditions and absent chalk, this seemed quite easy. Short but pleasant face-climbing with a few thin moves.
|
|||||||||
2879
points
| 26 | ★★★ Sabbatical | 80m, 20 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sun 16th Apr 2023 | |||
Repeat TRS attempt for fitness -not clean today. Wandery, but super rad.
|
|||||||||
2874
points
| 25 R | ★★★ Aftermath - with Simmo | 30m, 1 | Arapiles | ★★★ Classic | Mon 25th Sep 2023 | |||
2nd shot. So much fun!!! After seeing all the broken gear on this one, I decided to do an equipping lap, then smashed it second shot. Steep, juggy, intimidating pumpiness through outrageous steep terrain. Im pretty chuffed to say that I reached the anchor completely unpumped
I then downclimbed it to clean it |
|||||||||
2874
points
| 25 | ★★ Ride Like the Wind Variant | 20m, 2 | Arapiles | ★★ Very Good | Sun 24th Sep 2023 | |||
2nd redpoint attempt, after a TRS rehearsal. Took a huuuuge fall on my first RP attempt. Short and hardly a "line" but cool rock and moves, and crazy sustained for a face climb.
|
|||||||||
2873
points
| 25 | ★★★ Trojan - with Mitch Perkins | 86m, 2 | Arapiles | ★★★ Classic | Thu 21st Sep 2023 | |||
2nd shot. My onsight attempt was an absokute debacle -I just couldn't seem to get my head around it, for some reason.
Then, when I figured my beta, the 2nd lap was kinda cruisy, I didn't get stressed or pumped. Weird? Objectively, its classic, slippery, burly, steep crack climbing, with a ruthless start. |
|||||||||
2872
points
| 25 | ★★★ Station to Station | 22m, 4 | Arapiles | ★★★ Classic | Mon 18th Sep 2023 | |||
2nd shot. First lap was a bit of a debacle, but my first redpoint burn was a controlled cruise -wasn't even pumped at the top. Super funky grampians-esque start, then a burly and technical crack and arete finale. Steep fun in an exposed position.
|
|||||||||
2870
points
| 24 |
★ Crankenstein
- with
Heath Black, Match
| 110m | Blue Mountains | ★ Good | Wed 27th Oct 2021 | |||
Some sections of great climbing, but marred by crappy carrots (albeit, lots of them!), plenty of bad rock, dirt, moss, and the really weird line it takes up the feature.
My recommendation for the pitch grades are 24, 24, 23. Pitch 1 COULD be great, but the key holds are very very temporary, and I had to climb it on eggshells for the flash. We placed draws as we rapped over it, and ticked up key holds, though I had no climbing beta for the send. I went for the onsight epic on P2, and had just stuck the upper slab crux (certain it was in the bag) when I ripped off a huge -unlikely- jug and whipped. After belaying Monty, I had to settle for seconding it clean taking off the bolt plates. Pitch 3 had a tough start, then simply oodles of delicate climbing on crap rock at about grade 21. All in all, a fun day out with friends (and not quite the epic we were anticipating) but far from classic. |
|||||||||
2868
points
| 24 | ★ Boys Buckets and Bumps - with David Dearnley, Heath Black | 15m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Fri 22nd Oct 2021 | |||
Surprisingly good! Would be a proper classic but for the no-hands rests at half height. Two engaging, long boulder problems in differing styles, split by a couple of ledges. Definitely only 24.
|
|||||||||
2866
points
| 25 | ★★ He Said, She Said - with Match | 20m, 11 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sun 27th Aug 2023 | |||
Clean repeat. Super fun. This one ha cleaned up nicely since I last did it. Easy for the grade. Great start and finish
|
|||||||||
2862
points
| 25 Hard | ★★ Being and Nothingness (2nd Edition) | 35m, 12 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Wed 3rd Apr 2024 | |||
Clean Repeat TRS.
After chopping the original (crappy) start, re-jigging the bolts in the upper section, repairing a super key broken hold (that was forcing a weird "round the world" sequence, and meant the crux bolts were all in the wrong place), and developing a whole new (gr21) start, I needed to see if my efforts had borne fruit. In short, this is now one of my favourite routes on the wall. I'd call it 2nd best after Life of Riley. Its rad that with a bit more route development experience, and a bit of time and effort, this route -that has always frustrated me for having a crappy lower half, and a good but poorly arranged upper half- is now one of my favourite sporty sport routes I've put up. I really hope this gets more traffic now, because it deserves it. Incidentally, the gr21 Bottom section (25m to the first anchor) is proper good climbing, and would happily stand next to such contemporaries at Cosmic County. |
|||||||||
2861
points
| 25 |
★★ SSCC4
- with
Will Vidler
1
23
25m
2
25
25m
| 50m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Wed 13th Jul 2022 | |||
My unchalked onsight of P2 ended at the 3rd last bolt (and the last real move) when I finally made a footwork mistake, with all the hardest climbing in the bag . Despite being aesthetically ugly, the moves on both pitches are brilliant, and I had to pull out every slab-climbing trick in the book on the onsight effort of P2. It was dissappointing to drop the ball right at the try-line, but it wasn't absent a whole-hearted effort -I tried hard.
Linked both pitches from the ground with minimum rope drag. The start of P1 is rather nails, but the initial moves its only about gr21 to the top. |
|||||||||
2858
points
| 24 | ★★ Mossy Rections - with Heath Black | 50m, 10 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sun 19th Sep 2021 | |||
Flash placing most of the bolt plates on lead, but I had the full beta spiel from Neil. Some sections of average rock, but quite sustained slabbing with no real shutdown moves. The mantle is ridiculous! The in situ carrots are in completely the wrong places almost the entire way up.
|
|||||||||
2858
points
| 24 | ★★ Driller - with Viona Young | 16m, 6 | New Nowra - Braidwood Road | ★★ Very Good | Sat 26th Dec 2020 | |||
Kinda damp, and completely unchalked, this was a committing pocketed number for the onsight, but fortunately not too hard at the grade. Hope you like pockets and slopers.
|
|||||||||
2858
points
| 24 | ★★ Statue of liberty - with Viona Young | 30m | New Nowra - Braidwood Road | ★★ Very Good | Sat 26th Dec 2020 | |||
Climbed as a giant pitch from the ground in the rain, which necessitated a fair bit of back-cleaning and draw skipping. Awesome second pitch, though not particularly hard. The finale was chalkless but I still felt solid on it. Found about 5 no hands rests on P2 =)
|
|||||||||
2857
points
| 25 | FA ★ Juice on the Loose - with Glen Thomson | 12m, 9 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Wed 25th May 2022 | |||
FFA. More hilarious steep jugging. After you leave the no-hands rest 5 bolts up, its all campus-y action to the end. Enjoy the mushroom jug!
I'd have given this 24, but the last move to the lip seems proper roof bouldering to me? Let me know if it should be downgraded. |
|||||||||
2857
points
| 26 | ★★★ Bogan Direct - with Ben Jenga, Mitch Perkins, Geoff Johnston-Hall | 7m, 7 | The Woolwash | ★★★ Classic | Mon 13th Jun 2022 | |||
EOD Cool-down (??) repeat attempt. Not clean, but when I remembered my beta, the moves felt fine... and awesome.
Shorter than a bee's dick, but without a single wasted meter. |
|||||||||
2857
points
| 26 | ★★★ Lactictoc - with Match | 28m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sun 12th Jun 2022 | |||
Warm up - Just up to the upper crux (2nd last bolt) where I jumped off. Makes for an awesome warmup that way. Damn this one's a good'un.
|
|||||||||
2856
points
| 23 | ★★ Cowgirl - with Stephen Varney | 18m, 8 | South Pacific | ★★ Very Good | Sat 25th Jun 2022 | |||
Stop-start, but cool cruxes! An excellent second warmup.
|
|||||||||
2854
points
| 25 | ★★★ King Geedorah - with Match | 70m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Mega Classic | Thu 7th Mar 2024 | |||
TRS Lap -seconding Mitch after the FA. Not clean today (2 falls) but given that I'd been on the couch for 5 months to this point, I was happy just to try really hard.
Most of my post-accident re-introduction to climbing has been tame, approachable, conventional crags. Being back on this monstrous monster is the sort of experience that reminds me why I've been trying to claw my way back to climbing so desperately. What a way to come back. |
|||||||||
2853
points
| 25 | FA ★★★ Harbinger | 50m, 4 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sat 15th Jul 2023 | |||
Originally attempted ground up. Took some falls, but was ultimately stymied by dirt and moss at the lip. Rapped in, cleaned 'er up, and went agsin. Took a huge lead whip right at the end on my 2nd shot, and sent 3rd shot on pre placed gear.
|
|||||||||
2851
points
| 24 25 | ★★★ Four Seasons - with Heath Black, Ben Sanford, Stephen Varney | 45m, 20 | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sat 28th Aug 2021 | |||
Lots of moves, but no shutdown crux. A climb of two halves, and both worthy. The upper section is hilariously unlikely.
|
|||||||||
2851
points
| 24 |
★★★ Serendipitous Arette
- with
Heath Black, Ben Sanford, Stephen Varney
1
24
30m
2
17
25m
| 55m, 14 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sat 28th Aug 2021 | |||
Awesome, unlikely climbing with some mega positions. Even staying on the arete direct this isn't too hard, but it IS brilliant.
|
|||||||||
2851
points
| 24 |
★★ Petrified
- with
Simmo
1
23
15m
2
24
20m
3
21
15m
| 50m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sat 11th Jun 2022 | |||
Climbed this as a giant 50m pitch from the ground as well. This was by far the better of the 2 routes here, with better rock and climbing on every pitch. P3 might be the best pitch of the day!
P1 was a great sustained burly quest. Fell off 2 bolts from the top of P2 on the onsight -got a bit lost from the bolt positioning and ended up in no man's land. P3 was awesome rock and "oozy" style climbing. |
|||||||||
2851
points
| 25 | ★★★ Never Mind The Bollocks — 2 attempts - with Simmo, Stephen Varney | 20m | Kiama | ★★★ Classic | Sun 9th Jul 2023 | |||
2nd shot. A bit of a rush to beat the arrival of night, especially at the end of a rather intense weekend (and a long first day at Bombo!), hence the cheeky pinkpoint. Super keen to come back for the True send, though.
Amazing, frictionless, technical trad climbing, with fingerslocks, fridge-hugging, face climbing, stemming, and many foot movements for every hand movement. The gear is good, but small, fiddly, and rather spaced towards the end. The finale seemed very bouldery to me. First lap was figuring out gear, cleaning the vegetation, and sussing the top crux -which definitely required some work, especially after I broke off a key footer. Maybe 23 to the rest before the crux, with a solid 25 tick when you add the crux into the equation? |
|||||||||
2851
points
| 25 | ★★★ Escape From the Drilling Fields - with Simmo, Stephen Varney | 20m | Nowra | ★★ Very Good | Sat 8th Jul 2023 | |||
Repeat attempt for a warmup, not clean today -didn't stick the move to the sloper at the end. Wasn't pumped, wasn't stressed, just didn't stick it
More fun than I remember |
|||||||||
2842
points
| 26 | ★★★ Master of Puppets - with Jared Anderson | 55m, 13 | Bare Rock | ★★★ Classic | Sat 23rd Apr 2022 | |||
2nd shot. First clean repeat, I think. Mega exposed climbing through huge blocky roofs on immaculate rock. I giggled my way up this on the send (singing Lovecats, for some reason).
|
|||||||||
2841
points
| 27 | ★★★ Mono No Aware - with Will Vidler | 25m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sun 28th Feb 2021 | |||
Repeat attempt (for training), not clean. Climbed clean into the main crux, fell off, and came down. Happy just to link through that first crux without remembering the beta at all... it's intense.
|
|||||||||
2841
points
| 27 | ★★ Point Insertion - with Will Vidler | 25m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sun 28th Feb 2021 | |||
Repeat attempt (for training) not clean today. Climbed via the Sentinel start. The wheels fell off here, and I had a rest at the crux. Too much climbing for 2 days!
|
|||||||||
2838
points
| 23 | ★★ Deep Six - with Jared Anderson | 40m | Bruny Island | ★★★ Classic | Thu 28th Apr 2022 | |||
Awesome! Lots of unlikely moves that seem like they'll be nails, but come together okay. Even with a sopping wet start, this was just tonnes of fun, and easily as rad as white noise IMO.
|
|||||||||
2838
points
| 24 | FA ★★ Bad Boyce Bad Boyce | 35m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Thu 13th Jul 2023 | |||
Coukd be hard at the grade. Hilarious roof jugging, to gnarly lip-turn traversing. Loooong.
|
|||||||||
2837
points
| 30 | ★★ Detache Mode - with Match | 28m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sun 12th Jun 2022 | |||
2 shots. Still haven't quite latched the dyno (getting closer, though), but the move immediately after is my crux. The rest of the route felt easier than a year ago, but still lots of work to do.
|
|||||||||
2835
points
| 25 |
★★★ Microdermabrasia
- with
Rob Medlicott
| 85m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sun 11th Oct 2020 | |||
Decided to do the full Multi (since its the only one I haven't done on this wall). As a "multi" its probably a 1-star experience (most of the value being from the first pitch), and I definitely don't recommend doing the "mantle top-out walkoff" nightmare.
P1 - Clean Repeat (originally onsight). P2 - 2nd shot. 1 move from the onsight! I tried so bloody hard. Not a drop of chalk on this thing. The last 5m before the ledge is extremely intense techo crimping, but otherwise its fairly easy. P3 - Clean Repeat (originally onsight) - Sections of good climbing, but lots of crap rock to degrade the experience. The crux on this is a proper hard reach. Would be interesting to see a shorty on it. |
|||||||||
2818
points
| 25 | ★ Odyssey - with Matt Pascoe | 22m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sat 15th Jan 2022 | |||
First shot placing draws (with no chalk on the route, and some rather wet holds) but since where this branches from River Styx is probably only gr23, it's certainly not a retro-flash
A rad juggy, traverse-y odyssey. If you're going to finish via any other route than River Styx, you might as well keep on trucking left. Much better than Tomb Raider. |
|||||||||
2816
points
| 27 | ★★★ Some Violence and Sexual References - with Rob Medlicott | 20m, 11 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sun 6th Dec 2020 | |||
Repeat for training (not clean today. Fell off the top crux). As good as I remember. Deserves its reputation.
|
|||||||||
2815
points
| 26 | ★★★ Terra Nullius Extension - with Tom Collins | 35m, 19 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sat 21st Nov 2020 | |||
Clean repeat, this time placing draws! Great to retro-flash this 4 years after I was last on it, especially with no chalk on the headwall! The slabby start is okay, but damn the steep, intimidating arete is intense pleasure.
|
|||||||||
2814
points
| 25 | FA ★★ Secret Squirrel | 15m, 6 | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sat 1st Jan 2022 | |||
2nd shot, sent the same day I bolted it. For the Send, I skipped the last bolt -something I still do on repeat laps. Really sustained, and you always seem to arrive at the crux way more pumped than you want to be.
|
|||||||||
2814
points
| 25 | FA ★★ Cloak and Dagger (Linkup) | 18m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sat 1st Jan 2022 | |||
Lots of climbing, and much pump -I almost fell off the top of Summer of Rain. Somewhat faffy given the traverse, but the climbing is an awesome journey at the grade.
|
|||||||||
2814
points
| 25 | FA ★★ Mum's the Word | 12m | Blue Mountains | ★★ Very Good | Sat 1st Jan 2022 | |||
The only route on the upper tier. After the haaaaard start, this is great steep red-river slimper pulling with a bit of air below you.
|
|||||||||
2809
points
| 24 | ★★★ The Name Changers (The Lame Changers) - with Heath Black | 80m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Sun 19th Jul 2020 | |||
1.5 hour round trip from rap-in to top-out at EOD. P1 is borderline mega-classic, and would be the best pitch of climbing at shipley... if it weren't at Mount Banks
Both pitches thoroughly worthwhile and very different in composition. Features some of the sexiest slopers in the Blueys, and a surprising amount of technicality. I was proper chuffed with this. |
|||||||||
2808
points
| 26 | ★★★ SpiderPuss - with Match, Will Vidler, Luke Hef | 18m | Blue Mountains | ★★★ Classic | Mon 3rd Jan 2022 | |||
EOD Repeat attempt for training -not clean today. Fairly happy with the retro-flash attempt, I tried hard, and made a few mistakes.
This is a proper great route, especially now that it's had more traffic to clean it up! |
|||||||||
2806
points
| 22 | ★★ Butt Muncher - with Simmo, Stephen Varney | 15m, 6 | Kiama | ★★ Very Good | Sun 9th Jul 2023 | |||
Nice rock, and fairly sustained. This was definitely a challenging introduction to bombo (and I may have almost fallen off at one point).
|
|||||||||
2806
points
| 22 | ★★ Till The Ocean Takes Us All - with Simmo, Stephen Varney | 17m, 8 | Kiama | ★ Good | Sun 9th Jul 2023 | |||
Not as nice at its lefthand neighbour, but it does feature a super-rad step-across move to make it all worthwhile.
|
Did all the moves (with lots of falls) to the last bolt, and I think I could link this much on lead within a sesh or two...
But I never made any upwards progress in the 1.5m from the last bolt to the anchor, and didn't really have an idea for how to do it at the grade.