Ascents in World as trad by Dean having Distinct route

Jumped on this thinking it would be a cruisy sport climb... Luke informed me at the 2nd bolt that I was supposed to take gear, and I'm only just now discovering its "R" rating. It's possible I linked some of 'Bic Disposable Boulevard' - there were a lot more carrots than the description suggests. Thanks, Luke.

The bouldery start wasn't too bad. I'm guessing the "R" is for the certain groundfall you risk at the 2nd carrot (and I didn't even spot any gear in between the 1st and 2nd). I hauled up some gear at this point and continued on. Crux is up high on the slab - 2 good crimps but delicate feet I didn't trust at all with my 10yo crack shoes. But it has 2 closely spaced carrots! After countless false-starts and many minutes brushing holds, chalking up and feeling for hidden crimps, I clipped the higher carrot for some courage and finally committed to a smeary L foot, high R foot and a throw up to the ledge. Caught the jug just as my feet slipped.

Upper crack was seeping so after throwing a wire in I skirted around the L of it.

Gear: .75 behind flake, medium nut in crack at the top, lots of bolt plates.

Approach: followed the trail instead of ducking the fence at Sail Away wall. Had to bush bash up to regain cliff line.

P1: went pretty briskly: stems, hops and a couple of very smooth holds that are a bit scary if you've got sweaty fingers. Looked much harder on lead due to the marginal/fiddly pro. May even have used a finger lock - advantages of swollen joints?

P2: I enjoyed the stemming and the spacing of good holds was just right. Slightly soft for 20. Used laybacks to make some ground, and hand jams as a rest for tired fingers. Belay stance was terrible for our party of 3 - gear and rope everywhere, leader hanging below the ledge kinda in the way, not really a good place for me to sit or hang as second. I dropped my shoe (which very luckily landed on the ledge at the top of P1 before Ollie started climbing).

P3: easier than the first pitch but still tricky due to lack of pro. I ran it out as much as I could without risking hitting the ledge too hard; C4#0.3, 0.75, over-cammed 2 and a thread, probably could have stitched an extra small wire in down low too. Couple of thought-provoking sequences felt more like 17 than 15. For the last few metres, went up the R face using the least fragile jugs I could find. Tree anchor because I didn't see the bolts.

Exit: long bush bash around gully, across creek, then up the other side. There are huge strips of bark and leaves everywhere - if there's a trail there we couldn't see it.

I thought it was a classic while climbing, for the interesting steepness and stemming, but after debriefing I was convinced the marginal pro and variable rock quality detracts especially on lead.

not only fingerlocks, but an offwidth! Maybe the first time I've used a double hands stack for reals?

Nice stemming to start then interesting levering up the steep hand cracks. Good rests before the harder sections, and quite a few crimps to help out when the crack is uncooperative.

Don't forget a #3 for the top.

Went up direct since 'Jason' was a waterfall.

nice line, would come back for the send.

crux is moving past the juggy rail - fell there once. Got a finger scarily locked in after a rest and awkwardly got over. There's a great left hand jug on the arete which I think helped too.

Downclimbed the crux several times trying to figure it out (tried both left and right beta) before finally giving up the flash attempt. Left is the better beta but it requires committing to the crimp on the top of the flake to get the RF up to a smear and then the high LF. Unfortunately my fingers were visibly making all the smooth, critical holds on the flake wet with condensation and I could never quite commit to trusting the last crimp.

Gear: medium wires, single rack + extra #1, bolt plates.

the undercut after the chimney felt nails through some combination of rope drag, lack of fitness and bad beta. try better rope management and more of the big right pocket next time?

struggled at the start then bailed to avoid an epic.