Ascents in World as Hang dog by Paul Frothy Thomson

4 shots. 3 of them were to the final little sequence, which I kept on bungling. New beta on the final laps may have unlocked a better sequence for the end, but we'll have to see.

Cliffhanger-esque roof absurdity. Short, but hilarious. Makes you feel like a boss.

Back in 2019 I came a hairs breadth from freeing this for the First Ascent after sieging it for an entire season. A year later Nigel did the FFA, and since then I've had this in the back of my mind as an "obvious project to return to for a gr30 slab I know I can do".

Trying it today, I did all the moves "okay" (certainly better than my first days of trying it back in 2019) though it would still need a tonne of effort to put it all together.

But you know what I realised? I just really don't enjoy this style of razor-blade crimping much anymore, and I'm not so desperate to chase my first gr30 to suffer it for the sake of the grade. Honestly, I'd rather climb something steep (though it suits me less) and have more fun.

This is a proper slab/face test piece, and substantially harder than it looks from below. If you're still vibing that style, this is definitely your cup of tea. Now, after 18 years of climbing, I know it's not mine anymore.

Fun end of day attempt in the pouring rain... Felt like I was climbing well... and then I found the crux!

Took a few biiiiiiig falls on the crux undercling move. When I stuck it (replete with flying drive-by) I felt like a boss!

Short (if climbed without linking into the upper pitch) but great rock, and very strange (engaging) moves. I'm happy to call this one 25 with my physiology.

Bah, not winning Fell off a key hold well-above the cruxy start that for some reason was covered in sand. Its okay, future ascensionists, I've cleaned it up for you now

The start is hard, but super rad when you figure it out. The roof is strangely easy, given its absurdity, and the climbing above is relatively cruisy.

Totally worth your time!

Amazing, sustained, technical face climbing, and bloody hard for the grade! It took me quite a bit to sort the two main cruxes (I had to approach them very differently from the FA), and I took a huge whip from the very top going for a big link attempt. Beautiful rock, wild position, unique movement.

A bit more of a gnarly warmup than I was expecting. I pumped out on the last moves of the opening roof crux, but otherwise had no trouble with this route.

The start and roof boulder is great rock and wild moves, and the headwall is classy face climbing. Totally worthwhile addition.

Finally decided to suss this route to the top. The moves to gain and turn the lip are mega, and the grey-rock face climbing above involves some complex and gripping sequences for a first ground-up lap.

Probably the most annoying part for me, is having to lap the lower 24 section of this route to get to the hard bit

Clean repeat placing draws to the roof (easy 25 to here) then I explored the upper section. The move to turn the lip is very much the 27 bit, but the section above it is probably another 25 in its own right (albeit with good stances before the hard climbing). The upper section is excitingly runout when placing draws, in classic Emil style

Back-to-back-to-back thinness on positive edges. The technical finale is the best bit. No time for another shot.

Another stacked one. The opening boulder gave me a fair bit of grief initially. I went through it twice, only to bungle easier moves higher up. Complex face climbing.

2 shots. Couldn't keep it together at the mid-point crux on either lap. A stacked upper half.

Not clean. Great to have something new to do (all on gear) when you've done everything else here, but it is really contrived (and kinda hard to decide what exactly is "off route").

Regardless, it has some rad, powerful moves. With my busted wrist, there was a single move I couldn't do today, but otherwise it seemed "achievable"... maybe.

2 short early morning sessions. I really liked this, but there was a single move I never did -Maybe I need crisp conditions to use the slopiest sloper that ever slopered? Beautiful, inspiring rock, and more sustained than I expected for a slab

Headlamp EOD attempt. Great! After the inconsequential start, this is rad and engaging all the way to the topout

Exploratory lap. Mega climbing with a bouldery crimp crux. Not particularly scary -though all the bolts are in the wrong spot, its fine once the draws are on. I could probably do this this trip, but I think id rather get on more Arapilean-esque routes.

Took a monster whip falling off the upper crux on my onsight-attempt. Then had a few more less dramatic falls before I pieced it together. A briefly thin and reachy sequence, but otherwise not tooooo hideous.

Almost a classic, but that its essentially about gr24 with a v6+ crux. Night time attempt, 2 shots, awesome second lap but still couldn't link that crux, unfortunately. The rest of the route is great, though.

One day I'll tick this

Super fun start and finish, but I find the crux rather nails. An easy way of making this less cruxy (at the same grade) is to traverse left around the little crux boulder, since you end up back on-line by the next bolt anyway.

Just the one TRS lap. Very technical slabbing. More arete-y than I expected. Rock is a mixed bag of quality.

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.

Just the one exploratory lap.

Some cool moves, but probably the most contrived bolted route I've ever been on, and hardly aesthetically inspiring. The rock is also rather soft (and probably not destined for long term survival).

Only the start move gave me any real grief (that is; once I'd figured out how I'd attack the upper crux). If I came back, and can sort the start, I think I could do this next visit

2 attempts. Super rad.

Unfortunately, I couldn't touch the initial boulder move (never stuck it once) but linking from the 2nd bolt to the top was no real trouble. Great little sustained number, with lots of body tension trickery on some proper slopers. A joy to climb.

Amazing climbing.

Most of the route gave me no real trouble (the moves around and past the upper roof to the last bolt are awesome!) but the only way I could do the top crux is via the undercling mono (I couldn't use the sharp crimp) and -though I could do it- it just felt dangerously tweaky without some targeted training. One to come back for (with some preparation )

3 days of effort. Struggled with wet sections, but also managed some proud links. The roof boulder and top section in a push was particularly memorable.

I never managed a single move in the mid-height crux, despite lots of effort and numerous different sequences. Id love to hear from someone who has done it since the crimper broke off?

I was surprised how much glue was holding this classic together (read: tubes and tubes and tubes of it)... makes me feel better about Blue Mountains route development.

4 laps. Didn't have the time to try and send this bold puppy on lead, but was hoping to manage the clean top rope. Alas, no dice... managed to get it down to two halves, but this late in the trip, I didnt have the endurance to put it together.

After leaving the slab and campusing the rail, it's all on to the top, with some of the raddest pocket moves I did this trip. 1-pad mono steep cranking... awwww yeah!

2 shots. This is where the wheels fell off for me on this trip -I had a full meltdown here. I could do all the moves on my first attempt, and thought I had a 60% chance of sending, only to struggle in the heat, full sun, and 2 weeks of non-stop climbing.

This is a great route, of two very different halves, but equally brilliant. The bottom crux reminds me of hard Taipan face climbing.

2 shots. Mega tufa and pocket climbing, but a monster sandbag at the grade, even for massone. The crux alone (though brilliant) is a 7a+ sequence in isolation.

Amazing climbing up an incipient crack feature on perfect rock, but brutally hard at the grade. The final boulder problem alone is probably V4ish? On my 2nd shot, I made it to the anchors, but was too pumped to clip!

Despite a lot of effort, I never managed to figure out the first few moves to the good pocket (just below the first bolt), though twice I went from that hold to the anchor clean. A brutal start, leading to more moderate steepness.

Mega mega mega roof pocket jugging through space. None of the moves gave me too much grief, and this could even be achievable while on this trip... but at the moment, its just too damn wet. Come on sun, do your stuff!

Only time for the one shot. The entire crux headwall was heaps of pockety fun, but there was still half a move I didn't get sorted. Keen to come back, though.

EOD toprope inspection lap. Powerful start, then gnarly and very runout technical arete climbing. One move I didn't sort in the limited time I had on this.

Just the one shot. Frustratingly wet and cold today meant frozen fingers, and not much fun climbing this. Seems like it would be brilliant in better conditions. My flash ended on the final moves to the anchor.

3 shots. Came close, but a flapper-induced fall mid-clip put paid to the send. Struggling in the heat! Super awesome juggy steep pocket pulling.

Decided to try linking the Monteith Memorial Traverse (L-R 24) into P1 of this for a 50m enduro-monster (belayed from the cozy ledge). Turns out it's okay with some rope management, but quite the undertaking!

I found P1 of this very tough placing the draws, and absent chalk, though all of the moves went okay (ableit with a few exciting falls to piece them together).

If I'm back here belaying people on Thin Line, I'll probably try for this linkup as an arbitrary challenge.

Just the one re-familiarisation lap (and to show Mitch some of my beta). Also surprisingly good.

2 shots. Surprisingly good -this thing seemed to have been untrafficked for months at the time of my attempt. Short but intense in the upper half. On my second shot, I fell off "fingering" the finishing jug. Probably 26, IMHO.

Just the one shot. My onsight attempt ended with my hand on the end-of-crux jug (but never really latching it) but then I never managed to do any better, even after hanging on the rope/working the move.

Great climbing on awesome rock, but super cruxy.

Awesome! Way more interesting and arete-y than I expected. Kinda a bit scary, even. Just the one exploratory lap (with a lot of time spent piecing it together) but there was still one sequence near the top that I never really figured out. Totally my style, for sure!

P2 only. Wow! Every bit 25 IMHO. Very sustained for the first half.

Sustained, technical, and demanding face climbing leads (eventually) to a No-hands rest, followed by some punchy steep climbing to finish. Cool!

I fell off the low-crux, sorted it out, and came back down to try again... only to fall off it again.

I'm going to use the excuse of the heat, and my own weariness by this time of the day

Having said that, I fell off about 3 more times on the upper moves, so I was never going to get this one done straight-up

2 attempts. I never quite managed a single move turning the rooflet, but the rest of it was fine after I'd properly sussed it. Seems like a move that would be easier if you're short (on a Blueys slab... crazy, right???).

Despite just being a "direct" on The Mind Boggles, this has a tonne of new and intriguing climbing, and is definitely worth your time.

2 Attempts. On my 2nd I managed to get to the last 5m body-squeeze/offwidth section with a single rest, but never really managed to work out the last few metres. To me, with my physiology, it seemed like I was going to need to invert? But lacking more big gear, I was too intimidated to commit properly to it. I'll have to come back with bigger gear, and maybe a few more skills.

The rock is a mixed bag, but it's outweighed by the wildness of the climbing, which is varied, brutish, and intimidating.

I used 7 x #4, 2 x #5 and 1 x #6 for the roof part of the crack. I could probably have done with another #6 at least, and perhaps something bigger (purely for the purpose of working the last part of the roof).

2 attempts.

Awesome, but demanding. Very varied climbing, and steep as hell up a beautiful prow feature. Dynamic and tension-y. Hard at the grade.

I was pretty happy to get some mega links on my 2nd shot (linked to the crux throw), and to refine my beta for the following moves.

I'd love to come back to this one, but I need to be prepared to leave my draws on it, because equipping it (and unequipping it) sucks.