Ascensiones en The Spot

Great climb! Love taking my friends who are new to climbing on this route

Just keep swimming

Just keep swimming

max and theo both tried it. neither wanted to climb to the top ... too scared

Dirty crack at the start, but some great laybackin' crackin'.

Dumped a bunch of unnecessary trad gear in there for practice on the way up, since after the first 3 bolts it felt super duper safe.

Stick clipped the start because the first couple moves felt harder than they really were. Also plugged a bunch of cams and nuts in there just to play at a trad route. Other than the first 1-2 clips, the rest of the route would probably make for a great trad route.

#3 route. Peter climbed though my gear on Who Needs Viagara to clean it (and to avoid the swinging mess that I made of the first couple moves), then moved the anchor over to Cat and Mouse, which I found super easy, barely an inconvenience. Did two TR laps. Should do it on lead, it's a really friendly route.

#2 of the day: stick-clipped the first bolt (didn't read the guide book advice, just figured it looked unsafe). Good thing too, since I fell of it at least 3 times (yay for attentive belayers and soft catches!). Did finally solve the initial beta and worked though the rest. Might have rested part way up? Anyway good route, possibly more like a 5.9?

#1 of the day: Peter put up this route, I cleaned, then we rapped down. Reminder that I need to practice top-belay more. Fun.

#4 on the day.

If you pina coladas, and sketchy slab routes from hell... this started out scary (I suck at slabs), got worse (more like 5.10-?) and then became a mix of easy 5.7ish stuff and interesting 5.10ish moves. Nice and long overall, with great exposure, with a beautiful anchor station to top-belay and rap from.

100% worth the struggle, but wow, it was work to get through the first bit. This is rated a 5.9+ in the Rock Climbing Nova Scotia guidebook... and clearly the + is accurate when describing the crux(es) at the start.

We used a 70M rope to get back to the Whisky ledge, and then climbed down the gully.

Unclear if a 60M rope would have been enough.

#5 of the day. I was told to expect a scary traverse over the arete at the top to get to the rings but after the bottom part of Phat Tuesday, this was a walk in the park.

#6: last route of the day.

Good for your first ever trad lead, since the climbing is uninteresting, so there's not much thinking required. Hands are good and the protection is decent (once you scrub out the dirty cracks) and you can faff about picking nuts and cams while standing on decent ledges. So it's low stress, but there's no real wow factor.

#3. First time doing this on lead, and it was everything I thought it would be from the last time on TR with Peter.

#2. Ugh, still hate this route. Did it on TR and still couldn't land the opening move (tried to do it from below instead of from the left face). And then veered off into the 5.7 higher up. Not a fan. Karla crushed the opening move though, and stayed more true to the route.

#1 of the day, and my second ever trad lead. Dumped like 4-5 cams and a single nut in there, then got a bit runout at the top. GREAT belay ledge for bringing up a second and then rapping back down. Karla's first trad clean in a while - got out the token nut w/o a tool.

#5. OK, so this route was awesome, even including the rusty bail biners at the top instead of rap rings, and the fact that I got my foot stuck in the crack near the anchor. 5/5, would climb again.

After much deliberation and whining, I finally got on this slab. (I hate slabs.) Stick clipped the first two bolts and thankfully so. The top half is nice for a slab. The bottom... not a fan. Good route, just not a fan of slabs.

Got out for one quick Xmas Eve climb, preceded by a big ol' bushwhack right up to the far left of the crag because we walked right past the trailhead.

#1 of the day. Very fun route. Downclimbed a bit near the start to remove a draw to eliminate some drag; skipped some draws to help with drag too, but it's probably hopeless. Can't fight the drag. Next time would use fewer draws entirely as it's a pretty safe (if runout) route that way. It's also been suggested to do it in 2 pitches, perhaps using the rings above Tradasaurus as a belay ledge.

Guidebook recommended rapping back down on Phat Tuesday rap rings, but we overshot that and ended up rapping off one of the Industrial Area routes - possibly Memories. It was dirty, slabby, icy, and only looked fun at the top over the roof, so... pulled the rope instead of making a TR boondoggle of it.

#2 of the day. Frozen toes couldn't hold me back from trying this - since Jamie was so kind to rope solo it and leave the rope up, it gave me a chance to TR and clean it. Good route, will have to take a closer look at it when I'm not freezing my toes and hands off.

#4. Some pants-moistening moments involving a popped nut (Karla was belaying from too far back from the wall, girth hitched to a tree, and yanked down on the rope to tighten me up (by request) which popped a mini nut out. Luckily I was 2 or three cams above so it didn't matter. Later after a big run out section put a BD #.5 purple cam in a deep crack in the left side of the corner, which walked out of place and deeper into the crack. No danger of coming out -- in fact it took Karla 2 attempts to remove it (including nut tool gymnastics) and me finally going in w/ 2 hands to get it out. Also tied a sling around the tree at the top on the left wall because was feeling skeeved about the distance since my last cam, but ultimately the traverse over to the rings at Cocksure was easy peasy, and didn't need that extra pro. Still, safety third, right?

Karla had no problems with this one; John got stuck at a tricky layback stem move.

Medium cams, some nuts.

#3. Still don't like the right-to-left traverse up the ramp on this one. Had to grab my draw to make the move. Karla ran up that section like it was nothing.

#2. About as much fun as last time, but somehow more unnerving. Was I off course? I remember there's supposed to be a traverse on this...?

Karla wants to try this one again.

#1. Ran up this gem so Karla could practice a lead climb with draws in the wall. She then later did it clean from top to bottom, using her new old quickdraws (new dogbones, old non-lockers). John then did his first TR while cleaning gear on the way up. Successful end to the day!

#2. My first lead of the day. Got lost after the second bolt (don't go right) and had to hang a bit to regroup. It was also Dave's second time sport lead belaying so I was a tad more worried than I would have been with a more experienced belayer.

#3. Karla's second lead of the day. Another fun run up, though got in my head a little for the cram jamming bit.

#1. Karla led, Dave seconded, I cleaned. As usual, a nice easy warmup.

#2 of the day. Fun times for me, John did not finish but vowed to come back for a rematch.

#2. The usual go-to newb climb. Also everything in between Leave it to Beaver was either too hard for John or too wet for me.

Did a second lap on TR in my trail runners, to play way out on the arete and try different moves. Turns out yes, it can be climbed in runners.

#1. Forgot how fun this one is, when it's not dirty. Gave it some scrubbing on the way up and down. John did not finish it.

#4. First time on TR, got a bit lost at the start and opted to fight with the bulgey arete instead of the usual traverse left for the jugs.

#2. Wet at the start, dripping by the end. Gotta love a wet crack.

#5. Led in a single pitch, and top belayed w/ ATC not in guide mode because I forgot about that option. But my anchor and shelf were bomber. Veronica seconded and brought up a second rope, unclipping my line and reclipping the trailing line as she went. She then belayed the third guy up. With Veronica's help, we then showed him how to rappel for the first time. Good times.

Note that the book suggests you need 15 draws, but there are a few places you can run it out and skip a draw to reduce rope drag. 12 is a good number.

#1, usual warmup & intro to newbs

#3. Dirty route. Spent a bunch of time cleaning off mud and crud, falling, cleaning again, falling again. Got up to the permanent bail biner and plugged a couple extra cams in the crack for safety, then proceeded to have 2 more people TR & hangdog on it before cleaning the route.

Would definitely climb it again -- more traffic will make it better and less muddy.

Might even have to try the top section, though "5.1 rope drag hell" doesn't sound like it's worth the time.

#1. Usual warmup. Did a second lap in my trail shoes to clean the route.

#3. Better than last time (it was drier and less dirty) but still needs a lot more traffic to become a nice route. NOT a 5.6, but definitely fun. Scraped off more dirt on the route near the first 2 or 3 bolts. Stick clipped the start, stood on bolt #1 to clip bolt #2 as I wasn't feeling the in-crack stance. So not technically a send, but hey.

Sean jugged from bolt 1 past 3, and climbed the rest.

#2. Drier than last time, but harder at the top.

#1. Showed Bianca a refresher on ATC guide mode top belays, and then she ran up the route. I cleaned and we rapped down. Easy peasy, 2hrs later.

#2. Since we had rapped down from the Whiskey rings to the Whiskey ledge, we figured why not do the upper part of the route on TR. LOADS OF ROPE DRAG. SO NOT RECOMMENDED. But a fun route nonetheless. I did not succeed in jamming the crack, so I went to the right and bypassed it with some flakes. Bianca struggled for a bit but DID find a way to jam the crack.

Will have to try it again on lead from the ground, not the ledge -- looks like only one cam is needed to protect the top bit and then above the crack it's back to bolts.

#4. Since the anchors for TI are right next to Memories, Dave suggested we try it. So I moved the rope over for TR and we attempted it, both being shut down by the roof crux. The bottom 2/3rds was fun though.

#2 & #3. Stick clipped the first two bolts after spending some time scrubbing off moss and debating the best way to start the route. Cheated the top bit by jogging left into the bushes instead of taking on the direct crimpy face. Then Dave did a lap (also through the bushes), and I went back up on TR to attempt the face successfully. Would climb it again.

#1. When this climb is dry, it's delightful.