Ascensioni in New South Wales and ACT da Paul Frothy Thomson

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	Grado	Via	Stile equipaggiamento	Qualità
Dom 2 Giu 2024 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area The Hill Sunset Buttress
	24/25 ~25	★★ Catch and Kill - con Heath Black	Sportiva 37m, 18	★★★ Classica
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.
Dom 2 Giu 2024 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Lapstone Confluence Snake Cave
	23	★★ Shagohod - con Philip Barker, Greg Ducky	Sportiva 15m, 6	★★ Molto buona
Another lap. Love the upper half steepness.
	21 ~21	★ Outer Haven - con Greg Ducky, Philip Barker	Sportiva 15m, 5	★ Buona
Clean repeat. Lapping!
Dom 2 Giu 2024 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area The Hill Black Dog Buttress
	26	FA ★★★ The Black Dog - con Match, Heath Black	Sportiva 35m, 14	★★★ Classica
A great FA, whereby I still had to fight to stick the top moves, despite 5 sessions on this thing (most of them in TRS). Once you get to the steepness, its all just genuinely fun climbing. The rock quality is wave wall, but longer, and steeper. The main 3 bolts of the crux is just super funky, powerful, tucked-in bouldering over a long sequence, and I just really enjoyed my time on this. Hope you guys do too. Fun fact: this is the first time I've projected anything since my accident in September last year!
Dom 26 Mag 2024 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area Ghidrah
	25	★★★ Ookondoru - con Match	Sportiva 50m, 15	★★★ Classica
2 shots. I had a pretty good (tenacious) onsight attempt, but the mid-height crux took me a bit to figure out. On the second shot, I ended up linking from the initial traverse no-hands rest, to the top, through all 3 cruxes. I'll definitely come back for the true send, because this is a great climb! Like the other routes here, this thing is quite continuous and sustained. Yet this one quite definitely has 2 thin and technical cruxes to keep it interesting.
	24	★★★ Orochi - con Match	Sportiva 55m	★★★ Classica
Awesome, continuous face climbing, with no obvious "stances" to break up the pitch. Seconding Mitch clean to exit the crag. Fairly sustained, though with no pronounced crux. Great rock, rad moves... the start is all time
Dom 19 Mag 2024 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area The Hill Millionaire's Row
	25	★★ Go Go Velcro - con Heath Black	Trad mista 35m, 6	★★ Molto buona
Seconding Monty on the FA. Not clean -I got too scared on second on the traverse crux at the start (given there was 35m of rope in the system) and aided off a bolt out to the arete. It then also took me a bit to figure out the mid-height crux. A very cool mixed route, IMO. The start is a funky bit of traversing (who doesn't love a traverse crux, right?) and the face section is more varied face climbing.
	24	★★ Calcified Mind - con Heath Black	Sportiva 35m	★★ Molto buona
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!
Sab 11 Mag 2024 - Blue Mountains
Leura Sublime Point West Face (Main Area) Middle Cliffs Binary Cave
	25	★ Juice on the Loose - con Match	Sportiva 12m, 9	★★ Molto buona
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.
	24 ~25	★ Chip and Jinx's Canine Adventures in Conveyancing - con Match	Sportiva 12m, 7	★★ Molto buona
2 x Repeat attempts, not clean. Though I cruiiiiiiised the link from above the lower layback crux to the top, for whatever reason, the low-crux kicked my arse today, and felt grades harder than 24. The finale of this puppy is wild!
	21	★★ Thirty Three Years - con Match	Sportiva 15m, 7	★★ Molto buona
Another repeat. A great way to access the upper tier of climbing here.
Dom 5 Mag 2024 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Falling Water Wall Lower Cliff
	26 Facile	★★★ Gaze a Gazely Stare	Trad 55m	★★★ Classica
2 laps on TRS for training. Trying to build some steep fitness again! Despite being bell-quality-rock, I just find this super steep pupper so much fun!
Sab 4 Mag 2024 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Lapstone Confluence Snake Cave
	23	★★ Shagohod - con Philip Barker	Sportiva 15m, 6	★★★ Classica
Repeat. Rather stop-start, but the upper moves are my favourite of the crag.
	22	★★ Sahelanthropus - con Philip Barker	Sportiva 14m, 6	★★★ Classica
Repeat. Absolutely cruised this. No way it was ever 23 (not sure what I was thinking?) Awesome technical climbing on weirdly good rock the whole way.
	21 ~21	★ Outer Haven - con Philip Barker	Sportiva 15m, 5	★ Buona
2 Laps. After a long morning working one of my upper mountains projects, this one felt hard today. Fun enough for what it is.
Mer 1 Mag 2024 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area Ghidrah
	23	FA ★★ Gabara - con Match	Trad mista 55m, 5	★★ Molto buona
An enjoyable couple of days to get this sorted. Climbed as 2 pitches (linking the top two). Good crack and face climbing, with all the hard moves being bolt protected roofs. Marred solely by some sections of average rock.
Mer 17 Apr 2024 - Blue Mountains
Medlow Bath The Sporting Complex
	21	FA ★★ Not Here to F$#k Spiders	Sportiva 35m	★★ Molto buona
2 laps to verify the route/quality. Really interesting, sustained, technical slabbing/face climbing. Now the easiest route to exit the crag with.
	24	★ Get a Black Dog Up Ya - con Gavin	Sportiva 35m, 17	★★ Molto buona
Clean repeat. Much better than I remembered it (and much easier)! Essentially 2 boulders surrounded by easy climbing, but both boulders are rad. With some rope management, this is very achievable as a giant single pitch.
Dom 14 Apr 2024 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area The Hill Sunset Buttress
	25 ~26	★★★ Highdrogen Flare - con Heath Black	Sportiva 37m	★★★ Classica
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.
Dom 14 Apr 2024 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area The Hill Millionaire's Row
	23	★★★ Old Punks Must Die - con Heath Black	Sportiva 35m	★★★ Classica
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.
Dom 14 Apr 2024 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area Ngula Bulgarabang/ Radiata Plateau Marchant's Canyon Crags Waylander
	28	★★ Water Hazard - con Match	Sportiva 36m	★★★ Classica
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!
Sab 13 Apr 2024 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Lapstone Confluence Snake Cave
	23	FA ★★ Shagohod	Sportiva 15m, 6	★★ Molto buona
I really enjoyed this, but its probably not for everyone. Went really easily today, so its probably not as hard as I thought it was. A really funky, fun, steep finale with some very weird moves
	21 ~21	★ Outer Haven	Sportiva 15m, 5	★ Buona
Repeat. As I said before, if you stay out of the cave, this is actually quite fun, and the crux is enjoyable.
Gio 4 Apr 2024 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area Ngula Bulgarabang/ Radiata Plateau Marchant's Canyon Crags Waylander
	27	★ Nadir - con Match	Sportiva 36m	★ Buona
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
	27	★★ Kaizen - con Match	Sportiva 38m	★★ Molto buona
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
Mer 3 Apr 2024 - Blue Mountains
Medlow Bath The Sporting Complex
	25 Dura	★★ Being and Nothingness (2nd Edition)	Sportiva 35m, 12	★★★ Classica
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.
Sab 30 Mar 2024 - Blue Mountains
Medlow Bath The Sporting Complex
	26 ~25	★★ Leviathan	Sportiva 32m, 15	★★★ Classica
Clean Repeat. Revenge! Had to work at the top, but still managed to punch this straight out today. So much fun.
	23 ~22	★★ Smoko	Sportiva 35m, 16	★★★ Classica
Clean repeat. Revenge! How did I fall off this last weekend? Still awesome.
Sab 23 Mar 2024 - Blue Mountains
Medlow Bath The Sporting Complex
	26 ~25	★★ Leviathan	Sportiva 32m, 15	★★★ Classica
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.
	25 Facile	★★★ The Life of Riley	Sportiva 35m	★★★ Classica
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.
	23 ~22	★★ Smoko	Sportiva 35m, 16	★★★ Classica
Repeat attempt, not clean today. Whoops... The unsend! Totally botched the crux. Otherwise, had a great old time. This route is always so much better than I remember it being
Dom 10 Mar 2024 - Point Perpendicular
The Lighthouse Liquid Insanity Area
	24	★★★ Mister Bean	Sportiva 30m, 10	★★★ Classica
Repeat. 2 Laps. Truth be told, I fell off the bulge-boulder below the arete on my first lap, but corrected it on the second. A mixed bag of quality, and the arete itself is really easy, but it was still fun enough. Pretty much every hard move is escapable if you stray from the bolts a bit.
	23	★★ Fuzzy Logic	Trad 25m	★★ Molto buona
Repeat. Been a long time since I onsighted this. Though I found it easy today, I didn't really enjoy it. Very contrived, and on average (grainy) rock. A few cool moves, though.
	22 ~23	★★ Just Technical	Sportiva 15m	★★★ Classica
Repeat. 2 Laps for training. Damn I love this thing
Sab 9 Mar 2024 - Point Perpendicular
Seaside Windjammer Wall
	26	★★ Susie now Settled	Trad 25m	★ Buona
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.
	22 R	★★★ Memorable Moves	Trad 30m	★★★ Mega Classica
Repeat. My favourite route at Windjammer. Felt super relaxed and in control on it today, and got to the top without a pump.
Sab 9 Mar 2024 - Point Perpendicular
The Lighthouse Rex Hunt's Area
	20	★★★ Bad Luck Streak	Trad 30m	★★★ Classica
Repeat. I remember this feeling nails, but I absolutely cruised it today. Super obvious, and super pleasant crack climbing.
	22	★★★ Northern Exposure	Trad mista 30m, 6	★★★ Classica
Repeat. I forgot how sustained this was. With my current form, I just barely squeaked it, to be honest.
	21	★★★ Rex Hunt's Love Child	Sportiva 30m, 10	★★★ Classica
Repeat. This is just a really fun climb, and not too hard at the grade. Feeling good on the slow return-to-form after 5 months on the couch.
Gio 7 Mar 2024 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area Ghidrah
	25	★★★ King Geedorah - con Match	Sportiva 70m	★★★ Mega Classica
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.
Sab 17 Feb 2024 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Lapstone Confluence Snake Cave
	21 ~21	FA ★ Outer Haven - con Glen Thomson	Sportiva 15m, 5	★ Buona
FA. Some great climbing at the start and once you start turning the cave roof, but the escapability into the choss cave, and the rock surrounding it knocks a start off. Might be hard at the grade? Though the grade is contingent on following the line of the bolts on the good rock, and not straying off into the choss.
	10	Snake Cave Access Route	Sportiva 10m, 4	Pessima
Ugh. Sand.
	21	FA ★★ Peacewalker - con Glen Thomson	Sportiva 16m, 6	★★ Molto buona
FA. A super cool hard start up steep jugs, and a tricky face on great rock... then easier, but less inspiring climbing to the top.
Dom 11 Feb 2024 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Lapstone Confluence Snake Cave
	22	FA ★★ Sahelanthropus - con Greg Ducky, Philip Barker	Sportiva 14m, 6	★★★ Classica
FA. A "Lowers Mountains Classic" (with all the caveats that statement encompasses). A climb of many components, but the technical finale is definitely a show stopper. No boring bits, that's for sure.
Dom 4 Feb 2024 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Lapstone Confluence Main Wall (Upper)
	21	★★ Gimme Your Fingernails - con Philip Barker	Sportiva 13m, 6	★★ Molto buona
Short'n'sweet. Went direct through the small roof at the start to gain the line of the bolts (rather than heading out right, and traversing in via the corner). When climbed this way, it's quite sustained the whole way, with lots of interesting thin moves.
Dom 4 Feb 2024 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Lapstone Confluence The Lost Woods
	18 Dura	FA ★ Korok Climb - con Philip Barker, Greg Ducky	Sportiva 15m	★ Buona
First Ascent. Climbed ground-up before it was cleaned/brushed, and it felt like gr21... But after a good session to clean it, it's settled at 18. An interesting short slab, on mostly good rock, marred only by its escapability.
Dom 10 Set 2023 - Blue Mountains
Blackheath Area Mt Blackheath Area Mt Blackheath Northern Walls
	25	★★★ The Terrible Truth About Time - con Heath Black	Sportiva 35m, 14	★★★ Classica
Stacked! So many dropable moves the whole way up. A face-climbing connoisseur's delight! Seconding the First Ascent clean -I almost came unstuck when the FA decided to use a locked locking bina bolt-side at the hardest crux, resulting in some mid-crux desperation. A classic for sure.
	23	★★ No Questions Asked - con Heath Black	Sportiva 25m, 11	★★ Molto buona
Super exposed arete climbing. Would be 3 stars but the rock is slightly less than perfect. Very technical, yet steep and pumpy.
Dom 10 Set 2023 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area Katoomba Cliffs Dogface Main Wall
	26	★★★ Gigantor (free version) - con Match, Monty 1 25 Trad 2 26 Trad 3 23 Da secondo	Trad 100m	★★★ Classica
Day 6 for the Redpoint! I really wanted to come back and improve the style on this. Firstly, because I think mine is the first repeat of the route, and secondly, because this route is both harder and scarier to do it placing the gear (the former for P1, the latter for P2)... It's also proud enough that it warrants the extra effort. So, as you might imagine, I'm pretty chuffed to have gotten this done, and in pretty good style. Full disclosure: I did have the first few pieces of gear clipped off the belay at the start of each pitch. Quote of the day: "Don't get upset if I start freaking out; I'm weak, wimpy Frothy, not bold, strong Zackie"
Ven 8 Set 2023 - Vaucluse
Diamond Bay Northern Wall
	24	★★★ Violet Town - con Tom Collins	Sportiva 18m, 8	★★★ Classica
2nd shot. Fell off AFTER the upper crux on my onsight due to an amateurish foot-slip on an easy move 2nd shot was a cruise, but DAMN its fun. Really nice rock, cool moves, and not too hard at the grade. This would be a classic anywhere, in my opinion.
	26	★★ Ordeal by Fur - con Tom Collins	Sportiva 18m, 8	★★ Molto buona
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.
Gio 7 Set 2023 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area Katoomba Cliffs Dogface Main Wall
	26 R	★★★ Gigantor (free version) - con Match, Simmo	Trad 100m	★★★ Classica
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
Dom 27 Ago 2023 - Blue Mountains
Blackheath Area Celebrity Crags Sharon Stone
	25	★★ Beaver Shot - con Match	Sportiva 20m, 12	★★ Molto buona
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.
	25	★★ He Said, She Said - con Match	Sportiva 20m, 11	★★★ Classica
Clean repeat. Super fun. This one ha cleaned up nicely since I last did it. Easy for the grade. Great start and finish
	23	★★★ Sensory Overload - con Match	Sportiva 20m, 12	★★ Molto buona
Another repeat. Never gets old
Mar 22 Ago 2023 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area Katoomba Cliffs Dogface Main Wall
	26	★★ Titan - con Match, Simmo, Stephen Varney 1 19 35 Da secondo 2 18 30 Da secondo 3 26 20 Trad 4 26 25 Trad	Trad 110m	★ Buona
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.
Dom 20 Ago 2023 - Blue Mountains
Mount Victoria Area Ikara, Victorialand, Odin Head, Thor Head Ikara Head
	25 ~28	★★★ Snakes & Ladders 1 Trad 2 Trad 3 Da secondo	Trad 80m	★★★ Classica
I spent 4 days on this route over the last 4 years -including my first attempt "group up" with Emil in the snow (back when no one really knew anything about this route, except that it looked rad). P1 and P3 are inconsequential, but P2 is absolutely stunning. Its basically a mega mega left-leaning seam-crack at 24/25, guarded by a V8+ crack boulder that I could "sort of" do the moves on, but never really had any chance to link. Over my visits, I replaced the anchors on this, so there's really no reason for you not (prospective ascent reader) to get on it.
Dom 6 Ago 2023 - Blue Mountains
Blackheath Area Mt Boyce Boycetown
	24 M1	★★★ Iron Curtain - con Match, Simmo 1 24 M1 Trad 2 21 Trad 3 21 Trad	Trad mista 58m, 10	★★★ Classica
A genuinely mega trad route, that should be on everyone's "classic cracks" list. The roof of the first pitch is all-time mega steep crack climbing, with great gear, and stacked moves all the way to the anchor. And yes, Anton Korsun they're actual crack moves The 2nd pitch has a scary start, but otherwise is great crack climbing. I linked the pitch into the top pitch (which was rather gnarly, having only brought 3 bolt plates). Pitch 3 has a very hard start through a rooflet, followed by pleasant facey rambling. IMHO, I'd suggest continuing up the grey slab to the top, rather than traversing out left to carrots. (I did the traverse, and just found it contrived.) Regarding my 24M1 grading on P1: I never managed to do 1 move off the ground (between the slippery righthand crimp, and the first tight fingerlock -which I can only just fit back-3 1-pad in with careful placement- with no feet) so climbed with the left hand pre-set-up, then up to the top (hence a point of aid off the ground). I'm not sure whether the collapse of the foot pedestal at the base of the route may be a factor, or whether I just have to concede that the start is too thin/hard for me. Regardless, doing it with a point of aid off the ground was still great climbing I had some bad luck on the rest of the First pitch; breaking off a key hold, pinching a nerve in my hand so bad I had to drop off to recover, and taking a gear-ripping fall at one point. As such, my ascent was far from perfect style. Still, the fact I totally rate this crack despite these setbacks, is a testament to how good it is
Lun 31 Lug 2023 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Glenbrook Bluffs
	24	★★★ Width Pleasure — 4 tentativi - con Greg Ducky, Philip Barker	Trad 7m	★★★ Classica
After work in-a-day send by headlamp! Great rock for the lower mountains, and wiiiiild moves climbing inverted feet in the offwidth. I found the moves to turn the lip and mantle out pretty bouldery at the grade, but maybe I had a silly sequence? Would love to hear beta on it. I can only think of 3 other offwidths in the greater Blueys that compares in the grade range/style, and this is probably the best. For some reason I didn't read the description, and only brought 2 x 5's, which was not ideal. I'll be back with the right gear for the red point, cause this puppy is totally worth it!
Dom 30 Lug 2023 - Blue Mountains
Blackheath Area Mt Boyce Boycetown
	25	★★ Little Boyce Room — 2 tentativi	Sportiva 26m	★★★ Classica
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.
	26	★★ Yumster — 6 tentativi	Sportiva 25m	★★ Molto buona
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.
Sab 29 Lug 2023 - Blue Mountains
Blackheath Area Mt Boyce Boycetown
	26	★★★ Beastie Boyce — 6 tentativi	Sportiva 30m	★★ Molto buona
6th shot total, and 4 core-shotting falls at the lower crux.
Sab 22 Lug 2023 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Falling Water Wall Lower Cliff
	27	FA ★★★ Litany of the Long Sun - con Simmo, Rick Webb	Trad mista 75m, 20	★★★ Classica
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.
Sab 22 Lug 2023 - Blue Mountains
Blackheath Area Mt Boyce Boycetown
	25	★★ Boyce Light Up	Sportiva 30m, 16	★★ Molto buona
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.
Gio 20 Lug 2023 - Blue Mountains
Blackheath Area Mt Boyce Boycetown
	25	FA ★★★ Harbinger	Trad mista 50m, 4	★★★ Classica
Repeat to do placing gear. Definitely scarier placing, as the best gear to protect the finale is grades harder to place on lead... so I just didn't place it. Wild cranking a roof boulder, way above gear, miles out in space.
Sab 15 Lug 2023 - Blue Mountains
Blackheath Area Mt Boyce Boycetown
	25	FA ★★★ Harbinger	Trad mista 50m, 4	★★★ Classica
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.
Gio 13 Lug 2023 - Blue Mountains
Blackheath Area Mt Boyce Boycetown
	24	FA ★★ Bad Boyce Bad Boyce	Sportiva 35m	★★★ Classica
Coukd be hard at the grade. Hilarious roof jugging, to gnarly lip-turn traversing. Loooong.
Dom 9 Lug 2023 - Blue Mountains
Blackheath Area Big Top
	30	★★ The Clumbsy Caterpillar - con Michael Moore	Sportiva 12m	★★ Molto buona
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.
	27	★★ Gooey in the Wee-wee - con Michael Moore	Sportiva 12m	Media
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
Dom 9 Lug 2023 - Kiama
Bombo Quarry Bollocks wall
	25	★★★ Never Mind The Bollocks — 2 tentativi - con Simmo, Stephen Varney	Trad 20m	★★★ Classica
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?
	23 ~23	★★★ Time is the enemy - con Simmo, Stephen Varney	Trad mista 14m, 9	★★★ Classica
Awesome climbing on beautiful rock. The oozy, funkiness of this puppy totally makes it a 3-star classic route for the area. I totally misread the crux on the onsight. Quickly figured out a more conducive way to approach it, then lowered off and immediately climbed again -this time all the way to the bracket above the anchors, placing draws. Maybe hard 23? I have to admit, that this is a strange route to be bolted -especially given the ethic in the area- as it has stonker gear all the way up, and falls into that "pure trad lines should be protected, as they're a finite resource" sort of category. Even as a mixed line, this might be better. I'm not really sure why the anchors stop in no man's land, when the rock and climbing above is still good for another few metres.
	17 ~18	★★ Drowning In a Sea of Bollocks - con Simmo, Stephen Varney	Trad 19m	★★ Molto buona
Seconding Simmo. Wasn't planning on doing this, but Simmo made it look super-fun, and so I followed him up it. Really interesting, varied and insecure climbing (especially at the start) that packs a punch for such a short route.
Dom 9 Lug 2023 - Kiama
Bombo Quarry Butt Muncher Buttress
	22	★★ Till The Ocean Takes Us All - con Simmo, Stephen Varney	Sportiva 17m, 8	★ Buona
Not as nice at its lefthand neighbour, but it does feature a super-rad step-across move to make it all worthwhile.
	22	★★ Butt Muncher - con Simmo, Stephen Varney	Sportiva 15m, 6	★★ Molto buona
Nice rock, and fairly sustained. This was definitely a challenging introduction to bombo (and I may have almost fallen off at one point).
Sab 8 Lug 2023 - Nowra
The Grotto Cliffline P.C.
	26	★★★ Church Of Christ - con Simmo, Stephen Varney, Magdalena de la Torre	Sportiva 15m	★★ Molto buona
Just to the upper undercling crux. I didn't manage to stick it, and got tired of whipping off at the end of the day. One to come back for (and perhaps stick clip past the crux to work it out). Seemed great so far, and not too hideously hard. Thanks Magui for trying to help me with the crux beta
	26	★★★ Turn Your Eyes Insane — 2 tentativi - con Simmo, Stephen Varney	Sportiva 16m	★★★ Classica
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.
	27 ~28	★★★ Hard Candy - con Simmo, Stephen Varney	Sportiva 18m	★★★ Classica
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 )
	25	★★★ Escape From the Drilling Fields - con Simmo, Stephen Varney	Sportiva 20m	★★ Molto buona
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
Ven 30 Giu 2023 - Blue Mountains
Blackheath Area Mt Boyce Boycetown
	26	★★ Big Boyce Blouse — 3 tentativi	Sportiva 30m	★★ Molto buona
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.
Sab 24 Giu 2023 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area Katoomba Cliffs Echo Point Echo Point Walls
	22	★★ Jezreel P3 - con Jared Anderson 3 22 15m Trad	Trad mista 15m, 2	★★ Molto buona
Repeat -P3 only. Returning to clean up the style of the ascent of P3, now that it's not pouring with water. Gr22 for P3 seems fair when it's in condition. Awesome roofing protected by a crappy hanger, a #3. a #0.4, and nothing else. Has a bold-ish vibe.
Sab 17 Giu 2023 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Falling Water Wall Lower Lower Cliff
	26 R	FA ★★ MoonMoon Crack - con Match 1 Da secondo arrampicata in lead da Match 2 Trad arrampicata in lead da Paul Frothy Thomson	Trad 70m	★★ Molto buona
Another lap to do it properly -placing all gear on lead. I had a lot of (scared) fun with this one. Radical gr23ish start through a roof to a ledge. Then 4 hard boulder problems (with big runouts) between gear nests. Two are vertical runouts, 2 are horizontal runouts. Very gritstone-esque as it links features to forge a line. I almost fell off the final move to the anchor, and had to power-scream to get through it. Bloody great day out. Would be classic (in the style) if it were more accessible, but unfortunately the approach is nightmare-fuel, and the rock is only 3.5/5 on a Blueys rock-quality rating scale.
	26 R	FA ★★ MoonMoon Crack - con Match 1 Da secondo 2 Trad	Trad 70m	★★ Molto buona
TRS Sussing lap on the bottom pitch, and the cheeky pink-point psuedo-FFA on the top pitch.
Gio 15 Giu 2023 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area Ghidrah
	25	★★★ King Geedorah - con Match	Sportiva 70m	★★★ Mega Classica
Same-day TRS repeat (clean) to climb out. Dreaaaaaaaaaaaamy.
	25	★★★ King Geedorah - con Match	Sportiva 70m	★★★ Mega Classica
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.
Gio 18 Mag 2023 - Bungonia Gorge
North Wall - Timbuktu
	25	FA ★★★ Rape of the Natural World - con Tom Collins	Trad mista 45m, 5	★★★ Classica
Sent in fading light, at the end of a massive weekend. Super steep, traversey, traddy, a bit bold, and rather gymnastic. Classic for me but objectively only 2 stars, really. A 3-hour approach (much easier now!), and originally attempted ground-up as a free climb (with points of aid through blank sections until the sporty moves to link features could be solved). Day 2 was properly cleaning the route, sorting the moves, adding the 5 bolts to gain the crack feature, and... sending.
Dom 14 Mag 2023 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Falling Water Wall Lower Cliff
	26 Facile	★★★ Gaze a Gazely Stare	Trad 55m	★★ Molto buona
TRS lap to retrieve my trad gear from this route. Good casual pumping. I'm back up to having 3 racks of gear now! (its been a few months of sparsity with only 1 rack of gear in my posession).
Sab 13 Mag 2023 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area Katoomba Cliffs Echo Point Echo Point Walls
	27	FA ★★★ Darkest Congo - con Simmo, Jared Anderson 1 Trad 2 Trad 3 Trad 4 Trad	Trad 100m	★★★ Mega Classica
One of the last known great lines in the Blueys, and one of my proudest FA's to date. Exposed, scary, great rock, long, and with radical climbing (especially on the crux arete pitch). The crux in particular has some of the wildest arete-slapping/trickery that I've done in my entire climbing career. Done over about 8 days of effort in total. I originally led the crux pitch as two shorter pitches (27 and 26 respectively) via a hanging belay, before coming back to eliminate the belay and do it properly.
Mar 2 Mag 2023 - Point Perpendicular
The Lighthouse Liquid Insanity Area
	22	★★ We Are Amphibious	Sportiva 10m	★★ Molto buona
Backlogging. I did this one last year, not sure why I didn't log the ascent. Easy when you know the moves, nails if don't. Super exposed.
Sab 22 Apr 2023 - Blue Mountains
Katoomba Area Katoomba Cliffs Echo Point Echo Point Walls
	24	★★ Dauntless - con Match 1 15 Da secondo arrampicata in lead da Match 2 21 Trad 3 20 Trad 4 10 Trad 5 24 Trad 6 17 Trad 7 13 Da secondo	Trad 170m	★★ Molto buona
Just one more big Katoomba Cliffs -with everything that encompasses- mixed epic off the list. I liked P2, P3 and P5, but the other pitches are really just doddly, chossy access/egress pitches. P2 had some cool, wandery, super runout face climbing, with more sideways than up. The opening mantles were tough! I got off route trying to free an old aid route at one point -eventually broke a hold and took a big whip, realised my mistake, lowered back to a big no-hands ledge, and continued onsighting the correct line. This was my favourite pitch of the route. P3 was a sketchy solo on loose rock to the first bolt, then a cool fused corner, followed by an easy, but airy traverse. P4 is just a short vertical walk. P5 necessitated pioneering some new beta since the crux breakages. I eventually figured out some very unlikely morpho beta that went at the same grade. After the crux, its some pretty wild unprotected campus traversing to the belay. P6 Is a long death by ironstone arete. Easy, but not much gear. P7 is an even more death by ironstone pitch, with even worse gear, leading to a vertical gardening exit.
Dom 16 Apr 2023 - Blue Mountains
Leura Sublime Point East Faces Subliminal Wall
	26	★★★ Sabbatical	Sportiva 80m, 20	★★★ Classica
Repeat TRS attempt for fitness -not clean today. Wandery, but super rad.
	23	★★★ Subliminated	Sportiva 110m	★★ Molto buona
Repeat. Clean TRS lap for fitness. Probably prouder than the original Subliminal, but shares too much of the same climbing to usurp its classic status.
Sab 15 Apr 2023 - Blue Mountains
Mount Victoria Area Mount Piddington Pindari
	23	★★★ The House of Meat	Sportiva 40m	★★ Molto buona
Clean Repeat. TRS. This was probably the best of the routes I did here today. I found the two cruxes on this kinda hard -though it might just be post-covid fatigue.
	22	★★ Much of a Muchness	Sportiva 30m	★★ Molto buona
Clean Repeat. TRS. Not much harder than This Sporting Life, really.
	21	★★ Rampaging Roy	Sportiva 30m	★★ Molto buona
Clean repeat. TRS. A really cool steep section.
	20	★★★ This Sporting Life	Sportiva 43m, 15	★★ Molto buona
Clean Repeat. TRS for fitness after 2 weeks sick in bed. Pleasant face climbing on the 2nd pitch, with nice rock!
Sab 11 Mar 2023 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Lapstone Confluence Right Side
	16	★★ Easy Street - con Philip Barker	Trad 10m	★★ Molto buona
Done with a Gentleman's Sit. Surprisingly awkward, despite appearances. With a bit more cleaning, this will be good fun.
	20 ~15	★★ Just a little deeper - con Philip Barker	Trad 10m	★★ Molto buona
Short and sweet. Nice and clean for a Gorge crack. I only had 1 cam that fit the crack, so I walked it up the entire way.
Sab 11 Mar 2023 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Lapstone Confluence Main Wall (Lower)
	24	FA ★★ DMZ - con Philip Barker	Trad 15m	★★ Molto buona
Cruisy, classic Gorge wandery face climbing, to an absurd finish campusing a frictionless sloper rail below a roof, and a gymastic finale into a major cave system. Still needs some more cleaning, and some anchors. I had to do some very scary backjumping/downclimbing to clean it.
Ven 10 Mar 2023 - Blue Mountains
Lower Blue Mountains Falling Water Wall Lower Cliff
	24	FA ★★ Passion in Preposterousness - con Simmo, Gavin	Trad 12m	★★ Molto buona
An absurd line through the roof crack above the start of P4. Roof jams, Heel-toe above head, and some steep cranking on gear. Took me an annoying number of attempts to send. Still needs to be done placing the gear on lead (its a mission to clean it, and we were racing a storm).
	20	FA ★★ Passion in Progress - con Simmo, Gavin 2 Da secondo arrampicata in lead da Simmo Seconding Simmo on the First Ascent of the true crack line. This pitch still needs to clean up a bit, but is quite technical and interesting. 3 Da secondo arrampicata in lead da Gavin Seconding Gav. This is the money pitch of the climb.	Trad 120m	★★ Molto buona
Repeat P2 and P3 to free the crack proper on P2. A good crack adventure of the sort you'd find in the Grose.