Ascensioni in Railway Crag

#1/2. Will led and found all the gear placesments, then to our surprise and delight, discovered there are new anchor bolts and quicklink rap rings after the initial 25m or so, saving us from the rambing ramp up to the lookout for a gear anchor or to walk over to the rings over White Rabbit. So... he clipped that, I went up and cleaned and rapped.

#2/2. Will led, I followed/cleaned. We broke this into two pitches as usual, but Will opted to skip TWO bolts on the first pitch to get to the belay ledge, opting for a run out but easy path to the right of the main face. Second pitch was fun but dirty, so the stick clip found some use on the 2nd to last bolt.

Got up the first few moves ok, and then it got hard, overhung, sweaty, and ... well, it's a project.

Swung off, managed to get back on, struggled, flailed, yanked my ass up on the rope, managed a move or so, found the hands, flailed at the feet, and ultimately cheated my way to the rings.

Looking forward to getting more in shape so I can complete this one.

#1. Warmup and an opportunity to teach Will how to do a top-belay. He brought his pre-tied quad for easy in/out. Cold day! Felt like a 5.9 getting off the ground. Attempted the pull through the hand crack at the right side near the top (the traverse/crus bypass) but couldn't find feet; so went the tried and true way to the left.

#2. OMG so much fun, this one, despite the wind. Will stayed in the dihedral and did some delicate lean-and-clip moves for the first bit, then it opened up and he moved more into the main line; I was able to follow his beta but went right into some juggy flakes earlier, making for an easier clipping stance (or unclipping stance, as I was cleaning.

We split it into two pitches, as there's an anchor set up on the ledge after 5 or 6 bolts, and then carried on from the ledge, traversing right and into the beautiful clean white granite.

NOTE: this route can have nesting birds on it, so avoid during nesting season (May?).

#1-#2. Kevin led the ramp to the ledge, and set up the gear anchor in the crack that starts the route. I then cleaned the Access Ramp, led the LoC up to the anchor rings, topped out, and walked over to the chain anchor to the left, where I promptly forgot how to tie a clove hitch.

#3. Lead after Kevin put in the gear. Made the crux a but harder by not moving all the way to the left.

Took Access Ramp to the tree, then traversed left 5 metres to set a gear anchor on the broad ledge. Nick then swung the lead to continue to the top of the climb.

#1. I'd forgotten how much I like this route... but John was unable to pull around the roof, so I got to experience the fun of overriding an ATC Guide and lowering him -- good thing I took that Climb NS self rescue course the week prior!

OMG awesome climb. Great hands for getting introduced to trad climbing and if you're not great at climbing cracks, this route gives you layback, stemming, and face options too.

#1. Took one take just before the roof crux, then went left across the horizontal crack and onto the face. Repeated the climb on TR to check out the more dynamic solution (to the right up the hand crack. Both fun options.