Ascensioni in The Royal Arches

Wish it were even longer! Definitely one of the best single pitch 5.8's in the Valley.

So, so many pin scars. While tragic in a way, it did feel historical.

Fun climb. Good alternative if there's a congo line on bishops terrace

Swung pitches with Nick. Did to the end of pitch 15, then rapped. 8.5 hours up (not hurrying), then 3.5 down (single 60m rappel, bit of trouble near the end). Mostly easy 5th class or 4th class. Exact pitch count/set may not match book or list above.

This climb is generally easy, route-finding is rarely difficult, and most of the rappel route is quite clear and easy -- only a bit tricky near the ledgy base.

Lead P1 and about 1/2 of P2 -- up to just below the twin cracks. Oops.

Also, got the start wrong, so fought with a couple off-width bits before backing off, finding the right start, and actually having fun with it.

An excellent climb, good gear and good movement through-out. The only pity is that the section of perfect vertical hand-crack on P2 isn't longer than it is.

Very fun climb with tommy merth and Jesse Greiner. Careful with the rope getting stuck on the rap! Bring headlamps if starting in afternoon

Aid practice for Mt Watkins next week... hooray. Also, multiple cam hooks in a row (for practice) are scary.

Witb Stephen. P1 only. Linked into P3 of Serenity Crack for a megapitch, because there were 5 bumblies on the rap cluster-f@#king the belay, and I didnt feel like dealing with them. An okay pitch with a few cool moves (and surprisingly little gear).

With Stephen. OS P1, Clean 2nd P2, 1 fall at crux P3, then clean to top from below crux (with no extra gear). Mega, but felt HARD. The unprotected 8m greasy friction slab start on P1 had me working the headgames to keep calm in the sweaty sun, and leads to super-sustained thin seam-crack. P2 was easier fingers and ringlocks with an awesome friction step across and an insecure seam-crux. P3 was awesome steep jams to an insane fingercrack crux with no feet that felt like trad 24 for back home

Seconding Stephen. I decided to only use the wide crack for chimneying/offwidth practice... in that style it felt desperate. Good climbing, but once again it felt substantially harder than the grade.

Stayed on the true (contrived) line for the full tick. Thin, insecure, techy friction slabbing. It was raining before I jumped on this... in a 10-second break from the rain I started up it, and it rained again. I spent most of the climb trying to dry crucial footers (and my shoes) with chalk. Linked into the 5.10a righthand neighbour from its last bolt up (with no gear) for a more sustained finish.

Seconding Stephen. The moves might be yosemite 5.8, but the crack and footers are slippery as glass. Felt harder. Good, well protected friction slab laybacking.

More time to rapp than climb. Valley noobs reality check. Fun times!

Great route to dial in your finger crack skills. Love the face moves at the top.

Takes a variety of gear, you can use everything from .2 X4's to medium hexes to key locked #1 C4's to bomber brass offsets.

This route was brilliant

Simuled, badly. Got off route and fell on a slab move on pitch 6, Dan later fell seconding on the tree aid move and I strained my calf holding his weight.

Great day out

Snagged the slab traverse, soloed some 5.7... fully awesome.

Calves had not recovered from half dome. Came to do bishops terrace but once again a queue

"I've done easier 5.11's at the gym" -Felix