Ascents in Arapiles by Matthew Robbins

Teaching. Zac picking up the trad skills very very quickly.

First sub 20 trad route I’ve punted on in a while! Tricky tricky!

In the yearly lamp lighter tradition, dropped a climbing shoe (again) and climbed it one shoe’d (again).

Shady approachies ramble, a wee broken today from The Reckoning. P2 could be a slap in the face if you’re new to jamming!

Spanked. Possibly flamed by The Reckoning but it’s also just hecking hard. Awesome work by Anthony as he absolutely glided up it.

A cheeky trad 25(?) to close the year out. 2 tie ins for beta, 3 to send (a low percentage body wiggle crux).

Feel like there isn’t really a difference in difficulty here with pre placed gear… and cleaning the roof between attempts would be a pain in the arse. Happy to walk away with a pink point and a giant crack gobie as a prize.

Very cool roof trench with minimal off widthing!

Solved all beta 2nd tie in and then climbed crux clean from bolt through to top jugs.

Beta sorted, gear sorted and crux moves all linked. The rain and time constraints cancelled any further attempts.

Found some very specific jamming beta that eliminated most of the technical laybacking… thank you Wild One for your flared jamming lessons!

Amazing fun! Done in approachies for an end of day ramble and was surprised by a few punchy moves!

Pretty much soloed P2 🙈

A flash attempt was quickly snuffed out by the starting boulder. The crux crux seems doable, just need some beta and then lead attempts!

That’s full value for a 17!

Felt real chill for the grade?

Had gear beta from Cam a while ago so, alas, can’t claim the onsight. Such a good climb!

Flash pumped during the crux setup but somehow managed to squeak out a down-climb to the fingerlocks/jam rest.

Played and won ascending order hex bingo on pitch 2. Celebrated by yeeting my right climbing shoe off the Pharos.

Deserving of the mythical 5th star.

Halfway through the traverse pitch I realised God must exist for such a piece of climbing to be in this world.

Tom linked pitch 1 into half of pitch 2 and then I did a monster pitch to the top for 70ish metres of bliss. 🤤

Kids, you don’t need drugs when you can go and climb Skink.

1 top rope lap + 2 tie ins. Even after 6 days on felt really good on the send. Thanks for the belay and encouragement TiniestFury and hipyhop

Sorting out gear, movement and rests. Seems pretty reasonable but I suspect being tall softens the route a little.

Usually a grade 18 crack climb feels like a lovely romp but this one made me shut and work for it!

Chewed up and spat out by this thing. Felt tough for the grade which means my off width skills need some work!

Nice and enjoyable jam sequences, even in the rain! ☺️

Lessons learnt: Figure out key movement rather than throwing oneself at it hoping it’ll just work out. Sat on rope, worked out crux beta and then sent!

Thanks for the send belay Nut Busting Unicorn 🥳

Kachoong walk of shame.

Well, not entirely the outcome I had wanted but maybe expected given how tired, stiff and generally worn down the body is. A good lesson in the value of rest days and taking a deload week every now and again.

Not much luck on this today. Probably time for a rest day or two.

That’s one hard 20! Completely slapped by this thing.

Tannin access.