Ascents in Oceania by Brendan Coulter having trad-cpr or ascent-date

3 back to back onsights! What a day. Stoked to finally get out to this - definitely holds up to expectations.

Seth won the rock off, which meant that I got the honours of leading the wet slab start. Just to add to the controversy, I’ve done harder 18s, despite it being completely soaked.

Despite the choss, the whole route was still excellent. I wish p3 was longer though!

Awesome morning, and good to finally tick it off the list. Finger didn’t give me any grief which is nice.

Everything except the last pitch felt overgraded, but it didn’t detract from the fun of the movement.

Stoked about this one! Only detractor is the full-recovery rest before the top crux… but thank god it was there, or I wouldn’t have sent.

Super enjoyable climbing, and quite mentally engaging to the 2nd bolt.

Following the obvious line right of 2nd bolt isn’t 25. Actually lowered down afterwards to try it direct - harder, and stupidly contrived.

First 25 onsight on gear. If only the finger crack were longer!

A little bit of rain on-route obviously isn’t enough to scare us off - even if it did scare me a little. Stoked to get back out here and do a long route, and super glad I had Mike to rope gun some of those early pitches.

Prefacing this: I LOVED the slabs on jumpmaster… Honestly though, skip the ground-up, and rap in for the top pitches. The 24 is worth every bit of effort, but the first 5 pitches were 1-star at best.

Took a little to figure out how to do the crux. Once I figured it out, went down easy - the rest was one hell of a fight though!

Cruised it first burn of the day. Few mistakes and poor beta, but went down nicely.

Epic route, epic day! Keen to get back on it (when I’m a little stronger)

Decided to rap the route with a single rope and tag line, for a single day mission, stashing snacks and water bottles at belays.

First rap (to top of golden corner went smoothly). From the golden corner we learned a lesson - when pulling a biner-block abseil, if the anchor twists the rope, it’s impossible to pull.

We spent ages pulling as hard as we could, before realizing the futility. Cue lead-solo French-free shenanigans up the first few bolts to retrieve the rope.

Next rap down the 23+24 went smoothly because there were double biners left on the hangers.

Down the “balls in a juicer”, we learned (the hard way) that it was our single biners on each hanger causing the twisting. Not keen to repeat our previous efforts, and the fact that it was now after midday - we decided that we’d go from here.

I “jugged” (on a prussik and grigri) back the whole pitch, belayed Seth up, then lowered and had a crack at it myself. The climbing, surprisingly, went smoothly.

26 - nails! toprope flash by the skin of my teeth. Not the nicest warmup, but a great intro to conglomerate slabs.

23 - Seth took the lead so I could rest my fingers. As I unclip the last bolt, eye-to-eye with the belay, I say the dumbest thing I could “probably shouldn’t fall here”, which was the precursor to a rock snapping, and me swinging straight under the belay.

24 - Onsight. Very tricky to figure out. You don’t notice the runout because you’re too focused on climbing.

25 - toprope flash - lead by Seth. Epic move out for the crux, I’m stoked I got it given the pack and how cooked I was.

20, 20 - linked the last 2. Was excited for the variety of a chimney. Decided I’d had enough variety on the dripping, mossy hand traverse

Epic route, despite the spooge. Feels spot on at 24 when wet. Seth took a fall right onto the belay when tearing a rock off! Keep an eye out for the loose stuff.

Pitch lengths are vastly overstated - the entire thing can be done on a single 70m easily. Climbed it in 4 pitches. Total route length is probably closer to 150m. The 2 pitches off the ledge are exactly 35m strung together (not the 50 the guide suggests).

Wanted to do it in one, but pitched out before the 3rd, as I wasn’t comfortable doing the crux moves so close to the ledge with 30m of my super stretchy rope out.

Going against popular opinion and giving this two stars. It was really good, with lots of different styles throughout, but each was too short to truly experience. 2m of hands, 3m of chimney, 1 body length of squeeze, 3 moves of crux crack. Each was an exceptional section of climbing, that wasn’t long enough.

Would still recommend

Gave it a red hot onsight go to no avail, had a quick toprope lap to get the crux sorted, then got the redpoint straight after. Felt super secure and smooth… until I hit the victory handjam with a foot slip. Another foot slip to the next handjam, which I paid for in blood - but didn’t fall

Thanks Anton for the beta… and not giving even a hint before the onsight

Epic route! Ground up onsight on gear, all the way to the hanger at the very top.

Whoever placed the bolts should be ashamed of themselves. The gear is bomber all the way, and enough to aid it.

I’d also agree with Frothy, it’s definitely not even close to 26, although 21 would be a sandbag

Onsight by the skin of my teeth - nearly peeled off at the 2nd bolt.

Having a friendly tourist to drop your rope for you saves a ton of time if you don’t have someone to follow

Missed the flash right at the top! Didn’t notice the awesome side pull out left, and tried to go straight up the tips crack. Some nice, technical climbing

First time back at Frog in 12 months, and another new line done. Super fun, though committing and quite tricky for the grade at the start (maybe I’m just out of practice).

Channel your inner sport climber and you can get away with doing no real offwidth climbing.

Fun finger locking with some nice techy footwork.

I’m a pretty aggressive downgrader, but I didn’t feel like this was soft. Maybe I missed something 🤷🏻‍♂️ felt pretty good anyway

A rude reintroduction to slabs, especially with an injured finger. Fun, but wasn’t close to my favourite pitch of the day.

Felt harder than everything else, but maybe I was just re-learning limestone.

Started a bit further left and stepped across to avoid climbing through the tree

Incredible splitter crack, and no giveaway either. Would make a nice easy single-pitch stopping at the ledge, but the p2 finger crack is the money.

Dropped off on the ground-up, popped my 2nd piece, and just avoided the ground.

Pulled it clean on the top rope lap, so now I just need to place the gear

Wanted to see what a 27 on granite felt like. Spoiler alert: HARD!

Couldn’t figure out the last bolt, but got the rest. Also gave me an excuse to run another lap of Lift Ladies

So good to be back on some grey limestone slabs! Left the ground at midday, and topped out at sunset. Westerlies tearing through the canyon kept it cold enough to be climbing the crux in puffy and thermals.

Pulled through the cave on the crux pitch thinking I was about to get the onsight… turns out there was one more crux!

Fun techy face climbing. Bit much calling it a mixed route - it’s more like sport with an optional piece.

On par with Squeakeasy, absolute classic must do route. Gear is bomber the whole way, just watch out for calf pump (and be nice to your seconder, place a piece or two on the traverse)

Being a gymnast would help here!

Decided to get another climb in despite the sunburnt forearms. Could do with a bit more traffic to clean it up a bit. Was climbing grass and thick lichen towards the top

Anchor could use a replacement - one bolt, and it’s been bent over pretty aggressively.

Made use of red and green dragonfly, which was fun. Save it for when you’re running out of new routes to climb

Tape came off the hole in my finger, making a couple finger locks impossible. The way it’s climbed these days, it’s definitely no harder than other 25s like carrion comfort or voices

Tough, but awesome. Toprope attempt - couldn’t put together the crux, but got everything else figured out. So much fun when there’s no chalk to point the way

Definitely up there with one of the best I've done at Frog! Cool, well protected boulder start, hilarious corner up to some techy stuff, and a crux right at the top. Loved every moment of this

Absolutely insanely good. Sporty moves on finger locks and jambs, and bomber gear the whole way.

Was sitting in the bath tub, and this line looked better (had no clue where it went, or how hard it was).

Absolutely loved the pitch! Was cruisy, edgy slab climbing the whole way. Didn’t do the last pitch, because it didn’t look worth it

Did it in 2 pitches, which meant I got to climb the entire length of the thing without stopping!

Crux is definitely the top pitch. The money pitch is awesome, but only 20, maybe 21.

Lives up to the hype, and now takes first place for best gear route I’ve done. The movement, the position, the gear, the rock. It’s all perfect (1st pitch only, T&Cs apply).

Seth took the lead so that I wasn’t tempted to push myself on the injured finger, but I think I almost preferred the toprope lap (please don’t hold it against me). It meant that I could just cruise up the perfect line, enjoying the movement without having to think about what might come next, and without stopping constantly for gear.

There’s no way it goes at 24, and I think it might also go entirely on passive gear, so might give it a crack next time I’m out here. Top pitch was absolutely drippingly soaked, so we topped out on the bolted line adjacent (also wet).

10/10, do this route.

Just did the first pitch. Start is kinda tricky, and that airy mantle gets the blood pumping!

Maybe not “hand crafted by god himself”, but a great pitch

The impressive part was Rachael’s top rope flash of this

Best route I’ve done at Araps by a large margin. Awesome jambs and bomber finger locks, up a beautiful line on perfect rock. The gear is good, the movement is fun, and the crux gives you just enough to keep you on your toes

Last route for the day, more quality slabbing.

Slipped off the 2nd move, so missed another onsight

Great climbing, and deserves a lot more traffic for sure. Don’t bother pre-placing gear, the landing is nice, and the hard moves are low

Good way to send off the frog season. Gear is better than I remembered… shame I didn’t remember the moves either! Barely squeaked it out

First two pitches are absolute class! A nice sting in the tail of P1 to keep you on your toes.

Pro tip: if you graciously let your partner take the glory of the first pitch, you get to avoid the hanging bolt belay.

Description says it all - if only it were longer

What a way to get back into slab climbing! Beautiful line, tackling the face with pure, consistent slab. Great welcome to Mt Buffalo

It’s amazing they took 10 years before climbing this route! Loved it