Ascents as sport by Vanessa Wills

Off the couch after Covid. The walk up the hill was almost enough…

Rpt

The top is definitely harder than 15, could easily be 18

Rpt, the mantle at top was tenuous with only one hand

Rpt

Rpt

2 laps. 55 days off rock, wrist brace on. Skin hurts, wrist seemed to survive, just avoided mantles.

Felt a bit pumped, not surprising I suppose

2 laps

Rpt, good friction today.

Couldn’t clip anchors. Had to do an inverted kneebar second go- Dave just reached past and had no problem.

The moves were ok, but fall potential left me nervous. Quite hard.

Found the move off belay at start the hardest en route ( short arms). Second pitch just lovely. Led P2 and 3…..

We came down to consider rebolting with anchors-feels sandbagged at 23 without bridging across chimney. Came to no decision. Weirdly it was chalked up

Amazed I Onsighted this, so slippery today

Hard. Forgot helmet, didn’t feel like leading these spaced bolted climbs.

Rpt, feels more 22 if short.

Rpt, seems easier than last year on the mantles

Rpt, changes every year

Pretty crappy climbing up to a hard and interesting crux sequence. Harder than any move on influenza. Not sure it’s worth the effort, but it filled in the afternoon.

Some nice moves once in the stemming groove. The 9 th or 10th bolt’s nut was quite loose. I finger tightened it, worth bringing a spanner

Rpt, warm up

Interesting enough, found it as tough as the other two, though may have been just reacquainting myself with the Pipes dolerite

Intricate crux at about third height for me that was quite enjoyable. A bit stop/ start from half height

Didn’t find this any harder than the 2 routes to the right ( though did a silly slip below crux).

Not too bad for a late addition, though top a bit contrived and friable

Interesting lower section

Did top section clean from below roof, but rained off after this.

Rpt. The little pockets were very slimy today. 2 laps.

Rpt. Nice flash by Flynn for his Duke of Ed

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Rpt. Very dirty

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Original ascent was solo, weirdly coming up as red point. Rpt today

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Rpt. Still feels hard for grade, height dependent for sure

Rpt

Hopefully the predicted rain will settle the dust. Really great and varied moves and steeper than it looks. One go on TR to brush the holds then sent with a bit of power grunting and wobbling before we had to leave.

Rpt. Quite a tricky one

Rpt. I keep thinking a clean up of this route is needed. Nice traddish climbing on bolts, a couple of finger size cams can also be used.

Rpt, needed a bit of a brush. Left hand crack glove/ tape useful for me. Unfortunately I had brought 2 right hand gloves ( duh!)

Rpt. The moves on this route are great, if only it remained a bit cleaner. Rock improves a lot after 8 m. Calf pump! The vegetation up high doesn’t interfere with route.

I think we did this as a TR problem in the past. Awkward but interesting start

Tricky start keeping left of arete. Stupid finish.

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Rpt. Shares a lot of holds with route to right

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Rpt, alzheimers os, the slimpers felt pretty slimy today

Rpt. A bit sandy, gave it a brush.

Rpt. Unfortunately now crossed by another route.

Time to bail, getting increasingly hot and slippery. Greased off where it joins the regular route

It’s a squeeze but didn’t feel too contrived

Rpt.