Ascents in World as Hang dog by Paul Frothy Thomson

4 shots in an hour (the maximum amount of time I had to tick it, or risk missing my ferry back to the mainland). Very bouldery start, then a no-hands kneebar before a powerful and sustained thin middle section with an easier final third (on deteriorating rock). 2nd shot I had a silly footslip down low. 3rd was the highpoint to the last hard move before the easy upper section... I even skipped a clip against the pump and had a good fall. 4th was to just below my highpoint... too wornout.

Utterly BRILLIANT. Off-width, balancy traverse into the incipient crack, techy crankin' face climbing to the roof, turn the roof and then outrageously thin tic-tac slabbing to the anchors. 3 shots (one Onsight attempt, then 2 laps on toprope. The last lap was down to 1 fall on the slab!) I have GOT to get back for this beauty. One of the best 26s I've done.

A 6m crack boulder-problem. I went ground-up for the Onsight, but fell off on the last hard move (I didn't trust my smeared feet and couldn't make the move). Gear is easy to place, and it's not bad for a short route.

Just the one go, decided to keep climbing after ticking Raiden. The logical conclusion to Raiden, and superior as a route in its own right. I didn't find a crucial crimp before pumping out. I have neither the skin to spare nor the motivation to climb Raiden again, so I'll just have to accept the dog. Not hard in isolation, but its damned pumpy to keep crimping when wornout from the lower section.

Back-to-back-to-back thinness on positive edges. The technical finale is the best bit. No time for another shot.

Tried to onsight this as a warmup, fell off 6m from the top, so pumped that both my hands were tingling from lack of circulation. I was SO flash pumped I even missed the obvious stemming rest stance, and just kept right on laybacking for 35m, desperately stopping to place gear half-blind. A soaring line, but rather repetitive, and not as creative as other lines here. Pumpy! =P

Damn... hung on for all time through the main part of the crux on the flash attempt, only to blow the final sideways deadpoint 1m from the anchors. The start is very average rock, though the climbing is interesting... but the upper headwall is a 2-star section in itself: great rock, committing and improbable climbing, and in a rad exposed position. Too bad theres over 20m of average climbing to get there.

Grrr... The very definition of ROBBED of the Onsight. The ONLY route I had left to tick the entire crag in a day. Onsighted everything on the route (including the notoriously hard blank stemming corner at the top), but in the middle 1/3rd (about grade 20), which climbs fractured, poxy rock, I managed to break both footers and a handhold simultaneously and fall off. I was too pissed off to come down to the ground and go up again. 2/3rds of this route is enjoyable climbing, starting up an interesting steep slopey face, and finishing up an improbably blank corner-system. But the middle is all hideously fractured, shale-like rock.

4 shots (though #2 and #3 was me falling off in the first 3m and coming straight back to the ground without untying). Technical and unweildly for the first 2/3rds, with an easier (gr22ish) upper. The start (1st crux) is either a compression nightmare or an exercise is tricky footwork and fingernail edges (I chose the latter), while the long middlecrux is desperately thin, balancy and contortionist, and culminates in a throw, then a dyno on smeared feet! 4th shot was with 1 fall at middle crux.

2 shots. TOTALLY punted the 2nd shot after all the hard moves by entering into the final sequence one sequence too soon! Or as Ingvar said: "you looked like you were having so much fun climbing that you forgot that you were climbing". Though short, this is a stunningly sustained technical (and burly) arete climb (using both sides of the pillar) which is COMPLETELY independent from the not-so-good Last of the Grey Nomads to the right. A real gem.

2 shots. I suspect when this gets repeated it will consolidate to 25. Lots of hard climbing on both the face and the arete where you could fall off any move, but the last move to the anchors (where my onsight ended) is nails. Even on my 2nd shot I still fell off in the same place (though it was now in the full sun). Top crux is malevolent slimper thinness through a slight bulge and with bad feet. Radical climb, though.

THE line of the crag. "If you can walk past this without salivating, quit climbing and take up croquet! " A proud, slightly steep, blank arete on vibrant orange rock. 3 shots, but only figured out the main bouldery crux on my last lap. Gr23 arete to a stance before the crux. Prominant, sharp crimping and arete slapping crux with sapping moves to exit it. Then a stance before more powerful moves to turn a sentry-box roof. Mind-boggling bridging and high-foot rock-over toeing the arete post-crux.

2 shots. 1st was to reequip, rechalk, scrub dirty holds and try and remember the complex crux sequence. 2nd was the Send attempt, but I had a foot slip on the last move of the crux and circumcised my right fingertips in the fall. Pulled back on and went to the top. The route would probably go in another shot or two, but I just didnt want to even touch those 2 righthand razorblade holds again (probably the sharpest holds ive held in Tassie). I agree with Jed's climb breakdown below entirely. =(

2 shots. Couldn't keep it together at the mid-point crux on either lap. A stacked upper half.

Another stacked one. The opening boulder gave me a fair bit of grief initially. I went through it twice, only to bungle easier moves higher up. Complex face climbing.

Heh, the boulder problem start is utterly desperate. I literally couldn't do the final move of the start despite a fair bit of effort. The route itself (without the move I can't do) would be punchy 24. Short, but intense until you gain the slab. Quite enjoyable in a bouldery kind of way.

Gentleman's Sit to avoid stealing the Project. Took about 10 goes to stick the opening boulder problem, then went clean to the top (other than the "sit" after the crux).

One attempt at this project (about gr25) to see how my knee if feeling after the injury. As it turns out: not so good. Climbed terribly, awkwardly and painfully, and with a plethora of hangs and falls. The climb is pretty good, though, and rather challenging at the grade. Steep face climbing with some devious moves... though only 12m.

Gave it a mega onsight attempt, which ended high high high when I encountered too much moss on one of the final sequences. With a quick scrub it woulda been fine, but such is the nature of onsighting, I guess.

Despite appearances, this has a lot of independant, sustained technical climbing, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

2 laps. 1st lap was just piecing together the sequences for Andy (there were moves on this that had never been solved before), and while I did all the sequences, I didnt work anything. Then Andy encouraged me to have a proper redpoint lap for the First Ascent 15min later (he was a bit over this climb), and despite making mistakes and forgetting sequences I did it with just a single fall on a wet hold (before the final hard sequence)... Doh! Hard to get to. Intimidating and committing. With 6 bolts of tough bouldery roof climbing to a no-hands stance. Then easier (23?) climbing for 12m through exposed, steep terrain taking you to the lip of the Great Roof. Utterly spectacular.

2 Investigatory Laps. What a mission it is to get to this climb! I don't often get scared Rope Soloing anymore, but the exposure, steepness and traversing nature of this powerful climb had me a bit freaked. 4 bolts in 18m of climbing is a bit crazy (especially considering the hyper-exposed position - this was more scary than The Totem Pole to me) but falls are into clean air. Pumpy, Strenuous, burly varied crack climbing. Good linkage on 2nd lap, but bad commitment from me on rope solo. Scared!)

Wow! How has this not been climbed yet? A contender for THE best line in all of Bare Rock! The best rock on the crag, in the best position (the massively overhanging headwall above The Great Roof) and amazing moves (non-stop gr25 for 25m of climbing!) AND it starts from an awesome belay stance (not the usual hanging belay nonsense of the other Headwall pitches, with Belayer Bait routes nearby off the same belay.) The very definition of SPECTACULAR, and DAMN I am PSYCHED!

A lap on Top Rope, definately not clean. Just doing all the moves (to verify that they go as un-tensioned complete sequences), which I can verify that they DO! Pumpy as hell, intimidating position, strenous moves which require a weird intricacy to climb. No move harder than gr25, but sooo many moves at that grade. I guess its gonna have to wait until Next Season... I leave on Wednesday. =(

I'm with Jed on this one: definitely solid 25, a brilliant route, and would make for a great tick, but it's an absolute mission to get to. Very cryptic hold-positions which made my Ground-up onsight attempt (with no chalk on the route) bloody hard work. Blew the link at about half height, then had falls at 3 sections (mostly due to not finding the crucial holds). Probably onsightable if there's chalk on it, but still bloody tough, and with no easy climbing in 40m. One of my favourite routes here

2 shots. This is a 1-star route at the moment (going ground-up). Add an extra star if you rap-in to put the gear on. There is good climbing to be found here if you stick out the difficult bolt placements (and give it a second shot (or a third, as in my case). The climbing is fairly enjoyable, with 2 x tough (and cruxy) grade 25 cruxes through blocky roofs, and lots of gr22-23 moves for the other 35m. I struggled with the mid-height crux, where the bolt placement means you're putting on the draw from the gr25 crux holds (with the previous bolt far below). I was so frustrated at the time that I didn't work any of the hard moves, and only decided to have another shot at the last minute. Second-shot was managed with a single-fall at the mid-height (main) crux. Damn! My least favourite of the Easter Rising Trilogy, though with some TLC from the FA it could be more enjoyable. Watch the bolt position of the first crux-roof (at 1/3rd height), at the moment it will wear on your quickdraw if you fall on it.

Top Rope Solo, piecing together the complex 45m 4th pitch. Technical, cruxy traverse underneath a series of roofs (23/24?), turn the final roof, then up an immaculate Tiger-striped slab on great rock (19/20) to anchors just below the great roof. Pretty rad.

Top Rope Solo of Pitch 3 before bolting. A short (12m?) technical slab at about grade 22. Wanders a bit at the start away from "the obvious line" and onto a line of harder climbing, in order to climb the better rock.

Pitch 6 and Pitch 8 today, working out bolt positions. Pitch 6 is rad, steep bouldering at 25/26... might be a tough tick. Pitch 8 is just an exit pitch on average rock, but its not too bad, and only about grade 15.

Trying to tick Pitch 6 (25/26). 5m of pleasant technical climbing, followed by 6m of intense bouldering (with interesting moves on immaculate rock up a black streak) to a final 6m of pumpy climbing. Quite steep and demanding. 2 shots today, the second about 5min after the first shot, when we realised we were about to run out of light, and had 2 pitches of climbing, and 30m of jumaaring in front of us. Next time?

Pitch 5 only. 2 Laps Top Rope Solo to work out where to place the bolts. Absolutely outrageous climbing through the left-edge of The Great Roof in a style that I find very difficult. Steep, desperate, powerful, sloper-slapping and heel-hooking where contact-strength and body positions are crucial to using the frictionless rock. All of this 120m off the ground. This pitch seems really hard to me, and if it was any harder I simply wouldn't be able to climb it at all. This one might be a hard tick.

Working lap before bolting. Another 9m more steepness (after Godhead's Lament) up the underside of the God Monster arch... sooo much steepness. Mostly good holds, but steep and a bit powerful. Perhaps a bit sharp at times. Did I mention that its steep?

5 laps today on Top Rope Solo. Best effort was with 1 fall on the last hard move at 30m of climbing... damn! So. Bloody. Pumpy. Mostly good finger jugs (with some actual jugs) the whole way, but pumpy enough that sticking the powerful cruxes is a real test of Will and Fortitude. That final sequence is gonna be a killer on redpoint. My forearms hurt from the pump by the end of this. A contender for the steepest route in Tas.

End of day shot placing the draws... didnt go so well and I had 5 falls to the anchors. Damn. Really struggled on this today. =(

3 more VERY early morning shots (before the sun), with improvement on each lap, but no tick. High point is ALMOST sticking the 2nd last crux (with the hardest crux still to come, but with the only mega jug on this route between me and it... IF id stuck the last move of the 2nd last crux). So farking pumpy, my arms are on fire for 20min after each shot.

1 lap Top Rope Solo to investigate the line before bolting it. Extremely steep for Bare Rock, with an extremely powerful and pumpy upper-half. Probably Hard 25 (by Bare Rock grading). There is an obvious continuation that keeps traversing under the arch rather than joining God Monster... I'll have to have a look at it later.

2 laps Top Rope Solo. Just practicing the route while I wait for the weather to sort itself out, and a belayer to arrive (so I can do the FA). 1st lap was a bit of a dogs breakfast as I refined the hard moves, the 2nd lap just had a single fall on the first hard move when I messed up the sequence, but linked from below that sequence (though all the hard climbing) to the top after the fall. I think solid/hard 25 is about right.

A true chalkless onsight attempt as a warmup. 1 fall at about 2/3rds height, then clean to the top. Quite sustained technical slab and face climbing on beautiful yellow and black streaked rock. A LOT of moves for a 30m climb and the final moves through the roof to join The Sapphire Rose are the icing on the Cake to cap off a corker of a climb.

Top Rope Exploratory Lap in between belaying Ingvar on it. Lots of falls and rests. Amazing position climbing moderate steepness off a tiny belay ledge, 150+m above the ground. Gr24ish techy thinness gets you to the crux, which is bouldery, crimpy thinness through the steepest part of the route culminating in a big throw to a finger-jug, then more hard crimping before some final steep climbing on big flat holds. I surprised myself figuring a lot of this out, but linking it would be a tall order.

1 lap after prepping the route and placing a few bolts to make sure it all goes. Wow! 150m of exposure, then straight into hard climbing that just gets harder. Crimps, sidepulls, underclings and jugs... everything is a downward-sloping flatty. 4 distinctly hard sequences, but generally unrelenting. This puppy is as black-heartedly unforgiving as it is actually pitch black in colour. Didnt manage to work out the last hard move, and had LOTS of rests/falls.

Finished bolting it, then 2 more top rope laps putting it all together... it all goes, and it's unrelenting! Gr24 to the bulge, then particularly cruxy with a big throw to a sloper jug, then 2 more bloody hard sequences of thin, balancy and crimpy to a rest. A final 4m gr22 section finishes it off. 26 or 27, I think. Aesthetic and inspiring... but im not sure I'm fit enough to put it all together yet.

Day 3 - 2 laps. One of my worst efforts. Battling full sun and general tiredness. Put together the full sequence for the 4th section of the route and repeated it several times. This is one of the best routes I've ever been on.

Day 4 - 3 laps on Top Rope Solo. Breakthrough at the main crux (3rd section) finally putting together and doing the full sequence in isolation. Still havent snatched and held the final throw of the main crux (have ALMOST held it numerous times) but that move WILL go with rest and targetted training. Refined and dialed the other 5 sections and can link consistantly with a rest before each. ENDURANCE!

Day 5 - 2.5 laps today. Last day in Tas. Still cant quite latch that last move of the crux, but I'm so damn close. Linked multiple sections for the first time today, but need more endurance to link it all. Ingvar has suggested it might be almost 28... it certainly feels like it. This is undoubtedly the hardest I've worked for the tick on any route, and it leaves me destroyed after each lap. But its so mega and so inspiring, and I cant WAIT to come back... now to race to catch my ferry home!

The siege begins! Day 1: 2 laps... disheartening. Can't even touch the crux. Feels impossible. Dialled the rest of the route. Would be 27 without the crux. 8m 25 into V5/V6 1st crux, into V3/V4 2nd crux, into solid V4 3rd crux, into final 6m gr22 to anchors. Damn. =(

Day 2: 2 laps. Much time spent fine-tuning the crux. Almost got it sorted (in isolation) and can sometimes link most of it. New highpoint linkage, to the 2nd move of the main crux from the belay... thats something at least.

3 more shots. Came up with a new sequence at the crux which was slightly easier, eventually broke off the new hold, so now I'm back to the old sequence. Making some progress with the crux, but it's slow work, and by the end of 3 laps I'm so tired I can barely walk the 100m to my car. Consistently getting INTO the crux from the belay, so at least that's something.

1 more early morning lap. Quite a brutal warmup. Linked to my equal high point (into the first few moves of the crux). Did the crux boulder problem (V6) in 3 overlapping sections. Then went to the top in one push (something I'd never done before). So, I guess I can call this my best linkage yet. MAYBE it's possible?