30 November 2010

A flurry of new routes


Some potential new lines have been in the back of my mind for a while now so it has been satisfying to tick a couple of them off the list.

White Goods had an obvious gap on the main wall in between Doorstep and Jaz, now that gap has been filled by the route White Goods M8+. Matt and I bolted the route top down, somehow I got the easier angled head wall to bolt, however I had to clean a lot of loose blocks off the lip. Matt then did some strenuous bolting from the roof down!!

The bulk of the climbing up to the roof is provided by good cracks and ledges which I managed to on-sight before running out of ideas and enthusiasm at the roof. White Goods should provide a good intermediate between Jas and Tumble in terms of difficulty.

Will at the top of Guava Half



Down at the Kitchen.... Will and I cleared some ivy from the wall left of the tree to give 2 lines of similar difficulty as Apples and Pears (M6/7).
Just left of the tree is Guava Half that got it's FA by Will after Pete and I persuaded him to give the route a go. I bet that deadpoint to the flatty was exciting!!

Will demonstrating one (good) way
up the bald headwall of Guava Half



Moving left again is Agent Orange that featured a hands on rock crimp and axe head mantle rock-over move during my ascent (possibly cheating but good fun).

The most interesting line is the obvious crack that was lead on gear (next to the stepped corner crack - a project for someone with big cams?). It goes at about M5 and I strongly recommend stepping right to the Agent Orange lower off instead of topping out. Apocalypse Now.

Over on the Slate I completed my project on the wall left of Ibex to give the friendly little line Bambi M9.





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15 November 2010

Following our placements...................................???



Where’s the vid bd? (2022)
the real big drip saw a few ascents in 2010 (less snow made the approach easier than usual??)

This vid, filmed around the time of our ascent, gives me a great reminder of the conditions Ramon and I encountered.



BD grassroots athlete Jesse Huey on The Real Big Drip (M7 WI 6), Canadian Rockies from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.





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