First weekend: Boulder Canyon

The first weekend we stayed down in Boulder. I was jetlagged and getting used to the altitude, so I was mainly ticking off easy routes to remind my body how to climb. On Saturday we warmed up at the Bowling Alley on Splitting Hares (5.10b) and Happy Ending (5.10d), both onsights, but both more than enough work for a jetlagged first day.

On Sunday I had a proper go at A Tall Cool One (5.12a), aptly named, since it is the kind of climb that really rewards cool morning temps. My flash attempt got me to the 6th bolt before my left arm completely pumped out and I had to hang. By the time I went back up for a second go, the sun was on the wall, the holds were greasy and slippery, and I popped a left foot pulling the penultimate move to the jug. Another one-hang.

I went back early on Monday morning to finish it off, but a very keen local was already top-rope-soloing it to dial the crux around bolt 5, and said she would be a couple of hours. Rather than wait, we high-tailed it back up to Fort Collins to get a day of work in.

Second weekend: Sinks Canyon, Wyoming

The second weekend we drove up to Sinks Canyon in Wyoming. We had read that there were rattlesnakes and poison ivy to worry about on the sunny Main Wall, and cougars and bears to worry about on the forested Shady Side. We were hoping that, being April, the rattlesnakes wouldn’t be out yet. The approach to the Main Wall on that first day was uneventful. At Purple Galaxy I onsighted Sweet Beguilin’ (5.11b/c), and redpointed Dog Star (5.11c) second go after getting wrong-handed in the crux on my onsight attempt. I had a go at Ain’t No Mercy (5.11b) at the end of the day as my fifth pitch and pumped out under the chains going for a long move. The altitude was still making things difficult for me.

In the hot afternoon on the walk back to the car a scream from Alex ahead of me confirmed my earlier fears. Luckily she stopped just short of stepping on a rattlesnake curled up right in the middle of the path. It was so well camouflaged that it needed to rattle to warn her of its presence.

We spent the remaining two days of the weekend on the Shady Side, where I started to come into some form. On the Saturday I flashed Hand of Doom (5.11d), a techy slab off the ground into a sequency pocket crux, then victory jugs. It worked very well for me.

On the Sunday I redpointed Sky Pup (5.12a) second go. The low crux is very foot-intensive, and on the flash go I couldn’t feel my frozen hands well enough to work through it, but with everything dialled it went cleanly.

Crystal Wall, Poudre Canyon

On the Wednesday of the following week we snuck out for a cheeky morning session so that I could revisit my favourite crag in all of Colorado: The Crystal Wall in Poudre Canyon. This place has been the site of many of my best sends in North America. While browsing Mountain Project I had spotted that a new 5.12b called Jade had been established on the far left of the North Face. I couldn’t wait to try it out as soon as possible and the weather was going to be too cold on Friday and Saturday.

Alex was almost 21 weeks pregnant but she was still willing and able to stick-clip her way up the route to put on the gear and find all the holds for me. I was hoping to achieve my highest flash grade ever. Poor tactics meant it wasn’t quite to be. I was very close to flashing it on the first go, but my fingers numbed out worse than I can ever remember. I completely lost feeling in my right hand about two moves from the end of the crux between the 3rd and 4th bolts. My fingertips remained numb for about five minutes after I got back to the ground. Nevertheless I knew what to do, and fired it off quite easily second go.

Final weekend: Shelf Road

The next Sunday and Monday we drove down to Shelf Road. This was a crag that I had enjoyed visiting for the first time in October 2025, despite being frustrated by a number of near misses. So I was keen for another crack at it. This time we linked up with Jack (a colleague of my wife, who has climbed multiple 5.13a routes) and his climbing partner John.

We arrived just as they were packing up their warm-up on The Mural Wall, so we climbed it after them and followed them around in that manner for the whole morning. We watched Jack send The Mural (hard 5.12b) on his second go. It is a beautiful route on a beautiful wall, and it was a pleasure to watch him deftly move through the balancy, sequency mono-to-mono crux near the top. I had a very good flash burn on another 4-star route, Motif (5.12a), a couple of routes to the right. Unfortunately I took a foot too far left in the second crux and missed a crucial right pocket. I think it would have gone second go, but the sun arrived on the wall before I could get back on it.

We walked across to the Far Side of the Gallery at lunchtime, and Jack had a go on a classic 5.12a that I had eyed up the previous year called Thick As Thieves (FA’ed in 1988). It was the afternoon of his second day and his skin was wrecked, so he couldn’t fathom how to get past the intimidatingly thin crux moves directly off the ground. I assumed the rest of the route must be easy, since the start was so hard, but he wasn’t so certain. We couldn’t see many holds on the head wall. He opted to leave it, and he and John moved around the corner to some cool down 5.11c climbs.

I couldn’t shake the idea that I had a chance to flash Thick As Thieves. I stood underneath it contemplating for a long time. Somehow the fact that Jack had been shut down made me think there was no pressure. Yet I hesitated. Alex could sense I was prevaricating and offered to stick-clip it and find the holds. My fingers felt good and I was happy with how I had been climbing the last few sessions, so I agreed. Thirty minutes later, with a nicely ticked-up route, I somehow managed to control the sharp and tiny crimps in the lower crux sufficiently to get to the pockets, and then held my nerve through the upper section that I had only seen at a distance. My beta was very different from Alex’s, but there is no way I would have got up it without her amazing support. We packed up and went round the corner to report my success to the other two. They scarcely believed it :) To be fair, I felt the same way. I was elated.

Last day of my 40s: Blank Frank

The final day, after Jack and John had left, Alex and I went to the Dark Side wall to revisit a 5.12b slab called Blank Frank that I had failed on twice the previous October. Again Alex stick-clipped up the route to put the gear on and find all the holds. What a hero!

It was the 20th of April. Even though I was 50 years old measured in elapsed hours, because I was born in NZ my birth date was still the next day. In this ambiguous condition I decided to count this as the last climbing session of my 40s.

The previous October I had fallen between the 5th and 6th bolts both times. On my first go of the day I managed to clip the 6th bolt from the ground, but then climbed too high to the right and couldn’t get across to the jugs on the left. After hanging, I climbed up to the break at the 7th bolt. From there to the 8th bolt is a difficult boulder problem on tiny feet with bad hands. For me it is the hardest climbing on the whole route, and it comes just before the anchor. Somehow I finally found a sequence that worked: a tiny right foot hold next to the 7th bolt, a right hand crimp-pinch, a slopey left hand pocket, left foot up to a small pocket my toe could just get into, right hand up to an awkward side-pull/side-press, right foot up to a shark-tooth foothold, left foot onto a very small edge on the corner of the arete, and then finally left hand to the 8th bolt clipping jug.

With the beta locked in I went to the ground and rested for an hour. The day was getting much hotter and the next go would be my last. Somehow it all came together. Alex confessed afterwards that she didn’t expect me to do it.

It was the fourth climbing day in a row that I had sent a 5.12, and this was the best such sequence I have ever had. Quite a nice way to round out my 40s.

We drove all the way back up to Boulder and celebrated with a fancy dinner at a French restaurant. We were both very, very tired, but also very happy. The next day we finally rested in Boulder with a nice breakfast and a little hike along the Flatirons. What a trip!

I logged 236 sport climbing attempts this year, with 105 clean ascents across 102 unique routes at 21 different crags. My ascent style breakdown was nicely balanced: 42 onsights, 31 flashes, and 32 redpoints.

The standout send of the year was Man From Atlantis (27) at Ti Point - my fourth route at grade 27. This had been my dream route since I first saw a photo of it in Rock Deluxe North back in 2020. At the time, I thought I would never be able to climb such a hard grade. It was an epic day with huge swells and the best hype team with Lynn Yeh on belay braving the crashing waves and Shania on camera cheering me on :)

Another season in Colorado added a new record to my logbook: a second-go ascent of Golden Girl (5.12c) in Poudre Canyon - my quickest ascent of the grade. Being a second pitch climb on the Crystal Wall, high above the canyon, added to the experience and made the atmosphere unforgettable.

Both of these climbs were sent just after a passing rain shower :)

My goal for 2025 was to put in at least 40 tie-ins on grade 28 routes. I only managed 21 tie-ins on 28s and I adjusted my goal in the last half of the year to be a cumulative effort grade of >= 33.32 (which is equivalent to 40 tie-ins at 28).

I manage to achieve the adjusted goal with a week to go, but because I didn’t actually try 28s as much as I wanted to, I didn’t send any.

So in 2026 I am renewing my original goal for 2025: 40 tie-ins of grade 28. Hopefully it will serve the intended purpose this time around :)

1. White Trash, White Wall, West Wanaka Heights (January)
2. Batman, Main Wall, Waipapa (May)
3. Morning Glory, Lakeside Wall, Waipapa (August)

The last of these three took me many attempts. The day that I sent it I first dropped into Bryce’s rock climbing shop in Wharepapa South on the way to the crag. I hadn’t seen Bryce all winter so we caught up. He said he had been tracking my (lack of) progress on Morning Glory from my online log book and his frank opinion was that “you aren’t strong enough for that route”. He continued by telling me that if he sent it after taking so many attempts, he “wouldn’t even be happy about it.” He told me I should just go away to train until I am strong enough, then go back out to the crag, strip down to my underwear and send it once and for all. I took all this as it was meant: well meaning advice from a climbing legend that had been there and done that. I enjoy dropping in on Bryce to hear a yarn and learn from his experience.

But going out to the crag after being delivered his firm admonishment, lit a fire under me. I had already been determined to send the route on that trip, given I was about to travel overseas, but now I also felt the need to prove him wrong. I was strong enough, and I would do it. Arriving at the crag with Dan Head I was so filled with the need to send that I couldn’t imagine climbing a warm-up route first. The draws were already up from my previous session. So I did a short routine to warm up my fingers and shoulders and then tied in for an immediate red-point burn. Amazingly, after having fallen somewhere in the crux every tie-in for 4-5 previous sessions, I found myself in the dihedral above the crux and whooping in delight. The second half of the route is technical stemming, but I had never fallen there. I held it together and found myself at the anchor with another yell of delight. I had climbed my longest project clean to the anchors on the first tie-in of the day. Dan, who had not belayed me on the route previously, was quite surprised. “First go… no way!!”.

Despite Bryce’s claim that I shouldn’t be happy having taken so long to send it, I was ecstatic. I remain very happy now. Yes, I would have loved to send it more quickly, and yes the 3-4 sessions of regression leading up to that day were very mentally taxing. But every day I arrived at the crag, I was surrounded by beauty, good climbing friends and faced with a physical and mental challenge that made me feel alive. The relationship I developed with that place and that route feels as important as having finally “done it”.

Beside those three hard routes in 2024 I also sent five 25/7b’s (two second go), 11 24/7a+’s (two flashes) and 13 23/7a (two onsights) during the year. So the volume of harder routes was also much better than previous years.

But in the last week of the year I had probably the most fun I have had climbing in 2024. That was because Alex and I went to a totally new crag every day for our climbing holiday in the South island. A quick-fire grand reconnaissance. At some of those crags I sent nothing (Little Babylon!) or we only did one easy climb (The Chasm, China Wall). But it was the act of getting to those remote locations, the people we were with, or met there, and the discovery of new beautiful places and new beautiful routes that made is very special. We tried hard when we wanted to, and chilled when it suited us. Rock climbing as it should be.

This year I plan to continue to make my goals effort based. I have no goals to send particular grades. But I have a main goal to put effort in to trying grade 28 at least 40 tie-ins in 2025. Lets see where that gets me.

Best of luck to all of you in 2025, whatever your goals are!

We had decided on an early approach because the first day called for about 1900m of ascent over about 17km. The first few kilometres ascended through the outskirts of Ausserberg village on cute little roads with no traffic and a pleasant temperature. We knew that the day would heat up, but I was hoping that we would be able to climb away from the heat throughout the day.

At the end of the road the obligatory hiking started with a choice: the tunnel, or a T4 section traversing steep terrain. Amongst our contingent there were fans of both options, but in the end it was decided by a discovery that the T4 section was officially closed for repairs and not currently as safe as a T4 designation would suggest. Although some of us were disappointed, the tunnel turned out to be quite unique.

We had known we might need to take this option, so we were prepared with head torches. We needed them. The tunnel was dead straight but a full 2km long! The walking was single-file walking with ample head-room. In some sections the walls were natural stone with quartz seams and in other sections sprayed with concrete to prevent any loose rocks from falling. One side of the tunnel was occupied by a “suone”, a channel of glacial river water that is part of an old irrigation system to bring water to the sunny arid slopes of Ausserberg and surrounds. These “suone” (or “bisse” in French) have been used for centuries in the Valais region of Switzerland to provide irrigation to high villages that don’t have closer reliable sources of water.

Beyond the tunnel the hike progressed gradually through green farmland nestled in the steep-sided valley with jagged, barren alpine ridges beckoning us forward in the distance.

Shortly we passing through a camp ground complete with benches, tables and plenty of shade. However it was not yet lunch time so we pressed on, crossing the river to the true left side and continuing on up the valley. It was around this time that I recalled what a couple of passing mountaineers had told us: the blueberries are excellent in this valley but don’t start eating them until you are beyond the large bridge, as there are donkeys up to that point. I was looking forward to eating blueberries but soon after this thought crossed my mind we spotted the donkeys ahead of us, and realised we were not yet above the donkey line.

By this time it was approaching noon and the day had heated up very significantly. There were few trees left and as the sun started to beat down on us in a rather unseasonal manner we started to worry about finding some shade for lunch. It was about this point where we passed some stunning slabs. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to check if there were any bolted routes :)

After quite a long period of plateau in my outdoor performances I have recently managed to climb two grade 26 climbs in the last few months:

• 26th November 2022 - Fillet of Arnold (19 attempts) video
• 12th January 2023 - Wombat (11 attempts) video

I am super happy about these two climbs. They were both beautiful climbs and enjoyable experiences. I initially found Fillet of Arnold mentally challenging as there are only 4 bolts for about 19 metres of climbing, so it has a much more run-out feeling than most modern sport climbing routes in NZ. I managed to climb this route while I was on sabbatical in Christchurch. It was a nice change to be able to go to the project after work and put in a couple of efforts. It meant that it became my longest project in terms of days spent on it, since easy access and short approach times did not put a high price on multiple visits. It also lessened the pressure.

Wombat was a quite different prospect. We were on holiday in Queenstown and had limited time. But it came together quickly and the route is bolted in quite a friendly manner except for the last easier section to the anchor.

Overall these two successes have given me a lot more confidence that I can continue to improve over the next few years. I still have a lot of improvement to make in technique and movement, as well as finger strength. It is a slow but steady process :)

On the weekend of 26th February 2022 I went for a solo mission to hike up to the Dome summit overlooking the crater lake on Mt Ruapehu.

I had stayed in the lovely Skotel the night before and was greeted in the morning by a gorgeous view of the second most prominent mountain in the central plateau, Mt Ngauruhoe (2291m).

It was a refreshing change to set out on a mountain adventure by myself, although not without some niggling trepidation.

The route to the summit is unmarked, but it is hard to go wrong as there are many routes up to the summit crater rim. What is more troublesome is the very loose nature of the rocks on the slopes, leading to potential hazards of rocks moving suddenly while moving over and through them.

Obviously poor visibility is also a major hazard, but the cloud around the summit had cleared by the time I made it to the crater rim.

I set out at a good pace from the top of the Sky Waka gondola at about 10am. I passed a party as I hiked up the Knoll Ridge and then dropped into the valley to follow the cairns in a more or less southerly direction.

I didn’t know any better, so when the cairns seems to peter out I headed straight up the slope due south until I reached the beginning of a long low cliff face running down the main slope which I decided to scramble on to the top of and follow up the slope to the summit plateau crater rim.

At the crater rim I got my first view of the summit plateau and the northern peaks of Tukino and Te Heuheu.

I had seen another party traversing the crater rim south west towards Dome peak, and I followed them until I caught up and passed them just after the next peak.

I arrived at Dome peak alone and had it to myself for 5-10 minutes. The view was beautiful but there seemed to be a lot less snow than I remembered there being on my last February visit to the peak nearly 20(!) years earlier.

I toyed with the idea of continuing up to the true summit (Tahurangi) but there seemed to be some glacial ice to traverse and I remember being told that crampons were advisable.

Eventually as more parties arrived the Dome peak became a little crowded. I enjoyed the view and the company for about an hour before heading back down to the gondola.

My elapsed time from gondola to gondola was 3h30m, with about 2h20m moving time. It was a wonderful day and I felt quite fit and not very tired from the effort. I resolved to purchase some microspikes for my Merrell hiking shoes and return for an ascent of the true summit in the coming weeks :)

I was a bit shocked to realise that my age category in climbing (45+) is called Veterans! Apparently I am already too old to be in Masters. I am pretty sure that the age for Veteran athletes is about 60+ in running events, but maybe that is wishful thinking!

Anyway, there were 20 Veteran Males and I managed to come equal first on points with 55 points for my 7 top problems.

I topped a black (V7+; 10 points), three reds (V4-V6; 8 points each) and three oranges (V0-V3; 7 points each).

I actually managed to flash the black and one of the reds (they were both slab problems which suit my skill set).

I took two goes on the other two red problems. The oranges I flashed as well. Overall my fitness is lacking, so getting them done fast was essential. I tried a couple of other red problems but didn’t get them done after 2-3 goes and decided not to tire myself out.

My final position was second overall on count back, which breaks ties based on who did a larger number of difficult problems outside their top 7. I had done only one other orange problem before deciding I wasn’t going to improve my top 7 score. Rooky mistake, but good to learn it on my first outing.

The climber I missed out to was none other than Zane Bray, a local legend who also took out the Veteran class for the whole 2021 series.

My second out of 20 in the Veteran Male translates to 30th out of 130 in the Open Men category (27th for Zane), so maybe veteran is the right name for it after all.

Anyway I had a great time, won a nice North Face cap and now I think I will enter a few more climbing events next year 🙂

Despite the COVID-19 lockdowns Alex and I got a lot of climbing done. We both climbed our first grade 24 and our first grade 25. I also managed my first onsight of grade 22. So we have made definite improvements since we started in 2019. In the year 2021 I am hoping to crack grades 26 and 27! 🙂

Wishing you all the best for your goals in 2021!

Soon afterwards, in mid 2019 I came up with the personal goal of (cleanly) lead climbing at least five different climbs of each grade up to 24 (7A+ / 5.12a) and one climb of 25 (7b / 5.12b) by the time of the Tokyo Olympics in July 2020. The idea was that the grade 25 undeniably represents an “expert” level of climbing. I think of this as the equivalent of a sub-1:30 half marathon, or sub-3hr marathon time, which are often used as benchmarks for very good (amateur) runners. Likewise in climbing, 5.12 (in the YDS grading system used in North America) has become a magical grade of difficulty representing the doorway to elite-level climbing. Thus there are books like “How to Climb 5.12” by Eric J. Horst, which was first published in 1994 and now in its third edition.

This post is to report that I have achieved that goal a few days into the month of July 2020.

I managed to cleanly climb my first 25 (7b / 5.12b) on lead this weekend. I am very pleased to report that the name of the route is “Mutation in my Genes”. It is an appealing sustained technical limestone climb on small crimps and slopers with a crux on either side of the fourth bolt. The setting is a beautiful remote farm in Waitomo.

This climb became more of a project than I expected but I am very happy that it all came together today just before the rain set in.

It was my 4th attempt on my fourth day of projecting the route and my 16th go overall (I tied in 4 times each day for 4 days over about 2.5 weeks). I guess I am a slow learner! But also stubborn 🙂

My first outdoor lead climb was on 16th March 2019, about a month before my 43rd birthday.

Soon afterwards, in mid 2019 I came up with the personal goal of (cleanly) lead climbing at least five different climbs of each grade up to 24 (7A+ / 5.12a) and one climb of 25 (7b / 5.12b) by the time of the Tokyo Olympics in July 2020. The idea was that the grade 25 undeniably represents an “expert” level of climbing. I think of this as the equivalent of a sub-1:30 half marathon, or sub-3hr marathon time, which are often used as benchmarks for very good (amateur) runners. Likewise in climbing, 5.12 (in the YDS grading system used in North America) has become a magical grade of difficulty representing the doorway to elite-level climbing. Thus there are books like “How to Climb 5.12” by Eric J. Horst, which was first published in 1994 and now in its third edition.

I thought it would be cool to try to reach an “expert” level of climbing ability in time to watch the sport in its first Olympics.

The problem I have with setting personal goals for myself is that if I commit to them then they become an all-consuming obsession. Though the Olympics have now been delayed, I am still trying to achieve the goal I set out for myself a year ago. This is a report on my progress.

Note: Since some of the climbs I have done (those in Squamish, Canada) are graded using the Yosemite Decimal Scale (North American route climbing), it was necessary to apply a conversion of these grades to the Ewbanks climbing scale to compare them to the climbs that I did in New Zealand and Tonga.

This analysis is based on data available from my public profile at https://www.thecrag.com/climber/alexeidrummond.

This summary covers the period 2019-03-16 to 2020-05-25.

The number of route climbs (including attempts) during the period of analysis was 399.

The number of clean climbs on lead was 226.

The number of hang dogs and failed attempts was 166.

The number of distinct routes climbed cleanly on lead was 205.

The number of distinct crags at which a route was climb cleanly was 24.

The figure presents unique clean climbs in four views: (a) by month, (b) “grade pyramid”, (c) accumulated through time, (d) by crag.

Outdoor lead climbing - unique routes climbed cleanly (2019-03-16 to 2020-05-25)