Another day of climbing at Froggatt Edge
Alex, Fabio and I spent another day down at Froggatt Edge on Anzac Day. We left Auckland around 7am and were at Froggatt about 10am. It was much warmer than our previous visit but we went around to Animal Biscuit Valley for a warm-up in the sun. Alex chose “Supertwitch” (Grade 18 / 5.10) which ironically was the only climb left in the shade on that part of the crag. As promised in the guide this climb also tends to get wetter as winter approaches. So it was a super twitchy start, but I managed to flash it.
After that we went back to the main cliff for the main target of the day: the mega-classic “Terror Incognito” (Grade 18 / 5.10), a 25m climb that has a very nice vibe and is one of the tallest climbs in Froggatt. Alex took a large fall at around the 7th bolt and decided not to attempt to top it out. I was next and fought very hard to get to the top cleanly. This was a red-point for me and I was very happy at the top. I might have yelled “come on!” when I finally mantled up to reach the anchors :) My arms were very tired from the pumpy middle section and they almost gave out before I reached a nice rest just below the top. Fabio also red-pointed the climb after me. He took his time and all three of us are keen to come back and improve our performances.
After lunch we all tackled Fabio’s project “Volcanic” (Grade 19 / 5.10b) on the Bete Noire wall. This climb seems a bit harder than its grade and none of us climbed it cleanly. In fairness Fabio might have been able to, but he forgot to take extra quickdraws for the final two bolts so he had to be lowered back down. Alex managed to top-out and clean the route off for us. So we packed up and decided to head back around to the Slug Wall for some cruisy climbs to finish.
There were quite a few other climbers enjoying the afternoon sun at the Slug Wall. I flashed Firebug Pete (grade 16 / 5.8) and then onsighted Pyromania (grade 16 / 5.8). They were easy clean climbs for all of us and it was a nice finish to the day. Of course there was a burger and a beer in Te Awamutu again on the way back to Auckland. Fun times. :)