Name: Fat of the Land Grade: V7 Location: Spittle Hill, Castle Hill Style: slab+slopey arete+sketchy mantle topout Status: Under-appreciated Spittle uber classic FA: Matt Pierson What a stunning piece of rock this is. At first glance totally blank and vomitously heinous. Who in their right minds would ever contemplate approaching this edifice of pure hate and loathing? [...]
Name: Suns out Guns out Grade: V9ish Location: Meadow area, Wairere Status: unrepeated Style: heady arete climbing on good holds. Crux at the top overhang. FA: Stu Kurth Automatic three star problem this. Twas the first boulder I clapped eyes on, but it took three trips to send, due to its tricky beta and committing [...]
Name: Architexture Grade: V9 Location: gully behind Beergarden; Froggat edge Style: arete heel-hooking to dicey shoulder-lock topout Status: obscure. Sitstart potential. Unrepeated FA: Stu Kurth It’s been so long I can’t actually remember what year I put this up. Possibly 2007? Difficult to say. Notable at the time as a project without any nasty pockets [...]
Name: Acapulco Grade: V11 Location: Flock Hill, upper left Style: barn-doors to precision crux at the last move Status: three ascents, ankle crushing potential FA: Derek Thatcher One among dozens of problems established in ’09, by none other than Derek Thatcher himself. The line sits on the tail end of a massive buttress, in a [...]
A quick fire update about the Mastering (as in climbing) of the Universe (as in Froggat). At long last–after four days of effort–I managed to get the FA of the last hard project at Froggat and thus give birth to (see title). I snaked down there with some lads from work, and did it in [...]