The Hard Yards

Well, it's been an inspiring couple of weeks climbing with Blue Mountains strongman Mr Campbell.

Even though he puncuated his Pulpit climbing with trips to Frog (onsighting Future Tense 26 and others), it turned out that The Singularity really got under Nigel's skin. He said he thought it was a bloody good route with great movement. For Nige, it proved to be one of those lines where doing all of the moves is not the issue. The energy-sapping nature of the moves and lack of rest means it's difficult to arrive at the crux with enough juice in the tank.

After four days on the route and coming tantalizingly close, Nigel drove back from Stanthorpe (!) to have one final, all-out battle before needing to drive back to NSW the next day. He again came agonizingly close on several shots on the day. I also jumped back on to have a go with his beta and for me, it felt just as hard, but a bit more more secure and less of a 'percentage move'.

So the route remains unrepeated. We talked about the possible grade and Nige said it would be hard to say anything definitive without having sent the route. So we'll simply wait for the second ascent, and whatever the grade ends up being, it remains a quality route and a good challenge.