Billabong

A good route with some good spice to it. At what I found to be the crux I was 2 meters above a bolt, but 3 meters above a small ledge. A possible ankle-breaker.

Billabong is on the west end of the south face. An easy crack and corner ascends 10 meters to a system of black flakes for a few meters - chicken heads and puzzle pieces that protect well, but have a nearby bolt anyway. The climb continues up and slightly right on smooth white rock, where a crux or two can be found. The holds are sloping and slick, at least in the sunny afternoon. I found the climb significantly harder than most area 5.10's and also harder than

Runaway

(11a?) and some other 5.11- face climbs.

The crux for me, (who went right) was moving out and right onto a chalked feature on a small point on the cliff, perhaps approaching the 3rd bolt. My partner, who did not fall on the other 5.10 face routes we did, gave up on the right hand way after a few falls and went left for a fall as well, before eventually making it in that direction.

A few of the other spaces between bolts also contained cruxes above protection, but none with significant ledge-hitting potential. Reaching the top of the main face involves a 6 meter runout on 5.10- climbing. If the climb Run For Your Life is exciting for you, this may cause some issues.

Upon reaching the sloping ledge, a few cams can go into horizontals before traversing left to a finishing pitch, or right to an anchor, which requires some re-enforcement or a complete replacement to be good, as the existing webbing is in very poor condition.

The trad portion of this route is mellow and a 5.10 climber may climb this on bolts alone... but why not take a set of nuts and cams? The "anchor" above the bolted pitch totally sucks and needs to be backed up anyway (.5"-1" cams)