We have wanted to climb GA for some time now, but as you would expect, each and every time we have headed up, the route has been busy, and with Dans patience, well........... we have never had the pleasure.
I was joined by my usual sidekick in Dan, and also a good friend, Liam, who has recently tried his hand at some bouldering.
We all made the plod up to the Heather Terrace, but on arrival at GA it was obvious that again, the route was taken. This time though we stuck it out. We would be climbing as a 3 for a start, also, this is what we came here to do, and do it we would!!
With the team above finishing the second pitch, Dan took the sharp end and started up the 1st pitch.
He was soon bringing Liam and I up, and instantly the route was interesting. The thrutchy awkward moves up the unhelpfully sized crack weren't textbook to say the least, but in no time at all we joined Dan at the belay.
Pith 2 was my lead, some straight forward climbing really, I overshot the belay though, and made my belay a little further on. Again Dan and Liam were soon with me, and we were making good progress.
With me overshooting the second belay, Dan's third pitch was cut a little short. Only a few metres of climbing then a walk over to the next belay. By this point we had merged two pitches into one, so our next pitch, (our 4th) was the 5th in the guide.
The 4th pitch was my lead, and what a fantastic pitch it is. A rib is climbed on the right up to a groove. This is climbed using a rib on the right, brilliant climbing all the way, then a precarious move is needed to step to the adjacent rib on the left of the groove. This was the most difficult move so far and could well be the crux.
Dan had the famous Knights slab pitch which didn't take him long. The Knights slab is brilliant. Holds everywhere you need one, and the climbing flows beautifully. The move of the slab in the top right corner and around the arete is the other stand out difficult move on the climb. Dan brought us up, and after a brief moment, Liam was round the arete and at the belay. I followed and by this point we were moving well.
The last 2 pitches I again led together, and again were excellent. The steep wall with tons of holds made a great end to the route.
From here we made our way to the summit as the sky was clear and the views were stunning, a few moments up on the top and it was time to make the long plod back.
I thought the grade to be HVD/S, and a VDiff leader I think may struggle with the two more difficult sections.
So, for me, the route is the best I have climbed on the east face so far. Good holds, apart from 1 or 2 loose flakes, good protection and enough of it, great exposure on the top pitches and the climbing is rarely broken. A seriously awesome route!
