On Saturday the missus and I headed up to Mt Rosea to have a crack at The Last Rites*** (19). We'd previously climbed Debutante without any bother and have recently been climbing a few 20s round the place so thought TLR would be a nice outing. The guide book mentioned it was sustained at the grade but not much else.
We climbed it as 4 pitches on a single rope and I thought it was generally OK, albeit with some pretty dodgy patches of rock (hey, that's Rosea) and some iffy pro here and there. However, the little roof towards the top of the first pitch I thought was very very tough and I wanted to know what experience others have had.
P1 apparently goes at grade 18/19 depending on which guidebook you read, and the suggestion is you make your way up to a smallish roof and shimmy around it to the right, either by stepping R earlier around an arete, or by climbing right up under the roof and moving right. In either case I thought the moves were a good deal harder than grade 18, particularly given that if you screw it up you'll likely bounce hard off the sloping ledge below you.
So, for those that have climbed it:
A) is it a sandbag? (please say yes, please please)
or
B) did I miss some crucial hidden hold that makes it a grade 18 pitch?
and/or
C) am I soft?
Thanks in advance. |