Great photo! But what's with the bolt? - Olbert

Incredible. How stupid are you people? For climbings' sake take this photo down before the general public sees it. - jimfalla

I put the bolt in because unless you've got a valley giant, you can't protect it. This is a picture of me working it, and the ladders are there because every time I fell out of it I just pulled back up and gave it another go, rather than doing the whole climb again :) - bigchris

Pretty average photo because appart from being example of current atrocities simply is little more than a gymnastic pose. Bolt?? It’s more like something that a ship would tie up to, and has dumbed down the route to lowest common climber factor. An what’s with the etts? If climber gonna show those tactics climber would have looked more sly stallone gnarly factor showing his bolt gun hanging off harness instead as that aligns with present fashion! - White Trash

I don't entirely understand the hate for this photo/climb.....maybe in light of the current access situation it would be smart to feature only "holier than holy" routes? There are probably more than 50 bolts at Araps which offend me, but this isn't one of them. Nice effort anyway, Chris. - One Day Hero

Cool climbing duds bro. Like the casual style too. - Duang Daunk

Good to see another photo of Kai's exploits, and one taken from a good angle at that. This photo taken at time of clipping with an armful of slack in hand, exemplifies how far the fall would have been too, if it all went belly-up at that moment... Well done Kai and photographer (Karl?). - IdratherbeclimbingM9

Good pic but a bit to posed for my liking. - White Trash

Thanks for the comment White Trash but I'm not sure what you mean. It's just a picture of Kai climbing. The position is the same as anyone of his height would be in clipping that bolt. There's no pose. - Karl Bromelow

The leg hanging in space looks posed to me. I’m obviously a weaker climber than Kai because the start of the climb (I’ve never been there), looks harder than where he is, an by the time I’d get up something like that, I’d be looking for all the rests I could get, like the foothold just above his knee height in the shot. Standing up on it makes it a waist clip, easier and less distance to fall if muffed. - White Trash

I led it after him White Trash, The foothold on that block by his right knee isn't great with hands as low as that, and would put your body in a worse position, with a more strenuously locked off rather than straight left arm, and more awkward fall if you fluffed the clip. The next move is possibly the crux and is quite a big reach for a little guy. Standing up on that foothold to make it a waist clip would involve doing the crux move with the last clipped bolt way below him and a potential fall onto a ledge out of shot. Caught between a rock and a hard place, I reckon he did right to clip it from a straight left arm to save pump. He is strong for his small size and weight regularly climbing much more overhanging territory than this. He wouldn't have thought twice about making the clip while hanging from one arm and with his right leg cutting loose. It certainly wasn't posed but I did select it from a bunch of shots precisely because it looked a bit out there for a small boy. He climbed it for fun after climbing much harder stuff on the same section of cliff at the end of a couple of great days in the Grampians with good friends during these school holidays. Cheers, Karl - Karl Bromelow

Good photo and I agree that it seems taken from a good angle, like photographer is on an adjacent climb. Good background story to the ascent. Great work Kai. Thanks for sharing. - Chloe

Thanks for the kind comments Chloe. I will pass them on to Kai. - Karl Bromelow

How are the preparations for Kai’s 18th birthday coming on? Must be soon. - Stugang

A cheeky if not precocious grin. Good to see the kid out there and wearing a helmet. Would’ve given another star if on lead , but that’s obviously coming. Wonder what gnaguts would say about the pic , given the previous conversation he had about kids ability? Well done photog leader and kid! Ps Imaguessing he is lighter than leader , so hope he is suitably anchored for upward load belaying. - Jayford4321

Kai loves multi pitch trad adventures and has been climbing all his life. The grin does say it all. Don't worry about the belaying. Though I do let Kai belay me on routes that are well below my limit, when he does he is secure. On this route however I was belayed by another adult not in shot. BTW you are Gnaguts aren't you Jayford? - Karl Bromelow

Climbing with the kids is so much fun. I wish my kids were more excited about it:) And the pic is very cool! - Miguel75

Cheers Miguel. And I hope your kids develop an interest. I get so much joy from sharing all these golden moments with my boy and his Mum. Just got in from another day climbing with him. 3 of the last 4. - Karl Bromelow

that is a cool photo. especially cos its evidence of the kid taking the sharp end and seconding a traverse on the rope with no runners. Meanwhile the pussy adult sticks around on the ledge below pretending his self preservation instincts are altruistic cos he's saving the kid from taking out runners on a traverse. - stugang

. . . then again kid could be on a sneaky hidden blue back-rope to avoid any potential pendulum? KB , who or what is Gnaguts? - Jayford4321

Thanks Stugang. Kai is a very confident climber and I knew he would be fine seconding on the relatively easy short traverse so I didn't clip his rope (yellow) into the gear. He had no back rope. Next up however was his friend Seb who is less experienced in situations like this being only 7! Seb was tied in halfway along the blue rope and his father also had him on a loose belay from below. When it came to the traverse he unclipped from the runners in front of him and reclipped them behind to help protect his dad and also to reduce his own chance of a pretty safe but maybe unsettling pendulum into the corner. It was an excellent adventure and we topped out on a stunning sunset. - Karl Bromelow

"Gnaguts", "Stugang", "Jayford4321" are you all the same? Gnaguts comments on an earlier photo of Kai were reattributed to Jayford4321 on archiving: 4 starz 4 a good pic despite tha poor slab techniQ exhibitd. Stand up kid, kneezanelbowz R4 old tradz or bouldererz like simes wearin KT26's mantling rounded topoutz in beechD whale styl. - Jayford4321 I did post myself in response to the last comment above but decided to let the 10 year old come back himself. Kai says, "I wasn't using my knees and elbows, I was using my hands and feet. What's his problem anyway?" That's you told. - Karl Bromelow This is a link to the sun actually colliding with planet earth a few years ago. How the heck did we all survive do you reckon, Snagtug? http://www.facebook.com/photo.php? fbid=14548226331&l=19165b1f6a - Karl Bromelow That pic iz almost az grainy as tha beach it showz , but 5 starz for bean ther an capsharin tha moment. Afta such a calamnus event itz a wonder we survivD indeed , and surely our livz have bin foreshortnD (@ leest telepictor ally) , by it. . . . bout az much az last time ed shortroped hisself ropesoloin @ tha Piles, or som kid leanin in2 a slab 2 create smeary wobblmomentz. - Jayford4321 There's no beach on it, Snagtug. Nice to see you came back though to check for the reaction like I do, Snagtug. - Karl Bromelow U were otto focussin on tha sun an not tha wavz? Wot size lenz? - Jayford4321 - Karl Bromelow

#twitter - Fake news. - twitter# As Pres said: “was one of the best , but was sloppy , so is gone now” , - as far as I know. - Jayford4321

Moving right along / back to original topic ... A good photo, along with intrigue factor for climbers given the 2nd rope involved that has subsequently been explained in comments above. Well followed Kai, and well photographed KB. - IdratherbeclimbingM9

If you have as much fun as he looks like he's having when you climb, then you're doing it right. - bigchris

Too right bigchris. He does love it. Though he can get a bit upset with himself as he did yesterday at Camels Hump. Though we all thought he climbed brilliantly he fell short of his own big expectations and it overwhelmed him a bit. Being 11 though, he was soon laughing and fooling around again as we all squirmed around in the caves behind Omega Block. Happy days. - Karl Bromelow

What does that ^ remind me of? Oh , yair , . . . now I remember , sounds like another ODH in the making? - Jayford4321

Good pic bro KB. Good to see young guns out there. When are we going to see a photo of Kai leading something equally speccy? Perhaps equally importantly, when’s Kai getting his own Chocky account, to continue to get in the face of the naysayers? - Duang Daunk

Thanks DD. Kai does lead but I don't have many shots of him worthy of posting apart from one's that would provoke irresponsible parenting comments. Here's an old one of him 2 years ago (age 9) onsight leading, and placing his own gear, on the second pitch of a relatively easy route on a trip to the UK to visit family and friends. http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.php?id=278931 and another from the same UK trip http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.php?id=274070 - Karl Bromelow