Germany Powerhaus sends New 29
First to fall was an impressive one day ascent of "Your Either Dread Or Your Not" (29 / 30) at Paynes Ford. The route was also sent a week later by New Zealand powerhaus Sebastian Lowenstein. Next up was a third try redpoint of the notoriously difficult "Cloudwalker" (27+), before Holger returned to the more serious Paynes Ford activity's of beer drinking and swimming.
Returning to the sharp land of ignimbrite. he quickly dispatched "Even Drawves Started Small" (28) and "Distortion" (27) in a day at Whanganui Bay. Next up was Scott Mooney's "Built to Last" (29) at Frogatt Edge. This held up a bit longer before going down after 3 days of effort and a couple of BIG falls from the top section.
The following weekend saw Holger quickly send the uncompleted variant to create a new North Island 29 "Maddog Hine". The route was named after a mad poodle that terrorised an unsuspecting Raglan party the night before. This line climbs the lower crux section of "Built To Last" and then joins into Ewan Sinclar's "Double Major Dropout" (28). The line was attempted unsuccessfully by both Scott and Ewan (Who fell from the last move on his last try on his last day before he flew out to Colorado).
With one last day of climbing before heading to the Blue Mountains, we returned to the Bay where Holger finished his trip with a second day redpoint of the previously unrepeated "Tiger Style" (29). The route was put up by Colin Pohl back in 1997 and has held off all contenders until now.
Despite his vocal aversion to the 'sharp' pockets common in North Island sport climbing, Holger commented on the high quality of both "Built to Last" and Tiger Style". He also thought they were both solid for the grade at 8a (29) and could be easy 8a+ (30).
Returning to the sharp land of ignimbrite. he quickly dispatched "Even Drawves Started Small" (28) and "Distortion" (27) in a day at Whanganui Bay. Next up was Scott Mooney's "Built to Last" (29) at Frogatt Edge. This held up a bit longer before going down after 3 days of effort and a couple of BIG falls from the top section.
The following weekend saw Holger quickly send the uncompleted variant to create a new North Island 29 "Maddog Hine". The route was named after a mad poodle that terrorised an unsuspecting Raglan party the night before. This line climbs the lower crux section of "Built To Last" and then joins into Ewan Sinclar's "Double Major Dropout" (28). The line was attempted unsuccessfully by both Scott and Ewan (Who fell from the last move on his last try on his last day before he flew out to Colorado).
With one last day of climbing before heading to the Blue Mountains, we returned to the Bay where Holger finished his trip with a second day redpoint of the previously unrepeated "Tiger Style" (29). The route was put up by Colin Pohl back in 1997 and has held off all contenders until now.
Despite his vocal aversion to the 'sharp' pockets common in North Island sport climbing, Holger commented on the high quality of both "Built to Last" and Tiger Style". He also thought they were both solid for the grade at 8a (29) and could be easy 8a+ (30).