Wednesday 27 February 2013

Hadrian's Direct and Minus 3 Gully

Murdoch leading up the 1st pitch

Murdoch approaching the belay on the crux pitch

Lou topping out on the crux pitch

Somewhere near the top, amazing ice

A walk down from Tower Gully

Murdoch questing up to the belay

Believe it or not but more ice climbing!
Today Murdoch and I were in search of yet another Cold Climbs classic to stretch our leg on and we ended up on Hadrian's Direct (V,5) with nobody above us!  It was magic! One big steep pitch followed by a reasonable amount of easy ground followed by some more steep ice.  John and Lou joined us at the first belay for a wee blether before Murdoch and I shot off to the top, down Tower Gully and to the base of Minus 3 Gully (IV,5).  Murdoch and I have both climbed Minus 1 and 2 Gully so we were well psyched to finish off the trilogy.  It was a super route, all 3 pitches were interesting and we both felt we had to use our arms on the crux 1st pitch.  We made our way back down a short section of North East Buttress before having a nice wander our.  Again many teams on Orion Direct, Point 5, Slav Route, all the Minus gullies and many more.  Again conditions are super and the psyche is high!

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