In theory I'm having a bash at the NE face of Ha Ling next weekend. This concept has been swilling around the office for about 15 months, so I'm not too excited about it working out - the weather forecasters have always conspired to stop us previously. Just in case Dave and I do actually make it to Whiteman's Gap next weekend, however I thought I'd better put in a few hours at the crag, to remind myself of what's what. A new climbing partner of mine, Hallam Payne from South Africa, was up for some action, so we hit Grotto Canyon for a handful of trad and bolted routes between about 5.5 and 10a. I was pretty delighted with finding a sweet little trad corner graded 5.7. In the UK this would probably have been a Severe, but grading on crags where bolts and natural co-mingle seems to flatter the real climber in K Country.
Another find was the Grotto Slab area -40 m high friction slabs whose bolting makes Welsh slate look like the Nanny State. There's 10 m between bolts on the 'classics'. I hate slabs and found that even a 5 m run-out was enough to reduce me to gibbering. Still, the location is both convenient and spectacular, and far enough up the canyon to be clear from inane grockle chatter.
Footnote: The next weekend, Dave and I walked halfway to the start of the route on Ha Ling in the pouring rain. Then we turned around and desended.
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