TATWOC: (Tired and Totally Wanked out Old Climbers!) 25eish.
About a year ago I noticed a break through overhang 2 metres or so to the right of the start of “Touch and Go” and sent Tony up there on the sharp end. He fiddled and flailed and grumbled that the rock was crumbly and pro was sketchy. I followed on a top rope and could not quite agree with him despite his disparaging remarks.
About the same time about 20m below this break we noticed a tricky looking step up to an under-cling and a move to a jug and then up some thin looking bouldery moves. Tony tried this too and bailed. It seemed too bold and hard for us lesser mortals.
Some weeks ago, in separate incidents Tony and
I added a 3rd pitch which is a busy grade 21 pitch that happens to use the crux of Touch and Go but instead of moving across the face, it ascends straight up once pulling round the roof.
The last pitch proved much more challenging and my first attempt on the sharp end was very scary. So I succumbed to my fear and inspected it on a top rope. This resulted in a nut being stuck in a hole and expanded to prevent it falling out by a sharp smack with a hammer on a blade peg. The nut, a rock 3, does not inspire confidence on direct inspection and I find it hard to clip as I have to use a very thin crimp to reach it. So it is still committing! Once clipped, one can reverse to the ledge and test it.
The top part of this pitch is extremely difficult to “read” and this resulted in me placing another fixed nut at the last rail purely as a marker. Without it, one would have no idea where to pull up onto the final “head wall” and the phrase “sand bag” comes to mind. The top pitch is already much trickier than the first 3 pitches and ideally one wants a route that is do-able for us mediocre climbers even if we are a little better than the average. Unfortunately there are very few, and probably only one local climbers that can, with abandon, jump onto committing trad routes on TM and even he, Clinton, is nursing a dicky shoulder injury at the moment and showed no enthusiasm of late to do so.
So TATWOC is born. Ably supported by Adam Roff, I did a clean ascent last Saturday, 20 December, at the ripe young age of 50 years and 7 days. This with knobbly finger tips, an arthritic PIP joint of my index finger, swollen and stiff hands, a chronically sore neck and severe sciatica. Besides this, I had a major crisis as I was in a sub-prime deficit with house points and this resulted in me feeling a little pressurized for time but it probably resulted in me getting the red-point of the last pitch as I had no time to dither.
I also had to pay dearly for being late as I got banished from the house by 08h00 Sunday morning with all three kids including Lucy who is still very Ma – verskrik and warned not to return for at least 36 hours.
I consider TATWOC a fine route and a great addition to the test piece repertoire on TM. It has 4 pitches that are challenging, each, in their own way. Even the 21 pitch is no push over. It is as straight a line as one can expect on TM sandstone and has all the attributes of an excellent TM trad route. It is by and large safe but scary. The last pitch can probably be straightened by pulling directly through the overhang above the nut fixed in the hole but this will make it much harder and beyond us “better than average” mediocre climbers and possibly even beyond some “really good climbers” but I do intend pursuing this.
There are no other routes on TM that exhibits 4 pitches of excellent quality on clean rock and certainly none at this grade. I just hope that other climbers at least attempt it and enjoy climbing it as much as I and my mates, who participated in the making of it, did.
The overall grade for the onsite is 25 or harder as it has so many tricky pitches! With beta or a red-point one can knock off at least a grade or even two. I felt it was about 24 having worked it before. There is also some lichen on the top pitch that can be removed to improve the route.
Climbers involved in TATWOC include Tony Dick,
TATWOC Grade 25eish!
Start: The route is situated on Fountain Ledge and starts 20m below the start of Touch and Go. Scramble up from the path to the first proper rock face 20m below the steep overhanging break of Touch and Go. Walk right along the ledge for 10m to below a scooped undercut face just. If you look up at 3m there is a thin under-cling slot that takes small Alien cams for pro. Taller dudes can place these cams by standing on blocks. Up left of the scooped face and left of a blunt arette at about 3.5m one can see a pillar box slot that is an invites gear placement and a hand hold.
Pitch 1: 23
Step up onto the scooped face and tenuously – if you are short reach round to the pillar box slot. Place good small cams in the horizontal slot just to the left. Move up on thin holds to easier ground. Climb straight up to a ledge below the overhang. Lean back and see the fixed nut up and to the left.
Pitch 2: 23
Move up to the higher, second rail above, and the traverse left 2m to below the fixed nut. Move up past the nut and then to easier ground that is a little run-out and scary but quite safe. Continue to the ledge
Pitch 3 : 21
Climb the grey face to a mantel onto a ledge. Climb straight up the left leaning crack to another ledge. Step right and up onto the undercut face and climb diagonally to the Touch and Go stance under the large overhang. Avoid drag with slings and climb through the Touch and Go roof to the right and step onto the face. Climb up slightly left for 3m and then stance on the Touch and Go stance.
Pitch: 4 25ish or eish.
Clip the fixed nut and test it if you dare. Climb to the rail. Move left 4m to where the overhang peters out and climb up on brittle feeling flakes to the next rail. Rail back right to the fixed nut directly over the start of the pitch. Pull onto the face above and continue straight up to the jumbo ledge.
Descent: The abseil chains are 5m or so to the left and down 2m on the edge.
