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New pitons on Watch Tower 10-Feb-2005 At 11:30:28 AM The Blond Gecko

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I well remember my first (and so far only) outing on Watchtower Crack. Despite the fact that I was regularly leading 18-19 at the time, it's probably the most terrified I've ever been on a climb. This was for a variety of reasons, not the least being that the largest gear I had with me was a #10 hex. By the time I reached the little mini-roof, that hex was about 3 metres below me, sitting lengthways across the crack on a couple of vague, almost indistinguishable bulges, and another 3 metres or so above the manky carrot.
Anyway, I reach the little overlap, desperately searching for some relatively solid gear, and am delighted to find a big chockstone sitting back in the crack. So, I set myself up with a solid foot-jam below me, and a dodgy-feeling arm-bar (possibly the worst combination I can think of for fear-factor), and go searching for my slings. Guess what? They're slung over the shoulder of the arm that is currently the only thing keeping me from what I can all too easily imagine - a 6m+ inverted fall onto a dodgy hex which, even if it holds, is going to pendulum me straight into a crack almost wide enough to fit me. About 5 minutes of sheer, mind-numbing terror ensued, complete with elvising, sweating and a fair bit of quiet cursing, while I desperately struggled to remove a sling and get it over that stone while never removing my left arm from that crack. All within view of a couple of other MUMC guys on Brolga.
Of course, the fact that I was able to keep that position for five minutes suggests that the stance was quite a bit better than it felt at the time, and the move over that glassy section turned out a lot easier than it looked, but by that stage I was in no condition to think rationally. In that frame of mind, it never even occurred to me that there was a solid belay to be found there. I ran it out to the top (actually, almost to the top - 50m rope) and squeezed myself into the crack on rope stretch where I was able to put together a bomproof belay.

My own tale of a mini-epic... my personal opinion: those pitons would be a damn good thing for all those idiots who, like me, decide to attack the climb under-prepared because "it's only a 16."