Going ground up pioneering a new route on a 200m cliff you have no idea what the gear is going to be like 2 pitches up. I did several routes with Neils and found him to be a competent climber who generally places good gear, but is prepared to push it to the limit. Having climbed on that face, I know that the gear is often marginal and spaced. I did a new route (22) to the left of the route Neils was attempting, with a 12m runout on solid 22 climbing, then belayed to a 2RP and a flared cam. |