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Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports

Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!

Topic Date User
Trip Report: Ozymandias Direct - Solo 18-Mar-2014 At 11:22:30 PM huwj
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Over the labour day long weekend 2014 I managed a solo ascent of Ozy Direct – my first solo multi-pitch! A big deal for me and an amazing few days. I thought I’d share a bit of my experience with you all…

I was sat in a hut, deep in Fjordland, in the winter of 2012 when I first heard of Ozy. I was there for the Darrans winter climbing meet. After a big day on the ice I was sharing some noodles with a fellow Brit who’d come over from Sydney. He asked me if I’d been to Buffalo much (I hadn’t at all) and in-between mouthfuls of noodles he enthusiastically told me about an amazing line up the North Wall he was keen to climb. A classic aid line that promised super steep granite and guaranteed multi-day epics. A seed was planted. We became good friends, we climbed some more steep ice together and Buffalo was briefly mentioned from time to time. And then, last February I got the text: “Lets climb Ozy. I have all the gear. Next weekend?”

That first trip up the North Wall was awesome. Having never stood in aiders before, the learning curve was steep but the psyche was there and we had a great weekend. Later in the year I was back with Phillipivan at the Aidfest – this time to blast up it in a day. We managed – barely! Somewhere in between these two climbs I decided I would do the solo. I’m not sure when exactly, but around October I remember a package arriving at work: my shiny new Silent Partner. It was on.

And so it was on a Friday afternoon two weeks ago, I found myself coasting up the Hume, cruise control set and heading for Buffalo. The drive up on my own gave me ample opportunity to think about what lay ahead. I’d made a few trips up to Buffalo to work on my aid and solo skills, and there was a definite feeling of excitement that I was finally heading up to go for the big solo.

I’d packed my haul bag and sorted all gear the night before. It took me less than fifteen minutes from parking the car at the chalet to be wandering down the south side track. For those who are still in any doubt: the south side track is by far the easiest route to the base of Ozy. While the Defender rap is straightforward enough, that final section of Comet Ramp is not pleasant. I took my time on the south side; to make sure I stayed on track, but mainly as I was carrying a heavy pig on my back. I really didn’t want to slip while wandering down there on my own. Despite this I was filling my water bottles at the creek in an hour and fifteen. Happy days.

My plan was to haul to Big Grassy and fix to the roof on Saturday then climb out on Sunday. It was ambitious: I had little solo experience and would be learning on the job, but with no work or commitments on Monday an extra day on the wall would be no problem. I was pleased to see there was no sign of life at the base of the route. With a long weekend ahead I suspected I wouldn't be the only one on the route. As it turned out, I had the wall to myself. I wondered how many ascents Ozy sees a year. Perhaps fewer than I thought.

I spent a restless Friday night in my hammock, slung between two trees by the creek. There was no reason not to sleep like a baby, but I was dreaming of Ozy and my mind wouldn’t rest. When the sun finally rose over the high plains, and the first rays lit up the wall, there was more than a little apprehension as I started up the first pitch. On both previous ascents my partners lead the first pitch. Both times I had seen them hesitate and curse those few slabby moves between the bolts, and both are significantly stronger free climbers than I am. I was nervous, but in the end it didn't cause me too much trouble. Perhaps the excitement of starting the climb pushed me through. It was all over quickly and I was happy to have the first pitch in the bag and the adventure properly underway.

The second and third pitches are fantastic. It blows my mind that they go free. The second pitch also saw me make the most serious mistake of the climb. I was leading with the Silent Partner and around eight metres from the top of the pitch I stopped to adjust my backup knot. I decided to just pull through an armful of slack so I wouldn't need to adjust it again and while doing so both ends of the rope went tight. I was gutted. I'd left the free end of the rope tied to the rope bag – which was locked to the anchor. The maths wasn’t pretty; I was climbing on a sixty but now had 30m of free rope on a 35m pitch. A few metres above me was a dirty old carrot. I decided to press on and asses my options from there. Using it for an anchor was not an appealing thought, but on arrival it looked like I might just have enough rope to make it to the bolts. Perhaps my old sixty has stretched a little, perhaps the pitch is shorter than stated or perhaps just a bit of both and a lot of luck got me through; I made it to the bolts with less than half a metre of spare rope. Lesson learned.

The third pitch was a corker. A few thin moves off the belay didn't worry me too much, and as with the second pitch I was immediately back-cleaning to make sure I didn't run out of draws or micro cams – both of which I was carrying fairly light. A few metres up the RP I was testing popped causing the micro cam I was standing on to also abandon ship. I fell about four or five metres – with no gear between me and the belay! Bad move. Thankfully, I’d set the anchor so the pig would be sucked up into the belay and it took the force out of the fall. It was my first lead-fall soloing and the adrenalin was pumping!

It felt good to be back on Big Grassy, although some poor rope work and a lot of messing about cleaning the third pitch meant I was well behind schedule. My plan of fixing to the roof on day one suddenly wasn’t so appealing – it was already getting late and in all honesty I just wanted to set up my hammock and call it a day. This being a solo, there was no one to convince me otherwise so that’s exactly what I did.







By morning I'd had a change of heart and cursed myself for not pushing on the day before. If I fixed to the roof and then climbed out on day three I would have an easy day followed by a pretty big day. If I moved slowly, topping out in the dark might be a real possibility and that didn’t sound appealing, especially as I needed to drive back to the city that night. I decided to pack up my gear and climb to the Gledhill Bivvy, spend the night there and split the climb into three equal days.

The pitch above Big Grassy ended up being the most memorable. I chugged up the ramp and was soon at the corner where the Original and Direct split. Stepping around the corner and working my way up towards the belay, I was on fairly comfortable ground and back-cleaning so the lead line would be easier to ascend and clean. A few metres up from the corner an RP popped as I weighted it, and just like before, the nut I was standing on blew. I fell about eight metres and struggled to stop myself going upside down as I swung round the corner. This is the biggest lead fall I've taken on any climb, and to have it happen on my first solo, half way up Ozy was a pretty intense experience! I hung there for a few minutes before jugging back up to the bolt that had caught me, took a few deep breaths and gave myself a quick pep-talk before continuing on.

I decided to leave the haul bag at Big Grassy, head up to the roof and haul the pig up both pitches in one. All went well at first. I hauled the pig and was pulling up the lead line when my rope bucket – clipped to the lead line with a snap gate – snagged. I gave it a tug and suddenly my rope bucket was fluttering down the wall. Ahhhh….. I watched

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