Marine Slab 5.10a and Shark Bait 5.7

Finally a bit of news on the development of Marine Slabs. Yan and I have been out gaining access to the top, putting in top bolts and cleaning the face under a couple of lines. We identified several lines with potential and top roped the shit of them and chose two line for our first sports lines in the area.

Marine Slab 5.10a 
(Sport: 15Meter. 6 bolts plus top anchors: FA J. Peterknecht & N. O'Regan)
This was the first obvious line we found and it follows the arete on the first prominent face. As we were cleaning the face, we found a few good features very close to the arete which are glued together with thin slab moves. When we were deciding on bolt placement, I had a certain flow of the climb I was trying to capture and good clips from good stances.
The first three bolts are on easy terrain and they bring you out to the arete on your left. The 4th bolts send you out towards the arete with classic slab feet, smearing on barely positive features. There is a vertical crack that has been eroded to a flaring feature that allows you to gain a upward facing triangular jug. You clip the 5th bolt off this position. Traverse to the right where a 1 inch wide ledge waits. The 6th bolt is clipped standing on this ledge. This bolt is a bit run out. Follow the small crimps up to the top anchors. There is an easy finish by going back to the right.
This climb has features that we have noticed in the area, thin slabs and big features. It is a good representation of what to expect out of this area.

**Grades** Neither Jan or I have a lot of experience on slab but I have always been surprised by how stiff the grades felt. As well, we cleaned these routes well but a lot of the pebbles in the sandstone pop out when fully weighted. Over time, these climbs will become 'smooth' which may affect the grade.


Shark Bait 5.7
(Sport: 11Meter. 5 bolts + Top Anchors: FA J. Peterknecht & N. O'Regan)
We climbed this little face on our first day exploring the area. A fun but deceptive climb. After we cleaned the base, we noticed how a low angle slab led up to the line we were looking at. We put the first bolt at the top of this slab. Don't take it for granted, it is a little trickier than it appears. The second and third bolt are quite close but this is to prevent a ground fall onto the slab below. Once the second clip is secure, a high step to the right gains a couple of knobs to grab for the 3rd bolt. A couple of cool looking features lead up to the 4th bolt and then over the nose to the 5th bolt. The top is easily gained from there. Lots of jugs with thin feet at times.


Now that we have the first couple of lines up, more should be going up soon. We have another 5 lines planned and we are find more stuff all the time. Fun!