Sunshine on Singati: Eastern Buttress Traverse

Appreciate the commments - the route was too much fun not to write about it in detail. The Arete is a hidden gem that deserves more recognition. A climbing fiend was telling me about it to me some time ago while discussing the Eastern Buttress and recommended it over the Standard Route. And so when Andrew mentioned it as an option for our trip, I leapt at it. Else, also known as the "South East Arete", I may have written it off as something comparable to Sentinel's South East Arete route.

ghaznavid wrote: If the crux sequence was excluded, what grade would you say the route is?

If you avoid the F2 pitch we did, then you have to contend with several F1 pitches. If you are meaning the crux pitch itself, then the approach to the recess ("Pitch 7") is D, after possibly a few F1 moves (?) and after the crux you are not home free either (probably F1 one again).

mnt_tiska: I agree that in the day it was opened it was a considerable pitch. Im not sure what they would have jammed into that crack, and climbing it with socks or tennis shoes on would also have been something!