You know how they say, "double up your protection for the crux"!? Well, for Hamish, on Crack Of Delight (19), the crux started off the ground, and never really stopped. 5 cams place within 1m of each other while on lead and no more than 4m off the deck. First time in a real crack, so we cut him a little slack, and didn't make too much fun of his pro-technique. Photo by Robo555

Chances are, I was sizing up the thin crack with the loose block as my top out at this point. I ended up wussing out and exiting lower and right over the ledge. Photo by Chris B.

...or at least this one is. Not an easy route to protect, but it is there if you are ballsy enough to keep looking for it. The vegetation doesn't really help much either.

Otepatotu is definitely not a winter crag! Though we did manage to get on one of the few routes that gets any sun at all (for about 1/2 hour).

A pretty good route to learn trad climbing on, at 15 and with plenty of cracks. Gets rather daunting and takes some placement finding skills at the top though. Photo by socialclimber

...but also a very quality route. Recommended for any climber that climbs 14 or above. Tons of great placements on great rock.

If you can't tell by him all bundled up below, it had gotten quite cool and breezy by this point in the day. Kind of a bad photo of the route, but this was taken while on the sharp end of a first ascent flash (okay.....I know...it was 'only' a 16....).

No, he's not catching flies, it was quite windy and hard to hear. Hopefully, someday, we will get a good photo of this route, but it isn't likely. That is one heck of a drop-off below.

After the next placement, he missed the following 3, making for a very serious runout. Turns out, the gear is actually pretty good if you look for it.

... on Shortcut To Mushrooms. Great climb with great pro, but a really rough couple of moves through the roof. Photo by doogle

The roof on Shortcut To Mushrooms spanked me hard, but doogle just pulled right on through. The half-smile on his face can only mean he just set the jam above the chockstone.

doogle, concentrating hard on hanging onto some gnarly side clings to get through the roof on Shortcut To Mushrooms.

Daniel holding on as tightly as possible through the very thin crux of Slippery When Wet.

socialclimber thoroughly enjoying the beautiful weather while pulling the crux of When Hell Froze Over (named for the freezing weather during the FA) Photo by Daniel

socialclimber looking.... Now that the hard part is over, the fun can begin. When Hell Froze Over starts with a bouldery start, and then offers some awesome jugs for the midsection. Photo by Daniel

As with all the sport lines in the Embayment, slippery when Wet features sustained climbing on small features

Having finally gotten up to where my whole hand fit in the crack, I was starting to feel solid and enjoy this route immensly. Cracker Jac Mac is unfortunately a bit short, but otherwise absolutelly classic! Photo by Stu

Routes according to number:
1) Guilty Conscience
2) Blockhead
3) Magpie
4) Yellow Matter Custard
5) Northwest Passage
6) Cracker Jac Mac
7) Fallen Idol
8) Bidg-itte

Some of the routes according to the numbers:
1) Pethidine Peace
2) Escalade Du Jour
3) Crack Of Delight
4) Fox On The Rocks
5) Broadleaf Lane
6) The Spies Are Out
7) Death By Blocklets
8) The Pidgeons Have Flown

These are both very good quality crack climbs (for the Christchurch area at least). I, on the left am climbing Black Bitch, and Hamish is on Silk Toprpedo. Photo by Katrin

Gary was having an absolute ball placing crazy amounts of gear while climbing Black Bitch. Photo by Hamish

Too bad I have such a stupid expression on my face. This is the solid stance after the crux of High Road. Do not go left to get to this bolt. Straight is the way to go. The holds are there...if you look close enough.

This is a full view of the western face of the Devil's Gap crag. Around the corner, facing north, are some additional trad routes.

though a bit awkward, the climbing on Monkey Giraffe is very solid for a 19. 50% of the holds are incut.

Theres still another 30/45 minutes of bush-bashing and rock hopping to do to get to the base of the crag. On the arete at the longest point of the crag is the three star classic "White Wizard", 22.