19th March 2025 @ Blackstone Edge, 6B+

No beta, apart from seeing Ollie Wilson-Astbury’s Return Of The Swing ascent in his Blackstone video years previously, which shares the same second half. I had got up it in an earlier session in 2025, but chose to reshoot. This was probably the second or third time I’d got up it.

I’d had a miserable time on Luna early in 2024. I’d gone to try Look To Windward and got too scared, then came to this. I managed to get a heel up but was just getting scuffed up by rough rock in the cold. I went home without sending anything. It was a while before I came back to look at it in early 2025, and this time it wasn’t so bad, although I did kind of burl my way up the second half. The first half was really nice, using a foot hook to hold tension before a light swing (compared to Swingers) and getting a foot up. From there, it’s a case of trying not to rough up your ankles too much.

I chose to come back and redo it as the video was a little bit wonky the last time!

I did enjoy this in the end, and while I agree that it’s a little easier than Swingers, there’s not much in it for me. I think I had the strength to do Swingers pretty much from day one, but I wouldn’t have been able to hold the crimps on this block for a year or two. Given that Return Of The Swing starts with Swingers and then exits via Luna, I should really give it a go at some point next year¹.

1. I did give it a go, 3rd March 2026, and it was my first send of 2026. ↩︎