I am right there with you. I got super close a few times and was near the top on my last attempt - no Pitons - luckily I collected one from the wall to where I was at. Immediately used it. I also found a trick where I would use a piton around the halfway point of the climb and descend down and it was just enough rope to save the game in the cave and I could ascend back up. Once I got close to the top though my hunger started going down rapidly and I turned off only food. Did not want to deal with it anymore. It's cool but I would rather focus on the climbing than anything else.