cracklover wrote:
I've done MF and Le Teton at the Gunks. I've done those really tough-for-the-grade Henry Barber routes on Cathedral like Chicken Delight, Layton's, and Double Vee. I've done Vertigo, an unprotectable 30+ foot arching offwidth on Cannon. But there's another 9 in the Northeast that has them all beat by a mile, in my book: Retaliation, on Cathedral Ledge.
Followed it, scared out of my gourd, and vowed I'd never lead it. About 5 years later I'd forgotten all about the climb (blocked it from my memory, no doubt), saw the name in a guidebook, and thought it would be fun to lead. By the time I got through the crux pitch, I realized that this felt strangely familiar. D'oh!
100 feet of very tenuous layback/undercling, with super-balancy foot-smears, often no gear, and when you do get gear, it's placed blind, and to inspect it you'd have to pull 5.12 moves to be on the wrong side of the crack. Curving/angling face, so you can never see what's coming. And through it all the pump clock just keeps ticking. What a horror show. It even made my second cry!
GO
Dude, if i ever make it back east, we're going up this route! Sounds sweet! I'm even guessing you'll let me lead the whole thing!
