Pigs On the Wing - 5.10a

Here is the real beta for any aspiring maniacs wishing to tick the Swines In Flight

The route is X.

Pitch 1:
Is dirty and uninspiring until the last 25 feet of steep beautiful, unprotected headwall with the final move being 10a, reachy and insecure. A fall here with 120 feet of rope out would be 60+ feet with dikes to hit. Probably non fatal (R/X?)

Pitch 2: I led and did a short 50 foot pitch to allow a belay out of the corner and for Chuck to lead to the top in one. It was 5.9 with a handicap bump of 2 letter grades for my impressive "dos zapatos izquierdos" feat of feet

Pitch 2.5/3
The first gear is 35 feet out and to get there requires (in our case. I think Chad drifted further right and perhaps the FA did too?) a 5.9 traversing move without hands on a pretty small dike. A fall from here is certain to crash onto big mean rocks and at least a maiming before bouncing and falling another 40' ("R/X" if less than 5 bones broken. "X" for drooling head injury or death which is quite possible)
The next 100 feet was quality and PG/R.
Then the traverse left for 12 feet on a sketchy nut and pull the roof 10a R.

The last 50 feet once above the roof starts easy and then ends up on horrible low angle blankish and filthy dirty overlapping small roofs with little gear. The last roof is 10 feet above a low ball with 140 feet of rope out on insecure moss/lichen covered slab roofs. Awful. A skate off the finishing moves (which would be simple to accomplish) would be a 40 feet IF the lowball slider nut held and 60+ if not. ("R/X" depending on how many dikes one hit on the great tumbling fall).

Enjoy the trip and don't forget to write

gosh chad, your second pitch beta, "find a way to mantle the roof," i found this move increasingly improbable, and bailed. looking straight up the roof i could only see a minor 'scoop' right at the roof lip with no hands above or any other features to aim for. perhaps i was off route, but i left a red stopper and oval.

Finally climbed this route the origional way skipping the bolt from the squeeze job retro on the first pitch. I always figured the first pitch was going to be the hard run out one but not the case. The first pitch has a few short stretches between good pro but nothing serious and goes at a moderate 5.9. The second short pitch in the corner is strait forward if not a little awkward and stiff. Also rated 5.9. The third pitch climbs an increasingly steep slab into a corner. I had a hell of a time fiddleing in a small nut here. Brass offsets would have been the ticket. A stout 5.10 series of moves is done about 40ft above the belayer with no oppertunity for protection inbetween you and him. There used to be a shitty fixed pin but it's gone. I bashed a nut in with my nut tool which I thought was crap. My second could not clean it so it must have been good enough and I was just pussin. I climbed up and traversed left into some corners on the steep face above. Decent gear was found along the way and the rest of the route seemed casual. Kind of a dark spooky section of wall there. Actually the whole route had a kinda morbid sence to it. The climbing was alright but nothing special for the leap. More of a test of your head than classic climbing and moves.

You know that I care what happens to you,
And I know that you care for me.
So I don't feel alone,
Or the weight of the stone,
Now that I've found somewhere safe
To bury my bone.
And any fool knows a dog needs a home,
A shelter from pigs on the wing.

I have just been told that this route has been retro-bolted. Well that's just swell. Thanks for asking. Gee, you must be climbing well these days, since we climbed it on sight (of course) and in EB's. Just think, we didn't even have cams yet. You guys are really pushing the limits this time. Now we have another so-so route. Why not bolt Fantasia while your at it or maybe just get a 300' TR going.

Might have to make a trip out to Tahoe. Heard several of my routes at the leap got retro-bolted . Jay Smith