Ascent Notes for: Golden Earring - 5.7 popular Average Rating : 4.04/5

Wet start. Fun roof. Huge hand jam in the roof. Climb up into the traverse.

cleaned again
this is one of my favorites

I came back for my redpoint on this one. All went very smoothly and nothing was too crazy on lead compared to being a follower. We saw a beautiful 5-line skink sunning itself right at the base of the climb. It hung out with my belayer while I lead and even stalked and ate a bug for his amusement.

Things to bear in mind: The beginning can be a little wet and mossy. Many places to put stoppers. Depending on your climbing style, the crux is either the section right below the roof, before you come up into the corner or the traverse. There is a nice place for a blue TCU just below the crux. I didn't have any trouble with the traverse this time (remember to move across a bit low and use the foot rail), but protecting it is sort of a pain. I opted for two pieces near the start and then ran it out a few feet across the center, largely because I thought it would be a bigger pain for my second to go up to get the gear than to deal with a slight pendulum. All in all, a nice climb but probably a good idea to check it out before leading, unless you like a bit of a challenge. A bit hard for a 5.7.

Note: There's a beautiful picture of this climb on mountain project .com (or at least there was as of this writing)

could have done without the traverse. Staying low there was a nice rail for the feet, but then to get gear I kept having to go up and down, up and down, which was kind of awkward. The crack was really fun though with great gear - mostly stoppers for me, I think I used maybe 2 cams.

I was really glad to lead this climb after seconding. Definetly a sustained 5.7.The climbing is real sweet from hand jams to a few awesome finger locks. The protection is varying, found an awesome pink tricam placement.

The traverse is tricky. There is an awesome rail to traverse on but stepping off the rail into the above horizontal for protection is a bit tricky.

I followed on this and was quite pleased with the route. The climbing was pretty straightforward 5.7ish, although about 2/3rds of the way up the holds got a little thin but not too bad. The traverse spooked me a little, just b/c I suddenly was looking down to find feet and seeing a lot of space and the hands weren't quite as solid as the up section. That said, there is a nice rail to walk on if you stay a bit low. Cool and a little intimidating looking up from the ground at that big arete sticking out above. We topped out and rapped down just to the left of the arete a few feet above the end of the traverse.

This was super fun! I got to put a lot of footwork and technique I have learned to use here. It was great practice with problem solving.

I moved really fast up this route though in comparison to others that I have cleaned on before, not sure why b/c it was really challenging. I guess my foot work and technique is really improving a lot...and my endurance.

Came up a second. Good fun staying in the crack. Traverse was fun, cant wait to lead it. The beginning of the climb can be kind of slippery after a day or two after rain. Remeber to protect the second on the traverse, think with your feet.

I'd like to climb this again to enjoy it , I was scared sh--less this time . I really did like it though.Saxfiend notes this climb best. A leader should be strong at this grade .I would really give it a .8

who doesn't like climbing?