Ascent Notes for: Crescent Arch - 5.9 Average Rating : 4.60/5

Pretty stout for the grade...sustained awkward 5.9 on p2 and p4. The "10b" crux is short and over pretty quickly.

What an awesome climb. Better than west crack but much harder. True that the "10b crux" was much easier than the sustained nature of the climb. Tried to find the walk off but instead ended up down soloing some crack (not my best of ideas; not recommended! But it would be a good beginners crack on lead). When the "descent" got scary I had to put on climbing shoes and luckily we found some old rapping station that barely put us down single rap w a 70m rope (we lowered right to the cool "tunnel" that you find when you do the normal 2 rope rap from the top)

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Whether this route is 5.9 or 5.10, it's hard! The supposed 5.10 crux was actually a welcome relief from the sustained hard 5.9 climbing. It was a great route, and doesn't get nearly the traffic that West crack does.

P2 is the crux, not P4. Solid belays for every pitch, huge ledge at the top of P3. Possible to bail off the route at first 3 belay stations. Bring plenty of slings.

Mega enduro route -- that is the crux!

Bring a selection of micro-cams and you will be glad you did.

Sustained and fun. Great view on the top out

I think what supertopo is trying to do with a lot of old grade 5.9s is grade them higher a bit to make sure sport climbers don't get on a 5.9 trad climb and poop their pants. A lot of the classic 5.9 lines were graded that when 5.10 was the hardest climb ever freed. Having that said, I still think it's a 5.9+ not 10b.
I seconded the crux pitch - Steve led it.

i followed the crux pitch, swung leads though. i don't think supertopo's 10b rating is accurate. more like 10a or stiff 5.9

didnt live up to the hipe. my buddy took a nice whipper on the first pitch. i lead the crux,, i had it built into my head that it was much harder than it was. i dont know where supertopo is going with 10b???