benkilgore's Logbook (115 ascents)

Stephen and Kim were with us but we didn't share ropes or gear. I led all pitches. Very much a classic route, excellent rock, good pro. Everything felt to be at the grade. Only one belay (top of 2nd pitch) was at all less than ideal. First pitch has a crux right before the belay, as the dihedral gets a bit steeper and the fingers get thinner (too thin for my sausages). Third pitch didn't have a definable crux, but everything until pulling over the blocks felt a solid 5.7, maybe 7+ I guess, and a bit difficult to identify the correct route, but all the difficulty looked similar. Very protectable. Final pitch was probably the route crux for me (rated 5.6 apparently), because I couldn't get a thing out of the miniscule "crack" and it was a smear fest that I had to just run through, slamming a blind thin cam on the way by. The walkoff was 4th class with maybe some 5.0 bits, and hard to identify. Next time I'll just sling a block and rap the steep part.

First pitch only. Stellar learning pitch. Very moderate for a 5.6. Didn't encounter choss. Good pro.

With Annie. This is graded 5.8 in Louie Anderson's book, which is accurate. Good pro. Some choss, both of us got hit with it on belay.

Did this after the first pitch of The Serpent. The first few moves are the crux and involve climbing directly over the anchors, which kind of sucks. Second crux is the thinner face stuff about three bolts from the top. Fun.

With Sarah B. We were going to climb on Easy Street, but between the intense heat, direct sun, not enough water, and forgetting the bug dope, we decided to count it as a recon day and retire. Which is when Ben and Pam came along. They had put up the Tea area, and invited us to share their rope (and gave us bug dope). So we followed them. This one was great fun, slightly crumbly but not terribly insecure. I couldn't figure out the crux move and went around. Seemed like it was at the grade down low, and eased up once you pass the odd crux. There is 4th class ascent from the Easy Street area to this one.

With Sarah B. We were going to climb on Easy Street, but between the intense heat, direct sun, not enough water, and forgetting the bug dope, we decided to count it as a recon day and retire. Which is when Ben and Pam came along. They had put up the Tea area, and invited us to share their rope (and gave us bug dope). So we followed them. This one was great fun, slightly crumbly but not terribly insecure. Not too tough for 10a; really eases up once you pass a crux bulge about 25 feet up. Well protected.

Honestly not sure which parts of which climbs I did. There was some wandering and the route was none too clear. The face really blanks out above the ledge in the middle, though.

With Annie, showing her the ropes. This was a thoughtful climb and was near her limit, probably because she's not used to climbing on stone and has to find the holds. I found it to be a nice warmup type of climb, not boring at all.

With Annie. We were alittle mixed up on which route was which, but the bottom of this one is the most obvious on the wall. Interesting and fun, though definitely crowded. May require a bit of routefinding once youre above the ledge. Nothing serious though...I mean, it's top rope. Couple creaky flakes.

We did the second pitch with the 5.9 undercling traverse on TR from the anchors about 200 feet off the deck. It was fun but the only sausage finger i could get into the undercling crack was my pinkie so a slip of my feet would have hurt, a lot. Powerful lieback above to gain the top of the flake.

I guess we did the cow center for the first pitch. There was no anchor on the ledge, and getting to the bolts down and left looked like a pain, so we kept going up. Mike led pitch 2, I did the first. First pitch was incredibly easy and well-protected, only hiccup was face climbing around a tree. Second pitch got your attention in the middle, as pr was thin to nonexistent as you smeared your way up the chimney/dihedral. I used an arm bar to protect against slippage, which didn't happen anyway. Wed descended from the anchors to the ledge with a 70 meter rope, climbed 4th class up and right to a tree with slings, and were barely able to make the dirt with a 70 meter single rope rap from there.