Ben Townsend
climber
Maine
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Fun climb, a bit adventurous but well-protected where it matters. Solid belay anchors are easy to arrange. Short, well-protected 5.7 cruxes right at the start of the first pitch, and near the end of the last pitch; otherwise, cruiser terrain with sufficient, though not abundant, gear. We had a #4 and #5 and used them a couple times each -- nice, but optional. Some fragile rock, but nothing too scary or loose.
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Doug Hemken
climber
Madison, WI
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A two star route composed of many 3 star sections - lots of nice climbing but a little broken up by ledges for modern tastes.
No need for hip belays, anywhere. Lots of alternative belay stances - you could make this a 9 or 10 pitch route if you really wanted to work at it!
Finding the route: continuing uphill from Olive Oil, it is a bit of a struggle through boulders and shrubbery. It's a bit further than the topo might lead you to believe. Go to the *second* left facing dihedral/crack beyond the "clean brown corner" - the first crack in good clean rock.
Pitch one can be extended to the top of the small pillar.
Pitch two can then go to the base of the chimney. You can avoid the 5.7 sandy face by doing moves up the solid varnish to the right, just don't go over to the death block in the dihedral. Decent gear for a belay anchor is inside the chimney and to the right.
On pitch three, the chimney is runout but easy, the 5.7 jugs are *not* runout but take small gear, and the crack just above takes fist sized gear or maybe even bigger (the climbing, however, is easier face and stemming).
The crumbly parts are the beginning of the topo's pitch 3 and the middle of topo pitch 5. Crumbly edges and knobs, but no death blocks.
Fun, sunny, and no one in sight!
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