Horse Chute A3 5.7

January 2011


"The big corner that defines the climb was known as "Heroin Chute" and named by Kim Schmitz. Its really classic and overhanging both directions. From the ground, it was obviously one of the really cool places to climb on el cap."

On the routes quality, "That part of wall is pretty dirty. Lot of sh#t in the cracks. There were sofa-sized hummocks. That said, overall, it was a good route, but they are all good."

On why they chose the line, "me and charlie ran out of other sh#t to do. Had done Magic Mushroom and this seemed like the next one to do."

"We had to make a decision at Truck Stop Ledge. Straight up was a steep beauty for a few pitches but it was disappointing to join Diheddral. Right looked like it was a little blank, low angle and dirty."

Ascent was done before any cams.

"It felt like half a route as it only had 12 new pitches."

The route took 3 bivies.

"Did Excalibur after that."

"Charlie Porter is funnier than hell. One of my best partners."

On why he stopped wall climbing:
"Walls ran their course for me partially because chiseling became popular. We thought that killed the whole spirit when people just carved a placement for a piece of metal. That, and the fact eventually I saw enough piano-sized blocks go by. It was time to pull the plug while I still could."


Why is it called Horse Chute?
"Everyone referred to those pitches as the Heroin Chute. We were not into heroin at all so we shortened the name to Horse Chute which seemed a little less abnoxious."