NSP

NSP, so named for the power required to do it, is the premier hard Red Wing route, and among the best of the harder routes in Minnesota. It starts with a short, easy sequence of crimps, and then the crux comes, brief and brutal.

Above the crux, work your way through easy and fun full pad crimps and jugs for twenty feet, slightly angling to the right. Because of the difficulty above and below, it can feel a bit odd to be on such easy terrain, but fret not: you are not off-route.

You will quickly find yourself on some big jugs with your feet not quite beneath you. Gain a rest that I didn't think really offered full recovery. Chalk a couple times, and just keep going.

The redpoint crux, is not as difficult as the lower crux, but it's still really fun. Make long moves between good holds, and clip the anchors from jugs. The perfect Red Wing route.

Just so people understand why this route has such a wide variety of grade opinions: The original beta was a lot harder - Scott Hahn et all got their feet up super high through a kind of layback crux, which is eye poppingly desperate, and explains the original grade. Chris Hirsch came and showed me much easier beta in 2006, with low feet. Different beta = different difficulty. I'd say the way I did it was closer to the lower half of the 5.13 grade, but MP page won't let me change the grade under which the route was originally listed.