The route boasts an inspirational runout after the second bolt (solid 5.9) atypical for the first ascentionist who normally had more conservative protection ideas. The leader died while climbing out an easier route that same day. p1 is 140' to the "toilet bowl" anchor (clean gear), p 2 about 50'
Location
right of the Warm and Free corner on the lower face of Neptune is the obvious slab marked by 3 widely spaced bolts.
I first did this on lead in 1989 w/ Chris Pomeroy, then repeated w/ John Rapp on lead and Rand Black in April 1991, then once again with Kevin Moore (Koch) leading in 1993. Route kinda sucks (ha).
Without opening a debate on PG-13 vs R, I'd definitely go into the R catagory here. You're looking at falls of 40' or more in spots. I remember that a lot of the hard moves were just before the clips. And it's not nice smooth friction like on Rap Rock where you just slide if you blow it.
You might take a spill, but I doubt you'll really injure yourself. The bolts are in really good places for the hardest of moves (and you do get one small nut before 2nd bolt). Having done plenty of R and X leads this does not make the cut.
RSS Feed
