What it looks like when a carabiner catches a lead...
Description
Mayflower Direct starts just to the left of the 5.9 Mayflower, directly under the hand crack. The 11+ section of this variation is stemmy, smeary, slippery, and hard to protect! With that said it is still very enticing.
Protection
The gear on this lower section is pretty dodgy, I've pulled a piece and while it wasn't a ground fall I've heard of many decking on this route. So, rack up you tiny cams, perhaps ball nuts, and a few small nuts and give it your best shot. Once you pull through this lower section the top should be a breeze, one or two #2's should do you. Good Luck
11d ? Hmmm, seem to recall this being considered harder than that. Unless of course you're Tim Coats and can turn your ankles out 180 deg from each other and hop up the stems.
my right ankle has 10-15 degrees of movement max (dorsi-plantar or inver-eversion) and even a stiff like me could lead the thing ('88). 11+ is accurate. As a sinner, I used the evil powder that was the ticket.
This line is one of those problems at the forks that seems kind of body type dependent. Skinny fingers and short legs would be an ideal combo I think. But, after trying it again for the first time in a long time (5+ years), this thing still has my number... What can you do about that? The gear is all there though. A #4 nut down low, grey metolious, blue motolious, blue BD, yellow BD. While the gear is good if you find the right spots for it, placing and clipping are certainly tenuous. I think at 5.11+ it is one of the better sandbags around. One thing I know for sure, is that being tall is only sometimes an advatage in climbing. But, for sure don't underestimate the power it takes just to get the gear in. I think PG13 is kind of fair, cause if you miss your placement, you may not have long to get it right.
I'm with Paul on this, 5.11d seems to be a huge sandbag to me. I got my butt handed to me, and then followed CrackMD up it. No matter how you cut it, its stiff. The gear is really good with small nuts (#4), and small cams, 00 BD C3's, and the green and red BD C3's. It may have handed me my butt the first time on it but I though it was really good.
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