Bob Hill easily dispatches the short trad lead, Fl...
Description
This route is the obvious left diagonal crack in the middle block. A good day of climbing would be to ascend P-Wall via P-Crack or Route Canal and then finish the day on Flakes. This is a straightforward lead and the only difficulty is deciding whether you want to use the face or just get your right side completely in the crack.
Protection
This route sucks up the larger hexes and cams and you will be glad to have them when you have your whole body shoved into the crack. A good rack would be from 1" to 3.5".
With one to two inch cams, you can belay from the notch above the crack, or at the top of the summit block. Alternately, you can belay from the bolts above "Across the Universe," although it is a somewhat off to the side
I would talk to Ken. I think he talked about maybe moving them or even taking them out. I think he was a bit worried after that hiker death (Ken was the last guy to set the anchors up there I believe). He was thinking that maybe the guy tripped over them and his conscience was pretty loaded. It turned out not to be the case, but maybe it inspired him to finally go up and take them out. But I could be totally wrong, so talk to Ken. If I remember correctly, you can still rig up a solid anchor with gear.
By Mike Morley Administrator From: Oakland, CA Mar 4, 2006
'Flakes' really isn't an offwidth crack at all. It's a hand and fist crack. When I think offwidth, I think of hand stacks, chicken-winging, and arm bars - none of which are necessary. The trick on Flakes is to keep from getting sucked in too deep at the pod 3/4 of the way up.
As for a rack - bring 3 cams total, a #2, #3, and #4 Camalot (or equivalent). If you don't have a #4, bring 2 #3s.
Summit Blocks - East (Main)
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