Shadow 

Kudos to those of you who make this your first lead. I'm STILL too much of a wuss to lead this thing. That bolt is HIGH!

Per a discussion w/Rusty Garing, he believes the first ascent was Rob Russell. BTW, this climb is more like 5.8 and is not & should not be "everyone's first lead". The 1st bolt is way too high to send a beginning leader up there.

What a great climb! Yes, that first bolt is way up there, but getting to it is the easiest part of this climb. Start to the left of the first bolt, climb a very foot-work-oriented section with small handholds, then head up and right along a series of ramp-like edges to the first bolt. The climbing gets better and more interesting from here on out; to be honest, I don't think I've ever climbed Shadow the same way twice. A wealth of options exist, although the general line would be quite obvious even without the bolts. This is a brilliant climb that is, just as the guidebook says, nearly everyone's first lead.

One of the greatest around, but neither 5.7 nor everyone's first lead. Thank god it wasn't my first lead. More like 5.8 with some tricky moves between bolts 2 and 3. Thought about continuing on with pitch 2....climbed about 20 feet to the next set of anchors..looked wet, mossy, loose and covered with lichen above.Quit while you're ahead!!

EDIT:
Climbed the "second pitch" of Shadow the other day. It was actually very enjoyable. Be ready for a significant runout on the slabs above (same deal as Fields of Fire). Recommended!

If you are following, or TRing (or are more daring than I) Shadow a fun variation exists if you go straight up for the first bolt, ignoring the easier way to the left. Its a bit harder about 5.9

Is the climber in the photo clipped in to a piton, or did he make the mistake of clipping the first bolt of Pressure Drop (often done by people who read the Slater book alone without getting route info from a local) ? Legend has it this climb was originally aided, check out what looks like piton scars on the easy section before the first bolt. Also I have to disagree with the description of the first moves being on small holds. For the Shadow Wall they are buckets!

Derek, I'm the climber in the photo. I placed a small Hugh Banner cam in a small vertical seam about 15 feet off the ground. It won't protect you all the way to the first bolt, but it's better than nothing.

Wow, talk about a first lead. This was my first lead and I'd have to say that I wished it wasnt. Not having much experience with a friction slabs the climb to that first bolt left me pretty shook up.

For somone looking for a first lead might i suggest Madison Squire Garden on Garden Wall. Its a much easier climb and the first bolt is much more accessable.

Jeshua,

I'm with you. This should not be identified in the guidebook as "everyone's first lead". MSG on Garden Wall would definitely be better. I only led it for the 1st time a month ago & had Slater clip the 1st bolt for me. I'm going to ask Tom to remove the "everyone's 1st lead" reference in the guidebook. Good job for leading that! Maybe have a go at Fat Man. You'll find the 1st bolt a little more within your reach.

john

Climbed this route again recently and forgot what a foot and calf burner it is. The early guide books rated this climb 5.8 and I think it still applies. When did it get downrated?

I heard of someone falling below the first bolt and not getting hurt at all. You basically slide down the low angle slab. Maybe a few scrapes/bruises but nothing to worry about.

Here is a suggestion for those of you who don't feel challenged after hitting the chains.......Keep Going!You will see two (2) sets of old anchors above the ledge at the top of the pitch and another bolt above them. Clip each of these as you continue up and then run it out to the chains for Inner Sanctum. It REQUIRES a 60 m rope to double rope rap back down to the Shadow anchors, and then the ground. Obvioulsy the leader will need to belay the second up to the Inner Sanctum anchors so prepare gear accordingly .

"First Lead" ??? who in their right mind sends a fledgling leader up this route ? true getting to the first bolt is relatively easy but climbing 20+ feet off the deck before protection is not my idea of how to break in a new leaders head . a fall would not be pretty and IMO very detrimental to a new leaders future outlook on the sport . do your new leader a favor and climb up and clip the first bolt or stick clip it for him.....

As mentioned in an earlier post by Jon Hanlon, there is a gear placement (small TCU) about 10-feet off the deck (see photo). It wouldn't keep you from decking if you blow the traverse over to the first bolt, but it can ease your mind a bit before making the first clip.

I call BS. I know plenty of people (including myself) who unknowingly trundled up to Shadow wall intending on their first lead ever and being mightily surprised by what was awaiting. That's a sandbag if I've ever seen it.

What's with the rating? This used to be regarded as the benchmark 5.7 (maybe 5.7+ on a high-gravity day). Maybe call it 5.7+R.

A leader should definitely consider this a RUNOUT climb. You can place a bomber nut/cam near the start, but you are definitely at groundout level before clipping the first bolt.

I highly recommend this climb! Most excellent. For added fun, set up a TR and play around with variations: stay left of bolts, climb straight over the bolts, climb Lycra, etc.

To quote Royal Robbins about Shadow...

"That's no 5.7."

I think it's funny how controversial this route is. Sure, you have to keep your head together on the way to the first bolt, and I admit that there was one time I had an "oh sh*t!" moment while climbing the-directly-below-the-bolt variation (5.8ish).[see Note 1] Yet, as anyone familiar with YNP climbing knows, that same section (to the first bolt) in the meadows would just barely count as a run out, if at all. I don't know about everyone else's experience, but I'm convinced that the crux of the climb is actually between 2nd and 3rd bolts.[see Note 2]

As for this being a good first lead, I guess I have two things to say. First, I think it depends on how that's characterized. Shadow is everyone's first lead? Surely Tom isn't claiming that it is everyone's first lead! He's not making a descriptive claim. No, he's a normative claim: he's claiming that Shadow is a good/appropriate/reasonable route for a first lead.[see Note 3] Yet, as many of you have said, it's pretty clear that it shouldn't be so. I agree with that assessment: it wouldn't really be good/appropriate/reasonable for just any new leader to make it their first route "on the sharp end." But that doesn't imply it isn't good/appropriate/reasonable for it to be some people's first lead. That's arguably just as false as the claim that Shadow is everyone's first lead. This leads me to the second thing: it may be perfectly good/appropriate/reasonable for someone to do as their first lead. I know some climbers who have been bouldering and TRing for years, who can send V5s and .11s, etc., who wouldn't even break a sweat were they to decide to start leading and make this their first route. As with all things in climbing (really anything we do), it depends on a number of relevant factors: the person's skill level in other types of rock climbing (bouldering, TRing, etc.), how much risk that person is willing to assume, the quality of the belayer, etc. I wouldn't recommend it to most new leaders (the operative word being 'most'), but I also wouldn't turn someone away from it if I thought that there is sufficient reason to think that they are more than capable to handle it. I'm sure we all agree that it's up to the climbing party to make that decision.[see Note 4]

At the end of the day, it seems to me that there's a really easy solution to all this worry. And it involves neither the old if-you-don't-feel-up-to-it-don't-lead-it adage nor, what I'm tempted to say, pace Mike Morley, is a worthless gear placement ten feet OTD and to the left. It is this: have someone spot the leader from the ramp. Let's be honest. Not only is a belay worthless until a quality first piece is clipped, but a spotter on the ramp makes the first section not much more than a 12 foot or so boulder problem.[see Note 5]

Well, that's my two-cents (more like twenty-five since it's more like a tome). I might be full of crap, maybe not. Of course, the beauty of this is that it's wonderful that we locals have a chance to dialogue and debate this such things. Cheerio.

Notes
1 Question: is the direct start the variation, or is it the left start/traverse version the variation?
2 This, of course, raises the old question about what exactly constitutes the crux of a route? The most technically demanding section, or the most psychologically challenging section (assuming that the two are different)?
3 Note that the use of 'good', 'appropriate', 'reasonable' are obviously not being used in a moral sense; they're being used in a prudential sense (that is, in the sense that is concerned with the person's future self-interests, e.g., as in the claims saving money is good, it's appropriate to check your rope for signs of substantive damage, etc.).
4 Of course, I have other views about how the new leader should learn "the craft" that many wouldn't agree with (e.g., I think it's a mistake to think that a new leader should learn the craft on sport rather than trad routes), but I leave that for another discussion.
5 One final thing. I honestly can't see how the left start/traverse version to the 1st bolt is any harder than 5.6.