BETA PHOTO: Revised photo of P Wall. Note the added bolts and...
Description
The route follows the broken corner on the left side of P-wall up to the beginning of Impacted Stool Crack and then traverses right to the first bolt. I usually run it out to here but if you want protection, bring those hexes or large cams and long slings. After the bolt, the climb follows the crack up to the second bolt. Once clipped, traverse right and then up to the anchors. You can climb straight up after the second bolt but it's 5.10. This is a great route for learing trad and its fun if you continue up on Letterman to the next anchors and then scramble the rest of the way to the top of the peak.
Protection
There are two bolts along the route and you will need gear starting from small to 2.5" Bring longs slings to extend your first couple pieces otherwise rope drag will have you crying.
This is a very exciting lead. It is one of the best climbs on the hill. The crack is full of great holds and jams. It likes nuts at the start and medium to small cams as you move up. I once took a 15' whip onto a number 1 camalot placed below the first bolt, it held beautifully in the hard dysite. The traverse is the mental crux as you move out right, patience is the key as the holds are there. Fantastic exposure and well protected. Go climb it!
I've done this route a bunch of times. It's probably the best route on the entire P-wall. Although the crack is 5.8ish and takes a ton of gear, the traverse can be 5.9+. Sometimes it (the traverse) goes easy and feels like 5.8, other times it feels like 5.9+. This is a great route for a beginning 5.9 leader. The crack sucks up gear and the traverse is protected by 2 solid bolts. If you get tired, you can just "French Free" the crux. Take the 5.6 upper pitch (a bit runout) to Letterman and enjoy the new anchor bolts! Rap the route (2 raps if you have a 60m rope) to get down.
I think that the big block fell off in a storm. We came back to after a small storm and the tree had fallen and the block was gone. The better question is where are the remnants of the block.
I seriously doubt that a “small storm” would be capable for dislodging that large block. I climbed P-Crack not more than a few weeks after it was lamentably pried off with a crowbar. There were what appeared to be pry marks left just above where the block was attached.
BTW: This is the editor’s overly PC revision/interpretation of my original comment (“lamentably”… please)
I talked to the people that pulled the block off. It was so loose it came off with their hands. There were no crow bars involved. We should be grateful that nobody was hurt.
Now that it's a "hanging belay", it might be a good idea to move the anchors left of the crack so they are over the small ledge.
Please, NO more tinkering with P-Crack! It’s perfectly fine the way it is, no additional “improvements” necessary.
If someone has that big of a problem with the new hanging belay, they can belay from the ground. Use a 60m and a few long runners. I’ve done it this way several times, not a problem.
Chris makes a good suggestion for P-Crack. Lead it in one looong pitch from the ground. Long runners needed to reduce rope drag. You can rap from the upper P-Crack anchors straight down to the gulley. In other words, the mid-point anchors are really not needed unless you want to practice multi-pitch.
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