Climber, Tom Michael being photographed by Greg Ep...
Description
Bony Fingers features an incredible 90m finger crack! If it weren't for the knobs, this steep, beautiful splitter would be 5.12 instead of 5.9.
Located on "The Whale", approach by turning off of the main road to the right on a dirt road a little ways before the main road ends. This can only be followed for about 100 feet before a gate. Park here. Hike past the gate towards the east until the road appears to sharply switchback up and left (back to the west), and a secondary, lower, road continues east (this is actually the trail). Follow this sandy/gravely path for a good 10-15 minutes (it wanders a bit) until you reach an obvious swath of large, white talus. This talus field leads up to The Whale, which does indeed look like the head of a breaching whale. The route is on the left-hand margin of the formation, and the crack is very difficult to make out from the trail itself, but no more than two minutes up the talus it becomes apparent just right of a brown water streak.
P1: The original first pitch heads up past a modern bolt, then right and up to another modern bolt (and an old relic), then straight left to the start of the crack. This looks pretty bad in terms of both rope drag and protection for both leader and follower, but supposedly goes at 10c. Alternatively, climb straight up to the finger crack via three modern bolts on 5.11b face/slab -- the climbing is actually quite good! There is a 5.8 move to reach the crack that would likely result in a groundfall, but the very tall can slot a wire in for toprope pro before this move; at 5'10" I was barely able to place one girth-hitched to another wire. This section may be R for anyone shorter than that, but the climbing is fairly positive. Once in the crack, climb up via knobs and thin jams to an obvious belay stance on a large, black knob that is split by the crack.
P2: A 70m rope is required. Follow the immaculate splitter up and around the arete to a bolted anchor. Shorter ropes will require an intermediate belay. 5.9.
If you don't want to carry two ropes on the climb, fix one end of the rope, send one person down over the left-hand shoulder of the formation on a single rope rappel, have that person fetch the second rope and fix it to the rap line so the second can pull it up and then do a standard double-rope rap.
Protection
Lots of wires and small cams up to 0.5 Camalot. A single 0.75 and #1 Camalot is all you need at the big end of things. Two ropes for rapping. A 70m lead line. A two-foot stick-clip to slot a wire in at the start of the crack might be a good idea unless you're very tall.
You actually do not need a 70 meter rope to do this climb in two pitches. I used a 60 (I climbed as high as I could for the first pitch) and was able to do in two.
Also, I aided the first part of the climb by stepping on a sling clipped to the second or third bolts. The "11b" moves are very thin and I couldn't do them for the life of me!
I recall the next move to get into the crack was a bit heads up (due to the groundfall potential as noted by the other comments). But if you're getting on this 5.10B crack (or can free the bottom part), it is probably not too big of a deal.
Also, the top of the second pitch was a bit scary due to the crack thinning out to nothingness. You can place a very small nut or two, but then have to do 5.8(?) slab moves way above them to get to the anchors. With rope drag it was not that trivial for me.
We rapped with one 60m rope, but it was rather involved (had to do a bit of traverse-rapping to a ledge, which was a bit scary). Not worth it, bring the second rope. It can be done, if you only have one, though.
Karin Wuhrmann & I replaced the 3 pro bolts on the 11b start in 2005, and Peter Croft replaced the ones on the 10c start sometime not too long before that.
The slab at the top feels pretty easy to me, maybe 5.7, but I do it in 3 pitches so rope drag is negligible.
Nice to hear about the ball nut, I have an extra-long nut (an old Trango one I think) that I bring just to reach the nut placement (I'm 6' but I'm even on ape index and can't reach the placement with a normal stopper).
You can use RPs in the bottom of the crack, but the climbing is pretty easy there and good thin pro is not much higher.
If this is at your limit, bring lots of 0.75" cams (yellow tcu/alien), since you need them for both the crux and the belay shortly after the crux (although you can sling a big knob to the right for the belay).
By susan peplow From: what day is this? Jul 7, 2008
What a fantastic route!
I was primarily concerned about the thin face moves to start and was beyond thrilled when I nailed 'em on the first try. I used the opportunity for a preview and did not swing leads. Next time, me and my lady fingers will tick it start to finish!
That said, this is my observations as a relatively competent climber at 5'7" +2. I'll spare you "my beta" but hopefully you'll find the following helpful.
11b start is intimidating but sticky rock and a tightly bolted line provide a psychological advantage. The fresh new bolts and placement is a welcome change in the Portal.
As everyone here has mentioned gaining the crack is a bit tricky. I was paying very close attention to the reach for the "future lead". I was not able to pull the nut (#6 brassy) from my stance. Unlike my partner who placed it with ease standing flat footed as a 6'5" +4 bastard. Darshan is most likely correct, if you can climb the moves below, this section is not the crux. Although, still heady as any mistake will leave the belayer wearing your ass as a hat!
Small gear as Greg said using TCU's, Aliens (yuck), nuts or brassies. We climbed the 1st pitch to the large split knob and set up an anchor there. Lots of variety for gear at this spot, great stance knobs and a large knob to the right that is perfect for stacking your cord. This is an optimal belay if you would like to take photos of your second and/or if you are concerned about them making the starting moves. This lower belay allows for good sight and less rope drag than you would get from continuing up and around the corner.
Upper pitch is more of the same fantastic climbing of small to 1" crack with it petering out here and there. After turning the corner/arete and up a ways is a fixed .5 Camalot Jr with a somewhat tatted sling but bomber as of 7/08.
Utilizing a 60m cord and the lower belay we had to simulclimb to the anchors. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of that, you've got several options. A) use a 70m cord B) use the full length of your 60m on the first pitch and set up an anchor around the corner C) split the route into 3 pitches.
The anchor supports 2 new Mussyhooks™.
This is a must do for the area. If you are new to the Portal or a seasoned veteran, this route is absolutely terrific!
The original P1 is somewhat terrifying. I'm never doing it again, it would have been very easy to swing off and smack the ground or (getting up to the first belay) my belayer. Do the direct start for sure, if you had to you might be able to A0 and grunt-a-hoy, but it would be a lot better for your head if you charge through as a warmup to the crack. The route is beautiful (but can get rather toasty warm).
The Whale
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