The far right side of the Northwest Recess are two parallel cracks that merge about 200 ft up. The climb start with the right of the 2 cracks. But 99% of the climbers take the left crack which is the Wong Climb. This is a better crack. Pitch 1 - take the wider right crack to a nice ledge with a 2 bolt anchor. Pitch 2 - move to the left crack (The Mummy Crack) to a wide sloping ledge. Pitch 3 - up and right over a small roof to a Mohagany. Belay here. Pitch 4 - friction up and left across a slab then back right over a flake to a fir tree. Pitch 5 - Above a downpointing flake is passedon the left then up a thin corner (5.8), traverse right to an easy crack, belay above the notch. Pitch 6 is up and right to the top.
By David C. Burke From: Tucson, AZ May 31, 2008 CONDITION REPORT
My friend and I just recently did this climb and took the direct finish from the top of the 5th pitch belay alcove. This is a nice way to add another solid 5.8 pitch of climbing but be careful for a loose, football sized block in the broken left leaning crack system. After about 20 ft. of climbing broken rock and cracks there is a loose block that will rotate up and out of the crack if dislodged from the bottom. This rock could be cleaned except for the fact that two of the most popular long routes are directly beneath you. The block can be easily avoided with some careful climbing.
When you get to the base its obvious why everyone does the Wong start - its much prettier. The mummy isnt bad, and protect nicely with small/med cams. We linked 3&4, 3 has lots of chong-a-bong rocks, but good gear exists. The mahogany is dead. Above the fir is the crux, and the pin has been broken off (somewhat protectable with rp's). This is solid 5.8 for 10-15 feet.
By mschlocker From: San Diego, CA Jul 23, 2007 rating: 5.8
I second linking pitches 3 and 4. You can also take the downward pointing flake pitch to a good belay ledge about 170 feet up past the steep 5.7 jamming section. The downward pointing flake was more than the one move wonder I was expecting - I threw in a couple of aliens (yellow then blue I think) that I felt good about.
Northwest Recess
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