Portions of Arch Rock are closed as of May 21, 2009: Lower Merced Canyon. Closure includes all routes above Arch Rock, from "GRE" east to but not including "Juliette's Flake", including "Cross Country," "Kindergarten Crack," "Quickie Quizzes," and Arch Rock Pinnacle. The routes from "Anticipation" east to "Grokin" remain open.
Pitch 1. This pitch is the business. Climb the flare that ends with a hardish (.9) move to a sloping ledge, enter the chimney with some difficulty, move right from the chimney to a thin hand to fingers corner. This exit goes at 10b, but what really gets you is the physical climbing below. Belay at the tree. Pitch 2. Climb some 50 feet to a ledge where you can see a hand crack about 15 feet to the right. Pitch 3 is one of the best 5.9 hand cracks in the Valley. A true jewel.
Location
Start about 30 or so feet to the right of Midterm.
OK, I didn't think the flare was the crux, definitely the first pitch; but it sure the heck isn't 5.8 hands like the Meyers guide says. It was too wide for me to fist jam and awkward as heck. I ended up doing a stemmy, liebacky finessy thing to swim past it.
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