Center Route 

To reduce the potential for a big ground fall, I recommend placing some Spectra cord around a downward pointing horn of sorts about ten feet above the initial corner. Also, a number 3 Camalot is helpful for backing up the old pin just before the roof.

One of my favorite routes in the canyon. A good barometer for your early season crack head.

I agree with Tom. A fun route for a crack-head in any season.

A little beta for the upper pitches... If you are going to continue after pitch 1 do not move left to the anchor at the top of pitch one, head right to a different bolted anchor at the top of Camouflage and belay there (semi-hanging).

Pitch 2 starts with a tricky 10b move over a bulge above the belay and continues up a right-facing dihedral with raspberry bushes for a 100 feet to a comfortable belay ledge. Protect early on this pitch to avoid landing in your belayers lap (sorry Lindsay) and go in August for the best raspberries.

Pitch 3 cuts left on jugs up and around the corner to a slab (8+). Continue up the slab passing a band of loose rotten rock (5.8S) and belay on the large walk off ledge. Walk off to the left past the finish of Over The Hill.

If you don't want to deal with the semi-hanging belay at the top of the first pitch, with a 60-meter rope you can combine the first two pitches. This makes turning the bulge at the start of the second pitch a bit tougher of course - due to drag and rope weight.

Harder than your average Eldo 11a

FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN! It may seem quite the dicey lead, but if you're looking to break on into .11b, definitely give this a shot! Gear is great though it looks bad from the ground and the moves are wonderfully technical.

Roof beta...Beware!!!Drop your left foot back to the left wall onto a smaller ledge, smear your right on up as far as needed to reach the 'horn' on the top of the arete/roof junction to your left. Double up for hands on that one and just swing your legs around the arete to the left. Great moves. After that, just think lieback and give the crux a throw!

~Wm

Also fun if you're breaking into 5.11a.

I've done both second pitch possibilities. I thought the left was the more dificult and more interesting of the two. However I also remember the fixed andchor at the top of this pitch being a couple of less than inspiring pitons. Any word on the current status of that anchor?

I've looked at this for a couple of years. If you're leading anywhere near this range, don't wait too long, go do it. My impressions:* The gear is much better than it looks.* The 5.9 moves off the ground were harder than they look. BIg hands, but you tip to the right.* The climbing to the ceiling was much easier than it looks.* Exiting left at the ceiling was easy for me, about low 10. A short reach might make it much harder to get the initially jug.* The stance after the ceiling was much worse than I expected. Perhaps long arms would make the undercling comfy (calling Ken Heiser). I eventually was able to settle down a bit here.* The move starting the finger crack was very hard for me. Thin fingers or very long reach would help. William McGhee says "think layback". I thought layback but coudln't figure anything out that would work.* The rest is pumpy with some bad feet. Went too high at first before traversing left.

Took a 15 footer on this back in the mid 90's. Breathing a sigh of relief at my clean fall, I looked up and saw spaghetti rope above me. Moving at my second fastest speed ever (the fastest being falling into 34 degree water while windsurfing), I clipped a nearby pin relic at the speed of light. The rope was my (new) partner's - she told me she'd stored it in a car in Alaska for 1 year and a half. Nice.

I'd say it's a "first come, first serve" situation up there Adam. There are plenty of other routes on Rincon and if those dudes want to bumble thier way up it, then you'll just have to go huck laps some other day.I'll agree that it is frustrating when it happens, but we've all paid our dues.

cheers.

Just thought I'd add that, after the initial moves, P2 is 5.8-ish and protects very well

Opening moves can easily be protected with a #3 Camalot instead of a #4. Awesome climb!! I didn't think this was much easier than Climb of the Century, but that's probably mostly due to my lack of crack skills.

Great route, this thing eats stoppers like crazy. I placed a #3 down low, a purple tcu in a horizontal below the roof, and a 0.75 after the crux, the rest were nuts and fixed pins.