BETA PHOTO: Mark Tarrant starts up GDB on Coney Island.
Description
This excellent climb tackles the smooth wall on the right side of Upper Coney Island. Lieback up a short 5.10 dihedral to a long reach out left. Move up to a narrow ledge and rest. Tough moves lead up and left to a thin crack and the crux. A few more moves lead to a big ledge and the anchor. There are several places where additional gear can be placed to lessen the distance between bolts.
A note on the gear. You need trad gear for most of the lower corner, which is more awkward than its 5.10 rating might suggest. There is also an opportunity to get something in just below the start of the crux. Get established on the ledge and comfortably clipped in. You can move a right for a short space on some good, horrizontal finger slots. Here you can get some thin gear in, but we are talking about Sliders, LowBalls, or small TCUs. This will get you to the next bolt. After that, just hang on to the good hands and hope that the feet find some adhesion. You won't find a place to stop after that, even if you wanted more gear. However, the upper section is well bolted and so clean that a fall catches only clean air. Watch the gear placed below the crux, these slots are keepers, and its easy to wanker in the thin stuff so you can't get it out. This route is cool, super cool.
Fabulous pitch. 1-2 cams in the hand sized range (2-3 size friends) protect the stretch to the first bolt after that the bolts are sufficient. The upper half of the route involves 3 short boulder problems separated by good holds with a rising pump.
Where were the bolts when you led it, Peter? there are now 3 bolts below the ledge and 4 bolts protecting the headwall/ crux. They all seem to be the same vintage.
Chris, the upper four bolts just about have to be original, otherwise there would be bad ju-ju up there. The lower three are similar, though I can see that the first bolt could have been dispensed with by using natural gear (which we all placed before that bolt anyway).
Glad to see that you and Henry sent this puppy. Pretty fun, huh. :-)
Thanks Bob, it is a terrific route! I agree that 4 bolts adequately protect the crux top half. Both guidebooks only show 3 bolts above the halfway point ledge and 3 below. Removing any of the 4 headwall bolts and reducing the total to 3 would result in potential ledge falls, and would be out of character with the rest of the route. I think that a bolt up high was missed in the initial count. Mark told me that he has not been on the route, so that may account for the error in his guide. In any case, the bolt number is 7, and they are well placed. All clips are from good holds. The difference in doing the route with the draws in place or hanging them seemed negligible. Kudos to Jesse for a Boulder Canyon classic.
Hi....about the bolts, there seems to be some questions...I first did the route with three bolts on the top half, but after a few people commented about hitting the ledge, I returned and add the one you clip from the undercling, before stepping left and reaching for the big undercling crack...I must admit, it was a bit scary, so thanks to those and their suggestion which made the route a nicer climb!