This climb begins just to the right of a rotten chimney area a hundred yards or so downhill from Positively Fourth Street. It is identified by a RF dihedral that leads to a roof with a thin crack through it. This route is a combination of the first pitch of Practice Climb 101 and the second pitch of Sidewall.
Scramble up the bottom 10 or 15 feet of the chimney and situate yourself on a ledge/bench below the dihedral. Climb the dihedral (11a) passing a tricky crux towards the top. The holds are well chalked but I found they generally face the wrong way. I ended up using an obviously unofficial (unchalked) sequence, but still felt the overall effort was around 11a. There is a bomber large RP placement in the corner in the middle of the crux. At the top of the corner, clip a fixed nut (or place your own) and traverse right to the double bolt anchor at the top of the first pitch of Sidewall.
From this anchor, head up and right in to the obvious dihedral. Crank through the thin stemming (11a) well protected with small nuts, and head for the obvious hand jam. Continue more easily up the line to an anchor at a tree. Two single rope raps back to the ground.
This route offers excellent protection (bomber overhead nuts at the crux). The first pitch is very height dependent, if you are shorter than 6'0" you might find it hard. The second is a stemming problem and felt easy at it's grade. Finish on 'Muscle and Hate' for a 3rd consecutive 5.11a pitch.
By Charles Vernon From: I'm in transition right now Apr 29, 2003
Just did this today, leading the first pitch and following the second...while the pro is excellent, I would have to disagree with Tony that there are "bomber overhead nuts" on the first pitch (although this may be true of the second pitch)--it seemed the hardest (and reachiest) move came with the gear a little below the feet--then you get another good placement for the remainder of the crux section.
Whatever your mileage, this is certainly a 3-star, must-do route--absolutely classic Eldo stemming.
I am looking for information on a possible variation to the second pitch of this route. In the first photo below there is an obvious dihedral above and to the right of the climber. It's just to the right of [Practice] Wall 101 and the left of p2 of Practice Wall (or Sidewall). Anyone [climbed] it? Know the difficulty, gear, etc.?
Yep, that's False Prophet, 5.11d. The runout climbing is getting to the hanging corner, which can be done from more-or-less directly below, or (better) coming in from P2 Sidewall on the right; either way not great gear and a little heady. Once below the corner, the gear gets good, which is nice since the crux move on this route is a real bear. Excellent route and another of the many fine lines plucked by Alec Sharpe.
It is curious that the vast majority of climbing done in this nice little cirque is restricted to P1 Practice Climb 101 and Sidewall. Just left of Practise Climb is Warp Drive Overload, an overlooked sport climb with some redeemable climbing. False Prophet is an excellent pitch, especially if you can get your partner to lead it. To the right of Sidewall, both Quiet Desperation and Court Jester are worthwhile climbs, and are relatively safe if you take the time to find the gear (something that can't really be said for the desperate Human Factor, which, although it has excellent climbing, is truly a dangerous pitch).
This compact area is sunny and protected from the wind, so is an excellent winter climbing destination.
Agree with Charles that the pro on P1 is not perfect. You could easily fall off after the first hard move with the gear about a foot below your feet. It's pretty stressful getting the high piece, since you have no hands to speak of. Tony and Charles say nuts for the high piece. I used a blue Alien (which holds--I know).
P1 seems much harder than P2, although both are rated 11a. Perhaps it's that P1 is intimidating due to the initial stand up with no hand holds to go for. Or perhaps it's that I suck at stemming (but then P2 would feel hard also, so that can't be it).
Stellar route! Agree with Tony that the P1 crux may be height dependant, or as my partner and I found (both of us being about 5'9") beta/ sequence [dependent].
I'd disagree with some about the pro though. I found great pro that never ended up below my feet. I did see the blue alien placement and used it just before I greased off a sloper. There is also a good #1 DMM wallnut placement about 1" below that. I was quaking in my harness going way way above tiny pro on Aerial Book, but felt completely solid on this. Translation: solid pro helps my head. SD
West Ridge - Pony Express to Long John
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