This is the wide, crooked, crack that is easily spotted as you turn the corner around the North Buttress of the West Ridge. It is just right of Prince of Darkness and Sirens of Titan.
The first 20 ft. are very wide but easy. After enjoying a seat on a pinnacle you do a fun rightwards hand traverse and pull up into a left-facing corner that you follow to the end. The last twenty feet of the corner protect beautifully on hand-size and smaller pieces, but will feel a little tough if 5.6 is your limit.
Protection
A large piece or two will protect the very wide start (ie. 4.5 Camalot) or you can wait until the wide (and pretty easy) stuff is over at which point a standard Eldo rack will be fine. The anchor setup requires care and equalization of a slightly more than average number of pieces due to detached blocks.
I've done this route twice now and would do it again. I would give it at least two stars. Maybe not three because of the approach. But the easy walk-off counters that. Nice off-width (some of which can be avoided by climbing the face) followed by an exposed hand traverse with a 5.6 slab. For extra spice once around the corner from the hand travere the arete can be had sans pro but still 5.6.
I led this climb on Saturday (I'm the one in the black shirt in the picture below) and I would also lead it again but with bigger gear for the wide crack at the bottom. I didn't enjoy that part of the climb too much as my largest piece was a #4 Camalot and I wasn't able to place it until the crack narrows and slants up and to the right. Once I got to the pinnacle it was smooth sailing. The hand traverse is fun but watch out for rope drag right after that as you ascend the left-facing dihedral to finish the climb. There's a bit of loose stuff in that last stretch but I found it straightforward to avoid.
By Frances Fierst Administrator From: Denver, CO Oct 22, 2003 rating: 5.6
First of all, this climb is an offwidth. If you don't like offwidth, you won't like this climb. However, I thought it was a lot of fun. I was able to climb a lot of it on the outside, and I spent very little time inside the crack.
Based on the description, I brought a 4.5 camalot. Dave mentions that he was not able to place his #4 until the crack narrows and slants up and to the right. Having a 4.5 didn't change this. I put my cam in the same spot Dave mentions. I don't think having a 5 camalot, or even a 6 WC friend would make any difference. This crack is WIDE. I did find a small nut placement before I put this cam in. I was also able to sling a jutting corner of rock at the top of the offwidth section. This gave me the confidence to climb around it, rather than grovel through it.
The rest of the climb protects well, and the hand traverse is great fun. I though the top of the climb was easy after leading the run out section at the bottom.
By Clint Locks From: Boulder Jul 22, 2004 rating: 5.6
First off--regarding Kevin's comment-yup, this climb *is* way on up the West Ridge, my opinion is: allow enough time and just enjoy the hike. We could live in an uglier place, you know.
As far as the climb goes, there's a small (good?) chock stone low in the crack. I slung it, just for fun...that's about all you've got until that aforementioned #4.5. Do extend the slings on your pieces under the roof before the traverse, to minimize drag. Enjoy! Good times. --You can toprope Prince of Darkness from the anchor you build at the end of Ice Nine, by the way.--
By Ron Olsen Administrator From: Boulder, CO Oct 21, 2004 rating: 5.6
An enjoyable climb with a poorly-protected start.
I got two ball nuts and a black Alien in a thin horizontal crack about 10' up on the left side of the wide crack, and then ran it out to the pinnacle at the top of the crack, which I slung with a double-length sling.
The wide section isn't difficult and requires only a few offwidth moves. The hand traverse is airy, and the upper corner is well protected and fun.
By tom stocker From: Lakewood, Colorado Jul 17, 2006
You can protect the off-width portion with a blue BigBro about 2/3 of the way up. This should keep you off the ground if you pop before getting to the narrow portion of the crack. Then a #4 Camalot where the crack narrows and angles to the right. Main challenges are rope drag, sharp edges, hollow and loose rock, and several possibilities for grounding on ledges higher up the climb. Otherwise, a challenging adventure and quite different from most Eldo 5.6 climbs.
Or a sleeping drunkard up in Central Park, Or the lion hunter in the jungle dark, Or a Chineese dentist, Or the British queen, We all fit together in the same machine!
West Ridge - top to Xanadu
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