Blue Steel 

FA:  Andy Donson and Jonathan Copp New Route:  Yes Type:  Trad Length:  1 pitch, 80 feet Views: 245 page views Submitted By: Andy Donson on Jun 18, 2003 Add Photo  Add Comment

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Description 

This route takes a vertical line from the start of The Wisdom to the belay ledge atop P.1 of Le Toit. It combines a poorly protected 10+ lower section with a powerful bulge above the "rotten band". Start as for The Wisdom but head left up a flake (which vibrates!) into a shallow R-facing dihedral. Bomber RPs can be placed here. Climb the dihedral and trend R into the rotten band where you can bury some medium cams. Climb through the steepness, on large holds, to reach an obvious blocky undercling and excellent gear (#3.5 - #2.5 Friends and a #2 Rock). Take a deep breath and head up and right through the overlap, just left of a rounded arête, to reach a small resting ledge (crux). An incipient crack leads straight up to the bolted cave belay on Le Toit.

We headpointed the route, but it could definitely be led ground up. We cleared away most of the looseness and despite some major efforts, we failed to budge the vibrating flake at the start.

Protection 

Take a single rack of cams from blue alien up to #3.5 friend, and a set of small nuts.