Parallels 

I had a go at this route on 9/21/02 and would argue that the above comments are a bit of a sandbag. Paralles definitely felt harder to me than Iron Horse or Terminal Velocity (given 5.11c and 5.11b/c respectively) and would agree with the Rossiter grade, 5.11c/d. Furthermore, the gear is pumpy to place and the crux comes pulling onto the upper slab when your last gear is just below your feet. While not a fall that would cause injury, you would definitely log some air time. With that said, I found Parallels to be a beautiful line and definitely worth more attention.

Excellent climbing for about 25 feet. Strenuous and sustained for 25' with no rests. Harder than Terminal Velocity or Climb of The Century. Technical difficulty is comparable to Pony Express but placing gear is much more strenuous -- protecting the start of the crux feels like 5.10. G rated protection is available throughout the [difficult] section, but it is very [strenuous] to place.

Rossiter currently rates this 11c/d. I wouldn't argue. It's harder than both Climb of the Centruy and Terminal Velocity. While the difficulty of the moves on Parallels are comparable to Pony Express, PV is less strenuous, esp. placing gear.

Is the little tree stump still there? Led this in 1983 and the small stump of a pine tree was sticking out of the crack right past the crux.

In my opinion 5.11c, three stars. It might feel a tad-bit easier on toprope as part of the difficulty comes from placing the gear. Concerning the "s" rating in the guidebook, my guess is that this route was much more difficult to lead without modern micro-cams, which felt very crucial at the crux.My advise to someone who is psyched to lead this route: Place all the gear at waist level; if you reach up and plug a cam in the fingerlocks above, you will increase the difficulty. Be efficient and aggresive as it is very pumpy and there are no good rests from the start until after the crux. The tree stump is still there. It's really solid and makes for a great thank-god jug. What a strange finish to a bunch of hard moves!

I would agree with Brad that modern gear makes this a little safer to lead! This route and "Foxtrot" to the right were the first routes that I used homemade (by Steve Jones) 1/2 friends. Glad to hear the tree stump is still there! Makes for a fine thank-god-hold. I think this route is bordering on three stars. I think "Foxtrot" has better climbing with hard to place gear and a tad bit harder moves.

Excellent route with great movement. Significantly easier than its neighbor Foxtrot.

Mike, I take it you led this route before downrating it...or at least toproped it clean???

Thanks for keeping me honest, AC! I toproped it (fell the first time, then got it clean on the second go). I didn't find it as difficult as Terminal Velocity, which is given an 11b/c rating. My main point is that Foxtrot is significantly harder (Both are listed as 11c/d I believe). Perhaps the "headiness" of pulling the crux above a microcam and the difficulty of placing gear in general bump this up a letter grade or two? If that's the case, Foxtrot's got to be solid 5.12!

For the onsight, with no gear beta, this is a tricky lead. Your tendency on the onsight is to protect, then go for it, but it's very easy to screw yourself on Parallels by protecting in some crucial hand placements. For example, you can have overhead pro at the crux, but you have NO chance of sending with that gear in place. This feels like as tough a lead to me as Racoon Soup (and TRing is a very bad way to rate a climb), although once you figure out the gear beta, I can see this feeling easier. Even on TR (although it was a VERY humid day) this feels significantly harder than Climb of the Century, Iron Horse, and Terminal Velocity, and at least as difficult as Pony Express.

Good climb, and a great example of how Eldo climbing is about more than just doing the moves.

Parallels is like Foxtrots mean little step brother. Although they look similar from the ground they climb quite different. Parallels has awkward strenuous gear stances but doesn't quite pack the punch of Foxtrot. Body position is critical. Don't under estimate it though because I feel it is more continuous at the grade and doesn't let up as soon as Foxtrot does. Although harder to place, the gear is bomber throughout.

Gave this a go myself. Brad put it well, there are plenty of placements for modern small gear. I also second Joe's comments about no gear-beta (harder), and the overhead placement at the crux-skip it. I found that I needed the 'short-guy' (unchalked but great) intermediate sidepull (I'm 5'7") as I moved away from my nest of waist-level pieces at the crux. Don't be afraid to find unchalked edges! I had plenty of gear on it, except for the punch-it after the crux. In fact, just before that place I had 3 pieces in, including an Alien, and a bomber stopper. On TR, after leading it this was a different route to me... punching it the whole way, and it was strenuous and trouble-free and fun. Classic West Ridge 5.11 heady route.

Felt quite a bit easier than Foxtrot. The gear also does not get in the way nearly as much. A fine route though.