Climb the face up to the black, wet, L-facing dihedral. This is a major water runoff whenever it has rained or snow is melting. If you can find it dry, it's a great steep route with as many face holds as jamming.
I have a couple guide books that show this is sent at 5.7+. I don't feel this is any harder than 5.8. It has a couple awkard stances that may produce the feeling of it being harder than it really is. This is in my opinion and no disrespect to Ben.
Keep your hands in the crack for an increased rating; also, for a clean start, there is an undercling for your right hand that is found in a plumb line with the crack. Start with this to keep to the route. This is better than starting up the face then moving right. Fun route, lots of options for feet and hands.
For what its worth, I found this route to be interesting and sustained and probably worthy of a 9- (ish) rating. Whatever number you attach to it, this route demands a really cool combination of crack and face styles and if it wasn't for the potential for it to be wet at times, I'd call it a three-star.
Good route but easy. Nice warmup, if a 9 definitely a -. Using the crack as a layback definitely makes it easier. On my second climb of this doing a layback allowed my to fly up this.
By Ben Mottinger Founding Father Sep 18, 2002 rating: 5.8
Now that I think about this, it is more like 5.8. I just put the rating posted in Tom's book.
While not a hard 5.9, I believe this route deserves the 5.9 rating. Steep sustained and a few tricky techniques when leading it. When compared to 5.8 trad climbs at the Wood, this climb is a notch harder, IMHO.
The hardest part of this route is the start, and it isn't all that hard as it is tricky. As for the rest of the climb, stems ane liebacks make the route easy. Technical but fun. 5.7+ all the way.
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