Tighter Squeeze 

FA:  Paul Mayrose, O'Conner 1963 Type:  Trad Length:  1 pitch, 100 feet Views: 91 page views Submitted By: Ivan Rezucha on Oct 1, 2005 Add Photo  Add Comment

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Description 

Tighter Squeeze is the striking chimney in a left facing corner to the right of Twister clearly visible from the approach trail. Rated 5.7 in my old Kimball Lumpy guides, it felt like 5.9 to me following my partner Chuck Graves, except for the pain in my knees, which made it mid-10. Gear is surprisingly good for a chimney climb. This route should be on "The road to 'The road to the Crack of Fear'". See the comments under Twister for The road to the COF.

Approach: From the Crack of Fear area, scramble up and right along the base of the crag passing Twister until you get to the high point and a flat bench. The obvious chimney is Tighter Squeeze. The thin horizontal crack running out left of the chimney with a couple of bolts and a pin is the 11d Last Dance, formerly known as the A2 East Wing. If you're near the East Ridge, walk left a short distance past a steep face to the bench and the start of the route.

The climb: Hand jamming and chimneying lead to a ledge from which you can experience the massive bowels of this chimney. Above is a constriction. Chimney up inside to place a high big cam. We used the #6 Friend here. Drop back down and chimney sideways to the outside edge. Make a move up until you can stem out to some grooves with your back against the edge of the chimney. You can place another big cam here. Up and back into the chimney which is pretty tight "frogging" (as Chuck called it) with good gear in a thin crack. I learned here that jugs don't help much in tight chimneys since you can't lean back to use your feet. You have to ignore the jugs and keep your hands low to push up. At some point here I moved right and out of the chimney rather than persist in abusing myself. The final exciting moves swing around a chockstone to the top.

Getting down: You can continue to the top as for East Ridge, or you can scrample right and slightly up to good slings and rings at the top of the Turn, Turn, Turn chimney, just left of Rather Fight Than Switch. Since these slings are not permanent anchors, be prepared to go to the top or to rig your own anchor.

Protection 

Single set small nuts to #3 Camalot. 2 big cams--we used a #6 Friend and a #4 Camalot.