Batwings climbs the crack 15-20 feet right of Norma's book. The initial crack protects well and climbs easy, until you reach the horizontal crack. Place a cam in this crack and angle or traverse right. Aim for the crack just left of the roof. This crack takes hand jams like it was designes for them, and then turns vertical. It still takes the hand jams for a distance then thins out into 2 thin cracks. Take your pick, or use both and pop up onto the face. Find your moves and pick your protection well from this point as it is sparse.
Protection
2 ropes are needed for the rappel, unless you want to hike to the south of the formation for 2 1-rope rappels. The rack for this guy should be heavy on medium and small camming devices. A couple of long runners are needed also. Save a micro-cam (blue I believe) for the upper face.
By John J. Glime From: Salt Lake City, UT Aug 4, 2004
This is a great climb, one thing that sticks in my mind...when you leave the last vertical crack heading onto the upper headwall and face climbing, do NOT pass up any gear placements, the upper face is really runout and I remember thinking that a fall would be a really terrible thing at that point.
By Guy Humphrey From: Fort Collins CO Aug 16, 2004
The upper hand crack will leave a smile on face. The runout face at the top is easier if you head left and then back right to the bolt anchor.
By susan peplow From: what day is this? Aug 14, 2007 rating: 5.8
Start up obvious crack line - if confident, skip placing gear to avoid rope drag further up. #1 cam at small roof, clip fixed red tri-cam with long runner than move out right to clip the lone bolt. After that the crack is obvious and straight forward. Many of the pods are pseudo large so bring stuff to 3.5 if you've got it. Small to Medium sized nuts work like a charm in the upper section for your last ditch effort to protect before the run out to the top. Take the path of least resistance up and left to reach the summit then go right to the chain anchors and nice solution pocket for belay.
Very fun and highly recommended. Whether you're a seasoned climber or just starting 5.8's this is an excellent route! Enjoy.
Fixed tricam was no longer there. I don't think you can easily clip the top bolt on the Direct easily from this one - my wife led it and the bolt was waaaay out of reach (below & right). I'd guess this would be pretty exciting if .8's your limit. Great route!
The BEST climb I did at the City last Saturday! Use long runners on the start, and move left to get up on the run-out slab at the top. Once you're on it, it's easy. There are pro placements about 10-12 ft. above the beginning of the slab, but I skipped them because the climbing was easy and I really wanted those chains!
Parking Lot Rock
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