Le Petit Francais  5.6

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Type:  Trad, 3 pitches, 400 feet Consensus:  5.6 [details] FA:  Unknown Submitted By:  Aaron Martinuzzi on Mar 4, 2010 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (5) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

BETA PHOTO: Le Petit Francais climbs the sunlit, left-facing d...

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Description 

Le Petit is another great easy route on the Southeast Face that ascends an obvious, left-facing corner system to the top of the wall east of the summit.

P1 - Climb the corner and adjacent face through an overlap (5.6) at the first roof band. Belay just above in the crack system, or climb a bit more to a decent ledge. 5.6, 150 feet.

P2 - Continue up the face and corner system. A 45-degree quartzite groove breaks left soon after the ledge. Follow this (great 5.5, no pro) or the corner (dirtier, 5.5 with pro), and either way head up and right as the corner dips off toward tree. Belay if you're so inclined. 5.5, 90 feet.

P3 - Pick your way up face and finger cracks above, 5.4 - 5.6, 150+ feet.

Location 

Francais climbs a left-facing dihedral about 200 feet climber's right of Central Chimney. It's easy to locate, the start of the climb is right off the summit trail, about 25 feet behind a trail marker located where the trail runs parallel and near to the main face.

Protection 

A standard rack works fine for this line. Like Central Chimney, no RPs or tiny gear needed, just cams and nuts. Pro is generally good on this route, with just a couple shallow, flaring crack sections to give trouble to a new leader. The climbing is secure throughout, though.