Main Street (left)  5.7 R

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Type:  Trad, 1 pitch, 160 feet Consensus:  5.7 [details] FA:  Submitted By:  Ross Purnell on Jun 17, 2009 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (5) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

BETA PHOTO: main wall at Chickies

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Description 

Main Street Crack ends at a small tree/bush, then there is a short slabby section of rock below The Great Roof just under the summit. This is the giant roof you can see from the ground. Main Street (right) finishes in the corner at the right side of the roof. Main Street (left) continues straight up from the bush to a stance under the roof, then traverses left (scary 5.6-5.7 with difficult, small protection) to gain the prominent arete and then to the summit. In both instances, surmounting/bypassing the roof is the crux, the climbing below the bush and over the slabs is easy 5.3-5.4 climbing.
It is possible, perhaps advisable, to set up a belay near the tree/bush so your belayer can see what's going on. If you belay from the ground, the leader will disappear under the roof and you won't see him for the crux moves. However, we regularly do this route in one pitch with long slings, especially under the roof.
The start of the crack is a little runout--you can get your first piece--a .75 Camalot--into a V-shaped vertical crack about 15 to 20 feet off the ground.

Location 

Near the left side of the Main Wall about 30 to 40 feet to the left of the Library dihedral look for the long, left-leaning crack system that starts just to the right of the small buttress. (The other side of the buttress near the tree is Witches Brew.)

Protection 

No fixed gear. Build an anchor on top--trees are too far back.