Dave Rone on the FFA of Mr. Lean, 6/26/84. Whillan...
Protection
Thin gear if you did this on lead but it was HARD when I did it on toprope.
Location
Mr. Lean is about 20' south of Mack the Knife, and is best viewed from the North Tower. From North Tower, look south for the large pedestal at about 1/3rd height on left edge of the cliff face, and the crack which rises from the pedestal. This crack, about 3' right of the arete, is the business of Mr. Lean.
Description
From the talus, climb up to a prominent right-arching crack that gets much wider as you go higher. Jam, layback, and face climb the crack to the large pedestal. From the pedestal, climb the hands/tight hands crack to a locker finger slot and pull up onto a small sloping ledge. Shake out here, it's your last chance! From here the crack narro ws to finger tips for a few moves (crux) until you can reach good holds where a horizontal crack intersects the route. Although the difficulty eases the pump factor takes off as you continue up the overhanging crack that has widened to fingers/rattley fingers. Finish by traversing left on small edges to a big ledge about 15' below the top and then up the arete. A harder finish continues up the crack a few more feet to the arete.
The crux to this is about 30 ft above the tree. I got a good blue and a purple tcu within 3-4 ft of each other to protect it, using a bomber toe hook down the crack with my right foot. Super pumpy to the max! Trad is rad.
Looking at the photo on this page, Mack the Knife is just outside the right side of the frame. So, Mr. Lean is the arete just south of Mack the knife. TR setup in an obvious 1" crack. This route could maybe use a better description overall huh...?
Agreed, I put it up here forever ago as a place holder. Darin, switch this to under Chris or yourself so that a better description of someone that lead the thing can put down.
By Glenn Burns Administrator From: St. Paul, MN Oct 25, 2008
Palisade Head
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