The climber is right below the crux. There is a g...
Description
This route was named for the 38 pitons used on the first ascent. This climb is located on a large buttress 200' past the Uberfall and right before the trail that leads to Jackie and Classic. Look for a prominent left-leaning crack.
P1: Start by pulling a small overhang below a left-leaning crack. Follow this finger crack to a crux at the end of the crack. There is good gear near by, but it is pumpy to hang out and place it. After pulling past the awkward crux move, head up and traverse left across a ledge system. There is a 5.8 move at the end of the traverse, which is a little runout. Continue up the finger crack above to the huge Radcliffe pine tree. The tree is rotting, so it might be wise to downclimb the 4th-class chimney to the right instead of rappelling from the tree.
This climb is very pumpy for the grade but then again I'm not very good at flared cracks. I placed mostly small passive pro up to the crux but it's difficult to protect because of the flared pin scars. Rich Gottlieb says he soloed this route back in the day.....I need to climb harder? I wouldn't bring anything bigger then a #1 Camalot.
this is a great route to enter the grade because the gear is good. first couple moves off of the ground are a bit cruxy too, but can get good stoppers and gear through most of the bottom section.
Mike, this climb has changed a lot since I first did it in 1977. Holds have broken off at the start and also on the face to the left of where the crack ends. This climb used to be closer to 5.9 than 5.10.
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