A beautiful three-star route next to Annie Oh!, Arrow, and Limelight.
P1: 80 feet of classic climbing. The guide says to start on either side of large block; the right side seems easier. There is good gear above the block up to a pin. Back up the pin to the left, and make another placement above and a few feet to the right of the pin. Stay right of the pin (there's a lot of misleading chalk out to the left), make a few moves (crux), then follow low angle climbing to the belay. The large tree with slings is used for belay, but I prefer to use tree up and to the right since there's often lots of people rapping through.
P2: 80'. More great climbing! From the tree, follow the path of least resistance to a ledge with a smaller tree ~40 feet up and left. There's not much pro if you go straight up (but it's more fun!); otherwise, head right and then back left for easier terrain and better pro. Nice move just below a pin, then a couple thin moves after the pin to a nice rest. More thin moves up to the roof, and find great gear in the roof. Traverse out right with great feet, then up the diagonal crack to the chains. This pitch wanders a lot - beware of rope drag!
The 2nd pitch has some great moves, one of the nicest pitches at the Gunks.
Rappel: Two 60m ropes gets you within a few feet of the ground (with stretch) - watch the ends. Alternatively, a single rap brings you down to the tree between Three Doves and Annie Oh!, and will keep you out of the way of other climbers. Many rap down the 2nd pitch then climb the 2nd pitch of nearby routes.
Location
Location: About 14 minutes down the carriage road, the carriage road turns gently right where a river of white rocks meet the road.
Protection
Standard Gunks rack. Rated PG; several solid 5.8+ moves above fixed pins of uncertain reliability. The pin on P1 can be backed up, the pin on P2 has good gear below but not much else around.
The pin on P2 seems ok to me; it can be backed up with a BD micronut.
P2 is one of those where you have to carefully consider the balance between rope drag, and protecting your 2nd. If you place a piece below the roof and sling it too long, your second will be unprotected at the crux, and will only have one chance at doing it. Doubles help with this.
A few moves are a little spicy. For me; the one move just before the roof on P2 got my attention the most. I absolutely love this route, a must do for any Gunks climber.
P1 was comfortable. P2 had some very thin moves on the smooth white rock. As a second, it was totally fine, not sure how I would feel about leading it. I loved the moves, it's all there, but, I suppose another season will pass before I try to lead this.
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