Credibility Gap is a fun 5.6 just the the left of Asphodel's huge right-facing corner. The route begins right at the base of the corner.
Pitch 1 is a good introduction to 5.6 for a solid 5.5 leader. The crux moves are exciting and exposed, but the holds are all big, and the moves well protected. The route is better than it looks from the ground.
P1: Climb the crack in the slick but slabby left face of Asphodel's corner. From the top, diagonal up and left on easy rock to an obvious, low-angle right facing corner. You can belay here, but I found no need to. Climb the corner to the roof, then make an airy exit left onto the face. Go straight up the steep face to the ledge with a couple pine trees (this is also the belay for Welcome to the Gunks. 5.6 G/PG, ~90 feet.
P2: Straight up to the largest overhang about 30 feet up, step left and climb up the face to a small flaky left-facing corner, step back right and go up to a pine tree on the GT ledge. 5.5 PG, 60 feet.
Descent: it is possible to rappel the route with one rope; however, two ropes are recommended. From the GT ledge, one rappel gets you back to the first belay at the top of Welcome to the Gunks. The best bet is to rap on two ropes to the ground from here, or a second rappel on one rope takes you too a somewhat sketchy anchor under a roof, where you can rap to the ground.
Location
About an 8-min walk down the carriage road from the Uberfall; after the Mac Wall, but before Minty, Madame G's, and the Guides' Wall. The trail for Welcome to the Gunks provides the quickest access.
Protection
The Williams guide gives P1 a PG rating; however, I felt the pitch was G. The crux protects well with a larger cam (3.5 Friend). There are some short runouts, but only on very easy rock. Other than the large cam, a standard Gunks rack is fine.
RSS Feed
