A stimulating climb that has a little bit of everything (except splitter crack climbing, of course). Save this one for cold temps, as it bakes in the sun most of the day and crimping the thin, glassy quartz edges may not feel so nice! P1- Look for the tiny edges and crimp up the slabby face, passing a line of bolts (book says 5, I only remember 4). Take care between the first and second, as you will be in groundfall terrain for a minute from a ways up. Keep your eyes open at the third bolt and find a way to move up AND reach the next clip. After the bolts end, follow a short right-facing corner with marginal gear. Pull onto the face to the left and into a left-facing corner, eventually moving back right again onto the face. Locate a small stance with a horizontal that will eat .75-1" gear and belay. NOTE: In the opinion of me (and everyone else I know who's climbed the route), the crux is a scorchin' sandbag! More like 11a/b. Still intriguing though. 5.10c, 120'. P2- Continue straight up the middle of the face in a finger crack/water groove. Locate a rusty piton about 10' beneath the large roof, clip it, and climb up. Pull the roof at the obvious horizontal. Great moves! Continue up easier terrain to a roomy belay ledge. 5.9+, 180'. P3- Climb a short headwall right off the belay, and continue up easy terrain to the top of the cliff. 5.7, 100'.
Location
Shortoff South. The route is located just left of the Little Corner/Julia corner system. Look for a slabby face sporting bolts.
Protection
Set of stoppers, double set of cams from 00 TCU-#1 camalot, 1 #2 camalot. First pitch has a few bolts.
Nick, thanks for calling P1 a sandbag - I've always thought it was damn hard for 5.10c. Nice to know others agree!
I've also never thought of it as worth a PG-13 rating - as I remember, gear is easily available almost anywhere except below the P2 roof, but gear can be found there with a little work (I've always wanted to back up the pin). On P1, there is a slot for a yellow TCU/Alien between bolts 1 and 2, and after the last bolt the climbing eases considerably - from 5.10 (or 11!) to 5.6. I never recall feeling like I wanted gear but couldn't get it... but maybe I was just psyched to be done with the crux!
I've wandered around looking for the P1 belay stance before. There are several ledges and stances. As I recall, if you find a ledge with enough gear for an anchor, just stop and belay - the higher ledges are a little sparse when it comes to gear (I remember downclimbing).
The roof on P2 is wild and awesome - everyone I've climbed the route with has pulled over with a huge grin! Go enjoy!
I'm contributing to this discussion a bit late, but I thought I'd confirm the beta offered by the entry above and maybe offer an interesting first ascent tidbit.
The space between the first and second bolts is filled by a bomber yellow Metolius cam. There's a nice slot that fits a cam pretty nicely, so be sure to bring that cam along.
The first bolt was actually drilled by hanging on this cam (you can 5th class to the placement from the gulley on the right). Joe hand-drilled the rest of the bolts from hooks.
I don't know about the .10c being sandbag...
Cheers!
By Nick Stayner From: Tuolumne Meadows May 18, 2008
Well I tried it twice, both times in the blazing hot sun... I dunno. It felt hard to me. 10+ for sure! Nice route.
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