South Face, The Dodger
5.10- YDS 6a French 18 Ewbanks VI+ UIAA 18 ZA E1 5a British R
Avg: 3.2 from 14 votes
Type: | Trad, 180 ft (55 m), 2 pitches |
FA: | R. Hardwick, G. Parker, P. Gleason, 1972. |
Page Views: | 1,897 total · 19/month |
Shared By: | Trevor Bowman on Feb 29, 2016 · Updates |
Admins: | Greg Opland, Brian Boyd, JJ Schlick, Kemper Brightman, Luke Bertelsen |
Description
Although south-facing, this is mostly shaded since it's tucked right up against the South Mesa. It is fully shaded in the afternoon.
Pitch 1--Belay for the first pitch in the comfortable notch between the tower and the South Mesa. Start up splitter fingers in a slight flare, which widen quickly to good, steep hands for a ways, with a couple big reaches past wider pods. The hero hands end beneath a 15' OW, smooth-walled and in a flare. Burl up this with arm-bars, heel-toeing, and whatever else works...this is another good example of just how hard 5.9 from the 70's can be! Take care with some loose debris in the back of the OW. At the top of the OW, burrow horizontally through a wild hole into the middle of the tower for the "room" belay. Belay off of hand/finger gear. (5.9++, 80')
Pitch 2--Tiptoe toward the light (north, toward the Middle Mesa and the Mace) out a sloping ledge to the outermost edge of the imposing chimney above. Take care not to trundle yourself off the ledge into the bottomless chimney below! Breath deep and start wriggling up the incredible chimney above, which maintains a fairly constant width for the whole pitch, and offers micro-features for the lower 1/2 and some larger pockets and edges up high. The guidebook says this is runout for the first 30', but I didn't see any cracks anywhere in the chimney, and only found one marginal TCU about 2/3 of the way up. It's secure chimney work, but approach this pitch as essentially a solo. Belay off of slung shrubs and a small juniper on the summit. (5.8 R/X, 100')
Location
The summit anchor is about 20' below the actual summit, above the south face. It is two 3/8" Bandito bolts that are decent, but a new bolt would be nice. We swapped out the crusty tat with some rope. Chains would be a great addition!
You can double rope rap to the notch, or do a shorty rappel past the buldge and then pull the rope and rap to the notch. Works with a 70m, and likely a 60m with stretch or 1 move down. Not a bad idea to leave some cord or something to the intermediat anchor to help with the pull, but not mandatory.
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