This is the frighteningly obvious chimney on the left side of the Inner Outlet when viewed from Sylvan Lake. Climb up to a ledge, and make a weird bouldery move into the chimney that feels hard and strange for 5.6 A long pitch of grunting up the squeeze chimney will leave you on the summit, and probably also cursing Wiessner every inch of the way if you aren't used to wide cracks. For maximum entertainment, have your partner drag up a backpack - their howls of frustration make the whole exercise worthwhile.
This is an absolutely classic route if you like squeeze chimneys, and make sure to have someone take your picture from the lake while doing the route.
Protection
Standard trad rack. This climb was runout with no big pieces, but I didn't have any when I did it so I'm not sure whether they would work.
This route is far from being a classic in my book. To me grunts are not classics. I have done this route and I have successfully avoided since. There are other routes on Inner Outlet that are better such as the Conn's Retable route on Inner Outlet. I would give this route zero stars or maybe a negative 3 stars
By Andrew Gram Administrator From: Denver, CO Aug 14, 2002
I would argue this is a three star classic if you like squeeze chimneys, otherwise it is a 0 star nightmare. This is one of the longest and most sustained pitches of moderate squeeze chimney I have ever been on. Needles climbers venturing out to do long routes in the mountains, Yosemite, or the desert should test their mettle on this - climbing wide cracks is standard in most places.
It certainly isn't as much fun to climb as Classic Crack however. The best part is when it is over...
Believe it or not this was one of the first trad climbs I ever led. I had no idea what I was getting into. I didn't own cams at the time and the small amount of gear that I did place was not awe inspiring. Half way up the chimney I was so freaked that I had to stop and placed a belay deep inside the chimney so I could collect my wits. After belaying Angela up that first pitch I was able to continue and finish out the climb. I honestly don't remember the climbing being that miserable. It was my inability to get decent pro that made my miserable. While the climbing can be enjoyable if you're in the right state of mind, I wouldn't give it more than one star.
Inner Outlet
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