Spider Lady  5.9

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Type:  Trad, 3 pitches Consensus:  5.9 [details] FA:  unknown Submitted By:  Julian Smith on Apr 6, 2002 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (3) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

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Description 

Located on the sunny side of the Turkey Tail, Spider Lady is an awesome route. It combines a little bit of everything, fingers, hands, and off width. Too bad getting on the route is such a hassle. See the description for the traverse.

Locate a left-facing corner 20 feet right of the start to Drumstick Direct. This is the right side of the pinnacle that goes up to Turkey Turd.

Pitch 1 - Climb the left-facing corner with good hand jamming near the top. Continue up above the corner a few feet and find the least sufferable spot to belay.

Pitch 2 - From the belay, climb down and to the right, traversing across a step, blank slab. Aim for a left-facing corner with a pin, fixed stopper, and crispy webbing. (This traverse is awful. Both the leader and the 2nd will have a tough time. Consider bringing something to leave so the pitch can be back cleaned and done with a tension traverse.) Continue up the superb, left-facing corner. It throws a little bit of everything at you from fingers, to hands, to off width. There are many exciting flakes and good foot holds as well. Belay from a nice ledge at the left side of a giant roof.

Pitch 3 - Step left and gain a long section of moderate, lower-angled cracks take you to a notch in the summit ridge of Turkey Tail.

Descent - Depending on the time of year, you have at least 2 options. If snow is not too bad on the dark side of Turkey Tail, rappel straight down the backside of the tail from a good station in the notch. If it looks like a post hole from hell in climbing shoes, another option is to traverse east out of the notch along the summit ridge of Turkey Tail. At the end of the ridge, look for a rappel station that is located down and to the north. This may consist of knotted slings jammed into cracks. Rappel into the wide chimney/gully with a single rope. Walk along the crest of the ridge for a few feet to the east. Another rappel should be encountered. It consists of knotted slings jammed in cracks and a slung boulder. A single rope rappel will land you near the base of a route named Double Trouble. The base of this route and your gear is just a few steps back to the west. Enjoy.

Protection 

This route takes a little bit of everything. You will not need as much big gear as on either of its neighbors.