Squeeze My Lemon 

Great climbing that is unfortunately interspersed with a couple of vegetated spots: a small tree and a series of bushes. The bushes being the worst. Very fun jams, and the traverse left climbed great as a hand traverse. This could really use a set of anchors to avoid totally killing the small belay tree.

The anchor for squeeze my lemon has been replaced and moved about 15 ft higher to finish out the crack. 2 bolt anchor. The tree is just about dead and is growing on a death block at the top of a flake. The block should be moved in the next week. WITH THE NEW ANCHORS ONE 60 METER ROPE MADE IT TO THE GROUND AND THE NEXT TIME WE CLIMBED UP THERE, A DIFFERENT 60 METER ROPE LEFT THE ENDS HANGING ABOUT 10 FT OFF THE GROUND. I am going back again this week with yet another 60 to try to get a better read. A 70 for sure reaches as well as using 2 ropes to get off.
I have also cleaned up the crack so it no longer has any vegetation growing in it. This is a great 5.7 crack climb.

This makes a really good first 5.7 lead and is perfect for teaching people how to hand jam. Sews up with a standard rack using nuts and cams but an extra set of hand sizes takes some thought out of it. Bring a few long runners too. That block at the top looks fine but when you move the last cubic foot of the large spike behind that tree a seam appears showing how loose it is. The new anchor also makes it a lot easier and safer to TR Errant Edge with its nice red granite edge climbing.

Fun route with some pretty cool jamming. The only vegetation I saw on the entire route was the large tree growing in the crack 10 ft off the ground. A 60m rope from the new anchor reaches the ground just fine.

No stars in the Ruckman guide.....two now that its cleaned up.

Fun climb now that it's mostly defoliated. Worth checking out.

With so much cleaning going on up here, why not remove that bush in the first 10 feet? this would be a much better climb with out it.

"With so much cleaning going on up here, why not remove that bush in the first 10 feet? this would be a much better climb with out it."

thats a good idea! and while we're at it, why not chop down the remaining forest and pave a trail to the base.

"SirCamsalot" wrote then deleted:

"grk10vk wrote; "Thats a good idea, and while we're at it, why not chop down the remaining forrest and pave the trail to the base"

Wow. Coming from a guy who cleaned 30+ feet of LIVE scrub oak from Zesty and (really did) chop down multiple trees that shrowded the base of Sqeeze My Lemon and Errant Edge...that seems like a pretty snotty comment. Are you a hypocrite, or just a dick?"

1. if you're going to quote me, please do it correctly. for starters i know how to spell the word forest.
2. if you did your homework you'd see i had nothing to do with the zesty but express my opinion of it's suggested grade.
3. for the record, i did not cut, lop, axe, or chop a single tree while i was up there. i'm a tree humper not a tree hater.

you know what they say when you assume, it makes an ass out of you and well...just you in this case.

and to answer your question; i am not a hypocrite, the latter however, is up for debate.

Are you not Dallen? If not, then I apologize for calling you both a dick and a hypocrite. I thought you were one in the same. Carry on with said tree humping and I'll take my F- for homework done.

edited to note: I don't think dallen to be either a dick or a hypocrite....never met the guy, I was only calling out what I thought (and made an ass of myself in doing so) was a blatent contradiction of ethics based on comments made and I'm going to STFU now.

It is a tree (Mountain Mahogany), not a bush and should not be removed. It makes a nice jug, from the picture it looks healthy.

geez steve, you're taking a beating on this one.

naw...just opinions. i just figured with all the "housekeeping" going on up there a small bush wouldn't be missed. Guess i was wrong.

and yes, i'm a douche for mixin up sunny-d and grk

Ben, are you arguing that because its a tree, not a bush, then it shouldn't go? Or because it provides a great hold? Like those trees on the first and last pitches of Pentapitch?

And SGileadi, are you aware of how many "bushwhack crack-like" trees were removed from Zesty? A route you've climbed and liked?

I'm not tryin to stir the pot here...but can someone tell me the difference between route maintenance and raping mother nature?

I caution your community in farming out routes. If it’s a danger to climbers then by all means, but if not, why? I would encourage preservation to enhance the canyon for future generations. The tree looks tame to me.... Anderson

not losing my head at all...thats why i dislike online conversations...too hard to read the other person's intentions. I was just wondering where that line is drawn. i too think some gardening is great and i like how that area has been developed in the last year or so. I was just suggesting something that is going to happen eventually, especially if that area gets the traffic that it should. this route is awesome, but i give that tree 5 years max.

Sir, I guess I hold more importance to trees than shrubs. Although that is just a personal opinion and there is no good reason for it. I haven't even done the route, was just looking at the picture and it looks like the tree is a nice, interesting feature of the climb. I was just kidding about the hold, although I usually do use trees if they are growing out of the crack. I don't mean to stir anything up either. I don't have any personal knowledge of the route. From the picture it looks like the tree doesn't get in the way.

point taken

cheers!

Wow. I haven't looked at this for a while.
I helped Dallen clean this line a little. I did cut off a little of the left side of the tree--strictly to make the climbing enjoyable. We decided not to take the tree out completely or to trim the right side as one would almost never want to climb the crack in that direction anyway. We agreed (as do others apparently) the tree added character to the route and should be left. And of course the less gardening the better--for all.
Just thought I'd confess to the holy ones (heh heh).

I thought this was one of the best 5.7's I have ever done. Other than the slightly gritty start, the whole thing is really clean now. I was really impressed with the quality of the climbing. The hand crack right below the imfamous tree was worth the hike alone. Thanks for all te cleaning efforts. Way to go guys!

Great climb. Better than Bushwhack Crack, in my opinion; it's more varied and more interesting.

Great crack, lots of variety on the moves. This protects well with many different sizes of camalots, and a few runners are handy. The tree/bush is alive and well btw!!

A great climb thats worth checking out! Like Tristan said, it is fun and varied. Finishing on the beautiful splitter makes me want to go climb zesty now.

Super fun climb. This was my first 5.7 hand crack lead. Excellent variety, and a few committing moves. If 5.7 is your grade, I would definitely recommend bringing a standard rack up to BD #4 or possibly #5 (for off-width at very top of climb). In addition, make sure you have at least one extra in sizes .5 through #3. I took 3 hexes to compliment my sparse rack of cams and nuts, but found that the crack didn't really take BD hexes well. Rapped off with two 60m ropes.

Thanks for that bolt warning. I've tightened it twice but obviously it isn't working. I'll replace it in the next few weeks. I need some Mike White assistance to help me figure out why this is happening. Or some LockTite.

The best first 5.7 crack in the canyon. this thing is five FUN!

Fabulous route for a wide range of climbers. Plus, a good tree dodge while staying in the crack knocks this climb up to an 8 at the bottom. Betsy D did this 5-16 as her first climb ever with a big smile, bravo Betsy!!!!!

My first pitch of the season, used a single 60m. I was able to rappel down no problem by heading left, just right of the foliage.

Anchors Fixed, thanks to Grk and Monkey for helping out. Thanks again to the ASCA.

Backed off the lead on this one -- felt pretty humiliated -- it was arrigent of me to think I could lead it. Anyhow, it can be easily top-roped by scrambling up the gully left of the cracked slab containing the route. I took a belay up this awful tree-filled gully and used the trees for pro. Beware of ticks! There might be an easier way to access the chains by going around the right side of the slab, but we didn't try it. Anyhow, on TR, we sent the route, and it is really fun! If you are setting up a TR this way, be sure to protect yourself while reaching for the top anchors.

The only thing you should feel humiliated about is your spelling. Arrigent fool, up your game to BCC 5.6 before trying to crush LCC 5.7s.

This is truely the next Bushwhack Crack, funner in my opinion. Leave the big stuff at home. A standard rack will suffice, I placed only 1 #3 and really didn't even need it. You'll never fall out of the deep stuff and there are thankgodchickenheads all over to get you to the next hand/finges sized crack. Exciting few moves.

One other variation climbs a perfet BD #2 crack. After the initial tree down low, the route skirts left a little until you get to the wide crack. If you were to just continue left on easy ledges you'd find the highly slanting hand crack. Perfert hand jams for 60 feet with sold feet and you'll get to the top with all smiles. Take multiple #2s for this route or just keep walking up the only one you have. Either way, its a safe, fun, alernative to SML .

To Sir Camsalot: the hand crack is Zesty, starts about 40' left of SML with some face climbing.

And Zesty it is.

re-climbed this one you can leave the #4 at home just make sure to place gear before the wide sections. Better then bushwhack for sure. The jams are sooooo good.

Amazing route (enough said). Definitely some spice here and there but nothing that can't be backed up with a solid nut or cam placement. Scariest part for me was doing the second angled traverse to the ow type crack, the holds here ran out and its a relatively big move. Also the nut here (which I assume someone fell on) was removed. I used the #4 but it really isn't protecting anything too scary so if your more confident than an amateur like me you can definitely leave it at home.