The Middle Finger of Dr. Wazz  WI5

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Type:  Trad, Ice, Alpine, 1 pitch Consensus:  WI5 [details] FA:  unknown Season:  late fall, winter and ear Submitted By:  Andy Johnson on Jan 1, 2002 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (2) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

BETA PHOTO: 10/24/09.

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Description 

This climb is located approximately 200 yards right of All Mixed Up when viewed from the bottom of Thatchtop. When it comes in, it is a very obvious steep, blue or yellow pillar. One can walk around to the climb or do two very easy pitches of ice to the base of the pillar. I have seen this climb described a variety of different ways from a WI 4 mixed climb to a WI 5+ curtain. Indeed, this climb is sort of a curtain that forms a pillar in the middle. However, when I climbed it, it was [definitely] in the 5+ range. It is very short, probably 70 feet, but the ice was totally featureless and boiler plate hard. It took me on average 15 swings to get a decent placement. The difficulty came as quite a shock to me. Both my partner and myself were planning to solo the climb (it is rather unintimidating up close). The pitch ended up being very hard won. The top out is the icing on the cake. The climb is not over at the top of the ice. There is still about 10 feet of near vertical dead brush to grovel through after you are past the ice. Normally the bushes would piss me of, but under the circumstances they are quite exciting. To descend rap off a tree to the climber's left.

Protection 

This route can be protected entirely with screws.

Toprope Protection 

Can be toproped from a tree above the climb.

Photos of The Middle Finger of Dr. Wazz Slideshow

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10/24/09 R.B. on the lead, ice was awkward, still ...	R.B. leading The Middle Finger of Dr. Wazz, 10/24/...	BETA PHOTO: 10/24/09 Rapping down.