Indecent Exposure, showing one of the good section...
Description
This is the very highly recommended variation on Standard Thumb.
Pitch one:Start up the gully for about 20 feet and then move onto the right wall up steep cracks (fun moves) to the tree filled gully. Continue up through the trees and belay where the trees end.
Pitch two:Climb the great hand/arm crack continuing up and to the right until you come to a roof. Undercling to the right and up onto lunch ledge and an obvious belay.
You now have a few choices... up the awesome S-direct, up the classic trough pitch, or rappel.
Protection
Standard trad rack, long runners to girth hitch trees.
2 great sections of climbing. The lower twin cracks, that I thought were the best, and the upper crack. Unfortunately they are divided by a lengthy forest!!!
Really fun unless you have a haul bag. Maybe it is because i don't know how to properly haul, but it took me and my buddy at least an hour to haul our bags up the first pitch of this variation. Other then that i would much prefer this variation over the dirty gully of the standard thumb. Oh yeah about half way up the "jungle" there is another variation, like a 5.5 traverse, that takes you to the killer 5.8 trough above the crux of s-crack.
Our favorite way to get to lunch ledge was always to cut right at the appropriate spot and belay at the start of the S-cracks 5.8 groove pitch. Its a great crack pitch that although a bit wide does not require any big gear. Up to a 3 or 3.5 camalot should be sufficient.
You can avoid doing battle with the trees by staying on the left face. When the double cracks fade out shoot straight up in a system of discontinuous shallow cracks. A bit runout, probably 5.8ish, and a bit dirty. Seems like this line puts you between Indecent Exposure and Higher Expectations. Did it again yesterday and touched exactly 1 tree at the belay. Definitely the way to go.
RSS Feed
Slideshow
