Mark Limage making the transition from the flake t...
Description
After passing above the old debris dam and flood plain and hiking up canyon just about 200' west of Namaste on the South wall. This route is just left (East)of a huge left facing arch. A bouldery start to a left trending flake (2 bolts) gets one to an obvious arching crack. Traverse into the crack and it goes from fingers to hands in about 45 to the belay chains.
When I first climbed this on aid in 1987 I found an old 2" angle lying in the dirt in a pod at the current rap anchor. I would LOVE to know who did the FA and when. There are faint bathook scars below the crack if you look carefully.
By Teleman From: Steamboat Springs, CO Apr 7, 2006
Glad to see someone identify this route. Climbed it a couple of years ago not knowing for sure what it was and definitely thought it was on the up-side of 10. Fun boulder start and tricky transition to thin crack. It was clear that this is a rarely done climb. Once you are in the crack you are smearing on fairly featureless sandstone that has been further challenged by a very thin layer of lichen. Route is worth doing just to be in the canyon. Would agree on gear recommendations.
This is a really different style of climbing. Imagine climbing a laser cut finger crack, angling up and left at a 45 degree angle, with the entire wall leaning in to provide perfect friction for the feet. There are a few tricky sequences to figure out, but overall, it offers some of the best climbing in the area. I took a single set of BD cams from .4 to 2, along with a red and yellow C3. I placed every piece. Transitioning into the crack is a little tricky, placing pro is trickier.
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