Vanishing Flakes 

According to the late Reese Martin (as of 1999), "The fixed pin is now rock solid. Clip it and you're in fat city."

Glued in perhaps?

UPDATE: I looked very closely at the piton and there is definitely what appears to be capsule-style glue around the hole where the piton penetrates the rock.


The bottom 15 feet of this route is very height dependent. Shorter climbers will find it very hard to move between the various positive holds.

Well, it seems this crowd-pleaser slab climb is still living up to its name: the holds just keep vanishing. I climbed it this last weekend and noticed a conspicuous lack of certain holds, particularly the "rest" hold (diagonal rail/crimp to the left of the bad pocket) about 8 or 9 feet up. Is the climb now harder? It was for me, but that's only because my traditional sequence was botched due to the lack of the hold. I'd appreciate some outside consensus other than my narrow, chagrined perspective.

I agree with Andy that this could be a bit harder now. I used to climb it quite a bit between 2001-2005 or so and remember one better hold at the start, and possibly one other hold 9 ft. up or so. Though it still seems if you nail the right sequence it's right in the low/mid 11 range. Such a fun climb.

Holds continue to vanish... But still so much fun

The friction on this route was amazing yesterday. Maybe a slightly cool, damp day aids the stickiness... Even though the holds are few, there are many different variations that exist. Foot placement and balance is key.

I think going slightly right of the piton without moving too far left is standard, but I found going nearly directly above the piton to be a bit less strenuous.

This route is great!