A few moves into the hard part. Photo by Rob Hard...
Description
This is a very nice crack climb! It is a very right-arching, flared splitter on a lightly overhanging wall. Start out on a decent tight hand and climb into ever thinner jams as you move up the arch, encountering one bomber finger lock along the way. At the end of the arch, you will find a decent rest before some more hard moves to get established in the vertical upper crack. One or two more hard moves at the top of the vertical section lead to a thank god hand jam on the shelf above the climb. There is one section that is particularly brutal, but aside from the first few moves the climbing is difficult and sustained throughout. Also, hanging on to place gear is especially difficult in some spots. The rock, movement, and general aesthetics of this climb are absolutely top notch in my opinion.
Location
This is the obvious, right-arching crack on the left side of Coyote Rocks when viewed from the road while driving in.
Protection
I used two Z5’s, one Z6, a #1 Friend and a #1.25 Friend (not in that order), though you may want to bring at least one Z4 sized piece or equivalent to fit your own preferences. I wouldn’t bother with anything smaller or larger.
The grade on this is nothing but a proposition, and it is meant to be honest when compared to other crack climbs around the U.S. Matt Segal checked out the line before I did the FA and he told me he felt that it was solid 14, so it might even be on the stiff side. I was going to call it 13+, but after hearing what Matt thought I decided to split the difference. Repeats will help settle the grade, up or down. For me, the one time I TR'd it, I felt like it was equivalent to a power endurance V11, and putting in the gear on lead adds quite a bit to the diffculty in my opinion.
I also want to extend a big public thanks to all the people who I goaded into belaying me on this thing on various occasions. Without your guys support I would not have been able to do this. These people are Jesse Brown, Rob Pheres, Jeremy Medley, Brian Scoggins, Tim Long, Jose Riofrio, Josh Helke, Bob Scarpelli, Julian Pouche, Patrick Kingsbury, Bjorn, Chris Veniegas and Vanessa Cassat (I hope that is everyone). I especially want to thank Jesse Brown and Rob Phares because more than anyone else they both had to be bored to tears from watching me fail on this. Each of them pushed up on the other end of my rope for a ridiculous number of attempts.
Thanks guys. Molony, in terms of cracks it might just be. Another contender would be Fiddler on the Roof with Steve Petro's beta. Though new beta has been uncovered for that one which makes it easier, in my opinion Steves solution has to be at least V12, though I can't really comment on that one in any meaningful way because I can't do it the way he did. Pretty sick for the eighties, and in Fires no less.
Thanks Pete and Wade. Not a stupid question at all, Wade. A Z# is what Wild Country uses to signify the sizes on their Zero camming units. Specifically, a Z4 would be roughly equivalent in size to a blue Alien. The stem design on the Zero's is brilliant in my opinion and on this particular route that design gave me a greater comfort of mind (check out C and D on that link, as well as the pictures at the bottom, to get a better idea).
Speaking of crazy hard cracks, now that you have done this one: there is a steep splitter down by Curt Gowdy State Park, south side of Happy Jack highway, new piton driven in at the base - a nice traverse boulder problem nearby - do you know which line I am talking about?
A Z4 is the smallest piece I've ever placed as legitimate protection. I have the Z3, and I've only placed it once, and didn't climb above it.
I do recall that first day you got a rope on this thing and aided between moves. And especially when that piece blew on you unexpectedly. Because I was staring off into space when you fell and it took me quite by surprise. I also remember a few other trips when I thought you would send. Good work Justin!
Richard, I know which crack you are talking about. Do you happen to know if that is private property or part of Curt Gowdy?
Brian, again, thank you for your support on this. A Z4 is also my limit, though that is more psychological than anything. Both the Z4 and Z3 are 6kn, so they are equally good when placed well.
No idea what the property ownership is, nor do I have any hope of even trying this thing, looked way too hard. Just walked by it and thought "there's a 5.14 crack". Great job on your send!
It was a pleasure to be a slave to such a wonderful project, plus I got to boulder at Coyote and polish off the area classics! It was fun. I know you will find a new kick ass project soon to drag me out, too! P.S your name selection for this route Rocks!!!
Looks like "Jammer" has added yet another overrated and self aggrandizing send to a long list of personal back slappers. Tell me "Jammer" what happened to "some guy" sending this one? And how does it compare to Andy Johnson's masterpiece "Bloodletting" at Reynolds? Congrats.
So Handsome, I was just wondering what you thought of this overrated and self aggrandizing climb, more specifically? When you climbed it, what was it you didn't like? Did the movement not work for you or was the grade a little softer than you thought it should be? Since this is now the hardest trad line in Wyoming (so far) it would be awesome if you could give us some more insight into why you did/did not like it when you climbed it. Problems of this grade will draw people to the area and your feedback will help other climbers figure out whether or not this climb is worth the trip. Thanks!
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