Big Pink is the obvious offwidth located on the lower tier immediately left of Plumb Line crack. This is the lead to test all hard offwidth climbers. Its moderate grade keeps it from getting much press, but anyone familiar with Scarpelli .11b's will have some idea of what to expect. Rest assured, this is probably one of the hardest offwidths at Vedauwoo. It is overhanging the whole way and the crux is close to the top. Unlike a lot of other hard offwidths, you can not crimp your way through the crux on this one. Techique will be your only hope, so if you don't have any then you won't stand much of a chance. Many talented offwidth climbers have called this a .12 making it one sandbagged mofo. If you have big fist it may be an .11. If you have small to average fists then it is a lot harder. To add to the difficulty, you will not find much friction on this fine line, rather, the inside of the crack is a very smooth, polished patina that will leave you squeezing with all your might just to stay in there. Get psyched, get tough and go for it.
Handsome B. Wonderful, I would be inclined to disagree with you on this one. This thing is definitely a grade easier than Spectreman, which would make the 11b grade correct. Go back to school Mr. Wonderful, and don't come back untill you know a thing or two about how to climb offwidths. Softie.
Thanks for the advice. I always suspected that I sucked and now I have some concrete evidence. I will inform you though that I am now enrolled in an accelerated offwidth program with some mighty fine teachers who are quite good at schooling me. Maybe I'll comment again when I get better.
Geez AC, talk about comparing apples to oranges. Spectreman? I can smell your troll. Spectreman in 11a/b and a handcrack. This thing is, well, different.
I thought this was much harder than Squat, Bad Girls Dream, or Worm Drive. I've sent 5.12 offwidth and have NO IDEA how the last 10 feet of this thing are supposed to happen.
Handsome, don't feel too bad. AC is probably Bob Scarpelli getting a laugh at your expense.
If you choose to toprope this thing from the bolts on top of Plumb Line, use very long slings so the rope doesn't run across too much of the slab at the top. The rock will chew through a sheath without too much difficulty.
An interesting tidbit on the rating. I'm not sure anyone ever actually considered this climb to be 5.11. Maybe some "hardasses" today do. The story told to me was that a certain climber was supposedly being too cocksure about their ability to climb 5.12 offwidths, so he was taken to this thing and told it was only 5.11. He failed to climb it, and the rating stuck. Like many of Vedauwoos true sandbags, the rating on this one had inspiration.
Put me in the camp of this is somewhat underrated. I tried to straight in arm-bar it - and, well, couldn't pull it off. Does everybody who's done this do that fist-stack thing like the picture of Scarpelli in the guide?
The trick is to have big enough fists to stack the whole thing. If you don't (that's me) you have to arm bar while leavitating, or else lean in and straight up offwidth it. Either way it's a subtle little bitch. Definitely the kind of climb you think you will hike and then get shut down hard on. If you ever want a tutorial Greg, hit me up.
Plumb Line Crag
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