The Mac Wall Rock Climbing

The Mac Wall is named after the man whose name graces almost all of the first ascents in the area: Jim McCarthy. It's no coincidence that this area is dense in multi-starred classic routes, particularly in the 5.10 range.

If someone says "Meet me at the Mac Wall", they're almost certainly describing the dozen or so routes centered around MF, up to about Overhanging Layback.

For our purposes, though, this entire area starts with the major, classic corner system of Three Pines, and extends past the Mac Wall proper, past Welcome to the Gunks, and ends at the huge right-facing orange corner of Asphodel.

Approach: For the Mac Wall proper, walk down the carriage road; once you're past the East Trapps Connector (Stairmaster) intersection, keep an eye out for the very obvious right-leaning crack of Something Interesting. The next

- a few yards down the carriage road - brings you right to the base of MF. A bit further down the carriage road, another

will bring you straight to the bottom of Welcome.

Descent: For the Mac Wall proper, many routes have two-bolt anchors atop first pitches, and one 60m rope will get you to the ground.

There is a set of three bolted anchors descending from the clifftop between Three Pines and Something Interesting. The bolts at the clifftop themselves are a bit hidden in a copse of trees, well left of the top of Three Pines. Rap 3x with one rope, or 2x with 2 ropes, and be aware of parties below you.

There is a tree rappel over Overhanging Layback from the GT; one rope will get you to first-pitch bolts over the right end of the Mac Wall, or two to the ground.

For Tequila Mockingbird and neighbors, plan on topping out and descending via bolts over Something Interesting.

For the routes near Welcome to the Gunks, it is strongly recommended to have two ropes. An intermediate anchor exists, but you won't like it!