What Needles Offwidth Climb is This?

What is the name of this climb?

 5.9 With the big Chalkstone in it

Looks incredible!

The only thing the guide book mentions next to Davy jone’s is Iron Maiden and Devils Dinette. Neither of those routes descriptions look to match these photos.

Well, I posted it up here: mountainproject.com/route/1…

Hope to find out the name and some more info on this stellar line! It has certainly been climbed before!

Lord only knows how I could have walked by that feature so many times and not taken notice. Of course I've never been drawn toward the wide, so that must be it   

I photographed every page of the various old annotated guidebooks Margee kept up in the tower, a good move on my part since they're all ashes now. There are markups all over the pages showing that crack and the routes above, with no indications of a route name, grade, or any other info. It's just in the pics without any comments. It looks like a much better way to approach Davy Jones etc., than the normal way. So now is Davy Jones a two pitch climb?

Wow! Amazing that its been overlooked! It is such a rad pitch.

Regarding a better way to start Davy Jones: yeah, that's what I said! It is a way better way to get up on the Davy Jones ledge. It is a continuous crack climb up a steep wall directly below the ledge. Actual climbing. The other way is a wandering dirty gully and awkward squeeze chimney--an ugly approach pitch.

Too bad we have no name or FA info, but at least being on mountain project we should get a consensus grade and folks will get on it. On our hike out, some other climber said he was eyeing that crack and curious at what it went at. I gave a sandbagged 5.9 rating at the time, but I think its probably closer to 10a. He did the Pit and the Pendulum, Pit variation, so he clearly is into that sort of thing.

Well, thanks for looking into it Kris!

I guess it's not surprising that the Needles continues to deliver nice discoveries.  On the subject of which, last time I was in that neck of the woods I noticed some bolts on that big flatiron that you pass as you drop down below the Fire Wall, etc.  Anybody know what that is?  I half expected to see it in Kris' new guide but I guess it's just another mystery route? 

Are you talking about the slab just to the right of the 5.7 approach pitch to Davy Jones?

There are two bolted lines. One on the left has three bolts tightly spaced for first 20ft, then they spread out a bit up top. 35m pitch ends at two bolts, one had a rap ring. We left a carabiner on the other. 5.8ish, hardest part was the start, hence the tight bolting.

There are more bolts continuing up, so at least one more pitch, maybe even two .

The right line looked a little easier (slabbier) but we didn’t try it. It is more on an arete.

I’ll post photos in a bit.

Darshan, it sounds like we're talking about the same thing.  

Are you guys talking about the two bolted lines up the (more or less) south facing slab around the corner climber's left from Spontaneous Combustion? Left of the main arete which is Brian Jonas' Fire Walker?

Those would be Shark and Fire Hose, put up by a Swiss guy named Michel Glesser. If the one is 5.8 they were pretty seriously over graded by the FA.

Yes! Well, the way I went was maybe 5.8-5.9. Certainly not harder than that. The hardest part is the first 3 bolts, the series of shots below. Maybe the FA went more to the left of the bolt line.

Thanks Andrew Burch for the awesome shots. The first photos make it look a little steeper than it is. The flake in the fourth photo is kinda flexing and grainy, maybe this was avoided on the FA.

Thanks Michel Glesser for putting up such a nice route and bolting the bottom nicely! Thanks for the route info Kris!

Okay I've named it something better than "Unknown Offwidth". If we ever get FA information on it, I'll post it up.