Type: | Trad, 70 ft |
FA: | unknown |
Page Views: | 3,304 total · 17/month |
Shared By: | Tony B on Jul 5, 2002 |
Admins: | Mike Snyder, Leo Paik, John McNamee, Frances Fierst, Aeon Aki |
Per Henry Lester: all the dirt roads into the climbing and camping areas are closed to motorized vehicles until July 2015 because of resource degradation.
Per Henry Lester: all the roads have been reopened as of June 2014.
Per Henry Lester: all the roads have been reopened as of June 2014.
Description
This is probably the finest sustained handcrack that I have done to date in Vedauwoo.
The route lies on the West side fo the Valley Massif. You must climb the first Pitch of the route "Hammer" to a bolted belay to get to Tool Or Die.
Hammer is a fun first pitch (5.7 or 5.8), but as I have only done 1/2 of said route, and I am sure many have done the whole route, I do not feel qualified to write about the rest here. Perhaps, someone who has done the whole route can add it to the site?
From the bolted belay, work a few feet up the Hammer crack, placing a piece on a 2' sling. Grab a huge undercling flake and work another piece up in it, while moving to its right-hand-side. Place a good small stopper (maybe #5 or #6 BD?) in a small bottomed out crack. You see the crack up and to your right about 10 feet? Well, you have to get to that. As stated in the book, this crack is a 5.9. Getting to it, however...
Now, do the crux. Move up and left of the undercling flake one of several ways, probably up to a left-lieback, stem right, and then sink in the fingers far to your right. Make a few moves up here to reach the handcrack. Good gear is available the whole way, but if you are pushing your grades at 5.10a, you probably either just did a runout or fell fidgeting with gear.
You will finish at the top on a bolted anchor. Rap twice to the ground, or ONCE with a 70m. A two-rope rap is not recommended, because you might get them stuck in the nearby cracks.
The route lies on the West side fo the Valley Massif. You must climb the first Pitch of the route "Hammer" to a bolted belay to get to Tool Or Die.
Hammer is a fun first pitch (5.7 or 5.8), but as I have only done 1/2 of said route, and I am sure many have done the whole route, I do not feel qualified to write about the rest here. Perhaps, someone who has done the whole route can add it to the site?
From the bolted belay, work a few feet up the Hammer crack, placing a piece on a 2' sling. Grab a huge undercling flake and work another piece up in it, while moving to its right-hand-side. Place a good small stopper (maybe #5 or #6 BD?) in a small bottomed out crack. You see the crack up and to your right about 10 feet? Well, you have to get to that. As stated in the book, this crack is a 5.9. Getting to it, however...
Now, do the crux. Move up and left of the undercling flake one of several ways, probably up to a left-lieback, stem right, and then sink in the fingers far to your right. Make a few moves up here to reach the handcrack. Good gear is available the whole way, but if you are pushing your grades at 5.10a, you probably either just did a runout or fell fidgeting with gear.
You will finish at the top on a bolted anchor. Rap twice to the ground, or ONCE with a 70m. A two-rope rap is not recommended, because you might get them stuck in the nearby cracks.
Fort Collins, CO
Salt Lake City, UT
San Francisco, CA
This is definitely the money pitch on the formation. The crux for me was bridging Hammer crack to this one off the belay with a crazy left-hand finger lock/high-wide right-foot stem move. Once established in the main crack, the movement and position is outstanding and had me gesticulating with joy down to my belayer the whole time. Jul 18, 2013
Boulder, CO
Probably the finest 5.9 handcrack around. Jun 16, 2015