PRINT: Rock Climb Libra Crack, Index

Libra Crack

5.10a/b, Trad, 40 ft (12 m),

Avg: 3 from 180 votes
FA: unknown
Washington > Central-W Casca… > Skykomish Valley > Index > Lower Town Wall > (A) Great Northern Slab

Description

The obvious handcrack going straight up to the right of the huge eyebolt. Approach as for GNS, Pisces, etc. Goes from tight hands to perfect hands to fists all in the course of 20 feet, then finishes up the beautiful easy crack above. Many people think this is tough for the grade - I've known people who onsight 11 crack to get spanked on this short pitch. Maybe handsize dependent?

Protection

One set of camalots

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

There used to be a block in the lower portion of the crack, this explains the sandbag 10a grade. More like 10/10+ without it.

Libra Crack 1976 with a very young Rich Carlstad climbing

Libra Crack, from the base, sans the pile of blocks that fell off in 2022.

Libra crack

Soloist cruisin' up Libra

Base of Libra Crack.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Jesse James
Knoxville, TN

If you have big hands, getting established in the tight hands section will probably seem hard, luckily it widens up quickly. Mar 21, 2006

Tom Bath
Kent, Wa

Definitely a sandbag. It helps to be tall. Stemming as high as possible at the start will allow you to get your hands past some of the tight jams. Dec 5, 2009

Laurel Fan

5.9

Apparently it helps to be short also. Oct 20, 2014

Jon Nelson
Redmond, WA

But if you are really short with humongous hands, forget it. Oct 21, 2014

andrew bogaard

Haha, I was glad to see others felt the same way about this climb. Getting into it last week seemed pretty hard. Apparently there used to be a block down low? Jon, your comment really made me laugh Jun 19, 2015

Eric K
Leavenworth, WA

5.10a

I finally got on this again last week and kicked the monkey off my back. 6 years ago on my first trip to Index I could not even TR this thing and had to pull on gear through the whole crux section. I have not tried since until a few days ago, nice to finally lead it clean. Great route, will be doing regularly now! Aug 2, 2016

Joshua Thompson
Seattle, WA

5.10c/d

The only way I was able to get thru the bottom tight hands was to do a couple quick layback moves until I got high enough to actually get a jam in... by that point the climb was almost over :D Jun 6, 2019

Hangdog Hank
Leavenworth, WA

5.10

This route is more difficult than Heart of Darkness in J Tree which is rated a soft 11a. The difficulties are short lived but pulling overhanging .5/75s with limited feet is a sandbag at 10a. Dec 22, 2019

Daniel Chode Rider
Truck, Wenatchee

This is the only route I've seen on MP that has every single rating from 5.9 to 5.10d. Sounds like I've gotta try it. May 18, 2021

cascadian dirtbag
Pacific Northwest

I'm barely a 5.9 trad leader and this crack felt exceptional. Perfect hands for me is somewhere between a BD#1-#2 and the start of this crack felt a little tough but really secure. A couple of ring locks at the start on the start felt bomber then switching to a thin hand jam shuffle combination; left hand up high going thumbs down and right hand on the bottom going thumbs up. My hands went in til about mid palm and camming my fingers and bridging them across both sides of the crack felt really good. Using the rand of my shoes in the tight corner, I could inch my way up to a secure #1 sized jam. Ya know, one of those jams where you feel the dopamine rush through you. I thought a #4 would be useful for the top out but I didn't have one and pushed on.

Great short and fun crack. Don't layback it. No need.

Continued up to the crack above to finish Pisces. Jul 29, 2021

Jay Fried
Salt Lake City, UT

5.10a/b

Super fun, if you've got thin hands, must do! Sep 9, 2022