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THIS ROUTE HAS BEEN CHOPPED, thankfully. I'll leave this for historical reasons.
In general, I would usually rather be climbing even the worst routes than not climbing at all. ESP, however, is so bad that it is actually worse to be climbing it than to not be climbing at all. I've been an obsessive, passionate climber for almost ten years, and when I got down from this route, I said aloud, "I don't know if I ever want to climb again." It was bad enough that, for a moment, the entire lifestyle and activity felt like a mistake. Luckily, I shook the sensation off, but the aftertaste remained.
Before I was assigned the route, I listed a few detractors below in the comments. With sandy chossiness, ugly graffiti, dwarfish length, awkward moves, rusty bolts, dangerous anchors, awful position, and seepage, this route has it all. Alternatively, you might consider the length to be a plus - at least it doesn't last all that long. Woe be to Red Wing and Minnesota, that they harbor this route.
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Mountains, CO
After living at Smith for a couple of years, I look back now at routes like this (and others like user friendly), and wonder why someone doesn't chop it.
It wouldn't survive at most areas in the west, and degrades the overall value of the crag. There are quite a lot of great routes at Red Wing, but this isn't one of them. It has going for it:
1)Bad Position - It's like climbing in a guano-soaked sweat sock.
2)Crumbly, Miserable Rock
3)Spray Paint at the Bottom
4)Awkward Moves on Sandy Edges
5)Rusty as Crap Bolts
Someone put it out of its misery. Dec 29, 2009
Madison WI
Mountains, CO
Lakewood, CO