Sweeney's Special

Sweeney's Special is a great extension to Texas Sucks. Belaying beneath Sweeney's may be hazardous to the belayer's health, and a 60m rope will get you safely back down to the ground. Jul 25, 2008

"One or both of the short overhanging fingercracks"??? Unless you have a 7 ft wingspan I think you have to pick one or the other. I got on the left one and found it move-for-move harder than stargazer- though a MUCH shorter crux. Great splitter, but too bad the anchor was placed another 20 ft after the quality ends.... Mar 22, 2010

Climbing well is all about footwork, not wingspan. Sweeney's Special is typically done using both cracks. If you found poor quality on this route, you were probably off route. Mar 31, 2010

It's a quality crack for sure. But that's why the anchor should be right after the splitter ledges out, not after another 20 ft of loose 5.8.

I guess what really sucks about this route is the fact that some douchebag chopped the bolts Ian placed going up that stellar looking, green arete. That would've been a classic finish to this sweet line.

Let's forget about Contortionist and rebolt that arete! Apr 6, 2010

I suppose that if the route had been done in the modern era, it may have stopped at the ledge, but back in the day, it was cool to take a route as far as one could climb- especially if you could get to the top. But if the whole place was developed in the modern era, it would only be a bunch of sport routes, eh? Apr 7, 2010

Really like this climb... did it today... 6'5" wingspan enables the use of both cracks ;) Oh! and I dug the extra 20 ft. Just to max it out. Word. Apr 7, 2010

Ok, Kevin, good job on genetics, aha. Did it today, used just the left, and I'd call it maybe 12 a or b. Sick crack, though! Nov 5, 2010

Funny how the photo of Sam shows him clearly using both cracks... I think he might be all of 5'10" as well :) Apr 21, 2013

I've been climbing on this route for years, and I've always used both cracks. I have even seen Marcus Garcia use both cracks, and he is 5'3", so mostly everyone should be able to use both cracks. I climbed this yesterday and was reminded of the huge death shark's fin at the top of the boulder problem. Does everyone use that sharp death block at the top to pull themselves over the top? And I've always clipped the pin and run out the last 25ft to the roof to place a bomber BD 0.3. How do other people protect the last 25ft of obvious chock blocks that are dying to come off the wall? This is a three star route, but the last 25ft of choss does not add stars to this route. Apr 3, 2016

Any idea who Sweeney is? Possibly Joe Sweeney? Apr 4, 2016