[Hide Comment] Had a good time on this. The run-out section at the top can be well-protected from below with larger gear. Still, if you fall here then be prepared for a nasty fall into the right-facing corner. A fun route worth doing. Jul 21, 2008

[Hide Comment] How do you say extremely thin? Jul 17, 2011

[Hide Comment] The 5.9 face portion of this climb, although short, is super spicy and likely will result in a nasty fall even if any of the mini poor placements hold. For someone shorter like myself, the face was basically a smear fest attempting to get to one of the two places that had "holds." I was able to get in three nuts, BD stoppers size 5 and below and felt confident in none. Oct 25, 2015

[Hide Comment] Did this route in 2016. Crux can be well protected with small to medium nuts and The runnouts were on easier terrain in my opinion. There was fixed gear near the crux in 2016...who knows if it's been pulled out or not. It's a route worth doing, just do it on a confident day. Oct 24, 2018

[Hide Comment] A few notes:
- The guidebook has this as 3 pitches, but P1 and 2 can be linked with a 70m if the belayer walks up 5-10 feet of the easy beginning of the route...this is in line with MP's description of "climb until you run out of rope".
- The 5.9 on this route is very short - it's when the right-facing corner becomes a thin seam before transitioning to a left-facing corner near the end of P2 - but it is thin and feels run out when leading. Maybe protectable with micronuts (or "RPs" according to SuperTopo), but the seam is pretty shallow and a bit flaring, so I'm a tad skeptical that it would be anything more than psychological comfort. I didn't have anything remotely suitable, but on the plus side, there's a pretty good stance in the middle of the runout to rest and contemplate your life decisions, wonder how bad a fall into the right-facing corner would actually be, and chat up the parties moving up Deception next door. I'm not sure how someone could have gotten a nut fixed in this section, but in any case as of July 2019, the only fixed nut was way below in the 5.6 lieback section.
- I shoved a BD #0.4 cam in at my first opportunity after the runout 5.9. I recall it not being very good and wanting a 0.3 instead. After this, there are numerous spots for small/medium pro (BD #0.4-1) up to a nice belay ledge that's 10 feet below the crowded main one for Deception. Belay takes 0.5-0.75.
- The climbing is clean and fun. If you're prepared, it's a great alternative to the normal Deception route. Jul 21, 2019

[Hide Comment] I brought my biner of HB offset micro-nuts which were really good in the flared micro-crack. Medium nuts do not fit in the crux, in fact regular small nuts don't work either. The biner also just so happened to still have a tomahawk on it from some recent aiding. I hand placed it in the crux and it was probably the most solid piece in the thin section. Not necessary if you have offset micros, but it was a good chuckle to have such a bomber hand-placed hook. May 5, 2021