Touch of Class

My first technical rock climbing experience ever was this route! Well worth it! Feb 25, 2008

I've never been on this one, but it looks like good gear to the top (for those craving to place in the middle of Austin). Apr 1, 2008

You could indeed slot small cams (up to maybe a c4 #1??) and stoppers to make this into a trad lead on limestone. If memory serves, I think you may have to run it out up top to do this. Jun 10, 2010

I had my trad gear laid out to lead here today, and I had two sport climbing gym guys tell me it's unethical to use trad gear on the greenbelt. I saw someone snickering and pointing when I pulled it out a few months ago too, what's with thinking you can tell people to not use trad gear in cracks? Jul 12, 2011

Sorry to hear that, Russell. I've plugged gear into Greenbelt limestone on many occasions and never got any flak for it. The "unethical" statement is untrue, although there are some Austin climbers who refuse to climb trad on the Greenbelt because they believe the rock is too friable. Personally I say it varies a lot depending on the specific wall and that there is some rock totally appropriate for trad. Oct 1, 2011

Agreed. I did a couple of leads on the limestone during the late 80's when Enchanted Rock was closed for remodeling. The rock quality varies but there are creative placements available. If anything, "climbers" who say that trad gear is unethical, should be reminded that bolts weren't always around and the rock will be here if we take care. Jan 31, 2012

I climbed this today. Fun route. Although I toproped it, I thought the crack was deep enough and the rock solid enough to take gear just fine. I plan to lead it on a future visit.

Edit 1/4/17: Beautiful crack that runs out for an easy but pretty unprotectable finish. This line seems made for gear, and I did lead it, but it's not so great. For about half the length, it is, but then the crack goes off-width to the point that even a #6 C4 would be no good, and it seems a little too irregular to get good placements with Big Bros. If you do have a #6, placing it as high as possible might keep you off the ground if you try to run it out the rest of the way and fall just before topping out. Might. There are, though, a couple stopper placements near the top-out if you go right instead of left (most topropers probably finish left because that is more in line with the anchors). Note: while I did place a #5 and #6, I had doubts about whether they would skate out from the slick rock in a fall. The first time I led it, it was on stoppers and hexes, which meant a long, ground-fall run-out section. Jul 27, 2016

My bad for providing the wrong info about the bolts. I assumed the three recently added bolt lines corresponded to the three routes listed here on Mountain Project. Feb 6, 2017

The 3rd bolted line on guides wall is between Flash Crack and Thin Crack. The route is not listed on Mountain Project yet. I climbed it today, Seemed on par with the other 5.7s on this wall. Mar 23, 2017

Elan, the route you're talking about is called Stand Off. It's 5.8 in the guidebook, and I put in a page for it about two weeks after your comment.

Regarding Touch of Class, as of June 2017, it, too, got bolted. 5 bolts.

The first two bolts are well right of the big crack, making me wonder if the bolter had the 10a variation in mind. Jul 4, 2017

This climb is suuuuper polished which I believe makes it a 5.8+. Moves would DEF be a 5.7 if you could stick to anything. Jul 26, 2017