The Dark Side

Awesome route! Just be careful what you grab. I belayed 4 people up to me and they all broke off good sized holds. Oct 20, 2008

Thanks for putting some hard pullers on the climb! This would be I'm sure the second ascent so maybe they have cleaned off most of the loose holds,I thought our party had done that,maybe at times they were a tad off route ? .Anyway glad you liked the climb . You would enjoy Faith Hope and Clarity , On a Wing and a Prayer,Just Dreams and Feeding the Rat . These all have good rock. Oct 23, 2008

I can see in your pic that one difference (in the route that I took) was I when under and then up the the big hollow flake. I put a cam behind the flake. Maybe not such a good idea, but at the time I felt ok with it. It wasn't until I was on-top the flake when I looked down (through the inside of the flake) and realized I could see my #2 cam, head, steam, beaner, and all. But thats climbing right? sometimes you do know what your going to get. Oct 28, 2008

Hi ..Yes the joys of sandstone,the rock is an adventure in itself.... If you are talking about the flake at the very start of Dark Side I did have a cam in that flake, just hard to see in photo . Certainly better than nothing . We are just back from that area . We put up two more 5.10's one just to the left of Dark Side and one just to the right . Both are very well protected with cams and bolts Oct 29, 2008

We placed nothing larger than a gold Camalot, but also a small tcu and some stoppers. Steep parts are well protected and fun. Two less-steep sections have easy climbing but loose rock and no protection, so tread lightly on those! Mar 23, 2014

We did remove all the loose we could find on the FA and the odd repeat ascents later on. Judging by comments on this climb and other repeats on routes in this area it seems this sandstone rock is "alive" and does continue to decompose.This certainly adds to the great adventure of sandstone climbing.I guess love it or leave it.We loved it.Cheers from the damp UK. Mar 24, 2014