Mad Calf Disease

This route was stumbled upon when we set out to climb the striking dihedral of Old Habits Die Hard. Turns out, according to a post, this is another Steve Habovstak line -- I suspect that Steve might be right up there in the number of bolts he's drilled in BCC. The second pitch slab is well worth the walk and somewhat ugly approach pitch: good position, solid rock, and interesting climbing.

The best approach is to climb the first part of Firefly (5.6), climbing past that route's first 3 bolts to the broken ledges above and finding a comfortable place to belay somewhere up and right. From here, move right into the large corner and climb up until possible to gain a Lego-like face protected by two bolts. Gingerly work up the face (some of the Legos are loose) to a two-bolt hanging belay. This can be made somewhat more comfortable by traversing right from the two-bolt stance to a small foot ledge and setting up a belay from gear (requires at least one 3.5-4 inch cam); this is also the belay for Cost of Business.

The crux pitch begins by turning the roof just left of the hanging stance. Avoiding the Old Habits dihedral to the left, climb past 5 bolts to a ledge, then past 3 more to the top and anchors. The climax comes around the 4th bolt, and varies by a letter grade or two depending on whether you stay “in-line” (if in-line, I'’d say 11c). You’'ll probably want to place gear to protect the move over the roof and between the last 3 bolts. (Date of FA from rc.com).

Follow the approach for Starstruck. Once on the ledge from which Starstruck begins, walk east on the ledge (passing under Starstruck and the clean buttress bracketed the bolts of Tyrion and Cersei), which soon slopes downs and narrows, until directly below the large, bush- and tree-infested corner leading to the first pitch. If you get to some slightly overhanging bolt lines (Red Gorilla and Nimbus), you've gone about 50 feet too far. See the photo-topo on the Kiss the Sky page.

Descent: From the anchors on top (use the chains, it makes for better pull) you can make one long rappel (two 60 meter ropes) to the ground or two rappels with a single 60 meter rope, stopping at the hanging stance -- bring a sling and quicklink in case the slings have turned to tat or the station has been stripped. About 25 feet lower and 10 feet to the right of the hanging stance there is a set of chains (atop the first pitch of Cersei), but you may need a 70 meter rope to reach them.

Draws and gear to 1.5 inches; take a 3.5-4 inch cam if you choose to use the Cost of Business belay rather than the hanging stance.