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King Fissure
5.11+ PG13,
Trad, 55 ft (17 m),
Avg: 2 from 2
votes
FA: P. Davidson, S. Baxter, J. Haisley
Arizona
> Northern Arizona
> Sycamore Canyon
> Paradise Forks
> Gold Wall
Description
The short but very sweet dihedral left of Goldfinger (and X-It). Climb the blocky handcrack splitting a pillar, and pull onto the lower of a two-level ledge. The crux is leaving the ledge and getting established in the dihedral. Thin face moves (unique for the Forks) lead into a more secure steep crack to the top.
Protection
Originally protected on wired stoppers, it now will accept .33 cams.
![Paul Davidson (belayed by Scott Baxter) on the first ascent of King Fissure. J. Haisley photo]()
[Hide Photo] Paul Davidson (belayed by Scott Baxter) on the first ascent of King Fissure. J. Haisley photo
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The end of a great day of climbing, late evening, wonderful temps, a few really desperate moves off some thin wires into a stem that took a bomber #2 hex which suddenly took me from the "I'm going to splat on that ledge" to the quiet mind club.
Too bad it's got that big ledge in the middle. Almost requires you break for a belay there.
Named in honor of three things:
1. I was climbing with the King that day, Scott Baxter.
2. You can barely get tips into the corner and only in a couple of spots, hence the tongue in cheek "king fissure".
3. The King Fisher flying up and down the canyon while I belayed Scott and then Jim. They have a very odd and distinctive croak and seem to like to stay hidden. And the bird is much the same way.
I mean, come on, a King Fisher, in Arizona ? No doubt though, they're very distinctive.
There's just really nothing like climbing is there.
It doesn't get much better than to nail a difficult sequence first try as you discover that a desperate looking gear lead turns out to protect well.
Add to it that feeling of basking in the lead glow as you belay in a beautiful canyon with unusual wildlife and great friends. Ah, the beauty of life.
Why write all of this over a 30 feet corner, because it was that full moon night that Scotty convinced us to attempt the first descent of the high dive, onsight at night !
Too bad it's such a short little corner.
Took much longer to write this than to do the climb. Aug 19, 2009