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All Locations > Montana > Gallatin Canyon > West Side > Gallatin Tower

Soft in the Middle

5.11b/c YDS 6c+ French 23 Ewbanks VIII- UIAA 24 ZA E4 6a British


 Avg: 3.6 from 36 votes

Routes in Gallatin Tower

Bowling for Buicks S 5.12a 7a+ 25 VIII+ 25 E5 6a
Dagger, The T 5.8 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c
First Best T 5.10- 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a
Generation X T,S 5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
Griffin Roof Crack T 5.12b 7b 26 VIII+ 26 E5 6b
Guide Route T 5.5 4b 13 IV+ 11 MS 4a
India Ink T,S 5.11+ 7a 24 VIII 24 E4 6a
Innocent Bystandard S 5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
Orange Crack T 5.11b 6c 23 VIII- 23 E3 5c
Soft in the Middle T,S 5.11b/c 6c+ 23 VIII- 24 E4 6a
Spare Tire T,S 5.10b 6a+ 19 VII- 19 E2 5b
Standard Route T 5.8+ 5b 16 VI- 15 HVS 4c
Standard Route Direct Finish T 5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
Ten Pin S 5.13c 8a+ 30 X- 31 E7 7a
Thing In Between T 5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a
Tigger T 5.10a/b 6a+ 19 VI+ 19 E2 5b
Top Heavy T,S 5.13a 7c+ 29 IX+ 29 E6 6c
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Type: Trad, Sport, 70 ft
FA: Bill Dockins, Kristen Drumheller, Summer 1992
Page Views: 3,917 total · 34/month
Shared By: EChristensen on May 16, 2009
Admins: grk10vq

You & This Route


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Description

Fun pumpy 5.10 with a stout crimp crux right in the middle. After placing a nut above the first bolt traverse slightly left then follow the bolt line to the chains. The bolt line that goes up and right from the nut is "Top Heavy."

Location

Right side of the Bowling Ball wall (south side of the Tower). First bolt is about 25' up.

Protection

#1 camalot before the first bolt, medium nut after the first bolt, quickdraws. Chain anchor.

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Photos

Nick Stayner near the crux. Ryan Minton photo.
Nick Stayner near the crux. Ryan Minton photo.
 2
Soft in the Middle.
Soft in the Middle.
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4 Comments

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kozzybear406
Livingston, MT
  5.11c
kozzybear406   Livingston, MT
  5.11c
The big jug near the top flexes, so be wary. Nov 18, 2012
Nick Stayner
Wymont Kingdom
 
Nick Stayner   Wymont Kingdom
 
The "tombstone" has been flexible for a long time. That would be a horrifying hold to have rip, especially since you really have to yard on the thing.... and then stand on it too! Nov 18, 2012
Benjamin Chapman
Small Town, USA
Benjamin Chapman   Small Town, USA
The "Tombstone," sounds like a job for Fix-it-Quick. Feb 4, 2013
cleatis
cleatis  
After watching the first bolt on this visibly corrode over the years (26 years old now), I pulled the bolts and anchors and replaced with modern stainless steel. I am a big believer in trying to reuse holes in order to not alter the route and preserve rock for the future, but sometimes things don't go as planned. Most of the bolts came out smoothly and the holes were redrilled to 10 mm to clean them up and new stainless hardware added. The first bolt broke off with very little force during the 'spinning' phase of the extraction process, leaving little doubt that it was time for a new one. However, the rule of thumb for drilling new holes next to old holes is to locate the new hole 10 bolt diameters away, which means that the new bolt is about 4 inches higher than the old one (limited options for a good safe new bolt any lower). The point of all of this is that shorter climbers may want to bring some gear to protect the move to clip the first bolt. I've heard that this was already common for shorter folks, but now 'shorter' might be slightly taller. It looks like there are a few good options for gear.

TLDR; If you are short bring extra gear that you might not have needed before. Aug 28, 2018

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