Opdyke's Crack

This is my favorite gear climb at Ozone. Clean & solid, good gear, long, and a decent dose of exposure make for a fun time.

Chad Mar 29, 2014

I believe I led it (free) in @1984 or so. Of course, I could be wrong. Jim pointed the most obvious line out to me I climbed up it. I wasn't aware that he'd done it earlier till the guidebook came out. Climbed to the top on a super hot day, tied off a tree. Plopped my shorts wearing ass right down on the cliff edge and as Jim climbed up, while swatting mosquitos and scratching the lumps, I noticed a huge amount of poison oak all around and under me. I'd sat right down in the middle of it. It was, to this day, the worst case of poison oak I've ever gotten.

We had a misguided impression that if you couldn't do it ground up, let someone else do it. So we left most of what we perceived routes alone. Finally a smarter group of folks showed up and decided that for the most part rather than get killed climbing ground up onsight by loose blocks and things, clean the lines top down and put in bolts where needed. Dudes put up some good lines out there. May 27, 2016

Thanks for the little bit of history Bill. I appreciate hearing the details, rashes and all. Did you have a set of cams at that point?

Bryan, thanks for the cleaning!

Chad May 27, 2016

Funny story, Bill. I was still cleaning it when Opdycke told me he aided it back in the '80s. Took the wind out of my sails, but only a little bit. I would have called it the Coe Crack had you gotten to me first. There was a ton of loose rock in there still, you guys back in the '80s were crazy. Our approach in 2004/2005 was (usually) to hammer and crowbar the danger away from above, then decipher the pro placements, then bolt in the gaps. Lucky for me, this one didn't need any bolts. Jun 13, 2016

Accidentally pulled a cat-head size rock from this route yesterday evening. Felt it was loose so I didn't pull down on it. But then used it to steady myself and it rolled out of the wall quite easily. Missed my belayer thankfully, but hit my pack and damaged a quick-draw.

Just a reminder that "clean" established routes aren't always totally clean. Wear a helmet! Jun 27, 2018